Week of Meetings 05 Christ-Master and Saviour — David Clifford

Well, I've never heard that hymn before in my life, and I think it's a lovely hymn, and you sang it very well, too, in spite of the fact that there are not many hundreds of us this morning. I always enjoy the singing here, and it's quite an inspiration.

At one informal meeting, where they had a lot of singing and a lot of informal talking, the chairman said to the preacher, he said, Shall we let them enjoy themselves a little longer, or will you give your talk now?

Quite a loaded question, that one. Well, I know here at Parker-le-Palm that a message from the Word is an enjoyment, as well as the singing of these beautiful hymns, and that was a new one to me. Now, this morning, with the Lord's help and between us, we will look at the chapter 5 of Mark, Christ the Master and Christ the Saviour.

Faithfulness to God's Grace in Small Gatherings

Now, don't worry about the small numbers, I'm not too concerned myself. I've learned through the years to try to be faithful with God's grace with a few present, even when, as well as when there's a big crowd.

So, as long as by the end of the week, the last morning conference on Friday morning, if there are two or three gathered together, it's getting down now, if there are two or three gathered together in the Lord's name on Friday morning, I'll be satisfied because the Lord will still be here according to his promise.

Christ the Master in Mark 5

Now, we'll read a few verses from Mark 5, verse 1 to 8 first of all. They came over unto the other side of the sea into the country of the Gadarenes, that's on the east side of the lake of Galilee. And when they were come out of the ship, immediately they met him out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs, and no man could bind him, no, not with chains.

Because he'd been often bound with fetters and chains, and chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces, neither could any man tame him. And always night and day he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones.

And when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, and cried with a loud voice and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of God most high? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.

For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. Now verse 18. When he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the demon prayed him that he might be with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but said to him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.

And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him, and all men did marvel. When Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him, and he was nigh unto the sea.

Behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name. When he saw him, he fell at his feet, and besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lies at the point of death. I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, and she may be healed.

She shall live. Jesus went with him, and much people followed him, and thronged him. Verse 32. And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing, touched him. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.

He said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole, go in peace, and behold of thy play. While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead, why troublest thou the master any more, any further?

And as soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Thee not afraid, only believe. Verse 41. And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha Kumai, which is being interpreted damsel, I say unto thee, arise.

Straightway the damsel arose and walked. For she was the age of twelve years, and they were astonished with great astonishment. He charged them straightly that no man should know it, and he commanded that something should be given her to eat.

May the Lord bless to our hearts that reading from his word, and now our meditation thereon. There is a word in Paul's prison epistles which you know very well, where he says, I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.

Now there is another beautiful translation which says, I am master of every situation in Christ who makes me strong. That's a triumphant note. And why is it that the believer is master of every situation in Christ who makes him strong?

Because Christ himself has proved himself to be the master of every situation. And when he was here on earth, there were loads of different kinds of situations into which the Saviour came, and he proved himself sufficient for everyone.

Not one of those situations got on top of him. He was the controller, and he proved himself to be the master. He was the master of despair, he was the master of disease, he was the master of death, and he was the master of the devil.

And these ideas we find in this chapter this morning. That's why I have headed this morning's message, Christ the Master and Christ the Saviour. Now these three people here, the hopeless man, the helpless woman, and the lifeless child, all needed deliverance in their particular way.

The hopeless man wanted deliverance from the devil, and the helpless woman wanted deliverance from her disease, and the lifeless child wanted deliverance from death, and Jesus was just the Saviour to meet each and every need and prove himself sufficient and the master of every situation, as I said.

So here in chapter 5, Christ is the master. Now when we come on to chapter 6 tonight, we see the Lord Jesus portrayed in no end of different ways. And it's good to have our minds filled with the person of Christ and his wonderful ministry and his ability to control every situation.

Christ's Authority Over Demons and Violent Lawlessness

As far as the hopeless man was concerned, no man could tame him. As far as the helpless woman was concerned, no doctor could heal her. And as far as the lifeless child was concerned, no one could save her.

Now the hopeless man represents the spirit of violent lawlessness. The devil was in control. The helpless woman represents the spirit of vain self-effort. She herself was in control. She did all that she could vainly.

And the lifeless child represents the spirit of veritable despair. The spirit of violent lawlessness, the spirit of vain self-effort and the spirit of veritable despair. In the story of the hopeless man, we have a revelation of our Lord's authority, his authority over the demons.

And in the story of the helpless woman, there is the revelation of our Lord's authority over disease. And in the story of the lifeless child, there is a revelation of our Lord's authority over death. He is the master of the demons.

He has authority over them because he's the Son of God. He has authority over disease because he's the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. And he has authority over death because he is the life of God.

He is that eternal life. He is the life of God personified. He is that eternal life. Well now, let us look at the first one a little more closely. And this man was in the grip of the evil one. And the spirit of violent lawlessness is the spirit of the evil one.

The Apostle Paul puts this very, very plainly in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. There is the man of sin and perdition and there is the spirit of lawlessness and the two are really one. Now as far as this man is concerned, external remedies of coercion and restraint had completely failed.

He was in a bad way. Now you find a man in the grip of the devil. A young man with a spirit of violent lawlessness, try and coerce him, try and restrain him, try and persuade him and generally speaking you'll try in vain.

It is the work of the devil in his heart and only a stronger than the strong one can set him free. Now this man of course was more than a case for a local psychiatrist, wouldn't you think. And there is so much of the spirit of lawlessness and violent lawlessness in the world today and in America and Britain in relation to the taking of drugs, that psychiatrists are really at a loose end.

You see these are spiritual issues and the answer is spiritual and the complete answer is only in the spirit of Christ and his almightyness. Now Dr Martin Lloyd-Jones, one of our greatest preachers in London, although he's not in London so much these days, he's retired from Westminster Chapel.

He left his lucrative position in Harley Street as a specialist physician. Harley Street is where all the big noises have their offices in London. He left this some years ago to go into full time ministry of the word and the other specialist doctors in Harley Street gave a dinner in his honour as he was leaving and one of them in his speech said, we can't understand Dr Martin Lloyd-Jones why it is you leaving this lucrative position here in Harley Street to go and preach the gospel for a mere pittance.

Well he said, I have come to the conclusion that 75 of the people that come to me and probably to us here in Harley Street are suffering spiritually, their problems are spiritual problems. So he said, therefore I've made up my mind, I'm going to try to be a blessing to the 75 and gentlemen I'm going to leave you to look after the 25%.

Now we must face it these days that if there's anybody really in a bad way don't first of all think of flying to the psychiatrist or sending them to this person. Think of the almightiness of the saviour and his ability as was manifest in this case and Jesus is the same today we were saying the other day and it's true today.

Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today, Wednesday and forever because he is the immutable son of God. When sinners to the saviour came the weary ones found rest. He pardoned and he healed them all and each one who came was blest and he is enough.

Now you see this man or these people today who crowd in the offices of the psychiatrists find that they are either under the oppression of the devil and they need Christ to set them free or they have a guilt complex and they need forgiveness through faith in Christ or they have a spirit of restlessness and despair and they need the Prince of Peace controlling their lives.

Isn't that true? Of course it is. Don't fly to the psychiatrist. Fly to the living son of God and prove his ability in your present experience as this man did. And so the evil spirits asked that they might go into the swine and of course he gave them leave so to do.

Not that he always gave way to evil spirits. That's not the idea. But to prove and show that they had departed from the man and to confirm the man's faith. I'm quite sure that was the reason for our Lord's agreement in this case.

Now look at the man's transformation. It's beautiful to see. He was sitting, he was clothed and he was sober. He was sitting instead of disquieted and restless. He was clothed instead of denuded and naked.

He was sober instead of deluded and raging. What a glorious transformation. If any man is in Christ he is a new creation. He was sitting, he was now at rest. Instead of peering around the tombs he was resting at the Saviour's feet.

You know lots of Christians today have never found what this man has found. Rest in the presence of the Saviour. It's the greatest blessing on God's earth for any child of God. Rest in Christ who is our life.

Try it. Trust him for everything. Rest in his sufficiency and the almightyness of his indwelling spirit. Try it. Try him. Rest. Not struggle. In one of our hymns we've just been singing about clinging.

I don't believe in struggling. I don't believe in clinging. I believe in resting in Christ who is our life. And in Hebrews 4 this is the message. It's not talking about there remaineth a rest for the people of God in the glory.

Now you've been taught that in brethren assemblies. That's not the interpretation of Hebrews 4. Rest for the people of God. But in Hebrews 4 it's talking about thy faith now entering into his rest. Like the children of Israel every day on the way to the land of rest they rested around the Ark of the Covenant in the presence of their God.

They found rest every day on the way to the land of rest. The greatest blessing on God's earth for God's people is present rest in Christ who is our life. Well I haven't got to get on that subject unless I should get carried away.

But it's a tremendous thing brethren. Enter into it. Sisters, just give up, let go and let God and rest in Christ. This man was resting, sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus instead of disquieted and restless.

And you know the Jew never falls on a restless night. Last night there was no Jew. And the Jew and barm of God's blessing and peace they never come to a restless soul. Let us turn to Christ and his almightiness and rest in his sufficiency.

Well I suppose sitting speaks of his rest in Christ and the clothing speaks of his holiness in Christ and the soberness speaks of the mental peace that he had now that Christ had set him free. All right, look at the people for a moment of that area.

And their request, they requested the Lord Jesus that he would depart from their coast. Now wasn't this a tragedy? He was a man set free from Satan, sitting and clothed and sober and they said, Lord you did it, will you go?

Can you understand that? This is just typical of humanity today. Here is the Almighty Saviour and they don't want him. Here is the Son of God with power and they won't have anything to do with him. And they feared, I'm sure, that if he stayed other things might have to go just as the swine had gone.

And of course the Lord Jesus will never stay unwanted. He's always waiting for a welcome to stay as he did in Luke 24 on the way to Emmaus. Notice the contrast here between the man's request to be with him and the people's request for him to leave.

Now, Harold Finjan in his book quotes John Oxenon's poem about these people and their request and their swine and I think it's very forceful. Rabbi be gone, thy powers bring loss to us and ours. Our ways are not thine, thou lovest men, we swine.

All get thee gone, omnipotence, and take this fool of thine. His soul? What care we for his soul? Since we have lost our swine. The Christ went sadly. He had wrought for them a sign of love and tenderness divine.

They wanted swine. Christ comes without your door and gently knocks. But if your gold or swine the entrance blocks he forces no man's hold. He will depart and leave you to the treasures of your heart.

So much for the hopeless man. No man could tame him. What about the helpless woman? I ought to say one more thing about this man. The Saviour said to him, go home and tell. And he called for a confession here amongst his own people which is always of course the best thing to do when your life has been changed by Christ.

Go home and tell. So he became an evangelist to ten cities. Now when I was a young fellow I was an evangelist to one city, the city of Birmingham. I used to take a big marquee and go round the big housing estate sometimes 25, 30 ,000 people on this estate and 25 on that estate and so on.

And I used to put the big marquee in the middle and we had ten campaigns and started assemblies that way round the city of Birmingham. But this man was an evangelist to ten cities straight away. He began to publish in Decapolis.

That's an area where there were ten cities actually. The name Decapolis means ten cities. All right, well now the woman. Notice here our Lord's authority over disease. She was suffering from haemorrhage for 12 years and here was an expression of vain self-effort.

She did all that she could of herself and I got others other than the Saviour into her case and she was getting worse. And self-effort often and practically always leads to a worsened state. But now of course she hears a rumour one day.

Somebody says to her, there is a new prophet in the land. She said, I can't believe it. They said, yes, it's Elijah come back from the dead. He said, don't believe it, how do you know? Well they said, his working miracles.

So she started to get interested. She needed a miracle in her life. Somebody else came one day and they said, have you heard about Jesus of Nazareth? She said, no, never heard of him. Well they said, his John the Baptist got his head back and he's preaching again and healing the sick.

She got interested. And a few days later somebody said, listen Mary, Jesus of Nazareth I verily believe is the promised Messiah and his working miracle. She went back home. She sat in her chair and she said to herself, I believe in Jesus.

I believe in Jesus. I believe in Jesus. And she said, and if ever he comes this way, I'm going to do something to show that I believe in Jesus. She said, I know what I'll do. I'll push through the crowd, sure to be a big crowd.

I'll let nobody in the crowd in to me from getting at him. I'll push through the crowd and I'll touch his garment just to show that I believe in Jesus. And you all know the story so very well. The multitudes thronged him but few touched him.

You can get this chapel very, very full of people as you had when Willie McNeill was here. Full to overflowing. Some couldn't find a seat. Multitudes thronged him but few touched him. It's always true, beloved.

Make sure you're going to be one of those who get right through the crowd to Jesus. It isn't that you're coming just to enjoy the crowd and to have a sing. But get right through the crowd and touch him.

Multitudes thronged him but few. Notice also his call to this woman. After her healing, for an open confession, he knew what had happened. He said, who touched me? They said, well what a silly question to ask a master.

With a multitude thronging him, who touched me? He said, somebody touched me in faith. Virtue, power has gone from me to them. Who was it? He knew who it was. It was the omniscient Christ. But he wanted, as he did with this man, an open confession, so with this woman, an open confession.

She came and she told him all the truth, the whole story. And he said to her, thy faith has saved thee, go in peace. Now it was not touching his garment that saved her. When she said in her heart, I believe in Jesus, that's what saved her.

It's faith in Christ that saves you. When you touch the end of his garment, or when you stand up in a meeting to confess it, or when you come to the front and make a confession, or when you go into the waters of baptism and make a confession, that's not when you're saved.

You're saved by believing in the heart, the facts of the gospel, and trusting Christ. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and then with the mouth confession is made unto the salvation which you've got through believing in your heart.

God doesn't ask for any works. He doesn't say you must stand up to be saved. He doesn't say you must make a confession to be saved. He doesn't say you've got to come out to be saved, or raise your hand to be saved, or come to the counseling room to be saved.

He says you have to believe in your heart. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and that is that. You're righteous in the sight of God when you believe in your heart, the facts of the gospel.

But now, if that is a real belief, you find new life as well as righteousness in Christ, and that new life will always find then, and before long you'll want to make an open confession. With the mouth confession is made unto the salvation which you've had by believing in your heart.

You see there are false forces, false forces in evangelism today, and people are expected to do something to be saved. But Christ did it all on the cross. So don't you ever stand up to be saved, or put your hand up to be saved, or come to the front to be saved.

But you can put your hand up to show you have been saved, or you want to be saved. Or you can stand up to say that you have trusted Christ in the prayer, or that you want to trust Christ in the counseling room.

But if ever you are saved, you are saved through not doing anything at all except believing in Christ, who did all the work on the cross of Calvary. Very important to acknowledge false forces in evangelism today, and get back to the simple truth of God's Word.

I didn't want to give you a lecture on that, but it sort of came in at this point. So he calls, did our Lord, for an open confession from this woman, and he said, Thy faith has saved thee. No, she didn't get saved when she came and said, I touched you, and I'll tell you all the story.

No, she was saved when she said in her heart, I believe in Jesus. That's very important. Well now, notice, he attributes her healing to her faith, not his garment, and not her touch. If we had the garment of Christ here draped over this lectern very carefully and beautifully in its folds this morning, being preserved all down the centuries, and you came and touched it 35 times each before you went back home, it wouldn't make any difference to you at all.

Touching his garment wouldn't save you. Touching his garment wouldn't heal you. But it is faith in Christ that brings the blessing. I believe in Jesus. And then very quickly, I'm going to be brief this morning, isn't that marvellous?

Christ's Authority Over Death and Faith for Children

The third point, the child, his authority is noticed in this third story over death itself. And of course he has authority over death because he is the life of God personified, he is that eternal. And Jairus believed in Jesus for his child.

Now we had a brief resume of this, at least in relation to the principles attached to this story, in another message the other evening, or the other morning. So I'm going to be brief with this one as well.

But please notice, our Lord's authority over death. And Jairus really believed that Christ could bless his child. And you know how eventually his faith for his child was rewarded. My wife and I here this morning, we want to testify to this fact, that our simple childlike trust in faith, in God, for our children has been rewarded.

They are not only saved, but they are serving the Lord. And they have Christian partners who are also anxious to serve the Lord and are doing that very thing. And this to us is the greatest thing in life.

We enjoy preaching, we enjoy doing Bible school work around the world, here and there. The greatest thing in the life is that our children love the Saviour. We believe in Jesus for them. They're all the Lord's and all serving Him.

My father's motto was this, Nor entered an all his family into the ark. And my mother's motto was, and she hung it by the front door, As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And we all did. And we're all in.

And so are our children too. I'm ready to die now. Not going to die for David perhaps, but I'm ready to. Satisfied. The Lord's done it. The glory's His. Tremendous. Nothing left to pray for. That's what David said at the end of one of the Psalms.

Psalm 72. He said, and he had a vision of the Lord raining over the earth from the river to the ends of the earth, and the kings bowing down before Him, and presidents scraping the dust before Him, and Christ getting all the glory, and the earth filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Amen. Amen. He says the prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended. Nothing left to pray for. It's seeing Christ glorified and raining over all the earth, redeemed in His presence. The remnant of the Jews are saved, and all the nations of the earth bringing their glory to Him.

Psalm 72 is the psalm. Amen. Amen. The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended. And the prayers of David, the son of Raymond, are ended. Nothing left to pray for. Satisfied. Of course, maybe the Lord wants us to do a little more for His glory, and He'll have to give us all the grace for that, because we are nothing of ourselves.

And Jairus believed in Jesus, and the Lord Jesus encouraged him to believe in Him. And although his faith was tested, he said, you keep right on believing, my friend. You see, his faith was tested twice.

First of all, when it came to Christ, and now will you please come and see my little daughter. She's very, very ill. And then this woman came with this hemorrhage. And that was quite an intrusion, an interruption.

And there was this poor little girl dying all the time. And all that time, Jairus, his faith was being really tested. But he stuck it out and waited to find if he could get Jesus to come. And then, lo and behold, after the woman was healed, they came from the home, and they said, don't trouble the Master anymore.

Your little girl is dead. What a terrible test for Jairus. And you know, I'm quite sure we're going to believe Christ for our loved ones and little ones. Not many of us got little ones now. I'm quite sure we're going to have our faith tested from time to time.

But the tense here is very important. Present imperative tense. Keep right on believing and everything will be all right. Only keep right on believing. So, he said, if you will express an attitude of faith as well as an act of faith, you'll find that will lead to blessing and life in this case.

In Psalm 116, David is saying a worship prayer before the Lord in that psalm. Beautiful psalm verse. He starts by saying, I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and supplications. Then later on in the verse, he said, O Lord, I am thy bondslave, I am thy bondslave, and the son of thine handmaid.

Thou hast loosed my bonds. He said, Lord, not only am I your servant, but my mother is as well. And he was thanking God for his mother's faith in himself for himself, David. He said, I am the son of thine handmaid.

Do you ever in your worship thank God for your mother? David did. And my mother had four children. She brought us all to Jesus herself. And David said, I'm ever so pleased I'm your servant, Lord, but there's one thing I'm very delighted about, that my mother was your servant as well.

I am the son of thine handmaid. The result of it all is you've set me free. And you've used her to bring me into freedom. And I find your glorious service isn't bondage at all. It's perfect spiritual freedom.

What do you think it meant to David that his mother was God's handmaid? Everything, of course. What do you think it meant to his mother that he was God's servant, God's bondslave? Why, everything, of course.

And it must have meant much to God that both mother and son were his. So Jairus will leave Jesus for his little girl. Look at these conclusions for a moment regarding the child now. I will say, I will say, and at the expense of, at the danger of vain repetition, I will give again the three principles in relation to this story of the child.

It is no trouble to the Master to bless our children. Trouble not the Master. No, you don't listen to them. Listen to me. No trouble to me. No trouble to the Master to bless our children. Secondly, our faith can be the means of the salvation of our children.

Do you remember I emphasised this when I was talking the other day about he seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy, some thy sins be forgiven thee. Secondly, therefore, our faith can be the means of the salvation of our children.

And thirdly, faithlessness is the hindrance for the salvation of our children and must be thrown right outside. Now look at the conclusions in relation to the child. All the family knew that she had new life in Christ and they were commanded to feed that new life.

That's a command to those of us who are elders, under shepherds in the local assembly, feed the flock of God, especially the new ones coming in with the Word of God. He commanded to give her meat, her food, something to eat.

So with regard to the child, all the family knew she had new life in Christ. With regard to the woman, she knew in her own body that she had new life through Christ. And in regard to the man, everybody in the ten cities knew that he had new life in Christ.

And I have such a wonderful Saviour that everybody should know. O Lord, have we worshipped Thee this morning for the Lord Jesus, the Master and the Saviour, the sufficient Almighty One and the One who can overcome the devil and disease and death for us.

We thank Thee that we believers can triumph when we leave this body because we know it is just a passing into the glory beyond. Pray a blessing now upon these junior citizens of glory in the meeting this morning.

Now bless us all as Thou seest we need Thee as we trust in Jesus and keep right on believing in Him for everything to meet our every need. And may His all-sufficient grace prove to be sufficient in our experiences too today and always until He calls or comes.

Amen and Amen.