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Please turn then in your Bibles
to Luke chapter 7. It wasn't all that long ago,
right around 150 sermons ago, for whatever that matters, that
this passage of Scripture was one that I took as a text. And the Lord does, I believe,
have us back here today for a purpose. And I don't know what all that
purpose might be in your heart and in your mind, but I'm convinced
of the Lord's presence with us in these passages today. So we
want to look at this well-known account, and it's only here in
Luke. It's not found in Matthew, Mark,
or John. It's only here in Luke. But it
is such a beautiful picture of some things that I hope to share
with you today that will encourage you that know the Lord I encourage
you with the reality of what Jesus shows us here. He provides
for us an example of what we have to look forward to, those
who know and love Christ. Verse 11, chapter 7 in Luke,
Soon afterward Jesus went to a town called Nain. And his disciples
and a great crowd went with him, As he drew near to the gate of
the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the
only son of his mother. And she was a widow. And a considerable
crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her,
he had compassion on her and said to her, Do not weep. Then he came up and touched the
beer, and the bearers stood still. And he said, Young man, I say
to you, Arise. And the dead man sat up and began
to speak. And Jesus gave him to his mother.
Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, A great
prophet has arisen among us. and God has visited His people. And this report about Him spread
through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country. This small town of Nain, this
city, unknown by most. I believe it's the only time
it's really referenced in the New Testament. an unimportant
place in the eyes of most and unknown by the majority. The people of this town, though,
they witnessed something on this day that is worthy of our notice. The people of Nain witnessed
on this day death conquered by life. Death conquered by the
giver of life. Two crowds meet here at the gate
of this relatively unknown city, this town of Nain. Two groups
of people traveling on two very different journeys come together
in this one place. There is a great picture I hope
to be able to share with you today from these verses about
what it is that we can look forward to who know the Lord. One group in the midst of grief
and sorrow and death as they make their way out of the city. Another crowd with literally
the one who said, I am life. Traveling in the opposite direction,
meet at the gate, but as that other, the crowd with Jesus is
entering the city. And the crowd with this young
man who had died is leaving the city. There is here such a beautiful
picture for us who know the Lord. that we'll see death conquered
by the giver of life. And we'll see it here played
out in front of us. The people of Nain did. They
saw death overcome by the word of the one who gives life. And there is only one who gives
life. It's God. And there is three persons in
God. There is the Father, and the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. And Christ, as God, speaks life
to a man who was dead. And these two crowds meet at
the gate, but going in opposite directions. And filled with death
is one, and the other with life. And that, by the way, demonstrates,
I think, where absolutely everyone is today. Everyone is in one
of these two crowds. There's a great gathering. There's
a great crowd heading out of the city, heading away from life,
heading toward death. carrying death itself and themselves
in the clutches of death. That's one crowd of people today
and I pray that you aren't in that crowd. But if you are, I
tell you there's opportunity for you today because there's
another group of people who are with the giver of life and If
we do what we're called to do, we will tell you about Him. And
perhaps you will hear Him say, Arise. But we're all traveling
in one of these two crowds today. Your life is made up, and it
is lived, and it is right now in one of these two crowds. And
we want to look together at this passage of Scripture and see
this picture together. this man who had died, this one
that they were carrying to his grave, was, we're told, the son
of a woman who was her only son. And we and others have talked
about that before. The incredible grief that this
woman must have been in at this time is likely beyond our ability
to fully describe or to And certainly we can identify those who have
experienced loss. We can feel with her something
of what she must have felt. But at this time, this woman
was now in a place of complete destitution. Her only son, we're
told. There weren't any others that
she could find consolation in. There wasn't another son who
she might say, I've lost one, but I have another, or I have
these others. No, she was bereft now of her
only son. And I thought, I tried to imagine
what might have been going through her mind. As she's carrying,
or she is with this crowd as the bearers of her son's dead
body, leaving the city, what kinds of things might have been
going through her mind, and certainly none of them pleasant? She might have thought, I've
already buried my husband. I buried him, and now I was not
anticipating having to bury my son. I did not expect that. I never
certainly wouldn't have imagined it or desired it. And we're not
told what the circumstances were, whether he grew ill or whether
there was some misfortune that happened. We're not told the
circumstances, but we're told enough to know that this woman,
as she is walking And traveling with this group of people who
are carrying her son's dead body, she must have been thinking so
many different things. Why, Lord, did you allow this? So many things, and just the
depth of her grief must have been overwhelming at the time. besides that and I would think
on this day where she's burying her son that she's not really
thinking too deeply about these things but in the back of her
mind surely there was also the questions that would have come
to her in this day and age. Who's going to take care of me
now? Where am I even going to live? Who's going to provide for me?
We can imagine just how deep her
grief was, her loss that she felt, how deeply
it must have been going through her mind. And we can imagine
again those in the crowd as they carried this man and as they
carried death toward the grave. And we realize that in this life,
death is inescapable and unavoidable, brought so by sin. The Bible's
clear. The wages of sin is death, Romans
tells us. The reason for death in the world
today is not because there is an indifferent God. The reason
for death in the world today is because there is rebellious
man. It's why sin entered into the
world and death by sin. And there is a large crowd of
people in the world today that are with this group, carrying
death on their shoulders or carrying it out of the city and walking
with others toward the place of death. And yet, they're going
to come into confrontation. with the one who has the ability
to call from death and to give life. And that's what happens in these
next few verses. In verses 13 through 15 we find
the encounter. In verses 11 and 12 we saw the
depth of the grief. We see the reasons that this
widow must have been grieving. And behold, a man had died in
verse 12, the only son of his mother. She was a widow. A considerable
crowd from the town was with her. And so she's in the midst
of a large group of people. But again, no doubt she felt
all alone. But now, now things begin to
take a turn for the better. when they come into contact with
the crowd, who is, who has among them the One who gives life? This One, Jesus. We're told in
verse 13 that He had compassion on her. The Lord felt compassion for
this woman. I believe that He felt compassion
for her in His humanity, as he took upon himself humanity, as
he understood in his human form what it was like to lose one
to death. Apparently, he'd already lost
Joseph to death, the one who stood in the place of his earthly
father. No doubt, Jesus as a man had
experienced death other places and other relatives of Mary and
Joseph, and he understood the depths of her grief to the point
that he could and he looks upon her and he had compassion upon
her in his humanity. But I will say to you today that
the greater news is not that Jesus just felt some human compassion
for this woman, but he felt compassion for her in his divinity, and
in his Godhead, and in his supreme authority and power over death
and the grave itself. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
who was with God in the beginning, looked upon this woman, and in
his divinity, I believe, felt compassion for her and that by
the way is why Jesus came into the world in the first place
looking out across the whole world lost in sin and without
his sacrifice hopelessly doomed to a devil's hell for all of
eternity the heart of God himself was moved to send his son in
compassion for a lost world. And that's why Jesus came here
today. And on this day, when this woman's
grief is so deep, and loss is so heartfelt, and the impossibility
of changing the situation was understood, this is a gap that
she could not, she couldn't cross. Her son had left in death, and
there was no way at that moment for her to go to him or him to
her. She felt that separation, which is death, as we've said
so many times over the years. That's what death is. Death isn't
an end. Death is a separation. And for
those of us who know the Lord, it's a temporary one. It's not
permanent. In fact, in some senses, death
is our deliverance to the greatest presence of God that we could
ever hope to imagine and feel. Here, it's a deliverance into
His presence. But this woman, in this moment
of loss, comes into contact with the One who had compassion on
her. Did you notice that Jesus doesn't even wait for anybody
to say anything? He doesn't wait. He doesn't ask any questions.
He just acts in His compassion. You know, when I was 11 years old, I was
sitting in a service that I had sat through services like that
many times before. I knew who Jesus was. I'd been
taught who He was. I felt as though I was a decent
enough boy, I suppose. Boys don't even really think
too much about that, I don't think, but I didn't feel like
I was all that bad. But on that day, I was the one
being carried ultimately to a grave, lost and in sin, dead in trespasses
and sins, the Bible says. And there were those, metaphorically,
carrying me to the grave. This, by the way, is why the
Gospel must be proclaimed in clarity. and without apology,
because there are far too many people today under the heading
and the banner of Christianity who are doing little more than
comforting people while they carry them to their grave, rather
than telling them about the life that is found alone in Christ
through repentance and faith. We must not be satisfied with
carrying people quietly and easily and comfortably to their grave.
We must not be satisfied with making the bearing of that more
tolerable in our day to day. We must recognize that the whole
world today, all of us are in one of two crowds. One with the
giver of life entering the city, the city ultimately of God, and
others in the crowd of death departing and leaving and heading
to an eternal grave and separation. That's what we stand before today. That's the battle that is in
front of us. That is why we fight the spiritual
battles that grab a hold of our hearts, where the enemy would
long for us to just step into line with those carrying dead
bodies to their graves, rather than singing and rejoicing and
bearing this cross that we are to bear as we walk with the giver
of life, because there might be somebody in your life who
is in the crowd, heading the other way to the grave, and you
need to bring Jesus to them. Because perhaps He might say,
arise, and change their life as He changes this woman's life
and this son's life, and in some ways, I believe, everyone's life
who is here involved. He has compassion on her and
He says, don't cry. He's going to give her a reason
not to cry, but He tells her first. Do you see that? Don't cry. Do you see what is playing out
in front of us is nothing more than what is going to be fully
played out in front of us at the end of time when God Himself
says, don't cry. And He wipes the tear from our
eyes. Don't weep. I am the one who
can give life and take away death and separation. I believe in
Revelation where we read specifically that we're told that there's
no more sea. I've often wondered why is that? And I think it's
because the sea separates and there'll be no separation there. He has compassion and he says,
do not weep. He's going to give her the reason
that she doesn't need to weep in a moment, but He tells her
first. So there's a moment as fleeting as it was for this widow
to do what Jesus said and stop weeping. And I know it's not
that simple, but listen. Paul said it this way, if we
have hope in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most
miserable. I don't have hope in Christ in
the degree that I mean, or that means for me that my life here
is going to be a bed of roses and sunshine every day, and the
job's always going to go well, and my family's always going
to be blessed, and my children are always going to be well provided
for. That's not my hope in Christ,
because everything here in this world including this body that
now houses my eternal soul, is going toward the grave. But thanks
be to God, when I was 11 years old, I was in the crowd of death. But on that day, I met the Giver
of life. And like this day, this jumped
out at me. It really hadn't before, and
it perhaps should have, and maybe it did to you. When the scripture
says that Jesus said this, young man, I say to you, I say to you, that leapt out
at me as I studied in preparation for this morning. I thought,
boy, the conqueror of death and the grave says, this is who makes
this command. Me. I. The one who will overcome
all things. including the enemy that none
of us can avoid and none of us can overcome, death itself, I
say to you, arise. That day that I got saved, I
didn't hear an audible voice. I didn't hear Jesus say to me,
arise. But in a sense, That is what
He did. As that burden of sin left, and
I felt lifted up and at peace with God, truly for the first
time. And life flooded where death
had been. And I felt free and alive. And I'll tell you, if that is
described as just a little bit of what it's going to be like
when I leave this world and enter heaven for all of eternity. If
that moment of salvation is just a drop in that ocean, I cannot
wait to experience the deliverance from this body of death. which
Paul talked about as well. He said, I have a desire, a two-fold
desire. I'm in a straight betwixt two.
I'm in a divided desire. I want to go home and be with
Christ because that's far better. But also it seems it's Christ's
will that I'm here because Because I need to continue to walk with
the Son of God and bring life to those who I come into contact
with in this life. So many of them that are walking
the opposite direction, walking away from the city, and they
need to be walking toward it with the giver of life. He has
compassion, Jesus does. Says to the woman, do not weep.
And tells the young man, I say to you, arise. And we're told that the young
man began to speak. Listen, there's a lot of theological
debate back and forth. Commentators will debate it forever
and always have, I think. Was everyone that Jesus brought
from the dead saved or healed? Were they all saved? I don't
know whether this man was saved or not. I think he's showing
us a picture of his power over death because you want to know
something else. This young man, he died again. He died again. Jesus is telling
us and showing us what he's going to do at the end of time, I believe.
Among other things, yes, he has compassion on this widow. He
is concerned and he's broken for her in his humanness, but
he's also showing us this is what's going to happen on the
Day of Days. When the world is called to an
account before God, it's going to be as though there is one
crowd walking to death and another walking with and to life. And
Jesus is the one who makes the difference. I say to you, arise. And the young man began to speak,
demonstrating and proving beyond any doubt that he was indeed
alive. And I'll tell you, words spoken are perhaps the most effective
tool to communicate the existence of life that exists. The psalmist says let the redeemed
of the Lord say so. We're encouraged, Peter says,
to be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within
you. Why are you hopeful? Why do you have faith? Why, even
in this life filled with so much pain and burden and sorrow, why
do you somehow endure those things and hold steadfast to your faith
in God? And the answer is, because He
said, arise. And I'm alive because He gave
me life. I live today, not in myself,
not by my own power, but I live and I move and I have my very
being in God himself. That's why I have hope. I know
that we're now in this time where death reigns for a season, but
I know the one who conquered death. And one day When this
body pays the penalty of sin and goes to the grave, I am going
to go and be with my Lord, either to immediately receive or await
the new body. Whichever way you want to read
scripture, one way or another, I'm going to be with God. I say
to you arise. He began to speak. And boy, I
love this phrase. He gave him to his mother. What a beautiful picture. That
that death had separated, Christ reunites. That that death had taken away,
Jesus gives back. That's what He's going to do.
Listen, you're an eternal creature. Eighty years is nothing. Eighty years is nothing to what
your existence is going to be. You're an eternal being created
in the image of God. That that death takes away for
a season, he's going to restore in its fullness. Cave, can you
see that? Can you just, for a moment, imagine
in your mind's eye that moment for this widow? as Jesus not
only raises her son and he begins to speak and and and almost in
you know in that moment when Jesus said arise you can almost
sense maybe with her just almost a it's it's surely that can't
happen surely that's too much to expect surely surely that's
not going to be the case but then he begins to speak and then
and then Jesus we're told Jesus literally hands her, gives her,
reunites the son with his mother one day. One day Jesus is going to reunite
all of those who are in Him to never again be separated. That's
what this shows. Because of the compassion of
the Lord, because of His power alone, when He says, I say, arise. Everyone else on the planet could
have said and stood around that dead man and said, arise, and
nothing would have happened. And I'll tell you today that
every preacher on the planet today can stand before a crowd
or an individual and say to them, I say to you, you have risen,
and I will tell you this, nothing will have changed if the one
and only giver of life, Jesus Christ, through the working of
the Holy Spirit, isn't the one who said, arise. It doesn't matter how many voices
are given to it if the one voice of God is absent. Because listen,
Judgment Day is not going to be a democratic vote. We're not
going to all stand up there and all take a vote and say, well,
should we let this one in? No. Jesus Christ, the Judge,
He's going to separate right from left. He's going to be the
one that knows which crowd were you in. Were you among those
with life? Were you among those in death
and in rebellion against the call of God? Jesus, when He says, Arise, this
man begins to speak and is reunited with his mother. And now, verses
16-17, we see the appropriate response of all of these things.
Fear sees them all. And they glorify God. I recognize I recognize that religious men
and women, we can sometimes be too austere,
too sober, too serious to the point of removing from us our joy.
I do recognize that. I think it's the enemy trying
to rob us. of the joyful life that God desires
for us to live, even in the midst of this place called this world
where sin does reign for a season. And so I do know that the world
sometimes looks at Christians and thinks, oh, what a stuffy
bunch of people. They don't have any fun. They
don't know how to have any fun. They don't seem to laugh and
kid, although most Christians I know, they haven't been around
them, because most of them do enjoy fellowship and getting
along. But I know that we can be too
serious, maybe. I certainly know I can. But I also know that when God
works and God moves, when He really does a work like this,
it's a serious thing. It causes men to fear. Never mistake the truth that when God does
a work, fear comes. And I don't mean that necessarily
merely the shaking, trembling, afraid kind of fear, though I
think at times that is appropriate. I'm thinking the reverential
fear of God overwhelms Imagine you're standing there in the
crowd, and Jesus says, young man, I say to you, arise, and
a dead man lives. I'm looking once again at the
Savior, and I'm bowing the knee, and I'm exalting and praising
him. That is the appropriate response to the work of God in
our life. It is a bended knee. in reverential
fear of who He is. It's not a silly act that is
played out in so many different places to entertain the silly
whims of men. When God moves and works, the
mountain smokes and the people tremble. Fear sees them all And they glorified
God. Jesus comes to Nain. He halts
this funeral procession. He speaks a word. I say to you,
arise. He touches the beard. It's like everyone knows as they
stop the procession. Jesus is about to do something.
And boy, in that moment, if you were to press pause, I believe
every eye in both crowds was on Christ. And on the day of days that is
coming, when God says to His Son, it is enough, time is no
more, go and gather your children to yourself and bring them home
to heaven, on that day, every eye will be on the Giver of life. But every man will not be with
Him. Some will be crying for the mountains
and the rocks to hide them because of the wrath that's going to
be poured out upon sin. Rightly so. Justly so. But on this day, halts this funeral procession. One day he's gonna, he's gonna
halt all the others too. Never again. He'll declare it
no more. Never again will this scene play
out. My encouragement to us all is
to trust the one Capital O, the One whose voice raises the dead. Trust Him. And in that moment
when He says to weep not, He knows the burdens of our hearts,
but trust Him. And though the gap between God's
words of encouragement to His trust and our ultimate deliverance
certainly extend longer than the few moments of time that
are displayed here. It is a compression of years
into a moment, but I will tell you that compression of all of
those years will seem but just a moment when eternity comes. Trust me. Trust me. Funerals one day will never again
occur. Trust the one who's going to
end them all. I would say to you, all of us
here today, we're either walking with Christ in life on the way
to the city of God, or you are walking in death away from it. And there are moments in your
life when these two crowds meet. Is that happening today in your
heart and in your life? The crowd with Christ meets the
crowd with death. And Jesus is there to speak life
to those who are dead. That's why He came, because of
His compassion and His love. That's why He died on the cross. And as He hung His head, He said,
It is finished. He accomplished it all. Three
days later He rose from the grave because He has power over it. The Lord stops a funeral. Maybe
that's the title as we conclude. The Lord stops a funeral. One
day He's going to stop them all. If you know Him and if you love
Him and if He has saved you, I pray that you would do what
this young man did in picture anyway. speak, tell others, I'm
alive because of Christ. I'm walking with those who are
with and in the midst of the life giver, Jesus Christ. I am
His. He is mine. I am with this crowd. So that you would be distinguished
from the crowd who is living their life blindly and in death
walking away, maybe even unbeknownst to them, until the giver of life
comes. And for those of us who do know
the Lord, may we bring to those in our life the presence of Christ,
at least in some sense through prayer and through the way that
we act, behave, speak, think, feel, May it all be Christ, the
one who can give life and the one who stops the funeral.
Jesus Stops a Funeral
Series The Gospel of Luke
| Sermon ID | 922252243134321 |
| Duration | 38:50 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Luke 7:11-17 |
| Language | English |
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