Latest / Clifford Baptist / Luke 8:40-56, "Falling At the Feet of Jesus"
Transcript
- 0:00Welcome to the September 13th sermon from Clifford Baptist Church, 635 Fletcher's Oval Road in Amherst. Today's scripture is Luke, chapter 8, verses 40 through 56. And the sermon is entitled Falling at the Feet of Jesus, delivered today by Pastor Jeffrey Campbell. Grab your Bibles, go to Luke chapter number eight. Let me ask you this. When was the last time that you fell at the feet of Jesus?
- 0:26You may say, Pastor Jeffrey, I do that every day in prayer. You're right. You're right.
- 0:31Maybe the last time you came before Jesus, falling before him was the moment you surrendered your life.
- 0:41For some of us, that's been a while.
- 0:44Maybe you have come and you have fell out the feet of Jesus, recognizing and admitting Jesus. I can't fix this. I need your help. And so you fall.
- 0:56Maybe you came in crisis, or maybe you came to confess sin and you fell before the Lord confessing that sin, asking God to forgive you.
- 1:07Maybe you have run one direction and you turned around and came and fell back to the Father.
- 1:16Maybe the last time you fell at Jesus feet is in worship.
- 1:20One of the most vivid times I fell at Jesus feet was years ago.
- 1:28I lay prostrate on this floor at this altar, asking God to help a brother in need.
- 1:37What brings you to the feet of Jesus?
- 1:40What beckons you to come?
- 1:43Today? In Scripture, you're going to see two lives that give an example of how important it is for us to come to the feet of Jesus.
- 1:51That should not be a strange place for you if you need Jesus help, if you desire his help in your life.
- 2:01And so today we understand that this place before the feet of the Holy One is a place where we recognize that God is in control and we yield to his leading in our life.
- 2:19And in Luke chapter eight, that is the big picture, as we have seen Jesus in control of a storm, in control of nature itself.
- 2:30Last week we seen Jesus in control of the demons.
- 2:35And the demons desire to get out of his presence, to flee.
- 2:43And today there are two miracles, one dealing with disease and one dealing with death.
- 2:51And both happen at no other place other than at the feet of Jesus.
- 2:57We have seen In Luke chapter 8, Jesus Authority and his power over helpless and hopeless situations.
- 3:08And the end of the chapter is this. If you find yourself in one of those situations, here's what you need to do. Run to Jesus, fall before him, put it at his feet, and trust him to take care of it.
- 3:26And so today, as we think of this message, it is a very familiar set of Scripture. Luke 8 is no surprise to any of you you have heard the calming of the storm. You have heard of the maniac in Gadara. And today you will hear about Jairus.
- 3:44And you will hear about a woman that has an issue of blood.
- 3:50Let's look at scripture together, if you will. Luke chapter 8. Starting in verse number 40 today, here's what God's word says.
- 4:00And it came to pass that when Jesus was returned, the people gladly received him, for they were all waiting for him.
- 4:10And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus feet and besought him that he would come into his house.
- 4:21For he had one only daughter about 12 years of age, and she lay a dying. But as he went, the people thronged him.
- 4:32And a woman having an issue of blood, 12 years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any.
- 4:41She came behind him and touched the border of his garment. And immediately her issue of blood staunched, stopped.
- 4:54Three points today that I want to give you from God's word of what it means to fall down at the feet of Jesus.
- 5:00You fall down at the feet of Jesus. Point number one today in a moment of desperation.
- 5:07In a moment of desperation.
- 5:10Now, remember last week, Jesus got back on the boat after healing this man with the demons. They sent him away. They did not want him to stay. He had done so much to change this man. They were scared to death of Jesus, so they asked him to leave. He gets back on the boat, he sails back. And you read in verse number 40, there are people that are gladly waiting to receive him.
- 5:36I don't know how you came to church this morning, but hopefully it's gladly waiting to receive something from the Lord.
- 5:45You know, we can come to church in two ways, with two hearts. We can come before the Lord and say, lord, I'm just going to come and I'm going to do my time and I'm coming just out of the way. I need to. Out of ritual, out of habit, because I feel like I need to.
- 6:02And basically what you're telling the Lord is, lord, look, I've got so much going on today, I'm not even in the mood to worship.
- 6:09Or you can come to church and you can gladly receive what he has for you. My prayer is, every heart here today is here gladly waiting, wanting to receive what the Lord has for them in this place.
- 6:24It makes a difference.
- 6:26As Jesus sails back across, he meets people waiting, gladly wanting to see Jesus.
- 6:35And Luke introduces us to a man by the name of Jairus. He is well known in his community.
- 6:41He is a religious leader in the synagogue, a ruler of the synagogue, which really means this. He put together the order of worship for those Jewish people.
- 6:54If you've never done that, sometimes that can be hard.
- 6:58Where do you put the song at?
- 7:01Where do you put the prayer at?
- 7:04Well, this is what this guy's job is. But in the local community he was well known, he was present, he was available in the place of worship. But Jairus, even though he's well known and a ruler in a synagogue leading the worship service, he comes and the Bible says he falls at Jesus feet, begging Jesus, please come to my house.
- 7:29He has a 12 year old daughter and the Bible says Luke records it is his only daughter and she is dying. For Jairus, this is a moment of desperation that brings him to fall down before Jesus, makes him wait on Jesus to get back. And he falls at his feet saying, here's my daughter, Jesus, I need your help.
- 7:54Meanwhile, Luke also tells us there's another situation brewing in the crowd of people that are waiting for Jesus.
- 8:04And that situation is that of a woman who has an issue of blood. For 12 years no one has been able to help her.
- 8:14And she comes and she touches the fringes of the garment of Jesus. And Luke records that immediately that issue stopped.
- 8:26I love in my little mind that I can see her kind of reaching out and then trying to withdraw back into the crowd. So nobody notices as she does that everything stops.
- 8:44Can you imagine being in Jairus place? You need Jesus desperately.
- 8:53And Jairus is waiting for Jesus to follow him home.
- 8:58And yet Jesus takes time and he stops because there's another miracle going on.
- 9:05If Jairus loses his daughter, whose fault is it?
- 9:11Is it Jesus? Because he's taking too long, we understand the crowd is surrounding him and this woman just reaches through and touches and is healed of her disease.
- 9:26Can I tell you this? How many of you have heard these stories before?
- 9:30All of us. Many of us.
- 9:33For the first time, when I studied this, you know what popped off the pages to me?
- 9:40The daughter's 12 years old and the woman has been dealing with this issue for 12 years.
- 9:50Both of them collide at the same time in the same place, waiting on Jesus to do something.
- 9:58And as we understand this, this is not an accident or happenstance.
- 10:04This is God at work.
- 10:07And we understand that this woman for 12 years, there's an issue in her body that no one can fix.
- 10:15The doctors have tried, they have no answer. The money has run out of her. Trying to figure out what's going on in her body.
- 10:27But for 12 years they have found nothing that will stop the blood flow from her body.
- 10:34She has spent all of her money trying to get answers and there have been none.
- 10:40Let's be honest and real.
- 10:43This has hurt her relationship with others because according to the Bible, she is an unclean woman.
- 10:52And what that means according to the law that she cannot be around anyone because of her issue, she is labeled unclean.
- 11:01If, if she has a husband, can you imagine what that relationship is like?
- 11:08No contact, nothing.
- 11:13This is a woman in isolation, embarrassed, knowing that there's nothing that she can do.
- 11:21But for Jairus and for this woman, the hopelessness and helplessness that they face as they converge at the feet of Jesus blows my mind.
- 11:35They wait.
- 11:36They know when Jesus gets back, Jesus can take care of this. Jesus can help me.
- 11:46What brought them to this point?
- 11:49The Bible says in just a minute that faith drives them to Jesus.
- 11:56Faith drives them to wait for his return because he is the only one that can help.
- 12:03I'm thankful today that the Lord uses moments of desperation to bring you to his feet.
- 12:12I'm thankful and it's hard for me to say that because when we are desperate, we turn our eyes, we turn our heart, we turn our lives to Jesus.
- 12:23And sometimes we wonder, why is this happening to me? Jesus just wants you to run to him.
- 12:31And so in a moment of desperation, we see a father begging for the life of his daughter. And we see a woman begging to have her life touched by Jesus.
- 12:46Today, what brings you to Jesus feet?
- 12:52Do you realize when you walk in this air conditioned sanctuary that you stand before the Holy God?
- 13:00We stand in worship. We come to worship. But listen, in the crowd of people, some of you are desperate.
- 13:08In a crowd of people, there's always someone that needs Jesus to touch them, to heal them, to minister to them.
- 13:21So these moments of desperation may be what have brought you to this place today.
- 13:29Not only do we see a moment of desperation, we see a moment of disappointment. Look at verse number 45.
- 13:39And Jesus said, who touched me?
- 13:44When all denied Peter, and they that were with him said, master, the multitude throng thee and pressed thee and sayest thou who touched me?
- 13:54Jesus said, somebody hath touched me, for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.
- 14:01And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling and falling down before him. She declared unto him, before all the people for what cause she had touched him and how she was healed immediately.
- 14:17And he said unto her daughter, be of good comfort, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace.
- 14:26While he yet spake.
- 14:27There cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, thy daughter is dead.
- 14:36Trouble not the Master.
- 14:41Point number two, that moment of disappointment.
- 14:46Can you imagine the crowd of people around Jesus?
- 14:49Jairus has spoken to him, told him, I need you, Jesus.
- 14:54This lady has slipped through the crowd, the fringes thereof, touched. The hem of his garment has been healed. And Jesus immediately says, who has touched me?
- 15:07Now, if you were walking along the crowd with Jesus, you'd probably say the same thing. Jesus, what are you talking about?
- 15:13There's so many people here and there's so many people that are surrounding you.
- 15:17And you want to know who touched you.
- 15:21I don't know. I might read a little bit more into Scripture maybe than some, but I love it where they said everybody denied it. Everybody's like, that wasn't me, Jesus, not me.
- 15:33But while everybody was denying, and in my mind, I have them stepping back to make sure they don't touch him again.
- 15:43There's a woman that rises to the top.
- 15:47The Bible says that she is not hid anymore.
- 15:53And in my mind I see her stepping forward and falling down, trembling before the Lord and before this crowd of people.
- 16:03She has been embarrassed. She has been labeled unclean.
- 16:07She has a condition for years. But in that moment, it becomes a testimony of what God has done.
- 16:15She has to testify before everybody in a public way, it was me. It was I. I touched you, Jesus.
- 16:24But more than that, she then begins to say, not only did I touch you, but when I touched you, was completely healed.
- 16:37In front of all these people, can you imagine this woman saying, the doctors couldn't do it.
- 16:43Could you imagine them telling about our treatment options? That didn't work.
- 16:47But when I touched the hem of his garment, when I touched that garment, guess what? Jesus healed me.
- 16:56Can I tell you something about public confession?
- 17:00Public confession sometimes turns into public profession.
- 17:06When you profess what Jesus has done, it becomes a testimony to others.
- 17:12And in this moment, for this woman, I believe three things happen as she opened up about her life and her story telling that Jesus healed her.
- 17:23Number one, she gives credit to Jesus.
- 17:28She identifies where the healing and when the healing took place. It didn't happen when a doctor. It didn't happen by my own strength. It happened when I touched Jesus.
- 17:40The second thing that it does is it recognizes that she didn't do anything.
- 17:48Nothing she done. If you read this account, everything she tried work.
- 17:54Anybody can testify to that.
- 17:57Everything we try doesn't work. But when we Fall at Jesus feet. Guess what? He begins to work.
- 18:05So it attributes the healing not to anything that she has done, but the power that Jesus holds. The third thing that it does, it encourages others.
- 18:19And I believe in some way it encourages Jairus.
- 18:23Remember, Jairus is still in the crowd. Jairus is waiting for Jesus to hurry up.
- 18:30My daughter is dying.
- 18:32And here this woman testifies before the crowd and before Jairus. Guess what? Jesus healed me.
- 18:42I'm thankful today to read that Jesus addresses this woman not as an unclean woman.
- 18:51How does he identify her?
- 18:54Daughter. Thank you for saying that.
- 18:57This is the second daughter in the story.
- 19:02The first one's dying, and now the second one has life again.
- 19:10Daughter.
- 19:13As he turns to her and says, daughter, be of good comfort. Thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace.
- 19:20That identification makes her part of the family. And I'm not going to go down this rabbit trail, even though I really want to. She didn't pray a prayer of salvation. She just came to Jesus by faith, trusting that Jesus was the answer. And Jesus welcomed her into his family by her faith.
- 19:40Today you may not have the answers, but do you have the faith enough to bring what you are carrying to the feet of Jesus and trust him with it?
- 19:51Son, Daughter, will you do that today?
- 19:56In my mind, the whole time, Jairus, his mind is waiting and wanting Jesus to hurry up.
- 20:06My daughter is dying.
- 20:08We gotta get to my house. Hurry up. My daughter's dying. But the crowd has slowed him down. And this woman and her issue has slowed him down. And then finally, someone comes to Jesus.
- 20:23And in verse number.
- 20:26In verse number 49.
- 20:30Thy daughter is dead.
- 20:34Listen to me. Look at me. I want you to look at me.
- 20:40A parent's worst nightmare.
- 20:45Some of you have heard those words.
- 20:51And here's the other admonition.
- 20:55Don't trouble the master.
- 20:58Can you imagine that?
- 21:00It's too late.
- 21:02Don't worry about it.
- 21:04Jairus. Don't trouble the master any longer with what's going on. She is dead.
- 21:13When we understand that not only moments of disappointment creep into our life, that we feel like that we can't trouble Jesus anymore with what we need from him.
- 21:30Jairus, don't bother the master anymore.
- 21:36Do y' all know that disappointment has a voice?
- 21:43It's too late.
- 21:46It sounds like he's not going to change his mind.
- 21:51Disappointment tells you, don't pray anymore.
- 21:54God didn't answer you. No need to pray anymore.
- 21:58The voice of disappointment tells Jairus she's dead. You leave Jesus alone.
- 22:09What do you do when you're disappointed.
- 22:14Can I tell you what to do?
- 22:16Come to Jesus.
- 22:18Fall at his feet.
- 22:22As we understand, moments of disappointment in this life will happen, we will never get through this life without being disappointed. But here's what we need to understand. We must trust God's timeline.
- 22:38God has never been late one time on his timeline when it seems like it's delayed or he's late in the account of Lazarus, here's what you need to understand.
- 22:53God's timeline prevails.
- 22:56And as we understand that his plan, his will, his timing is important as we look to him, there are times that we just need to run to Jesus in faith and say this. I don't understand this, Lord, but I'm going to trust you with it and. And I'm going to put it at your feet.
- 23:22Today.
- 23:24There's some of you in the crowd that are listening to the voice of disappointment.
- 23:31I've been there.
- 23:34I've been there.
- 23:37That voice is loud.
- 23:40It brings bad news and discourages you.
- 23:44It tells you God's God's done. He's not listening.
- 23:49Don't believe that. Voice of disappointment.
- 23:51Fall at his feet with what you need.
- 23:55We see Jairus receiving the news now that his daughter is dead. The story's not over. Look at verse number 50.
- 24:07But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, fear not, believe only, and she shall be made whole.
- 24:16And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, James and John, the father and the mother of the maiden, and all wept and bewailed her.
- 24:28But he said, weep not, she is not dead, but sleepeth.
- 24:32And they laughed him to scorn. And knowing that she was dead, and he put them all out and took her by the hand and called, saying, maid, arise.
- 24:42And her spirit came again. And she arose straightway. And he commanded to give her meat. And her parents were astonished, but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done.
- 24:58The third thing that you see today is a moment of dependence.
- 25:05You fall in desperation, you fall in disappointment. But we as Christians need to fall at the feet of Jesus in dependence on him.
- 25:15The voice of Jesus is filled with commands for Jairus. Jairus, don't fear Jairus. You just need to only believe.
- 25:26And he's trying to convey to Jairus that he has everything under control.
- 25:31Now let me stop right there and say this. Christians today, do we truly believe Jesus has everything under control?
- 25:39Do you truly believe?
- 25:42When we look at our situations, when we look at our world, do we truly believe that Jesus has it all under control?
- 25:52That's where faith steps up and steps in.
- 25:55You only need to believe, Jairus.
- 25:58That's what Jesus tells him.
- 26:01I have it under control.
- 26:03When we understand for this woman, the doctors didn't have the answers. There was nothing they could do. The money was running out. She couldn't fix it by faith. She came to Jesus.
- 26:17She was dependent upon him knowing that he will take care of it.
- 26:22Faith looks to Jesus as the all powerful, all knowing one.
- 26:29Just believe.
- 26:31I see them finally getting to Jairus house.
- 26:35And when they get there, guess what they see?
- 26:39The people wailing and crying.
- 26:41They understand that death has now made its way to the house.
- 26:46Jesus tries to quiet the mourners and what do they do?
- 26:51The Bible says they laugh at him.
- 26:54They begin to mock him as he tells them that she's only sleeping.
- 26:59The ridicule that Jesus faces as he tells them the truth is somewhat like him saying, yeah, whatever Jesus, whatever you say, Your dependence on Jesus will be met with ridicule.
- 27:19As you live for Jesus, as you witness for Jesus, as you talk about Jesus, you're going to be met with ridicule.
- 27:27If you haven't, you better come tell me your secret.
- 27:31There are going to be people that laugh at you, that doubt you, that say, yeah, whatever you say.
- 27:37If Jesus was met with ridicule, you will be as well.
- 27:42And so what does Jesus do? He clears the house.
- 27:46Now I'm not telling you to go that far, okay? Let Jesus take care of that. Jesus clears the house, but he only lets a select few in. We see that Peter and James and John and Mom and dad are in that room. We know that the daughter is in the room. And as Jairus is in that room as well, he comes to that room trusting that Jesus is about to do something for his daughter. He doesn't know what it looks like.
- 28:14He just knows. Jesus said, you've got to trust me, only believe.
- 28:20He walks into his own house for the very first time, believing that Jesus can change what's happening in his house.
- 28:30And as he enters that house, that close group of people witness a 12 year old girl, her hand taken by Jesus and the simple words of maid, arise, made, arise.
- 28:54Luke says, immediately she arises and they give her something to eat.
- 29:00The parents are amazed and Jesus says, don't you tell a soul.
- 29:06Why does he say that?
- 29:09Because there's another resurrection coming that's more important than this one.
- 29:14It's his own.
- 29:16This hell's nothing in comparison to what Jesus resurrection was going to do.
- 29:22Don't tell anybody. Don't tell anybody, this 12 year old girl is now alive.
- 29:32In the face of the naysayers, in the face of the scorners, in the face of those that are laughing, that's saying Jesus, you don't know what you're talking about.
- 29:42She rises and eats.
- 29:46I think of a man that entered his home knowing that Jesus could change what was going on there.
- 29:56And some of you today just need to go back home, walk in your house knowing that Jesus can change what's happening there.
- 30:05And it happens when you fall down and you trust Jesus and you know that he can take care of it.
- 30:11Some of you in this room have wayward children, take them to Jesus.
- 30:18Some of you have wayward spouses, unbelieving spouses.
- 30:24Enter your home knowing that Jesus is going to take care, fall down before Jesus and pray for your family, put them in his hands.
- 30:36Yes, desperation drives us to the feet of Jesus. Disappointment drives us to the feet of Jesus. But Christians dependence on Jesus should drive us to his feet knowing that he alone can take care of it.
- 30:52How many of you, in a very public way of testifying would raise your hand very quickly and drop it back down and say if it weren't for Jesus, I couldn't make it.
- 31:03We are all dependent on Jesus and so what do we need to do?
- 31:10We need to fall at his feet and by faith, knowing that Jesus has it under control.
- 31:19My question today as we end is what do you need to bring before the Lord to His feet?
- 31:25So many come close to Jesus. The crowd was close to Jesus. Very few people reach out in faith.
- 31:34Very few people have faith to reach out and touch the hem of his garment. Very few people have faith enough to go back to their life and trust that Jesus will do something today.
- 31:49What do you need to bring before him? What do you need to put at his feet? What do you need to have faith enough to know that Jesus will take care of it?
- 31:58Today we've seen the power over the storm, we've seen the demonic power over a man and Jesus break that cycle of his life, restore him to a new life in a right mind.
- 32:14We've seen Jesus heal a disease of 12 years and we have seen Jesus overcome death.
- 32:24I told you, Luke chapter eight changed my life because in every one of those areas in the past four years I can testify you in a very public way.
- 32:39Jesus has shown me that he can do the same thing for me as he did in the storm, as he did for the demonic, as he did for the disease, and as he did over death.
- 32:55Today what do you need to trust the Lord with maybe in a very public way.
- 33:02This is going to draw you out of your comfort zone.
- 33:07Maybe you need to come and fall down on an altar before the Lord and say, lord, I'm giving it to you.
- 33:15I need your help.
- 33:17I'm desperate. I'm disappointment. But I know I'm dependent on you right now. I'm trusting you with what's going on right now. You come and you fall down before him.
- 33:27You say, pastor Jeffrey, I could do that at my house. Yes, you can do that at your house. But you have to go back to your house believing Jesus can do it.
- 33:36And you fall down before him there.
- 33:42Faith, faith.
- 33:48Today will you come and bow before the Lord knowing that he can take care of of what's going on in your life.
- 33:55Maybe today you're here and you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your savior.
- 34:03I want you to hear this very clearly.
- 34:07There's nothing that you can do to save yourself.
- 34:10You can't be good enough. You can't attend enough church services. You can't read the Bible enough.
- 34:16Apart from Jesus Christ, you. You cannot be saved.
- 34:21But if you will have faith and you will trust Jesus Christ as the payment for your sin, that his perfect life and his death took your place, your punishment on an old rugged cross.
- 34:35And he rose on the third day to give you life, you put your faith there. You live for him. Jesus will lead your life.
- 34:45Today this altar is open.
- 34:49You come.
- 34:51Let's bow together.
- 34:58As we bow. Today I'm going to do something I normally don't do.
- 35:02I'm going to ask that everybody bow their head. Don't look around.
- 35:08How many today would just slip their hand up, put it right back down, say, lord, I need you in my life. I need you in this situation. Raise it up and put it right back down.
- 35:15Praise God. Praise God.
- 35:18God, today there are people that need you in this room, God. I pray, Lord, that you will minister to their hearts first, that you will meet them where they need you, Lord.
- 35:30And that you will strengthen their faith to trust you with whatever is going on in their life.
- 35:36Oh, God, today meet your people in this place.
- 35:39May we fall at your feet. May we trust you in faith, knowing that you will take care of whatever is in our life.
- 35:46God, today for that one that needs you as savior. God, I pray, Lord, that you will press upon that heart, that your spirit will work in such a way that you will convict and that you will save that one that is lost. May they come and fall at your feet and surrender. Turn from their sin turn to you and live for you Jesus today.
- 36:06God, thank you.
- 36:08Thank you for the crowd of people.
- 36:11God, I pray that your power be made available that faith will be strengthened in every situation represented in this room today.
- 36:22We trust you Lord.
- 36:24In Jesus name, Amen.
- 36:27Clifford Baptist Church invites you to join us for worship every Sunday morning at 11am for more information about our church, please call our church office at 434-946-0555.