Luke 7:11-17

Luke 7, verses 11 to 17 for our text and study this morning. And it came to pass the day after. He went into a city called Nain, and many of his disciples went with him and much people. Now, when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold there was a dead man carried out the only son of his mother and she was a widow and much of the people of the city was with her and when the Lord saw her he had compassion on her and said under her weep not and he came and touched the briar and they that bear him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, arise. And he that was dead sat up and began to speak, and he delivered him to his mother. And there came of fear on all. And they glorified God saying that a great prophet is risen up among us, that God have visited his people. And this rumor of him went forth throughout all Judea and throughout all the region roundabout. God blessed to us the reading of His holy and sacred word this morning. The Roman emperor, Theodosius, was once in a good humor, mood, and he decided that he was once, was going to set at liberty all the persons in prison and all who were in captivity. It was a grand gesture, but he sighed afterwards because he couldn’t release the dead from the grave. No human being has such power regarding the dead, not even a mighty emperor. But the scripture reveals to us that the prince of life, The Lord Jesus Christ has the keys of hell and death hanging on his golden girder, as Revelation chapter 1 tells us, and he has power to open the iron gates of death and bid the dead to come forth. The wonderful event that is described in our text this morning is only recorded in Luke’s gospel. Nowhere else. You may wonder sometimes why we have four gospels, but each one has some unique feature about it. And here, the Holy Spirit has deemed it wise to move Luke to include this resurrection or restoration to life of the widow of Nain’s son. It is the first. first instance of the Son of God raising a dead person to life. You can understand what kind of sensation this miracle would create among the Jews. Nobody had been raised from the dead since the days of Elisha about 900 years before this. Nor is this the only time our Lord restored a dead person to life. during his earthly ministry. We find that he raised the daughter of Jarius. And we all remember Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, that Jesus raised from the dead at Bethany. They are the two others that we know of. In this particular event that we have before us this morning, you have the comforting proof of our Lord’s power over the terror of death. Victory over death. Now, as we look at this text this morning, let me say this, you are confronted here with the sorrow that sin has brought into the world in verses 11 and 12. And it came to pass the day after that he went into a city called Nain, and many of the disciples went with him and much people. Now, when he was he, came nigh to the gate of the city. Behold there was a dead man carried out the only son of his mother. She was a widow, and much of the people of the city was with her. As we look at this text of scripture, you are reminded here of the sorrow, the misery, if you would, that sin has brought into the world. our world. We have a funeral procession, if you would, going out from the city to the burial site. Nain was a city in the tribe of Issaqar. It was about 12 miles from Copernium, which is the city that we read about last week in the verse one of this chapter. So it’s 12 by 12 miles away. It’s at the foot of Mount Tabor. Jesus came to the city. He’s accompanied by many of his disciples and a crowd of people. There was a lot of people coming. And we see that the funeral procession is coming out of the city, just as Jesus is about to enter the city. And many of the people of the city are also in the funeral procession here. There’s a lot of people gathered at this city. this situation at this time so that this miracle is going to be done before a lot of the people of the city and a lot of people that have come with with Christ. It would be well witnessed and testified to. Always realized this is not just an accidental meeting. But this is preordained that Jesus Christ would enter the city right at this point when the funeral procession was coming out. It’s going to provide a testimony to the power of Christ, the truth of his message. Now, all funeral processions are times of mourning over the loss of a loved one or a friend that we have. But there are several things that make this funeral sadder than most funerals. Let me mention a couple of them. The death of a son. or a daughter is an occasion of great grief for a parent. David, when he heard that Absalom had been put to death, how he grieved over, O Absalom, my son, my son, would God that I had died for the, O Absalom, my son, my son, to lose a child is difficult. Now he was a young man. Here’s the second thing that makes this sad. Who had, perhaps, perhaps. Perhaps, you know, in a normal course of events, he would have many years to live. But he dies young. Cut off in the prime of his life. That’s always a sad and tragic thing when someone is cut off earlier in life than you would expect. Not only that, but we’re told here, thirdly, that he was her only son. Which makes it a very painful stroke for now the family name is going to be. to be cut off. There’s no way to propagate the family name. You know, Zachariah 12, speaking really of the Messiah, talks about, they shall mourn as one that mourneth for his only son and shall be in bitterness. To mourn for an only son is a lot sadder and a much more bitter. And then if you have 11 other sons or something like Jacob had. The fourth thing that makes this sad, is that she was a widow. Her husband is dead. We have no one else here perhaps that could provide for her. She was perhaps counting on her son to take care of her in her old age. And now that’s cut off. She does not have this help that you would expect normally she would have. Many of the people of the city were with her greatly grieved over the sad, circumstances as well. So here is the funeral procession in name. There’s not one item here that doesn’t add to the misery. Now, friends, we should always realize that death is the result of sin’s entrance into the world. It has been popular in our culture to talk as if death were just a result of sin’s entrance into the world. a common, ordinary event in life. If you read the Genesis account, the Bible teaches in the creation account, and you will find God made all things very good. There is nothing about sorrow, nothing about sickness, nothing about death in the original creation. Sin entered to the world when Adam disdemeanor. disobey God. And death by sin, the scripture tells us in Romans 512. The wages of sin is death. It is a divine punishment for Adam’s disobedience, and all mankind bears the curse of that disobedience. For in Adam all died. and thus the world is full of misery. And every funeral reminds you of the curse that has come along because of Adam’s fault. All the lamentation, the woe, the grief, the sorrow, the misery associated with death, takes you back down. You can’t alter it. and you can’t escape it. The mortality rate among human beings is 100%. You remember the death angel when it went through Egypt on the night of the Passover. The Bible tells us that every Egyptian home, from Pharaoh who sat on the home on the throne, down to the lowest slave in the dungeon. There was a death in every family. It was death. Remember where Joshua was said when it came behind. The God. I am going the way of all the earth. This is the way it is for all of us. Yes, we’ve had a few exceptions like Elijah and Enoch, but they’re rare. Now you can I should thank God that there is a remedy for sins curse. The Bible says the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And that is always the comfort we have from only 623 in these circumstances. So death is the result of sin’s entrance into the world. Now think about this. How much you and I ought to hate sin? If you knew someone devastated by cancer and you see the damage done by that dreaded disease you hate it, how much more we ought to hate that which not only kills the body, if you would, but destroys eternally the soul. Instead of loving sin and cleaving to it and dallying with it, you should hate it, since it is the source of all misery and trouble in life, and it is what ultimately dams your soul. So he was a believer called upon to hate and forsake it, the mortified, to abhor that which is evil. as Romans 12.9 says. So you reminded the misery that sin is produced. Now let me say that a funeral ought to cause you to reflect upon your own preparedness for death. Funerals are common in our society, but I’m afraid most people don’t get any benefit from them. Whenever I do a funeral, I always look at it, it’s not my purpose here to praise the dead, but to speak to the living. And to speak to them about death, and to speak to them about being prepared for death. How many attend a funeral and never actually ponder its significance? How many attend a funeral and think, everyone dies, and one day it’s going to be me that’s going to be in that casket. One day it’s going to be my funeral. Death is certain it’s appointed on the man once to die. God has appointed, he has determined the day of your death. It’s set. You have no idea how long you will live. The widow’s son was a young man, a young man. You can’t assume, oh, I’ll worry about, you know, getting right with God when I get older. Right now, I’m going to sow my wild oats, or I’m going to do what I want to do. You don’t know you have tomorrow. You don’t even know you’re going to make it through today. The question is, are you prepared to die? Are you prepared to face death? Are you prepared to stand before God and give an account? Scripture says this, Lord, so teach me to number my days that I might apply my heart unto wisdom. Julie was home from college. She was working a summer job. She was cutting grass for a business. And one day as she was cutting the lawn with a riding mower, she noticed some movement in the grass and she hopped off the mower. And she discovered a couple of baby rabbits that were scampering away from her noisy machine. Well, she she she shewed them. off to what she thought was a safe location, out of the path of the mower, but suddenly out of the sky, came down a hawk and grabbed one of the baby rabbits and hauled it off. And it’s talons, and it was gone. In a second, it was gone. She had just saved them from getting run over by the mower, and all of a sudden one of the rabbits is gone. Despite her efforts, saved the rabbits, one of them met its demise. Julie said later, it made me think about my own mortality. That’s not something college students often think about. You know, when you’re young, you think you’re indestructible. When you get older and you start to have all the pains and all the agonies and the physical breakdown of the body, you begin to realize, you know, death is coming. You can see it on the horizon. But all young people should realize you never know. You never know. You don’t know if you’re going to live tomorrow. You don’t know if you’re going to live 50 years later. We don’t know. So you are confronted here with the sorrow sin has brought into the world. You’re reminded of the misery sin has produced, and a funeral ought to cause you to reflect upon your own preparedness for death. The second thing we see in this text is this. You see, the compassion of Jesus Christ toward one grieving over death. Here in verse 13 of our text, we read these words. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said under her, and said under her, weep not. here we’re going to find that Christ can remove the sorrow associated with death. Weep not. Jesus meets this mournful funeral procession going to the burial site and out of compassion for the grieving widow he intervenes here to perform a miracle of grace. Now what’s interesting? Interesting is no one appealed to the Lord for him to raise the dead here. Often people would appeal to the Lord to heal this person or that person in the family or friend or something of that nature. But in this case, Jesus Christ uses his own initiative to heal this man and raise him from the dead. He first, though, expressed his compassion with these words weak not. No doubt these words, raised the holes here of the drooping spirits of this woman. He’s about to turn this woman’s weeping into joy. And it’s all so unexpected. Everybody’s thinking about the burial. And all of a sudden, things get turned around completely to where we can have a celebration. He knew well what her feelings were. For Jesus Christ, has a human nature as you and I have. He could appreciate what it meant to lose a loved one. Now, we can’t be sure, but we believe that his, at least his named father, at least the one who was associated as his father, even though he was virgin born. Joseph, we believe, died while he was younger, because we don’t see him anymore. Early on, he’s in the Gospels, and then we don’t see him, and we see Mary all the way through to the cross and afterwards, but not Joseph. And you recall that when Lazarath died, you read that Jesus saw Mary weeping and the Jews also weeping, and he groaned in his spirit and was troubled, John tells us, in John chapter 1133. And then you read those amazing. amazing words, Jesus wept. I don’t always understand sometimes this, but I guess when you have two natures, it’s a different situation than we are accustomed to. He’s going to raise Lazarus from the dead, and yet he weeps when Lazarus dies, and he sees everybody else weeping. He’s sympathetic. Now the key thing here is that Jesus Christ is able to remove the sorrow associated with death. There was no one else who could alleviate this woman’s sorrows, but the Lord. So Christ can remove the sorrow associated with death. He says, weep not. As you remember, that Christ never changes. This is this story. We have to always try to remember this. This is not ancient history. It is in a way ancient history, but it’s for us, and therefore it is useful for today, in our benefit. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, though he now sits upon a throne in heaven, his heart is still as compassionate as you find him here in our text. He is still sympathetic toward you as a believer. When you lose a loved one, we ought to keep him. this in mind. We’re to draw comfort from this. Who can be a better friend or comforter than the Lord in the time of such sorrow? Who else can say weep not and grant you a consolation that overcomes the sorrow of your heart? In all the darkness and all the gloom that surrounds death, Jesus is interceding on your behalf that you would be granted comfort. You can count on his help and his interest in your sad plight. Go to him. You’ll never be disappointed. He will never fail to strengthen and encourage you in these difficult times. He still binds up the brokenhearted and he’s able to wipe the tears from your eyes. I’m reminded of the story of Jacob. Remember when his brothers brought back his coat of many colors and was all torn up and it was covered with blood, and he assumed that Joseph had been destroyed by some wild beast. And he was just overwhelmed with sorrow. Jacob, rent his clothes, were told, put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned his son for many days in Genesis 37. Now all his sons and daughters came to him and they tried to comfort him. He would not be comforted by them. You read those ominous words, but he refused to be comforted and he said, for I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him. He says, I want to mourn the rest of my days for my son. Now you and I could be like that. We could be in that much distress and that much loss and misery. Man’s consolations cannot always assuage the grief that we have. What we don’t read Jacob doing and what he should do should have done was go to the Lord. And that’s what we should do. Because sometimes grief is very great, but God would have us to go to the Lord. Don’t fail to do that in your own time of grief. You see the compassion of Jesus Christ toward one grieving over death. The third thing we see in this text is this. You see a display of the almighty power of Jesus Christ in verses 14 and 15. And he came and touched the briar, and they that bear him stood still, and he said, young man, I say unto thee, arise. He that was dead sat up and began to speak and he delivered him to his mother. You find here that Christ has power to raise the dead. Now, a briar here is not a closed coffin. The corpse is not enclosed in a box. The corpse is lying on a frame of wood. And they’re carrying him out to the burial place. But upon touching the briar, the pallbearers, if you would, stood still. And then Jesus speaks. He performs a miracle which stuns everyone. He says just these few words, young man, I say to thee, arise. And everything gets changed. This man, young man, comes back to life, sits up. and begins to talk to people. Jesus could simply speak to a cold, lifeless body and cause the soul to come back and give it life again. All of a sudden, the dead man springs to life. The voice of the almighty son of God calls forth the dead, and life returns. Now, I remind you that Elisha and Elijah also restored people to life. You remember? But it required extensive effort and intensive prayer for that to happen. Do you remember? In 1st Kings 18, you watch Elijah. He cries out to the Lord. Then he stretches himself out on the widow of Zerfast’s son three times. And then he prays again. Oh, Lord, let us. this child’s soul come into him again, and the prophet has to wait upon the Lord to act. He has no power to restore life. Only God can do it. In 2nd King’s chapter 4, watch Elisha. He too prays. He too stretches himself out on the Shunamite son, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hand to hand, read until the child’s body actually waxes war. form. See him walking to and fro in the house. Waiting for God to do something. Waiting for God to restore this young man’s life. See him again the second time stretching out upon the young child. And finally, his prayer is answered, and the child sneezes seven times and opens his eyes and he’s restored to life. Now, I want you to contrast this with Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God. manifested in the flesh, he simply commands, young man arise. Immediately. Young man comes to life. There’s a difference here. There’s a difference. He’s not just a prophet. He’s the son of God. He needs not pray and wait. For he possesses the power, the divine power, that’s equal with the fault. So you find Christ has the power to raise the dead. When we read about Christ raising the dead here, it should give you confidence in Christ, raising the dead on the last day. This amazing miracle is a certain pledge, if you would, of the general resurrection that is coming. If you look with me at John, Chapter 5, verses 28 and 29, Jesus says this. about himself. Marve not at this, for the hours coming in which all, all that are in the grave, shall hear his voice and shall come forth, they that have done good under the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil under the resurrection of damnation. This same Jesus, who raised up the widow of named son shall raise all mankind, the small and the great, on the last day. No matter how impossible, it may seem to the human mind, all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, commanding them to come forth. Christ merely speaks, and the dead all come to life. Their bodies are reconstituted, from the very dust to which they have decayed. That’s what the scripture indicates to us. The souls of those who have died will be reunited, of course, to the bodies that are raised from the dead. All then are brought before the judgment seat of Christ to be given an assessment. And the Bible says some, the resurrection will be on to life. Here, the believer, enters now body and glorified body and soul into the eternal state of bliss and happiness in the eternal kingdom. And here there’s a resurrection of damnation because the ungodly enter into a place of damnation, the lake of fire. Will they suffer body and soul in this place? Let us not doubt the doctrine of the resurrection that’s coming. Let us not have any doubts that Christ can restructing. raise the dead. Live in light of the certainty of this event. And as Peter says, what manner of persons ought we to be in all manner of holy conversation and godliness, seeing that this is the case that Christ will return again and there will be this resurrection to come. So you just see a display of the almighty power of Jesus Christ. Fourthly and lastly, how you should respond regarding Christ’s power to raise the dead. Versus 16 and 17 of our text. If there came a fear on all, and they glorified God saying that a great prophet is risen among us, and God have visited his people. And this rumor of him went forth throughout all Judea and throughout all the region roundabout. First thing is, is you should fear Christ. Now the fear spoken off here in our text may be that of an alarm, perhaps of a terror which comes over you. When you witness such an act of divine power, it’s unnerving that the sinner should see this occur. It unnerves him. Remember what Jesus said in Luke chapter 3. 12 in verses 4 and 5 don’t fear him who can kill the body but fear him who can cast the body and the soul into hell 5. Now think about that. You know we live in a time when this coronavirus people are frightened to death of that which can kill the body. But who they really should fear is the Lord who can cast them body and soul into the lake of fire. Christ is going to resurrect your dead body and you’re going to have to face a final judgment. Fear can also be taken here as a reverential fear. We could also look at this as a great respect for the Son of God and the power he wields so that we see him as God Almighty. Are you prepared? Stand before the judge. judgment seat of Christ. You should fear Christ. Secondly, you should glorify God. Verse 16 tells us that they glorify God here. They don’t only ascribe the glory of this miracle to God, but they realized that God had raised up a redeemer for his people. They saw this as God visiting them. This phrase is an interesting phrase. that a great prophet has risen up among them. I take this as perhaps a reference to that which we read in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 18, where Moses said that God would raise up a great prophet, like unto himself, would be their great mediator, and that all the people would be gathered to him, and they would hear his words. And if you didn’t hear his words, judgment would fall on. This is the prophet. This is the one. God hath visit his people by bringing forth the long-awaited Messiah. We studied Zacharias prayer in chapter 1, and he talked about God visiting his people and sending Christ. Right? These were the days that Christ was coming, and John, his son, was only going to be a forer to that. You can read that in Luke chapter 1 to 68 to 79. I won’t take the time this morning to read that. That’s what it talks about. This is what was meant by God visiting his people. So this miracle provided evidence that the Savior has come. In other words, Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners by his blood and by His righteousness. I wonder if we have ever glorified God for sending the Savior. Have we embraced the Lord Jesus Christ by faith as Lord. and Savior. Lastly, you should testify Christ. Verse 17, we read above the rumors of him went throughout all Judea and throughout all the region around the bottom. The report of this miracle and the belief that he was the great promised prophet and Messiah was spread far and wide. People testified of Christ and his fame spread. throughout all Judea, all Galilee, and so forth. If we have firsthand knowledge of Jesus Christ as the Lord and as the Savior, our duty is to declare His glory among others. To speak of His greatness, to speak of his power, to speak of his Saviorhood. One wonders how many hear of the greatness of Jesus Christ but never respond in faith. It does you know good to me. merely hear of Jesus Christ who can raise the dead and who is the Savior. And then ignore that and not do anything with it. Christians testify of Christ for the very purpose of having you believe in the good news concerning him that your soul may be saved. The Roman Emperor Theodosius wished that he could release the dead from their graves, but he didn’t have that power. scripture reveals the prince of life Jesus Christ has the keys of hell and death. He has the power to raise the dead. What a marvelous passage this is for us to ponder I think about this morning. Let us close with a word.