Well, I've never heard that hymn before in
my life, and I think it's a lovely
hymn.
And you sang it very well too, in
spite of the fact there are not many
hundreds of us this morning.
I always enjoy the singing here, and it's
quite an inspiration.
At one informal meeting, where they had a
lot of singing and a lot of informal
talking, the chairman said to the preacher, he
said, shall we let them enjoy themselves a
little longer, or will you give your talk
now?
Quite a loaded question that one.
Well, I know here at Parker-le-Palm
that a message from the Word is an
enjoyment, as well as the singing of these
beautiful hymns, and that was a new one
to me.
Now this morning, with the Lord's help and
between us, we will look at the chapter
5 of Mark, Christ the Master and Christ
the Saviour.
Now don't worry about the small numbers, I'm
not too concerned myself.
I've learned through the years to try to
be faithful with God's grace, with a few
present, even when, as well as when there's
a big crowd.
So as long as by the end of
the week, the last morning conference on Friday
morning, if there are two or three gathered
together, it's getting down now, if there are
two or three gathered together in the Lord's
name on Friday morning, I'll be satisfied because
the Lord will still be here according to
his promise.
Now we'll read a few verses from Mark
5, verse 1 to 8 first of all.
They came over unto the other side of
the sea into the country of the Gadarenes,
that's on the east side of the lake
of Galilee.
And when they were come out of the
ship, immediately they met him out of the
tombs, a man with an unclean spirit, who
had his dwelling among the tombs, and no
man could bind him, no, not with chains,
because he'd been often bound with fetters and
chains, and chains had been plucked asunder by
him, and the fetters broken in pieces, neither
could any man tame him.
And always night and day he was in
the mountains and in the tombs, crying and
cutting himself with stones.
And when he saw Jesus afar off, he
ran and worshipped him, and cried with a
loud voice, and said, What have I to
do with thee, Jesus, thou son of God
most high?
I adjure thee by God, that thou torment
me not.
For he said unto him, Come out of
the man, thou unclean spirit.
Now verse 18.
When he was come into the ship, he
that had been possessed with the demon, prayed
him that he might be with him.
Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but said to
him, Go home to thy friends, and tell
them how great things the Lord hath done
for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.
And he departed, and began to publish in
Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for
him, and all men did marvel.
When Jesus was passed over again by ship
unto the other side, much people gathered unto
him, and he was nigh unto the sea.
Behold, there cometh one of the rulers of
the synagogue, Jairus by name.
When he saw him, he fell at his
feet, and besought him greatly, saying, My little
daughter lies at the point of death.
I pray thee, come and lay thy hands
on her, and she may be healed, and
she shall live.
Jesus went with him, and much people followed
him, and thronged him.
Verse 32.
And he looked round about, to see her
that had done this thing, touched him.
But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what
was done in her, came and fell down
before him, and told him all the truth.
He said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath
made thee whole, go in peace, and behold
of thy play.
While he yet spake, there came from the
ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said,
Thy daughter is dead, why troublest thou the
master any more, any further?
And as soon as Jesus heard the word
that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler
of the synagogue, Thee not afraid, only believe.
Verse 41.
He took the damsel by the hand, and
said unto her, Talitha Cumi, which is being
interpreted damsel, I say unto thee, Arise.
And straightway the damsel arose, and walked.
For she was the age of twelve years,
and they were astonished with great astonishment.
He charged them straightly, that no man should
know it, and he commanded that something should
be given her to eat.
May the Lord bless to our hearts that
reading from his word, and now our meditation
thereon.
There is a word in Paul's prison epistles
which you know very well, where he says,
I can do all things through Christ who
strengtheneth me.
Now there is another beautiful translation which says,
I am master of every situation in Christ
who makes me strong.
That's a triumphant note.
And why is it that the believer is
master of every situation in Christ who makes
him strong?
Because Christ himself has proved himself to be
the master of every situation.
And when he was here on earth, there
were loads of different kinds of situations into
which the Saviour came, and he proved himself
sufficient for everyone.
Not one of those situations got on top
of him.
He was the controller, and he proved himself
to be the master.
He was the master of despair, he was
the master of disease, he was the master
of death, and he was the master of
the devil, and these ideas we find in
this chapter this morning.
That's why I have headed this morning's message,
Christ the Master and Christ the Saviour.
Now these three people here, the hopeless man,
the helpless woman, and the lifeless child, all
needed deliverance in their particular way.
The hopeless man wanted deliverance from the devil,
and the helpless woman wanted deliverance from her
disease, and the lifeless child wanted deliverance from
death, and Jesus was just the Saviour to
meet each and every need, and prove himself
sufficient and the master of every situation, as
I said.
So here in chapter 5, Christ is the
master.
Now when we come on to chapter 6
tonight, we see the Lord Jesus portrayed in
no end of different ways.
And it's good to have our minds filled
with the person of Christ and his wonderful
ministry, and his ability to control every situation.
As far as the hopeless man was concerned,
no man could tame him.
As far as the helpless woman was concerned,
no doctor could heal her.
And as far as the lifeless child was
concerned, no one could save her.
Now the hopeless man represents the spirit of
violent lawlessness.
The devil was in control.
The helpless woman represents the spirit of vain
self-effort.
She herself was in control.
She did all that she could vainly.
And the lifeless child represents the spirit of
veritable despair.
The spirit of violent lawlessness, the spirit of
vain self-effort, and the spirit of veritable
despair.
In the story of the hopeless man, we
have a revelation of our Lord's authority, his
authority over the demons.
And in the story of the helpless woman,
there is the revelation of our Lord's authority
over disease.
And in the story of the lifeless child,
there is a revelation of our Lord's authority
over death.
He is the master of the demons.
He has authority over them because he is
the Son of God.
He has authority over disease because he is
the Lamb of God which taketh away the
sin of the world.
And he has authority over death because he
is the life of God.
He is that eternal life.
He is the life of God personified.
He is that eternal life.
Well now, let us look at the first
one a little more closely.
And this man was in the grip of
the evil one.
And the spirit of violent lawlessness is the
spirit of the evil one.
The Apostle Paul puts this very, very plainly
in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.
There is the man of sin and perdition
and there is the spirit of lawlessness and
the two are really...
Now as far as this man is concerned,
external remedies of coercion and restraint had completely
failed.
He was in a bad way.
Now you find a man in the grip
of the devil, a young man with a
spirit of violent lawlessness.
Try and coerce him.
Try and restrain him.
Try and persuade him.
And generally speaking, you will try in vain.
It is the work of the devil in
his heart.
And only a stronger than the strong one
can set him free.
Now this man of course was more than
a case for a local psychiatrist, wouldn't you
think.
And there is so much of the spirit
of lawlessness and violent lawlessness in the world
today, and in America and Britain in relation
to the taking of drugs, that psychiatrists are
really at a loose end.
You see these are spiritual issues and the
answer is spiritual.
And the complete answer is only in the
spirit of Christ and his almightiness.
Now Dr Martin Lloyd-Jones, one of our
greatest preachers in London, although he's not in
London so much these days, he's retired from
Westminster Chapel.
He left his lucrative position in Harley Street
as a specialist physician.
Harley Street is where all the big noises
have their offices in London.
He left this some years ago to go
into full-time ministry of the word.
And the other specialist doctors in Harley Street
gave a dinner in his honour as he
was leaving.
And one of them in his speech said,
we can't understand Dr Martin Lloyd-Jones why
it is you leaving this lucrative position here
in Harley Street to go and preach the
gospel for a mere pittance.
Well he said, I have come to the
conclusion that 75% of the people that
come to me and probably to us here
in Harley Street are suffering spiritually, their problems
are spiritual problems.
So he said, therefore I've made up my
mind, I'm going to try to be a
blessing to the 75% and gentlemen I'm
going to leave you to look after the
25%.
Now we must face it these days, if
there's anybody really in a bad way, don't
first of all think of flying to the
psychiatrist or sending them to this person.
Think of the almightiness of the saviour and
his ability.
As was manifest in this case, and Jesus
is the same today we were saying the
other day.
And it's true today.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today,
Wednesday and forever because he is the immutable
son of God.
When sinners to the saviour came, the weary
ones found rest.
He pardoned and he healed them all and
each one who came was blessed.
And he is enough.
Now you see this man or these people
today who crowd in the offices of the
psychiatrists, find that they are either under the
oppression of the devil and they need Christ
to set them free.
Or they have a guilt complex and they
need forgiveness through faith in Christ.
Or they have a spirit of restlessness and
despair and they need the Prince of Peace
controlling their life.
Isn't that true?
Of course it is.
Don't fly to the psychiatrist, fly to the
living son of God and prove his ability
in your present experience as this man did.
And so the evil spirits asked that they
might go into the swine and of course
he gave them leave so to do.
Not that he always gave way to evil
spirits, that's not the idea.
But to prove and show that they had
departed from the man and to confirm the
man's faith.
I'm quite sure that was the reason for
our Lord's agreement in this case.
Now look at the man's transformation, it's beautiful
to see.
He was sitting, he was clothed and he
was sober.
He was sitting instead of disquieted and restless.
He was clothed instead of denuded and naked.
He was sober instead of deluded and raging.
What a glorious transformation.
If any man is in Christ, he is
a new creation.
He was sitting, he was now at rest.
Instead of carrying around the tombs, he was
resting at the Saviour's feet.
You know, lots of Christians today have never
found what this man has found, rest in
the presence of the Saviour.
It's the greatest blessing on God's earth for
any child of God.
Rest in Christ who is our life.
Try it, trust him for everything.
Rest in his sufficiency and the almightiness of
his indwelling spirit.
Try it.
Try him.
Rest, not struggle.
In one of our hymns we've just been
singing about clinging.
I don't believe in struggling.
I don't believe in clinging.
I believe in resting in Christ who is
our life.
And in Hebrews 4 this is the message.
It's not talking about there remaineth a rest
for the people of God in the glory.
Now you've been taught that in brethren assemblies.
That's not the interpretation of Hebrews 4.
Eternal Sabbath and rest for the people of
God.
But in Hebrews 4 it's talking about thy
faith now entering into his rest.
Like the children of Israel, every day on
the way to the land of rest, they
rested around the Ark of the Covenant in
the presence of their God.
They found rest every day on the way
to the land of rest.
The greatest blessing on God's earth for God's
people is present rest in Christ who is
our life.
Well, I hadn't better get on that subject
or else I should get carried away.
But it's a tremendous thing brethren.
Enter into it.
Sisters, just give up, let go and let
God and rest in Christ.
This man was resting, sitting at the feet
of the Lord Jesus instead of disquieted and
restless.
And you know the Jew never falls on
a restless night.
Last night there was no Jew.
And the Jew and barm of God's blessing
and peace, they never come to a restless
soul.
Let us turn to Christ and his almightiness
and rest in his sufficiency.
Well, I suppose sitting speaks of his rest
in Christ and the clothing speaks of his
holiness in Christ and the soberness speaks of
the mental peace that he had now that
Christ had set him free.
All right, look at the people for a
moment of that area.
And their request, they requested the Lord Jesus
that he would depart from their coast.
Now wasn't this a tragedy?
He was a man set free from Satan,
sitting and clothed and sober and they said,
Lord you did it, will you go?
Can you understand that?
This is just typical of humanity today.
Here is the Almighty Saviour and they don't
want him.
Here is the Son of God with power
and they won't have anything to do with
him.
And they feared, I'm sure, that if he
stayed other things might have to go.
Just as the swine had gone.
And of course the Lord Jesus will never
stay unwanted.
He is always waiting for a welcome to
stay as he did in Luke 24 on
the way to Mimaia.
Notice the contrast here between the man's request
to be with him and the people's request
for him to leave.
Now Harold St. John in his book quotes
John Oxenham's poem about these people and their
request and their swine.
And I think it's very forceful.
Rabbi be gone, thy powers bring loss to
us and ours.
Our ways are not thine, thou lovest men,
we swine.
Oh get thee gone omnipotence and take this
fool of thine, his soul, what care we
for his soul since we have lost our
swine.
The Christ went sadly.
He had wrought for them a sign of
love and tenderness divine.
They wanted.
Christ comes without your door and gently knocks.
But if your gold or swine the entrance
blocks, he forces no man's hold.
He will depart and leave you to the
treasures of your heart.
So much for the hopeless man.
No man could tame him.
What about the helpless woman?
I ought to say one more thing about
this man.
The Saviour said to him go home and
tell.
And he called for a confession here amongst
his own people which is always of course
the best thing to do when your life
has been changed by Christ.
Go home and tell.
So he became an evangelist to ten cities.
Now when I was a young fellow I
was an evangelist to one city, the city
of Birmingham.
I used to take a big marquee and
go round the big housing estate, sometimes 25,
30,000 people on this estate and 25
on that estate and so on.
And I used to put the big marquee
in the middle and we had ten campaigns
and started assemblies that way around the city
of Birmingham.
But this man was an evangelist to ten
cities straight away.
He began to publish in Decapolis.
That's an area where there were ten cities
actually.
The name Decapolis means ten cities.
Alright well now the woman.
Notice here our Lord's authority over disease.
She was suffering from haemorrhage for 12 years
and here was an expression of vain self
-effort.
She did all that she could of herself
and got others other than the Saviour into
her place and she was getting worse.
And self-effort often and practically always leads
to a worsened state.
But now of course she hears a rumour
one day.
Somebody says to her there is a new
prophet in the land.
She said I can't believe it.
They said yes it's Elijah come back from
the dead.
He said don't believe it.
How do you know?
Well they said he's working miracles.
Oh so she started to get interested.
She needed a miracle in her life.
Somebody else came one day and they said
have you heard about Jesus of Nazareth?
She said no never heard of him.
Well they said he's John the Baptist got
his head back and he's preaching again and
healing the sick.
She got interested and a few days later
somebody said listen Mary Jesus of Nazareth I
verily believe is the promised Messiah and he's
working miracles.
She went back home.
She sat in her chair and she said
to herself I believe in Jesus.
I believe in Jesus.
And she said and if ever he comes
this way I'm going to do something to
show that I believe in Jesus.
She said I know what I'll do.
I'll push through the crowd.
Should be a big crowd.
I'll let nobody in the crowd in to
me from getting in him.
I'll push through the crowd and I'll touch
his garment just to show that I believe
in Jesus.
And you all know the story so very
well.
The multitudes thronged him but few touched him.
You can get this chapel very very full
of people as you had when Willie McNeill
was here.
Full to overflowing.
Some couldn't find a seat.
Multitudes thronged him but few touch him.
It's always true beloved.
Make sure you're going to be one of
those who get right through the crowd to
Jesus.
It isn't that you're coming just to enjoy
the crowd and to have a sing but
get right through the crowd and touch him.
Multitudes thronged him but few.
Notice also his call to this woman after
her healing.
For an open confession he knew what happened.
He said who touched me?
They said well what a silly question to
ask master.
With the multitude thronging who touched me?
I said somebody touched me in faith.
Virtue power has gone from me to them.
Who was it?
He knew who it was.
It was the omniscient Christ but he wanted
as he did with this man an open
confession so with this woman an open confession.
And she came and she told him all
the truth, the whole story.
And he said to her, thy faith has
saved thee, go in peace.
Now it was not touching his garment that
saved her.
When she said in her heart I believe
in Jesus that's what saved her.
It's faith in Christ that saves you when
you touch the end of his garment or
when you stand up in a meeting to
confess it.
Or when you come to the front and
make a confession.
Or when you go into the waters of
baptism and make a confession.
That's not when you're saved.
You're saved by believing in the heart the
facts of the gospel and trust in Christ.
With the heart man believeth unto righteousness and
then with the mouth confession is made unto
the salvation which you've got through believing in
your heart.
God doesn't ask for any works.
He doesn't say you must stand up to
be saved.
He doesn't say you must make a confession
to be saved.
He doesn't say you've got to come out
to be saved or raise your hand to
be saved or come to the counseling room
to be saved.
He says you have to believe in your
heart.
With the heart man believeth unto righteousness and
that is that.
You're righteous in the sight of God when
you believe in your heart the facts of
the gospel.
But now if that is a real belief
you find new life as well as righteousness
in Christ and that new life will always
find then and before long you'll want to
make an open confession.
With the mouth confession is made unto the
salvation which you've had by believing in your
heart.
You see there are false forces, false forces
in evangelism today and people are expected to
do something to be saved.
Christ did it all on the cross.
So don't you ever stand up to be
saved or put your hand up to be
saved or come to the front to be
saved.
But you can put your hand up to
show you have been saved or you want
to be saved.
Or you can stand up to say that
you have trusted Christ in the prayer or
that you want to trust Christ in the
counseling room.
But if ever you are saved, you are
saved through not doing anything at all except
believing in Christ who did all the work
on the cross of Calvary.
Very important to acknowledge false forces in evangelism
today and get back to the simple truth
of God's Word.
I didn't want to give you a lecture
on that but it sort of came in
at this point.
So he calls, did our Lord, for an
open confession from this woman and he said,
Thy faith has saved thee.
No she didn't get saved when she came
and said I touched you and I'll tell
you all the story.
No she was saved when she said in
her heart I believe in Jesus.
Very important.
Well now notice he attributes her healing to
her faith, not his garment and not her
touch.
If we have the garment of Christ here
draped over this lectern very carefully and beautifully
in its folds this morning being preserved all
down the centuries and you came and touched
it 35 times each before you went back
home, it wouldn't make any difference to you
at all.
Touching his garment wouldn't save you.
Touching his garment wouldn't heal you.
But it is faith in Christ that brings
the blessing.
I believe in Jesus.
And then very quickly, I'm going to be
brief this morning.
Isn't that marvellous?
The third point, the child, his authority is
noticed in this third story over death itself.
And of course he has authority over death
because he is the life of God personified,
he is that eternal and Jairus
believed in Jesus for his child.
Now we had a brief resume of this,
at least in relation to the principles attached
to this story in another message the other
evening or the other morning.
So I'm going to be brief with this
one as well.
But please notice our Lord's authority over death.
And Jairus really believed that Christ could bless
his child.
And you know how eventually his faith for
his child was rewarded.
My wife and I here this morning, we
want to testify to this fact that our
simple childlike trust in faith, in God, for
our children has been rewarded.
They are not only saved but they are
serving the Lord.
And they have Christian partners who are also
anxious to serve the Lord and are doing
that very thing.
And this to us is the greatest thing
in life.
We enjoy preaching, we enjoy doing Bible school
work around the world here and there.
The greatest thing in the life is that
our children love the Saviour.
We believe in Jesus for them.
They are all the Lord's and all serving
him.
My father's motto was this, nor entered and
all his family into the ark.
And my mother's motto was, and she hung
it by the front door, as for me
and my house, we will serve the Lord.
And we all did.
And we're all in.
And so are our children too.
I'm ready to die now.
Not going to die for David perhaps, but
I'm ready to.
Satisfied.
The Lord's done it.
The glory's his.
Tremendous.
Nothing left to pray for.
That's what David said at the end of
one of the Psalms.
Psalm 72.
He said, and he had a vision of
the Lord raining over the earth from the
river to the ends of the earth, and
the kings bowing down before him, and presidents
scraping the dust before him, and Christ getting
all the glory, and the earth filled with
the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Amen, amen, he says, the prayers of David
the son of Jesse are ended.
Nothing left to pray for.
Seeing Christ glorified and raining over all the
earth, redeemed in his presence.
The remnant of the Jews are saved, and
all the nations of the earth bringing their
glory to him.
Psalm 72 is the psalm.
Amen, amen, the prayers of David the son
of Jesse are ended, and the prayers of
David the son of Raymond are ended.
Nothing left to pray for.
Satisfied.
Of course, maybe the Lord wants us to
do a little more for his glory, and
he'll have to give us all the grace
for that, because we are nothing of ourselves.
And Jairus believed in Jesus, and the Lord
Jesus encouraged him to believe in him.
And although his faith was tested, he said,
you keep right on believing, my friend.
You see, his faith was tested twice.
First of all, when it came to Christ,
and now will you please come and see
my little daughter, she's very, very ill.
And then this woman came with this hemorrhage.
And that was quite an intrusion, an interruption.
And there was this poor little girl dying
all the time.
And all that time, Jairus' faith was being
really tested.
But he stuck it out and waited to
find if he could get Jesus to come.
And then, lo and behold, after the woman
was healed, they came from the home, and
they said, don't trouble the master anymore, your
little girl is dead.
What a terrible test for Jairus.
And you know, I'm quite sure, if we're
going to believe Christ for our loved ones
and little ones, not many of us got
little ones now, I'm quite sure we're going
to have our faith tested from time to
time.
But the tense here is very important, present
imperative tense.
Keep right on believing, and everything will be
alright, only keep right on believing.
So, he said, if you will express an
attitude of faith, as well as an act
of faith, you'll find that will lead to
blessing and life in this case.
In Psalm 116, David is saying a worship
prayer before the Lord in that psalm.
Beautiful psalm.
The verse starts by saying, I love the
Lord, because he hath heard my voice and
supplications.
Then later on in the verse, he said,
O Lord, I am thy bond-slave, I
am thy bond-slave, and the son of
thine hand-maid, thou hast loosed my bonds.
He said, Lord, not only am I your
servant, but my mother is as well.
And he was thanking God for his mother's
faith in himself, for himself, David.
He said, I am the son of thine
hand-maid, do you ever in your worship
thank God for your mother?
David did.
And my mother had four children, she brought
us all to Jesus herself.
And David said, I'm ever so pleased I'm
your servant, Lord, but there's one thing I'm
very delighted about, that my mother was your
servant as well.
I am the son of thine hand-maid.
The result of it all is, you've set
me free, and you've used her to bring
me into freedom.
And I find your glorious service isn't bondage
at all, it's perfect spiritual freedom.
What do you think it meant to David
that his mother was God's hand-maid?
Everything, of course.
What do you think it meant to his
mother that he was God's servant, God's bond
-slave?
Why, everything, of course.
And it must have meant much to God
that both mother and son were his.
So, Jairus believed Jesus for his little girl.
Look at these conclusions for a moment regarding
the child now.
I will say, I will say, and at
the expense of, at the danger of vain
repetition, I will give again the three principles
in relation to the story of the child.
It is no trouble to the Master to
bless our children.
Trouble not the Master, no, you don't listen
to them, listen to me.
No trouble to me.
No trouble to the Master to bless our
children.
Secondly, our faith can be the means of
the salvation of our children.
Do you remember I emphasised this when I
was talking the other day about he seeing
their faith said unto the sick of the
palsy, some thy sins be forgiven thee.
Secondly, therefore, our faith can be the means
of the salvation of our children.
And thirdly, faithlessness is the hindrance for the
salvation of our children and must be thrown
right outside.
Now look at the conclusions in relation to
the child.
All the family knew that she had new
life in Christ and they were commanded to
feed that new life.
That's a command to those of us who
are elders, under shepherds in the local assembly,
feed the flock of God, especially the new
ones coming in with the word of God.
He commanded to give her meat, her food,
something to eat.
So with regard to the child, all the
family knew she had new life in Christ.
With regard to the woman, she knew in
her own body that she had new life
through Christ.
And in regard to the man, everybody in
the ten cities knew that he had new
life in Christ.
And I have such a wonderful Saviour that
everybody should know.
O Lord, how we worship thee this morning
for the Lord Jesus, the Master and the
Saviour, the sufficient Almighty One, and the One
who can overcome the devil and disease and
death for us.
We thank thee that we believers can triumph
when we leave this body because we know
it is just a passing into the glory
beyond.
Pray a blessing now upon these junior citizens
of glory in the meeting this morning.
Now bless us all as thou seest we
need thee, as we trust in Jesus and
keep right on believing in him for everything
to meet our every need.
And may his all-sufficient grace prove to
be sufficient in our experiences too, today and
always until he calls or comes.
Amen and Amen.