on Sunday mornings back in Australia
is that God would come and God would visit with his people. And I'd just like us to think
this morning about God's way of salvation. Salvation is the
most remarkable miracle. We talked yesterday about God
just speaking, and billions upon billions of stars come into existence. But the greatest of all God's
work, the work which is the centrepiece of all His creation, involves
the Incarnation, involves that remarkable coming to this earth
of our God. And as Pastor Marvin Read those
words from Solomon. Solomon asked the question, Will
God, will he really come and dwell on the earth? Has God visited
his people? Salvation is a creative miracle. When God said, let there be light,
there was no opposition. to his creative word. But when
he creates new life in his people, he has to deal not just with
Satan, he has to deal with our flesh, deal with our sin. He must honour God's holiness,
he must honour God's character as it's revealed to us in the
scriptures. And so at the cross of the Lord
Jesus, We have God revealed in the most remarkable way. If we
want to see the attributes of God, if we want to see them shining
gloriously, we go to the cross of our blessed Saviour. That's
where we see sovereignty. That's where we see grace. That's
where we see love. That's where we see our Saviour
again. Will He come? and visit with
us this morning. Salvation involves the will of
God, not the will of man. Salvation involves the word of
God. As Romans 10, 17 says, So faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Of his own
will he brought us forth, by the word of truth that we might
be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Involves the will
of God. Involves the word of God. It
involves the work of God. The work of God in sovereign
election. The work of God in redemption. The work of God in regeneration. And the work of God in resurrection. I'd like you to turn your Bibles
to Luke chapter 7 and we have before us in verses 11 to 17
a simple story and we have in this remarkable story the Lord
Jesus just speaking two sentences two simple sentences nine words
It is remarkable, isn't it, how our Lord says so much to us,
so simply. And as we examine it, we see
more and more, and we can keep examining it for all eternity,
and it just becomes more and more beautiful. Let's read this
story, this remarkable miracle that the Holy Spirit has reserved
for us. There are in the Scriptures Three
people that the Lord Jesus raised from the dead. There's this young
man, there's Jairus' daughter, and of course Lazarus. And all
of them are pictures. They are pictures of salvation. They are pictures of the destiny
of the Lord's people as well. It's beginning with verse 11.
And it came to pass the day after, he went into the 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
people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he
had compassion on her and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the buyer.
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 a fear on all. And they glorified God, saying
that a great prophet had risen up among us, and that God hath
visited his people. And this rumour of him went forth
throughout all Judea and throughout all the region round about. May God take these words of his
and make them living in our lives this morning. The first thing
I'd like you to take careful note of. It's a beautiful expression
and it's used throughout the scriptures. And it came to pass. What came to pass? What's the
it that came to pass? The it that came to pass is but
the unfolding, just another page as it were unfolding of God's
eternal covenantal purposes. That's what the it is. It is
in Revelation that scroll, that seven sealed scroll that is taken
by the Son of Man and He holds that scroll. He is the only one
on heaven and earth that has the right to unroll that scroll. Brothers and sisters in Christ,
everything comes to pass because of those eternal covenantal purposes. I'm sure you know well the words
of David as he was dying. He looks around at his house,
looks at all his own life. He says, although my house is
not so with God, yet I look around and I look inside
and I see a mess. I look at my family, I look at
the things to carnalise and there's almost nothing that I see that
I would like it to be that way. Yet, He has made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and secure, for this Is all my
salvation and all my desire, will ye not make it increase? Brothers and sisters, we are
people who are living in a place which is determined and governed
by Almighty God. We are going somewhere. This universe is not just rolling
along by blind chance. It is governed precisely, intimately,
unchangeably governed by our almighty God. Spurgeon said,
the hinges of history are microscopic. If you think back on your own
life with God, your own salvation, the things that led you are remarkable
things, aren't they? Little things. Little things
said, amazing things done, things that we've witnessed. God works
and God determines all things for the good of those who love
him and are thee called according to his purpose. Things come to
pass. There are no accidents in our
world. And of course it's good for us
to think that this woman is placed in a place where many of you
have walked and many of you will walk. We walk in this world burdened
by the sins of our own hearts. We walk through a sin-cursed
world. We walk through this world with
pain and the reality is that for God's children we're not
immune from it. And to some significant extent,
it is actually made greater in our lives. We have heart's desires
and we have pains that cause us to feel despairing and desperate. Do you have family members who
don't know the Lord Jesus? Do you have friends? Do you have
people you love and care for? All of us, all of us who know
God bear a burden of eternity. And all of us in this world are
people who suffer. Through many trials we must enter
the Kingdom of Heaven. And it came to pass the day after
he went into the city called Nain, and many of his disciples
went with him. Much people, a great crowd. The Lord's miracles are public
miracles to be witnessed. And Peter bears that out in that
great sermon of his on that day of Pentecost. These things were
done publicly. The people who witnessed them
bear the responsibility. for what they did in response
to the Lord's activities. And now when he came nigh to
the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried
out. This dead man was a mature man. He's still a young man, but he's
a mature man. And he's a man who has died And
he's a man who has been carried by others to his place of burial. What a great description of us,
dead in transgressions and sins, captive of Satan, caused to do
his will. We are carried to a place of
burial And we have no power. And we have no control. And we have no sense of the danger. Death. Death is a just wage that
we earn by our sins. The wages of sins is death. and God pays his wages. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon
all men, for all have sinned. What a powerful enemy death is. What a just reward it is. What a sting it has, the sting
of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. We were, like this man, dead
in trespasses and sins. We were carried. We weren't,
as we thought, the sovereigns of our own lives. We think we
are, but we are dead and we are carried. And the place we were
being carried is to the grave. And here we have this mother. I love the pictures in the scriptures
of mothers in travail. They are throughout the scriptures,
aren't they? From Sarah, Abraham's wife, to
Elizabeth, Zachariah's wife, and many, many in between. They're
pictures, of course. of the Bride of Christ born in
this wilderness world in travail in a place where she can do absolutely
nothing you see death had met this woman twice hadn't it she
had lost her husband and now she had lost her son She'd lost her only means of
care, her only protection, her only sustenance in her old age. She had been left with nothing,
stripped of all, desolate. I don't know your lives, I don't
know any of you. who have lost children. The Chinese
had a proverb that said that the most horrible thing that
can happen to a human being on this earth is that one of your
children can die before you. Some of you may have experienced
it. In Jeremiah 6.26 it's actually characterized as the most appalling
thing that can happen. A daughter of my people, dressed
in sackcloth, roll about in ashes, make mourning, as for an only
son, the most bitter lamentation." Her loss had moved the hearts
of those around her, and they were as helpless as her. What
could they do? He was helpless, she was helpless,
they were helpless. All that she'd hoped for as a
support had proven to be a broken and splintered reed. What a picture. What a picture
of man. What a picture of us, dead in
transgressions and sins. Twice dead. Dead in Adam, dead
in ourselves. Twice dead. Dead in our flesh
and dead in our souls. Dead in religion. Dead to any
hope. And who should come along into
a situation of desperate need? I love the picture of the Red
Sea. God takes us to Red Sea events in our lives so often.
How often in your life have you been hedged in? There is no way
across that water. They can't swim. There is no
way ahead. And behind them is an Egyptian
army bent on destruction. And what does God say to them?
You can't do anything. You people of God, stand still,
stand firm and see the salvation of our God. He saves in remarkable
circumstances. These miracles are but pictures
of salvation. The Lord Jesus steps into this
sinner's world of woe and misery becomes mercy. darkness becomes
light. He had just witnessed previously,
if you look back in the chapter, and rewarded great faith and
humility. But here, neither the widow,
nor the mourners, nor the crowd with Jesus say a word. As Isaiah says, boldly I was found
of them that sought me not I was made manifest unto them that
asked not after me God's salvation is sovereign grace Sovereign
grace to dead and desperate and hopeless sinners He comes because
He knows, He is God. This is His ordination, ordained
way of bringing glory to Himself and salvation to these people.
He knows, He comes, He saw, He feels, verse 13, He had compassion
on her. The other crowd with her, no
doubt, had great compassion and no doubt the disciples seeing
her misery and knowing what it meant in that land to have no
one to support you in old age. He feels he had compassion on
her and he speaks. He acts sovereignly, purely from
the goodness of his nature. He has borne our griefs and carried
our sorrows. You see, His eye is always on
His loved ones to comfort them. She had never in all of her life
been out of His love and His care. And brothers and sisters,
we'll have many times in our walk through this world where
we will say, where is God in this? Where is He? He would keep
saying, as I often do, if he knew as much as I do about this
situation, he'd actually fix it in a better way. But he comes with compassion. And then he speaks, he speaks
a remarkable word to this woman in verse 13. He says to her,
weep not. What a remarkable thing to say. You see, unless something extraordinary
was going to happen, it's about the cruelest thing he could possibly
say to her, isn't it? Weep not, he says. As a man, he has compassion. As God, He can act and speak with power
to give life where there was death, to give hope where there
was despair. And he reaches out and he touches. He touches that fire, that litter
that he's carried on. He touches it. and they that bear him stood
still and then he speaks he speaks to a dead man and says to him
young man I say unto thee arise people say But God never asks
people to do things that are beyond their ability. It seems
to me in the scriptures that God keeps asking his people to
do things beyond their ability all the time. Can you believe? Can you repent? Stretch out your
hand the one thing that the man with the withered hand couldn't
do. Lazarus, come out! God not only speaks, but when he
speaks, the power to do comes with new life. Is that what he's
done in your lives? Has he spoken words of love and
grace? Has he spoken with power? Has
he given faith to a dead heart? as he brought repentance and
a heart of flesh where there was a heart of stone. You see our God, our God speaks
to us through these words. And these words are his power. They come with his authority. They are, as John says, they
are spirit and they are life. He cannot fail. He cannot disappoint. His word will never be dishonoured. He is faithful and he will do
it. And this young man that was dead
sat up and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother. He restored what death does,
death destroys, death breaks and there is no putting it back
together again by us, only sovereign grace and mercy. New life is delivered to those
who mourn, blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. The result of this sovereign
mercy, the result of again our Saviour revealing himself and
revealing how he saves his people. Thy glory is great in thy salvation. Verse 16, there came a fear on
all. a fear on all, and they glorified
God, saying, a great prophet, probably referring
to Deuteronomy 18 and that prophet that Moses said that God would
raise up and bring. But much greater than a prophet,
listen to their confession, that God hath visited his people. It's a great description of what
happens in church, isn't it? Dead people are given life. Dead
people are brought together in family and community. And dead people who now have
life long for Him to visit us. Just think back, brothers and
sisters, on the times He comes and visits you. How often it
is when we least expect it. How often it is in remarkable
ways when we are so undeserving of it. When we have reached the
end of our abilities, He comes and He reveals Himself. He reveals
Himself with power through His Word. He reveals Himself to be
God. He reveals himself as one who
holds us in the palm of his hand, holds us to his heart, and carries
us through this world. They glorified God. They glorified God. That's what
new life is about, isn't it? They glorified God. and they
acknowledged that he has visited his people. And this rumour of
him went forth throughout all Judea and throughout all the
region round about. In fact the word rumour there
is the word report. And Drew and I, Marvin were talking
about it the other day. We are here to deliver a report. to you. I'm here to report about
a great saviour called the Lord Jesus Christ. A report is something
that's done at the end of the work, isn't it? When it's finished. When I was teaching school in
India, the bane of my life was writing reports. You're exhausted
after the term of teaching, you're exhausted from marking all these
papers, and then you write these reports. And on that report is
the grade. And on that report is a mention
of the behaviour of the student. We have a report to declare about
our Saviour. The work is done. The work is
finished. He has, as he so wonderfully
declared it, he has finished it. That wonderful word I used
to teach my students in India, one Greek word, and that was
the Greek word, it's just one word, finished. And it was a
commercial term in that world. If you actually had an account
and it was all added up and you owed someone $120 and you went
to the shop and you paid your $120, they
would write across the bottom of the bill, Teteleste. It is finished. That's the report, isn't it?
Nothing more to pay. All is done. And just a couple
of things before I close. Of course, the raising of this
young man from the dead, is also a picture of that great resurrection. That great resurrection. That
resurrection that Job, thousands of years beforehand, was looking
forward to. That Enoch was looking forward
to. That David was looking forward
to. How did David put it in Psalm
17? He says, when I awake, how is
he going to awake? In his likeness. What will he
be when he awakes in his likeness? He will be satisfied. Surely
he who raised the widow's son can and will and must raise all
the members of his own mystical body at that last day. There will be none left in the
dust of this earth. Every single last one of them
will be raised. His body right now is a glorious
body in heaven. His body on that resurrection
day is going to be a glorious and complete body. Not one out
of line, not one missing. The dead shall live. Together
with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that
dwell in the dust. For thy dew is as the dew of
the herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. As John says
in John 5, 28 and 29, Marvel not at this, for the hour is
coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his
voice. It is no problem for our Saviour
to speak to dead people. He speaks life into them while
they're here. He'll speak life into them on
that great day. We need to look at the hills
and wonder if he's coming today. He's on his way back brothers
and sisters. Revelation says he's coming.
He cometh. He's not waiting, he's on his
way. Marvel not at this, the hour is coming in which all that
are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth,
they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, they
that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. We
are going to eternity brothers and sisters. What's the good
that you have done? Anyone here got one single good
deed that they would like to take to God? One single tear
that they think is good enough? One fraction of one prayer that
you think is good enough? One good deed Well, I pray that you have none. I pray that you are like Paul,
that whenever I wish to do good, sin is right there with me. The good of God's people is the
good of our Saviour. The good that He works in us
is just to trust Him, to trust His report. A child of God when regenerated
is brought into all the privileges of the covenant. They were there
and we were dead to them. They were signed and sealed in
eternity and we knew them not. He is never more, one time or
another, the object of the Father's love, the Son's grace, or the
Spirit's fellowship. Nothing changes. What is going
to change in terms of God's love for you between now and Heaven? Is there anything going to change?
He changes not. His love changes not. He loves us exactly now as He
will in Heaven. And He loves us exactly the same
now as He does in the new creation. It is just but the revealing
of marvellous things that He has prepared for us. We don't
die brothers and sisters in Christ. We lose the very thing that stops
us seeing Him in His glory. This sin and this flesh which
in a sense veils his beauty from us. They are singing in heaven
right now, aren't they? They're singing around their
throne. All are yours, whether life or
death or things present or things to come, all are yours and ye
are Christ's and Christ is God. Let's finish by looking at what
that great day will bring, Revelation 21.4. And God will wipe away
every tear from their eyes. And there shall be no more death,
nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain for
the former things that passed away. He who sat on the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new. is done it is finished may the Lord come and revive
our dead hearts afresh again and again may we say as these
people did say it individually, and Lord willing, say it collectively.
God hath visited his people. When he visits his people, it
is always in love, always in grace, always in mercy. Amen.