Take your Bibles now and turn to the book of Mark. Mark chapter 5. Mark chapter 5. In this chapter, Jesus performs three amazing miracles. So we're going to be looking at all three of them actually. I'm going to read the whole of the chapter. 43 verses. Mark chapter 5. The whole chapter. Listen to the eternal word of God. They went across the lake to the region of the garrisons when Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. He had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day, among the tombs and in the hills, he would cry out and cut himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me. For Jesus had said to him, Come out of this man, you evil spirit. Then Jesus asked him, What is your name? My name is Legion, he replied. For we are many. And he begged Jesus again and again not to send him out of the area. A large herd of pigs was feeding on a nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, send us among the pigs, allow us to go into them. He gave them permission and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about 2000 in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons sitting there, dressed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man, and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region. As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you. So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed. When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue rulers named Jairus came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live. So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all that she had, yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak because she thought, if I just touch his clothes, I'll be healed. Immediately, her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once, Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, who touched my clothes? You see the people crowding against you, his disciples answered, and yet you can ask, who touched me? But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet, and trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. Your daughter is dead, they said. Why bother the teacher anymore? Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, don't be afraid. Just believe. He did not let anyone follow except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead, but asleep. But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child's father and mother and the disciples who were with him and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, Talitha Kum. which means, little girl, I say to you, get up. Immediately, the girl stood up and walked around. She was 12 years old. At this, they were completely astonished. He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this and told them to give her something to eat. And that's where we'll end God's, the reading of God's holy word. Despair is a very overwhelming and paralyzing feeling. It's a feeling that you get when you've tried everything to change. When you've tried everything to change something and nothing works. Despair sinks in when all hope is gone. In John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, Christian and hopeful, on their way, their journey to the celestial city, they lost their way. They chose an easy road thinking that this road would keep them on the path to the city. But that path strayed into the land owned by Giant Despair. And Giant Despair found them and he locked them up in his dark dungeon with nothing to eat and nothing to drink for days. And Giant Despair's wife told him to beat these two prisoners and to beat them to death. So one night Giant Despair came in and he beat them very badly, but he didn't kill them. They were on the verge of death, but he stopped. And he locked them again in the dungeon. And the next morning, Giant Despair came back and he told them, you know, you're never going to get out of here. I'm going to keep beating you until you die. You're never going to see the light of day again. Your best option is to kill yourself. And he gave them a rope, a knife, and a vial of poison. And he showed them the bones of those who had died there in that dungeon, and he left them saying, why would you choose life if it's only filled with such misery and bitterness and pain? Christian and hopeful despaired. They were stuck in this prison, and as far as they could tell, they weren't going to get out. They were going to die there. There seemed to be no hope of freedom, and suicide seemed like a very good option. They were imprisoned in the dungeon of despair. In our passage today, we meet three very hopeless people, people stuck in despair, people enslaved by their circumstances. They've tried everything to escape, to change, but nothing works and they are left hopeless and they realize how hopeless they actually are. They're doomed to a hopeless existence of misery and bitterness and death seems like a pretty good option. They're stuck in despair. That is until they meet Jesus. Jesus brings them from that despair. He frees them from that despair and He brings them to joy. Do you ever feel as though your life is never going to change? Do you feel as though you're hopelessly stuck in your circumstances and nothing you do is going to change that? Do you feel that you've been sort of dealt this very bad hand of cards and you're stuck with it? Well, today I offer you hope. Jesus changes lives, and He can bring change to your life. He's the only one who can lift the burden off of your shoulders, the only one who can make you complete and well. Jesus promises change. Trust in the Lord Jesus, and He will bring you from despair to joy. Trust in Him, and in time, He will take away all your burdens. and He will make all things new. He will bring you a brand new life. That's His promise. We've entered here in the book of Mark into a section where Jesus shows His power over all aspects of creation. He shows His authority and His power as the Lord of creation. Here is Jesus, the Creator Himself, the one who spoke and the world came into existence. He shows His power and His lordship In the story just before this passage, Jesus showed His power over nature. He commanded the stormy wind and the waves to be calm, and they obeyed. After Jesus and His disciples finished crossing the lake, they entered a region called the Gerasenes. And this was really the first time that Jesus leaves Jewish territory. The Gerasenes is a land that has a primarily Gentile population. Well, once they arrived, they got out of the boat and off in the distance, they see a man running up to them, running towards them. And it says in a parallel account in the Gospel of Luke that this man was naked. Here's a naked man running towards them. Obviously, something's not right. This man has never seen the disciples before. He's never seen Jesus. He doesn't know who they are. Or he wouldn't have known who they are from some previous engagement or introduction, but he knows exactly who Jesus is. And he goes directly to Jesus. He falls at his feet and he shrieks at the top of his voice, What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Obviously, something is very wrong with this man. This man was deeply disturbed. And in the first few verses of this chapter, we get to peer through a window into this man's miserable existence. And I use existence purposely because it's almost unfair to call it a life. This man has no life. Every word used here emphasizes his pathetic and hopeless condition. Here's a man possessed by a legion of demons. A legion in the Roman army consisted of 6,000 soldiers. This man was not possessed by one or two or three or even ten demons, but thousands of demons controlled this man. Thousands. He was so out of control, so violent, so ferocious, that he was driven out of the villages and he made his home among the dead. He lived in the tombs a few miles offshore. He was uncontrollable, unpredictable, and incredibly violent. The villagers had tried to chain him up and to imprison him and to control him, but with his bare hands he tore those chains apart and he ripped off the iron fetters around his ankles and around his wrists. Unimaginable strength. No one could control him or subdue him. In a parallel account in Matthew, it says that this man was so violent, no one could walk along the road and pass by him without being attacked. This man was a detriment to himself and detriment to society. Night and day he roamed naked in this region, yelling and shrieking, cutting himself, probably in an attempt to end his miserable existence. This man was a prisoner in his own body, held captive and tortured by demons. I'm sure this man wished for death. He wanted it to be over. Let it be over. I cannot bear this any longer. A hopeless and a helpless situation. I'm in the middle of a book called Tortured for Christ, written by Richard Wurmbrand. And he's a Christian minister who suffered for 14 years in the communist prisons of Romania. And as he held firmly to Christ, he was tortured to the brink of death. One kick, one electric jolt, one burn away from death, and then he'd be thrown back into the prison cell to recover just to do it all over again. And he wrote, as this went on for years, he wrote, this wore him down so much that he was just hoping and praying every day that his torturers would miscalculate and that they would accidentally kill him. He wanted freedom from that. He had lost hope for earthly freedom, but he longed for death. And I imagine that this is how this man felt, crushed and imprisoned and suffocated in his own body, no hope for change. Year after year, hoping, just hoping for death. This is despair, utter despair. It's a hopeless situation, that is, until Jesus steps on the shore. Legion is compelled to run to him, He falls at Jesus' feet, not to honor Him or to worship Him, but this evil spiritual power, this legion of demons knows. He's forced to his knees because he knows who Jesus is. Jesus is the Lord of all creation. He's the one who is superior in power to all the demons that roam the earth. And legion knows it. And in an attempt to defend himself, Legion shrieked, What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me. He ironically calls on God's name for protection. He begged Jesus not to send him out of the region. And on the hillside, there was a herd of 2,000 pigs. And they begged Jesus to let them go into these pigs. And Jesus said, Go. And the demons immediately left that man and they went into the pigs. The pigs ran down the hill, into the lake, and they were drowned. It's a graphic picture. Pigs sloshing around, drowning to their death. A picture of what would have happened to this man had these demons had their way with him. They were trying to destroy this man. After years of running around naked, shrieking, living among the dead, he is now fully clothed and in his right mind. And he's ready to serve Jesus. After all those years of running around, after giving up all hope, he longed for death. Jesus, in a second, healed him. Imagine the joy that he must have felt. Jesus brought this man from utter despair, the brink of death. He brought him to joy. Something that no one else could do. The second hopeless situation takes place back in Galilee. Jesus is back among the Jewish people. And it's the story of a woman. She's been sick for 12 years. She's been bleeding for 12 years. And likely it's been constant bleeding from her womb. And it's caused her a great deal of suffering and pain. It's really hard for those of us who enjoy good health to imagine how debilitating a chronic illness is. I get cranky after I don't get enough sleep one night. I can't imagine what it would be like to have chronic fatigue, or to have debilitating arthritis, or lupus, or fibromyalgia, or constantly battling with my emotions, or depression, or having a degenerative disease. I don't know what it's like to live with these kinds of things, to have these things grind away at your life day after day. Some of you know what it's like. But this woman chronically suffered bleeding for 12 years. Now, this didn't just cause her physical pain, but because of her bleeding, she became an outcast of society, the fringes of society. As long as she continued to chronically bleed, she remained chronically unclean according to Jewish law. And because of her constant state of uncleanness, she was banned from entering the temple of God. And she was excluded from participating in the synagogue worship. And she was shunned by the people. Because if they touched her, they too would become unclean and unfit for worship. This illness took away her life. And she could do nothing about it. She tried everything. She spent all her money. She tried all the doctors. But instead of getting better, she actually got worse. It's a hopeless and helpless situation. That is until she hears about Jesus. She had to go see Him. She thought if she could just touch His clothes, she would be healed. So she pushed her way through the crowd that surrounded Jesus, and simply touched the corner of His garment, and instantly she was healed. After 12 long years of pain, the power of Jesus healed her instantly. After 12 long years of carrying this enormous burden, after her hope had long since died, Jesus healed her in a second. Jesus gave her her life back. He brought this woman from despair to joy. And that brings us to the third hopeless situation. A desperate and hopeless father comes running to Jesus. His name is Jairus and he's one of the synagogue leaders. A man respected and esteemed by everyone, but he forgets his status. He forgets about his pride, his inhibitions, his dignity. He forgets about the way that he needs to act in front of people as a leader. And he falls at Jesus' feet and he pleads, Jesus, I need your help. My daughter is dying. Come to my house, please. Please come to my house and touch her and you can make her well. Here's a father who's watched his daughter grow worse and worse. He's tried all the doctors, he's tried everything he could, but she continues to worsen and she is at death's door. I don't know of a more helpless situation than watching a loved one die. And probably nothing's worse than watching your own child die. Watching the life drain from her body. A shell of what she used to be. He tried everything and so he came to Jesus. He fell on his knees and he begged Him. He begged Jesus to come. Jesus agrees to go. But he is delayed. And while Jesus is still talking with this woman who has been bleeding for 12 years, some men from Jairus' house come to Jairus and they say to Jairus, listen, listen Jairus, it's all over. She's gone. No need to bother the teacher anymore. She's dead. His greatest fear is now a reality. His beloved daughter has died. He gave up all hope. It's a hopeless and helpless situation. And as that suffocating pain sinks in, Jesus acts as if he didn't even hear what these guys said. He said to Jairus, Jairus, don't be afraid. Don't fear, just believe. And they went to Jairus' house where there were a lot of people gathered there mourning the death of this little girl. And Jesus cleared out all the people and with just three of His disciples and the child's father and mother, He went into the house and He said to this girl who was dead there on the bed, He said to her, little girl, Get up. And immediately, she sat up. She stood up. And she walked around the room. Jairus and his wife could hardly believe what they're seeing. Imagine their joy. Jesus brought joy out of what they thought was a very hopeless situation. He brought this family from despair to joy. In these three stories, all hope had died. Change was impossible. These three people had already come to grips with the fact that no one could help them in their situations. They tried everything, but everything had failed. Their hope had been repeatedly crushed to the point of despair, and as they wallowed in that pit of despair, Jesus came along. And with a simple touch or a simple command, He gave them their lives back. He restored them. He gave them a brand new life. He brought them from despair to joy. These three stories show us. These three hopeless situations show us what it's like to live in a broken world. A world broken by sin. You and I, we know what it's like to live in this broken world. We see and we experience death and disease. We see disasters, injustice. oppression, greed, adultery, broken relationships, loneliness, abuse. We see all these things every day. But Jesus came to make all these things new. To take away all that brokenness and to make it new. He came to bring joy to a world full of hopeless despair. You see, all of mankind, including you and me, We were all born into a miserable and hopeless and helpless situation. The Bible tells us that because of our sin, our relationship with God has been destroyed. Instead of being the crown of God's creation as God created us to be, creating us in His image, instead of enjoying His blessing and His favor that we are created to enjoy, we, in our sin, rebelled against God and declared ourselves enemies with Him. We are guilty of treason and rebellion and every one of us here, we were born into this guilty situation. We're guilty before God because of our sin. And being enemies with God, our destiny is hell. Far worse than any communist prison, far more hopeless or painful than anything you've ever experienced or anything that you've ever heard of here on earth. Apart from God, we are dead men and women walking around on this earth, awaiting our sentence to be carried out. And what's worse, is you can't do anything about it. You are stuck on death row with no hope for freedom. You cannot work your way out of it. A more hopeless and helpless situation could not exist. But because of the Lord's great love, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to give us a whole new life. Life like we've never had before. He came to redeem us, to pluck us out of the fire, to rescue us from that pit of despair, the pit of hell, and to escort us into His loving presence. Into the loving presence of God, where we'll enjoy His favor and His blessing forevermore. Jesus came to recreate us into the image of God and restore our relationship with Him where we can enjoy His favor forever. Through His death on the cross, Jesus has given us a new life, eternal life. If you've been saved, you have more reason to rejoice than that man who was delivered from that legion of demons. You have more reason to rejoice than that woman who was healed from her bleeding. You have more reason to rejoice than that family who received their daughter back from the dead. Jesus came to bring change to your hopeless life, to bring joy to a world of despair. Some of you here don't understand the importance of what Jesus did. Some of you don't yet realize the hopelessness and helplessness that you have apart from God. You're trying to earn your way back into God's favor, trying to go to church, trying not to do anything too bad. You figure if you're nice to people, God will be nice to you. You need to understand that you're walking on the road to death. and that there is no other way to be saved than through the blood of Jesus Christ. Only He can bring you from despair to joy. If you put your hope in anything else but Him, then you will be sorely disappointed and you will have to suffer the consequences for eternity. I plead with you now, turn from your sin and trust in Him, and He will bring you from despair to joy. This is what He promises to do. This is what He came to do. Within the church today, there's a fascination with miracles. We want to see that blind man healed. We want to see a quadriplegic walk. We want to see a little girl raised from the dead. Those would be amazing things to see. We want to see people in our midst healed. We want to see Brenda and Norma. healed from cancer. We want to see Tabby and Jaron and Jack Pinkerton healed of their chronic pain. We want relationships to be mended. We want personalities changed. We want our emotions to be joyful. We want bitterness gone. We want temptation eliminated. We want that quick miracle healing that God shows in these stories. But it doesn't happen. We bear this burden. Why doesn't He miraculously heal me? Why doesn't He miraculously correct all my character flaws just by His Word, by speaking a Word? Why doesn't He restore my marriage? Why doesn't He bring healing like He did in these stories? Why doesn't He change me like that? If you believe in Jesus Christ, then He has changed you, and He is changing you, and He will change you. But during this life, in this time, in this world, He may call you to carry a burden for years. Maybe for 12 years, like that woman who was bleeding. Or for 20 years, or 50 years, or maybe your entire life. But the promise is that one day you will be completely healed and restored. He promises to bring you out of that despair to joy. He promises to take off that burden and to restore you and give you a brand new life. These stories here in the Bible about the miracles are not meant for us to try to duplicate them, but they're meant to give us a small picture, a small taste of what Jesus has promised in completion. It's a small taste of the promise of total and complete restoration that awaits us in Christ. Jesus promised to bring total and complete restoration and healing to His people. And in the lives of these people, He gives us a glimpse of what He promises to do in full at the end of time. He never promises to take away all your burdens like He did to these three people in this life. In God's wisdom and in His love, He may in this life give you relief from those difficult situations that we face. And we pray for that. And that's a good thing to pray for. And He may heal you like He healed that demon-possessed man or that woman or that girl. But He may leave those burdens on your shoulders for a little longer. In fact, He may call you to bear that burden until you die. And that's hard to hear. But the promise is that soon, very soon, all those burdens will be lifted off. You will be completely restored. And in the meantime, Jesus says to you, my grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in your weakness. Someday soon, your body won't ache. Someday soon, you won't be hampered by that social awkwardness, or your emotions will be joyful and stable, and you'll enjoy deep relationships and friendships. You won't have to battle with sin. You'll be completely changed and renewed into the image of God. This is God's promise to you through Jesus Christ. This is the hope that we have. Put your hope in Him, and put your hope in His promise. Christian and hopeful, we're stuck in that pit of despair, that dungeon. But they escaped. They escaped because Christian later remembered that he was given a key. And that key was the key of promise. And that key, he was told, would unlock any prison door. That key is the key of promise. As we trust in God's promises, it opens the door of the dungeon of despair and it frees us. It brings us to joy. Trust in Jesus and in His promises and He will free you from that dungeon of despair and He will bring you to everlasting joy. That's the promise of Jesus Christ. I have a video of my mom that was taken nearly 13 years ago. And it was taken just two weeks before she died of cancer. And I watched it about a week ago. And I was reminded of how her body was shutting down. She couldn't walk well. One of her arms hung limp. She had already lost all her hair. She had a cloudy look in her eyes. I remember praying for my mom. Praying that God would heal her. Just like He did in these stories. Please, touch her body. Let her have more years here on earth. I prayed hard But God didn't answer the way I wanted Him to. Instead, He healed her. He did answer my prayers. He healed her by bringing her into His presence. Right now, she doesn't suffer from that disease anymore. She's not hampered by sin, by broken relationships, but she enjoys full restoration in the presence of God. And one day, very soon, When Christ returns to finish His work, He's going to take that broken body of hers that lies in the grave right now, and He's going to raise her to be glorified and perfected. Her arms are going to work. She'll have no pain. Her dark brown hair is going to be long. She'll be fully restored and together we'll live in the presence of the God who redeemed us and restored us. This is the hope that Jesus brings. Jesus came to bring hope and joy to a hopeless world. He came to bring complete change, total change. Rest in Christ. Trust in this promise, and in time, He will make all things new. Let's pray. Gracious God, are brought to tears because of the joy that you've given to us in Jesus Christ. We don't know the extent of your love, but we know the promise that He's given to us. We know the promise of full and complete restoration. And that those of us who are in Jesus Christ, who have trusted in Him, will enjoy that complete and total renewal. But Fathers, we bear these burdens now in this life. Please give us Your grace. And let us set our hope fully on the glory and the grace to be given to us when Jesus Christ is revealed. Let us live, resting on Your promise. Do this for Your name's sake, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.