Obeying Jesus

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Ironton, Ohio

Campbell Chapel FWBC of Ironton Ohio - Pastor Bob Bradley

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Obeying Jesus

April 9, 2008

Bob Bradley

_________________________

Mark 5:21-24

21 And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him: and he was nigh unto the sea.

22 And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,

23 And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee , come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.

24 And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.

Last week we read this and talked about the events that happened after what I read to you tonight. Jesus has been over in the land of the Gadarenes. He has been over there. He has had an encounter with some folks over there that did not really want Him. Actually when Jesus did some great things and performed a miracle over there, we know that He was asked to leave and that is what He did. Always keep in mind Jesus will never stay anywhere that He is not welcomed.

He gets on a ship and comes back across the sea. He comes back over in and around Capernaum. As we have said many times before, Capernaum had 200,000 or 300,000 people lived there. It was where Jesus had His headquarters at for most of His ministry. No doubt, it was out of a house that Peter probably owned as you read Bible history. That is where Jesus had His headquarter out of. As He comes back here…

21 And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him: and he was nigh unto the sea.

I want you to think about something. How important it is what voice that we really listen to and what voice that we really obey. I’ve said that so many times here. Many folks are listening to the wrong voice. There are many voices out there. The Bible says that there are many spirits that has gone out into the world. The Bible says that we need to try the spirits to see whether they be of God or not. The enemy is a great imitator. The scripture calls him the anti-christ. The reason that it calls him that is because he is a very clever, deceitful, he is very intelligent and he can disguise himself and he disguises even his ministers as angels of light. The Bible says that he does. So he is very clever and cunning.

Think about in your own life; have there been times in your life that you have actually listened to the wrong voice and obeyed the wrong voice? Whatever the situation may have been. It may have been something very small. It may have been something very big. It may have had to do with your whole family. It may have had just to do with you. It may have had to do with your kids. It may have had something to do with church. Whatever it may be, I would say that every one of us here tonight could raise both hands and both feet to say that there have been many times in our life that we have listened to the wrong voice. When we listen to the wrong voice, there are repercussions for that.

We get acquainted with people’s voices. If Deb is in a crowd of people somewhere, I may not be able to see her but I may hear her voice and I know who she is or one of the kids, or some of you that I know real well. I was somewhere the other day and someone was hollering hey Bob. I could not see anybody but I recognized the voice.

It is the same thing with the Lord. When we are acquainted with someone, and when we have a close intimate relationship with someone like we should have with Jesus Christ; when He speaks unto to us, we are going to know His voice. When we other voices that we don’t recognize; then you know what we are not going to do? We are not going to pay attention to those voices.

That is why it is so important today that we read our Bibles, we study our Bibles and we seek the face of God and ask God to give us instructions from His Word. When God does those things, then we need to do those things that He asked us to do. As we do that then we get closer with Him. He speaks to us and we speak to Him. We speak to Him and He speaks to us. That is a great blessing. That is a great privilege that we have.

Here is what happens so many times in our life. I want to think here about Jairus. Jesus comes back over to Capernaum. He gets off the ship. He is down by the seashore. All kinds of people are around Him. Here comes a fellow by the name of Jairus. Jairus is a ruler of one of the synagogues that was in Capernaum. No doubt, there were several synagogues in Capernaum. It was a place where the Jewish people went and they would have a minister there, someone that they had appointed to stand up and read the scriptures and expound on the scriptures. It was not a place of sacrifice as the temple was, but it was a place of worship; a lot of different things about that.

This ruler, Jairus, as you read the scriptures, and about the rulers of the people, when we get to this time in Jesus ministry, the opposition against Him was great. The religious leaders hated Jesus Christ. They hated Him for what He was doing. He was turning things upside down. He was exposing unto this nation and unto the people how sinful these leaders really were. The leaders are upset. The remarkable thing about Jairus is this. He got to the place—I don’t know how long his daughter had been sick, and we will get to her in just a minute, but I don’t know how long his daughter had been sick. I don’t know what kind of illness that she had. Jairus was a man that had heard Jesus preach before. There is no doubt in my mind that he had heard Him somewhere before because not only had he heard Him but he had seen some of the great things that Jesus did.

Here he comes. He is not worrying about all the problems that this may cause him with the other rulers and the other leaders and all the other folks that are in authority. He is not worrying about what they are going to say about him. They probably were going to talk about him like a dog. The leaders hated Jesus but yet here Jairus comes. He is going to come and say, “Hey, I need your help.”

Many times in life we don’t ever want to get that place in life. We worry about what people think of us. We worry about going to church. We worry about if we sing in the choir or if we testify or if we do these things. I learned something a long time ago. The greatest thing that we need to do is to get to where Jesus is at and stay close to Him because we need Him. The Bible says…

22 And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,

He fell where? …at His feet. Jesus is here down by the seashore, no doubt, throngs and throngs of people—thousands of people here—but I can see Jairus coming. He may have had some people that were in front of him trying to part the way so that he could get to where Jesus is at. When he sees Jesus, he recognizes Him and knows who He is and the Bible says that He comes and falls down right at His feet. That is humility. Jairus could have come down here and demanded something of Jesus. He could have told Jesus, “You need to get on the ship and go back to the other side.” He could have done that. But he come down here and fell right down at His feet—humility being humble

If we are ever going to receive anything from God, we cannot come to God in a prideful way. We cannot come to God with our chest stuck out and act we are somebody and make demands of the Lord. We cannot do that. If Jesus is going to do things for us, it is going to be because we approach Him in the right way, recognize who He is and not only that, but we make our petitions to Him in the right way. I can’t command God to do anything. Can you? We can make demands but that does not mean that God is going to do it.

Here he comes. He falls down. He is humble and he comes in humility. He falls down right at Jesus feet. He is recognizing how great Jesus is. Now there are a lot of things that Jairus did not know about Jesus and probably a lot of things that he did not understand. He understood enough about Jesus to know that Jesus had the help that he needed at this time. He knew that. He comes and falls down at His feet.

23 And besought him greatly…

When you look at that in the Greek, it means that he begged Him; he pleaded with Him. He was very sincere in his request. He was persistent in his request. He was persistent. He begged Him. He begged Him greatly. When he does this, he comes in the right way. He comes and he falls down at Jesus’ feet. He worships Him. He reverences Him. He recognizes some things about Him and his request to Him while he is lying on his face before Him; he is beseeching Him. He is greatly begging Him, pleading with Him saying…

23 …My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.

His dilemma was this. His daughter was dying. His little daughter was dying. I don’t how many kids he had. This may have been the only child that he had. There are some things that we may not understand about this because we have not been told some things about it. However, the dilemma that he had and the problem that he had and the need that he had at this particular time was that his daughter was dying. She was dying. He knew that she was dying. His request is: come and lay thy hands upon her that she can recover, she can heal, and she can live. That is a very humble request—don’t you think?

He was not asking Jesus to give him wealth, things, possessions, wasn’t praying even for himself. He was praying for his daughter that was dying. I want you to put yourself in his position. They did not have urgent cares on every corner like we have today. They did not have hospitals around that we could run our kids or run our family to when we need to. I don’t know what all has transpired here, whether the doctors have been to see this girl—I don’t know. But I do know this. Jairus knew that the help that he needed and the help that his little girl needed was going to have to come from Jesus Christ. That is faith.

When he comes, he leaves her dying bed to run and fight through a crowd of thousands of people to get to where one individual is at. He falls on his face. He greatly beseeches Him, “come, lay your hands on my daughter, she is at the point of death; so that she can be healed and live. Not only is that humility. Not only is that approaching Jesus in the right but that is also having great faith in what Jesus can do for his little girl.

He didn’t say, “…she may live…” He did not say “…if you can come down and do anything at all…” He says, “…come down and lay your hands upon her and she will recover and be alive…”

Put yourself in Jairus’ position. What would you be doing? Do you think if you know your child was dying, I promise you that you would be doing anything and everything and you would be doing it as quick as you could? You would not be doing it in a prideful way. You would not be sticking out your chest and making demands of people, like here with Jesus. You can’t do that. We might make demands of other people but when it comes to Him, we have to approach Him in the right way. Here he is probably very tore up, very sincere, very honest. I’d say his heart was like somebody had a hold of it and wringing it. He probably was crying. He was probably very nervous. I’d say that all kinds of thoughts are running through His mind. If I could get Him to come, my daughter can live. Put yourself there. What would you be thinking? What would you be doing? You should be doing the same thing here that Jairus was doing here with Jesus.

Here is what happens. We talked about last week, the woman that issue of blood. Jesus decides and says, “I’m going to go with you.” He leaves and the multitudes are going with Him. Then He has the encounter with the woman that we talked about last week. I don’t know how much time that took but it probably took several minutes. As you read what happened here, as you read about the woman coming and the crowd that is here and her being healed. Jesus brings her out in the open where she can confess what has happened to her so it probably took several minutes. I can just think about Jairus here and what is going through his mind. What would I be doing? If I had one of my kids or one of my grandkids and I know that they were dying and I took them to the emergency room and there were a whole bunch of people in front of me; and one had a Band-Aid on his/her finger and one was blowing their nose. Things that were not life threatening, I would probably want to shove them away and get up there to where I can say my child is dying. The Bible does not say that here about Jairus. I would say that he was very anxious. I’d probably thought, “Man, why don’t they hurry up?” Woman why don’t you just hold on here a while, my daughter is dying. I don’t what all he thought. I can put myself in his position and understand how I would have felt if I would have been there.

I would have been trying to get a hold of Him and drag Him and bring Him, but you can’t do that either. He heals the woman.

34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.

35 While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further?

This lady, He has just healed her. She has spent her whole living, everything that she had on doctors but now Jesus has just healed her because she had faith. She could get to where He is at. Claim the promises that the Old Testament scriptures had. She could be healed and we know that is what happened.

35 While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further?

How would you feel, if you would have been Jairus? Jesus is probably finishing up talking to the lady. They came to where Jairus is at here, some of his servants, probably from the house and said, “Hey, she is gone.”

I know most of have here tonight, lost people that are close to us and people that we loved and cared about. I can remember some times in life that I lost some people that have been very close to me. When you hear those horrible words, “They are gone. They are dead.” How final that is. I know a lot of you here have lost family that is a whole lot closer than—I know that you have lost actually family. I have just lost friends. I have lost grandma and grandpa and such as that, but having someone right in my immediate family, to have lost; I have never done that. I really don’t know how that would feel. I have lost some folks that has been very close to me that has been like my own brothers and like my own dad and things like that. Put yourself there.

“Jairus, I have bad news. Your daughter is dead.” How would you have felt? It would have been horrible, wouldn’t it?

35 While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further?

What they are saying is, “Jairus, she is gone. There is no use anymore for you to trouble or to try to get the Master here to come up and do something. There is no use to bother Him anymore because she is gone.”

We look at things like that sometimes. We look at situations sometimes as they are hopeless. These folks that came and told Jairus that your daughter is dead, they thought that there was nothing else that could be done. If we would have been there, we would have thought the same thing. Because when life is gone then we know that we can do nothing about that. That is beyond us. We cannot give life. We can take life but we cannot give life. We can’t do that.

They said that there is no use to trouble Him anymore because your little girl is gone. I can imagine that the tears are pouring out of his eyes. I can imagine all the emotions, the thoughts that were going through his mind. Your little girl is gone. There is no use to bother Jesus. She is gone.

I want you to listen to what I am going to say here right now.

36 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.

The guys told him, “Hey, Jairus your daughter is gone.” When Jesus heard those words He said this.

36 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.

Be not afraid, but only believe. Do you think that it is going to be important for Jairus here to listen to the right voice? He has just been told that there is no use to bother the Master anymore. He has just heard those words because your daughter is dead. However, in the next sentence Jesus said, “…Be not afraid, only believe.”

In situations in our life, do you know what happens to you and me? When tragedy really comes, when all the chips are down and out, and when the situation seems to be hopeless; we have people on both sides of the fence. We have people that comes and instead of being comforters, many times people adds to your grief sometimes. I have seen people at a casket before in a funeral home say some things that just tear the family up. Instead of trying to encourage them, they are just saying things that are tearing them down.

They just told Jairus here, “Jairus, your daughter is dead. Don’t trouble Jesus any longer.” However, Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid, only believe.” Do you know what Jairus could have done? He had the opportunity, he had the right and the privilege to choose what he was going to believe here; whether he was going to believe the folks that came from his house. He knew that they were not going to lie to him. He knew that. But was he going to use and exercise enough faith what the words of Jesus is saying. “Don’t be afraid, only believe.” That would be a big step, wouldn’t it?

You have just been told your daughter has died. Don’t bother Him any longer. Jesus looks at you and says, “Don’t be afraid.” It is great to hear His voice at times like that. When things are all down and out—and if you have never been through times like that in your life, there are times like that coming. You that are raising kids and grandkids, sometimes they just wring you out sometimes. Sometimes they tear your heart out. Sometimes they just tear you out from inside out. There will be times like that coming. They will come to all of us at one time or another, but the great thing is that if we will listen to the right voice, if we will live as we should live, approach Jesus Christ in the way that we are supposed to approach Him; then you know what we can hear? You don’t need to be afraid. You just need simply to believe me. Isn’t that awesome?

How many times in your life, and I’m sure with most of us that there have been many times that we have been heartbroken. The situation was hopeless. It did not look like the situation was going to get any better. Isn’t it great to hear His voice? Isn’t it great when He comes in a small still voice and says I know what you are going through? I know what is happening in your life. I understand what is going on and things are going to be okay. Do you know what it takes on your part and my part? We have to believe Him. If we are going to get to the place to where that difficulties don’t always wring us out; when He speaks to us, when we live as we should live and when He comes and speaks to us and says, “Hey, you don’t need to worry. Don’t be afraid. Only believe.” If we will get to that place in life and if we will listen to His voice; and so many difficulties that we go through in life, if we just simply listen to His voice and do what He asked us to do.

So many times we listen to the crowd. She is dead. She is gone. Don’t bother Him any longer. We hear the enemy all the time speaking unto us. When Jesus is trying to get us to do something or lead us to do something or trying to encourage us; there are all kinds of voices that come along and say what’s the use. Why don’t you just give up? Nobody cares about you. Nobody loves you. You are in over your head this time. You went too far this time. This is never going to work out. However all those are the voice of the enemy that speaks to us and tries to discourage us.

Jesus will take care of us through all the situations in life, if we will just believe Him. No I’m not going to tell you that when your child dies that he is just going to rise up from the dead. I’m not saying that. However, I am saying this. If we will believe Him then He will help us go through whatever we need in life, He will give us the grace to deal with whatever comes. We get to choose. Are we going to believe the crowd? Or are we going to believe Him? Are we going to believe all the voices and all the things that we are familiar with and sometimes all the people that we are familiar with or are we going to believe the one small still voice that says “only believe.” “Don’t be afraid.” Are we going to believe? We get to choose that. It is our choice. Jesus is not going to make us believe Him. Jesus is not going to make us listen to Him. Jesus is not going to make us obey Him.

I hope that you get this tonight. In life, tragedies are going to happen. We are going to lose our jobs from times to time. Our kids are going to get sick. We are not always going to get along with the neighbors. There are so many things that we can say. Tragedies are going to come. Hardships and heartache are going to come.

You get to choose what voice you are going to listen to. Are you going to listen to all the voices that are saying there is no use? There is no use to bother Him. There is no use to read. There is no use to study. There is no use to be obedient. There is no use to go to church. Or are you going to believe that small still voice that says believe me. Just believe me, don’t be afraid, just believe me and everything is going to be fine.

We get to choose that.

Jairus could have said she is dead and I’m not going to bother you any longer. He could have done that, but he believed what Jesus had to say.

37 And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James.

38 And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly.

Jesus leaves the crowd behind. He takes Peter, James, and John and Jairus and goes up to the house. If you know and if you have read much about Jewish funerals in Israel; they would actually hire people to come and wail, and make all kinds of racket. They would actually pay people to come and do that. I can just about see all the confusion that is going on when Jesus gets there.

They are no doubt running around screaming and crying—all kinds of confusion here going on. This did not alarm Jesus any at all.

Death scares you and me to death, but He has victory over death. He has power over death. Death to Him doesn’t mean anything. When we die, I cannot bring you back. I cannot do that but Jesus can do anything that He wants to do. The Bible says that they were wailing greatly and they were weeping greatly.

39 And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.

He says something here that is very interesting, I think. It has some great thought in this. When He comes in and they say she is dead, they are weeping and all the things that is going on; He just looks around and says, “Why are you making all this racket for. Why are you making all this commotion? She is not dead. She is just taking a nap.” It is amazing when you look at the scriptures and what Jesus said here.

Do you remember reading about Stephen when he was stoned? Do remember as they were stoning him that he looked into heaven and saw Jesus sitting on the right hand side of the Father and says, “Father, let not this to their charge.” The Bible says he fell asleep. Do you remember reading that?

Do you remember reading in the book of Thessalonians, when Paul is writing to the church of Thessalonica talking about Jesus coming in the rapture? He talks about those who have died in Christ, those that have fallen asleep. There are many, many references in the scriptures to people that when Christian people die that it is like going to sleep. I know that there is a big debate today where people go and when they get to heaven. I think that we get all confused on that sometimes. Honestly, in the whole scheme of things, it does not really matter. However, it does matter if you are going to understand what the Bible says and to put everything together and understand what the Bible is teaching us then it does matter. The end result is if you are saved when you die, then you are going to go to heaven. Whether you think that you think you go directly to heaven when you die; which the Bible does not teach that, but if you want to believe that, then that is your business. If you are saved when you die then you will be in heaven.

The Bible talks about death as being like sleep. When Christians die, it is like going to sleep. I have talked about this before and I get these funny looks, but there is going to come a time in our life that we are going to lay down awhile and just take a nap. If the rapture does not come and take us, then we are going to take a nap one of these days. The great thing is that we are going to lie down and rest awhile and sleep and take a little nap, but when it comes time to go to heaven, there is going to be a great sound one day that is going to wake the dead. That is in the book. That is very plain. It is just exciting to see. It is what Jesus said and what Paul taught and these other men taught and preached and said. It all goes together.

She is not dead, but she is just taking a nap. She is just sleeping.

40 And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying.

When he said that—when you look at that verse in the Greek, they begin to ridicule Him; greatly ridicule Him. When He says that she is just taking a nap, she is asleep. She is not dead. They begin to poke fun at Him. They begin to laugh at Him. They begin to ridicule Him. They did all kinds of very mean and cruel things to Him because He said, “She is not dead. She is just asleep. She is taking a nap.”

40 And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying.

In other words, He runs them all out. When you read that also in the Greek, if you remember reading in the scriptures when He goes into the temple and drives out the money changers that were there and overturns their tables and drives out all of the animals; He did that with force. When you read this verse in the original Greek, it brings out the idea of the same thing. He had to use force to get all the crowd out of here. If they were going to make fun of Him, He wasn’t about to let them see Him raise her from the dead. If they are making fun of Him, mocking Him, and ridiculing Him, He wasn’t about to let this crowd see Him raise this little girl from the dead. That is not going to happen. He does have Peter, James, and John and He has Jairus here. He takes Jairus and Jairus’ wife in to where the little girl is at.

41 And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.

She is dead. Death as we know it; her heart has stopped beating, she has stopped breathing. She is lifeless. There is no life there. However, Jesus just goes in with Peter, James, John, Jairus, and his wife; takes the little girl by the hand—that is also a good thing when you look at that in the Greek; it means that He takes a good grip on her. He takes a good hold on her. He just did not reach and casually get a hold of her, He took a strong, firm, grip on her hand. He does that though. When we get saved He takes a good grip on us. He has a good grip on us. We tell people to get a grip sometimes; well I’m glad tonight that He has a good grip on me.

42 And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment.

Immediately this girl gets up and walks. She had been sick enough to die then you would think that she would not be…she couldn’t walk. Not only does she get up, but she takes off walking. Could you imagine Jairus? Could you imagine what is flooding through him now; all of his thoughts, all of his emotions now went from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs now. He sees a little girl that he knows was dead, that was gone, but now she is walking around. Isn’t that awesome?

42 And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment.

43 And he charged them straitly that no man should know it; and commanded that something should be given her to eat.

Isn’t that awesome? He just raised her from the dead. She is walking around here. If I had been sick enough to die, I wouldn’t want anything to eat. Would you? Eating would be the last thing that I would want to think about. When Jesus does something, not only did He give her life, but the thing that had caused her to die was gone. Whatever the thing was that caused her to die was gone. She was walking around and she needed something to eat.

Isn’t it great not only can He take care of the spiritual side of things, but He takes care of us if we…just listen. Somebody had to listen to what Jesus said to give this girl something to eat. Us listening and being obedient folks.

The next week as you read, wherever you are reading in your Bible. I have talked to many of you. Some are reading in the Old Testament and some are reading in the New Testament. That is fine. As you read think about what is being said and the significance of what is being said, as well as, the significance of either obeying or not obeying.

Let me ask you one question. What do you think would have happened if Jairus would have looked at Jesus after the crowd said there is no hope; she is dead. She is gone. What do you think would have happened to Jairus’ little if he would have said Jesus just go about your own way? You have peddled around here. You messed around with this woman that has this little problem here. My daughter is dead. Just leave us alone. What do you think would have happened? He would have took her and put her in the graveyard, wouldn’t he?

Friend, the decisions that we make today, whether we listen to the voice of God or listen to all these other voices around here; has an impact on our lives more than I think that we will ever understand. It made difference not only in Jairus’ life, and his daughter’s life, but also it made a difference in Peter, James, and John’s life. They will never forget the day that they went inside with Jesus and this man and this woman and saw this little girl that was dead raise from the dead. Not only that, this whole crowd, in a very short time, heard that Jesus Christ, the Nazarene. The guy from up the road from Nazareth has just raised a girl from the dead. When we listen to His voice and do what He asked us to do; approach Him in the right way and humility and exercise faith in Him and when He says just believe and don’t be afraid. If we will just do that then your life will change if we will just listen to His voice and do what He tells us to do.

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