Luke 8:41-49

Luke chapter 8, I want to read verses 41 and 42, and then I’m going to jump down to verse 49, verse 41, and behold there came a man named Jaris. He was a ruler of the synagogue, and he fell down at Jesus’ feet and besought him that he would come into his house. for he had one only daughter, about 12 years of age, and she lay a dying. But as he went, the people thronged in. Verse 49, while he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, thy daughter is dead. Trouble, not the master. But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not, believe only, and she shall be made whole. When he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter and James and John, and the father and mother of the maiden. And all wept and bewailed her. But he said, weep not. She is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. And he put him. put them all out and took her by the hand and called saying, Made arise. And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway, and he commanded to give her meat. And her parents were astonished, but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done. May God bless to us, he is sacred. and holy word this morning. One of the most devastating things that a family can endure is the death of one of their children. And in this case, we see it as the only child in the family. It’s extremely hard to lose children when they’re young as she was just 12 years of age. When Martin Luther’s children, daughter, Magnolina, was 14 years of age. She became extremely sick and lay dying. And Luther prayed, oh God, I love her, but nevertheless, I will be done. And when he talked with her, said to her, Magdalena, would you rather be with me or would rather go and be with your father in heaven? And she said, Father, as God wills. And he held her close to him until she, she passed away. It was a really sad event in Luther’s life. Our text relates here the account of the great illness and death of Jarus’ daughter, who was 12 years of ages I mentioned. When his daughter became gravely ill, Jarus sought out Jesus Christ, believing that if Jesus would just come to his house, lay his hands on her, you know, he could heal her, and that she would not die. And so he being a ruler of the synagogue, evidently at Copernium, we’re not told specifically. And this was an unusual thing for him to seek out Christ as a Jewish leader. But he did in his day of trouble. and Jesus readily complied with Jaris’ request to come to his house and to heal his daughter. And on his way there, you call last time we, two times before, actually, we talked about Jesus encountering the woman with the issue of blood and reached out and touched the fringe or the border of his garment was healed, and he stops to give her a word of comfort. And just as soon as he finishes talking with her, all of a sudden, someone comes from the house of Jarus to tell him that, I’m sorry, but your daughter has died, there’s no use troubling the master any further. No use for him to come to the house. It had to be devastating news. But what we find here in our text is an encouragement to trust Christ to trust Christ in the day of trouble. Let me begin by saying this. You should consider nothing hopeless at which Christ is concerned. You’ll notice here in verse 49 that your faith may be severely tested. And while he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue’s house saying him, thy daughter is dead, trouble not the master. Boy, what a devastating blow this had to be, the Jars. He had to be thrilled. that Jesus was coming. And soon, his daughter was going to be healed, and she wouldn’t die. And then all of a sudden, he gets the news that she’s already dead. Now, he certain believed, according to Matthew 918, if Jesus would lay his hand upon her daughter, she would live. He had faith. Whether this bad news altogether destroyed his hope, we’re not certain. But clearly, fear was arising in Jarus’s heart. For Jesus tells us here in verse 50, he says that he told the man, fear not. He was sure that Christ would have prevented the death, but he’s not there. He probably had no idea. that Jesus was going to raise her from the day. The situation, however, from a human perspective, appeared to be quite hopeless. The Lord sees fit to test our faith at times. To put it to the test. To make known the quality of your faith, whether it’s strong or weak. And that’s to make known to you the quality of your faith. of your faith, because he already knows. James speaks of the trying of your faith in James 1.3. He uses a word which is commonly used with that in which they assess the purity of metal. Today, metal testing is mostly done in the aircraft industry where they’ll ensure that it’s capable of withstanding supersonic flight and so forth. They will test the metal. When God test your faith, he often exposes its weakness so as to drive you to Christ to be encouraged and have your faith strengthened. The testing your faith makes you realize that your faith isn’t where it needs to be. When faith wanes, what comes in its place? Fear. fear. You lose confidence in the Lord and you start to think all is lost. It’s hopeless. So your faith may be severely tested. You’re encouraged you’re not to distrust the power of Christ. For verse 50 tells us here, Jesus says to him, fear not, believe only, and she shall be made whole. Jesus doesn’t think the situation is hopeless. So he encourages Jaris here with these words. His message to his people throughout all ages is don’t panic, trust in me, and all will be well. No matter how bad the situation may be, no matter how dark we may find ourselves in that situation, it looks. looks like it’s hopeless. I says, through Christ, His son, trust in me. If we could only learn that important lesson, believe only, faith gives you light in the darkest of ours. Faith and fear are opposites. And you’ll notice here that faith can be strengthened when it does wane. And it can be strengthened by the words of Christ. Faith in Christ never disappoints. Fear can be cast out when our faith is increased. And so Christ here is trying to help him with regard to his faith. Don’t be overwhelmed. Do you remember when Paul was on his way to Rome, and he was under rest for preaching and the Jews were trying to to actually put him to death. He had to appeal to Caesar, and so he’s on his way to Rome, and he’s on a ship. And it’s traveling in the Mediterranean, all of a sudden this treacherous hurricane comes up, this Euroclyden, as they called it. A great storm, a northeasterner, if you would. And after being three days in this storm, without it relenting, the ship was in danger of breaking up. and Luke, who is a firsthand witness of this, he gives us the sentiment of the people on board the ship at this time in Acts 2720 when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared and those small tempests lay upon us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away. There’s no hope. This is the darkest situation we’re going to go down with the ship. We can’t even get any direction. There’s no hope. There’s no hope. We can’t see the sun. There’s no stars, you know, even at night. We can’t get any direction. Or today we don’t have the sun to help us. At that point, Paul called everyone together. And he told them, on the previous night, an angel of God has appeared unto me. And he said this. He told me that the ship is going to run aground, and everybody on board is going to be saved. And then he added this. wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer. For I believe God that it shall be even as he told me. That’s what faith does. That when we’re in the midst of the worst situation. Faith comes along and reminds us of what God says and we say by faith. I believe what God says and he’s going to help me. It’s going to happen just like God told me through his age. that’s what we need to have. So Paul’s faith was not based upon his own human assessment of the situation. The human assessment is we’re all going to die. But God’s revelation to him was not one person on board that ship was going to die. Not one. In the storms of life, we have to cling to Christ’s word. Fear not. Believe only. And all will be well. so you should consider nothing hopeless in which Christ is concerned. And my friends, if it happens in your life, Christ is concerned. Because you’re one of his people. Secondly, notice that when worldly sorrow prevails, it’s difficult for Christ’s comforts to come to you. Notice verses 51 to 53 here. And when he came into the house, he suffered no to go in, save Peter and James and John and the father and mother of all of the maiden. And all wept and bewailed her, but he said, weep not. She is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. Friends, the sorrow of this world doesn’t provide us any comfort. Jesus, when he got to, Joris’ house. He proceeded there. But he limited his witness to who would observe what he was going to do. This miracle. The crowd which followed him obviously couldn’t all go into the house, so they’re left outside. And even all the disciples that were with him, he decided to only take three, the Peter and James and John, the triumvirate of the discipleship there, those three, they were included, and they went in, along with the parents of this girl. They’re going to be the only ones that witness the restoration of this girl to life. A competent number of witnesses, however, to testify to what has taken place. Where two or three witnesses, according to the law, are for us, convincing proof. Now, when he gets there, in verse 52, we read that all well and bewailed her. Mark’s gospel says this. He saw the tumult and then that wept and wailed greatly. And Matthew adds, Jesus saw the minstrels. In other words, the musicians, literally the flutist, who would be playing a sad music. As well, he says here, as the people making a noise. So, There’s this great, tumultuous mourning going on. Now, the Jews would often hire what were known as professional mourners. They would come in, stir up the people, get people to cry, get people all worked up, and then they’d be bewailing the death of the child and so forth. It stir up people’s emotions. I’ve gone to funerals like that too. Where, you know, it seems like all they want to do is get people all emotionally stirred up. This practice was common in Jesus’ day. But it followed that the heathen, that these were heathen practices, rather than that of the godly. We read in the book of Jeremiah 917, call for the mourning women that they may come, and send for the cunning women. that they may come, and let them make haste and take up a wailing for us, their eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. That’s the kind of thing that’s going on. And then, of course, the world would play the own melancholy tunes. To increase the grief, as Paul says, the world sorrows as if it has no hope. Because they don’t. happen. The world stirs up grief. Christianity provides hope and encouragement in times of bereavement for those suffering the sorrow of death and the family. When the sorrow of the world prevails, it’s difficult for Christ in his comforts to lift your spirits. There’s a danger of being completely consumed with sorrow in these circumstances. The world is always consumed with sorrow. I’m reminded when Jacob heard the news from his other sons that, you know, Joseph must have been torn by some wild beast. They brought back his coat of many colors where they put the blood on it and so forth and made it look like he died in order they could sell him. off to Egypt as a slave, remember? And so when he hears about it and he sees the garment, he rent his clothes, he puts on sackcloth upon his loins, he mourned his son many days, and all his sons and all his daughters came to him and try to comfort him. But he refused to be comforted, and he said, I will go down to the grave under my son, mourning. I’m never going to be comforted. Is that the way we should handle the sorrows of this life like this. When Herod slaughtered the infants at Christ’s birth, what did Jeremiah say about this? In Rama was a voice heard, lamentation and weeping in great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted because they are not. Rachel here personifies the Jewish people. bitterly bewailing Herod’s slaughter of her. their children. They refuse to be comforted. Now what is really interesting is this quote in Jeremiah 3115 that’s also mentioned in Matthew 218 comes in the middle of a chapter Jeremiah 31. If you know anything about Jeremiah 31, it’s the new covenant chapter. It’s all about Christ and Christ’s coming. And yet they can find no comfort. And here is Christ who’s coming into the world at this very moment and they can’t find any comfort. Because they’re not looking to Christ. So what does Christ do? Verse 54, he puts them all out. They’re not of any help. His consolations require the removal of the sorrows that are generated by the world. Hopeless sorrow. Friends, we need to make room for him who is the consolation of Israel in our time of sorrow. Don’t let even like mourning control you. Catherine, the wife of Martin Luther, had to be quite an amazing woman. And she needed at one time to revive the sagging spirits of her husband, the reformer, Luther. Luther. Luther lost heart and he became so discouraged that he refused to eat or drink. He wouldn’t even speak to his wife or his children or his friends. He was such a melancholy situation. So Catherine puts on widow’s garments, puts on the black garments, and began to deeply mourn. Surprised by her actions. Luther says, why are you wearing? What are you so sorrowful about? And Catherine says, I have good cause for the saddest of weeping, for God in the heavens has docked. That’s why she believes such a thing. Catherine said that her husband’s recent behavior made her think so. Her gentleman rebukes Snap Luther out of his depression. And he laughingly kissed her kissed her. And he laughingly kissed her. and then took courage and banished his sorrow. We have to look to Christ in our time of sorrow, for he is the one who can console us. We don’t sorrow as others of this world who have no hope, as though God were dead, as though Christ didn’t exist. So you find the sorrow of the world provides no comfort. You learn here that Christ may call things which be not as though they were. In verse 52, it’s interesting, he says here, weep not, she is not dead but sleepeth. This young girl was truly dead. But not to Christ who knew what he was going to do. He determined to make her death but asleep of an hour or so. How long did take him to get to the house? He gets to the house whatever distance it was away, whatever that distance was for the time he heard that she had died, the time he gets to the house, isn’t that long. This death was going to be so short, it was going to be like a brief nap. Thus Christ’s comment here. Christ will have nothing counted hopeless then, in which he has a hand. Death itself is esteemed but asleep in comparison. His divine power. In particular, the death of a child of God is looked upon as asleep in Scripture. The Bible says, they sleep in Jesus. 1st Thessalonians 414. Not the soul, which goes to be with the Lord, but the spirit, or the body sleeps in the grave. You rest from the toils and the hardships and the troubles of life, but you rest in hope of what? again at the resurrection of the last day. So there are times the scripture we use the word sleep because of the fact that we’re going to wake up. The body’s going to be awakened later on. And so here he uses the same phraseology because he’s going to restore her to life. Now all this should be something that moderates your sorrow when a believer dies. You learn Christ may call things which be not as as though they were. It’s nothing to him. Notice those ignorant of scripture ridicule those truths that you and I hold dear. When these people heard this, they laughed him to scorn knowing that she was dead. Verse 53. Boy, this was rude and inconsiderate to the Savior. they ridiculed him. Even if you can’t understand the words of Christ, you better believe what he has to say because they’re going to come to pass. You shouldn’t despise. You may laugh at Christ, but ultimately he is the one who’s going to silence you in the end. They laughed him to scorn, but I wonder what they thought after she came back to life, after he restored her to life. Somehow, some way, God’s words always come true. Christ’s words will come true. Not one of his words fall to the ground. Some people do not know the scriptures, and they don’t know the power of God. Jesus here does not cast a pearl before these swine. He just gets them out of the house, gets them away. They’re unworthy to witness this miracle. He doesn’t even explain himself. I think what he’s thinking is, well, you’ll see. You deny me now, but you’ll see that what I’m saying is true. You let this young woman’s restoration of life answer his critics. So no matter how mysterious Christ’s words, they deserve careful study because there’s deep truth embedded in whatever he has to say. So when worldly sorrow prevails, it’s difficult for Christ and his comforts to come to you. And so we see that problem here. Thirdly, you see the almighty power Christ has over death in verses 54 to 56. And he put them all out, took her by the hand, and called saying, made her rise. And her spirit came again. She arose straightway, and he commanded to give her meat. And her parents were astonished, but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done. We find here Christ. victorious over death in verses 54 and 55. Now you’ll notice here, Christ doesn’t pray. He does the miracle in his own name. He just gives the command, made her rise, and she immediately arises. She’s to be restored to life. Christ’s command was such that her spirit came back into her body. That’s pretty amazing, isn’t it? This is one of those texts. which indirectly proves to us, it’s not teaching this specifically, but it sticks out here, the separate existence of the soul from the body. Where the soul of this girl was in the interval, we’re not told, but we’ll say this. It was in the hand of the Father of the Spirits to whom all souls at death returned. where scripture says in ecclesiastes 12-7, then shall the dust return to the earth, as it was, we know that’s what happens to the body, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it. I don’t know exactly. I can’t answer that question. I thought it was in God’s hands. But here’s the point. Your soul lives on when you die. The soul, the spirit didn’t die here. The soul didn’t die of this young girl. It wasn’t extinguished. was immortal. This is further proof of her complete restoration. Because after she was restored, he says, give her something to eat. Now, this was not a vision, this was not an illusion or something of this nature. It was real, because she could eat. Jesus is portrayed in the book of Revelation, and we read it this morning, as the one who has the keys, of hell and of death. What does it mean if you have the key to something? It means you have the power open and close it, don’t you? If you have the only key to the house, then you decide who gets in the house and who you keep out of the house. You open the door to some, and you keep it locked to others. So Jesus has complete power over death. The Lord killeth and the Lord maketh a lot. He bring it down to the grave, and he bringeth up. Hannah said that in the prayer in 1 Samuel chapter 2, verse 6. That’s what Christ does here. Death is called the king of terrors because it frightens men, but scripture reveals Christ’s power over death. So you need not be fearful. My friends, you and I only die according to Christ’s command when he unlocks the door. door to death, we’re going to die. If he keeps it locked, we’re not going to die. Death never comes haphazardly. It never comes by chance. There isn’t, as the scripture says, in Ecclesiastes chapter 3, a time to die. It’s in God’s book. It’s in his purpose. Now, there may be many things which threaten your life. There’s disease. There’s the attacks of Satan. There are hostile men that they can’t harm you without Christ. permission. He has the power. He is the key to death. Now here we are, in the midst of a great epidemic, this coronavirus threatens people’s lives at times. Many thousands of people in our nation have died. But I can guarantee you this one thing. No one dies. No one dies. Unless Christ permits it to happen, unless it is in his will that this takes place. Shouldn’t this comfort us in this situation in which we find ourselves? Let us be satisfied knowing that Christ has the keys of death. And you’re going to only die according to his purpose. That’s a consoling thought. What happened to Jerus’ daughter here, in a sense, will give us also a glimpse of what’s going to take place in the future, when Christ raises the dead. And the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, the Bible says. The hour is going to come when the voice of Christ is going to call all people out of the grave. Your body, has a body. a believer will be now glorified and with the Savior. It’ll be reunited at that point with your soul. A body now which, I’m sorry, your body now glorified will be reunited with your soul. That’s what Jesus is what I should say. And therefore, you’ll be whole again. But that only takes place because Christ calls forth the body changes it, glorifies it, and it reunites now with your perfect soul. And so the whole family will be gathered in the eternal heavenly home. All tears shall we wipe away from our eyes, and there shall be no more death. So you find Christ victorious over death. The final thing we see here in this text of Scripture is you see how little our Lord desired publicity. Verse 56. He tells us here, he tells the parents in particular here, don’t tell anybody. Don’t say anything to anybody. They were astonished that he did this, the parents. It was all, there had to be an awe-inspiring event to witness him doing this. Only few were privileged to see it. No doubt, though, the report of the young girl is going to get. spread abroad. It’s going to happen. But they were not to purposely spread it abroad, is what he says here. Jesus didn’t seek publicity. This is part of his humility. To do great works and to say nothing is to follow in Christ’s steps. Samson killed a lion in the way. with his bare hands, didn’t even tell his parents about it. Didn’t tell anybody about it. There was something I read that Spurgeon was talking about that passage of scripture. He talked about Christians loving to brag in their Christian magazines about what they have accomplished and all this. He says, they slay a mouse and think they have done something great. You know, Samson slays a lion and he doesn’t tell anybody. And you have to have it all published in the Gazette. what you’re doing. Too many in Christians circles love publicity for their good deeds. They crave the applause of men. Remember what Jesus said. Don’t blow the trumpet before you do your good deeds. To get people’s attention. Look, what I’m going to do, remember how Jesus condemned the Jews for doing that. Before they gave their arms, they blew the trumpets. Everybody would be watching, well, they gave out the money to the poor. Let us be content, then, to serve the Lord quietly. not to crave the publicity and the praise of man. It doesn’t matter what man thinks. It only matters what God thinks. And if we’re going to follow Christ steps here, we have to be humble. Humility is the grace that God delights for his people to exercise. So you see the almighty power here, Christ over death. Let me close by saying this. Luther lost his young daughter. It was a real blow. This is true of all parents who would lose young children like this. It’s a hard thing to endure. But keep in mind here the story of Jerus’ daughter when we face such things as death. Because you should consider nothing hopeless in which Christ is involved. When the world sorrow prevails, it’s hard for Christ and its comforts to come to us. So let’s not be overwhelmed with sorrow. Yeah, we can sorrow, but not to the worldly sorrow that we see so much around us. And we see the almighty power of Christ over death in this passage of Scripture. Once again, he proves his deity and how he is so powerful. Well, may God’s Word be a blessing to us this morning. Let us close.