Lord Over Death

[0:00] I think it's true, and in fact I know that it's true, but I need not conduct a survey or to ask you on an individual basis.

[0:29] That happened in your life at some point or the other. I'm pretty certain that you would be among those who would say that something unpleasant has happened in my life.

[0:49] Perhaps it's been a prolonged illness, a financial reversal, or perhaps even the death of a loved one.

[1:06] The truth is that we live in a fallen world. And whether you're a saint or a sinner, it's true.

[1:19] You are a part of this fallen world, and pretty much we all experience challenges. We all are exposed to pain and to heartache.

[1:34] But the difference for the believer is that as a disciple of Christ, our hope ought to rest in the one who is not of this world.

[1:48] In a moment, we will read Mark 5, verses 21 through 43, in which Mark conveys this truth.

[2:04] This is what Mark says to us in these verses, I believe. Since man is desperately weak, and Jesus is infinitely powerful, we should have faith in him.

[2:25] Let us pray.

[2:48] Father, we look to you in this moment.

[3:18] That our affection for Christ will deepen. Lord, we pray that your word will have a transformative effect in our lives.

[3:37] In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Amen. You will recall that we were in a year-long series in the book of Mark.

[3:53] And perhaps already you've noticed that we've skipped over Mark 5, verses 1 through 20. Well, we'll go back to that section of Matt's Gospel in early July.

[4:12] The title of today's message is Lord Over Death. Let's read the scripture.

[4:25] Please turn in your Bibles to Mark chapter 5. And as we read the scripture, let's bear in mind what I believe is the central theme of this scripture.

[4:39] Very simply, since man is desperately weak, and Jesus is infinitely powerful, we should have faith in him.

[4:53] Mark writes, beginning at verse 21 of chapter 5, Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.

[5:33] And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse.

[5:58] 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.

[6:16] 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?

[6:40] 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.

[6:51] 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.

[7:04] And he said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your disease.

[7:16] 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 what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, Do not fear.

[7:33] 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.

[7:50] People weeping and wailing loudly. And when he had entered, he said to them, Why are you making a commotion and weeping?

[8:02] 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.

[8:19] Taking her by the hand, he said to her, Talisa, call me, which means, little girl, I say to you, arise.

[8:31] And immediately, the girl got up, and began walking, for she was 12 years of age. And they were immediately overcome with amazement.

[8:45] And he strictly charged them, that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

[8:56] I've organized my thoughts for this message, into three sections, for the sake of clarity.

[9:11] Perhaps you realize what they are already. The first is, man's desperate weakness. Man's desperate weakness.

[9:26] The second is, Jesus' infinite power. And finally, a disciple's wise response.

[9:44] Already then, you can see, where this message, is going, and what we will be talking about. Man is helpless. See it, through the verses, that we've just read.

[9:56] Man is helpless. Jesus is powerful. And as believers, we should place our trust in Him. Man is helpless.

[10:08] Jesus is powerful. And as believers, we should place our trust in Him. Let's begin, with our first point.

[10:20] Man's desperate weakness. man's desperate weakness. Man's desperate weakness. Perhaps you have money in the bank.

[10:34] Maybe you're healthy. And maybe you have a good sense of where your life is headed.

[10:45] Well, not so fast. Not so fast. In the verses that we just read, Mark reveals our utter desperation by pointing to a number of human conditions.

[11:01] Mark makes plain who we really are. We don't have it all together. Mark makes clear to us. We live in what?

[11:14] In a world that is corrupted by sin, which has consequences. We know that the world is fallen because God purposed it to be that way before the ages began.

[11:34] The world is fallen because God purposed it to be that way. And I can't pretend to fully understand that. But here's what 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 9 says about this poem.

[11:51] It says, God who saved and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ before the ages began.

[12:10] Paul writes Timothy, and he says to Timothy that God gave us grace in Christ before the ages began. So God knew that we would be living in a fallen world.

[12:27] And it was his purpose and plan even before the world was created that he would extend grace to us. We live in a fallen world and we see it all around us.

[12:42] we see misery all around us. We see from the passage, from that passage in Timothy, that the plan for redemption was determined before the foundation of the world.

[12:58] And it was only necessary because of a fallen world. Redemption is only necessary because of a fallen world. it was done so that we might have hope in and affection for Christ.

[13:23] Mark opens this section of chapter 5 beginning at verse 21. He opens this section giving us a sense of how desperately weak we are.

[13:38] He tells us of this crowd of people. He says, a great crowd gathered about Jesus. And how many of you know that these people weren't there not because they had it all together.

[13:52] They were there because they were lost. Some of them were looking for something to eat. Some of them were looking for miracles. some of them were looking for instructions.

[14:06] But Mark uses this word crowd in his gospel 32 times to emphasize the fact that Jesus attracted crowds of people desperate for what he was offering.

[14:28] Desperate for a leader. And then Mark goes on to tell us a little about the humans human beings desperate condition.

[14:43] Beginning in verse 25. He tells us of this woman. He doesn't give her age. He doesn't give her name.

[14:54] But he tells us of this woman who was sick and gravely ill. She had a discharge of blood not for one week or one month or one year but for 12 years.

[15:18] Prolonged illness. this woman she didn't just stay there and hope that her pain and suffering would be alleviated.

[15:39] No, like many of us she went to the doctor and guess what? They didn't have the solution for her. In fact, Mark tells us that rather than getting better she grew worse.

[15:59] Man's desperate weakness. Mark doesn't tell us whether this woman was married or not.

[16:10] But if at this point she were not married during the 12 years of this situation that she was going through she would have been forbidden to be married.

[16:25] Indeed, under Jewish law she could not even be touched. This woman was in misery.

[16:38] She was suffering for 12 long years man's desperate weakness.

[16:50] And then to make matters even worse she gave the doctors all that she had. She spent all of her money to the doctors.

[17:07] and she didn't have the results to show for it. She was bankrupt on top of all of that.

[17:26] Then Mark helps us to see as we travel down the verses in this section. Mark helps us to see sorrow. people crying bitterly over the loss of a loved one.

[17:45] Pain. The human condition we see Mark reveals to us. He pulls out these instances that would help us to see how desperate we are in this fallen world.

[18:02] How many of you have been sorrowful over the loss of a loved one or something else.

[18:14] The loss of something that was dear to you. Then Mark helps us to come face to face with death.

[18:27] perhaps the clearest evidence of a fallen world is death. We will all die. All of us will die if Jesus does not return before.

[18:43] Every single one of us will die. Doesn't matter what you look like. Doesn't matter what is in your bank account, you're going to die.

[18:54] die. And Mark shows us that in these verses. Man's desperate weakness. And on top of all of that, Mark says, not only are we going to die, but he helps us to see that even a child dies.

[19:14] This 12-year-old, this young girl. Nobody could do anything for her in this world.

[19:27] No one could prevent death. No one could prevent her from dying. Oh, what a sad state we are in, in this fallen world.

[19:39] There is misery, there is pain, there is loss, there is suffering, and there is death. If that portrayal were the end of the story, man would be pitiful indeed.

[19:57] But Mark makes clear that Jesus resolves those vexing human conditions and so much more.

[20:11] And to do so, Mark shows us Jesus' power. power. Our next point is Jesus' infinite power.

[20:27] Jesus' infinite power. In the verses that we read, Mark shows Jesus' power to do a number of things.

[20:37] In the verses and the chapter, in fact, the verses and the chapters preceding, Mark has shown us already a few things about Jesus' power.

[20:50] He showed us Jesus' power over nature. He calmed the seas. Then he showed us Jesus' power over demons in the first 20 verses of chapter 5.

[21:04] How he delivered a man from many demons. And now he tells us that Jesus has power over prolonged sickness and even death.

[21:25] As we consider the accounts that Mark uses to make his case, it's important not to lose focus of Jesus' fundamental message.

[21:39] And I want you to hear this. Let's not lose focus of Jesus' fundamental message, which Mark points out in Mark 1, verse 14.

[21:54] But Mark records Jesus saying this at the start of his ministry. This is what Jesus says at the beginning of his ministry. The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.

[22:13] Speaking of himself, Jesus says the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. So here comes the time being fulfilled and the kingdom of God as it confronts a fallen world with man's desperate condition.

[22:38] Jesus was making the point that despite a fallen world in which pain and suffering abounded and where there was no way back to God, his arrival on earth was evidence that the long prophesied redemption was here.

[22:59] And he being the embodiment of redemption would demonstrate his power in various ways even as he showed compassion.

[23:17] The point is Jesus not only said who he was, he showed who he was and he did so with much care and compassion.

[23:31] But regarding the latter, regarding the care and compassion, consider Jesus' response to this Jewish leader that we read about, Jairus. Mark makes the point constantly that he was a leader, ruler of the synagogue.

[23:51] He says that, I believe, for emphasis, to make the point that here was this man who belonged to this group of men in particular, who tried to discredit and to belittle Jesus.

[24:13] Yet, Jesus was not vindictive. Jesus did not render to him what he received from that group.

[24:24] instead, Jesus was rather than going in a certain direction, Jesus was moved to help this man and to help the woman as well.

[24:49] And in doing so, Jesus demonstrated that he had concern about our physical condition. Let me say it again.

[25:01] Jesus, by doing this, by allowing himself to be deterred or to go in another direction when it was not initially planned, Jesus demonstrated that our physical conditions do matter to him.

[25:19] See, Jesus not sending the crowd away. He did not dismiss the crowd. He said he taught them.

[25:30] Throughout the Gospels, we see them. And this lady, this woman who had gone to all the doctors, well, I don't know whether it was more than one, but I know that she had gone to at least one doctor who could not heal her.

[25:52] But instead she grew worse. But she encountered Jesus. And she had in mind that if she could only touch the hem of his garment, she would be whole.

[26:10] That is exactly what happened. She touched the hem of his garment. And the Bible tells us that immediately the flow of blood dried up.

[26:28] Man's desperate weakness comes face to face with Jesus' infinite power. And the result is healing.

[26:40] The result is restoration. the result is dignity from indignity. You see what Jesus says to this woman.

[26:58] Jesus says, daughter, in verse 34, daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your disease.

[27:12] this woman was forgiven by the Lord, who had the power to forgive.

[27:26] And then we see Jairus' daughter have a this 12-year-old girl who was not well when Jairus first came to Jesus.

[27:47] But while on the way, she took a turn for the worse. And the message from Jairus' household was that this girl had died.

[28:03] And we see Jesus go into the home of Jairus and spoke to this girl. Little girl, I say to you, arise.

[28:20] Arise. And immediately the girl got up. Immediately the girl got up. Man's desperate weakness weaknesses.

[28:33] Being confronted by Jesus' infinite power. And we see the result. Someone who was dead coming back to life.

[28:50] We've seen how Mark sets out man's desperate weaknesses and Jesus' infinite power that is able to counteract those weaknesses.

[29:02] let's now consider how we as disciples are to live in view of those realities. How are we to live?

[29:16] Our third point is the disciples' wise response. The disciples' wise response. And here I'm talking about us how are we to respond as disciples.

[29:37] How do we live in view of the reality of Jesus' infinite power as outlined by Mark? You will be aware that Mark wrote this account in part to show us how disciples ought to live.

[29:58] to make the point of this section a little clearer I want to ask an answer this question.

[30:10] Here it is. Employing the account in Mark 5 verses 21 through 43. how does Mark through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit say that believers should live in light of their desperate weaknesses and Jesus infinite power.

[30:37] How ought we to live? I think the first thing Mark makes very clear to us is that we ought to have faith in Jesus.

[30:52] I think that that is an evidence that's the big point in this section that Mark tells us. Mark says listen you are weak and he is strong therefore you ought to have faith in him.

[31:07] See in verse 34 Jesus commands the faith of the woman in verse 34 and he said to her daughter your faith has made you well your faith has made you well and in verse 36 in verse 36 he says to Jairus do not fear only believe you and I ought to have faith I want to say a few words though about faith some have taken faith to mean have faith in faith rather than have faith in God there's a difference some some people teach having faith in faith but that's not what

[32:15] Jesus is talking about faith in God those who have faith in faith believe that faith is the stuff that makes up the universe and they teach that anyone whether a believer or a non-believer can access this stuff and they can get whatever they want and they ignore reality they ignore reality their foot is hurting and you ask them how your foot doing they say you know it's great never been better never been how's your hair today if it were ever better I'd scream they ignore reality positive confession they say is the force behind faith but I want to tell you today that Jesus is the force behind faith the faith that

[33:20] Jesus speaks about here is faith in him it starts and ends with a sovereign God and the believer plunges his or her circumstances into the hand of the sovereign God being fully persuaded that God will ultimately be glorified in and through his life faith and sovereignty go together faith and sovereignty go together because we don't know everything we don't know what God's sovereign will is what his plan and his purposes but what we do know is that wherever we are whatever the circumstances that God can be glorified in and through our lives you and I have every reason to pray to

[34:20] God with the expectation that he will answer our prayers because we know that he can we know he can so we can pray with that expectation often he does not do as we would like or we expect you know some people actually teach that we should expect heaven to come to earth and I don't understand that if heaven comes to earth what are we going to heaven for we can have heaven in heaven we going to have perfection in heaven not on earth how are we to respond in light of our reality and Jesus reality we ought to be prepared to be ridiculed because of our faith you see how they laughed at

[35:27] Jesus well if they laughed at Jesus imagine what they can do but with you they gotta laugh at you and they gotta call you names and you think it was bad in pastor's day well these young people let me tell you something you got the joke fake young people let me tell you it's going to be very very hard you gonna have to be prepared to stand for your faith you gonna have to be prepared to be ridiculed at university and college and on the job place but remember always that they laughed at Jesus but he had the last laugh well that he didn't the last laugh yet we can talk about that in a minute but what else what else should we do how ought we to respond we should have hope in a certain resurrection you and I as believers in light of the of

[36:48] God Jesus infinite power Mark tells us that we should he helps us to see he enlarges our sense of hope in a certain resurrection the raising of Jairus' daughter demonstrates that our hope is well placed aren't you glad today that Jesus gives us reason to hope that just like Jairus' daughter was raised from the dead just like he was raised from the dead our loved ones who died in him will be raised to everlasting life with him as will those of us who believe back helps us to see that he has the power to do that he has the authority to do that he has power over death he is lord over death yes we have the return of

[38:12] Christ to look forward to Paul writes about this in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verses 54 and 55 this is what Paul says these beautiful words that Paul penned to the church then shall come to pass then shall come to pass the saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory oh death where is your victory oh death where is your sting the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the Lord Paul continues but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our

[39:14] Lord Jesus Christ see Paul puts all of this together for us and he tells us that we can have hope in Christ for a sudden resurrection kingdom of God has come to us and will be revealed to us thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ Lord over death yes suffering there will be a day when suffering will be no more when sickness will be no more when financial distress will be no more when relational issues will be no more when death will be no more

[40:33] Mark chapter 5 and verses 21 through 43 those are just verses to give us a sense of what the dress rehearsal is going to be like as it were see Paul Paul continues in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 56 he tells us that in light of these realities we ought to do certain things he says therefore my beloved brothers that is therefore because of what Jesus Christ do for us because he has removed the sting of death he says therefore my beloved brothers be steadfast be immovable always abounding in the work of the

[41:38] Lord knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain that's the word those are the words that I commend to all of us today my beloved brothers be steadfast don't be tossed to and fro be immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord always abounding in the work of the Lord Jesus the one who has infinite power little weakling us in this fallen world he's done so much for us and he's demonstrated to us the gospel these pages are evidences of what he has done for us of what he is able to do so as we conclude today if you are a believer mark 5 reminds you that you have a redeemer who is not too busy to listen to your cry for help mark 5 reminds us that you have a redeemer who's not too busy to listen to your cry for help we saw it already

[43:10] Jesus stopped what he was doing to go to Jairus' house he stopped what he was doing while on the way to Jairus' house to help the woman with the blood problem he's not too busy to listen to your help he's concerned about your physical condition but not only is he capable of listening he has the power to help nothing not nature not demons not diseases nothing is a match for him indeed even death is subject to him so have faith in him to use you as he manifests his glory through you but if today you are an unbeliever standing outside the kingdom of

[44:18] God that exists today know that you will be outside of the kingdom when Jesus returns you cannot now appropriate the blessings about which we speak if you are an unbeliever and guess what can I share something with you if you are an unbeliever today even if you are right in your thinking even if you are right in your thinking the best you can expect is that you will die and hope that that's the end that nothing else can happen you die that's the end of it but what if you're wrong what if you're wrong and we know you are what if you're wrong guess what you too will rise however unlike believers you will be condemned you see the truth is either way you lose if you're an unbeliever either way whether you are right or wrong you lose and it is my prayer that

[45:53] God would be pleased to open your eyes to the truth that he would save you today I'm going to ask the praise team to come as we close up