Lost A Child (8_of_12)

Lost a Child? (8 of 12)

Meet Jesus

Mark 5:22

I'm really in some of the favorite preaching I like to

do. I really enjoy preaching about Jesus and what

Jesus can do for people and what Jesus did for people

in the New Testament and what Jesus can do for people

today. I enjoy that. I love when I am just really

focused in on our Lord and our wonderful Jesus is and

the power of Jesus.

In this study we are doing on Meet Jesus—people who

had problems and they meet Jesus—that's what we are

talking about. This morning we are talking about the

subject—Lost a Child? Meet Jesus.

Janet and I have never had the experience of losing a

child by death. But it must be a heart-rending

experience. There are folks sitting in this building

today and you have had that experience. You have lost

a child and probably you could say to us that there is

nothing more heart rending, there is nothing more

tragic than the loss of a child.

This week I got an email from my brother-in-law in

Georgia that he forwarded to me. It was from some

folks whose nine-year-old daughter is missing. It

says—"I am asking you all—begging you, please forward

this email on to anyone and everyone you know. PlEASE,

my nine-year old girl, Penny Brown is missing. She has

been missing for two weeks. It is still not too late.

Please help us. If anyone anywhere knows anything,

please contact me. All prayers are appreciated. It

only takes two seconds to forward this on. If it were

your child you would want all the help you could get."

You can imagine what that family is going through if

they haven't found their child. Some of you have lost

a loved one. I remember when I first came to the city

of Jacksonville; there was a doctor in the city whose

little child, about 10 years old, died. I remember the

heartache and the tragedy of that. That is a real

stressful time for a marriage. Unfortunately, that

particular marriage did not make it through that

tragedy. It brought a division—a divorce into that

family.

What a great tragedy is the loss of a child. Of

course, death is always a sad time. But the death of a

soldier may be draped in the flags of heroism. Or the

death of an old man may be wrapped in the glory of

completion. But the death of a child—that says

something is wrong somewhere. This is not meant to be

for a child to die.

Here is a man who has lost a child and in the loss of

his child, he meets the Lord Jesus Christ. His name is

Jairus. He has a twelve-year-old daughter who

eventually before the account is over, dies. We know

that death is no respecter of person. There is no age

limits to death.

A number of years ago I was walking through a country

cemetery and I ran across a tombstone of a fifteen-

year-old boy. I have never forgotten the poem that was

there. It went like this:

Remember, young men, as you pass by.

As you are now, so once was I.

As I am now, soon you shall be.

Therefore prepare to follow me.

Death is no respecter of persons. But I'm getting

ahead of the story. I want us to look at the various

scenes which transpire as we move down through these

verses of Scripture. The first scene I want to call

your attention to is a scene of -

I. DESPERATION.

We are told in verse 22 that there is a man who is a

ruler of the synagogue, Jairus, and his little

daughter, in verse 23, is at the point of death. One

of the writers says she is laying dying. She is almost

at the point of death. In one sense of the word, we

are all at the point of death, aren't we? In one sense

of the word, we will all come to that point and it

will thrust us through. In one sense of the word,

every day of our lives we are the point of death. An

accident comes and you are at the point of death. Or a

heart attack comes and in one stroke of the heart, you

are at the point of death.

Here is a little girl and here is a father filled with

desperation. For his daughter is at the point of

death.

We are told in verse 22 that Jairus was one of the

rulers of  the synagogue. This means he was a man of

reputation and responsibility and probably a man of

wealth. It was his task to arrange the ceremonies and

the services at the synagogue. It was his job to see

that the facilities were clean and everything was in

place.

Notice that regardless of the man's lofty position, it

did not in anyway make him immune to the tragedy and

the heartache that was going to come. Tragedy is no

respecter of persons. Those who may be in high places

experience tragedy just like everyone else experiences

tragedy. So there was a day when old death walked onto

the porch of this man's house and loudly knocked at

the door and didn't wait for an invitation. Old death

walked in and laid its icy fingers on that frail body

of that littler girl. Now, here is a man who is in

desperation.

The Bible says that this may comes to the Lord Jesus

Christ and makes a request. He makes his request

reverently because the Bible says that he falls at the

feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. He comes with great

reverence.

Some of you are witnessing to people and you can't

seem to get through to them. You are trying to talk to

them about their need of the Lord, but it may take a

crisis. There are some people that will never be

reached until a crisis comes in their lives. When the

crisis comes, that's when you will be able to get

their attention and talk to them about the Lord and

they will listen to you.

One morning life stepped up and looked Jairus in the

face. The death of his daughter was staring him in his

face and you are really not really ready to face life

until you have faced death. You are not ready to live

until you are prepared to die. You don't understand

what life is all about until you understand what death

is all about.

Here is a man who comes to the Lord reverently and he

comes to the Lord with his request passionately. Verse

23 says, "And he besought him greatly, saying."  Here

is a man who has lost all of his dignity. When a

crisis comes, all of that goes. He has lost his pride.

He has lost his prestige. He has lost all of his

prominence.  Every syllable here elicits desperation

and passion as he is coming to Jesus on behalf of his

child. That's what tragedy does to us, doesn't it?

I don't think he had any concern at all about whether

the synagogue had been swept that day. I don't think

he had any idea at all or was worried in any way about

who was going to have the prayer on the Sabbath day.

Tragedy and desperation has a way of bringing you to

the things that are really important and the things

that really matter in life. He makes his request

reverently. He makes his request passionately. He also

makes his request prayerfully.

It says in verse 23 that he came to Jesus and said, "I

pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her."  Evidently,

this man had heard about Jesus. Maybe he had seen

Jesus. Maybe he had been around when Jesus was

performing some of His miracles. Maybe he had seen

Jesus raise the dead. Maybe he had seen Jesus give

sight to blinded eyes.  Maybe he had seen Jesus help

lame people to walk. But evidently, even in his

desperation there is some degree and atmosphere of

confidence. He believes if he can get the child to

Jesus or Jesus to the child, that there is some hope

and some solution to his problem.

I would encourage all of you who are parents this

morning (I'm sure you do pray daily for your

children). It is a wonderful thing when parents begin

to pray for their children. And to pray for the

salvation of their children. It's a beautiful thing

when they are born the first time, but when they are

born the second time, it's an even more beautiful

thing. I covet for every one of you parents the joy of

answered prayer and seeing your boys and girls come to

know Jesus as their Savior.

Here is a man who has a desperate request. Here is a

man who is in desperation. He makes his request of the

Lord and the Bible says in verse 24, "And Jesus went

with him."  I think that is such a beautiful stroke

right there. When a person has a need it is a call for

Jesus to come.  Thank God for our wonderful doctors

today and thank God for all of the skill which the

Lord has placed in them. But there are some

situations, some cases that are beyond the ability of

the doctors to perform, but Jesus Christ has never

lost a case. There is no problem too impossible or too

difficult for the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, Jesus went with him.  A time of desperation is a

time for Jesus to step on the scene.

Notice now a scene of—

II. FRUSTRATION.

Get the picture. There was a big crowd. These were in

the days of the popularity of the Lord. People were

thronging Jesus. He could hardly move around. So there

is a big crowd here. The going is tough. Here is a man

with desperation. His daughter is at the point of

death. Time is of the essence and here's the crowd.

You can imagine how it is. You know how impatient you

get in a car when the traffic is heavy. If one of the

bridges is being repaired and you find yourself backed

up and you are trying to get somewhere for an

appointment. But think how it was for this man. I can

almost look at his face and I can almost see the

frustration adding to the desperation in his face. He

has a little daughter at the point of death.  "Why

don't they move? Why don't they get out of the way?"

it would be as if you had gone to get your doctor and

your daughter was at death. Now, you find traffic just

poking along. You feel like saying, "Get out of the

way."  You are blowing your horn.

Right in the midst of all of that, Jesus suddenly

stops. You know the story. There is a woman there who

had been suffering with a flow of blood for 12 years.

She touches the hem of the garment of the Lord Jesus

and healing power came from Jesus into her life and

she was made well. Then Jesus turns around and talks

for a little while and says, "Who touched me?" Here he

is. There is a delay here. Here's a man who is

desperate and now there is a delay. You can almost

imagine the frustration that is going on in this man's

life.

All of a sudden in the middle of that situation, we

are told in verse 34 that somebody from the ruler of

the synagogue's house comes running up. His eyes are

wide and his face is covered in sweat. He blurts out

to the man, "Thy daughter is dead, don't trouble the

master anymore."  The word order is actually different

in the original. The word dead is first.  "Dead is thy

daughter, why do you annoy the master anymore?" it

must have hit him like a brick. It must have torn his

heart out. All of a sudden his mind starts racing and

he thinks about that girl of his. How full of life she

was. He can see her laughing and see her running and

jumping and playing. Now the thought scorches his mind

as he thinks about her lifeless, dead body. What

frustration he must have felt.  "Why didn't they move

on? That old woman. Her life was behind her. My

daughter's life was in front of her. Why did Jesus

delay?"

Do the delays of Jesus Christ ever make you ask

questions? When Jesus doesn't move the way you think

He ought to move? When Jesus is not on the spot the

way you think He should be?  Let me give you some

words of encouragement. I want to say to you that the

delays of our Lord are not denials. Jesus Christ is

never late. Jesus Christ is always on time. Jesus may

seem slow and he may not always come according to our

clock. But Jesus Christ knows what He is doing in the

delays.

Listen to Isaiah 30:18. "And therefore will the Lord

wait, that he may be gracious unto you."  When the

Lord waits, it means that he has some graciousness He

wants to give to you.

In Habakkuk 3:2 it says, "Though it tarry, wait for

it." if the answer doesn't come to your prayer, wait

for it. If God doesn't rescue that wayward child, wait

for it. Hold on. Call on God. Don't let the delays

disturb you.

Jesus steps into the picture. Notice what the Bible

says in verse 36. "As soon as Jesus heard the word

that was spoke, he saith unto the ruler of the

synagogue, Be nor afraid, only believe."  One of the

writers adds that Jesus said, "She shall be made

whole."  Jesus is chasing his fear. What Jesus is

doing is on the negative. He is saying—don't be

afraid. Here's a man who had fallen into the jaws of

fear in the situation. So Jesus is chasing his fear.

He's addressing the negative—don't be afraid. But he

is also claiming his faith—only believe. Then the

writer adds, "She shall be made whole."

Do you know the antidote for fear?  It is faith. God's

answer for the time of fear is faith.  Trust in the

Lord. Believe in the Lord. Believe in the goodness of

the Lord. Believe in the power of the Lord. Believe in

the ability of the Lord to do something about the

situation and something about the need.

There is a scene of desperation. There is a seen of

frustration. Then there is a scene of—

III. RESTORATION.

Jesus says to the man—don't you be afraid, only

believe, your daughter will be whole Then in verse 37

he just takes Peter, James and John and makes His way

to the house of the ruler of the synagogue. As He

approaches the house, He sees a typical oriental

mourning scene. It is so typical. You can see it today

when you go home. Just turn on your Fox News network

or some other of the channels. Just let them carry out

by satellite to a scene in the Middle East. There you

will see dear people who have lost loved ones and dear

people who are in the midst of war.

By the way, the Bible tells us we should pray for the

peace of Jerusalem. We need to be praying earnestly

for the situation in the Middle East. I know what

prophecy says. I know it's all going to work out

according to prophecy, but on a daily basis we need to

pray for the peace of Jerusalem and the troubles and

the difficulties there. Look at the faces of precious

mothers who are losing children. It is a typical

oriental scene. Before Jesus gets there He hears the

flute players with their shrill notes. He hears the

loud and wild wailing of the people. As he approaches

around the house, it is utter bedlam. People are

beating their chests. They are pulling out their hair.

They are crying and screaming and there is total

chaos. That's the way the Orientals do it. That's the

way they express their grief.

Jesus walks up to that situation. Jesus says in verse

39, "Why do you make this ado?"  In other words, "why

all this racket? Why are you weeping? She's not dead,

she's sleeping."  Everybody knew she was dead. Yet,

Jesus comes along and says she is not dead; she's

sleeping. You know what happened. The Bible says they

laughed Him to scorn. They just started making fun and

ridiculing of the Lord Jesus Christ. So it says in

verse 40 that when they laughed him to scorn, he put

them all out. Jesus was not going to have the doubters

around when he did the miracle.

Are the minstrels of misery in your heart this

morning? Does the Lord Jesus Christ need to cast those

minstrels of misery out of your life this morning? It

says she is not dead; she is asleep. Now, he takes the

father and the mother of the young girl and he goes

with them that were with him—that is, Peter, James and

John.

Verse 40 says he enters in where the damsel was lying.

Jesus walks in where death is. Jesus walks in right

where death is. Jesus is an expert on the subject of

death. Today Jesus Christ is the One who has been here

and He has been there.

I remember the story about an old slave who was

getting ready to die. He began to talk about Jesus and

says, "I'm going to see Jesus, because Jesus is the

One who owns both sides of the river."

Jesus Christ is an expert of this side of the river,

but Jesus Christ is an expert of the other side of the

river as well. He's already been there. Jesus Christ

has already conquered death. When this account took

place it was before the cross. But we are reading this

account after the cross. We know that Christ is an

expert on the subject of death. He's the only One who

has died and who has come back to tell us anything

about it. That's what Easter was all about last Sunday

morning. I have good news for you. Last Sunday was

Easter; today is Easter; every day is Easter to the

born again child of God.

He walks in and there is death in that room. She's

dead. Jesus encountered three death scenes as best we

know in the Bible. There is this account of the

twelve-year-old girl who died. There is the account of

the widow of Naam's son. Then there is Lazarus who

died. It represents the various stages. This girl has

evidently just died. The boy had died and had been

dead a little bit longer. Lazarus had been dead for 4

days. There were different degrees of pollution and

different degrees of corruption. But they were all

dead.

It's kind of like a circle. There is no such thing in

a circle as round and rounder and roundest. Round is

round is round. In death there are no degrees in

death. There is not dead, deader and deadest.  Dead is

dead is dead. This girl is dead. Yet, Jesus Christ

goes walking in.

Notice what happens. It says in verse 41, "He the

damsel by the hand."  His hand. The hand that controls

the movements of the universe. His hand.  The hand

that moves the stars in their orbits. His hand. The

hand that causes the planets to stay where they are.

The one who upholds all things by the word of his

power, the one in whom all things are His hand. He

reaches down and His warm powerful hand takes the

frail, cold hand of that little girl and he says,

"Talitha Cumi." That's Aramaic. That's the language of

common people in the day of Jesus. It's the same kind

of language that the mother would have said to the

child when it was time to get up for school that day. 

Jesus in the language of the common people says to

her, "Young girl, I say unto thee, arise."

That statement was not only heard in that room. The

voice of Jesus wasn't just heard in that room, but it

was heard beyond and above that room. Jesus Christ

calls for that girl to come back. I can almost imagine

that the death angel has that precious little girl in

its arms. In mid flight the angel turns around and

returns the little girl and all of a sudden there is

life in that little girl.

That's what Jesus can do, ladies and gentlemen.  "Wait

a minute, preacher, hold everything. Jesus may have

called this girl back to life. He may have given this

family their child back, but it didn't happen in my

case.  What about my case? I had a child to die and I

prayed and I was just as desperate as this man was.

Preacher, I begged God to let my child live, but my

child didn't live. What went wrong?"

Let me talk with you just a minute. If you had a child

and God didn't spare the life of the child.  In this

instance in the New Testament, God showed compassion

on the parents, not on the child. The Lord didn't show

compassion on the child, bringing her back to this

earth. When Jesus brought her back, He brought her

back to a world of tears and trials and tumult. It's

like a caged bird and you open the cage and the bird

goes free. The bird is free to fly anywhere it wants

to. Then you recapture the bird and put it back into

the cage and the cage confines the bird again.

When this precious girl died and the Lord called her

back, he brought her back to this old world and sooner

or later she died again. In this instance God had

compassion on the parent, not the child.

But in your instance God had compassion on the child,

not on you. When Jesus said to this little girl,

"Little girl, I say unto you, arise." He was bringing

her back to this world. But the Lord said the same

thing to your child. The Lord said, "Little boy,

little girl, arise, but not to come back to this

world; but to go to a better world."  What Jesus is

saying to you and to me when the Lord let your little

child go to heaven, it means that God had purposes for

that little one up there in glory that you and I will

understand when you and I go to meet them again in

heaven.

Verse 42 says, "And straightway the damsel arose, and

walked." All of a sudden her little eyes began to

flutter.  All of a sudden her little cheeks turned

rosy again. All of a sudden there is life flowing

through this little girl. All of a sudden she gets up

and begins to walk. Everything that Jesus touches

comes to life. He touches a flower and it grows. He

touches the sea and it flows. He touches this little

girl and she comes alive. He touches lost people and

when Christ touches them by His saving power, they

come alive. They are made new in Jesus.

Verse 43 says, "And he charged them straitly that no

man should know it; and commanded that something

should be given her to eat."  When people are made

alive in the Lord, then they need spiritual food.

We have talked a lot about our Children's Building and

the pizzazz and all of that. But don't even

misunderstand what we are doing over here. What we are

going to do is teach the Bible to boys and girls. What

we are going to do is -we are not going to give them

sawdust; we are going to give them real food. We are

going to teach them to memorize scriptures.  We are

going to teach them the stories of Jesus and the

stories of the Bible. Because we understand that when

people come to know Christ, as their Savior the next

thing they need to get is to begin to get spiritual

food so they can grow and mature and become the strong

Christians that they need to become.

Some of you parents, this morning, need to get your

boys and girls to Jesus. The devil will do everything

he can to poison the mind and the heart and the life

of your boys and girls. Unconcerned and indifferent

parents can allow the things of this world to pollute

their sons and their daughters with all of its elicit

sex, with all of its immorality, with all of its

alcohol, with all of its drugs. Then they say—I'm not

going to influence them in religion. You better

influence them in religion. Get them to Jesus at an

early age before this world gets hold of them.

Boys and girls, I want to encourage you to come to

Jesus while you are young. Give your heart and your

life to Jesus while you are a child. I gave my life to

the Lord when I was a nine-year-old boy. I've always

been glad I did. I haven't always been glad of my

progress as a Christian, or my life as a Christian.

But I have always been glad I came to the Lord as a

young boy.

You might say children don't know what they are doing.

I've go news for you. Boys and girls today probably

know more today than you did when you were 20 years

old. I don't even know how to set my VCR. You can tell

what generation you are in when your VCR winks 12 at

you. If you want your VCR fixed, get your grandchild

to fix it for you. What do you mean they don't know

what they are talking about?

I can almost imagine the Sunday night I came forward

and accepted Jesus as my Savior, some old moss back

Baptist went home and said, "Well that Vines boy went

forward. He didn't know what he was doing."  I don't

know. It's lasted over 50 years. I evidently knew what

I was doing. I was saved at nine; I'm still saved at

64. Evidently I knew what I was doing. If the Lord is

speaking to your heart and you know you need Jesus,

when you hear the voice of the Lord and the Lord

touches your heart and you know you are a sinner and

you know Jesus died on the cross for you—that's the

time for you to invite Him into your heart.

Let's bow our heads in prayer.

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