Touched and Changed

Well, every day we get a tally of the numbers of people infected by COVID-19 and also get the numbers of those who have died.

It's kind of depressing, isn't it? Are you afraid of COVID-19? Are you fearful of the future? Are you afraid of dying? Are you afraid of contracting some disease or illness?

Let me give you an example. It's estimated that at the age of 85 between a third and a half of people are going to suffer from dementia. Dementia is a very cruel condition robbing the person of their deepest hopes and their joys. It may begin as a mild cognitive problem, some forgetfulness, some senior moments as it were, but as it progresses dementia attacks our mental agility and of course eats away at our memory. And when severe, people are then incapable of looking after themselves. People may become delusional, others become frightened, some become angry, belligerent, some retreat into an apathetic slump, some require care during all of their waking hours and in some cases people require care, someone watching over them even when they are asleep.

For the last couple of years of my mother's life, she died almost a year ago, she suffered from dementia, not an extreme form but enough to cause great confusion and many of you have loved ones who suffer from this and many people as I speak to are afraid of a disease like dementia, cancer, a heart attack. We live in a world where there's a lot of fear. We read a discouraging figure that more and more of our children at elementary school and students at middle school and high school are fearful and anxious. When I went through school we suffered from many things but I can't remember one person saying to me, I feel stressed, I feel anxious, I feel afraid. I'm sure there were some but if so, they were in a tiny minority.

Not now. All of the figures show that our children, can you believe this? It's true, our children, middle schoolers, high schoolers, students at colleges are becoming more and more fearful and anxious. People are anxious about life. Why are so many people, children, students, older people, seniors, why are so many people now anxious and afraid? African-Americans and immigrants are afraid of the police. Caucasians and Asians, many of them are afraid of protests turning to violence in their own communities. Many people are afraid of Donald Trump being president for another four years.

Many are afraid what will happen to our country if Joe Biden is our next president. There's a lot of fear out there, isn't there? Not only out there but in our hearts. Can I say to you very strongly from the Word of God, as authentic followers of Jesus Christ, we are not to live in fear. Do you hear me? Repeatedly in Scripture, we are told over and over and over again, Old Testament, New Testament and we're going to see it this morning, fear not.

Do you hear it? The just shall live by faith, not by fear. Now that faith is certainly essential as we initially place our trust, our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, but our faith doesn't stop there. Followers of Jesus are to live every day by faith. The just shall live by faith, for without faith it's impossible to please God. If you're not living by faith, you're not pleasing God.

If your life is characterized more by fear than by faith, you're not pleasing God. Do not be afraid. Don't put your trust in yourself. Certainly don't put your trust in a politician, whoever he or she is. Don't put your trust in who's going to become the next Supreme Court judge.

Don't put your trust in some theory of social or economic justice. Put your trust, your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not saying we're not to be interested in what's going on around us. We are, but we are called in this world to be different and not to live in fear, but to live in faith. Faith in God dispels fear.

Do you get that? Faith in God dispels fear. Whatever your particular fear is, put your faith in God. Trust God. Can I remind you, brothers and sisters, that nothing happens in our world, nothing happens in your life, nothing happens in my life apart from the sovereign hand of God.

I find that tremendously reassuring as I look to my personal future, as I look to the future of Calvary Church, as I look to the future of the United States of America, as I look to the future of the United Kingdom, that everything is under the sovereign hand of God. And wouldn't you rather have God in control of your life than yourself? Do you think you're in control of your life? You're living in cuckoo land. John Bolton, who was President George W. Bush's former chief of staff said, in the presidency, there is an illusion of being in charge, but all presidents must accept that in many realms they are not in charge.

I thought that's interesting. If the President of the United States of America – the most powerful person in the world – if the President is not in charge, do you really think that you're in charge of your life? Do you really think that you're in charge of your circumstances?

How foolish. But if our trust is in the Lord Jesus, as we're going to see this morning, if your trust is in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no need to fear. Faith dispelling fear. And today we're going to see Jesus in all kinds of situations, fearful, frightening circumstances.

A disease, a terrible disease, death, blindness, demonic attacks. And we will learn that to be touched and changed by King Jesus is to know – please hear this – to be touched and changed by the Lord Jesus is to know that all is well. All is well now, today. All will be well tomorrow. All will be well a hundred years from now. And if your trust is in Jesus Christ, all is well forever for all of eternity, therefore do not fear.

What are you afraid of? Let's open God's Word, Matthew chapter 9. I encourage you to come with your Bibles. Yes, I'm old-fashioned. I like the actual Bible, not that little iPad where you're checking your social media in the middle of the message.

Don't think we know that. So let's open our Bibles. You know, I say that jocularly, but I really believe that you will understand and love the Word of God much more if you actually have a version of it. Matthew 9, we're going to read, first of all, verses 18 through 26. This is a wonderful passage. Matthew 9, 16, 18, while he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him saying, my daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her and she will live. And Jesus rose and followed him with his disciples. And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for 12 years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, for she said to herself, if I only touch his garment, I will be made well. Jesus turned and seeing her, he said, take heart daughter, your faith has made you well, or your faith has saved you. And instantly, the woman was made well. And when Jesus came to the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, go away, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping. And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put aside, he went in and took her by the hand and the girl arose.

And the report of this went through all that district. We want to see, first of all, that Jesus is victorious over disease. The enemy of disease. So many people are afraid of disease, of illness. And we're introduced here in Matthew chapter 9 to a woman who has an incurable disease, some kind of blood disease, a hemorrhage, and she has it for 12 years.

That's a long time, isn't it? Some of you know what it is to have an illness for many, many years. This woman is what we would call a private sufferer. We're also introduced to the ruler of the synagogue.

He's well known in the community. So no doubt, as his daughter is ill, everyone knows of the daughter's illness, but I suspect few knew of this woman's painful, embarrassing illness. She'd gone to many doctors. She'd spent a lot of money, we know, from the accounts of Mark and Luke as we read them together. But rather than getting better, her condition grew worse and worse.

Luke the physician, when he gives his account in Luke chapter 8, he gives his professional opinion regarding this woman. She said she could not be healed by anyone. The woman has a disease, she has it for 12 years, and the disease is incurable.

Do you get the picture? This is a particularly humiliating disease. She's in constant pain. She is also furthermore ceremonially unclean.

It's a blood disease. According to Luke 15, sorry, Leviticus 15 verse 25, she's regarded as unclean, ceremonially unclean. She is an outcast. She is, we might think, consigned to the shadows of life.

Not part of the mainstream. So if she came to a Calvary church, she'd be sitting in the back row of the upper balcony. Do you get the picture? An illustration, by the way, of how sin defiles us. Yeah, sin makes us unclean. Do you ever feel unclean by your sin? You feel you need a spiritual shower. You've been involved in something and you just feel dirty.

This is an illustration of it. And sin also isolates us. Pastor Hathaway in a prayer was praying about relationships, broken relationships. That's what happens with your sin, isn't it?

Your sin, which is very, very selfish, but as you perpetuate it, you find you're in isolation. This is the enemy of disease. Notice what happens.

Isn't this beautiful? The touch of the master dispels the disease. Unknown to the crowd, this woman simply touches the fringe of the garment of Jesus. Do you see her? This woman who's had this terrible disease for 12 years, incurable, living a life of isolation, of embarrassment, of pain, humiliation, she just slips down and touches the very fringe of the garment of Jesus. That's tremendous faith, isn't it? I marvel at this woman's faith. We can understand someone coming as they do to Jesus, as it were, face to face, but not this woman. She doesn't look Jesus in the face.

She's not used to that. She's a woman who's in the shadows, and she just steps down and touches the fringe of his garment. And look as he gives his account as Jesus is on the way to the ruler's house. He asks this question, who is it that touched me? Well, many in the crowd are touching him. They're pressing against him as he's traveling, but our Lord Jesus realizes this touch is different. It's a touch of faith. What incredible faith. The disciples, I think, they're totally unaware of this woman. The disciples are following Jesus.

They're on the way. This young woman has died. A girl has died. They've got this very important business, and if they saw the woman who would have initially been on the fringes of the crowd, they ignore her. They are unconcerned. But Jesus knows that his power had dispelled the disease. That's power, isn't it? You just touch the hem, the fringe of his garment, and she's healed. We don't know the woman's name, but notice in verse 22 how Jesus refers to her. Jesus turned and seeing her, looks right at her.

I'm sure he looked her right in the eye, something she would not be used to. And he says, take heart, daughter. Your faith has made you well.

Your faith has saved you. He calls her daughter, an unknown woman, one of lives we might say little people. She touches the master. She's instantly healed. Furthermore, she's adopted into the family of God, daughter. Imagine Jesus calling you, daughter, son, Mary, of God's grace.

This woman, ceremonially unclean, rejected. Twelve years with this terrible disease is now the daughter of God incarnate. Do you notice, by the way, those of us who are in spiritual leadership, but something for all of us, do you notice that Jesus is not detached from the people? There are those who call themselves pastors and shepherds, they seem to be so busy they don't want to deal with people. If you're a pastor, an elder, a deacon, teaching a life group, teaching a Bible study, don't be detached from the people you're preaching to or teaching. Jesus is a personal Christ. He is the good shepherd. The good shepherd loves the sheep, and we see this in Jesus.

Anyone here like this woman? You may be someone who has few friends today. You may be the person who very few people know. You, as it were, crept into Calvary Church and you feel, well, I'm not part of the inner circle. I come, but I'm not sure if I belong here.

You may be listening by live stream or online or on the radio program and you feel, yes, you're one of these people living life on the fringes, as it were. You may come from another country, another culture. You may come from a very poor home. You may have few friends, but listen to this. Every single one of us, whoever you are, every single one who is touched and changed by God's grace become his sons and daughters. Verse 22 again, daughter, your faith has made you well. Your faith has saved you.

It's the Greek word sozo. It's a word that's used in chapter 121 when we're told his name is Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. This woman is not just made well physically. More importantly, she's saved. Her faith saves her and she becomes part of the family of God. Don't you look forward to meeting this woman in heaven as you go walk and say, how was it?

Tell me, tell me. Was that difficult to come and to reach down and touch the hem of his garment? But this woman is loved by Jesus, cared for by Jesus, healed by Jesus. A twelve-year-old disease is gone in an instant. This woman now no longer hiding in the shadows, no longer suffering, no longer going to doctors, she basks in the sunlight of the grace of God. If you're saved, you know what that means, isn't it? I still remember the deep, deep joy, the exhilaration as a boy when I placed my faith in Christ. What a change to come, as it were, from darkness into the sunlight of God's incredible grace.

In faith this woman touches the fringe of his garment and is forever changed. I found in my life that many people have private hearts. I dare say every single one of us has a private heart.

Perhaps few, if any, know about your situation. Maybe an illness, disease, loneliness, abandonment, abuse, a private pain, a heartache, which most people, perhaps just one or two of your close friends, know about. And over the years you've tried many solutions, whether it's going to a doctor, a counselor, a therapist, a so-called expert, a friend, a pastor, but your situation seems hopeless. And your situation makes life, daily life difficult for you.

At times almost unbearable, robbing you of your joy. I've met people like this, private sufferers. Can I say we, the church of God, we need to be sensitive to people who are private, who seem to be withdrawn, who seem to have difficulty speaking up in public, live life, as it were, in the shadows. This woman represents those for whom life is hard, a constant struggle, attracting little sympathy, little notice, but whoever you are, reach out in faith to Jesus. Will you do that?

Have you ever done that? Bring your situation, and have faith in Christ. First, Jesus is victorious over disease.

Secondly, Jesus is victorious over death. That probably is our greatest fear. People say, well I'm not afraid to die. That was the joke by Woody Allen.

It's an old joke, you've heard it before, but I'm going to say it again. Woody Allen says, I'm not afraid to die, I just don't want to be around when it happens. And many people have said, you know, I'm not afraid to die, but it's the act of dying.

Well, however we rationalize it, most of us are afraid of death. I want to tell you, Jesus, if your trust is in Jesus, Jesus is victorious over death. Here we have the enemy of death. The enemy of death strikes all kinds of homes, including homes of influential people like the ruler of the synagogue.

Jairus, we know his name from the other Gospels. And yes, children, as well as old people, die. John Maynard Keith said, in the long run we all die. We're all dead. In the long run, we're all dead. We fear death because death, although it is inevitable, is not natural. God created us not to die, God created us to live. And many of us, I would suspect, almost all of us here have experienced that horrible enemy of death when it strikes our homes. It's horrible, isn't it, death? It is ugly. However, people die, my life, I've had friends, relatives, family members who've died in all kinds of ways.

However it is, it is utterly horrible, isn't it, death? Now this 12-year-old girl, she comes from a good home. Her father's a well-known ruler. He's a ruler of the synagogue.

What does that mean? He's a kind of administrator, overseer of the synagogue. But as we meet him, he's in a desperate situation.

Although he's very influential in his community, he can do nothing about this situation and he comes and does a very, very smart thing. He comes and he kneels before Jesus and explains his situation to Jesus. His daughter had just died. Now look at verse 18.

Don't you find this incredible as well? While he was saying these things, a ruler came in and knelt before him, there's the humility, saying, my daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her and she will live. That's tremendous faith, isn't it? To believe that Jesus is so powerful that if he lays his hand on a dead little girl, that girl can be raised from the dead. Tremendous faith of this man. Hopeless situation.

Death. But the father believes. It's remarkable, isn't it? The father believes that Jesus can raise a girl from the dead. That is incredible faith.

And that's what happens. The touch of the master defeats death. Jesus comes.

There's no question she's dead. The mourners are there, as was the culture of the day, and Jesus puts an end to the light of morning. This is not a time for mourning. What's Matthew doing? Remember what Matthew is doing. Matthew is presenting Jesus as the king. And King Jesus, we have seen, has authority over the storm.

Remember we saw that? Peace, peace still. His authority over a man who's been paralyzed. He has authority over the disease, the 12 year old disease of this unnamed woman, and now Matthew is telling us something astonishing that this man Jesus, yet this man that he's now following, this man Jesus has authority over death itself. That's the Christ that we follow.

Victorious over death. What does Jesus do? Again you see the tenderness of Jesus. He took her by the hand. He didn't need to take her by the hand.

He could have spoken his word. He takes her by the hand. The tenderness of the most powerful God. Yes, Jesus is victorious over death.

The writer of Hebrews puts it this way in Hebrews 2 verses 14 and 15. Through death, he, our Lord, destroys the one who has the power of death, that is the devil. How does, how is it that our Lord Jesus Christ can raise a little girl from the dead? You can't do that.

I can't do that. On the cross, which our Lord Jesus Christ is heading to, our Lord Jesus dies on the cross for our sins. He dies for sinners.

He dies the death that we deserve. And on rising from the dead, this we call Sunday, I like to call it the Lord's day, the day of resurrection. This is the Lord's day, the day of resurrection. Jesus has risen. On rising from the dead, our Lord Jesus Christ strips death of its power and reduces death to sleep.

That's brilliant, isn't it? Our Lord Jesus is so powerful that the sting of death, the power of death, the darkness of death is overcome and he reduces it to sleep. Paul says in the great resurrection chapter 1 Corinthians 15, that our Lord Jesus has gone ahead and he is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. Isn't that a beautiful description of someone who died? Fallen asleep. When we buried my mother in October last year, we sang at the open grave a song that you don't know about. It begins, fallen asleep, lying at rest. My mother had died in Christ. As an older teenager around 17 or 18 years old, she had placed her trust in Jesus Christ and now she had died, yes as an old woman, but she had fallen asleep in Christ.

How wonderful. Think of our mission statement. Being and making authentic followers of Jesus Christ. Most of us here would say we are followers of Jesus Christ. You believe that you're going to follow Jesus Christ. I want to tell you something which is very comforting, reassuring.

Jesus never ever asks you to go anywhere where he has not first gone. He is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. You want to talk about death? Our Lord Jesus Christ has gone into death. Not only has he gone into death, he has gone through death, he's conquered death and he's entered into eternal life. So Paul says death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your victory?

Oh death, where is your sting? Our Lord has taken the sting out of death for his followers. And one of the wonderful pictures in the Bible to help us to understand when one of our loved one who is a believer in Christ has died is to say that they have fallen asleep.

Here is Stephen, the first Christian martyr, brutally stoned to death. What does Luke say? He fell asleep. He fell asleep. For the follower of Jesus death is like falling asleep. And who's afraid to fall asleep? Last night I go to bed, I read about it.

I pray, what do I do? I fall asleep. I fall asleep really fast my wife tells me.

For some reason she takes a little more time. I fall, am I afraid to fall asleep? Absolutely not. Now wake up, it's a new day. You'll be true. Death for the Christian is falling asleep. Unless the Lord comes, all of us here who love Christ will fall asleep. That may be a very gentle passing, it may be a violent accident, it may be an illness, whatever it is, for you and for me who love Christ, we're going to fall asleep. And when we're awake, we're in the presence of Jesus.

That's pretty good isn't it? What are you afraid of? What are you afraid of? 1 Corinthians 15, 49, just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, that's Adam, we shall bear the image of the man of heaven. Not only are you going to wake up in the presence of Jesus, you're going to be absolutely like Him. Now as we follow Him, the more we follow Him, the closer we follow Him, the more we love Him, the more we become like Jesus, but we're not perfectly like Jesus. So excuse me when I don't act and speak like Jesus, I'm not quite there, but one day I'm going to be perfectly like Him.

I will awake in His presence. Yes, death is real. As Christians we face it, we don't minimize it. Death is real, but death is not final.

Do you hear me? Death is not the end. The unbeliever wants to think it's the end, but they do know this, all of us will die, and we will live forever either in heaven or hell. That's the teaching of Jesus. And so I ask you, do you know Jesus as your Savior? His promise is this, that I will give you eternal life and you will never perish, never perish. And if you're going to follow someone, sometimes people say to me, why are you following Jesus rather than Mohammed or Buddha or someone else? My answer is, I'm going to follow the person who came from heaven to earth, lived a sinless life, died for my sins, was buried and rose again and went back to heaven and is coming for me. That's the person I'm going to follow. Is there anyone else who could compare with that?

Absolutely not. We follow the one who conquers death and is victorious over disease and over death. There's none like him, nor will there ever be anyone like him. Very quickly, Jesus thirdly is victorious over blindness and the demons. First of all, the enemy of blindness, verse 27, as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, have mercy on us, son of David. When he entered the house, the blind men came to him and Jesus said to them, do you believe that I'm able to do this? They said to him, yes, Lord.

I mean, again, you've got to be astonished at the faith here. Then he touched their eyes. See the tenderness of the Good Shepherd? He touched their eyes and saying, according to your faith, be it done to you. And their eyes were opened and Jesus sternly warned them, see that no one knows about it.

But they went away and spread his fame through all that district. The enemy of blindness. These two blind men, presumably friends, were determined to be cured. They cried out, did you see it in verse 27, what did they cry out? They cry out for mercy. They don't demand it. They say, well, you know, you owe it to us, Jesus, to heal us.

No, that's not their approach at all. Have mercy on us. And then they call Jesus son of David. That's how Matthew begins his Gospel. Matthew 1, verse 1, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Son of David, it's a messianic term. He's a Christ. He's David's greater son. David was Israel's greatest king, admired as his tremendous king. But now comes one who is the son of David and who can do what King David could not do. There is no account in the Old Testament of any blind person receiving their sight.

It's astonishing the faith of the man, isn't it? And it said, verse 27, they followed him. I'm thinking, if you're blind, how do you follow the person?

I can't answer that, but they went into the house. They're determined. And Jesus simply touches their eyes, and their eyes are opened. Psalm 146, verse 8, the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. And it's true, Isaiah prophesied that when the Messiah comes, Isaiah 29, verse 18, the blind shall see out of their gloom and darkness.

These men were utterly dependent on the mercy of God and had great faith, and their eyes were opened. You say, well, I've got pretty good sight. But what about your spiritual sight? Paul talks in 2 Corinthians 4 of our enemy blinding our minds, a veil, so that we do not see the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that there is a spiritual blindness.

We see that. We talk to people about the Lord Jesus, and they just don't get it. It's not an intellectual problem. They may be very, very smart. The problem is not their brain.

Their problem is their heart. They are deceived. They're spiritually blind. What's going to remove the veil from their hearts? Your powerful apologetics, they can be helpful, but it is the Word of God. That's why I preach the Bible. It removes the veil from their hearts. Paul says, the God of this world, I'm reading from 2 Corinthians 4, is blinded their minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.

Have you seen that? Have you seen the light of the gospel of the glory of God, of Christ, who is the image of God? Paul says, for what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord with ourselves as your servant for Jesus' sake. For God who said, let light shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

That's pretty good, isn't it? Spiritual blindness, what's going to produce the light? The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says, we proclaim Christ. That's why I'm holding up Christ to you.

There's none like him. Do you see him? Victorious over disease, victorious over death, victorious over blindness, spiritual blindness, enemy doesn't want you to see. Look at Christ.

Reach out to Christ and he'll save you. The enemy of blindness, the enemy of demons, verse 23, and as they were going away behold a demon oppressed man who was mute was brought to him and when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke. And the crowds marveled saying, never was anything like this seen in Israel. But the Pharisees said he cast out demons by the prince of demons. You know, there's some people that are never satisfied either.

There's always a criticize. I mean the man couldn't speak. He starts speaking when you say well the reason he did this is through the prince of demons. We saw the Pharisees at work last week. A man who's demon oppressed is brought to Jesus. Jesus casts out the demons and the man speaks. This is unique.

The crowd had never seen anything like this touched and changed by the Lord Jesus. Do you know that we have an enemy who seeks to oppress us? Satan and his demons oppress us, discourage us.

What do they do? They try to silence us from declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ. Satan wants you mute.

We have before us the challenge of be a light of bringing the gospel to our neighbors and our friends and our streets to tell people about Jesus. Our enemy doesn't want you like that. He wants you to be a mute Christian. He doesn't want you to speak. He doesn't want you to declare the wonder of our Lord Jesus Christ. And have you noticed?

I found this. Our enemy does everything he can to stop you from telling people about Jesus. There's fear. There's a question of rejection. This is inappropriate.

Am I coming across too strong? These people don't want to hear and we end up being mute. What's the problem? Lack of faith.

Lack of faith. Do you tell people about Jesus? Are you going to trust Jesus with this? Don't be fearful. You say, well, this person's a little bit intimidating.

More intimidating than Christ. The Christ who can, who's victorious over disease and death will help you, will give you all of the help you need as you trust him. Don't be fearful if you've been touched and changed by Jesus.

Tell others about him. Wonderful examples of faith. What's faith? Faith is the outstretched hand accepting Jesus' love and forgiveness and healing.

Faith is touching the fringe of his garment. Faith is placing our seemingly impossible situations of spiritual blindness in the hands of Jesus. Faith is abandoning all prospects of helping ourselves or being helped by others. Yes, faith is the only way to receive the blessing of God for without faith it's impossible to please God. Again, I challenge you as I did at the beginning, are you living a life of faith?

Is that true in your life? Listen to the words of the blind man, verse 29, according to your, sorry, the words of Jesus to the blind man in verse 29, according to your faith be it done to you. The words to the woman with the hemorrhage of blood, verse 22, your faith has saved you. There's no limit to the power of Jesus. Very quickly, four lessons on faith. Number one, faith receives Christ's salvation.

This is so important. This is where it begins, isn't it? Will you reach out in faith? I'm not asking you on your own power to change your life to be a nicer person.

I'm sure you could be a nicer person. That's not the Gospel. The Gospel is not personal reformation of behavior.

It's a radical change as you reach out in faith to Christ who then changes you, who forgives you. The Lord Jesus loves you, dies for you, goes again. He can be trusted.

Of course He can be trusted. I'm saying to you, reach out to the Savior. Touch the fringe of His garment. Do you see Christ?

You reach out to Him. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's faith and you'll be saved. Secondly, faith is dynamic.

It's not passive. It's not saying, well, I've received Jesus as my Savior and now I just live my life as I want. I've done that. I prayed that prayer. That's not. That's faith. Faith isn't passive. It's dynamic.

Notice the examples we have. The woman reaches out and touches the hem of His garment. Faith in action. The ruler comes to Jesus and tells Jesus of his need. He humbles himself before Jesus and then leads Jesus to His home. The ruler is placing his faith, not in his religion, not in his synagogue, not in the fact that he's a big shot in the community.

He realizes that there's nothing he can do. He's placing himself totally in the hands of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God. The two blind men, astonishingly, they follow Jesus. They come to the house. They see Jesus going into the house and they don't wait for an invitation, as it were. They just go in, have mercy on us, Son of David. It's faith. The human oppressed man is brought to Jesus. Paul talks in Romans 1 about the obedience of faith.

Are you obedient? Brothers and sisters, I'm asking you each day to have faith in Christ. What are you facing today? What's going on in your life? What's that fear? What's that situation that concerns you? What's these thoughts that wake you up at 2.30 in the morning in a cold sweat? What is that?

You say, I don't have anything of these. My life is just wonderful. Wonderful. Ask the Lord that that will continue. Place your faith in Christ. Each day, the just shall live, live by faith. Not just when you come to Christ, but each day you're to live a life of faith. If faith is dynamic, then it will grow. It'll be strengthened. You'll see God at work.

Try it out. Put your faith in Christ and act on that faith. Faith without works is dead. Don't have a dead faith. Have a living dynamic faith. Third, faith accepts God's timing. This is difficult for us. Difficult for me, not being the most patient person. Faith accepts the timing of God. This woman waited 12 years for America.

The two blind men, they're probably born dead. I don't know by the mute how long this demon had oppressed him. We don't know, but we struggle don't we sometimes with God's timing. We want God to act on our timetable don't we? You ever as it were presented your timeframe to God and say to God this is the way I want you to act. Not only how you're to act, but when you're to act.

Don't do that. Of course ask God. Claim the promises of God. Being in God's waiting room does not mean that God has forgotten you. The Lord Jesus knew that woman all of his life.

Oh, I went and healed her before I can answer that question, but I know in his perfect timing he healed her. Accept God's timing in your life. Keep trusting God. Faith accepts God's timing. Lastly, faith always looks to the object. When I'm talking about faith, I'm not talking about faith in faith. This is not some inspirational motivational talk that you just have faith in yourself, dream your own dream, possibility thinking, all of that kind of nonsense.

Absolutely not. This is faith in God. It's faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the Bible, it's always the object of our faith. It's not so much the extent of our faith, it's where our faith is placed. That is faith is not the cause of our salvation, but the means through which we are saved.

Strictly speaking, it's not my faith that saves me, it is Christ who saves me. The means he uses is faith. Faith is the outstretched arm. Faith is touching the hem of his garment. Faith is coming and kneeling before Christ and saying, this situation is impossible. Help me.

The faith which pleases God is the faith whose object is the Lord Jesus. Trust him. Don't hide in the shadows. Ask God for a miracle in your life. No situation is too difficult for Jesus.

A storm at sea, an untamable demoniac, a 12-year-old incurable disease, a 12-year-old girl who died, two blind men, a man who is demon-possessed, touched and changed. Our Lord Jesus is victorious over disease, over death, over blindness, over our enemy, over death itself and if you put your trust in Jesus Christ, there is no need to fear. Mark puts it this way, do not fear, only believe.

Simple message, yes. We follow that? Do not fear, only believe. And when you do that, as we're going to hear in the song we're going to present, all is well.

Do you believe that? All is well. You can be in the middle of the storm.

You could be dealing with the most excruciating situation in your life which seems absolutely horrific. And you can say all is well because my trust is in my Lord Jesus Christ. Will you reach out as I pray, touch the hem of His garment?

You bring these problems to Christ. If you're a believer, reaffirm your faith in God and say I will not fear. Give me that peace.

Give me that calm. Give me that reassurance that you love me and you're with me. Our Father, under God, we know that you're pleased with faith. As we read and see our Lord Jesus Christ, that strengthens our faith. That deepens our love for the Savior. And so we look at Him rather than our difficult circumstances. And we look up to you rather than to the problems.

And we thank you that as we trust you, all is well. I pray for each person here. Some are like the ruler, as it were. Some are like the nameless woman. Some identify with a blind man.

Some are oppressed by the enemy. Whoever we are, Father, we need Christ. Some have never yet trusted Him. May they put their trust in Christ and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. For such a magnificent Savior, Father, we thank you. We look forward to that day when we shall wake up and see Him in all of His beauty and glory. Meantime, we know that all is well. And we thank you. In His name, amen.