Turn with me now to Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8, we want to look at verses 40 to the end of the chapter, verse 56. Luke 8, verses 40 to 56. It's found on page 1,192. Page 1,192 of the Bible's provided there in your rows. And as you turn to this, what we want to see is that the Lord Jesus Christ is the sovereign one and that he's sovereign even in the context of sickness. So let's hear about that beginning with verse 40. Luke writes, so it was when Jesus returned. that the multitude welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus' feet and begged him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about 12 years of age, and she was dying. But as he went, the multitudes thronged him. Now a woman having a flow of blood for 12 years who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of his garment and immediately her flow of blood stopped. And Jesus said, who touched me? When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, master, the multitudes throng and press you and you say, who touched me? But Jesus said, somebody touched me, for I perceive power going out from me. Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling and falling down before him. She declared to him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched him and how she was healed immediately. And he said to her, daughter, be of good cheer. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace. While he was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue's house saying to him, your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the teacher. But when Jesus heard it, he said, he answered him saying, don't be afraid, only believe. and she will be made well. When he came into the house, he permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the girl. Now all wept and mourned for her. But he said, do not weep. She's not dead, but sleeping. And they ridiculed him, knowing that she was dead. But he put them all outside, took her by the hand, and called, saying, little girl, arise. Then her spirit returned and she arose immediately and he commanded that she be given something to eat. And her parents were astonished, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened. Thus far the reading of God's word. Remember the grass withers and the flower falls, but God's word abides forever. Amen. Well, as we consider your sovereign in sickness, I want to set before you, what are some challenges that people may have in the context of sickness? Maybe some of you felt this when we went through the pandemic and dealt with the issues of COVID. Maybe some of you are experiencing this right now as you have an ongoing ailment or affliction. Some of you may be experiencing this because of a long-term disability or a challenge that's present. Some of you may not be having this now, but you may fall into this as you deal with caring for in aged parents or dealing with a sickness that may come upon a child or another family member. Some of the challenges that individuals face as they go through this is first just simply self-blame. Maybe it's my fault as to why I have this sickness or this ailment upon me, that chronic pain and illness set before me is somehow in front of me because of something I did. Some challenges that you may face is the inability to make peace with what's happening. The desire to know, will this be removed? Will I get out of this? Will I somehow be free of this? Those who may deal with ongoing struggles, emotionally or mentally, may especially wrestle with this. Other difficulties can be just simply the relentlessness of symptoms. Thinking that you may get better only to find out it doesn't happen. The aches, the pains, the hurts, the weakness, the difficulty. Sometimes the challenge can be dealing with the fact that as you take steps and you speak to doctors and you ask them to help you and to resolve the issue that you're facing, you take medications hoping beyond hope that it'll work, only to find out that it doesn't resolve itself. And so here you are back again with this struggle. And then what happens when a new diagnosis and something further pops up? Individuals going through these types of challenges eventually feel left alone, set apart, cast aside. They feel disregarded or not believed by family and friends and therefore they're alone and by themselves. and dealing with the chronic pain, and the chronic hurt, and the chronic loneliness, and the chronic struggle, and the chronic challenge, to then go, now what? Well, in our passage this morning, we see two individuals who were facing the struggle of illness. One did so for 12 years. Another, we're not told how long his daughter was sick, but nonetheless, he's a caregiver who's having to watch an affliction on his child. And both of these individuals come to Jesus. And Luke sets before us that in the context of this passage of a double miracle, He shows us that Jesus can be trusted as the sovereign one who has the power to resolve our sickness or at least be present. The three ways that we want to look at Jesus in terms of his power and his resolution of sickness is in this way. Firstly, an initial request. Secondly, the interruption for another request. And then thirdly, the initial request resumed. An initial request. Well, what do we have? You have this individual by the name of Jairus, who comes and asks Jesus to address the condition of his sick daughter. Now in terms of this, Jairus is a religious leader. Jesus had been away, the last time we looked at this passage, remember he had dealt with the demoniac who had thousands of demons in him. Jesus had crossed over the Sea of Galilee, he had interacted with this demoniac, he had cast these demons out, they were thrown into a herd of pigs, and the pigs then ran off and drowned in the sea. And the people were so afraid of Jesus' engagement with this one that they say, Jesus, leave us, go away. And so he departs. And yet as he departs, we then see he arrives back to the other side of the seashore, there in Capernaum. And now there's this big crowd that's there to receive him again. Luke writes this to say they were actually waiting for him. They're curious. They continue to want to hear his teachings. They continue to want to have his healings, the benefits, the comforts. Well, Jairus is one of these individuals. And so he makes his way to the crowd. Why? He has a sick daughter. We don't know how long her illness was. What we do know about her is that it was a sickness unto death. We know that she's about 12 years old. And we know that the father loves her and cares for her greatly. It's his only child. She's in the prime of her life. Some of you who are in middle school might be grossed out by what I'm about to say, but she was coming of age to actually get married. How many of you middle schoolers would like to do that? Raise your hand. No. Simeon, put your hand down. I could count on you. It was a different culture. It was a different context. And so here she's supposed to have just the whole of her life in front of her. but it's not going to happen. And so his hope is that Jesus would hear his request, come back with him, lay his hands on his daughter so that she could be delivered of this disease. Something else that's significant is that we're told that he's a religious leader. Remember, most of the religious leaders of the Jews, they were against Jesus. But notice, it was most, not all. Remember Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, who ended up being two believers who followed after Jesus. Here's another individual who recognized that there was power, there was authority in Jesus' life. And so he pursued him. Fascinatingly enough, we're told in the passage here, is that Jesus agreed to go with him. The end of verse 42, but as he went, the multitudes thronged him. Jesus agreed to go. And as he is on his way, we then see the interruption of the request. As he's on his way, the crowd is up against him. What Luke is describing here was described earlier in this chapter, in chapter 8, verse 14. If you look there, it says, now the ones that fell among the thorns are those who, when they heard, go out and are choked. with the cares and so forth. And it's that term being choked is what's being brought out here. Jesus is surrounded. Think about the last time that you had opportunity to go to a concert and you got the best seats that you could get in the house. That happened for me a few weeks back at Life Flight. Front row. Took seven hours to be there, but we made it. But then when we turned around and looked, the mass and mass and mass and mass of people that were there, just thousands, there was no space. Unless you give a couple of elbows or jump up and down. All of these people are around Jesus and he's attempting now to make his way back to Jairus' house. And yet while he is doing this, here comes another individual with a concern. This issue was that this woman had a flow of blood. She had been dealing with this for 12 years. The challenge that was set before her was in a whole host of ways to have dealt with this day after day after day for 12 years. She would have been physically weak. She would have been uncomfortable. But there was also societal issues as we read from Leviticus 15. Not to simply make you uncomfortable, but to show the stigma that would have been involved with this and the consequence of it. The declaration that she was unclean societally. The fact that she couldn't be touched or else the one who touched her would also be unclean. The sense of distance that people would want to keep from her. The fact that anything that she sat on, anything she laid her head on, anything she touched, it became defiled and therefore had a problem with it. All of this is connected with her. Think about what she must have felt like having to deal with that. Her relationships would have also been affected. Personally, in the context of her family, as it pertained to her next door neighbors, the community in which she lived. Because she was unclean, she had no opportunity to go to the yearly religious feasts, no opportunity to engage in the celebrations at the temple. She would be recused from having to attend the weekly synagogue meetings. All of this would have affected her in her relationship with society. And it could have even affected how she viewed herself before God. She tried everything the passage tells us. Notice again what Luke says. Verse 43, she spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any. This isn't to say doctors are no good. This isn't to insult medical practice, but rather it's to say she spent all kinds of money in order to take care of this remedy, in order to go find this doctor over here, in order to get this help over here, and none of it took care of the problem or issue. So what does she do? She makes her way to Jesus. In making her way to Jesus, she comes to him from behind. And she believes, if I can just touch his garment, then the issues can be resolved. Why does she want to touch his garment? I mean, after all, why didn't she have the boldness to come to Jesus face to face? Why was she reluctant? Why did she hide herself? Why did she want to keep herself out of the public eye? I think partly it's simply because of the stigma that had been in her life. I mean, after all, if society was aware that she was there and she had rubbed up against all those people, they're now all in clean as well. But why did she also have this mindset that said, if I could just touch his garments, I could be healed? This wasn't something that she had just created on her own. Look over at Malachi chapter 4 verse 2. Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. Malachi chapter 4 verse 2. You see, I think she was giving the display of faith by touching Christ's garment. Here's why. Malachi says this, but to you who fear my name, the son of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings. Now you're saying, but this is healing in his wings. She touched his garment. A better translation of the word wings would be tassels. Well, how does it connect? If you recall, the Jews in the practice of prayer, they had a prayer shawl. The prayer shawl was a rectangular scarf-like product that they would put around their neck, and at the four corners of that shawl were tassels. They used it in the context of prayer and worship of God. Malachi is noting the power that the Messiah has, that even in terms of the outworkings of his garments, that power is present. And this lady knew of this promise. She believed this promise, associated it with Jesus, and had the confidence that if she could just come and lay hold of him, her disease could be removed. Well, we see the exercise that she engaged in. She reached up, she touched him, and we're told that she was immediately healed. This exercise is the exercise of faith. It's the exercise of a belief or a confidence in Jesus. She believed that through him she would receive healing. He didn't have to say anything. He didn't have to do anything. The promise of God noted that if she just grabbed hold of him, even the garment that he was wearing, that power would be given unto her to resolve her issue. Luke affirms to us that this is what happened. Only Jesus at this moment then stops and asks, who touched me? How many of you would agree with Peter to go, Jesus, I think you're a little, woohoo. Remember, surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands. People were brushing up against him all the time. The push this way and that way as they attempt to move through the crowd. They wanted to see him. They wanted to be close to him. Peter was right when he raised the question by saying, Jesus, there's tons of people here. Any one of these people would have touched you. What do you mean? when you say, who touched me? But Jesus clarifies. He says this wasn't just simply the matter of a casual brush, this was the fact that there was some outworking of my power that was brought forth. Well eventually the lady tells on herself and she comes forward and they interact with one another. Why do you think that was important? Why do you think it was important to her that Jesus in turn said, who is this one who has received my power and received healing? Well, I think Jesus is wanting to ensure that God in turn is glorified for the work that happened. After all, as these things happen, all these individuals are amazed and are able to respond accordingly. But secondly, it reinforces her faith. The fact that Jesus spoke with her, that he was mindful of her, that he wanted to see her face to face, he in turn is reassuring her that the reason she received healing was the substance of what she looked to. Not simply the act that she went through in order to gain the healing. It was also important because she needed to also have the testimony by the Lord and have others hear that she truly is clean. She's been made whole, that she's been made well. Notice what he says, daughter, verse 48, be of good cheer. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Jesus is assuring her that by His work in her life, the expression of His power extended to her, that she truly has a standing before God because she believed in Him as the authoritative sovereign who was promised of God. Consider how important these things are for us. You see, because as we consider the issues that this individual had, it really is a picture of all of us, isn't it? It's a picture of uncleanness. It's the filth that is present in our lives. And as we all deal with the issues of sin, we would deal with it a lot like this gal. How so? We want to keep quiet. We don't want to discuss it with anyone else. We want to be hidden and unknown. If we were to truly open up and talk about our struggles and our concerns and the things that we've done and things present in our past, we would leave the room and go in our cars and drive home because we don't want to talk about the things that are in us. We feel that it's too bad, it's too vile, it's too wicked, it's too evil. These things that are present also have a degenerative effect in our life, don't they? We see the immediacy of it with the immediate effect of sin based on our sinful natures, but as we live in this world, as our bodies run down, as we see at times the manner in which people give in to sin, we see how it all leads us to a slow and certain death that no man can avoid that is before all of us. And as we look at that, we see a clear hopelessness. There's nothing we can do to resolve the issue of sin. We can compare ourselves to others and go, well, hey, at least I'm not as bad as so and so. Hey, at least I didn't do this. But when we then turn before a holy God who sets the standard of His perfection before us, we recognize that we all fail the test, we all don't meet up, and we only have the position of hopelessness and guilt and condemnation and despair. But this passage, this interruptive story, doesn't lead us there, leave us there. Because we see Jesus interacts even with the vilest and the unclean. And he notes the effective working of his personal power in the lives of sinners, whereby they may be restored and made whole. Did you notice that? Jesus acknowledges that he has the power, and as the power leaves from him, or however it is exercised, Jesus is well aware of what transpires. The engagement of God's work of restoration in our lives is not impersonal, it's not indifferent, it is the note that God personally acts, God personally engages. God personally brings his life-giving power into us to overcome our sin, to make us whole, to restore us, and to receive us as accepted children in his sight. Jesus is personally involved. When He brought you from death to life, Jesus is personally involved. When He continues to work in you by the power of His Holy Spirit, Jesus knows it and He delights in it because He greets this one and says, daughter, be of good cheer. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace. If you're here this day and you do not know Jesus Christ in this way, if you're here today and you know the weight of your sin and you know how it's keeping you from a holy God, if you're here today and you identify spiritually as this one, who is diseased, who has attempted all sorts of things to overcome your condition. You've done works only to note that it doesn't appease your conscience. You've afflicted yourself with physical pain. You've put yourself into all sorts of programs and done all kinds of things only to see that it's still present. It still gnaws at you. It's still there. Jesus says, come to me. My power can restore and make you whole. But dear Christian, notice we live in the peace of God because we know of the power and presence of our Savior. He's the one who continues to keep us. He's the one who continues to watch over us. He's the one who continues to be at work in our lives to ensure that we have a good standing. Be of good cheer because of what Christ has done in you. Well, we see that Luke brings us then back to our initial request. There was an initial request. It was interrupted. Now we're returned. And so here's Jairus, then he goes forward and as he continues to go forward, he gets even worse news. Verse 49, while he's still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue's house and he said, your daughter is dead, don't trouble the teacher. How would you have felt if you were in his sandals? They didn't wear shoes. How would you have felt if you were in his position? I took all this step to go to Jesus, I took the time, I waited, I moved my way up, I was able to talk to him, I was able to tell him my concern, I was able to get him to agree with me, he was able to come back with me, and yet, on the while, or on our way back, we got waylaid by this other crazy lady who had this other issue, and he stops to deal with her, and now, what? You ever felt that way with God before? I've got my plan, I've got my idea, I've got my things in motion. God, it'll just work out this way. You fill in these gaps and we're good to go. And yet even in the context of his plan, it didn't happen that way. And yet Jesus says what? Don't fear, only believe, she'll be made well. They arrive. As they arrive, the people have all gathered around, the professional mourners, the professional flute players, all there enfolding the drama because they're all sad that this 12-year-old little girl has passed away. Jesus says, she only sleeps. And they laugh. That was a pretty dumb thing to do, don't you think? He just healed this woman instantly. I think he knows something. He just delivered some 2,000 plus demons out of the soul of one individual. I think he knows what he's talking about. He just calmed the winds and the waves. I think he knows what he's talking about. He's brought another individual from death to life. He's done all kinds of miracles. He's spoken all kinds of things. Jesus knows. And yet these individuals don't. And so he sends them out of the room, except for Peter, James and John and mom and dad. And he calls the girl to come forward. As he does, he takes her by the hand and life is restored. Luke makes it clear that her spirit returned to her body. Her life was whole. We're affirmed to this because up she gets. She immediately then is told, go get something to eat so that all can see that she's real, that she's alive, that she's in this world. This family has an amazing incident that has happened in their life. Jesus' three closest disciples are able also then to see this amazing thing that transpired. And yet, notice what Jesus says, don't tell anyone why. I think it's in the context of this laughter. Jesus said, she's not dead, she's only sleeping, and all these people are gathered around, and they're going, Jesus, you don't know what you're talking about. And what did he say previously in terms of speaking in parables? So that in hearing, they wouldn't hear, and in seeing, they wouldn't see. So Jesus, in the sign of judgment on these individuals, says, fine, you don't want to believe that I can do this? Then you don't get to hear that I did this. Granted, they're eventually gonna hear, because after all, the girl is up, but they do not get the blessing of the spoken word to them. To have even seen and observed and witnessed what Jesus did. Jesus shows himself to be the sovereign in sickness. He addresses us in terms of our spiritual lives so that he restores us and makes us whole. He shows himself to be sufficient and powerful. He also sets before us the call of faith. Jesus calls these individuals to believe, don't fear, believe, and all will be made well. The call of faith notes that it is an active thing, not passive. Both of these individuals were called to engage. Secondly, it shows that faith can be present even when solutions seem like they don't work and things fail. You've lost hope, you're discouraged, you're doubtful, you're full of despair. God knows he's present. By faith, look to him. And by faith, you can live firmly. Faith embraces the simplicity of the gospel. Faith doesn't get caught up in some grandiose ideology. It doesn't come down to something that is overly complex or difficult. It's simply the exercise of knowing who is before you and looking to him. Jesus was present in both of these circumstances. The individual simply needed to know, is it Jesus, yes or no? And we see that their faith was confirmed. As God brought them forward through their circumstance and met them where they were, he demonstrated that he was present and he demonstrated his reality. And yet notice quickly how this brings us to the Savior. Three things, that he's powerful, that he's holy, and that he's sympathetic. You're dealing with circumstances in your life. You deal, as we heard at the outset, just the ongoing struggles as you deal with ailments and affliction. Some in this congregation have been dealing with kids from birth and the challenges that are present in their life. Others have been dealing with a struggle that has been present for years. Some of you, if you've gotten older, you've dealt with the ailments that come into your body because of the aging process, and you've visited doctors, and you've heard various things, and it's hard, and it's challenging, and it's difficult, and it's discouraging. And yet, Jesus shows himself to be the Sovereign One, who's present even in that. He shows Himself to be sufficient, to walk with you, to be understanding towards you, to demonstrate compassion to you, to uphold you through it all. How so? He has power. He has the power to sustain you in the midst of affliction. He also has the power to alleviate you of those things if He so chooses. He will act in whatever manner glorifies Him. His power is not in any way drained or exhausted. He leaves this one with the issue of blood. He raises another from the dead. He had just got back from delivering a guy from some numerous demons, and prior to that, he stopped the winds and the waves. He can work in your life as well. Because he is God, he has unlimited power to save and to act in your life. Number two, look at just how holy he is. In Leviticus 15, we had read that anyone who comes in contact with the bed, or the couch, or the seat, or the clothing, or are touched, are all unclean. Anyone who touched a dead body would be unclean. Not so with Jesus. Jesus touches this one and He makes them whole. He restores them. He brings them back to a position of cleanness and life and rightness. Our sinful condition and our sinful acts in no way defile our Savior. He who knew no sin was made sin for us, yet he was still the righteous one of God who remained righteous forevermore. He is holy, harmless, undefiled, set apart from sinners. Your sin, your weakness, your condition in no way can defile your Savior. Lastly, he is a sympathetic Savior. He dealt with a man who was concerned regarding his daughter. He dealt with another lady who had an issue for 12 years. He stopped in the midst of the throngs to hear them, to address them, to speak to them, and to resolve their issues. One was a man, another was a woman. One was at the top of the religious ladder, the other at the bottom. One was clean, the other was unclean. But it was the same Jesus who engaged in a kind, unscolding manner. He calls the one lady daughter. He encourages the other to say, believe and all will be made well. He walks into his house. He grabs his daughter by the hand and speaks in a loving, kind way. Your sovereign one who is all powerful, he knows you. He loves you. He cares for you. He upholds you. He walks with you. He addresses the concerns that are before you. And even when you deal with those ongoing things, he's still there to keep you, to preserve you to the very end that you might be with him. Dear believer, take heart. Do not fear, only believe. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we believe. Help our unbelief. Help us to not be overwhelmed by even the ongoing, weekly, monthly, yearly challenges Help us to look to our eternal God and Savior. Fill our hearts with confidence and strength as we walk before you each and every day. Encourage our hearts and teach us to pray, saying, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.