DELIVERANCE NOW!

DELIVERANCE NOW!

Luke 8:40–56 KJV 1900

And it came to pass, that, when Jesus was returned, the people gladly received him: for they were all waiting for him. And, behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Jesus’ feet, and besought him that he would come into his house: For he had one only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying. But as he went the people thronged him. And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace. While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master. But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole. And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden. And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat. And her parents were astonished: but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done.

LUKE 8:40-56

UKE 8:40-56

UKE 8:40-56

The Gospel of Luke demonstrates two kinds of needs: developmental needs and deliverance needs. The chapter begins with Jesus telling stories, like the story about the man who went out to sow, illustrating that the kingdom of God is that which we must personally and willingly receive. This story was taught to the multitudes not because there was a crisis, but rather because they were in the normality of life. Just living a normal life requires that we take the Word of God into our hearts and that we grow accordingly.

But there are moments when life is not on a normal track, when we are in extreme danger. So the rest of describes moments of great danger, moments when deliverance is needed.

The disciples in the storm on the Lake of Galilee needed the deliverance of the One who had power over nature. The Gadarene demoniac who had the legion in him needed the power of Him who had the lordship over Satan and hell and the demonic hosts. The woman who pressed through the crowd needed the lordship of Jesus over the illness in her life. And Jairus' daughter needed the lordship of Jesus over death itself.

When we open our hearts to the gospel, we find that Jesus did miracles in four basic areas or realms over which He had authority: over nature, over demons, over illness, and over death. gives us four great stories which show Jesus' power and authority in moments when deliverance was needed.

The great majority of us are in need of a message that is developmental in nature or a message the will develop someone or something in your life. You're not here today under any sense of impending personal crisis. Nor are you going through a crisis right at the moment. It is an everyday kind of experience for you.

Yet, there are others in this room this morning who are going through a time of great personal danger, a moment when life is really tossing wildly on you just like the disciples' boat on the Lake of Galilee. Maybe it is related to something physical. Maybe it is related to a problem or a need or an adversity of some kind that you have faced. But you find yourself here today in crisis.

I feel especially burdened today for those of you who may be going through a time in your life where the Lord is asking you to deal with a wrongful relationship that you have entered, or where the Lord is asking you to put off immorality in your life or where maybe someone is here this morning who is having a great struggle getting off the bottle and becoming clear of both alcohol and drugs. Others are going through a struggle of realizing that bitterness has encased your heart and you're becoming very brittle and bitter in your spirit, or maybe your heart is becoming hard.

And the Lord has a word for you today who need a special act of deliverance from Him as well as a special word for all of us in the everyday, developmental needs that we have. I want to especially address this Scripture from the standpoint of the woman who presses through the crowd. She so beautifully shows us what faith is all about. And what it means to grow in faith on a developmental basis as well as what it means to have faith intersect our lives when we are in need of deliverance. I would like to illustrate and point out four things relating to her faith.

I. The mentality of her faith.

I. First, I would point you to the mentality of her faith.

Mark 5:28 KJV 1900

For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.

" What was she thinking?

Somehow in our life, if change is to take place, it must begin in the area of our thinking, in the area of our mentality.

Freedom in faith begins with what we think.

"If I but get to Jesus," she had to have been thinking it first, because thought is the forerunner, it proceeds the speaking

"If I but get to Jesus," she had to have been thinking it first, because thought is the precursor, it proceeds the speaking. George Wood's Sermons - George Wood's Sermons – New Testament.

Proverbs 23:7 KJV 1900

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; But his heart is not with thee.

Proverbs 23:7 KJV 1900

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; But his heart is not with thee.

Proverbs 23:7 KJV 1900

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; But his heart is not with thee.

We find in the Gospels that Jesus worked greatly in climates of belief. But He was unable to do great works, even in His hometown of Nazareth, because of the unbelief.

Proverb

This woman like many of us have a lot of unbelief to overcome in her own life. A lot of adversity to overcome. (Am not here to force you to do something against your will, but somewhere you are going to have to get up and move).

There was the longevity of her condition, which mitigated her believing that any change could take place. She had been ill for twelve years. And anyone who has been ill for that long knows that it is not easy to begin to believe that things could be different.

She also had the opinion of many doctors, which went against her and suggested to her that she was frozen and locked in time. The experts were saying, "You'll never get well."

In fact, Mark's Gospel, recording her need, says, "She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse" ().

Maybe you feel like, "I've seen all the doctors and spent all I had and I'm getting worse—not better." Luke simply omits the fact that she had spent all her money on doctors, because he's a doctor himself. He simply says, "No one was able to help her," which was the truth.

There was not only the length of her condition and the opinion of doctors, but there was the crushing crowd around Jesus which made it very difficult for her to press through. She didn't change her thinking and say, "There are so many people, I can't get in anyway. I just won't even try."

She even had to overcome her religious tradition, which bound her. She was in a religious tradition which said that a bleeding condition renders you unclean, ceremonially impure and therefore unable to go to the temple. And anything you touch and anyone you touch, becomes defiled.

I can see this woman, as she starts out, realizing that anything she touched and anyone she touched—theologically speaking—couldn't go to the temple because they'd be impure. They'd have to go through bathing in order to be ritually clean again. And yet, ignoring all that, she's pressing through the crowds.

She had to overcome the negativity of her religious tradition.

She had to even break through knowing that there was a more pressing need than hers that was driving Jesus. Jesus was on His way to Jairus' home and the little girl was at the point of death.

This woman was not at the point of death. The fact that the girl was at the point of death is illustrated by the fact that, when Jesus stops and helps the woman, by the time He was done helping her, the girl in Jairus' home has died.

There are many times we feel the Lord's busy elsewhere or "I'm not worthy." We have to get past that kind of mentality, that we're not worthy. We have to get past the mentality that the Lord doesn't really want to have anything to do with us and instead begin thinking, "If this daughter Jaurus can get to Jesus, things will be different for me as well." She was thinking.

"For she said within herself"

When she got up that morning and found Jesus was coming to her town, she started to say, "If I could get there... I know He's going to be busy... I know there will be people around Him... but if I can touch even His cloak, I'll be well." She made her way out of the house and said it again. As she pushed aside the crowd, she said it again within herself, "If I can get there."

The imperfect tense describes action that was happening for a period of time. It was repetitive action. It's interesting the verb tense used here of this woman is not that "she said"—aorist tense, meaning she only said it once—but it's the imperfect tense instead.

Positive confession people have seized here on a valid point, when they say, "What you say is what you get." The only problem with positive confession people is that, somehow, in using the principle, they abuse it by leaving out the sovereignty of God. You can say something all you want and, if God chooses not to do it, you can say it 'till you're blue in the face and spitting quarters out your ears, and God is still not going to do it. But there is a valid principle of faith in that, "What you say is what you get," and that language creates reality.

If you don't believe that language creates reality, I'd like you to have the experience of talking to a forty-year-old person who is an overachiever and successful, who is still hearing the words from their childhood from parents, "You'll never amount to anything. You're clumsy. You're no good." We carry those kinds of realities, created by words all our life, and struggle with them. Words create reality, and self-talk is so important.

Acts 1:8 KJV 1900

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

When He told the disciples to go to the uttermost part of the world—was making a faith statement. I don't think He did it hesitantly or apologetically or sort of mumbled it. But when He said, "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth," He knew that there were over 33,000 persons in the world at that point for every single believer in Palestine, and 2.8 million persons in the world for every believer in the world. Yet He knew they were going to do it. And His statement ultimately created the reality. We need to take authority in our language and be careful in what we say.

III. The Language Of Faith is the action of faith.

This woman did more than think and she did more then say. She did. She acted. She did four very important things. She got up. She got dressed. She got out. And she got through.

And all of those are tough when you're sick. It's tough to get up. And when you get up, it's tough to get dressed. And when you get dressed, it's tough to get out. And when you've gotten out, it's tough to get through. But she did it.

There is this cycle of life which says, "What you think is what you say is what you do is what you think is what you say is what you do."

Even in receiving the Lord into our life, the basic of the Christian life begins with this sequence of thought, speech and action.

Romans 10:9 KJV 1900

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Romans 10

IV. This lady's faith speaks to us is that the object of her faith becomes Jesus.

Faith has an attitude. Faith has a language. Faith has an action to it. But faith must have an object.

This woman wanted to get to Jesus and, evidently, at the time she wanted to get to Jesus, the object of her faith was the hem of His garment.

You would have found her kind at the shrine of Lourdes, hoping that at the magical moment, the cure would be given. She had faith in a point of contact. Faith is a wonderful thing. You can have faith, but not have faith in Jesus. Faith works as a principle, even divorced from Jesus.

That's why there's so much stuff on positive thinking today, because faith works, even if it's divorced from Christ. It works.

But the object of her faith appears to be in the robe of Jesus. I think that's why Jesus stopped the whole parade and turned around and said, "Who touched Me?" "What a stupid question," Peter says. "You've got to be kidding. Look at all these people around You. It's a mass of people. What do You mean?" Jesus says, "Power went out." What is Jesus doing? He's wanting this woman to identify herself, so that He may help her to know that it was a combination of her faith and Himself that made her well. It was not the magical touching of the robe or the point of contact. It was the power of Jesus that had made her well.

We place our faith, not in faith, but in the Lord. That's perhaps where we become separated from those who are heavily into the positive confession movement. Faith needs an object, just like love needs an object.

We place our faith, not in faith, but in the Lord. That's perhaps where we become separated from those who are heavily into the positive confession movement. Faith needs an object, just like love needs an object.

If you're a young person and you're in love and I come up to you and say, "I hear you're in love! Who are you in love with?" You wouldn't say, "Nobody in particular. I'm just in love with love." I'd reply, "You need help!"

We don't fall in love with love. We fall in love with a person. We don't fall in faith with faith. There are people who are in faith with faith. As though faith were a God. We're in faith to God. That allows God to demonstrate Himself, by either changing our circumstances or changing us in the circumstances. But it allows God the freedom to be God and us to still come to Him with our needs and our burdens.

The object of her faith was the Lord. This story, I think, focuses us on the moral realm in areas of disobedience in our life, to let us ask if we're willing to come to a moment in which we bring that need for deliverance in our life to the Lord.

There may be those who say, "I always wanted to get free of my addiction to chemicals or alcohol." The Lord, through this story, is saying, "Now is the time to do it." Ask the Lord to do it and help you to do it. Now's the time to lay aside the sin that so easily besets, and clear moral wrong, and ask the Lord to intercept and give us His mind and His language and the action that we should take in regard to that.

When the woman is healed, Jesus goes to the synagogue ruler's home—Jairus' home—and there, He finds the little girl has expired. Jesus' view is that death is not the cessation of existence, but rather, death is "sleep."

So He wakes her and restores her, illustrating that the deepest need in our life, which we may think and feel goes beyond the woman, is actually the need that is so deep that it seems to have a deep a hold, as death itself.

The Lord of glory shows us—through His Word—that even in those moments when there's no hope, from a human point of view, He is there and present to minister to us. Deliverance now. It's a matter of making up our mind and getting to Jesus and bringing our need to Him for His help and healing.