Matthew 9:18 – While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.

Matthew 9:19 – And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples.

Matthew 9:20 – And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:

Matthew 9:21 – For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.

Matthew 9:22 – But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.

Matthew 9:23 – And when Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise,

Matthew 9:24 – He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.

Matthew 9:25 – But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.

Matthew 9:26 – And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.

Hello readers, back with a new blog today. Get Jesus in the house. In Matthew 9 we have a wonderful picture of salvation that we are going to look at today. I would encourage you to read Ephesians 2:1-10 and Colossians 2:10-15, because in both those chapters we learn that we our state is that we were all dead in sins before we got saved. In this story is a picture of salvation, as salvation is a rising from the dead. Until you face the fact that you’re living in death, your works are death, your righteousness is death, everything you do is death, your life is full of sin and death… you’ll never find the life that is found only in Jesus Christ. Hopefully you, like this young woman, can rise up from your death bed of sin and live.

The Bible furnishes us with both the doctrines, which are the teachings of God’s word, and the pictures to help us understand and see what the Bible is teaching. You need look nowhere else for examples but the Bible itself, it’s got all the examples and pictures for us to learn from. The Bible truly is the book of life, and when you read those chapters in Ephesians and Colossians, and then read this account in Matthew 9, you can see Jesus’ miracle here picturing those truths. This story is a miracle. This girl was dead by all human standards. She was lifeless, dead, cold, not moving, conquered by sickness. Salvation truly is a miracle, it takes the power of God, and that’s what most Christians lack today… the power of God in their life which has resurrected them from a life of dead works and sin. Nobody else could help this girl. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life… you don’t come to God but through him. There were lots of people in the house, but none could help the dead girl. The solution to death is Jesus Christ.

Well, when the girl’s father appears on the scene beseeching Jesus to come and raise his daughter from the dead, he enters at a point in time when Jesus Christ was teaching his disciples about the old and the new. How fitting. Because Jesus was teaching a great truth, and then this truth is demonstrated practically. We know that under the Old Covenant, based on us trying to keep the law of God… us trying to be good enough and worthy by our own deeds, all there was was death. But under the New Covenant, based on Jesus blood and believing in Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sins and salvation, there is life. Many people do not understand the covenants, and how they relate to each other, because they’re so twisted today by all the false doctrines and teachings. You know, we sort of thought we could get more hip with our Bibles and doctrines and religion and think we could retain truth and it wouldn’t hurt. Well it did hurt, Christians today are so swamped in lies they don’t even know what things like salvation and the gospel are.

Jesus didn’t come to destroy the law, he came to fulfill it… because we couldn’t. And in keeping the law perfectly, he then brokered a new deal with us sinners, a deal earnt by his pure shed blood, and it was a far better deal between us and God We couldn’t keep the old one but the new one was better because it is based on belief and trust in the one who kept the law. In your own righteousness and works and effrots all you see is death. That’s what this girl was. Dead. The best you can summon in life is death. But under the new, based on Jesus Christ’s righteousness and finished work, and trusting in him for this, there is life. What a wonderful picture this was for his disciples to see what he was saying, and for us today.

This girl was dead. Jesus wasn’t playing tricks and doing magic. Yes, Jesus said she slept, but in that is another truth, for every believer never experiences death… ever. What a comfort this should be to all of us. Jesus promised us that we would never die. So when a Christian “dies”, they are said to be sleeping in Christ. But humanly speaking, this girl was dead. The father knew, everyone knew, she was lying on her death bed stone cold dead. What to do? What a predicament. Maybe the father was being told just to accept it. Accept she’s dead. But he couldn’t and didn’t. We need to stop accepting the fact people are going to hell and do something about it. Make a difference with our once chance at life.

The father is a wonderful example of who we need to be. We need to be capable of bringing Christ to others who need him. So often we can’t bring him, because we aren’t right with him ourselves. This father worshipped Jesus Christ, this father is an exceptional example to us to aspire to. He had his head screwed on right. He knew where to go, and how to bring Jesus to his daughter. He believed in the power of Jesus  Christ to save his daughter. He didn’t come doubting, questioning, disputing, investigating… he came believing. Once you start be living the word of God you’re in a state to see the miracle of salvation and the power of God. The problem when people have departed from God’s word, from truth, is they have no power to make a difference in the lives of the dying and the dead. So here he comes to Jesus Christ. You’re in a pretty good place when you go to Jesus Christ for the solution. Noone else and nothing else could help this girl now. Why did they wait until she was dead? Because maybe they thought she’d get through it on her own, maybe they had confidence in the doctors and physicians and medical experts. There’s a lesson in there for us too. We kinda think we can do and solve life in our own abilities. But this was a different sickness, it was a mortal sickness.

Maybe you think you don’t have a sickness. Maybe you don’t need a physician. If so, you don’t need Jesus Christ. They that are whole have no need of a physician Jesus said. The truth is, we are all sick… and it’s a sickness unto death. There’s a sickness that has killed each one of us. Can you guess what this common and universal condition to man is? You got it… it’s sin. God said to Adam, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Was God kidding? Was he able to communicate effectively to Adam? Was he lying? No. The problem is man decided to sin, man doubted God’s word, man questioned God’s word, man redefined God’s word, and man disobeyed God. The consequence, just as God had said to Adam… was death. And so death passed upon all men the day Adam and Eve ate of the tree they were not supposed to. Sin is the sickness. And sin produces death. Sin is the problem that plagues each of our lives. It produces spiritual death, physical death and eternal death. What a death sin! Sin will produce death in your life, and look at this world and all you see is death. Death of marriages, happiness, joy, peace, hope, ambitions, dreams… and the best this world can offer is ultimately death. You may be high on life at the moment, but this world only has death for you, and one thing we can agree on is death is a law that reigns over us all. Everyone before us has died, and you and I will die one day if the Lord doesn’t return before that fact.

So here is Jesus teaching his disciples about the old and the new, and we’re about to get a picture of the life that can be received under the new covenant. It’s a gift from God. It’s by the grace of God. It’s by the mercy of God. You see, when you believe on Jesus Christ, part of the deal God makes with us is that he makes us alive in Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ we live. How can that be so? Well he’s God, and he rose from the dead. Jesus Christ conquered death. Death doesn’t have a hold over him like it does each of us. Death is the consequence of sin… but Jesus did no sin… he never sinned, no not even once. These facts and many more qualified Jesus Christ as the Saviour, Messiah and Redeemer.

So this girl is lying on her death bed and her father comes looking for Jesus. You know, if you’re saved today, you are saved because of someone who told you about Jesus Christ. There are fathers of the faith who’ve passed down the truth to us, so we can have it today. That’s a true father. This was a true father. Paul had no children, yet Timothy was his son in the faith. Paul actually fathered many young believers… no he wasn’t their father like God is the Father of those who believe, but he was a spiritual father to many. People got saved by his faithful preaching of the gospel, and he was able to win many to Christ, and help them grow as Christians. He cared for believers like his own children. He was jealous over them, protective, he wanted the very best for them, indeed his life was a sacrifice gladly offered for their sake. Look at his life, the trials and tribulations he went through for the furtherance of the gospel and the edification and comfort of the believers. When will we get a care like he had for souls? Paul was a great godly father, and so was this man that came seeking Jesus Christ for his daughter’s plight.

By the way, you never know how your actions will affect others also, because while Jesus was on the way with the father, a woman in the crowd was healed from her issue of blood that she’d had for twelve years. You just don’t know what faithfully following the Lord Jesus Christ will do. You may never know people that came to Christ, who were healed by him, because you sought him out, because you were faithful and had power with God through obedience, worship and prayer.

It’s impossible to overstate the faith this man had. Think of how final and certain death is. To come making a demand in confidence that Jesus could and would raise his daughter from the dead shows the faith he had. We’ve stopped believing in the God of the impossible. The God of those that are beyond help. Beyond man’s fixing. That’s the problem with all our garbage now, we are so busy trying to fix our own state, to self improve, to better our society… we settle for far less than the power of God to change lives and bring healing. We cannot help ourselves, we cannot save ourselves. So much of Christianity today is self help and vain religion, it lacks the power of Jesus Christ… there’s no salvation from sin anymore… nobody is rising from a death bed of a past life of lust and pride. If you read Ephesians and Colossians you’d be struck by the before and after, the were and now of salvation. Think of this girls state, she went from dead to alive… that’s as black and white as it comes. You are either saved or not, there’s no inbetween and getting there and working your way there.

So Jesus follows this guy, and he comes to her house and he says give place, for the maid is not dead but sleepeth. And you know what they did? They laughed him to scorn. Don’t miss this. This is strong stuff. Laughing to scorn is being like “hey, get this guy what an idiot, don’t you know she’s dead!?”. This world has this attitude to Jesus Christ. Even Christians do to truth. They laugh at simple faith in the Bible. They mock, they don’t believe. After all, the “science” and the evidence said she was dead. See, they’re at the house, and it was only the father that went to Jesus. None of them did. They didn’t believe. They didn’t put too much stock in the word of God, the gospel, the ability of Jesus Christ to save. That’s why we shouldn’t wait on other people in our Christian walk. Most people aren’t walking the narrow road.

The Bible says they were there making a noise. That’s what most of Christianity is today… noise. There’s nothing to it. It’s empty, vain and dead. It’s always amazing to me just how many Christians mock the word of God. They really don’t believe the word of God… just like they made fun of the healing power that the word of God had here. See, they didn’t believe in the power of the word of God to heal this woman. God’s word is the only thing that can make a true difference in someone’s life, but most people don’t think so. So many people don’t believe in the word of God, which is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, to lift people out of their death bed of sin. There’s a lot of people who mock Jesus Christ with their life, a lot of Christians as well.

Here’s another amazing truth. “But when the people were put forth”. Jesus got rid of all these people. People have to go out your life. Things have to go out your life, things preventing you from believing and obeying. And people that scorn and mock won’t ever see or experience the miracle of salvation. Salvation, rising from the dead… it’s a miracle. Being delivered from a life of sin is a miracle. We don’t have that ability to forgive ourselves and change our ways. Self help and self improvement and thinking positively… it’ll never change a thing about our condition. We need to get garbage out that don’t belong there, in our house, it could be friends, lies, whatever… things preventing us from receiving Jesus Christ.. because he didn’t go in until they went out.

So the father is a picture of someone bringing the gospel, and when the gospel came, there were many that rejected it. They laughed him to scorn. And once all those people were put out, the Bible says that Jesus went in. The majority mock and scorn the gospel. But you know, salvation is personal… and it ended up being only her and Jesus Christ. Noone can see how to fix, where to fix, what to fix… but Jesus can.

Sometimes people are in the way of you getting saved. People usually prevent other people from getting saved, just like Elymas who was preventing the deputy from believing the gospel whom Paul witnessed to in Acts 13. So many people would get saved if not for their friends and peer acceptance and approval. But once these guys were kicked out, this girl had a personal salvation experience. Rising from the dead is salvation. So many of us have a dead religion, but not a real relationship and trust and vital connection with Jesus Christ. We really live like it’s not really true, just going through the motions, doing what we are meant to do, saying what we are supposed to say. So many of us have no real relationship and fellowship. That’s why there’s no prayer, no steps of faith, no obedience, no power. So many people lack this personal experience of salvation. They never really are truly change. True salvation is death to life, that’s quite a big change of state wouldn’t you agree?

Jesus took her hand and she rose up. It’s only when we are joined to Christ that we rise from the dead… you’ll find out from reading Ephesians 2 and Colossians 2 that our resurrection from the dead is only possible in and through Christ. Our salvation is found in Christ. If you’re not in Christ, you’re not saved. Romans 8:1 – There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. How does one get “in Christ”? What does that even mean? Well, we start off “in Adam”. Adam sinned, we come from Adam, and we inherit that sin. You don’t decide to be in Adam, you just are. It’s not a sin to be a sinner, for we are born that way, you’ll go to hell because you rejected Jesus Christ, who offers you salvation from sin.

We are all in Adam to begin with. And because of that, that’s why we sin. It’s in our nature, our blood, our DNA. Nobody taught you or I to sin. And in Adam, the Bible says all die. That’s true, history shows us that. History shows us death has reigned since that sin in the garden of Eden. However, when you get saved, when you believe on Jesus Christ in repentance and faith, you become “in Christ”. It’s something God does. And in Christ, you instead of taking after Adam… you take after Christ as he gives you his Holy Spirit who comes to live in you and be with you forever. So while you bore the image of Adam, now you can bear the image of Jesus Christ from that inward presence, life and work of the Holy Spirit in your life. Believing in Jesus Christ places you “in Christ”. It’s great news, it’s the gospel.

In Christ we are made alive, and that wonderful picture of Jesus’ hand joining her hand pictures that oneness that comes with us and Jesus Christ that happens at salvation, when we are saved the moment we repent of our sin and believe on him for salvation from them. Life flows from Jesus Christ and gives us life. Life came into this young girl. She arose. It’s time for us all to arise. Not just in getting saved, but arising from that sleep that we fall into in life where we slip back into old ways, where we don’t live a life obeying Jesus Christ, hand in hand with him. There is no death in Christ, so why would you ever go back to death? So many Christians live in death, because they’ve never been made alive. There is no quickening in their thinking and speaking and doing. Death loses all power over someone who believes, trusting in Jesus Christ is finding life and life eternal… because he found you. Think about it, was this girl seeking Christ out? She had no ability to lying there dead. But Jesus came to her… and Jesus found each one of us while we weren’t looking for him. He died on the cross thousands of years before I was even conceived, he sought me out when I wasn’t looking for him.

And hopefully you, like this young woman, can rise up from your death bed of sin and live. We rise up by joining hand in hand with Jesus Christ in his word, in his truth, in the gospel. So often we are not hand in hand with God on anything. Can two walk together except they be agreed? It’s funny how Christians claim to be so, but are not hand in hand with God’s word about anything. Her hand was lying by her side no doubt when Jesus took it, see salvation is of the Lord, God initiates it. And there has to be that vital connection between us and him. It’s not enough to know about Jesus. Her father knew about him, but he did something, he brought Jesus to her. We all have a vital role as believers in seeing other people get saved. I actually noticed another amazing truth in this story too… the Bible says the father worshipped Jesus Christ when he came to get him. There’s a whole boatload of praise and worship church services going on these days… but it’s more like that noise we read of in verse 23, than the worship that this man gave Jesus Christ. People aren’t getting saved, this man’s worship led to the salvation of souls.

You know what happened next after the maid arose? There was a fame which spread throughout the land. Our lives have more power than we think. If you’ve risen from the death of sin to new life in Jesus Christ… it will affect the world around you. The reason we are not salt and light in this world is because we’ve lost our saltness and our light has been replaced by darkness of flesh, pride, lies and sin. When someone truly gets saved, it has an effect. It’s a big change in your life. Think about how big a change it was in this girls life! Going from dead to alive! That’s a pretty big change of state. Why doesn’t our state change. Why is there no change? There’s a lot of Christians who are dead as a doornail in spirit, they’ve never been born again. Maybe you speak like death, look like death, live like death… because you’re still dead in your sins. You haven’t been saved from nothing. Salvation is being saved from something. So many people live like they’re saved from nothing… because the truth is, they aren’t.

The funny thing is, people see your state, people know who you are. The crowd is there, all her friends and family and acquaintances… and none were able to prevent her dying or help her. So many people put so much trust in people, rather in God. There are few people who truly actually care for you. There are few people who truly love you. There’s a lot of people there making a noise, but only one person, her father, was seeking out Jesus Christ to get her real help. You can’t love or help someone right without God. God is love, you can’t love someone better than God can. We don’t know how to love without having receiving God’s love to us, and having his love to extend towards others.

It’s funny how she was surrounded by so many people, yet she was dead. You can be at church, surrounded by singing, worship, religion… yet be dead. That’s a damning indictment. Jesus may not be in the house. Someone go fetch him to this house. A lot of churches need to get Jesus in the house. You may have surrounded yourself with helpers, comforters, friends… but none of them are real, none of them are good for you. You’ll stay dead in their presence. It’s funny how this world works, because it’s so empty, vain and dead. The relationships, the occupations, the pleasures, the past times… it all… it’s a big death party.

People doubt the word of God, but this man brought the Word of God back to his daughter. Jesus is the Word of God. We need the gospel, we need truth, that’s what we need to fetch and bring into our homes, to our loved ones. Many people, many lies, all the garbage, all those people and things mocking and scorning God’s word and its power to save… it all needs to be put out. So many people are trying to have Jesus in the house with the scorning. But Jesus only went in when they were put out. No man can serve two masters, a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. You gotta decide whether you’re choosing scorning or the truth of God’s word in your life. Are you going to believe or not? Abraham believed God’s word… will you?

Bring Jesus Christ to people, Jesus said if he was lifted up, he would draw all men unto himself. That’s Bible. Hopefully you, like this young daughter, who lay dead, lifeless, cold, sickness conquered… hopefully you like her can rise from your death bed, from the infirmities and power of sin over you. Sin certainly brings darkness and cold into our lives… ain’t that the truth. This sickness had stopped her moving, walking, talking, seeing light, it’d taken the warmth from her … everything… sin will destroy your spirit, soul, body. But the good news, the gospel news, is that the real and living and eternal Saviour has arrived, and he has the power to make you live again. He is the solution and the cure for sin, believe on him and be saved, and you can rise up in newness of life today. Choose life. Bring Jesus back to your house.

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