571. Gospel of Luke - Chapter 8 (#5) - Having Faith Impresses Jesus - June 10, 2024

[00:00:06] and I'll be your host. Thus this in Jesus' name, Amen. This is proper 10 beginning in verse 1. The Proverbs of Solomon, a wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is the grief of his mother. Treasures of wickedness, prophet nothing but righteousness, delivers from death.

[00:01:06] The Lord will not allow the righteous soul to vanish, that he casts away the desire of the wicked. He who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

[00:01:22] He who gathers in summer is a wise man, he who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shane. The blessings are on the head of the righteous, that violence covers the mouth of the wicked.

[00:01:38] The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot. The wise in heart will receive commands, but a prating fool will fall. He who walks with integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his ways will become known.

[00:02:00] He who winks with the eye causes trouble, that a prating fool will fall. The mouth of the righteous is a well of life, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked. Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins.

[00:02:21] Wisdom is found on the lips of him who has understanding. Their rod is for the back of him who is devoid of understanding. Wise people store up knowledge, but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction. The rich man's wealth is his strong city.

[00:02:44] The destruction of the poor is their poverty. The labor of the righteous leads to life, the wages of the wicked to sin. He who keeps instruction is in the way of life, that he who refuses correction goes astray.

[00:03:04] Whoever hides hatred has lying lips and whoever spreads slander is a fool. In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, the heart of the wicked is worth little.

[00:03:29] The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of wisdom. The blessing of the Lord makes one rich and he adds no sorrow with it. To do evil is like sport to a fool, but a man of understanding has wisdom.

[00:03:50] The fear of the wicked will come upon him and the desire of the righteous will be granted. When the whirlwind passes by, the wicked is no more, but the righteous has an everlasting foundation.

[00:04:07] As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the lazy man to those who sent him. The fear of the Lord prolongs days, but the years of the wicked will be shortened.

[00:04:23] The hope of the righteous will be gladness, but the expectation of the wicked will perish. The way of the Lord is strength for the upright, but destruction will come to the workers of iniquity. The righteous will never be removed, but the wicked will not inhabit the earth.

[00:04:47] The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut out. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked what is perverse. Friends today I'd like to take a closer look at verse 27 and proper 10 verse 27 says this,

[00:05:13] the fear of the Lord prolongs days, but the years of the wicked will be shortened. Friends we will take a closer look at that verse prior to closing today, but what I'd like to do right now

[00:05:30] is begin the week continuing our study in the Gospel according to Luke. And we have been in chapter 8 and I'd like to complete chapter 8 today, picking up where we left off on Thursday's podcast.

[00:05:47] So today we will be learning about two stories in chapter 8 of Luke beginning in verse 40. So it was when Jesus returned that the multitude welcomed him for they were all waiting for him.

[00:06:06] And behold, there came a man named Jeris and he was a ruler of the synagogue and he fell down at Jesus' feet and begged him to come to his house for he had an only daughter about 12 years of age.

[00:06:26] And she was dying. So friends, I am going to go over two stories today and the first story is about this man named Jeris. And Jeris was the leader of the synagogue. Now the first verse says this, so it was when Jesus returned.

[00:06:50] And one could ask where is he returning to? And friends, I want to go back to the town of Copernam. And I have mentioned a couple times in this Gospel that that basically was the headquarters of Jesus's Galilean ministry.

[00:07:14] He had been very successful in this town and many people had been healed. So I want you to imagine that you are living in that town of Copernam. You've heard of Jesus,

[00:07:29] you've heard of the stories of His healing and that is what happens in both of our stories today. Now there are six or seven things that I could key in on today. But what I'm going to do instead

[00:07:45] is just basically say that we have two stories. So the two stories are number one, the leader of the synagogue. His little daughter is near death. So we're going to go over that. That is story number one.

[00:08:05] And then we're going to talk about a woman who had an issue of blood for 12 years. So in verse 42, we basically have two things that are happening. Verse 42 begins for he had

[00:08:24] an only daughter about 12 years of age and she was dying. But next it says, but as he went, the multitudes thronged him. So what I want you to do is we're having a break.

[00:08:43] It's kind of like a commercial break. This leader at the synagogue has basically fallen in front of Jesus on his knees and begged him to come to his house. So that his 12-year-old daughter would be healed.

[00:08:59] So Jesus agrees and he's on his way to the house when all of a sudden they enter a throng of people. Now friends, when I think about a throng of people, I'm thinking there may have been 100 or 200

[00:09:15] people here. And it's so crowded. Jesus can't even go in among them. There's so many people. They are hindering him from going to the house of this leader. Let's go to verse 43.

[00:09:34] Now a woman having a flow of blood for 12 years who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any came from behind and touched the border of his garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped. Now friends, I'm going to break this passage

[00:10:02] scripture down for you because a lot of things are happening. First of all, this takes place in the city of Capurnum and this lady with the issue of blood had heard about Jesus. We can imagine that because in Matthew's Gospel it adds the little sentence.

[00:10:28] She believed that if she could just touch the hem of his garment that she would be made well, I'm not sure why Luke doesn't add that one comment to his Gospel but with Matthew's reference to

[00:10:46] that she knows Jesus has healed many people in this town. And I believe I am going to be next so first of all, it says that she had spent all her livelihood on physicians. Now friends,

[00:11:08] what that means is she has no more money. She has basically become void of money. She's broke. She has spent all that she's had going from doctor to doctor to doctor listening for an explanation wanting some form of hope that something can heal her of this condition.

[00:11:31] And could not be healed by any. So friends, this woman is at her wit's end. She is basically at the end of a rope and she believes that she is going maybe to die if this

[00:11:50] condition is not healed. But because she has heard of Jesus, she is going to take a leap of faith. Now first of all, having an issue of blood means that she was an unclane person. So she is taking

[00:12:10] an enormous leap of faith going in public because she was unclane. She actually shouldn't have been in public in this condition, but she was desperate and as a desperate woman, she is willing to do anything to be healed. Let's go to verse 45. And Jesus said,

[00:12:36] Who touched me? When all denied it and Peter and those with him said, Master, the multitude strong and press you and you say, Who touched me? But Jesus said, Somebody touched me for I perceived

[00:12:55] power going out from me. Now friends that is a powerful statement. These are the words of Jesus and he sensed that when that woman touched the hem of his garment, he literally felt power coming

[00:13:17] from him going out of him. That is really neat to me. Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling and falling down before him, she declared to him in the presence of all

[00:13:36] the people. The reason she had touched him and how she was healed immediately. Now friends, I want you to think about what that just means. In other words, she is confessing, pretend like you're back in elementary school and she there is a program going on and this

[00:13:57] girl goes up in front of the whole crowd of people, the whole school and confesses at admits that she is the one that did this. And she's explaining why she did it. Can you imagine how much courage

[00:14:16] that must have taken? Let's go to verse 44 and he said to her daughter, Be a good cheer, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and I want to stress that comment, Your faith has made you well.

[00:14:40] And friends, this is a common component with both of our stories today. So now we are finished with the one story that one's over. Now let's continue the story about the 12-year-old girl. While he was still speaking, so basically there's an interruption in the action and he's telling

[00:15:06] her your faith has healed you and he's still speaking to the throng of people. Someone came from the ruler of the synagogue's house saying to him, Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the teacher.

[00:15:25] But listen to the reaction of Jesus in verse 50. But when Jesus heard it, he answered him saying, Do not be afraid only believe and she will be made well. Friends, the translation to that

[00:15:45] when it says only believe you can translate that into have faith. Have faith. Listen to the power of faith in the estimation of Jesus' eyes. When he came into the house, he permitted no one

[00:16:06] to go in except Peter, James and John and the father and mother of the girl. Now all wept and mourned for her. But he said, Do not wait. She is not dead but sleeping. In other words,

[00:16:24] she is going to rise again and they ridiculed him knowing that she was dead. Friends, I want to bring up a couple points here. First of all, he believed the leader of the

[00:16:42] synagogue believed that Jesus could heal this girl but the mourners did not believe that he could heal the girl. That is why they laughed. I really want you to put this in context because it takes faith

[00:17:01] and if you have people in the room while Jesus is trying to do this and the people are laughing at Jesus believing that she's not going to be made well, she might not be made well. Does everybody

[00:17:17] get the gist of what I'm saying here? That's why he said, You three, Mom and Dad, you come with me, Peter, John, James, come with me but he didn't want anybody else. He didn't want that lack of faith

[00:17:31] in that room. Let's go to verse 54, but he put them all outside, took her by the hand and called saying little girl arise, then her spirit returned and she arose immediately and he commanded

[00:17:52] that she be given something to eat and her parents were astonished but he charged them to tell no one what had happened. Now friends, we can speculate why Jesus said this from time to time,

[00:18:10] don't tell anyone, don't tell anyone, don't tell anyone and I've gone over this a couple times because if that were to happen to you, you're going to go and shout it from the house tops. You're

[00:18:22] going to tell every single person. You're going to tell all your friends, all your family. You're going to say everything that Jesus has done. Jesus is saying, Don't do that. So friends, before we close

[00:18:33] today, let's go back to our verse in proper 10 and proper 10, verse 27 says the fear of the Lord prolongs days that the years of the wicked will be shortened. Now friends, I'm going to key in on the

[00:18:50] first part of that verse, the fear of the Lord prolongs days and I'm going to go to this woman with the issue of blood because we are talking about her in this instance. She has heard about Jesus,

[00:19:06] she's heard about his healing ministry and how if you go that you will be healed, she had a fear of the Lord. She believed and had faith that he could heal her but she had a reverential

[00:19:23] fear. I want you to think about that because she didn't want him to know that she had touched him. She wanted it to remain anonymous but unfortunately that did not happen and she was exposed.

[00:19:38] But she had the fear of God in her. So what that means and that happened in this instance, because when she touched the hem of his garment, she was made well, meaning she probably lived

[00:19:56] many years after this. So this verse says the fear of the Lord prolongs days, certainly the woman with the issue of blood, her days were prolonged. Friends, my call to action to you,

[00:20:12] today once again I want you to think and meditate on these two stories that you've heard today. Think about the faith that the leader of the synagogue had, that when his 12-year-old daughter was approaching death and literally stopped breathing, he still had the faith to believe that

[00:20:42] she could be made well and Jesus could restore her to her life. And the woman with the issue of blood, if I can just touch the hem of his garment, I will be made whole. Friends, I will never end a podcast without giving anyone an opportunity to receive

[00:21:06] Jesus as their Lord and Savior. If there is anyone listening today and you've never taken that step, I invite you to repeat a simple prayer after me today. Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner

[00:21:20] and in need of the Savior, I believe that you are the Son of God, you came to earth and died on a cross and were buried. On the third day you rose again from the dead. I believe that you

[00:21:34] forgiven me of all of my sins. Jesus thank you for that and yet I still ask that you come into my heart. I ask that you'd lead me and guide me from this point forward in my life.

[00:21:48] I make you my Lord and Savior. Now, made the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make us face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His cabinets upon you and give you peace.

[00:22:04] Friends, tomorrow is testimony day. Please join me at a special guest as we further explore wisdom today.