Brother Behan was saying that he was very
nervous yesterday, and he said he was also
very nervous this morning.
And I think it is good for those
who have some responsibility in sharing the things
of the Lord that we do get nervous.
So we don't rely on our own gifts,
or on talent, or ability.
So we need to get nervous, and really
turn our hearts and our trust to the
Lord.
So we turn to two important scriptures, please.
First, let's turn to the Gospel of Mark,
a very familiar story, actually two stories interwoven
into one story.
Mark chapter 5 and verse 21.
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 Senegal rulers, named Jairus,
came there, seeing Jesus, he fell at his
feet and pleaded earnestly with him.
My daughter, 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 prayed 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
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
cloak, I will be healed.
Immediately, her bleeding stopped, and she felt in
her body that she was free from her
suffering.
At once, Jesus realised that power had gone
out from him.
He turned around in the crowd and asked,
who touched my cloak?
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 that what had happened
to her, came and fell at his feet,
trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.
He said to her, Daughter, your faith has
healed you.
Go in peace, and be free from your
suffering.
While Jesus was still speaking, some men came
from the house of Jairus, the Senegal ruler.
Your daughter is dead, they said.
Why bother the teacher anymore?
Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the Senegal
ruler, don't be afraid, just believe.
He didn't let anyone follow him except Peter,
James and John, the brother of James.
When they came to the home of the
Senegal 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 Khun, which means little girl,
I said to you, get up.
Immediately the girl stood up and walked around.
She was 12 years old.
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 let us turn to another passage in
Isaiah 45.
Isaiah 45 verse 3.
I will give you the treasures of darkness,
riches stored in secret places.
I will give you the treasures of darkness
and riches stored in secret places.
Many people thought the Lord is doing many
works, in the sense that it's true.
But actually the Lord has that one work,
and that he is doing that one work
all the time.
That is that the Lord Jesus may have
that first place in all things.
So in all his dealings with us is
to bring us to that place, that his
Son may be all in all, in our
lives individually as well as corporally.
God's work, God's heart never deviated from that
goal.
He set his heart on that.
So in all his dealings with us he
is to bring us into that place, a
complete union with him in life, that Christ
may be all in all.
But the way he does this, is often
mystifies us.
We think we should go upward.
To reach that goal.
But often times the Lord will take us
just the opposite direction.
Because the treasures are to be found in
darkness, and riches are to be found in
secret places.
Things that are common, they are exposed, can
be readily seen.
Things that are of great value are often
times hidden.
That's why Isaiah mentions that God is God
who hides himself, and he is our treasure,
and we have to seek him, to find
him.
Therefore, what I shared the other day, is
a costly way to enter into the fullness
of Christ.
Dr. Scroggie's book on Bible knowledge, he put
it this way, in the book of Genesis
we discover the principle of God's election, the
aftermath call.
In the book of Exodus, we discover the
principle of how God brought this chosen people
to himself.
But that's not all.
When you go to the book of Leviticus,
God brought this people, God chosen this people,
God brought this people to himself with one
aim in mind, is to bring these people
so that they can be in communion with
him, and be in union with him.
Therefore, in the book of Leviticus, we have
all the sacrifices, all the ordinances, those are
ways and means by which we can be
brought into that complete union and communion with
Christ, with God.
So therefore, there are many sacrifices.
All these sacrifices are just means and ways
by which God can bring us to himself,
that we can have that union in life,
in communion with him.
So we are chosen people, we are brought
to himself.
But just to be united with himself, we
may be satisfied, but God is not satisfied.
But he wants us to come to such
a relationship with him that there will be
a union and there will be a communion.
And then he said we can move on.
So the next book, Numbers, is their journey
to God's purpose.
Well, I hope we can learn some lessons
from the story I just read in the
book of Mark.
This man, in some translation, said he was
a rabbi, a ruler of Senegal, and he
was in a desperate situation.
His daughter was dying.
Now, brothers and sisters, with many of us,
we will not come to him, to the
Lord, until we are desperate.
If we have a way out, we took
off.
It's when all the options are gone now.
We have no other way to go, no
other doors available, then we tend to go.
That's our condition.
And that's how he's dealing with us.
But he knows what he's doing and his
ways are oftentimes the best.
Well, this man, Jabba, is put in such
a situation.
But the problem with us, we are problem
-oriented people.
We come to the Lord to solve our
problem.
But without realizing, God is using these problems
to bring us to himself.
So all these problems and obstacles can be
turned into the ways of entering into the
fullness of Christ.
It all depends on how we look at
it.
Do we look through the problems through Christ
or we look through Christ through the problem?
Am I making myself clear here?
Maybe I get myself a little mixed up.
But many of us, we look at as
though the problems, they are bigger than Christ.
But brothers, we need to refocus our sight.
Christ is bigger than anything and everything.
So Jarrah has a problem, a desperate problem,
and all he can think about is his
dying daughter.
And in desperation, he came to Lord Jesus
and he pleaded earnestly.
He said, my daughter is dying.
When you are brought into such a situation,
you are in a different state emotionally.
So if you read the three Gospels, Matthew,
Mark and Luke, you can see the description
of the daughter is not quite the same.
Because in Matthew it definitely says that she
was dead.
She was dead.
And then in Mark it says she was
at the point of dying.
And in Luke, she later died.
So you can see the emotional state that
was in Jarrah's mind and heart.
A desperate situation.
But he came to the Lord, looked to
the Lord to ask for help.
Now the interesting thing is that this man
Jarrah, this name is very meaningful.
If you look into Bible dictionary, you know
that Jarrah is the enlightened one.
No one can come to Lord Jesus without
being enlightened.
Who enlightens him?
Who can enlighten anyone?
This world is dark and dark and dark
and getting darker and darker.
The prince of this world has blinded everyone.
We have no sight, we have no way
of seeing anything.
And yet this man Jarrah means he is
the enlightened one.
So apparently he was a godly man.
A God fearing man.
And somehow in his spirit, in his heart,
God enlightened him.
And he saw something about this man Jesus.
That he is a unique man.
And in his desperation he knew there is
no one else he can turn to, not
but to this man, one man.
This man that stands out among all men.
So he came to him, asked for help.
Now brothers and sisters, for a rabbi, for
a ruler of a synagogue to come to
Lord Jesus for help, in that particular time,
in his time, in Jarrah's time, was not
a very popular thing to do.
You know the religious system, they were at
odds with the Lord Jesus.
The Pharisees and the scribes.
So to come to Lord Jesus for help
was not a popular move on his part.
So when he came, he laid aside his
religious position and standing and came.
Now in contrary to that, we know another
person, also a rabbi, Nicodemus.
Nicodemus, he dared not to come to Lord
Jesus during the daytime.
He came to him at night.
And if you look in the Bible dictionary,
Nicodemus means a victor of populace.
In other words, he is the conqueror of
man.
He is a God-man.
He controls man.
He controls popular opinion.
But Nicodemus, that name, the victor of populace
or the conqueror of man, other man, didn't
mean anything to him.
His life was contrary to his name, his
life.
Because he was afraid, he was fearful of
what people would think of him.
He dared not to come to the Lord
Jesus during the daytime.
He came at night.
But this man was enlightened, he came during
the day.
Now if the Bible says when it's day,
then we can walk.
When night comes, no one can walk.
It's during the day, we see where we
are going.
So Jared was enlightened, he wanted to know
that Lord Jesus is the way.
There is no other way.
The truth.
There is no other truth.
And the life, the real life as our
brother, the big L.
So he came.
Even though it was not very popular, but
because he was desperate, he was desperate.
And the Lord responded, because of his sincerity
and pleading for help, the Lord was touched
and the Lord responded.
Now if you look into the account in
the book of Matthew, in the old translation
it says, he arose and followed him.
As I look through that phrase, as I
was reading through the account in Matthew 9,
I was struck with that particular phrase.
The Lord Jesus arose and followed him.
Now, as I look through and look at
my concordance, that was only mentioned once, that
the Lord Jesus followed someone.
Only mentioned once.
Maybe I'm wrong, but as I look into
the concordance, only recorded once, that he arose
and he followed him.
Now you record on many occasions, the Lord
was the one who called people to follow
him.
There were multitudes following him.
The disciples followed him.
He called them to follow him.
He said, if you want to follow me,
take up your cross and follow me.
And on many occasions.
And some even come voluntarily and say, I'll
follow you.
So that phrase just stuck with me.
The Lord arose, and as I read that
account, I know why, I think I can
understand why the Lord arose and followed him.
Because the Lord knows the journey they are
about to take together will not be the
easy one.
The Lord said, I'll be behind you.
If we're going to get to the end,
I'm behind you.
If I'm behind you, we'll make it.
Now often times we hear messages that the
Lord is leading us.
He's in front, leading us.
Forgetting that sometimes, he follows us.
He's in front of us.
He's also what?
Behind us.
It's a precious thought.
You recall even in the old testament, when
the Israelites, when they came out of Egypt,
and Exodus 14, verse 19, let me just
read it for you.
It says there, the angel of God, who
had been travelling in front of the Israelites
army, withdrew and went behind them.
She now opened the way for them to
come out of Egypt, across the Red Sea.
But he also what?
Came around, came behind them and followed them.
Let me just read a bit further.
The pillar of cloud also moved from in
front and stood behind them.
You know when Jairus came to the Lord
Jesus, I do not know how many miles
he travelled, but I would imagine he came
very quickly.
I think we can put it, he came
at a human supersonic speed.
Because his daughter is dying.
I imagine when he fell at the Lord's
feet, he was out of breath.
But the returning journey, Jairus thought it would
be a journey of hope.
Quickly return to his home so that the
child would be touched by the Lord and
be raised.
A journey of hope.
That's why she came, that's why he came.
So the returning journey, he was thinking it
would be a journey of hope.
At the end there would be something beautiful,
bright.
The child's life would be restored.
But for instance, if you read the account,
that returning journey was a slow, long march.
Obstacles after obstacles.
Despair, a journey of despair, a great despair.
And as they journeyed home, it gets darker
and darker and darker.
And hope was gone.
But the only consolation for Jairus is that
the Lord rose and followed him.
He was in front, but the Lord was
behind.
Now, inordinarily, when you walk, follow someone, who
set the pace of your movement?
The one in front or the one in
the back?
Usually the one in front, isn't it?
And if he walks fast, you follow fast.
If he's slow, you slow down.
Because he's leading the way.
But in this case, Jairus, even though he
was in front, he had no chance, no
way to set the pace of their movement.
The Lord set the pace.
It proves the Lord said, I'm in control
of this situation.
When I stop, you stop.
When I go, we go.
The Lord took full charge of this situation.
So I thought the Lord said, he arose
and followed him.
The Lord said, I'll follow you through.
That's what he means.
And I was greatly comforted when I said,
the Lord, he said, he followed.
And the Lord said, when I follow, I'll
follow you all the way, and follow you
through.
Well, the journey, the retreating journey turned into
a very long, disruptive, full obstacles.
And as they journeyed home, Jairus' heart sank
lower and lower and lower.
Well, the first obstacle, we all know, is
that huge crowd.
Praise the Lord Jesus.
Now, for those who have been to the
old country, you know how the streets and
alleys, they look.
Not like here in Richmond, you have super
highways and good roads.
They have these winding alleys and small.
And not only people, they have domesticated animals.
I remember when I took my trip to
China, it's wherever you turn, you see people.
You don't see the street, you see people.
They're just packed with people.
And to find your way through that crowd
is almost impossible.
Now, Jairus, knowing that his daughter was dying,
and that huge crowd was praising around the
Lord Jesus, can you imagine what went through
his heart?
Timing is a factor now.
If you don't hurry back to his home,
it may be just too late.
It may be just too late.
And this crowd was all around the Lord
Jesus and Jairus.
The amazing thing is that the Lord knew
how desperate he was when he came to,
and yet the Lord didn't do anything about
the crowd.
He didn't mind.
He didn't mind the crowd.
Now, I was thinking, if I were Jairus,
I didn't know what I would do.
I'd probably scream and shout.
Now, if I dare not to say anything
to the Lord Jesus, at least I would
say something to the crowd to try to
catch their attention.
He said, now, can you understand why I
came here?
My daughter is dying.
Now, please don't block our way.
Let us just get through.
Now, for Jairus to fight his way through
that crowd would not be easy, because the
streets in those old countries are very, very
narrow, very narrow.
And whenever the Lord Jesus went in that
particular period, he drew a large crowd.
It's not just a small crowd.
But the amazing thing is that through all
that, Jairus remained one silent.
If you read his account, you only notice
that he spoke at the beginning when he
came to Lord Jesus, fell at his feet
and pleaded with him.
And from that moment on to the very
end, he did not utter one word.
Now, to me, that is humanly impossible.
There are many occasions he had a legitimate
right to complain and to say something, but
he didn't say it.
He remained silent.
Now, the reason why he was able to
remain calm and silent, I think it's whenever
he looked back, that meant Jesus was still
behind him.
That's all.
The Lord said, I will not leave you.
I will not forsake you.
So every time he looked in desperation, he
looked and he looked and he was still
with him.
What is in front?
We don't know.
But as he looked back, he was behind
him.
Now, for instance, that's why the Lord rose
up and followed him.
Because if the Lord did not follow him,
he would have fainted along the way.
He would be in total despair.
But the Lord was behind him, supported him,
encouraged him, whispered in him words of comfort.
We will find later.
So, brothers and sisters, it's good to fix
our eyes on the Lord Jesus this way.
But it's not for death.
When we fix our eyes on him, often
times we lose sight of him.
Because things come between, crowds come between, and
we lose sight of him.
It's so easy.
But thank God when we lose sight of
him, we look back and say, I'm still
behind you.
And that's our Lord.
He's faithful.
Well, the next obstacle they encountered was this
woman who had this issue of blood for
twelve years.
She was also in a very desperate situation.
I'm sure she thought she was dying too.
She had this disease for twelve years.
And Mark told us that she consulted doctors
and other doctors and spent all she had.
And instead of getting better, she grew worse.
So in desperation, she came to the Lord
Jesus.
She came with one aim, that's all.
With one aim, single-hearted, she said, if
I can only touch him, then that's everything.
We'll touch on that later.
Now, how she managed to come to the
Lord Jesus, we do not know.
Apparently she was a very sickly person, very
weak.
But somehow, because of her determination to come
to the Lord Jesus, she used every ounce
of her strength to get closer and closer,
ever closer to that man.
And somehow, she touched him.
And when she touched him, something happened.
So someone said, faith, true faith, living faith,
make demands of God.
So she came with faith, with one heart,
one purpose, one aim.
She said, touch that one, and I know
I'll be healed.
And that faith demands that power be released
from the Lord Jesus.
And the Lord knew immediately.
Power was released from him.
And instantly she was healed.
Now the interesting thing is, the obstacle lies
before Jairus and the Lord Jesus.
After this sister was healed, the Lord said,
who touched me?
The Lord wanted to single her out.
We will touch that just a little bit
later.
But anyway, when she came before the Lord,
fell at his feet and trembling in fear,
she knew she could not hide anymore.
You remember when she first came, she thought
if I just touch her and heal, she
will just slip away and not be seen
by anyone.
That's her purpose.
But the Lord would not allow that to
happen.
The Lord said, who touched me?
The Lord wanted to single her out.
The Lord has a purpose.
Because many came to the Lord Jesus without
any purpose.
They look at his face, they look at
his eyes, but they never touch him.
But this lady, in desperation, never get a
chance to see the Lord's face, but just
simply touch his garment.
She was cured.
Well, she could not hide any longer and
then the scripture said she tell her whole
twelve years of suffering.
Twelve years under the care of many doctors
and grew worse and worse.
Spent all she had.
And I had brought my sister until she
had a long testimony to share.
And especially with that curious crowd, I'm sure
her testimony drew even a larger crowd.
Because that was an amazing story.
An amazing story.
Well, that Hindu, that desperate movement that Jair
was looking for, hurry, hurry home, and now
it's destructed again.
Obstacle is right there in front of her.
They could not move.
The Lord stood there and they listened to
this lengthy testimony of their sister.
Now, here's another occasion that Jair always says
something.
If not to the Lord, at least to
their sister.
Would you please make a brief, so we
can hurry on, or save it for another
time.
But we do that in our assemblies, don't
we?
I mean, when a sister or brother have
a lengthy testimony, you know, from birth and
all the way on, we say, oh no,
no, no, not that lengthy.
You know, and then some response, brother, I
think there's a time we have to, you
know, would you please make a brief or
something.
Well, the Lord didn't seem to mind.
And the scribe said, she told the whole
story.
Now, how long it took, we don't know.
But Jair just took it all in.
Knowing that his daughter was dying, it's hard
to imagine what went into his heart.
It's hard to imagine.
But every time Jair doubts and everything came
through, and somehow he looked, that man was
behind him again.
The Lord is still behind him.
Brothers and sisters, when we go down and
down, often we have the expression, we're hitting
the bottom.
So I don't know what that really means.
I mean, that was the end of everything?
Is that what we mean when we hit
the bottom?
Is that the American expression?
I mean, when we say, you know, I
hit the bottom, that means that's the end.
You cannot go further down, right?
Well, brothers and sisters, I tell you, when
we say we hit the bottom, our bottoms
are all false bottoms.
We go through it.
So as we go with Jairus through this
journey, he hit many bottoms, and he went
through, down, down, down, until he hit the
real bottom.
We'll touch that in a little bit.
Well, as they move on, then bad news
came.
The report came from home saying, your daughter
is now dead.
Why bother?
Now, if you say he hit the bottom,
that was the bottom.
And then the Lord spoke.
The Lord spoke.
He said, don't be afraid.
Just what?
Believe.
And then in Mark, in NIV translation, the
Lord ignoring that report.
Now, that is difficult.
Now, who sees the fact?
The Lord sees the fact, or Jairus sees
the fact?
The report is that the daughter is now
dead.
But the Lord said, believe, and do not
be afraid.
The Lord's words sometimes are hard to believe.
Sometimes we think his words are almost unbelievable.
It is true.
But yet the Lord said, you believe.
Because we see only part of the picture,
and the Lord sees the whole thing.
We see the immediate, but the Lord sees
the total picture.
The Lord ignored the report, and told Jairus,
say, do not be afraid, and just believe.
The Lord ignored the report.
Actually, he's ignoring death, because death is stranger
to the Lord.
Death was rare to Jairus, but death is
not a threat to the Lord Jesus.
The Lord ignored death, the report of death.
The question now, can Jairus believe that?
Can Jairus ignore what the Lord ignored?
And I believe there was a real deep
struggle within him.
But at this point, Jairus, he had no
more option left with him.
It's gone now.
So the only hope that he had is
to stick with the Lord Jesus, and see
what happens, to the very end.
And he did.
Therefore he remains silent.
Words are useless now.
The doubt is, what was there more to
say?
It's gone.
Words are useless.
So brothers and sisters, the Lord often brings
us to a place where there is no
option left for us.
Especially in this country.
We always have the right to choose.
And often times we always choose the wrong
thing.
And I always thank the Lord, I am
the way, and there is no other way.
No more option.
Take it or leave it.
That's grace, brothers and sisters.
Because he knew we do not know how
to choose wisely, therefore he chose the way
for us.
That's grace.
Well, the report was very, very difficult for
Jairus to take it in.
And the Lord said, you just believe in
me.
And it's very difficult.
Very difficult.
But what else can he do?
The reasons say, it's gone.
No hope, no hope.
But the heart says, hang on there, hang
on there.
That's it.
Here it says, give it up, give it
up.
But here it's saying, stick it out, stick
it out.
And he said, stick it out.
Don't be afraid, just believe.
I am behind you.
I am behind the whole thing.
And because of Jairus, it would remain quiet
and not say anything.
Now the last obstacle they encounter is that
when they arrive home, they discover the scene,
the commotion, the crying and the wailing of
the people.
I was told that in the Jewish tradition
when someone passed away, you had to hire
professional mourners to cry with the family.
Apparently when they arrived home, relatives and friends
were already in preparation for her burial.
And when you read the Gospel account, that
seems to be the thing that was happening.
And the Lord said, why all this commotion?
And he said, the child is not dead,
but what?
Asleep.
Everything the Lord says seems to be in
total contrary, just the exact opposite of everything
they see with their naked eye.
So when Jairus came home, everything smelled bad.
What he saw was bad, what he smelled
was bad.
But through all this, you can see the
Lord was in charge of this whole situation.
So when he saw that commotion, he said,
why all this commotion?
And then he asked those doubters to get
out of that situation.
So he removed all the unbelieving party away
from there.
And he took the child's father and mother
and his three disciples into the child's room
and raised them up.
Now as I say that Jairus, as they
were on their way home, his heart was
sinking lower and lower and lower.
And many times he thought he had hit
the bottom.
When they encountered the crowd, he said, that's
it, no more chance.
Because the child was what?
Was dying or already dead.
When they encountered this woman who had this
12-year issue of blood, that delay, he
thought that was the first time he thought
that was the bottom.
But again that bottom fell through another bottom.
You know what I mean?
Keep going down and going down until the
Lord came into the picture.
Remove all the doubters and he raised the
child.
To me, that's when he really hit the
bottom.
Now when he hit the bottom, it means
he cannot go down any further.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord wants us to
get down to himself.
The Lord is the solid rock.
So when they went down and went down,
all the human bottoms fell through until we
came to that real bottom, the rock, the
solid rock, the rock of Egypt.
And that was the real bottom.
Now oftentimes the Lord has to bring us
into that situation.
Now F.
B.
Meyer has a way of putting this way
that we go down into the rock to
enter into God's reality.
He said when he was young, he thought
all God's gifts and all God's riches are
in shelves, one above the other.
As you grow taller spiritually, you can reach
all those nice gifts.
But he said, as I grew older in
the Lord, I discovered all those nice gifts
and riches of Christ there on the shelves,
down beneath one beneath the other.
As you go lower and lower, you discover
those real treasures that are down there.
And Jarrah's trip, journey home was simply going
down and down because the Lord has a
treasure he wanted to discover, and that's himself.
So when he went down, down, down, he
fell at the bottom, and he finally discovered
it all.
Now in that, I want you to turn
to one verse of Scripture, and we can
just look at it.
In the book of Deuteronomy 27,
Deuteronomy 33, 27, The eternal God is your
refuge, sometimes we say your dwelling place, and
underneath are the everlasting arms.
That's all we're going to register as two
phrases.
The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath
is the everlasting arm.
Now I'm a late comer in Bible study,
and I was not fortunate to be like
Dana and the others.
They had their own cemetery education.
I came quite late, and I'm not good
at that, but I do have a few
concordance in books I can really look into
it.
But I understand this word underneath only mentioned
once in the Scripture.
And in Hebrew, it means bottom.
So at the rear bottom, you will find
the everlasting arm.
I hope you will go back and look
at this and see what this underneath in
Hebrew means.
From what I heard, from what I looked
in the dictionary, it means bottom.
If you look into Young's Concordance, you will
find this underneath means bottom.
It means the lowest part underneath, the bottom.
You cannot go any further.
So you touch the bedrock.
You touch the rear foundation.
You touch the end.
And from the Lord Jesus, from a spiritual
point of view, when you touch the end,
you touch the beginning.
Because Christ is the beginning.
Christ is also the what?
The end.
When you touch the end, he brings you
to the beginning.
And that was restored.
And that was given.
And Jairus told you this.
That's the way the Lord is dealing with
any of us.
Particularly in some of the provinces in our
area, recently suffered a great deal.
Many problems, we don't know how it came
about.
Seemingly there's no hope.
And yet, we discover that when they hit
the bottom, they hit the Lord himself.
And they were raised up again.
Because the Lord said I am the resurrection.
Even though you are dead, you will live
again.
And that's what some of us experience.
In recent weeks, we think the Christian life
is up and going, brighter and brighter.
But often time it gets dark.
And Isaiah says, those treasures are to be
found in darkness.
The riches are in hidden places.
And Jairus' journey home was a journey of
long despair.
But in the end, the Lord was there.
And life was given.
When he touched the bottom, life was restored.
So this world underneath, that's the bottom.
When you hit the bottom, the Lord said,
my hand is there.
And now he lifts you up.
Now this woman that had 12 years of
blood issue, that came to the Lord and
touched him.
Now just touch Elizabeth.
According to the Mosaic Law, this woman had
this disease, was an unclean person.
Ceremonially unclean.
She was cut off from the rest of
the Israelite people as far as their privilege
to go into the temple to worship and
to make sacrifices.
She was out.
Unclean.
An unclean person cannot approach.
If she was married, most likely she will
be abandoned by her husband because she's unclean.
Anyone touches her is unclean.
Anything that she touches is also unclean.
Rejected as an outcast.
And she lived that life for 12 years,
getting weaker and weaker in great agony.
But she had one thing in her mind,
that she heard something about the Lord Jesus
and she was willing to come and try
him out.
She was willing.
And she came and cast herself at the
Lord's mercy, hidden in the crowd.
Now as I said before, when she came
she had one thing in mind, just to
be healed.
When I touch him and when he heals
me, when I'm healed, she will just slip
away unnoticed.
Now this unnoticed way of living or isolated
life is not really something new to this
person because she's been isolated for too long
now.
For her to readjust to live with the
crowd would be a difficult thing for her
to do.
12 years of complete isolation.
So she thought if I just touch and
heal, I'll slip out unnoticed by anyone.
But the Lord did notice her.
The Lord would not let her get away
that quickly.
Now you remember when she came, she came
from behind.
But when the Lord called her, she came
and stood or kneeled right here before the
Lord.
Well, in a sense, this woman also hit
the bottom.
If you read the account of the Gospel,
she really had 12 years, spent all she
had, consulted all the doctors.
Instead of getting better, she grew worse and
worse.
Where can she turn?
If you say she hit the bottom, she
hit the bottom.
But thank God she came to the real
bottom, the big rock, the solid rock of
Lord Jesus, and she touched that.
And she was cured.
She was made whole instantly.
And then the Lord said, who touched me?
The Lord said, who touched me?
Now when the Lord was looking for her,
she knew she could not hide in herself
anymore.
And the Lord was very selective who that
one particular person.
In a sense, the Lord was teaching all
of us.
All those people that are present around the
Lord Jesus, many of them were really touching
him.
That's true.
So the disciples said, why are you asking
such a question?
There are people all around you.
All of them were touching you.
Brothers and sisters, but this person, her touch
was a touch of faith.
And power was released from Lord Jesus to
her.
Many came because of curiosity to look at
this person, just what he looks like and
so forth.
But they never had a real touch of
him as a servant of man.
You recall at the end of the raising
up of Jared's daughter, the Lord said, do
not tell anybody what happened.
He gives strict order to the family not
to tell anyone what happened.
Brothers and sisters, many times the Lord did
that before.
Don't tell anybody.
After the miracle was performed, he said, don't
say anything to anyone.
The reason why is that the Lord did
not want us to know him as miracle
workers.
He wanted us to believe him as the
Christ, the Son of the living God, that
through believing him we may have life.
That is what he came for.
Not to do miracles, but to give life.
Well, she could not hide herself anymore and
she came right in front of the Lord.
Now, St. Augustine has a phrase, he said,
flesh praises but faith touches.
And I think that is a very beautiful
way he puts it.
Flesh praises but faith touches.
So there are many of those in their
fleshly way, they praise around the Lord, but
only those who came in faith, they touch
him.
You know, when we come to the Lord,
we have some expectation of the Lord when
we come.
We all do.
We all come to be blessed.
It is all of us.
We all come to be blessed.
We say, if I can only just get
that and I will be satisfied.
But the Lord often gives us more than
we ask for.
So this sister came, just wanted to be
healed and then go home, slip away.
The Lord called her to himself and the
Lord used one very tender word to give
her the blessing that she never anticipated because
the Lord's intention is to bring her to
himself.
Not just to give her life but to
recover her to himself.
So there will be a relationship, there will
be fellowship, there will be a union of
life.
So a relationship can be restored.
So the Lord called her daughter.
She was now cast before and clean.
The Lord said, now you are part of
the family.
Now you are brought into the fellowship and
now we can commune.
Before you came from behind and now you
are sitting right in front of me.
You see, all she thought was if I
can only get behind and just touch and
that's enough.
That's good enough.
But the Lord said, that's not good enough.
I'll make you a daughter of mine and
I'll put you right in front of me
that we may commune.
Now for the Lord to bring her to
such a place, sometimes the Lord has to
use strange ways.
With some, he might have to bring her
deeper and deeper and deeper.
Go through bottoms after bottoms until we hit
a big rock.
And that's the Lord Jesus.
Then we are revived, recovered.
And when we hit the end, actually we
hit the beginning.
Because he's the first, he's the last.
Well, brothers and sisters, how can we apply
this in our practical everyday Christian life?
As we look into the future, we always
hope that the future will be brighter and
brighter.
Brothers and sisters, that is a false hope.
The world is getting darker and darker.
Even in our physical body, the threat of
death is always there.
We cannot be sure.
But there's one thing we can be sure.
If we had to fall back, we fall
back on him.
Because he said, I'll follow you.
With many of us, somehow by the grace
of God we are still here today.
It's because many times we fell and fell
miserably, he was behind us to pick us
up again and again.
So when I read that account in Matthew
9, when Jairus came and pleaded for help,
it says, the Lord arose and followed him.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord knew without him
following us, we were not going to make
it.
We are all potential dropouts.
We cannot even trust ourselves.
If he's in front of us, we can
see him, thank God for that.
But sometimes there are things get between, and
we are out of focus.
But thank, even though we are out of
focus, he is still behind.
He will not let us go homeward.
Once we are marked out, we are forever
his.
That's why the Lord said, who touched me?
If you ever touch me once, I will
not let you go anymore.
You are stuck with me for life, forever,
for eternity.
And he put her right in front of
him, and called her daughter, an eternal relationship
with himself, to commune and to share, and
to be his friend.
So brothers and sisters, the way to fullness
sometimes is costly.
Doesn't mean we get fuller and fuller of
himself immediately.
Sometimes we have to go down, down, down
into the dark, and to discover the treasure
that is there.
Sometimes we have to go to those secret
places.
Nobody seems to understand what we are going
through.
But the treasure, riches are there.
I'm privileged.
To me, people, they found treasure.
They found those riches.
Because what they are going through, we are
enriched.
We are enriched.
And that is one way we can enter
into fullness.
Sharing the suffering of our brothers and sisters.
What they went through, we go through with
them spiritually.
And what they discover in Dakhne is all
rich, all gain.
Brothers and sisters, that is God.
Our God is doing it.
So there are many mysterious ways God is
leading us.
We do not know why.
But those are ways for us to discover
the riches that are in secret places, and
treasure that are in Dakhne.
And thank God for brothers and sisters that
are going through that way.
Brothers and sisters, not for themselves, but for
the riches, for the fullness of the body
of Christ.
And that is very real.
And may God help us.
If we have to go down, the road
is there.
Brothers and sisters, remember, the Lord says, I'm
behind you.
If you have to go through one bottom
and another, the Lord says, I'm that rear
bottom.
Once you hit me, you cannot go further
down, but up.
And that's himself.
So may the Lord help us.
Those words I share are very, very feeble,
and I'm sure you know all about it.
But I think we need to be reminded.
And may the Lord help us.
What we see is only part of the
picture.
He sees the total picture.
So do not doubt him.
Do not question him.
As long as he is leading us, as
long as he is behind us, we will
reach the goal.
So we bow our heads.
Lord, we look to you to be very
merciful to us.
Help us not to choose our own ways,
but to listen to the small voice that
comes from behind.
Not from in front, but from behind, saying,
this is the way.
Lord, we do not know what's ahead.
We do not know the end.
As long as you are with us, as
long as you are behind us, the end
is secure.
Because you are the first and you are
the last.
And we can put our faith in you
and trust you for it.
Lord, give us faith to believe.
Give us faith to commit our ways and
our lives to you.
That you may bring us to discover the
hidden riches that are in secret places, and
the treasure that's in darkness.
Thank you for favoring us to discover some
of the riches.
Even though the road is difficult, a way
of despair, for desolation, but Lord, as we
look back, we can only say, Lord, it's
worth it.
And it's your mercy, it's your grace to
us.
Help us all to follow you and to
give our lives to you.
We give praise and give thanks to you.