Willing And Able - [Mark 5:21-43]

Christmas time, Christmas season, we hear a lot about the Lord Jesus. Even if you turn on the History Channel, there's reruns from the 90s about the real Jesus, the secret Jesus finally unveiled. Even biblically, there's a lot of different scripture passages that depict the Lord Jesus.

We've been thinking of Him in this season as the babe in the manger. It's a beautiful picture. Or, I mentioned last service, if you came to the later Christmas service on Wednesday, we got to hear about the Lamb who is worthy from Jose Burgos.

And I told him after, if he recorded an audio Bible, I'd probably buy it and listen to it for my devotions. But there's so many pictures of the Lord Jesus and who He is and what He's like in the scriptures.

Mark’s Gospel and the Question of Who Jesus Is

But I think one of them is especially important to me and a passage that I love, Mark 5. Mark 5, verses 21 -43, I think is a great passage to answer the question, who is Jesus or what is He like? It's a great summary passage that teaches us truth about Jesus, some of the most important truths about the Lord Jesus.

And as you're turning there, as I'm sure many of you know, Mark is all about the gospel, the glad tidings, the good news about Jesus. Mark 1 .1 says this is the beginning of the gospel, the good news about Jesus.

And the whole book is orchestrated by Mark, inspired by the Holy Spirit, designed to get you to put your faith in Jesus as the Messiah. To put your trust in the Lord Jesus. And it's designed to get you to make the same confession as Peter in Mark 9 when he says that you are the Christ, you are the Messiah.

So everything in this book is orchestrated to get you to put your trust in Jesus. And already, so far in the book, just to catch you up to chapter 5, Jesus has been baptized and He started His public ministry.

He's gone around, He's been healing people already all over the place. Crowds are coming to Him. The paralytic has already been lowered down through the roof, as you remember. And when Jesus says your sins are forgiven and then finally gives Him His strength and His legs back.

And immediately before this, Jesus has calmed the storm and then gone over to the Gentile section of the Sea of Galilee, the Gadara, where the Gadarenes are. And He casts out the legion of demons in that man that couldn't be bound.

That's the immediate context. That's the beginning part of Mark chapter 5. And that brings us to our text today, Mark chapter 5 verses 21 through 43. And what I want to show you, what I want to convince you of or remind you of is that Jesus is able and willing to save all those who trust in Him, no exceptions.

Jesus is able and willing to save all those who trust in Him, no exceptions. And we're just going to walk through this text. There's three different scenes that I want to look at. Three scenes. And I hope that you will be reminded about Jesus's ability and willingness to save today.

Jairus’s Desperate Request for His Dying Daughter

So starting in verse 21, that's going to be our first scene. And we're going to look at a desperate request, a desperate request. I'll start reading in verse 21. And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about Him and He was beside the sea.

Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing Him, He fell at His feet and implored Him earnestly, saying, My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her so that she may be made well and live.

And He went with Him and a great crowd followed Him and thronged about Him. Sometimes when we imagine these scenes in the Gospels, at least for me personally, I don't really grasp the scope of what's going on here, the amount of people that are involved in the public ministry of Jesus.

But here in this passage, we're introduced to an amazing scene on the beach, probably in Capernaum, back on the Jewish side of Galilee, where there's a massive crowd around Jesus. And we've already seen in Mark, if you've read Mark, we already know that there's these crowds here.

Mark 1 .28 says,. And at once His fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee. So it starts off in Galilee, but by the end of Mark 1, it says that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places and people were coming to Him from every quarter.

Finally, by Mark 3, there are people following Jesus, Mark says, from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Edom, and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. This is a massive scope. There's already, by Mark 3, there's people coming from modern-day Lebanon, basically almost hundreds of miles away to see the Lord Jesus.

There's these massive crowds and they're on the beach ready to see what Jesus is going to do next. But one man stands out from the crowd in our passage. His name's Jairus. Jairus is one of the only people that's actually named in the Gospel of Mark that Jesus interacts with.

That's not one of His disciples. It's not common for names to be given. We're usually told, oh, he's a man who was paralyzed or there was a leper. But Jairus' name, his name means God shines. It's a Hebrew name.

And Jairus is a recognized man among the people. He's part of the social elite, the religious cream of the crop, you could say, in this Jewish society. He's a synagogue ruler. That wasn't necessarily a pastor or an elder.

Most commentators think that that is somebody who ran the administration of the building. Maybe the time the service starts and he'd stack the chairs. I don't think they had chairs to stack then, but you get the point.

Jairus, even though he was an administrator, he was a recognized man and a well-respected and esteemed man among the Jews. And we're introduced to him and we see him doing something that wouldn't be normal for a man of his stature.

In Jewish culture, especially as a man, you are supposed to conduct yourself with dignity, with honor. You're supposed to be measured in how you do things. That was sort of the way they approached life.

Why it was so shameful in the parable of the prodigal son for the father to run. But what you see here is that Jairus is not acting as a person of his office would usually be acting. And we're told why.

Because his little daughter is at the point of death. I don't know if anybody in this room has experienced a death of a child. I'm not even a parent, but I can only imagine that's probably the one of the most painful effects of the fall that we would have to experience.

It's terrible. In the way of the world, one of the tragedies about war is that parents have to watch their children die instead of the other way around. And so this man is distressed. He is distraught.

His daughter is at the point of death. And he says to Jesus, falling at his feet, imploring him earnestly, come and lay your hands on her so that she may be made well and live. This is a request of faith.

He's showing faith here. Saying, Lord Jesus, please just come. Just touch her. I've heard what you can do. I've heard about these massive healings. I believe you can do it. Please, I'm throwing myself at your mercy in my place of need.

I'm exercising faith in you. Please come and heal my daughter. And I love what it says in verse 24. And he went with him. There's no conversation recorded. There's no qualifiers. There's no questions about this man's theological acumen.

He just goes with the man. This is exactly why Jesus came. Mark tells us that the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. This is the reason why Jesus came down to this earth and took human flesh and took a body.

For situations like this, for sinners' need. He immediately goes. He silently goes. I think a lot of times, sometimes silence can be a sign of insecurity. But a lot of times, silence is a sign of confidence.

He doesn't have to say what maybe some of the other people in church history have said. Well, if God's willing, I'll be able to heal her. He knows. Jesus is able. He's strong enough. He's the God-man, and he silently, immediately goes with him, confident in his own ability to heal.

He's the creator, and he's the re-creator. Instantly, we already see that Jesus is able. He's confident he can do it, and he's willing. He immediately goes with him, wordlessly, to see this little girl.

And of course, the crowd's following. It says they followed about, they thronged about him. The idea is they're jamming in. They're bumping into each other. This definitely would not have been a Massachusetts-approved gathering today.

And they didn't have masks on either, so it's really scary in those days. But there's tons of people around. Which brings us to our second scene. What would you expect to see in this second scene? Who would you expect to meet?

You see this great crowd. Finally, one man stands out among the rest, a respected man. These people probably would have known who he was. They find out Jesus is going to go and heal this little girl. And they're all jostling to see.

Now, naturally, in the course of the story, you'd probably expect to see who? You'd probably expect to meet the little girl, Jairus' daughter. But the narrative, it's been kind of moving quickly like Mark tends to do.

But he slows down a little bit. He puts the brakes on. And he introduces us to someone that is unexpected. So the first thing, we see this desperate request. Secondly, we see an unexpected interruption.

Firstly, we saw this desperate request of Jairus. Secondly, we see an unexpected interruption. Verse 25. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for 12 years. And who had suffered much under many physicians and had spent all that she had and was no better but rather grew worse.

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. 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 the power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, who touched my garments?

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. 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.

And he said to her, daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your disease. Such a great story, it almost just preached itself. You could just read it in closing prayer. We're introduced now not to a man whose name, not like Jairus, this man who is highly esteemed and part of the cream of the crop of society.

We're introduced to someone as opposite from Jairus as you can get, as different as you can get. Unlike Jairus, she's not named, this is just a woman. And she, as much as Jairus would have been esteemed and accepted, she would have been looked down upon and rejected, this woman.

She has physical pain. It says for 12 years she's experienced this discharge of blood. This is extremely painful. This is draining. This is something that's terrible to experience. Think about 12 years ago, it was 2008.

That's a significant portion of my life. 12 years ago, I think a lot that's happened in 12 years. But for this woman, if she were to look back at the last 12 years of her life, it would have been filled with thoughts of suffering and pain, and then doctor after doctor after doctor after doctor.

Some of you may have experienced something like this. Oh, this might work. This might finally deliver this new cure. Especially in those times, the cures and the remedies that doctors would give, if you just read about them online, if you type in some kind of Second Temple Judaism cures, you already know without any medical expertise that they're going to make it worse.

So this woman, she already has her physical pain, and then she has added on top of that these physicians that have made things worse. But one thing we might not think of right off the bat is the social and religious implications for a Jewish woman that this would have.

She, according to Levitical law, is perpetually unclean. She's in a state of uncleanness at all times, and anyone that she touches is also in a state of uncleanness until they perform cleansing rituals.

So she's basically completely alone. If she is with anyone, they are now going to be rendered unclean, according to the Jewish religious system as well. And so I thought about this when I was getting ready.

I have a friend, and she had a really terrible sickness and was basically bedridden. And she told me, she said, probably the one thing that helped, all the doctors and their attempts at making her feel better, it wasn't working, but she had a friend that would come and just sit with her for hours.

They wouldn't really talk or anything, but she couldn't even really talk, and then that would be the most encouraging thing to her, someone else to sort of share the burden, that would understand, empathize.

This woman, chances are she probably didn't have anyone like that. Not only that, but many people who are lonely, who don't have friends, what do they turn to? They turn to religion, whether it be the God of the Bible or their local deities or whatever it may be.

Oftentimes when we feel alone, we look upward. But for her, for this woman, she can't go into the temple. She can't go and see her sacrifice and receive, in a sense, the absolution from the priest that her sins were forgiven.

She's completely cut off, a total outcast, alone. But she heard about Jesus. She heard the reports about Jesus. And she's heard, there's a man, he can heal people. He can cast out demons. He can do amazing things.

He's the Messiah. I bet if I just touch his garments, if I just touch maybe his tassels is the word, then I will be healed. She knew, she'd heard about Jesus. This healer is in town. And even though this crowd is all around and they're moving in one direction to witness the healing of this little girl, she goes, I'm going to go up and I'm just going to touch his garment and fade into the background.

She probably was willing to try anything. What would you do if you were in this situation? There's a great healer in town. You've tried everything else. Why not? My dad had headaches. After a while, he started getting acupuncture.

Remember, I would go with him as a little kid. He's like, you might as well just try, whatever it's going to be. But this woman hears about the Lord Jesus. And she goes up and she touches him. And immediately the flow of blood dried up.

And she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately. The creator doesn't just create. The word who breathed everything into existence, he recreates. And Jesus, perceiving himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, Who touched my garments?

Now remember, this wouldn't have been a showy miracle at this point. Nobody else knows what's going on. So imagine, you're the disciples or you're one of the crowd. I'm sure this would have been what we would have done.

We know this respected man in society. We're on our way to see his little girl healed. In rushing. That's the idea. And then Jesus turns around. He's getting bumped into by all these people. And he says, who touched me?

The disciples are like, who touched me? Come on, Jesus. We've got to get a move on. This is going to get great publicity for the kingdom of God. If we can heal this synagogue ruler's little daughter. They don't know what's going on.

But Jesus is not just content to dispense a miracle. He wants to encounter a person. He's not asking because he doesn't know. It actually says when he said in verse 32,. And he looked around to see who had done it.

It's actually feminine. Looked around to see what woman had done it is the idea. Jesus knows exactly who had done this. But he wants her to come forward. And admits what's happened to her. And the idea is he keeps looking around.

He ignores the disciples. And their stupid, unbelieving comments. Probably gracious of Jesus to ignore them. And he just continues to look for this woman. Waiting for her to come out and tell the crowd what's happened.

Tell him what's happened. 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. Why was she afraid? There are probably multiple reasons.

One of them could have been that she probably shouldn't have been out in a crowd like this. Remember anyone that she touched is going to be rendered unclean. She's not supposed to be in bustling places.

Other people who are unclean like lepers, what would they cry out? Unclean, unclean. But this woman, she's so overtaken by her hope in the Lord Jesus. That she approaches him anyways in the crowd. So she's probably afraid that she was going to be exposed.

Maybe she was afraid thinking that even though she had healed Jesus. She wasn't supposed to be touching anyone because she renders them unclean. We know that the clean one, Jesus, when you touch him and you're unclean, you're rendered clean.

But maybe that was part of her hesitation. But I think this phrase fear and trembling, you see it throughout the Gospels. And you see this idea throughout the Gospels. That like Peter in the boat, he's afraid, right?

He's very afraid of the storm. And then Jesus calms the storm and his fear is gone, right? No, he's more afraid. And he falls out of the feet of Jesus and he says, depart from me for I am a sinful man.

When we as sinful people encounter the Holy God. And his power displayed in creation and even here in recreation. We recognize our sin. Like Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6. We see the Lord holy, holy, holy.

And we know that we are undone. We're sinful. We see the creative power of God. We see his omnipotence. And we recognize our own sin. So this woman is afraid. She falls down and tells him the whole truth.

Probably expecting what she's received from God's people her whole life. Condemnation. But what does the Lord dispense? Daughter, your faith has made you well. First of all, this is the only time that Jesus calls someone his daughter.

We met Jairus' daughter earlier or we were told about her. Now we meet the daughter of the Lord Jesus. What's a more intimate relationship than a father and a daughter? We've already seen earlier in the text what a father would do for his daughter.

He would shame himself. He'd throw himself at the feet of Jesus. Now we see what, in a sense, the Lord Jesus would do for his daughter. He says, your faith has made you well. You've been healed of your affliction.

Now go in peace. That idea is shalom there. It's fullness. It's wholeness. And there's salvation here. Not just physical healing. He calls her a daughter, tells her she's part of his family, and then says to go in shalom and fullness of life.

She's expecting condemnation. She receives no condemnation. Remember Romans 8 when there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The worst of the worst, the outcasts of society, that's who the Lord Jesus moves towards, not away from.

This is the reason that he came, to seek and to save that which was lost. She's met many physicians, and they've made her worse, but she hasn't met the great physician until now. Such a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus and his heart towards the worst of society, the outcasts, those who are unclean.

Finally, I think part of the reason that he asked and he wanted to publicly have her admit what happened to her was for full restoration. Yes, he wanted to hear her admit, of course, but now she's restored.

She's been told she's been healed. They have this whole conversation in front of all these people, and they know that woman that was unclean, she's now clean. He cares for her every need. Now we see sort of another interruption.

It says that while Jesus was still speaking, in verse 35, someone else came and spoke something to Jesus. Someone else came and interrupted Jesus. This brings us to our third scene, a powerful resolution.

Jesus Raises Jairus’s Daughter and Reveals His Power Over Death

A powerful resolution. We saw, number one, a desperate request. Number two, we saw an unexpected interruption, and now we see a powerful resolution. Verse 35, 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, 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, people weeping and wailing loudly. And when he had entered, he said to them, Why are you making a commotion and weeping?

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. Taking her by the hand, he said to her, Talitha, Kumi, which means little girl, I say to you, arise.

And immediately the girl got up and began walking, for she was 12 years of age, and they were immediately overcome with amazement. And he strictly charged them that no one should know this and told them to give her something to eat.

So, Jesus is talking and says, while he's still speaking, he's speaking these words of great comfort to his daughter. Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your affliction.

And then we kind of pick up the narrative again. And we've slowed down and now we're back to this speedy way that Mark writes, immediately, immediately, immediately you'll recognize. And these people burst onto the scene, pushing their way through the crowd, you can imagine them, and they say to the ruler, your daughter is dead.

And I'm sure, as a father, I'm sure his heart sinks. He was thinking, oh, this great healer, he can heal my daughter. I wonder if he was upset about how long they were taking with this hemorrhaging woman.

Who knows what he was thinking? But what else do they say? They say, your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further? Why trouble the teacher any further? And what do we see here in this statement?

Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further? We've seen great examples of faith, right? We've seen Jairus comes, doesn't care about how he looks, throws himself down and implores Jesus, come, please lay your hand on my daughter.

We see this woman venturing out, reaching out with the hand of faith and touching the garments of the Lord Jesus and being immediately healed. Two great examples of faith. We saw earlier the unbelief of the disciples.

They don't know what's going on. Jesus, what do you mean who touched you? And now we see the unbelief of these men. And what is their unbelief? Their unbelief is that Jesus is not powerful enough. He's not able to raise from the dead.

Maybe he could heal. Maybe he could do these things, but don't bother him anymore. He's not good. He's not great enough to raise from the dead. That's implicit in the statement. Why trouble the teacher any further?

And I think that's the main point. But I really don't like this question for more than just that. I also don't like that they say, why trouble the teacher any further? Like somehow the Lord Jesus, the one who came to seek and to save sinners, the one who came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many, would be troubled or bothered by a little girl and her need.

This is offensive in more than just the fact that it's an insult to the Lord Jesus' power. It's an insult to his ability and to his willingness. But we've already seen with the man asking for his daughter and with this hemorrhaging woman that Jesus is able and willing to save all those who trust in him.

No exceptions. And so what does Jesus do? It says, but overhearing what they said. The idea in the Greek there is that he looks past them. He overhears, yes, but it also has the idea of ignoring. He ignores what they said.

Jesus is good at ignoring foolish comments. And so he ignores them and he looks past, and I imagine him locking eyes with Jairus. Maybe they didn't lock eyes, but I think the point is the same. Locking eyes with Jairus, ignoring them.

They might be standing here and he's looking at Jairus and says, Do not be afraid. Only believe. Or in the Greek, keep believing. Don't be afraid. Keep believing. You came to me in faith. Continue in faith.

Keep trusting. You just saw an example, Jairus, of what happens when people come to me in faith and how I treat them, that I am able to save, I'm able to heal, and I'm willing. So keep believing. And they continue on.

But Jesus, it says that Jesus allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John, the brother of James. He restricts this group, makes it smaller, and they go to the house of the synagogue ruler.

And they get there and the scene is chaos. It's crazy. It's loud. It's intense. It's scary. It's sad. You have these people screaming and wailing. I'm sure you can hear it from a distance as they're finally approaching Jairus' house.

And what is Jairus probably thinking again? His heart probably sinks. Yet again, thinking about his little girl. But the Lord Jesus is still with him. And maybe with a look saying, Do not fear. Keep believing.

Keep believing, Jairus. Don't stop believing. Keep going. And Jesus approaches these people. Another example of unbelief. These people that are laughing. Or sorry, there's people that are crying at this little girl's death.

And he says, Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping. Now, I think if we want to be technical about what happened scientifically with this little girl, she had died.

But what Jesus is referring to is just like in the epistles where we're told that believers have fallen asleep. It's this idea that there's resurrection coming. It's not permanent. There's resurrection coming.

This is not complete. It's the same idea here. But how do they respond? And they laughed at him. Verse 40. They laughed. A lot of people laugh at Jesus. The real Jesus. People might talk about him. And there's sometimes a lot of Christian nationalism in America where we hear about the name of the Lord Jesus.

But when people hear about this Jesus, this strong and able Savior, who's willing to save, but saves through death on a cross, what does Paul say in 1 Corinthians 1? It's foolishness to the world. It's foolishness.

It's a joke. It's funny. 2 ,000 years ago, a Jewish guy in a country the size of New Jersey dies outside the gates, and he's supposed to save you from hell? That's nice. Maybe they don't laugh, but maybe they just kind of pat you on the head.

That's nice that you think that. It's so antiquated. Unbelief laughs at Jesus. But he puts them all outside. This miracle wasn't going to be for the unbelieving. This isn't going to be a public miracle.

This is going to be private and intimate for those that have come to Jesus in faith. And so he brings them in, the child father and mother, and then Peter, James, and John. They go in, and they go right to where the little girl was.

And I love this, the tenderness of this scene. He says, and taking her by the hand, Jesus said to her, Talitha, Kumi, which means little girl, I say to you, arise. And actually, it is little girl, but technically, it's actually little lamb.

Little lamb, I say to you, arise. It reminds me of later in Mark, when Jesus is sorrowful over the people, seeing that they are as sheep without a shepherd. There's a little lamb there, who's died, but the good shepherd is on the scene.

And he grabs her hand, and he says, I say to you, arise. And when he who spoke into existence, the entire universe, the one who upholds the universe by the word of his power, holds all the molecules in your seat together, so that you can sit here and listen to this sermon, upholds the laws of gravity, when he says, I say to you, arise, that's exactly what's gonna happen.

And immediately, the girl got up and began walking. They were immediately overcome with amazement. Then I think Jesus says something I really love, that only the creator of the universe would think of.

Make sure she has something to eat. I guess it's because not many people have died and come back from the dead, so they don't really know what it's like. But, you know, it's like dying really takes it out of you.

Like, get her some food. It's just funny. But so sweet and so tender of the Lord Jesus, of how he deals with people, that he is able and willing to save all those who come to him, no exceptions. And although this little girl was dead and couldn't do anything, I think this is a good example for you little ones, the children here, you can come to Jesus now.

You don't have to wait till you're older. But you need to believe in Jesus and put your trust in the Lord Jesus as well. One more detail that I want to emphasize. In verse 42, it says that she was 12 years of age.

12 years of age. Where have you heard the number 12 in this passage? That's right. 12 years of the hemorrhaging woman that she had her affliction. And both of these stories in all the gospel accounts, every time it's in the gospels, it's not just in Mark, they're connected.

They're side by side. The Jairus' daughter and the hemorrhaging woman in the middle and then the completion of the miracle or the resurrection from the dead. And so what is the author of this gospel trying to do here?

Why is he combining these things by the power of the Holy Spirit? It's because these two people represent in a sense the two extremes of society. There's the religious elite, the one who is well recognized, who has accomplished many things in his life.

He has employees, he has people running to tell him that his daughter has finally died. When he comes to Jesus in faith, the Lord doesn't turn him away. He runs to his source of need. Then you have this woman.

She's an outcast. She's perpetually unclean. Spiritually, she's cut off. She represents in a sense the worst of the worst, as bad off as you could be in life. And when she comes to the Lord Jesus, He receives her.

He's able to save and He's willing. Wherever you are, on one side or the other, or most likely for all of us, somewhere in between, the Lord Jesus is able and willing to save all those who come to Him.

No exceptions. That's the drive of this passage. It's trying to get you, like I said, the book of Mark is trying to get you to make this confession, I'm trusting in Jesus. I'm putting my faith in Jesus.

And this specific passage is showing you, no matter who you are, you will not be turned away. But interestingly, you see here physical salvation, right? You see physical healing, physical resurrection.

And this is something that happened to these people. Remember when Jesus met the man who was born blind, all the Pharisees, those with bad theology, were the ones saying, and all the people around were saying, this man, what did this man or his parents do that he was born blind?

Right? They're saying, oh, this person's a sinner because of the trials or the suffering they're experiencing in their life. But Jesus corrected them and said, no, this sickness is so that the glory of God might be revealed.

This sickness, this trial in this person's life is so that God might be glorified. It's the same as true of us. We don't look around and see someone sick or suffering or experiencing pain and go, that's because of their sin.

This is a broken world. But we need Jesus to save us, not from something that happened to us, but from something that we've done. These people, their situations, people die. Little girls get sick. Men and women have physical problems.

They woke up one day and this happened to them. But for us, we've created our own need. God is the creator of the universe. And as creator, he possesses rights to our allegiance, to our fealty, to our loyalty to him.

As the creator and as his creatures, we owe him something. The psalmist says, the earth is the Lord's and all it contains, the world and those who dwell in it. God, whether you like it or not, owns you because he made you.

And you owe something to God and that is obedience and loyalty to his commandments. I know we talk about this a lot here at BBC, but what is the standard that God is going to judge you on? It's not going to be a bell curve.

It's not going to be my good outweighs my bad. It is the perfect law of God. And what does the law say? You shall love your God with your heart, soul, mind and strength and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

And it's not most of the time. It's not 75 or 99 of the time. It is perfectly, perpetually, entirely your whole life. Your whole life must be one of complete selflessness, preferring others and honoring God even when it's hard.

That's what's required of you. Everyone here, and me, we failed. We're told to love God and love others. What does Paul say? We hate God, we hate others. We do the opposite. We're inventors of evil. We love to find new ways to please our flesh.

I want you to think about, if you can, the worst thing that you've ever done in your life. What's the worst thing you've ever done? If you can think of a moment. Now, we want to say, Well, that was a really hard time in my life.