Desperate Faith

Welcome

Small talk as needed

Intro

Part 3 of series on Jesus’ power

In our first we covered Jesus power over nature

last week we discussed His power over demons and spiritual warfare

this week we will complete the series with Jesus’ power of sickness, and death

Today we will discuss faith through desperation.

Charles Spurgeon had a great point on this top or illustration if you will that I will summarize

Especially conisdering I am a FF by trade I will share it with you

Paraphrasing here..

Our condition is like that of a child in a burning house, who, having escaped out to the edge of the window, hung on by the window sill. The Flames were oouring out of the window underneath, and the poor child would soon be burned. Or, if he fell he would be dashed to pieces. He, therefore, helod on with the clutch of death (with a deathgrip as we would say today). He did not dare to relax his grasp until a strong man stood underneath and said, “Boy, Drop! Drop! Ill catch you.” Now, it was no saving fatith for the boy to believe that the man was strong - that was a good help toward faith - but he might have know that and still perished (as in even though he knew the man was stong and could catch him, he still didnt trust that he would)

It was faith when the boy let go and dropped down inot his big friends arms.

And it is that same kind of deperate faith that we will see today

Between Jairus and the woman that had no where else to turn, every other avenue had been exhausted

and that, is when they found Jesus

Let us read our text for today

Luke 8:40-56

Desperate Fear produces Desperate Faith

What is Faith?

We all seem to display it, we all seem to want it

Some even acuse us of Blind Faith, a faith that is based on fairy tales in a 2000 year old book

But we know, that our faith is not blind in that sense

Our faith is based on the knowledge of God, it is based on the fact that we can reason, that we can gain wisdom, that we can gain knowledge

The fact that we can know things about God and deduct that this must be real

So when we are accused of having blind faith I must chuckle, because everything points to the God of the bible, Creation crys out his Glory

And its through our observation, through our inner soul that we know something is out there,

In fact faith is a gift from God, so that none of us can boast. A gift delivered once we have gained insight and ackowledged Gods pressence

Faith is not a work,

Faith saves us..

Faith according to Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

We will finish our conversation about faith at the end of this message

So let us continue by answering the question

Who then is this… The power of Jesus

Intro to the text

We will also find this account in Matthew 9:18-26 and Mark 5:21-43

V40 Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. 41 And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus’ feet, he implored him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Where did Jesus return from..

He just returned from across the sea, casting out the demon legion we discussed last week

and the crowd welcomed him

At this point Jesus had a reputation, many had already seen his healings and his miricles

Im sure this crowd was mixed with those desperate for Jesus, those still on the fence, and those that were trying to observe him so that they could find a way to arrest him

Yet, the people were excited, and wanted to see more miricles

A man named Jairus met Jesus at the shore

And while the masses of people were excited to see Jesus

Jairus was desperate to meet Jesus

So who is this Jairus

Jairus is a ruler or the synagoggue

As the ruler of the synagogue Jairus would have been wealthy and a man of authority, more of an aristocrat than a scribe or pharasee but none the less that is circle he ran in

He was in charge of the services as well ensured the synagogue was clean, maintained. He ensured that only the ones properly fit for enry were allowed. It is well known that he took religious laws seriusly, and would not interact with anyone that is unclean..

Yet, he fell at the feet of Jesus, whom just returned from a gentile country, where he not only came in contact with “unlcean” spirits, but also with pigs and gentiles.

Marking Jesus as unclean as it gets

Yet again, he fell at Jesus’ feet. See all the rules, all regulations, kosher, non kosher,

none of that mattered, he had other things on his mind

His 12 year old daughter, who was dying

And this, as most of us in this room are parents, is someting we can relate to.

What would we do for our children, when they are sick, when they are in need, when (and I do not say this lightly), they are on the verge of death

Jaiurs, must have been a man of influence, a man of wealth, a man that had many friends and we have no reason to believe that he didnt hold anything back when it came to healing or treating his daughter.

But obviously nothing up to this day had worked.

Seeing who Jesus was, seeing the miricles he performed, must have gotten him thinking,

What about that Jesus, that Jesus who breaks the sabbath, that Jesus who picks apart the traditions of the very synagogue he works for

This jesus, he must be this mans last hope

And isnt that what we find all to often? How often do we try to fix everythign ourselves, I myself for a long time thought my problems were too trivial for God, he had better things to do

But God calls us for just the opposite, he calls us to bring everything to him....

Unfortunatly, for one reason or another, a lot of times we wait untill we are desperate, untill we see all other avenues blocked, that fall at the feet of Jesus

just as Jairus did

It says Jairus implored Jesus

The very definition of implored is to beg someone earnistly, or to desperatly ask for something

So here we have it, this esteemed, respected man, this leader of the elders of the church

seeking jesus in humility, respect, reverance… he was immidiatly transformed from respected aristrocrat… to desperate

As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. 43 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone.

And here beloved, our stories merge, our intertwined stories of divine providance emerge

We just met Jairus and now we are meeting the woman

The other part of the story

The interutption we should say to the healing of Jairus’ daughter

See as Jesus was walking with Jairus to his home

His popularity was emerging, the crowd was realizing who was there

Just as we see the poporatizzi surround a celebrity,

so we see the crowd converge on Jesus,

In this crowd was a woman, a woman who is never named, yet a woman whom dispalyed a differant kind of desperate faith

See while jairus’ faith was springboarded by his daughters sickness

This womans faith was springboarded by her own sickness

it says she had a discharge of blood for 12 years

very likely this sickness started the same yer that Jairus’ daughter was born

The passage also notes thats not only did she have this discharge for 12 years, but she spent all of her money trying to find a cure, trying to be healed. Seeing every docotor of the day, scouring the galliian coutryside for relief and never finding it

Due to this bleeding she had lost all of her wealth as she spent it diligently on physicians

Due to this bleeding she was denied access to synagogue, being turned away due her status of being unclean

see according to Lev 15:19 and Deut 22:22 the kind of bleeding this woman had was unclean

possibly even turned away by the ruler of the synaguage, jairus himself

Let us not downplay this, I really want to drive this point home

worship in the synagauge was an extermely important social event and came with status

the inability for a jewish woman or man to worship or attend services was detrimental

so again just picture it with me, men dont fully understand but woman can associate with the discomfort that comes with this type of bleeding or discharge

the cramping, the uneasiness, the.. well you understand

so lets imagine those constant pains in addition the fact that whe was unable to worship in the temple or in the synogauge

And according to the law you, you could not come in contact with anyone that was unclean because that would cause you to be uncelan

very similar to leperacy

She too, was most likey banished from society due to her unclean disease or sickness

So essentially, this woman had lost her health, her wealth, her family, her social status, and her ability to fully worship

she was tremedously desperate, seemingly just as desperate as Jairus

but just as jairus was led to Jesus, so was she, possibly seeing his miricles first hand

or possibly it was seeing jairus fall at his feet

that inspired her to step out in faith

as verse 44 picks up

44 She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased.

Again, we see this power of Jesus, similar to the power we saw over nature

This power to make her bleeding cease

and similar to stopping the storm, the bleeding did not slow down, it did not ease up

scripture says the bleeding ceased.. was done….

this was done simply thorugh faith in the fact that she believed that simply touching the fringe of his garment would heal her

The jews were given the order to wear 4 tassels on each of the corners of thier tunic in Numbers 15:38-41. They were to do this in rememberance of Gods commandments

And here is this woman, desperatly seeking out the faith she only read about in the Torah, touching the fringe of Jesus’ garmet

remembering Gods commandments

praying for a miricle

a miricle that she recieves

The word touched here in greek is a word that deserves emphasis, beause it doesnt simply mean touched

it means clinged to, grabbed, embraced, its the same greek word that is used in John 20:17 when Maray Magnaline clinged to Jesus after his resurection

She clinged to Him, as if her life depended on it

45 And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” 47 And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. 48 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

Oh the grace of Jesus

Oh the power of Jesus

Oh, the compassion of Jesus

after the woman clung to Him, she let go, she knew that just by touching him it would deem him unclean, it would defile him

she did not think of herself worthy enough to even touch Jesus’ tassle so she did it secret and took full advantage of the fact that the crowd was pressing in on him

She also immidiatly felt that she was healed, so she planned to quitly sneak back into the crowd, fade away and enjoy her new found healing

However, Jesus had other plans

For Jesus knew of his power, and we also know of his compassion

and here we see the insight of how that compassion and power come together

See her faith made her well, through His power

And he was not ashamed of her being unclean, he was not ashamed to be associated with woman banished from society

He asked who touched me, I felt the power go from me

Peter almost laughing as Peter was so prone to putting his foot his mouth says

how are we to know… the crowds are pressing in on us

Jesus responds alomst ingnoring Peters repsonse with

I percieve that power has gone out from me

Something about this power must have been differant, something about this power that left him with the need of acknowleding its recipient

did he know who it was, most likely in his all knowing sense yes, but he also wanted her to come forward and acknowledge the source of the power

see this power was differant as we will soon see because this simply was power practicing domintion this was power that saved.

Not physcially saving, but spiritually saving..

Convicted, she fell down at his feet just was have seen the disciples, the demons, and the ruler of the synogauge do

trembling and admitting what she had done, that she tried to do a sneak attack if you will of jesus’ healing power

But I can just imagine Jesus smiling at this point, and telling her

Daughter, your faith has made you well, go in peace

See Jesus absolutely healed many people, but not all of them were saved in the process

I can think off the top of my head an example when he healed the 10 lepors later in Luke 17:11-18

How only one came back to praise God for the healing, and to him he said, your faith has made you well

See Jesus had done more for her that just heal her physical sickness, giver her back her social status, restore the possibilty to work again

he gave her salvation through her faith

and he calls her daughter, as she is welcomed into the family of God

49 While he was still speaking, someone from the ruler’s house came and said, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more.” 50 But Jesus on hearing this answered him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.” 51 And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child. 52 And all were weeping and mourning for her, but he said, “Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.” 53 And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. 54 But taking her by the hand he called, saying, “Child, arise.” 55 And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given her to eat. 56 And her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.

And here it is, the pinicale to what we have been working up as we conclude this short sermon series, but also as we conclude chapter 8 of Lukes gospel

So far Jesus has showed power and dominion over nature (calming the seas)

He has shown power and domintion over the evil in this world by casting out the army of demons from the man across the lake

He has shown his power over sickness by healing the woman that had become unclean through persistant bleeding

And now the culmination

His power over death

It would have been easy for Jairus to disregard and become utterly frusterated with Jesus and this interuption that occued on the way to heal his daughter

But something in Jairus knew, that even though he was just informed that his daughter had passed

even though they informed him there was no more reason to trouble the teacher

He knew he would continue on with Jesus

The account in Matthew offers what Jairus said to Jesus “my daughter has just died, but come, lay your hands on her, and she will live

Displaying the desperate faith that he had come to recieve and perhaps being inspired by the woman Jesus just healed,

Jairus wanted Jesus to continue

and so Jesus reaffirmed that by saying “Do not fear, only believe, and she will be well”

So they continued, when he arrived at the home he took his inner 3 (Peter, James, and John) the mother and father, and went into the daughters room.

Many were already there weaping as was the custom of the day, this part of mournign was so prevelant and critical to Jewish customs that they often would even hire proffesional mourners

So these proffesionals, would have know death when they saw it

Which is exactly why they laughed at him when he told them she was only sleeping

Jesus and the small enterouge then approached her room and called to her, Child arise.

And she did

and with compassion in the face of doubt, he simply asked her to arise

and with this his power over death was displayed

So as we close out this sermon series I would like us to once again focus on faith

Faith that comes from knowing that Jesus Christ is lord over everything

He answerd the question the disples asked earlier in chapter 8

who then is this,

He answered it in displaying his power over every kind of miricle

And one of the biggest miricles I can think of is the gift of faith

See, our faith does not need to be based in desperation as we saw today

It does not need to be based on deliverance and good verses evil as we saw last week

and it does not need to based on fear as we saw from the diciples on the boat during the storm

Our faith, needs to based and rooted in the person Jesus Christ

Our faith can be alive and well thorugh Him and in Him

Because our faith is not in this world, our faith is not wrapped up material things that produce wealth here on early only for the moths to one day eat away

See our faith is in things to come, our faith is based on the fact that things wont be perfect here on earth

Becuase we live in an inperfect world wrecked by sin going all the way back to the fall with adam and eve

we live in a world where evil is real and being a christian isnt easy. Being a christian shouldnt be easy

But we know, that through faith we are to receive grace, and it is through faith that we are saved

And when we are saved by grace through faith we can inherit eternal life with our Lord Jesus Christ

But to do that we must turn from our own ways, embrace Jesus as God, recognize his death and resurrection from the dead and turn to him.

Then and only then can we be assured that one day we will reside with Him

finding rest next to Power that created the universe, and the power that saves humanity

Thank you