The Compassionate And Powerful Messiah - [Matthew 9:18-26]

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

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Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

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In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

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King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Today's going to be no different than any other day.

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We're going to learn about Jesus Christ. It's not going to be from the book of Hebrews, though. It's going to be the gospel of Jesus Christ according to Matthew.

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Please turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 9. That's where we're going to focus today,

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Matthew chapter 9. Who do you say that Jesus is? Great passage about the power and kindness of Christ Jesus.

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Some people think Jesus is just a friend. Some people think he's a good teacher. Wonderful example.

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Some people think he's a religious teacher only. Some think he's a fraud, an imposter.

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Many think he's crazy and insane. Some back in the Bible days thought he was demon -possessed.

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Maybe he has a Messiah complex. And so I ask you, who do you say that Jesus is?

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Now the gospel according to Jesus Christ in Matthew follows the theme that Jesus is

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King. He's the Messiah. And sometimes you'll see things in the

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Bible that are written chronologically in a gospel. And sometimes there'll be certain themes inserted that aren't chronological, but they still have a point.

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And Matthew chapter 8 and 9 are those non -chronological things. In other words, there are a bunch of miracles bunched together so that you might learn something.

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That I might learn something. That Jesus is powerful and compassionate and that has the authority to say what he says.

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I mean, who talks like Jesus? Who says, I'm the way, the truth, and the life? Who says, I came from the

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Father? And who says things like that? Well, these miracles found in chapter 8 and 9 give the authority to Jesus, shows his authority that he has to say these things.

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If you go back to chapter 8 verse 1, it talks about the miracle of the leper being cleansed.

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Then it moves to the centurion servant being healed. Peter's mother -in -law is then healed.

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Demons are cast out, verse 16. Sicknesses healed, verse 17. Winds and waves are made still.

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Demons cast out. Paralyzed man is healed. These all show the credentials of the king.

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If you look at chapter 7 verses 28 and 29, it says, and it came to pass when

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Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.

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And then he demonstrates how he has that authority by doing things that only the Messiah could do, chapters 8 and chapter 9.

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You can imagine a Jewish person during this time saying to themselves, who does he think he is?

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How can he say these things? No mere man should talk this way. Should we believe what he's saying?

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And chapter 8 and chapter 9 provide the answers. Yes, in fact, you should believe what he says, that he is the

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Christ, because the miracles performed by him, no one else can do except God's anointed one.

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You could really take the end of chapter 4 and put it with the first part of chapter 8.

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The narrative just flows. Chapter 8 begins where chapter 4 leaves off. If you look at chapter 4 verse 23, and he went throughout all

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Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.

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So his fame spread throughout all Syria and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, paralytics, and he healed them.

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And great crowds, Matthew 4 .25, followed him from Galilee and Decapolis and from Jordan and Judea and from beyond the

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Jordan. Jesus has the authority not only to give the Sermon on the

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Mount, but also to heal all these people. Some people say that the

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Sermon on the Mount was incarnate wisdom and chapters 8 and chapter 9 is incarnate power. That's a good way to look at it, the credentials of the king.

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And if you stop and think about it a little bit, that's an important question to ask. Who do you think you are?

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Because he doesn't really seem like a king, does he? Not our kind of king. I mean, he didn't have the job of a king, he was just a carpenter, he didn't live in a royal city,

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Nazareth, growing up. He didn't have royal birth, according to their perspective, and dad was just a humble man, not a rich man,

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Joseph was not. What school did Jesus go to? Where did he earn his

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MDiv? Where did he earn his doctorate of ministry? He didn't go to school, never trained. We're going to listen to a common, ordinary carpenter and he's going to say he's

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God? And the credentials, the authorization is found in chapter 8 and chapter 9.

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I can think of those old movies, can't you? And they say, show me your papers. These are the papers of Jesus to authenticate his ministry.

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And Matthew is full, by the way, of Old Testament quotes. Everywhere you go, you have

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Old Testament references, allusions, and quotes. And by the way, the way the canon is set up, the books of the

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Bible in order, isn't it kind of neat that at the end of the Old Testament, we end in Malachi, the

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Jews ended in 2 Chronicles. What's the first book in the New Testament full of Old Testament quotes to kind of bridge old and new?

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So, it makes sense that Matthew, full of all the Old Testament quotes, is an easy way to get from Malachi into the

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New Testament. Linking old and new together with these great

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Old Testament passages. Now, what we're going to do is keep our finger at Matthew chapter 9.

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And I'd like you to go to Isaiah. And I want you to see what's happening in Isaiah. Please turn to Isaiah chapter 29.

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And I want you to know that the people should not be shocked that the Messiah can do these things.

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All the Jews would be thinking this. Isaiah tells us how to recognize the

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Messiah. And so, we need to be watching for this particular person. How do we recognize the

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Messiah? Isaiah tells us. And so, let's go to Isaiah chapter 29 as we're building up to Matthew chapter 9.

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Did the bulletin say Matthew 27? Oh, that's okay. We change the bulletin all the time.

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All right, good. We do that another sermon. How do we know this

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Messiah is here? Well, the Old Testament has told us. Isaiah 29, 18.

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In that day, the deaf shall hear the words of a book. And out of their gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see.

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The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord. And the poor among mankind shall exult in the

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Holy One of Israel. Go to chapter 35, verse 4.

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This is 700 years before Jesus comes. And this man, Isaiah, Spirit of God has told him, this is what you write.

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This is what they should expect. Isaiah 35, verse 4. Say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not.

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Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.

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Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened. That's the kind of man you need to look for. The ears of the deaf unstopped.

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Then shall the lame man leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.

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The waters break forth in the desert and streams in the desert. This is the kind of man you should look for.

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When the man who comes that can do this, you'll say, or you should say, he is the

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Messiah King. Chapter 61 of Isaiah.

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It tells us a little bit more information about this great God -man who's going to arrive.

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The Messiah would be recognized because he could do miracles like this. When you see these

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Old Testament prophecies fulfilled in someone, you say to yourself, he's the Messiah. Isaiah 61.

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One, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek.

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He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.

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King James Version. You can identify the Messiah by the miracles he does, and then you can say what he says, therefore, is true.

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Remember, John the Baptist is in prison. He's heard some of the things that Jesus is doing.

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And so he sends his disciples. And they say to Jesus, are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?

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And Jesus said this, Go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, and the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

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Yes, in fact, I am the Messiah because I'm fulfilling the Old Testament. And even if you remember

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Isaiah Chapter 53, turn back to Isaiah 53, you can see what this

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Messiah might do. To what degree will he heal? To what extent will he compassionately restore people?

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Answer, he'll even forgive sin. Not just healing people. You can be healed and die and still go to hell, but here he heals their sins.

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Verse 4 of Isaiah 53, Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.

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But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, upon him the chastisement that brought us peace.

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It was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds we are healed.

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All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and the

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Lord Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Well, let's head back to Matthew Chapter 9 and see this great shepherd,

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Jesus, the shepherd of the sheep. And what he does in this particular case, two miracles.

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A passage within a passage. And now this particular sheep has a shepherd, and so does this other one.

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You're probably familiar with this story, but that's okay, because there's nothing like it in all the world.

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Matthew 9, verses 18 through 26, Jesus is supernaturally powerful even over death, even over physical suffering.

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So, if you just take a look at the headline of your Bible, A Girl Restored to Life and a

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Woman Healed, that's what my ESV says. And we know this is going to be Jairus and the woman with the issue of blood.

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And what's going to happen in here, it's going to be very fascinating, and there could be two more different people. Jairus, man, woman, with the blood issue, so woman.

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Status, one comes from the synagogue, a leader of the synagogue, Jairus, and this other lady, because she's ritually unclean, banned from the synagogue.

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She can't go. One is a very public person, Jairus. One is very isolated, because she's unclean with all the blood.

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One you know by name, Jairus. The other one, we don't know her name. One approaches

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Jesus very directly, I need help. The other one by stealth, coming behind and sneaking up on Jesus, as it were.

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Why are they so different? Well, maybe because the writer wants you to know, from man to woman, from direct to stealth, and everything in between,

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Jesus is the Messiah. Both thought, though, Jesus was the last resort.

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Both thought that they needed to have this healing and only this man could do it. Both had other options that didn't work.

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And in both cases, Jesus is not affected by ceremonially uncleanness. Uncleanliness, either by blood or death.

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And both of these people have their sins forgiven by the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's what's going to happen as you watch this passage.

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Jairus thinks, at the end of this, there's nobody but Jesus who's the king and the Messiah. The writer,

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Matthew, wants you to think that as well. At the end of the story, the woman with the blood issue, and she's healed, she thinks,

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Jesus is the only Messiah. He's the only Lord and Savior. He can heal me and He can forgive me.

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And the writer wants you to think the exact same thing. This isn't just kind of a lesson in a lab.

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We're learning about these people and learning about the Messiah, so that you, too, in fact, believe. Scripture says, whoever believes in Him will not be what?

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Disappointed. What a great verse. Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

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So if you're not a Christian today, although your sins are great, although you've merited hell and judgment, eternal displeasure from God, there's a compassionate shepherd of sinners who saves people.

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And your response, recognizing your sin and recognizing who Jesus is, this great Savior who will one day then die on the cross and be raised from the dead, free forgiveness found for you.

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And if you're a Christian, it's just a good reminder of who Jesus is, because I dare you to watch this passage go by and say,

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I'm so sick of Jesus. Can I have a different kind of sermon? I almost said double dog dare, but it's a snow day, so I can't do it.

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Matthew, Mark, and Luke all talk about this. Mark's usually kind of the truncated gospel, but he talks about it a lot more than Matthew does, this double miracle.

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So we're going to start off in Matthew, and then we're going to see some of the expanded part in Mark, and we're going to go back to Matthew, and we're going to take a look at Jesus, this great

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Savior, who doesn't only physically heal, but heals sins. He forgives sins.

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This man and this woman and everybody in between, and you, my dear Christian friend. Matthew 9, verse 18.

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While he was saying these things to them, behold, there came a synagogue official, bowed down before him.

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I mean, while he's talking, while he's saying these things, my daughter just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.

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So Jesus is speaking. It's like he's in the middle of a sermon, as it were. What's he talking about? These things.

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He was saying these things. Well, that's easy, because what was he just saying? Verse 14 and following, it was about fasting.

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9 -14, when the disciples of John came to him, saying, why do we fast and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?

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Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

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No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made.

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Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed.

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But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.

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My daughter just died, interruption. He's giving this message about fasting, and behold, you can see the text, behold, here comes the synagogue official, he's down, bowing down, and he interrupts.

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We know his name from Mark is Jairus. Here we don't know his name, but here, he is just known as a synagogue leader.

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His name is Jairus, though, it means he will give light. And what does the text say that he does?

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He is a synagogue official. Essentially, he's kind of the deacon of liturgy.

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He does things like get everything set up in the area where they're going to meet in the synagogue.

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He'll make sure everything's cleaned. He'll make sure they have the proper scripture reader. He'll make sure they have the proper preacher.

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He's the deacon of liturgy. He wants to get that all set up. So he's not low on the totem pole, socially or religiously.

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He's higher up. He's like a priest in a sense, but with deacon duties we would think of.

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Administration. And he runs up to Jesus and he bows down. This is language of what?

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Worship. He gets down on his face. He's driven by,

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I don't have any other option. Now remember, when you go get down on your face in front of an angel, what will that angel say to you?

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If you went down to Judea and you found a man there and his name was

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Abraham or you found Moses on Sinai and you went and you began to worship them and you got down on your knees, what would they tell you?

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What should they tell you? What must they tell you? What does

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Jesus do? He doesn't say a word about it. He accepts worship. Revelation 19, and the angel said to me, write this.

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Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, these words are the true words of God. Then I fell down at his feet, the angel, to worship him.

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But he said, you must not do that. I'm a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold the testimony of Jesus.

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Worship God. Only get down on your face in front of God and God alone. And Jesus here accepts the worship.

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He doesn't say a word. It's the right thing to do. Jesus, the Lord, accepts worship because he, in fact, is the

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Lord God. And what does this man say? My daughter just died. Come and lay your hand on her and she will live.

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You can just imagine what must be going through his mind. Luke said, it's his only daughter and she's 12 years old.

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You were a woman at 12 back in those days, but you can just feel the tenderness and the compassion. My daughter, my only daughter died.

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Now, you can study this on your own with Luke and with Mark. It's kind of a two -stage with those guys, but Matthew summarizes it.

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She's almost dead and then she's dead. And Matthew just puts the two together. She's dead. It's just a summary.

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It's an abbreviated narrative. Mark's expansion is, if you'll come and lay your hands on her, she may get well and live.

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She's at the point of death, is what Mark says. Jairus was confident that Jesus could save his daughter's life.

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And the writer wants you to be thinking, you know what? I'm confident that Jesus can heal, forgive.

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Verse 19, and Jesus rose and followed him with his disciples. He doesn't say anything, does he?

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He doesn't respond in any way, does he? He just gets up and follows. He follows the official.

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Mark says, a great multitude was following him and pressing in on him. So, Jesus is teaching about fasting.

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He's interrupted. A guy's on his face. I know you're the Lord God. Help me, you're my only hope. Jesus just gets up and follows him, but people are still pressing in.

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Pressing in. The language in Mark is sifling Jesus, choking Jesus, crushing

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Jesus, hard to breathe and move. I'll only say this to try to get your attention, but I remember going to a rock concert once, and people were so smashed in.

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Remember, people died at a Who concert because they were all smashing in, and they couldn't do that kind of seating anymore, so they had to control it.

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But people were so crushing in. I'm fairly, I might no longer be 6 '2". I'm 6' now.

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You know when you're a kid, you're always like, well, you know, I'm 5' now and 5 '2", and you're all happy that you're going this way.

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Some of my family members think I take pride in telling people now that I'm shrinking, but I don't really want to be shrinking.

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But I remember I was in a concert, and I could lift my legs both up off the ground without falling over because people were smashing in on me.

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They're just trying to get to Jesus. It's just kind of a mob pressing against him, hard to breathe.

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And speaking of breathing, hold your breath because here comes an interruption. And behold, here's another behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for 12 years came up behind him.

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As long as that little girl had been alive, she has had this blood issue and touched the fringe of his garment.

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She said to herself, if I only touch his garment, I'll be made well. Is this an obstacle to go heal this other person, or do we have another opportunity for the

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Lord to show how great he is? The girl's dying. The woman's bleeding.

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It's like the camera's zooming in. Or maybe another way you could picture it is you can go to places now, or maybe you have this on your own

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TV. You can watch the main thing, and then you can have a little box up in the corner. You can kind of watch another game if you want.

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So here's the main thing. We've got to go to Jairus's house, and all of a sudden now we've got this box up here for the interruption, but now this box becomes the larger box, and Jairus is up here.

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Do you see where I'm going? I'm glad you watch a lot of TV, you pagans. Those people that have direct

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TV are even worse than Comcast people. Aren't you glad you came out today?

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You get this insider stuff. Now Mark tells us that this woman who had the hemorrhage for 12 years endured much at the hands of many physicians, and she had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse.

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She's got this hemorrhage. The text is, in Mark, it's like a flow. Being in a flow, that's the

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Greek. And people say, well, it could have been a tumor, it could have been a chronic menstrual disorder, some kind of uterine discharge.

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Whatever it is, she can't get any better. And she's willing to try about anything.

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The problem is the physicians botch it up every single time and make it what? What's the text say in Mark? Worse.

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Now here's how they treated those things back in those days. I just will give you a few. I found 11 different cures for this type of problem.

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Here are just a few. Take the gum of Alexandria, the weight of a fraction of a silver coin, the aluma the same, of crocus the same, let them be bruised together, given in wine to the woman that has an issue of blood.

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Sounds like an HMO that I know. If this does not benefit, take the

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Persian onions, three pints, boil them in wine, give her to drink and say, arise from thy flux.

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If this does not cure her, set her in a place where two ways meet and let her hold a cup of wine in her right hand and let some come behind her and frighten her and say, arise from thy flux.

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Sounds like how to get rid of hiccups, doesn't it? If that do no good, take a handful of cumin, a handful of crocus, a handful of another type of fennel, boiled in wine, arise from thy flux.

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You could also carry barley corn, which had been removed from the droppings of a female white donkey.

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And lastly, but not leastly, carry the ashes of an ostrich egg in a linen bag in summer and a cotton bag in winter.

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See what the writer's doing? There's no other cure. You can't figure this out. It's been 12 years.

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No human cure. She's probably going to die this way. I can imagine she's very white and pale.

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Luke the doctor says, it could not be healed by anyone. Would not

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Luke the doctor know? Can you imagine the pain? Can you imagine how weak she was?

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I've been in ORs enough to see ovarian cysts and bleeding.

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12 years. I've got to find Jesus. He can heal me.

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Jesus is the one. After hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd from behind and touched his cloak.

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Why'd she sneak up? Answer? Because if you've got this kind of blood issue, and you touch somebody who's a

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Levitical priest, you touch somebody who's not a Levitical priest, both of those people are unclean.

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Leviticus 15. Now, if a woman has a discharge of her blood many days, not at the period of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond that period, all the days of her impure discharge shall continue as though in her menstrual impurity.

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She is unclean. The list goes on and on and on. Whoever touches them shall be unclean and shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening.

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So she devises this plan in her mind to sneak up on Jesus. What she didn't know, it's impossible to defile

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Jesus. Jesus can touch a leper, and the defilement of the leper doesn't go to Jesus. Christ's cleanliness and holiness and purity goes to the leper.

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I just want to touch his garment. See it in verse 21? If I only touch his garment, maybe superstitious, but that doesn't stop

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Jesus. Let's go to Mark chapter 5. It's important to do that, and I think I said we'd do that at the beginning.

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Mark chapter 5, because he gives us some interesting added information, and what we're driving to is only

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Jesus can heal. Only Jesus is the Messiah. Only Jesus can forgive, and therefore what he says you ought to believe as authoritative, no matter what it is, no matter how wild the world thinks it is.

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By the way, the world thinks the exclusivity of Jesus as the only Savior is preposterous, and it's only going to get worse.

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Mark 5, 28. For she thought, if I just touch his garments, I shall get well.

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Jesus has the ability to do it. And by the way, imperfect tense. For she said, she kept thinking, this is it,

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I know it, I know, I know, I know he can do it. All these other physicians, they can't do it, I know

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Jesus can. Over and over and over. You can imagine that she's pressing through the crowd and trying to get there.

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Remember, it said people were pressing in on Jesus. How is this weak woman going to get there? But she knew Jesus could do it.

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I know he can do it. I know he has the power. I know he has the authority. She kept saying to herself, if I only touch his garment.

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She's got faith in the right object, friend. She comes up and touches the fringe of his garment.

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It says, in Luke, and now Mark 5, 29, and immediately the flow of her blood was dried up.

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The source of her bleeding, gone, dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.

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I mean, this is instantly healed. The Greek word for her sickness was like a whip or a scourge.

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The pain. As you're just getting whipped in the back, except she just had this pain in her stomach, in her abdomen.

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I don't know what was going through her mind. If I just touch the fringe, it was cloaked. By the way, I think somebody else picked this up, and people ran with this later in Mark 6, 56, and wherever he entered villages or cities, countryside, they were laying the sick in the marketplaces and in treating him that they might just touch the fringe of his cloak.

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And as many as touched it were cured. Mark 5, 30, and immediately.

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Jesus, perceiving in himself that power proceeding from him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said,

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Who touched my garments? Now, the wrong view is, Jesus doesn't know.

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The father did it. Jesus had to learn afterwards. He knows.

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And he says, Who touched my garments? Why didn't he just turn around when he knew power came out from him?

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Why didn't he just turn around and smile? Why didn't he just turn around and kind of just give her that look of,

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I know what you did. Why didn't he, I don't know, wink or give some kind of approval? Why didn't you turn around and confront her?

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Who touched my garments? I mean, maybe we don't even need to talk about this.

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Jairus, his daughter, according to Mark, is dying and is going to be dead by the time he gets there.

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Verse 31. And his disciples said to him, You see the multitude pressing in on you, lots of people.

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And you say, Who touched me? But a lot of people were pressing up against Jesus, but there was only one who went purposely to go touch him for a reason.

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Verse 32. He looked around to see the woman who had done this. And there's a lot of people.

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And the Greek text is, he just kept looking. It's like one after another, after another, till he knew the right one and looks right at her.

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And he is going to give her an opportunity to praise him. Reminds me of Psalm 107.

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They cried out to the Lord in their trouble. He saved them out of their distresses. He sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions.

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Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindness, for his wonders to the sons of men.

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Let them also offer thanksgiving and sacrifices and tell of his works. Woman, I'm going to give you an opportunity to praise

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God from all your heart. Verse 33. But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what happened to her, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.

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Luke says, And when the woman saw that she had not escaped his notice, she came trembling and fell down before him and declared in the presence of all the people, the reason she had touched him and how she had been immediately healed.

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First we have Jairus falling down in his face. And now she begins to fall on her face. Jesus doesn't rebuke her either.

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Back to Matthew chapter 9, please. She's going to get more than she bargained for.

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She's going to get more than just physical healing. She's going to have forgiveness of sins. Matthew 9, 22.

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Jesus turned and seen her. He said to her, Take heart, daughter. Your faith has made you well.

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And instantly the woman was made well. Whoever believes on him shall not be disappointed.

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Faith in Christ Jesus has its great reward. Take heart.

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That's the first thing he says. How sweet. How encouraging. Maybe her whole life, she's just, you know, last 12 years at least, scared of being with people.

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Or maybe she did something wrong. Take heart, daughter. That's amazing.

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Your faith has made you well. You're trusting in the right object. This word, save, that the writers use, physical healing.

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Your faith has made you well. Your faith has saved you. That's the idea. Verse 34 of Mark chapter 5 says,

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Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your affliction. That is so nice.

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You've been healed or saved. And now I want you to go in peace. Now the way we'd say it in Hebrew is shalom, right?

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And it means, what does shalom mean? It doesn't mean just peace. It means wholeness or completeness.

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It doesn't mean just peace of mind, but I have peace with God. That's what real shalom is.

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And literally it's, go into peace in Mark. Go into peace. You have peace with men now.

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You're no longer richly unclean. And you have peace with God. You're forgiven. Your faith has made you well. Not touching the garment made you well, but faith in Christ Jesus has made you well.

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You trusted in me. Mark says, while he was still speaking, they came from the house of the synagogue, official saying, your daughter has died.

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Why trouble the teacher anymore? And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John, the brother of James.

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And now Matthew 9 .23 says, and when Jesus came to the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, go away for the girl is not dead, but sleeping.

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And they what? They laughed at him. So quickly, he makes it over to Jairus' house and the little girl's dead.

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By the way, the mourners are already there. That did not take long. They didn't wait for the father to return.

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The mourners start mourning. Can you imagine?

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Jesus gets to Jairus' house and it's noisy. There's an uproar. The crowd thinks that she's dead at least.

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Flute players are there. By the way, if you were going to have a funeral back in those days, they did a lot of things differently than we do.

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What do we do when we go to a wake or a funeral? It's very what? Quiet. There, it's very loud.

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First of all, you rendered your garments. You ripped your garments. You had three main mourning customs.

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Ripping your clothes and you'd rip the clothes close to your heart and expose the skin to your heart because of obvious reasons, somebody's dear to your heart.

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You'd hire people to wail for the dead. And by the way, usually it was women.

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They were professional wailing women. Women. One writer says there are in every city and community women exceedingly cunning in this business.

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They're always sent for and kept in readiness. Hey, somebody's sick. Let's just stay close by. It's kind of like these lawyers, ambulance chasers.

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That's what I was after. Thank you. When a fresh company of sympathizers come in, these women make haste to take up the wailing that the newly come may more easily unite their tears with the mourners.

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See, that's the idea. You just need a little help in mourning. And then there were flute players.

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So Jesus comes back and it's just this cacophony of wailing, this cacophony of flute players.

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Verse 24 of Matthew chapter 9 says, Our Lord said to them,

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Go away. I mean, that's about as blunt as you get. Go away. The girl's not dead but sleeping.

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Go away. It means to exercise demons.

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It means to throw out. Get them out of here. Eviction notice.

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There needs to be some kind of calm, some kind of decorum, something. One writer said.

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The girl's not dead but sleeping. That's an interesting way to put it.

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What does the word cemetery mean, by the way, when you drive past a cemetery today? What's cemetery mean? Sleeping place.

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Here's what the liberals do. There's a writer named William Barclay. And William Barclay, probably some of his commentaries are in your very houses, which is okay as long as you know that he's liberal.

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He would say that when it comes to the crossing of the Red Sea, that it wasn't this huge crossing.

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The water was only about this deep and the Israelites made it across the land. But I always remember my old Bible teacher used to say, it was a pretty big miracle then if all of Egypt's army drowned in six inches of water.

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Jesus didn't walk on the Sea of Galilee. He walked on a sandbar. And this man,

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Jesus, saved this poor girl because they buried people alive all the time because they're in comas and stuff like that.

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And they would just bury people too soon. So Jesus comes back and makes sure she's not buried too soon.

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What a Savior, Jesus. In the old day of no compromise radio, we had, for books, we had page turners and we had book burners.

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Barclay would be the latter. Sleep is a very sweet way to think about a loved one who's dead and one day be resurrected.

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I agree. The child has not died, but is asleep. The Greeks, the

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Romans, and Jews all substituted sleep for death to take the sting out.

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We do that too, don't we? Somebody's passed away and somebody's gone on. We know it means death even when we look at Lazarus' account because he said he was sleeping,

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Lazarus. Now Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought he was speaking of literal sleep.

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Then Jesus therefore said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. Luke makes this clear.

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Her spirit returned and she rose immediately. Luke knew she was dead. The girl's not dead but sleeping.

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Jesus knows he's going to raise her up from the dead and they laughed at him. The Greeks says they kept laughing him down.

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Luke, my son, and his friend Rene went to Israel a few years ago and he said one of the things that the

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Jewish people do when they want to make fun of you to your face is they point a certain way and say, and I just watched

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Luke and Rene do that all the time. That's how they were doing it.

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I never thought they'd make it into a sermon. Wow. If any of my doctoral students are watching me, the teacher, preach, don't watch this one.

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They're laughing him down because if you say it long enough and hard enough, you silence the person. They're skeptical.

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They kept it up laughing in his face, laughing him to scorn. What does verse 25 say?

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But when the crowd had been put outside, Jesus does that often. He puts the people out of the temple.

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He went in and took her by the hand. I wonder if some sheep don't have a shepherd and the girl arose.

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And out of everything he's done so far, this is probably the greatest miracle. He's healing people, yes, but now he raises somebody from the dead.

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He takes a dead person by the hand, yet didn't contract ceremonial uncleanliness, and raises her.

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The authority. I've said many times to you, because I say to my children, every time we go to awake, I say, kids, when you go see the person who's hurting, the alive person, you don't have to say a word, just give them a hug.

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If you want to say something, you could say, I love you, or I'm sorry. But when you see that body laying there, who can walk past that body and say, arise.

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Little girl, get up. I think I better hear what Jesus says in Matthew 5, 6, and 7,

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Sermon on the Mount, because who does this? I think Isaiah 29 and 35 and 53 and 61 point to a

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Messiah who does this very thing. This has to be the Messiah. Mark says, taking the child by the hand, he said to her,

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Talitha cum, which translated is, little girl, I say to you, arise. He didn't chant in Latin.

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He didn't give mumbo jumbo. He just said with authority, I say, arise. Talitha cum.

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Talitha is a feminine form for a little one or a little lamb. Little lamb, get up.

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I like it that we get a translation in Mark. So tender. I wish I could give you a

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Scottish accent, but the Scottish people say, my wee lass, get up. It's like a mum waking up a little one in the morning.

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Sweet little wake up call. Power over death. John 5,

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Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom

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He wishes. That's why we sing at funerals, Thine be the glory, risen conquering

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Son. Endless is the victory, thou over death has won. People laugh at Jesus, and now because of Christ we laugh at death, do we not?

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Oh death, where is your sting? Oh death, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our

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Lord Jesus Christ. You find me somebody who's got power over death, and I'll tell you, go worship

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Him. Go trust in Him. Go say, you know what, He's a sin bearer.

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But since there's no other, especially when somebody has so much divine power and authority, yet is so tender and compassionate, that's the

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Old Testament Messiah. I think the Jews only thought, you know, He's just going to be this great king, and He was a great king, but He was the shepherd king, and He was the kind king, and He was the kind of king that,

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He wasn't going to bruise the reed. Doesn't Isaiah 42 say, a bruised reed

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He will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish. He will faithfully bring forth justice.

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That's the God you serve, Christian. That's the God you believe in. J .C. Rowell said,

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The gods of the heathens are generally represented as terrible and mighty in battle, delighting in bloodshed, the strong man's patrons, and the warrior's friends.

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The Savior of the Christian has always set us before as gentle and easy to be entreated, the healer of the broken hearted, the refuge of the weak and helpless, and the comforter over the distressed, the sick man's best friend.

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And yet He's powerful, and yet He's mighty. And Jesus says in an account,

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And make sure you give this little one something to eat. That's amazing.

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What do you think happened, Christian? Verse 26, The report of this went through all that district. Don't miss this.

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What's the report? The report went out. What's the report? Isaiah 29's

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King is here. Isaiah 35's Messiah is here. Isaiah 42's

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Messervant is here. Isaiah 53's Sin -bearer is here. Isaiah 61, the

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Spirit of the Lord is upon me, is here. You ought to believe. That's what went out. That was the report.

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The Messiah has come. We've been waiting. We've been waiting. So everyone should believe in the Messiah.

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He raises the dead. And they should be thinking, if they were Jewish, you know what?

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That sounds like what only Yahweh could do, raise people from the dead. That sounds like what Elijah did.

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That sounds like what Elisha did. In the Old Testament, Yahweh raises the dead.

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Jesus raises the dead. Jesus is Yahweh. And eventually,

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Jesus not only raises her and Lazarus and a few others, but Himself. There's a lot of people saying that they're the

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Messiah. But there's one who can raise the dead. There's one who's this kind of shepherd. What Matthew wants you to do is simple.

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He wants you to say, just watch Jesus with people, and you'll know

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He has to be the Messiah. And ask yourself the question, if you could kind of create a

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God, how would you create that God? Well, He would look just like you, or He'd look just like me. But you would ask yourself another question.

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Could Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, be any better in any way, shape, or form?

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Is there anything about Jesus that would make Him better? And the answer has to be no, because He's so powerful, yet He's so compassionate, and He freely forgives sinners who will put their faith in Him.

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I don't know about you, but I never want to get sick of learning about this

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Jesus right here in this Bible. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for this time, and your word.

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Think about how you dealt with Jairus and that woman. Power, authority, yet compassion.

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What a great Savior. And as Elder Brown prayed, I pray as well. If there are people here that don't know you,

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Father, would you open their heart like you did Lydia, and have them trust in you.

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And for the Christians here today, I pray that they may cast all their cares upon you, because you care for us.

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And we get to come to you, even though we're weary and heavy laden, and you, the great

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Messiah, give us rest. What a Savior in Jesus' name. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 10 .15 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston.

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You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.