Gooding, David: 4 - Salvation— Justification by Faith

Well, through the hour and a half of your patience, ladies and gentlemen, I attempted to talk about one strand in the doctrine of salvation common to the Gospels and the Epistles. Chose to talk, therefore, about the salvation of the soul, and you heard the results of my attempt, you'll see. Hello. Just one little question on the soul. Would you be recognizing the soul as distinct from the spirit, uh, mandarin dichotomy or trichotomy? Is that? Uh, well, I do observe this, uh, sir, that the New Testament speaks of salvation in all three respects. It talks about the salvation of our body. There's written now is our salvation nearer than when we believed, the salvation of our body, of course. Eh, that is when the Lord comes. It talks about the salvation of the soul, as we've been thinking this morning. To One Corinthians five, it talks about the salvation of the spirit. I have delivered such one unto to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. So scripture talks of salvation of body and of soul and of spirit. Presumably there are differences. Now we can think of the body in that sense separate from, I was going to say the soul or the spirit, whichever way you put it. Uh, do see, Peter will tell you, I'm about to, um, put off this tabernacle, this tent. Do you see? Now, in common ideas, uh, Christians often talk about, well, the soul departed or his spirit went to be with the Lord. Like, okay. Um, then people sometimes get a little bit worried. Well, which bit of me is going to be with the Lord when I die? Do you see? I take comfort in the way that the New Testament speaks. They don't say my soul will be with the Lord or my spirit will go to be with the Lord so much as they say I will go. Our Lord said to the dying thief, today thou shall be with me in paradise. Paul says, I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. I will be with Christ. That's how the New Testament normally speaks. I take it, however, yes, we do, uh, can exist outside the body. Now, when it comes, you say, do you hold the spirit to be separate from the soul? I would say, well, now, uh, being, learning to be a good Irishman, I haven't completed it yet. I should come back with another question. Do you see? Are these separate entities, or are they two different aspects of? Some have made a neat division and said that the body, we're earth consciousness, with the soul, we're self-conscious, and with the spirit, we're God conscious. Well, that may be true. Uh, do you see? Uh, what I want to say, are soul and spirit separate entities? Or are they different aspects of the person, importantly different aspects or different components of the person, or however you put it? I'm not aware myself that scripture discusses it in any great detail. Do you, sir? Can you remember? Oh Oh, yes. yes. To be fairly long that, uh, body, that the soul and spirit are the same. Are the same, yes. Yes, some theologians have tried to say that soul and spirit are the same, and they deny that there is such a thing as a soul independently of the, um, uh, spirit and body, and therefore some of them go on to say what the, the doctrine of what they call soul sleep, that when we die, uh, we are then unconscious until the Lord comes and raises us from the dead. And they wouldn't agree that you are present with the Lord when you die. You see, they talk about the soul being asleep, so to speak. Uh, I myself would, one, contest ignorance, but two, uh, prefer to keep to what scripture actually says. Do you see? I do notice this, while the scripture talks of salvation in respect to the body of soul and spirit, normally in scripture, when these topics come up, it deals with two things, spirit and flesh, or body and soul. That is the very, very frequent opposition in scripture, do you see? Uh, spirit and flesh, they are opposites in one sense. Soul and body can be opposites, do you see? And normally it talks in pairs rather than in triplets. I think, therefore, in these things, we are perhaps wise to keep to the Bible's phraseology. And if we d- develop a system on it, a sort of biblical psychology, that we're careful not to let our system go against any positive statement of scripture. Do you see? Uh, Hebrews chapter four, is it, where the word of God is said to be so sharp and powerful that it can discern even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. That must be a very difficult thing to do, if it takes something so sharp as the living word of God to do it. Anybody else got any views to supplement my ignorance? Paul prayed, or Paul said to the Thessalonians, I pray that your whole body Soul and spirit, yes. Yes, it talks of the three, yes. As I say, yes, preserved. Yes, that's right. That is right, yes. Oh, that is certainly, uh, right. Eh, um, uh, as I say, salvation is talked of in all three. So yes, I do believe in all three. I'm not a dualist in that sense, tripartite chap. In terms of application of that, uh, I think Jay Adams would take the view that it does make a tremendous difference as to what interpretation you take. Oh, really? Yes, he does. And the difference is, what does he say it is? Well, I think probably it comes in, this is where perhaps he maybe would have, um, some truck with his psychiatrist. Oh. Uh, in his application. Mm-hmm. But I'm wondering, does it really matter in the final analysis where you're tripartite or tri- or dichotomy? Does it really matter ultimately? I could imagine that there are practical difficulties, uh, practical, uh, things involved here. Our Lord talking to this mat and woman, he said, God is spirit, not God is a spirit. God is spirit. He didn't say God is soul, God is spirit. They that worship, uh, God must worship him in spirit and in truth. That's what leads some people to say it's by the spirit that we understand God. Who knows the things of man, save the spirit of a man which is in him? Even so, none knows the things of God, save the spirit of God. It is at the spiritual level that, therefore, we know God, do you see? So you can say, yes, that is important. Uh, I have the notion that in Old Testament, God is ha- uh, uh, uh, uh, does sometimes refer to himself as my soul is, is weary with you. Hmm. This is an interesting thing. If you say, is that a part of the divine makeup? Does God, his spirit, have a soul as well? Doesn't have a body, presumably. So we get there in deep waters, don't we? I think, however, it is of practical importance. Eh, you can have in Greek the adjective psuchikos, soulish, and that is a very bad state to be in, as soulish, not having the spirit. Therefore, it is important to distinguish between things that are simply soulish and not spiritual. And I used to thought in spiritual, uh, matters and devotions, we can sometimes mistake the power of the Holy Spirit, and we think it is working people up emotionally. And the worship is very much soul worship and not spiritual. Take, for instance, if I, if I dare say this thing, uh, you can get folks in their devotions, uh, meditating upon a crucifix or a picture of Christ with all the gory wounds and things, and they be very moved. One has to be careful that that is a true spiritual reaction and not just a soulish reaction. You see. You can play upon people's souls, their emotions, and their sensitivities and whatnot, and get them to do all sorts of things that may not necessarily be spiritual power. Religion is full of, uh, pagan religion is full of that kind of soulish stuff. And the Bible, the New Testament, complains about some that are soulish, not having the spirit. That isn't to say soul is bad of itself, but it can go to the bad and be misused. We have to love the Lord our God with all our souls. God made us with emotions and loves and hates and so forth, and this, that, and the other, and uh, purified, they are to be uh, used for God. Uh, the presumably the Holy Spirit and our spirit should be dominant in our makeup. Yeah? There is one other question now re- uh, waiting over from yesterday. You had a question, sir. Yes, that was about the authority. Yeah. So everything you were talking about, Christ, um, giving the disciples authority, and I've just been chatting with someone about this in John twenty and 19, I don't know, John twenty and 23, and about just an explanation of that, if you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven. And also we bet what you were reading in Matthew this morning about the binding and the loosing, it seems to be related in some way, and question of authority, just an explanation of that. Well, shall we start with J- John, uh, chapter twenty? Mm-hmm. And your verses are the verses nineteen to twenty three. yes, presumably? Uh, our Lord, when it was evening, appeared the first day of the week to the disciples, said, peace be unto you. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples, therefore, were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus, therefore, said to them, again, peace be unto you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you. And when he had said this, namely, even as the Father sent me, even so I send you, he breathed on them and said unto them, receive the Holy Spirit. Whosoever sins you forgive, they are forgiven unto them, and whosoever sins you retain, they are retained. My, uh, approach to this would be first to notice that this must be an exceedingly important thing. This, uh, whosoever sins you, you forgive, they are forgiven, and whosoever sins you retain, they are retained. Uh, I would therefore argue it must be so vastly important, i- in itself. Secondly, I notice it is connected with their mission. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you. Yes? It is in the third place, uh, a connection established between the apostles and Christ. How did they get this? Uh, well, he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit, whosoever sins you. The connection, the authority is the Holy Spirit given them by Christ, yes? That's how it comes about. What does it mean? I would say that the best way to determine what it means is to read the Acts of the Apostles to start with. Here were the apostles sent by Christ going out to the world. If this power of forgiving sins, so to speak, is so important a thing, do they show by their behavior that they've understood it? Where do they exercise this power? You'll see. That would be my question. Some people have said that this power of binding and loosing of sins is the power the apostles had for disciplining the church, and they will quote you the story of Ananias and Sapphira from Acts, uh, five, wherever it is, uh, who lied to the Holy Spirit, and Peter, uh, speaking to them seriously in the name of God, denounced their sin of lying to the Holy Spirit, and they fell down dead. And people say, there you are, there's a case of the apostles using their power to, uh, bind, you'll see, instead of forgive. Well, I would say that's very interesting. Is that all it means? That is just one incident in twenty eight chapters of the doings of the apostles as they went out on their mission. And I would say, well, that's, uh, that is serious, but that's a very, uh, small thing if that's what it means. The other thing that is glares at you from every page of the, uh, Acts is that the apostles went everywhere proclaiming to people the conditions upon which they could, um, be forgiven, didn't they? It started on the Day of Pentecost, when the crowds came round after Paul's sermon, and they, uh, were convicted, uh, by Paul, uh, sorry, Peter's sermon, and they convicted by his preaching that they had murdered the Messiah. What on earth should they do? They were pricked to the heart, and they came to Peter and said, what on earth should we do? And Peter said, I tell you what you'll do. You'll repent, you'll be baptized in the name of, uh, Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. That's what you'll do. Now, we are in danger of, uh, failing to see something at that point. If somebody asks you, how can I be forgiven? You would say, well, don't take it from me, my man. Uh, uh, uh, look, I tell you what the Bible says. It says here in this epistle that you can have forgiveness through the blood of Christ. Wouldn't you? Is that what you do? Yeah, you would, wouldn't you? It raises the question, who wrote the epistle? Well, that was Peter. What authority had Peter to lay down conditions on which somebody can be forgiven. And what happens if folks aren't forgiven? Well, that's exceedingly serious. Who says so? Well, it says so in this epistle. But you say, who wrote the epistle? Where'd you get its authority from? Do you see the point I'm making? If you ask me, I would, I, I would refer to scripture. If you asked Peter on the day of Pentecost, he didn't say, well, don't take it from me, old chap, um, uh, I, I, I- I- I'll- I'll- I'll- I'll get me a Bible, we'll find out. No, no. If you ask Peter on the day of Pentecost, how can I be forgiven? He'll stand there and tell you. Uh, what you'll do is you'll, uh, uh, uh, repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus unto forgiveness of sins. Uh, if you were to say to him, and who are you to tell me that? What would Peter say? Go back to town. No, he would, yes. I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ. That, I take it, is to be, is the point, therefore, of the ceremony in the upper room. They were now to be sent out as God had sent Christ. These men were to be sent out. They were the apostles. He didn't just boldly state, uh, whoso sins you forgive, they're forgiven. He first breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. The authority that they had is because, one, they were appointed by Christ as an apostles, and two, they were given the Holy Spirit to anoint them and inspire them in their ministry. And when they wrote, as well they spoke, they not only spoke with the power of the Spirit, but when they wrote, they were holy men of God, borne along by God's Holy Spirit. Therefore, their words are authoritative. In the sense in which, if you or I write a commentary, it might be good, but we're simply commenting on scripture. We don't have that authority. The apostles had, yes? So that is, that I would want to say is a very big thing, and its dimensions are big enough to satisfy my mind that that is what Christ must have meant, not just an odd case of church discipline, but the annunciation before the whole world upon the conditions upon which people of every kind, tongue, nation can be saved. Peter doesn't simply quote the Bible, no, he gives it to you on his apostolic authority, and he will tell you straight what will happen if you don't repent. Yeah. Does that make any sense, anyone? Whether it's right or wrong, does it make some sense? Yeah, yeah. Sure. The other verse that appears to tie in with that is the verse you were talking about yesterday in Matthew ten, where Jesus talked about people believe, receive you, and believe you, receive you. Yes, that's right. Uh, it's on the same thing. Well, surely. And our Lord in, in John, uh, in the Upper Room Ministry, so called, eh, he likewise says to them, now he that receives you receives me. He's talking to his apostles. He who rejects you rejects me. You see. If they reject me, they reject my Father who sent me. They reject you, they're rejecting me. He's talking in the first instance to his apostles. You see, yeah? It is true, if you ask the apostles how you may be forgiven, they will quote, uh, substantiating authority to him give all the prophets witness that through this man, whoever believes on him shall receive forgiveness of sins, yes? They will quote the prophets in, in substantiating, uh, evidence that this is so, but they're not afraid to say, I, Paul, tell you. Now listen to Paul in, in, uh, uh, Galatians. I, Paul, testify to you that every man that is circumcised, you are fallen from grace, Christ shall profit you nothing. I, Paul, tell you this. They're conscious that they are apostles, yes. Mm-hmm. Okay? Can I ask you just one, I don't want to take too much time. Not at all, yes. I just wonder about the significance of this, what you were talking about this morning, where in Mar- Matthew and Mark both talk about after six days. Mm-hmm. And you come into Luke, and Luke says in after about eight days. Mm-hmm. I just wondered, in terms of inspiration of scripture, what is the significance of... I know it's not a contradiction, but but why did Luke say after about eight days? Oh, uh, that could be, uh, a little more than the difference between Greek and Hebrew way of counting time. That you see, uh, um, um, like we have set periods, don't we? How long were we away? Oh, about ten days. What we mean is just a little bit more than a week, you'll see. So it could be n- uh, uh, uh, uh, nothing more than that. If you want to see theological significance in it, you could say, well, after 6 days in the Jewish thinking comes a 7th, which is a Sabbath. Uh, on the other hand, uh, about an eight days afterwards. eight days, uh, can be theologically significant. It was in certain of the ritual sacrifices in Old Testament. Some courses were for seven days plus an eighth day, so that was a special day, the eighth day, which was a kind of a new beginning. After the last day, the seven days, then you had an eighth day that was a new beginning. So folks that want to see or think there is some theological, uh, significance in the difference, and it isn't, want to say it's more than just a linguistic difference, would suggest that, I think. This is the new kingdom, the eighth day. But, um, I'd imagine it's when, uh, Luke says it's about eight days, he's using the Greek kind of way of talking rather than straight Hebrew. More questions? Huh? Uh, well now, what I'd like to do in this remaining session is to consider, uh, what, uh, gospels might have to say about this second strand in the doctrine of salvation. We noticed this morning, didn't we, that the, the element of salvation that is regeneration, being born from above, receiving eternal life, that is a part of the gospel that John concentrates on in his, uh, gospel and then in his epistle. That, uh, the salvation of the soul is a something that Peter concentrates on. They all share it, of course, they all believe it, but, uh, Peter has more emphasis on this, uh, than he does, say, on justification. Peter mentions this, the regeneration, of course he does, God has begotten us again. But Peter, more than the others, emphasizes the question of the salvation of the soul, and I tried to point out this morning why that is so, goes back to the time when Peter had to learn what for him at the time was a very severe and painful lesson. He had contradicted the Lord, and it was the Lord in reply to Peter that began to talk about this question of the salvation of the soul. Now I want to say just a few things about the, um, other strand in the gospel of a doctrine of salvation, that is the whole business of justification by faith and its consequent, uh, uh, sanctification and so forth, and relation of justification by faith to justification by works. That is a very, uh, problem with a long history, isn't it? It is also the, the fact that some people say, they're still alive today, that, uh, race of scholars who would say that, of course, Jesus did not preach justification by faith. It is Paul with his Jewish legal, not to say legalistic, mind who concocted the ideas of justification by faith in all these legal terminologies that, uh, instead of preaching a lovely gospel of the love of God, uh, like the father of the prodigal son who, who welcomed his son home and kissed him and gave him the robe and also, uh, and didn't attempt to bring in any of these legal character, uh, terminology of justification and all this kind of thing. Uh, and that whereas Jesus preached the lovely Heavenly Father, uh, uh, Paul somewhat perverted it, uh, or at least reduced it into legal categories of justification and that type of thing, and that there are really two, therefore, very different gospels in the New Testament. There's the gospel which the Lord Jesus preached, and you find that in our gosp- four gospels, and then there's this other kind of gospel that Paul, the ex-Pharisee, concocted, you see. Huh? Well, I'm going to take one of the gospels and see what it has to say, uh, on this matter of justification by faith and so forth and so on. And what I, I am going to do is to take Luke's gospel and chapters seven and eight. Now, actually, I wrote a book years ago that has this in it, and if you have read it, uh, find a comfortable sleep and go to, uh, chair and go to sleep, uh, because I'm about to repeat it, you see. Or else remember that you have a pressing appointment and that you have to leave at this moment. Uh, you see, but if you stay, you'll have to bear repetition if you've heard it before. I refer now to the Gospel by Luke and chapters seven and eight. And we first notice that this is a carefully, uh, uh, designed section of his gospel. Look at chapter seven verse one. After he had ended all his sayings in the ears of the people, he entered into Capernaum. Luke shares with Matthew this same kind of literary device. A lot of ancient authors share it, of dividing their narrative by inserting little remarks like that in the course of the narrative that conclude one, a whole lot of episodes and then introduce another fresh set of episodes. After he had ended all his sayings, because chapters six that goes before are sayings in the sense of teaching, moral teaching, what is called the Sermon on the Plain, Luke's equivalent of Matthew's Sermon on the Mount. And when our Lord has finished that moral and ethical teaching, all these sayings in the ears of the people, he entered into Capernaum. Now there come a series of stories, narrative incidents, some discussion with Pharisees, but largely narrative, some parables of teaching to the apostles, but the predominant, uh, narrative stories, events that fill chapter seven and eight. and then in chapter nine, the subject matter changes again. For chapter nine, verse one, he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them forth to preach. So chapter nine is going to talk about what they did. Now, if we ask the same question as we asked yesterday over Matthew's section, are there, is there a dominant theme or dominant themes in these two chapters? There is, of course, which you see by the recurrence of the Greek word sozo, and And on on occasion occasion, it's a compound dia sodzo. The Greek word sodzo means, you know, it has a range of meaning. It means basically to save, but what save means depends on your context. You could use the word save, and particularly dia sodzo, if somebody fell in the river and you dived in and you... the English equivalent would be rescued him, but saved him would do. You rescued him, you brought him through, you see, some disaster or potential life-threatening situation. To save, to rescue. If you were using it of a doctor and you were, uh, uh, suffering with some terrible disease and he came along and gave you the right medicine, he would in Greek save you, meaning heal you. Greek does have other words for heal, but it will use on times that word, uh, sordo save, meaning to heal if you're in the context of medicine. At the spiritual level, of course, this is the verb, and it has, uh, its linked noun, of course, soteria, which means salvation, and that is the common word used in the spiritual sense throughout scripture. So you'll find the verb, the simple verb soto, constantly used o- of salvation in the spiritual sense. Christ himself is asoter, the savior. You'll see. This is a, a, a cluster of verbs, therefore having all these connotations, and the modern translations, quite rightly from one point of view, uh, when they come across this word, uh, you see, that, uh, they translate it in different ways according to the context. Look at chapter seven, uh, you see, and verse three. This certain centurion, whose servant was dear unto him, was sick and at the point of death, and when he heard concerning Jesus, he sent unto him elders of the Jews, asking him that he would come and, and, and, and do what? What do your Bibles say? Anybody got the King James, the authorized version? No, no, it's gone out of fashion. What do, what do your Bibles say? Just the Apostle Paul. Just the Apostle Paul, yes. Heal, heal, heal, heal, heal, heal. Yes, all got heal. How difficult some of these modern translations make it for you. It is, uh, pardon? Save. Ah, save, you say. Yes, yes, yes. Oh, my brother, you are to be commended. Uh, Josie. What do I mean? Well, because in this section, we shall find there is an outcrop of this Greek verb sodzo. On one occasion, dia sodzo, and it means basically to save. In chapter seven verse three, because the man is ill, your modern translations say he asked the Lord Jesus to come and heal, which obscures from you if you're not very sharp, you see, uh, uh, at the moment. I mean, you're all sharp, but sometimes, uh, the room is very warm and you're, you know, and you're tired. Uh, you see, it scares from you that this is one in the list. There are going to be a whole number of them. Look at chapter seven, verse fifty. Thy faith has done what to you? Uh, the even the modern translations will be right here, surely they will. Thy faith has done what? Saved our men, you see. That's seven fifty. Eight twelve, the devil comes along and snatches the seed away, lest they should believe and be, be... saved? Saved. Saved. Good stuff. Verse thirty six, eight thirty six. he that was possessed of the demons was... Cured. Cured. Now look at that. Now look at that. I didn't even the authorized has healed. Oh, dear, dear, dear, dear, dear. Um, and and yes, what is it, the rest of you? Healed. Healed. Healed and cured and Made well. Made well. Oh, jolly good stuff. They're all correct. Unfortunately, it's this word sozo. Aren't they making it difficult for you? Because Luke was wanting you to see how many times this same word recurs. They're going to give you a collection of illustrations, instances of salvation. Salvation is a very big term, and how salvation affected them at different levels. But, um, any Greek reader, even if he didn't pay much for his New Testament, would see that this is sodzo, sodzo, sodzo, sodzo all the way occurring, and they begin to scratch his head and say, oh, these are all stories about the same thing, different aspects of the same thing. Whereas your dear modern translations hide it from you, don't they? Take it back to the man that sold it and ask for a decent one. Eight forty eight. Thy faith has done what? This is the woman with a hemorrhage. What did the faith done there? Healed you. Made you well, healed you. Anyway, never mind, you'll get this one right. Uh, seven fifty. Only believe and she shall... Fancy, pardon? Made whole. Made whole. Fancy staying, standing by a coffin and saying, only believe and she shall be made well. Because the girl was dead. She shall be healed. What, what, she's already dead. The word is sodzo, and she shall be saved. So, mm, it's simpler to know Greek sometimes than to know English. Jose. What does the dia add to the word? Oh, uh, dia means all sorts of things, uh, Josie. All right. It's like our English, isn't it? What does to get on mean? You can have the word get, or you can say, use it with prepositions, to get in, to get out, to get on, to get up, to get over, get down, get through. Marvelous language, English, isn't it? Now tell me what to get on means. What does on mean when it's with the verb get? To succeed. To succeed. It means to succeed. To climb on the horse. He got on the horse, he succeeded on the horse. To get on my nerves. Oh yeah, get on my nerves. Get on with your work. Get on with it. How do you manage to... you must be very clever, I congratulate you all. You understand English, you read English. When a simple word like on with get can have all those different meanings, how do you know which meaning to apply at the right time? You do, don't you? It's that simple. Greek dia means through, literally, to save someone through. So you would use it, there came a storm and the boat nearly, uh, foundered, but at last there came a tug and rescued us. That is, saved us through the situation, brought us right through. This man was on the point of death, come and rescue him, save him through this life-threatening situation, and bring him safely. In other words, save him, rescue him. Because it was a physical danger and he was ill, then they translated heal, you see, but okay. Oh, thank Mr. Jones, he's a very good doctor, you know, I was at death's door, and he brought me through. But anyway, you see what I mean. You had to be careful what phrases you use with compound words, don't you? Yes, but let us be serious for the moment. You see. Instances of salvation. Centurion son, servant. Centurion servant. So, So. then at the end of chapter seven, thy faith hath saved thee, Seven fifty, woman in Simon's house. Uh, yes, uh, people that don't get saved, we better leave them out for the moment. We'll think of those that do, but eight twelve is the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart that they may not believe and be saved. You see, it's how people get saved. But actual examples of being saved. Now the man with the demons, verse, uh, uh, uh, that is eight, And they that, uh, fed them, when they saw what's come to pass, fled and told it in the city and in the country. And the people came out, verse thirty six. and they that saw it told them that came out from the city, that is, how he that was possessed with demons was saved. Demoniac. How he was saved. The woman with hemorrhage. Never could spell that word, so I won't. Uh, Josie. Uh, uh, the woman with the hemorrhage, how she was saved. Thy faith has saved thee, Seven eight forty eight. He said, daughter, thy faith has made thee whole, thy faith has saved thee, go in peace. And then Jairus's daughter. The people came to Jairus and said, don't trouble the master anymore, your daughter is dead. But Jesus, hearing it, answered him, fear not, only believe, and she shall be saved. Instances, then, of salvation. And if Luke, uh, uh, gives us a number of instances of salvation, we notice first that they all have this in common, that they are instances of salvation. And having done that, we do what the medics call differential diagnosis, and we say, well, they were all saved, but did salvation mean exactly the same thing in each case? Or were they different aspects of salvation? Taking it literally, for instance, what kind of salvation was this one? Salvation from what? Let me read it to you. Certain centurion servant who was dear unto him was sick, and at the point of death, what was its salvation from? Death. Death. Uh, salvation, yes, this side from death. The woman in Simon's house saved from death. Sorry, from what? In what sense, salvation? Sinful life. Pardon? Sinful life. A sinful life, yes, and anything else? What actually is said in the passage? Look at verses forty seven, forty eight, forty nine. From sinful life, to save from a sinful life, yes. What else did you get in salvation? Forgiveness of sins, yes. Thy sins be forgiven thee. Explicitly said, it's not me putting it in, that's what the scripture says. Thy faith has saved thee from a sinful life. The key to it was the forgiveness. Yes? Demoniac, what does he say from the, what did he get? What does salvation mean to him, forgiveness? From demon possession. From demon possession. Possession. I'll leave this one here for the moment. I'll tell you why in a minute. Jairus's daughter, it was, um, she was saved from dying, was she? From bleeding. Pardon? From bleeding. Uh, this woman, yes, she was saved from bleeding, yes, yes. Jairus's daughter? Saved from dying. From? She'd already died. She'd already died. She wasn't saved from dying, was she? What was she saved from then? Death. In the sense that? Save from death, in the sense that raised to new life, yes? Raised. Our Lord described death, didn't he, on that occasion? He said, see, what did he say? You notice what he said? Oh! Woken, I go to wake out of sleep. Woken from sleep of death. Pardon? Uh-huh. Different examples of salvation. Now, why I left this one here is because you'll see later on when we come to it, I've asked many of my learned friends, do you see, as I travel about this world, sometimes discussion falls on salvation. I get out a little piece of paper and I write these things down, and I do the easy bits, you see, and say this is salvation from this, and this is salvation from this, and this is salvation from this. Uh, could you help me? I have a little difficulty here. What is this salvation from? Well, I still wait for the answer. You will doubtless supply it for me. Um... Here then are a list of i- uh instances, actual instances of salvation. They all have it in common. It is salvation in some respect. And when you look at them, they are all different, aren't they? Now, our Lord's miracles were not only miracles and physical miracles, but many of his physical miracles became parables of spiritual things, yes? When he met a man who was blind from birth, John chapter nine, and gave him physical sight, then before that chapter is over, our Lord is pointing the lesson that he can give people spiritual sight. When he multiplied the loaves and fishes and fed people physically, he then took the opportunity to talk to them about the fact that he was the bread of life spiritually. Yes? We take these stories of salvation. They were miracles at the physical level. Have they any spiritual meaning to us? Yeah? Well, um, let's, uh, begin to notice one or two things. The first one, do we agree, is salvation from dying, yes? The servant was dying, and our Lord asked, uh, to come and save the man from death, that is, from dying. Now listen to the story. This isn't me preaching a sermon. I wouldn't dream of preaching a sermon. Eh, this is the actual story. When he heard concerning Jesus, he sent unto him elders of the Jews, asking him that he would come and save his servant. And they, when they came to Jesus, besought him earnestly, saying, He is worthy that thou shouldest do this for him, for he loveth our nation and himself built us our synagogue. So when these friends came to ask the Lord Jesus to save this man and save him from death and restore him to life, they pleaded for this gift on the ground of the man's worthiness. Worthy Lord, that you should give him this gift of restored life on the grounds of his good deeds. He loves our nation and has built us a synagogue. Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself, for I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof. Wherefore now neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee, but say the word, and my servant shall be healed, and thus and thus and thus. Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turned and said unto the multitude that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, not in Israel. Now, please, I'm, I'm not preaching, I'm not pulling any rabbits out of any hats. This is what it says. This is Luke telling you the story. The man asked for the gift of salvation for his servant. The friends came and said he was worthy of the gift of salvation on the grounds of his love and his works. And the centurion, hearing that, sent other friends to say, it's absolutely nonsense, Lord. Absolutely nonsense. One, I'm not worthy, actually, and two, I don't count myself worthy. That's a nice distinction, isn't it? Some people aren't worthy, they do count themselves worthy. But this man, he wasn't worthy, and I don't count myself worthy, and I'm not fit for you to come under my roof. I a plead to you, but not on those grounds. What grounds then? Speak only the word, said he. And our Lord's comment was, I have not found so great faith. Well, any preacher preaching the story would emphasize that, wouldn't he? We've got an example here, and it's salvation from death, not by worth or works, but by faith. Yeah? Anything there that I made up, or is it in the text? It's in the text, isn't it? Yeah. That story is followed, if you notice, by another story that doesn't actually use the word save. This second story, beginning in verse eleven, is peculiar to Luke, and it's introduced by the phrase, and it came to pass soon afterwards. Note that phrase, we shall meet it again. That he went into a city called Nain, and his disciples went with him, and a great multitude. Now, when he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, there was carried out one that was found dead, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and much people of the city was with her. So he was actually dead. The centurion servant was dying, but this chap was actually dead. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said unto her, Weep not. And he came nigh and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. Marvelous. That awful procession to the grave. A dead man processing to the grave. That was stopped. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up. Oh, I like, can you, can you see that? Vivid, isn't it? He's on this board, you see, and they're carrying this board. I expect he was covered with a cloth, and they were carrying the beer, so he's lying out on it, you see, and the Lord came alongside and touched the beer and stopped it, and here's the chap lying out. And he that was dead, he sat up on the board, on the old beer, you see, sat up beside Christ. Lovely. And uh, uh, he that was dead sat up and began to speak, and he, the Lord, he said, now, mother, I have done this great deed for you and your boys well. Now, upon certain conditions, I'm prepared to, um, do this for you. If you will promise me now that you'll ascend the synagogue every Sabbath from now on regularly and never miss anything unless you, you're in bed and can't move. On condition that you will pay tithes, on conditions you will this and that and the other, I'm prepared to raise your son from the dead and give him to you back. No, he didn't. No, he didn't. He, um, stopped the beer, raised the dead to life, saved him, in other words, and he gave him back to his mother. Nice, that, isn't it? You see, there was one man dying, the other was dead, and the dead man was the only son of his mother. You see how those two are related, those stories? One man nearly dead, dying, the other man already dead. The dead man, the only son of his mother. Poor old girl. Still safe. The centurion, he's a big tough chap, you know. Centurions in the Roman army, like non-commissioned officers, they were men. They got paid very well. They were tough men, backbone of the Roman army, and they were pretty well paid. So he had enough money to build a synagogue for the Jews. You can tell the kind of cash he got for his services. Big, strong fellow, able to be full of good works that he did. And here's a widow. She had a husband once to fend and fight for her. He died. She had a son and only son to look after her and fend for her. He died. Left a desolate widow. And the Lord gave him salvation from death, not by worth or works, but by faith. It was the gift of Christ. If I say to you, on the base of these stories, that Luke is telling us the conditions on po- which people were saved from death and given new life, and the conditions were these, not by works or merit, but by faith, and that not on themselves, it was the gift of God. Would you ever have heard those phrases anywhere else in the Bible? Where did you hear them elsewhere? Where? Ephesians. Where do the words actually come? Righty ho. Pray, would you tell me, by grace you save through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Salvation from what in that particular context? Ah, you're making that up, aren't you? No. No. Well, well, let's read it aloud in a stentorian voice, sir. That's Ephesians two, isn't it? Yeah. 2 verse 1. 2 verse one. It's salvation from, or let's notice that, it's salvation from? Death. Us be you, you were dead. Yeah, you were dead, yes. In your chest transgressions. Yeah. Yes, it's salvation from death, do you see? So it happens. And Paul is discussing with you the conditions upon which we get this salvation from death, and it is Grace. Grace, by grace are you saved, through faith, that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And then they say that Paul is making up a gospel that Christ didn't preach. Well, of course not. You see the connection, don't you? You'll think me fanciful here, but I'm, I, you know, when it gets near lunch, like Peter, sometimes I fall into a trance. Do you see? So you must forgive this next bit. One man was dying and the other was dead, and the dead man was being carried out dead in that awful process that dead death leads to the grave. He was on the bier. And when Christ gave him life, saved him from death, he that was dead sat up. Here, does Paul know anything about sitting up anywhere, in particular after you've been dead? Yes, yes. Yes, yes, yes, and made us to sit with Christ. I often think what it would be like, wouldn't mind it myself if it had that happy ending, to be dead on a bier and to sit up and find yourself seated to the side of Christ, didn't he? Mm. Well, I'm having a trance, but, uh, uh, you see. That is the Christian gospel anyway. I, I mean, you could just read the verse, he that was dead sat up, couldn't you, and make no comment at all about it and go to Ephesians and say, Christ is not only God has not only given us new life in Christ and saved us from death, seated us with Christ in heavenly places, and all of this magnificent by grace, not by worth, not by works, not by merit. Tremendous stuff, isn't it? That's what it means to preach the Bible, is this thing from making up a sermon about it. I've not made anything up. It's what Luke is saying. But it comes to another example of salvation, and at the end of the chapter, that's a woman in Simon's house. You know the story, don't you? She got forgiveness, yes, but listen to the detail of the story. For if we're preachers, we're meant to preach the whole story, of course. And it goes like this. Uh, she came in, do you see, and brought in a basket of fruit of ointment, and standing behind at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with ointment. Now, when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, this man, if he were a prophet, would have perceived who and what manner of woman this is which toucheth him, that she is a sinner. And in Simon's idea, therefore, that Jesus, if he were a prophet, would know, like the prophet, uh, Elijah knew, and Elisha knew, uh, or a- what was his name, Abijah the prophet knew when Jeroboam's wife came to consult him about their child who was ill, and she dressed up feigning herself to be some other woman. God had a word in the prophet's ear before she arrived and said that's hers coming, do you know? So when she came in, he said, I know who you are. Jeroboam's wife, aren't you? And Simon is saying, yes, and if this Jesus were a prophet, he'd know what this woman is. She's perfectly immoral. And he... and he wouldn't have her anywhere near if it hadn't been the Lord was there. Simon being a good Pharisee, would have kicked her out of the house forthwith. He wouldn't touch immoral women like that. And our Lord's answer? Simon, he said, I've got something to say to you. The house of credit only had two debtors. The one owed a vast sum and the other a tiny sum. And when they had nothing to pay with, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, Simon, which of those two will love him, their creditor, the more? Oh, said Simon, that's obvious. Why you ask such a stupidly simple question? Uh, the one who's forgiven the more will love the more. Who is that so? says Christ. You hold that as a basic principle, Simon? That the more a person has been loved, uh, has been forgiven, the more they will love? Well, of course it is. Are you sure, Simon? Have I got it the right way round? Uh, don't you rather think that the more a person loves, the more they will be forgiven? No, no, says Simon, of course not. If you owe a large sum to the bank manager, when you see him coming down the street, you run off around the side street, don't you? Don't come anywhere near him. You don't say, oh, I see if I can make up my mind to love this chap, and if I love him enough, he'll forgive me. I never knew a bank manager that would respond to love like that and forgive you a million in the red just because you loved him. Do you? But if the bank manager should happen, bank manager should happen to forgive you, you would very likely feel gratitude and love, yeah? It's that way around, isn't it? You don't love to get forgiven, but if you've forgiven, if you've been forgiven, you love. Forgiveness, uh, uh, therefore leads to love. Therefore, love is the evidence that forgiveness has taken place, yes? That's the way around it is. And Simon thought that was simple. He couldn't make out why our Lord was wasting time on such obvious things. Simon, he said, when I came into your house, Simon, you didn't wash my feet, did you, Simon, by any chance? That was the normal courtesy of the day to a visitor. Didn't bother about that, did you, Simon? This woman washed my feet with her tears. You didn't kiss me by any chance, did you, Simon? The oriental custom. This woman has not ceased to kiss my feet. You didn't anoint my head with ointment, did you? That was an extravagant gesture of welcome to a visitor, but it was done, of course. But you didn't anoint my head, did you, Simon? She's anointed my feet. I'm telling you, Simon, this woman has been forgiven. Her sins have been forgiven. How do you know? And they at the table said, who is this that forgives sins? And how can he say that? Now, you notice what Christ replied, don't you? He didn't say, you'll have to take it because I'm saying so. Well, Simon wouldn't have believed that, would he? How do I know this woman's sins have been forgiven? You told me, didn't you, Simon, that when somebody has been forgiven, they love. Yes? Look at her love, Simon. Didn't you say that love is an evidence that forgiveness has happened? I'm telling you, Simon, that her many sins, and they were many, have been forgiven. The Greek is a perfect tense, have been forgiven. And I'm telling you that on this ground. My evidence for the fact that she has been forgiven is this, that she loved much. Do pray if you're in preaching that sermon, you will, won't you? Get it the right way around. For years, the Roman Catholic Bible's got it the wrong way around. For years, the Roman Catholic Bible's got it the wrong way around. They preached that you get forgiven if you love God. So the way to get forgiven is to love God, and if you love much, you'll be forgiven much. That is the very opposite of what the parable is meaning. The debtors didn't get forgiven because they loved their creditor. Did they? They first of all got forgiven, and that resulted in their loving. And Christ is saying, I'm telling you this woman's sins have been forgiven. Not why have they been forgiven? No, but why do I say that she has been forgiven? How can I be sure she has been forgiven? What evidence have I to back on my statement that her sins have been forgiven? Well, look at her love, Simon. You told me when somebody has been forgiven, it leads to love. She's loving. I'm telling you she's been forgiven. There is the evidence. Always say, look what's happening now. Salvation equals forgiveness. By grace, of course. But it leads Leads to. to... love. And love leads to... works. And devotion to the Savior. You could imagine the Lord could have extended that little word to Simon, couldn't he? And he could have said, Simon, my boy, you're a very religious Pharisee, aren't you? You objected to this woman being present in your house. You know, Simon, some of you men in this city use the services of a woman like that, didn't you? And then on the Sabbath, come to the synagogue, Simon. Of course, you wouldn't have such women in your house, would you? But you're very religious. Simon, if love for me is the evidence that forgiveness has taken place, is there any evidence in your life, Simon, that you've ever been forgiven? But when I came in, you didn't wash my feet, did you, Simon? Nor give me a kiss, nor anoint my head. Is there any evidence in your life you've been forgiven, Simon? Religious, yes, but forgiven? Hmm. You know Luke is a crafty writer, isn't he? Uh, uh, this story is, only Luke tells you this one. Others tell you this one. Matthew tells you this one, but Matthew didn't tell you this one. You say, why has Luke put it there? Do you see what he's done? Whether you were noticing or not, he's caught you by craft. This one says that salvation is not by works, and not by worth, and not by merit. It is by faith, and it is the gift of God. Of course, forgiveness is by grace and through faith, but it leads to works. And if the works aren't there, you could question whether the forgiveness has taken place, couldn't you? He's crafty, isn't he? He wants both sides. He puts both sides of the question, and not content with that, he has another story, uh, here, the women that followed Christ from Galilee. You notice that only Luke has it. It comes at the beginning of chapter eight, and it is introduced by that same little phrase, and it came to pass soon afterwards that he went about through cities and villages, preaching and bringing a good tidings of the kingdom of God, and with him the twelve. and certain women which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary that was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod Stuart, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance. Just like this story of the centurion's servant, and it came to pass soon afterwards, the widow of Nain's son. So here, the woman in Simon's house, and it came to pass soon afterwards, these other women from Galilee. They were a very mixed bunch. One woman had been seriously demon possessed. Another woman was the wife of Herod, Herod's, uh, steward, that is, he was the chief major domo of the palace. She was used to living at the top level of society. She came out of the top drawer, so to speak, and she gave that up and followed the Lord with these other women at a discreet distance and ministered to them out of their substance. Wow, whatever made her do that? Well, she wasn't trying to get salvation, you know. She wasn't doing it to get forgiven. But when folks have been forgiven by the Savior, it's incredible what they'll do, you know, for the Savior. And it's not only emotional stuff. You could have said, ha, weeping, look at that woman at his feet, weeping, all those tears and things, ha ha. That's only the same old su- thing that she suffered from before, uh, expressing itself in different guises. That's emotionalism, and I doubt those contacts and washing his feet and all that. No, I don't want that kind of stuff. You call that being safe? I don't like that. Well, perhaps you'll like this then. There's nothing emotional about this. This was hard slog. Following that apostolic band and our Lord himself through the dusty roads of Palestine in the heat and what have you, and discreetly at a distance, and seeing to the physical and practical needs of the apostolic band, when she could have been Jesus' wife, she could have been in her feather beds in the palace with all the luxuries of the day. Yeah. That's a very balanced view of salvation, isn't it? You'll see. Right, let's just briefly look at the others, and uh, uh... There is the storm on the lake. And our Lord rose and rebuked the storm. The word for salvation isn't used on that occasion. It was a rescue nonetheless, wasn't it? Salvation from the physical powers of the universe, from the physical powers of the universe. The demoniac salvation from spirit powers. Mm-hmm. Woman with hemorrhage, Jairus's daughter, salvation from the sleep of death. The centurion and the widow of Nain's son, salvation from death, the giving of new life. And we saw the counterpart in, uh, uh, Ephesians chapter two, didn't we? Then comes the salvation in the sense of forgiveness, but it leads to works. That puts the balance to it. Salvation from the storm, salvation from the physical powers of the universe. As we said yesterday, when this incident came up in Matthew, this isn't there to tell us that no believer will ever drown at sea or be lost in an air crash. It was the demonstration that the man who was sleeping in the boat was the Lord of nature, and he controls the winds and the waves. It is the basis of our certainty that neither things present nor things to come, neither life nor death, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature, any other aspect or dimension or force within this vast universe shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Yeah. Salvation from the very power of Satan, the demoniac, isn't it? We may not have been demon possessed, but we were all of us, says Ephesians, we were children of wrath who walked according to the power of the prince of this world. Yes, we were by nature children of wrath, even as the others. We were in the kingdom of darkness, all of us. Salvation for the demoniac. What would have been the use of preaching just forgiveness to that man? To preach forgiveness to him would, would almost be a mockery if you couldn't deliver him from the power of Satan, yes? So there is that aspect of salvation. And the story, you say, well, how was he saved? That was what the people from the town were interested to know. They came out, uh, uh, uh, wonder at seeing this former demoniac. The reformers, the social workers and friends had all tried to chain him up and, uh, restrain him, but he'd torn the chains asunder and he lived in the tombs. He was melancholy. He was morbid. He cut himself. He couldn't be restrained, they'd tried to restrain him, he wore no clothes, he had no shame, he was desperate. And now he was sitting clothed in his right mind at the feet of the Savior, and the people from the town were agog to know, well, how was it done? Well, that's the question, isn't it? Your recipe for it. You'll find in those circumstances there's a lot of recipes. They'll say, well, how was it done? What's the recipe? And the bystanders who had seen it all happen, they told those that came out of the city how it was done. And they said, uh, Jesus commanded the demons to come out, and they went into the pigs. And the pigs rushed down into the lake, and, well, they drowned. Well, that's a way of getting rid of demons, I suppose. The Lord could have, um, got hold of the demon-possessed man then and put him in the lake. Couldn't he? That would have got the demon out of him. Unfortunately, that would have drowned the man, wouldn't it? And the demons were put into the lake. Goodness me, I should get into deep water if I started explaining that one, shouldn't I? Better not do that. It's getting too near lunch. But something about being drowned in the water. Yeah, I, I was a demoniac. As I say, I'm going to leave this one because you're going to tell me what salvation that represents. If you were going through Romans, you would see that you're first of all justified by faith, like the centurion, given new life. It's not by works, it is by faith. It is the gift of God. Romans three and four and the beginning of five. And then Romans would talk in chapter six about being delivered from the dominion of sin and the dominion of death, wouldn't it? So here we come on, this is the old demoniac. Righty ho. And the last one, last aspect of salvation. Salvation from the sleep of death. And what is that a picture of? Ah, yes. Notice the Christian terminology is not dead, but sleep. Listen to the Lord talking to Jairus. They came and said, Jairus, your daughter is dead. And of course he was very upset. Trouble not the master, they said, she's gone too far, she's dead. And the Lord Jesus said to Jairus, only believe, my good man, only believe, and she shall be saved. What, salvation from death? Yes, that's right. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. When? When will it happen? It's a lovely little story, isn't it? Here was Jairus, and he had this girl, and she was desperately ill on the point of death, so he came full steam ahead to the Lord to ask the Lord to come to his house to, to, to, to, um, uh, save the girl, you'll see. And so the Lord began to come, but as he was going, the great crowd around him, and there came this woman with a hemorrhage, and she touched, came up behind him, and she touched the hem of his garment, you'll see, and uh, she was healed, and the Lord stopped. And he said, so who touched me? And Peter said, Lord, be realistic, a thousand of folks around you have what do you mean who touched me? Uh, he said, yes, somebody touched me. And Josh was standing there foaming, Lord, this, Lord, come on, my daughter is dying. If you don't come, she'll be dead, Lord. Yeah, but I got to treat this woman. Oh, bother the woman. Stupid woman. She's had this twelve years. You can come tomorrow. My daughter is on the point of death, Lord, come. That's still the Lord staying. He said, somebody touched me, so in the end the poor woman had to come, and she came in front of all and confessed it, and Jairus was getting up a hot dough. Why doesn't he get on with the job and come? And I got a lovely answer. I say, well, yes, you see, what Lord is going to do now is, look at that first story. The centurion saw that he didn't need to come to his house, did he? Because he, uh, had a distance. And the Lord said to Jairus, don't worry, old boy, I don't need to come to your house. A half a minute, woman, and he spoke the word at a distance, and the girl recovered. No, he didn't. Why didn't he heal her at a distance like he heal- healed the centurion servant at a distance? Why did he have to come to the house? To There's a spiritual lesson. Yeah, so there is. And when it comes to those that sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him? How will it happen? The Son of God sit on the throne of heaven and give the word of command and stay there, and the dead in Christ will rise? How does it happen? Coming back. Ah, he's coming. This we say to you by the word of the Lord. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we were alive and remain, shall not go before them at our sleep, for the Lord himself shall descend. Ah, yes. The Lord himself shall come. We join with the early Christians in their Aramaic, don't we? They said, Marana tha. Our Lord, Marana, our Lord, tha, meaning come, please come. Marana tha. The hope of the church in all ages, that Christ is coming. The dead in Christ shall not be raised until he comes. He won't remain at a distance and do it. He must come. And here is our Lord illustrating it, as he did with Martha and Mary and Lazarus, illustrating what it... Oh, what is this the last example of salvation in this series, do you suppose? Of course, you say it's the, it's the finale of salvation, of course, stupid man. Of course it has to be last. Yes, of course it does, doesn't it? Whereas this is Luke giving you his doctrine of salvation and putting together all sorts of incidents, some he shares with other gospel writers and some only he has, but putting them together in a very carefully selected series to show you the gamut, the whole array of salvation from first to last. The centurion whose servant was dead and the widow of Nain's son di- uh, uh, was his servant was dying, the widow of Nain's son was dead. We found to be a lesson how we are spiritually dead in trespasses and in sins, a la Ephesians two. And God, through Christ, gives us new life. He quickens us, he makes us alive, and he seats us in the heavenlies with Christ. Already are we seated in the heavenlies with Christ at that spiritual level. And it's not by works, it is by faith. It's not by merit, it is the gift of God. Yeah. This one is being raised from the sleep of death. Physical death, of course, not spiritual death. And how those that died before the Lord came. She died before the Lord could get there, didn't she? I have to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that if the Lord doesn't come for the next seventy five years, it's most likely that most of you will be dead, you know. When our loved ones get sick and we pray the Lord to heal them, sometimes he heals them by his grace and his miraculous power. Sometimes he heals them through the medics. Sometimes Sometimes. it doesn't. And if he doesn't come within the next hundred years, we shall all be dead. No good fooling ourselves, is it? Do you mind that? No, of course you don't. You say, well, there are thousands and millions of folks they need to hear the gospel and be saved. So if the Lord gets engaged and held up dealing with these women with hemorrhages and things and all sorts of sinners of every kind, red, yellow, white, and blue all around the world, uh, well, if he gets held up with that and I reach the age of one hundred and twenty and die, well, then what does it matter? The Lord will come one day. Raise his people from the sleep of death. Uh, sleep, of course, is the, uh, is the word that Christians use, yes, pagans use it sometimes, and our Lord used it of death. I always thought the word cemetery is a nice word, didn't you? It is the English transliteration of koimeterion. Koimeterion, cemetery. And koimeterion means a pla- place where people sleep. Not exactly the Greek word for a bedroom. But it means the same thing. It's a place where people sleep. Yeah. A church is another place. I have heard it sometimes of visiting preachers. You know how preachers talk to one another, and they say, do you know that church? Yes. Like a veritable sepulcher. Yeah, marvelous. And there are many other wonderful things about, um, uh, those stories. Mm, if not today, then perhaps tomorrow. You'll come back at me and you'll say, but you kept on missing out that one. What aspect of salvation is that? Well, you'll tell me tomorrow, won't you? Process. It's a process, yeah. Interest. For quite a long while. Pardon, she'd had it for a long while. Yes. So it was something that was going on for a while in their life that was going to reach a conclusion. Yes, draining away all her strength, wasn't it? Draining away. She spent all her living, her beon, on the medics, couldn't be healed, and it was draining away all her strength. Talk about the weakness of the flesh, but that's another story. Uh, um, you know the storm on the lake, that was an acute trouble. Came up, blew up suddenly, didn't it? This was chronic. He'd been there all those long years. And the woman, the hemorrhage woman, that was chronic. She'd been like that twelve years. Jairus' daughter was acute, she was on the point of death. He came that he might awake her out of sleep, he said. He was asleep in the boat, they had to wake him up. What these things are, aren't they? Yes. And, and look at this thing, you'll see. You'll have to believe me now, so I've got the time to demonstrate it, but to answer the question that you will answer me tomorrow about this woman with a hemorrhage. Uh, not there are four major items in the first bit, and it is the, uh, uh, a second big one is the woman with hemorrhage. Uh, sorry, fourth one. Where am I? The third one. It's the third one. Uh, uh, woman in Simon's house. Over the other side, five, uh, six, seven, and eight, is the woman with hemorrhage. It might help you to come to your decision to notice what those stories have in common. When our Lord was at dinner with a man called Simon in his house, there came a woman behind him, fell at his feet, and Simon said, this man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what woman this is that touches him. But he's a sinner. And to Simon's mind, well, Simon didn't, uh, the Lord didn't know. As he was going to Jairus' house, there came a woman behind, and she touched him. And he stopped and said, who touched me? And the Peter and the rest said, don't be silly, all the crowd is around you, what do you mean, who touched me? Oh, he said, but yes, someone did touch me. I perceive that power has gone out of me. Oh, he did know who touched him. Funny that, isn't it? Two stories, two women that came up behind him and touched him, and the question is raised whether he knew. This time it was whether he knew what kind of a woman it was that touched him. His moral perception was the question. He would have known what kind of a woman that touches him this is, for she is a immoral woman. And this was, he knew who had touched him, her identity, isn't that so? Hmm. Tell me, why did he make this woman confess? That was downtown. You have to confess to be saved. That's the time. Yeah, yes, yes, yes, his suggestion here on the right, you have to confess to be saved. Do you have to confess before you're saved, or I mean, uh, to be saved, or do you save and then get confessed? At the start of the verse, he's justified by believing. Yes. And then he confesses. With your mouth, yes. When was the hemorrhage stopped with this woman? After she confessed or before? Before. Or before, yes. Immediately, the fountain of her blood was stopped, but he made her confess. That's an interesting story, isn't it? Why? I g- I'm sorry to punch this on you all unprepared. Would be nice to be able to fill in the last exam- that penultimate example of salvation, wouldn't it? When we had the others don't repeat themselves, you see. And here, do you see, right at the beginning, there were two men. One was dying and the other was dead, says Luke. And the dead man, the widow of Nain's son, was the only son of his mother. And at the end, there are two women. One was dying by inches, and the other was dead, Jairus' daughter. And the dead girl, says Luke, was the only daughter of her father. Curious, isn't it, those little details? Perhaps they don't mean anything, but, um, that is the fact they're there. Two men, one dying and the other dead, and the dead man was the only son of his mother. Two women, one dying by inches and the other dead, and the dead girl was the only daughter of her father. Luke is an artist, you know. He sees that kind of thing, and thus he brackets the stories together. Marvelous example of Christ's salvation. Of course, Luke was Paul's travel companion. He heard Paul preach the great gamut of salvation, such as Paul writes for us in Romans, justified by faith without works of the law, by grace are you saved, it is through faith. All mouthful stuff, you'll see. And then, um, the evidence of salvation. Salvation, justification leads to works. Mm-hmm. Then salvation from the grip of the devil, from the dominion of sin. Mm-hmm. And then, you know, what the law could not do in that it was, um, weak through the flesh. How did, how do we get over that trouble? What is it that sets us free from the law of sin and death? The- of life in Christ, yes. Gets over this weakness of the flesh business. And finally, Luke would have heard him many times talk about the second coming of Christ. Now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed. We wait for the redemption of our bodies. Marvelous, isn't it? They do preach the same gospel. Paul delineates the theory. Luke will give you examples of it. You are very patient, ladies and gentlemen. God bless you till tomorrow.