Jesus, Do you Care (2)

[0:00] Well if we could this morning, with the Lord's help, turn back to that portion of scripture that we read in the gospel according to Mark chapter 5.

[0:14] Mark chapter 5 and if we read again at verse 35. While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, Your daughter is dead, why trouble the teacher any further?

[0:30] But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, Do not fear, only believe. Do not be afraid, only believe.

[0:52] I'm sure that it's safe to say that in the day and age in which we live in, the Bible is often considered to be an ancient artifact. An ancient artifact that is considered to be written by the church to help those of a bygone era, a pre-scientific era.

[1:14] And the Bible was there for those who needed a God to rely upon and to use as a crutch. And that thought has now progressed to the point that some would consider the Bible and its contents to be a myth.

[1:31] And therefore it's now completely irrelevant. The Bible is irrelevant for our self-sufficient 21st century. And therefore, well, I'm not going to defend the Bible.

[1:45] I'm not going to defend the Bible any more than I would defend a lion. Because I believe that the Bible speaks for itself.

[1:58] And the Bible defends itself. But there's one thing about the Bible. And it's that it's true to life. It's true to life.

[2:11] Because it doesn't seek to cover up the problems of this world and pretend that everything is good. And everything is okay. This Bible shows to us that none of us are immune from the ills of life.

[2:25] None of us are free from the chaos that can enter into our experience at a moment's notice. And if we were to sum up the teaching of this Bible from Genesis to Revelation, every page within it, if we were to sum it up, it would be the sentence, Life is uncertain.

[2:47] Death is sure. Sin is the cause. Christ is the cure. Life is uncertain. Death is sure. Sin is the cause.

[2:58] Christ is the cure. And I cannot help but think that that sentence is applicable to every single one of us. Every single one of us.

[3:10] Life is uncertain. Death is sure. Sin is the cause. Christ is the cure. And if it's applicable to every one of us, that would imply that the Bible is applicable to every single one of us.

[3:21] Because there is no doubt that the things in our lives, there are things in our lives that we never saw coming. We never saw what was around the next corner. We never expected.

[3:33] We never planned. We never thought about what would happen in the future. But this morning, this Bible presents to us two families that are true to life.

[3:49] Two families that are true to life. Because we're confronted with one family trying to deal with an illness. And another family facing the prospect of death of a family member.

[4:05] And both families are afraid. Both families don't know what the future holds. Because both families fear the worst. But what both these families came to discover is that life is uncertain.

[4:20] Death is sure. Sin is the cause. Christ is the cure. Christ is the cure. And because they knew that Christ is the cure, both these families came to Jesus when they were afraid.

[4:35] And that's what Mark wants to tell us this morning. He wants to ask us, where do you go when you're afraid? Where do you go when you don't know what the future holds?

[4:46] Where do you go when you feel broken? Where do you go when your world is turned upside down in a moment? Where do you go when you're given bad news? Where do you go when illness comes?

[4:57] Where do you go when death breaks into your home? Where do you go? Where do you go? Where do you go when you're afraid? My friend, there's only one place we can go.

[5:08] Because to whom else can we go? But to the one who has the words of eternal life. To whom else can we go but to Jesus? But to Jesus because he is the cure to our chaos.

[5:23] He is the remedy to our ruin. He is the one who speaks to us with a word of comfort and help and support in times of trouble. We might often be tempted to think that these things in our lives are too big for Jesus to deal with.

[5:42] And that the things in our lives are too much for Jesus to deal with. We might be tempted to think that Jesus is unable to help. But what Mark wants to remind us and reassure us again is that this Jesus is able to do in us and for us far beyond our asking or our thinking.

[6:03] And as we saw last week, Jesus is one who is able to speak into the chaos of our lives. Because as we concluded chapter 4 and entered into chapter 5 of Mark's Gospel, we saw that every person which Jesus meets in this section, their lives are in chaos.

[6:22] Their lives are in chaos. Where we saw last week, we saw the disciples caught in a storm. Then we met Legion, who was a man possessed by thousands of devils.

[6:35] And then this morning we are confronted with a woman with an illness and a 12-year-old girl that dies. And this entire section in Mark's Gospel, it's full of scenes of chaos.

[6:49] Full of scenes of chaos where their lives have been turned upside down. But what Mark wants to show us is that Jesus is calling us to listen to him.

[7:01] Not only through the preaching of his word, not only through all the parables that he's told people, but Jesus is calling us to listen to him through all the experiences that we go through in our lives.

[7:13] Jesus calls us to listen to him in order that we will come to him and fall down at his feet and seek his help.

[7:24] And that's what happens with every life that is in chaos in this chapter. They all fall down at the feet of Jesus, pleading for him to help them.

[7:35] Jesus, do you care?

[7:45] Jesus, do you care? And that's the question I'd like us to ask again this morning as we conclude chapter 5. The question, Jesus, do you care?

[7:57] Do you care? And I'd like us to ask our question under three headings. A fearful future, a faithful female, and a frightened father.

[8:12] A fearful future, a faithful female, and a frightened father. So if we look first of all at a fearful future.

[8:23] A fearful future. Read again at verse 21. It says, And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea.

[8:36] Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet, and implored him earnestly, saying, My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well.

[8:49] And live. And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years, who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse.

[9:08] And so last time we saw Jesus climbing back into his boat. He was leaving the community of Gadara in the southern side of the Sea of Galilee. And the reason Jesus was climbing back into his boat to return to the northern community of Capernaum was because the people of Gadara had rejected Jesus.

[9:29] They begged him to leave their community. Go. We don't want you. And you would have thought that the Gadarenes would have been welcoming towards Jesus. After all, he had healed Legion from his demon possession.

[9:43] But instead, they told Jesus that he wasn't welcome in their home. They didn't want him in their community. They wanted him to leave.

[9:54] And so Jesus listened to their request. But not without first sending his missionary, Legion, where Jesus said, Go home to your friends and tell of what great things the Lord has done for you, and how he has had compassion on you.

[10:11] And so when Jesus returns to Capernaum, he was met by a different response. Because the multitudes on the shores of Galilee, they welcomed Jesus. They were glad to see him again.

[10:23] But Mark very quickly tells us that Jesus is going to go from one chaos right into another chaos. And yet this time, Jesus is confronted with the chaos of these two families.

[10:36] And he's confronted with them at the same time. Because Mark presents to us the story of two families, the story of two providences, two circumstances.

[10:48] And no doubt the story of these two families, as we said, they're true to life. Because they present to us the reality of two of the hardest circumstances that any of us will ever face in this life.

[11:02] The circumstance of illness and the circumstance of death. And what's remarkable is that the story of these two families, they're quite different.

[11:15] And yet for all their differences, they have one thing in common. They have one thing in common because they come to Jesus, fearful about their future.

[11:28] They don't know what the future holds for them. Because on the one hand, we have this man called Jairus, whom we are told he was the ruler of the local synagogue.

[11:39] But what concerned Jairus was that he had this 12-year-old daughter whom he loved very, very dearly. But unfortunately, his daughter was so ill that she was nearly at the point of death.

[11:52] And then on the other hand, we have this anonymous woman who had been battling a particularly difficult health issue for the past 12 years. And not only had her health been deteriorating, but she had spent everything she had.

[12:07] She had become so impoverished in this attempt to deal with her illness. And yet what's amazing, what's amazing about these two circumstances is that they are the means to bring these people to Jesus.

[12:25] Their fear about what the future held for them is what caused them to come and fall down at the feet of Jesus. But if we were to consider their condition or the story of these two families 12 years earlier, we would see that their lives were completely different.

[12:47] Because in the house of Jairus, they would have been rejoicing as his wife had just given birth to their first baby girl. And 12 years before this event, this woman had been diagnosed with an illness and she had found out that she was not only ill, but she was all alone.

[13:07] Because as a Jew, she knew enough to know that the issue of blood, which she was suffering from, she knew that it was enough, according to the book of Leviticus, to leave her as an outcast and declare that she was unclean.

[13:21] She was unclean. But in the process of these 12 years, the lives of these two families changed dramatically. Because as the ruler of the synagogue, Jairus was a religious man.

[13:35] And he would have spent much of his life probably in the local synagogue attending to all the religious duties. And he had probably met Jesus in the synagogue.

[13:47] Particularly when Jesus cast out the demons of a man in chapter 1. And then maybe when he was there, when Jesus healed the man with the withered hand in chapter 3. So Jairus, maybe he had met Jesus before.

[14:01] And that was probably where Jairus had come from. He'd probably come from the synagogue, praying for his family, praying for his little girl. Nothing wrong with that. We may question why he wasn't at home with his only daughter, who was at death's door.

[14:16] But maybe by carrying out all his religious duties and doing the rituals, Jairus felt that he was doing the only thing that he could do for his daughter now in her deteriorating situation.

[14:31] But maybe in the back of his mind, Jairus somehow knew that there were questions that his religion couldn't answer and his religion couldn't solve. And fearful for his daughter's future, he knew that he needed an alternative and fast.

[14:48] But on the other hand, we have this woman. The woman with the issue of blood. She'd spent the past 12 years of her life trying to be cured of her disease.

[14:59] And she'd lived every day in fear. Not only fear of the future, but also fear of other people. She knew that her religion wouldn't accept her.

[15:10] She knew that Jairus, the synagogue ruler, would have refused her entry into the synagogue because of her disease. Her hemorrhage deemed that she was unclean.

[15:21] So unclean that she was not to be anywhere near other people. People would have nothing to do with her. But not only that, she had wasted all her money.

[15:34] All her money on every physician and maybe even every witch doctor who had prescribed for her every potion and every ointment and every drug just to make her better.

[15:45] But it only made her worse. And this woman had spent all that she had in this attempt to cure her disease. But she had come to realize that nothing was making her any better.

[16:00] And fearful about the future, she came to realize that there were ailments in life that money could not buy. And she also needed an alternative and fast.

[16:11] And so you see, my friend, there was a problem for Jairus that his religion couldn't solve. And there was a problem for this woman that money couldn't solve. And yet what's so surprising is that people today still think that the problems in this world and the problems in our lives can be solved by either having enough religion or enough money.

[16:36] But there are some problems in life that religion can't go near. And there are some problems in life that money can't even touch. Because these problems of illness and imminent death, they are far too big for religion and money to deal with.

[16:56] But they're not too big for Jesus. And that's what Mark wants us to understand in this passage. That the answers to the lives of these two families was not in religion or in their money, but faith in the authority of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

[17:17] And what we need to see is that it was through these difficult and trying circumstances that Jesus was calling Jairus and this woman to listen and to seek Jesus.

[17:30] Because had it not been for these providences, had it not been this way, we have to question whether they would have come to Jesus or not.

[17:44] Had Jairus' daughter not lay dying in his family home, would Jairus have ever come out to meet Jesus? Would the synagogue ruler have ever have put his religious position in jeopardy and risk being cast out of the synagogue had it been a different circumstance?

[18:07] Would he have ever done it? Would Jairus have ever come out to meet Jesus and throw himself down at his feet crying as a father who is bound up in the interests of his own beloved daughter?

[18:18] Would Jairus have ever come out to meet Jesus begging him? Just begging him to come to his house and heal his daughter? I don't think so. I don't think so.

[18:32] And this woman, this woman, she received the treatment that, had she received the treatment that she needed and had she been healed of her disease, would she have ever come out to meet Jesus?

[18:46] Had this woman found the right physician, the right doctor, had she not spent every resource that she ever had, would she have ever come out to see Jesus? I don't think so.

[19:00] I don't think so. But it was the fact that in their circumstances and in their fear of the future and what the future held for them and emptied of their own resources and emptied of their own efforts and emptied of their own authority over their own lives and hitting absolute rock bottom and knowing that everything they had ever tried in this world was absolutely useless, they came to Jesus.

[19:30] They came to Jesus because when the moment of extremity came and their need became so great to whom else could they go but to Jesus?

[19:44] And they came to Jesus asking Jesus, do you care? Jesus, do you care? And you know my friend, you may look at your own situation today and your own family circumstances.

[20:00] Whether you've had to deal with a difficult illness or a sudden death in your family or some other difficult experience that has been so trying for you and you were fearful of the future and yet despite it all, maybe you can say today, had the Lord not brought these things into my life, maybe I would never have come to church.

[20:27] Had the Lord not brought this into my experience, I would never have sought Him. I would never have cried to Him in prayer. I would never have pleaded with Him to help me.

[20:39] Had it not been this way, I would not have learned more about the goodness and the love and the mercy of God and His sustaining grace through everything.

[20:53] And my friend, what I want you to see is that whatever you may be going through in your life, your greatest comfort is that the God who made you is the God who is still with you and that even in the darkest of circumstances that you may be going through, He is calling you to listen to Him.

[21:14] He is calling you to cast your cares upon Him because this Jesus cares for you. This Jesus cares for you.

[21:29] A fearful future. A fearful future. But secondly, we see a faithful female. female. A faithful female.

[21:42] If you look at verse 27, she had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, if I touch even His garments, I will be made well.

[21:57] And so as Jesus was on His way to the house of Jairus to tend to Jairus' dying daughter, Mark points out to us that in the rush to get to Jairus' daughter, the situation with the woman with the issue of blood takes place.

[22:15] And what we're confronted with is that the chaos in these two lives, they happen at the same time. They come to Jesus at exactly the same time where one miracle takes place in the middle of another.

[22:31] And for all their differences, they come to the same person. They come to Jesus. But when we look at this woman, we see that she had nothing to lean on. She had nothing to lean on because all her money had gone.

[22:46] It couldn't help her anymore. And her religion, it wouldn't have her. But what made the difference in her life is that she had heard about Jesus. She had heard about Jesus.

[22:58] That's what we're told in verse 27. She heard the reports about Jesus. She'd heard what Jesus could do for people. She'd heard that Jesus could save her.

[23:11] She'd heard that Jesus could heal her. She'd heard that Jesus could restore her. She could have thought that Jesus was too busy. She could have thought that Jesus didn't have time for her.

[23:24] He's in the middle of dealing with Jairus. He's the synagogue ruler. Jesus, maybe he doesn't have time for me. She could have thought that Jesus didn't care about her.

[23:36] And yet she was determined to get to Jesus. In comparison to Jairus who came to Jesus in this very public manner, very public way, he simply fell at the feet of Jesus.

[23:52] This woman, she seeks to come to Jesus in a very private manner and in a very private way. She wanted to come to Jesus in the most unpublic and unobtrusive way that you could possibly find.

[24:09] Jairus had exhorted Jesus in the face of all the multitudes that his daughter was at the point of death. He needed Jesus. But this woman, she didn't tell anyone about her problem.

[24:21] She doesn't open her mouth about her illness. All she wanted to do was come to Jesus. And she doesn't want anyone to know that she's coming to Jesus.

[24:32] She tried to come to Jesus unnoticed and under the cover from the mass crowds that were all walking to the house of Jairus. This woman may have been fearful, but there was still a boldness there.

[24:47] There was still a boldness because she knew that she would have been despised by everyone. Not only because she was a female woman were never to speak to rabbis, but this anonymous woman knew that what the law said about her condition, it called her unclean, unclean, unclean, and whoever or whatever she touched she would make it unclean, and yet her desire was to come and touch Jesus.

[25:16] But she didn't want to tell anyone of her plight. she didn't want to trouble Jesus in any way. She didn't want to hinder Jesus from what he was doing and what he was on his way to do.

[25:26] She didn't want to make a fuss. She didn't want to get in the way and be a bother. She didn't want to have anyone know that she was coming to Jesus for help. There are many people like this woman who want to come to Jesus, but they don't want anyone to know about it.

[25:48] But coming to Jesus is important. People knowing about it, not so. Coming to Jesus is important.

[26:02] But this woman, she had faith to believe, as long as she touches Jesus, everything would be okay. And as long as she gets to Jesus, she will be cleansed.

[26:14] because she says in verse 28, if I touch even his garments, I'll be made well. And as this crowd was on their way to the house of Jairus, they're all following Jesus, they're all walking behind him and you can almost imagine this woman moving through the cloud and rushing, that's rushing past her.

[26:34] and she's covering her face with her shawl and she doesn't want anyone to recognize her and she's weaving in and out of the throng of all the people, probably just pushing her way through, pressing, just to get to Jesus.

[26:49] And the way it's worded in the text tells us that she kept repeating to herself, if I only touch him, I'll be made well. If I only touch him, I'll be made well. And by repeating this, she's like urging herself on, as it were, just to get through the cloud, just to get to Jesus.

[27:07] And she moves her way through the cloud. And she's saying, if I can just touch his garment, he will help me. He'll help me. Just one touch and I'll be made well. Get rid of this disease.

[27:19] Just one touch. That's all I need. If I can just get to him, just one touch, I know that he'll help me. I know that he'll change me. I know that he'll transform my life. And you can almost imagine this hand coming out of nowhere.

[27:33] she touched him. She touched him. She touched him. And immediately, says Mark, immediately, immediately, the flow of blood dried up.

[27:52] And she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. When this woman came to Jesus, she felt in her body that everything had changed.

[28:04] She was cured. She was clean. She was made whole again. But all of a sudden, Jesus stops walking.

[28:16] He stops walking towards Jairus' house. He stops what he's doing. And Mark tells us that immediately as this woman was healed, Jesus immediately turns around and says, who touched me?

[28:29] Who touched me? But the disciples, they're in the throng of this crowd and they're saying, you're seeing all these people around you pushing and pressing you and you're asking, who touched me?

[28:42] What a strange question to ask. Why are you asking that? Everyone is touching you. Everyone is pushing in this crowd going to Jairus' house.

[28:53] But it wasn't because of ignorance that Jesus asked the question. Jairus' Jesus asked the question in order to prompt the confession, to draw out from this woman before the onlooking world what Jesus had done for her.

[29:10] And this woman who wanted to just disappear back into the crowd without anyone knowing, anyone knowing that she had come to Jesus, she wanted to walk away in the same manner that she had come to Jesus.

[29:24] but what we're reminded here is that we can come to Jesus without others knowing, but we can't come to Jesus without him knowing.

[29:37] And I just love what Mark says in verse 32. He looked round to see who had done it, but the woman knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.

[29:58] She came fearing and trembling, not only because she didn't want the crowd to know what Jesus had done for her, but also because she couldn't believe what had actually happened to her.

[30:10] And that after all these years having paid all these doctors and bought all these potions and drugs and having made all these attempts to heal her disease, all it took to solve her greatest need, was a touch from Jesus.

[30:29] And you know, maybe this woman thought, like many others who come to Jesus, maybe she thought, if I'd only come to Jesus sooner, if I'd only come to Jesus sooner, if I hadn't wasted all these years away from Jesus, if I hadn't spent all my time and efforts and money seeking to solve my problems all on my own, if I'd only come to him sooner, then I would have known how wonderful he really is.

[31:07] But my friend, the timing of this whole event was perfect, because this woman fell down before Jesus and she confessed everything to him.

[31:17] and what's so beautiful is that Jesus refers to this woman who had been an outcast and unclean and removed from society, he says to her, daughter, daughter, daughter, your faith has made you well, go in peace, be healed of your affliction.

[31:42] This fearful female was in fact a faithful female, full of faith, full of faith, because it was her faith in Jesus that made her well.

[31:56] And instead of walking away unnoticed, she discovered that when she came to Jesus as she was, weary and worn and sad, she found in him, as the hymn writer says, a resting place, and he made her glad.

[32:16] she discovered that Jesus is one who cared for her. Despite what everybody else thought, Jesus cared for her.

[32:29] But all the time you can imagine what Jairus is thinking. Does Jesus care about me? What about my daughter? What about my niece?

[32:39] she's still dying. Jesus do you care? Jesus do you care? A fearful future, a faithful female, and lastly we're seeing a frightened father.

[32:53] A frightened father. Verse 35, while he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?

[33:05] But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, do not fear, only believe. This frightened father, he feared the worst.

[33:17] He feared the worst, and the worst happened. He was fearful of the future, he was afraid that he might lose his daughter, and he did. And the news that Jairus didn't want to hear finally came.

[33:33] Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher? any further. Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher? Any further. And in that moment you can see that Jairus' world came crashing down around him.

[33:51] Where the news of his daughter left him confused and afraid and without hope. With all these thoughts running through his mind of his little daughter.

[34:03] All the thoughts of his precious wee girl that he had brought into the world and all the memories of these 12 short years of her young life.

[34:14] And maybe Jairus thought as any father would, maybe he thought, I should have been there. I should have been there. And maybe he began to blame himself. Began blaming himself.

[34:27] And like the woman with the issue of blood saying, why didn't I come to Jesus sooner? Why didn't I come sooner? Or maybe in his fear and his worry about what he had just heard, he blamed this woman, this woman, and he resented her.

[34:45] And he wondered why she had to get in the way. We were so close, so close to my house. Why did she have to get in the way? Why did she have to be there?

[34:57] Maybe Jairus even blamed Jesus? Asking, did Jesus even care? Does Jesus care at all? Why did this have to happen to me?

[35:08] Why did she have to stop us? Why did this have to happen? And with all these thoughts running through his mind and making him weak, he's asking why? Why? Why?

[35:19] Jairus, your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further? Jairus, you don't need to trouble Jesus anymore. It's too late.

[35:32] It's too late. He doesn't care. Because if he cared, none of this would have happened.

[35:45] Don't trouble him anymore. He doesn't care. But what I find so remarkable about all these scenes of chaos, is that they began with the question from the disciples in the storm.

[36:03] The end of chapter four, teacher, do you not care that we're perishing? And then all these scenes of chaos that we have looked at, and they all end with the question, why trouble the teacher any further?

[36:18] Jesus, do you care? Jesus, do you care? God told us to Jesus, do you not be afraid? God said to Jairus, do not be afraid, only believe.

[36:34] Do not be afraid, only believe. And what Jesus gave to Jairus was what no other could give, because he gave hope in the midst of sorrow.

[36:46] He brought comfort in the midst of chaos. He provided help when all seemed lost to him. He cared when everyone else thought he didn't care. And what's amazing is that Jairus believed Jesus.

[37:01] He believed what he said, because he didn't give up hope for his daughter. He said, come with me, come to my house. He didn't let go of the fact that Jesus could help him.

[37:13] And even after the report of his daughter's death, Jairus still believed that the touch of Jesus could heal her. He had faith in Jesus. Jairus had faith in Jesus even when his family ridiculed him and laughed at him.

[37:30] When everyone else scorned Jesus and claimed that she's not dead, she's only sleeping, everyone laughed. Everyone laughed. But in the midst of their sorrow, Jesus brought this family together.

[37:46] The frightened father and the mourning mother and the dead daughter. And Jesus took this little girl, takes her by the hand. Just a touch.

[37:59] Talitha humi, I say to you, it's time to get up. It's time to get up. And immediately she got up.

[38:13] little girl, it's time to get up. She'd heard that every day from her parents. How often do you say it to your children?

[38:26] It's time to get up. But she'd never heard these words like she heard them from Jesus. It's time to get up. And you know, my friend, the timing of Jesus was perfect.

[38:41] He wasn't a moment too late. Everyone else thought that he was too late. But his timing was perfect. His way was perfect. Everything he had done was perfect.

[38:55] And there's no doubt that it was a remarkable miracle. But it didn't happen often. It didn't happen often. There were many other homes that lost sons.

[39:07] And daughters. And fathers. And mothers. And Jesus never raised them. But what Mark wants us to take home with us is that this event in the lives of these two families, it was 12 years in the making.

[39:28] It took 12 years of God's planning to get to this point. 12 years to bring them to Jesus. 12 years to realize that they needed Jesus.

[39:39] 12 years of planning and it was planned to perfection. And you know, looking at the events of 12 years prior to this day, who could have known the outcome of the events 12 years later?

[39:55] Who could have known, who could have planned for the death of their own child? Who could have known that a debilitating illness was on its way? Who could have planned for this case?

[40:07] Who could have planned for this turmoil? Who could have planned for what was around the corner? No one could. No one can.

[40:18] No one can. But what Mark is saying to us today is, where do you go when you're afraid? Where do you go when you don't know what the future holds?

[40:31] Where do you go? My friend, there is only one place we can go. And that is to Jesus. Because in every scene of chaos in this section, whether it's the storm, whether it's under the possession of Satan, whether it's experiencing illness or facing death, each situation reminds us that our response to the chaos of our lives is faith in Jesus Christ.

[41:01] The response which the Lord desires us to have in the midst of our most difficult circumstances is to trust in him. To trust in him, to cast all our cares upon him.

[41:17] Why? Because he cares for us. Jesus cares. Jesus cares. Do not be afraid.

[41:40] Only believe. Do not be afraid. believe. Jesus comes to us on the pages of scripture and says, do not be afraid.

[41:52] Only believe. Do not be afraid. Only believe. May the Lord bless these thoughts to us.

[42:04] Let us pray. O Lord, grant to us the ability to believe, to trust in everything that the Lord is saying to us, to let go of whatever it is we are holding on to, and to realise that there is nothing in this world worth clinging to, but to the Christ who loved us and who gave himself for us.

[42:28] O Lord, bless us, we plead. Bless thy word to our souls. May it be an encouragement to us. May it remind us of how precious Jesus is.

[42:39] Lord, do us good, then we ask. Keep us in this day, the Lord's day. And Lord, keep us maybe in the week that lies before us. Oh, we do not know what lies ahead, but we thank and praise thee that everything is in thine hand.

[42:55] Go before us then, take away our iniquity, for Jesus' sake. Amen. We shall conclude by singing in Psalm 56.

[43:12] Psalm 56 in the Scottish Psalter, page 287. Psalm 56 from the beginning down to the verse marked four.

[43:31] Three stanzas. Show mercy Lord to me for man would swallow me outright. He may oppress it while he doth against me daily fight. They daily would me swallow up that hate me spitefully, for for they be many that do fight against me almost high.

[43:48] But this is the great verse I love in Psalm 56. When I'm afraid, I'll trust in thee, then God I'll praise his word. I will not fear what flesh can do.

[44:00] My trust is in the Lord. I do hope that that is our experience, that our trust is in the Lord. These verses of Psalm 56. To God's praise.

[44:15] Show mercy, Lord, to me for man would swallow me and why.

[44:31] He me oppressed and why lead up against me daily fight.

[44:48] They daily would me swallow up that gave me spitefully for they be married out to fight against me oh most high.

[45:23] When I'm afraid I'll trust in thee. in God I praise his word.

[45:40] I will not fear what flesh can do my trust is in the Lord.

[45:57] the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the love of God the Father the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forever more. Amen.