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Easter is all about Jesus. Because Jesus is all about bringing life to us. And today is all about a message of hope that as a church, if you know Jesus as a time for us to be encouraged by this, and if you have yet to place your faith in Jesus, it’s also a time for you to be encouraged by this. We’re going to do a three part series. This is going to begin it for us on just the idea of who Jesus is, how we can see that Jesus was a real figure for us to place our faith in in early history will be next week, and then the need to just pursue him with our lives will be the last week. Jesus laid it out pretty plainly for us the significance of his life. He said in first John chapter five and verse 11, and the testimony is this if you’ve ever heard anyone share their testimony, one Scripture, God gives his testimony and he says, the testimony is this that God has given us eternal life. Where do we go to find that living forever is pretty important, isn’t it? And he says, this life is in his son, and he who has the son has life. And he who does not have the son does not have life. I mean, if you’re looking for eternity and living forever in the presence of God, it’s focused and centered around the idea of everything that Jesus is. He’s the one that has the ability to give us life, proven from his own resurrection to life after death.
The gospels that we have in Scripture, we have four of them Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They share with us what’s called the we refer to as the gospel message. And John labeled it for us the reason that he wrote the book of John, the reason that we find the message of Jesus in the Gospels. He said, but these we have written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. The idea of a name in a first century was more than just a name. It was the identity of an individual. Find early in in church history that when a person came to know Jesus, they oftentimes gave them a Christian name which reflected the character of everything that they were as a person. Maybe one of the most famous people you’re used to hearing would be Barnabas. In the book of acts. He wasn’t born named Barnabas, but when he came to know Jesus, they changed his name to Barnabas, which means the Son of Encouragement. Same is true with the name of Jesus. It’s in his name. The idea of everything that Jesus is being the Son of God, that believing in him and through him we have life. The point of the Gospels are to point us to Jesus, who gives us life eternally. This morning we’re going to look at a passage of Scripture that describes to us Jesus bringing life into the life of another individual.
It comes in Mark chapter five, verse 21 of Mark. It starts to tell us a story about a young girl who’s very ill. She’s facing death before her of something miraculous doesn’t happen in her life. And it says when Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him. And so he stayed by the seashore. And one of the synagogue officials named Jairus came up, and on seeing him, fell at his feet and implored Jesus earnestly, saying, my little daughter is at the point of death. Please come and lay your hands on her, so that she will get well and will live. And it went off with him, and a large crowd was following him and pressing in on him. The story goes on in verse 35 it says while he was still preaching, talking about Jesus, they they came from the house of the synagogue officials saying, your daughter has died. Why trouble the teacher anymore? And so the story begins telling us about this little girl who’s about to face death. And then in verse 35, it tells us that the little girl had passed away. But what’s interesting about this text of Scripture is that in the middle of Mark five, telling us a story about a little girl, the story interjects with another story. It begins to tell us about a woman who was suffering.
And the question we ask ourselves is, why in the world does Jesus? And this text is, is the story of this little girl being paused to find ourselves within another story about a woman who is also suffering? Why? In the context of the story, do we have another story? I would say that one reason this morning is because God wants us to be uncomfortable with the human condition. The story of the woman picks up in verse 25. It tells the story of the little girl in verse 24. It ends, and he begins a story about a woman while he’s on his way to visit this little girl. And it says, a woman who had had a hemorrhage for 12 years. We’ll stop there. Cliffhanger for us. But also an uncomfortable point for me when I’ve studied what in the world this woman’s ailment was that she had faced. Everything that I read about made me uncomfortable as a guy to read it. That’s something for women to talk about. Maybe with their doctor. Not for me to read. It’s an uncomfortable circumstances. There are not a lot of sermons that talk about this passage of Scripture. Probably for that reason, this woman, according to Jewish customs, was defiled. I think Jesus wants us to get uncomfortable with her situation, because Jesus wants all of us at one point to get uncomfortable with our situation, because in our lives, before we recognize the need for Jesus in our world, we have to get uncomfortable with who we are in this world.
We have to know that we need Jesus before we go looking for Jesus. And they begin to talk about this woman who’s had this hemorrhage, this bleeding that’s going on for years. The Jews around her would have been uncomfortable because she would have been considered ceremonially unclean. She would have been unable to participate in worship services in her, in her church or among her own people. When she walked into society, if she had been unclean, she would had to say before the people she passed by she was unclean, declaring herself unclean so that no one would touch her and defile themselves. This woman, if she had been married, would have likely been divorced, because her husband wouldn’t want to get near her, because she would have been considered defiled by the Jewish people. If she hadn’t been married, she would have never been married. She would have walked in loneliness. She had shame placed upon her. She was an individual who was broken on the inside. She needed the grace of God in her life. She was lonely. Tells us in verse 26 that there were some people of mercy in her life that attempted to help. And it says a woman who had had a hemorrhage for 12 years and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse.
And so we get this picture in our head of this lady. She’s going forth to help. People have tried their best, but their best still wasn’t good enough. She was at a place of desperation, a place of need, a place of hopelessness. And we’ve even seen it in our own world through the depravity that we’ve experienced ever pulled up to a red light and saw the guy standing next to it with the sign that says, please help. At some points in your life, I’m sure you’ve helped other points in your life. It makes you so uncomfortable that you just want to peer forward at the red light, just hoping for it to hurry up and turn green. That way you can avoid the suffering that exists in the world today. You see the same picture that exists in the life of this lady. She just makes us uncomfortable. Jesus, why in the world are you sharing a story about a little girl? Then you stop to tell us about this woman that makes us feel uncomfortable with who we are as people and the suffering in this world. I mean, we’ve tried to help her, but she’s just a lost cause. Get back to the story about happy Jesus that raises little girls and we’ll be happy with our lives. She was a lady in desperation and need. She was a lady that no matter how many resources we had to offer, it couldn’t help her situation.
It tells us that she had spent all that she had for this hope of being healed, and that she was not helped at all. In fact, the help that she was supposed to receive had made the situation worse. And so it goes on to share the story. In verse 27, she begins to hear news about the coming of a messiah, and it says, after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind him and touched his cloak. You can think about this story for just a moment. This lady has done everything in the world. She’s gotten to a place where she’s just so desperate and she knows she needs help, and she has no idea how in the world she’s going to discover it. And then she hears the story. Jesus, the Messiah, has come. The one who’s traveled throughout all of Jerusalem and Galilee and Judea, preaching His word and healing the lame and healing the blind, and giving sight to to the blind, and allowing the deaf to hear again. He’s coming your way. And she’s saying to herself on the inside, I know that he’s going to have a crowd around him, and I know it’s going to be difficult for me to get to him. And I know I’m supposed to tell people when I walk down this path that Jesus is on, that I’m defiled so I don’t touch him. But if I could just get near him, if I could just touch him, I could be healed.
So after hearing about him, she came up in the crowd behind him and she touched his cloak. The passage tells us, for she thought, if I just touched his garment, I will get well. It says immediately, as soon as she touched his garment, immediately the flow of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. In verse 30, the story goes on telling us about this lady. Her response is to do what she’s always done and that’s to run and hide. And it says immediately Jesus, perceiving in himself that the power proceeding from him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd, and said, who touched my garments? And his disciples said to him, you see the crowd pressing in on you, and you say, who touched me? And he looked around to see the woman who had done this. But the woman, fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. I can imagine, as a person walking in her shoes, that her thought of Jesus would be, that he would respond to her the way that everyone had responded to her, that she has just touched a holy Rabbi, a messiah, and she could have just defiled him because she’s unclean. And tells us in this passage that Jesus wasn’t comfortable with allowing her to run away.
Her desire was to hide in her embarrassment. But Jesus was willing, in the middle of a crowd to get personal with her in her life. I would say to us this morning, and seeing this passage that what Jesus wants more than anything is that he doesn’t want us to hide in shame, but to come and live in victory with him. And Jesus not being okay with the woman, knowing that she’s hidden her entire life, wants to take the opportunity just to stop in this busy crowd and meet her need in the need of her heart and let her know while others have turned her away, that he loves her. And Jesus pierces into her heart and begins to ask her these questions. And for the first time in her life, this lady is allowed to just be open. This lady is allowed to feel accepted and loved and just say to him, Jesus, I’ve been defiled my whole life. Jesus have been hurt my whole life. Jesus have been lonely my whole life. All I wanted was just to get near you. Jesus points out to her something significant, something that he doesn’t bother to point out to the rest of the crowd. And he said to her daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your affliction. Jesus identifies for this lady that peace has come to her soul. For the first time in her life, she’s able to experience what she has longed to desire.
Not only was she physically healed from her ailment, but she was no longer defiled. She was now to be able to participate in life with people and not just with people. She was able to go and learn about her God in her church because she wasn’t defiled. This story for us is symbolic of our lives. I think whether we recognize it or not, all of us need healing, forgiveness, peace, and life to our souls. I think each of our souls long and ache to be a part of something greater than just ourselves. And this lady, hearing about the Messiah, knew that Jesus had proclaimed himself to be the one that sits captives free. It says in Matthew 11, come to me, if you’re weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest. John 14 six I am the way, the truth, and the life. John 1010 I came that you may have abundant life. John 17 my joy may be in you and your joy may be made full. Galatians five Romans eight Christ has set you free. Amen. I think in our lives, the way that we rob ourselves of the joy that is Jesus is that we fill it with religion rather than a relationship with our Savior. Church people have the tendency to do this. We make it about the ministry, not about him and His glory. People, a part of any belief system other than just pursuing Jesus, make it about religion rather than relationship.
And Jesus is saying to us in this passage, it’s me that is life. It’s me that sets you free. It’s not what you’ve done, it’s what I’ve done. All this lady did was present her defiled self before God, and God healed it from the inside out. The symbolic stories to remind us of our need. That we all need forgiveness and healing and peace and life through Jesus. And you can hear this woman from the depths of her heart, knowing the Messiah was coming, just crying out, saying, God, just heal me. As a church family. We’re part of a larger network of churches. We’re all independent from one another, but we work together and and one of the ministries that is a part of us as a church family exists in California. It’s a blind, deaf ministry, meaning these people are both blind and deaf together, their world is darkness. They’ve never seen the beauty of the day, Nor heard the beauty of an animal sing or a bird sing in the morning. The only way that they have to communicate is through this one lady who’s a missionary, and she places hands of sign language into their hands, and they feel around her hand what words that she’s signing as she communicates with them. There was a story that she shared once of going to church, and the church was going to partake of communion, which we’ll do in a little while. And the pastor began to share the purpose of communion, the beauty of Jesus and the and the body that was broken and the blood that was shed.
And how when we take communion, we always want to take this with the right heart. And the lady began to sign in his hand the words that the pastor was saying. And all of a sudden this gentleman that she was signing and began to get all excited, and the lady behind her noticed that this gentleman was getting exciting and she was said, what is he getting excited about? What? What’s going on with him that he’s so happy and he she just says he’s just saying two words over and over. And she said, well, what is he saying? Why is he so antsy about this? And he’s just saying, cleanse me, Jesus, cleanse me. And he got emphatic about it, knowing the opportunity of communion was going to come. And we got to recognize that this is an individual that has never lusted with his eyes, has has never heard a negative thought in his life, has never uttered a bad word, and he’s crying out to Jesus, cleanse me. All of us need grace, healing, peace. Life in Jesus and encouragement to us is not to believe the lies of worthlessness as us as individuals, not to hide from God in our sin, but to run towards him. Could imagine what this lady is going through in this moment. Everything that she’s heard in this world is that nothing but you are not good enough and everything.
If she could believe at that moment was you need to just run in the opposite direction of Jesus. He’s too holy to stand in your presence. And all this lady thought was rather than run away in my troubles in this moment, this may be my last opportunity. I’m going to run to him because he’s the only hope that I have. It’s a reminder to us that in our troubles, rather than run away from God, run to him and grab a hold of his cloak and cling for life. Don’t believe the lies that deny your worth before God. I would say this as well. When you’re healed by Jesus, you’re the only one that fills it. Jesus fills it too. Jesus cares enough about you in the middle of a busy day to stop what he’s doing and get personal in our lives. It’s impossible to bring a mess so big to Christ that he can’t heal it. The Bible says this where sin abounds. Grace did much more abound. Saying to us, if sin has the the power to swim the lengths of Utah Lake, I don’t know why it would, but it’s disgusting and sin is disgusting. So if it had the power to to to swim the length of Utah Lake, Jesus’s grace has the ability to go across the Atlantic Ocean. If sin has the power to circle the world, grace has the power to circle the universe.
There is nothing so desperate, so big, so, so ugly in our lives that Jesus can’t heal us from it. Which leaves me with the question, why in the world is this story about a woman in the middle of a story about a little girl? Scripture goes on after it, shares about this lady and says while he was still speaking, they came from the house of the synagogue officials saying, your daughter has died. Why trouble the teacher anymore? But Jesus, overhearing what what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, do not be afraid any longer. Only believe. And entering in, he said to them, why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is asleep. They began laughing at him. But putting them all out, he took along the child’s father and mother and his own companions, and entered the room where the child was taking the child by the hand he said to her, Talitha koum! Which translated, means little girl, I say to you, get up. Immediately the little girl got up and began to walk, for she was 12 years old, and immediately they were completely astounded. Astounded. Interesting thing about this story is that the moment this lady that was defiled touched Jesus according to Jewish custom, Jesus himself would have been defiled, unable to conduct any more ministry until he went through a purification process. But it didn’t happen. And God continued to work through him. The Bible tells us that in seeing this story, that we can bring our troubles to Jesus because we can’t consume Jesus with our troubles, but Jesus most certainly can consume all of us.
He is that powerful. Bible tells us in Romans 320 that we need him to consume us. Romans 320 it says, none of us are righteous. But it tells us in the Bible that Jesus will give you salvation if you call him. Romans 1013 says, for whosoever. Meaning anyone. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. It’s an invitation for all people, including this woman, to recognize in our desperation we need Christ and in that desperation, call out to him for salvation. And in that salvation, Jesus promises that whoever does it, he will save us. It’s not an invitation of religion. It’s not an invitation about joining a church. It’s an invitation to Christ alone. Accepting him, giving him the moment to look back down at you and to remind you that your faith has healed you and that he loves you. And the beautiful part about this entire passage I love when I look at the rest of Scripture in light of just this story of the woman touching Jesus’s cloak. Because Isaiah chapter six and verse one says this to us, Isaiah sees a vision about God. It tells us in John chapter 12 and verse 40 that the vision that Isaiah saw was Jesus. And Isaiah recorded his vision in all of chapter six, the first ten verses.
And it says, in the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord sitting on the throne, lofty and exalted. So Isaiah sees God sitting on his throne, reigning. This is Jesus reigning on his throne. And it says this to us with the train of his robe filling the temple. The point is this Jesus’s robe is so large that everyone has the opportunity to grab a hold. It’s not just about this lady reaching out to his cloak, but his robe fills the heavens. And Jesus came to this world to set you free from sin, Satan, death, and to give you hope in him. If by faith just like this lady, no matter what the crowd is saying around you, if you just reach out and just grab Ahold of his cloak and say, Jesus, save me, Jesus, I trust in you, Jesus. I’m tired of doing it all these other ways. God, I just want you and you alone heal me. Whoever calls will be saved. Amen. Let me give everybody an opportunity just to bow your heads and close your eyes for just a moment. What I want to give you is a chance to make the biggest decision of your life. If you have trusted in anything other than Christ in this world, I’m going to give you an opportunity now just to turn that trust from things that are broken and just trust in Jesus. I have people in the in the back of the room that are just waiting to just share more with you, and I know this is a bold thing, and I know we’re in the middle of a crowd, but I’m going to ask, as brave as this lady was, if that is you this morning and you want to trust in Jesus, and you’re not sure if you had give you the opportunity to walk to the back of the room, stand up and just jump over people.
I’m sure this lady had to do this when she was walking to touch Jesus’s cloak, but just go to the back of the room. We have people there that want to take you out and just explain to you how you can have salvation in Jesus. For our church family this morning, if you’ve trusted in Christ, if you know Him as Savior and you’re just hurting right now, this is an opportunity for you as well. If you just need some prayer and some encouragement for your life just to stand up and walk to the back of the room to find that encouragement. This decision for us as a church family is life changing. It’s one of the biggest decisions that you will face in your life. It’s the only decision that tells us in Scripture that gives us life in Christ is life, and without Christ there is no life. I’m going to pray for us as a congregation this morning. We’re going to sing a song with your heads bowed and eyes closed.
I’ll have you stand up in just a minute as we sing this song. If you still feel led by the Lord just to walk to the back of the room, we’ll still have people there waiting to talk with you. If you’re here this morning and you don’t know Jesus as a savior, very simply, just ask him to save you. Cry out to God and just ask him to save you where you are from this world and trust in him. For you that know Jesus. Guys, I pray that in our hearts we continue to make this simple. It’s about him. It’s not about us. It’s not about what we do. It’s about him. And by faith, just trusting in him and not complicating our lives, but looking to him. Let me pray for us. God, I thank you that this message this morning screams your hope. God, I thank you that you take time for people who feel hopeless just to pause in their lives, God, and give them your grace and your love, and God give them life. So Lord, I just pray for us as a church family that that be the pursuit and we just run for you, unafraid of what others might say. God. But we just desperately want to cling to your cloak and experience life with you. So Jesus, we thank you for this morning And God, as we get ready to take communion, we thank you for what it represents to us. And so, Lord, we just pray God you continue to bless us for us during the rest of the service as we celebrate this Easter day with our family and friends.
And it’s in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Stand with us this morning. It is not a fulfilled Easter until we partake of communion together, representing everything that Jesus has done for us. I have the gentlemen go ahead and start passing it out, and let me explain to you a communion. There are two cups in our trays. There’s one on the top and bottom. Make sure you grab both of those. But communion for us is a time to examine ourselves in a relationship with the Lord. It says in first Corinthians 1128, A man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup, For he who eats and drinks, eats, and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly. We give us a few moments as Gregg leads us in the song together. Feel free to sing along just to prepare our hearts to partake of this together. How deep the father’s love for mothers have passed beyond all measure that he should give his only son to make the richest treasure. How great the pain of searing loss. The father turns his face away as wounds which mar the chosen one. Bring many sons to glory. Behold the man upon the cross, my sin upon his shoulders.
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice. Call. Lord among the scoffers. It was my sin that held him there until it was accomplished. His dying breath has brought me life. I know that it is finished. I will not boast in anything. No gifts, no power, no wisdom. But I will boast in Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection. Why should I gain from his reward? I cannot give an answer. But this I know with all my heart his wounds have paid my ransom. How deep the father’s love for us. How vast beyond all measure that he should give his only son to make a wretch his treasure. It says, I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord, the night he was betrayed, took bread, and he gave thanks. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way he took the cup also after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. And Jesus gives you a hopeful promise. He says, but I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until the day when I drink it new with you and my father’s kingdom. Let me pray for us. God, I pray that today we leave as people just filled with hope. God a hope of heaven.