Luke 7-11 We've never had a funeral at this church. in 14 years. It's kind of remarkable, really,
if you think about it. At least I'm pretty sure we had,
and I'm not completely sure of anything anymore because my memory
is so bad these days. Pretty sure we've never had one.
I've preached a few funerals, but I cannot even imagine Preaching one of yours. Sooner or later there will be
one here. Unless the Lord comes back first. Even so come, Lord Jesus. We can imagine the sorrow of
this woman in our text. She was a widow. She had already
had to endure the death of her husband. And now her only son
has died, and the only thing we know about him, we know she was his, or he was
hers. We know that it was her son. And we know that he was young. In verse 14, the Lord Jesus said
to him, young man. And when young people die, it's
especially sad, isn't it? And yet, this is not a sad story. Not at all. Not at all. And there's only
one reason for that. This woman's world had indeed
come crashing down around her head. You can imagine, you can
enter into this a little bit. Everyone here has probably lost
somebody that they love at one time or another. And it can be
devastating. It's life changing, isn't it? And yet this is a happy story
for one reason and one reason only, in verse 13, when the Lord
saw her. He had compassion on her. Because of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ for sinners. All of our sadness has turned
into joy. That's just the simple truth
of what it is to know Him. Because He loves us. There's really nothing to be
sad about. And I wish that I could impress this
upon us this morning. Those of you who believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, no matter what your situation, no matter
how dark, and it gets dark sometimes, doesn't it? No matter how bitter. No matter how devastating. First of all, your Lord sees you. Don't know yet if she had any
idea who he was, but he knew who she was. He saw her. All of your tears are in his
bottle. He has compassion. We'll talk about that word in
a moment, Lord willing, compassion. What was this young man's cause
of death? When you think about that, you
might be thinking, well, we have no way of knowing that, but we
do. We know exactly what the cause of his death was, because
it's the cause of every death, sin. You say, well, you know, that's
not very specific. That is specific. If you say
he died of a terrible accident or something, that's not specific
enough. The specific reason for his death is sin. The wages of sin is death, and
he died because he deserved to die. You say, well, that's a
terrible thing to say. How would you like to walk into
a funeral, you know, sometime, people, everybody's crying, somebody
that they love is going, and just say, he died, he's dead
because he deserved it. That wouldn't go over very well,
would it? It'd be the truth though. to
be the truth. The wages of sin, not the tragedy
of sin, although it is tragic, the wages of sin is death. He deserved to die. Is that why we cry at funerals? Probably not. We cry because we miss our loved
one that's gone now. We contemplate what it's gonna
be like without them. I thought about when my dad died,
I thought, what am I, what do I do now? I mean, every time
I had a question about anything, every time I needed reassurance
about anything, that was my dad. What now? We remember the good times that we had with them, don't
we? And we weep. Do we ever, do we ever, funeral
or no funeral, do we ever weep over sin and its consequences? And if that's not why you're
crying at a funeral, if you don't weep over sin and its consequences,
when will you? There's a dead body laying right
in front of us. I've been to several funerals
of those who had no interest in God in this life. Some who were officiated by people
who had no interest in the God of the Bible. And I've wondered, how can that
person be talking about what they are talking about? With a dead person laying right
there. How can they really be talking
about what they're talking about? You think about this. Can we
be in the room with a dead person and not talk about seeing? There's just one reason why people
die. Can we do that? Can we be in
that circumstance and not talk about how sin can be put away?
What else are you going to talk about? Will we ignore God? Will we ignore
the God who killed that person? They didn't die of an automobile
accident. They didn't die of cancer. That's
not specific enough. They died because God killed
them. He said, I kill and I make a
life. And the reason, talk about the
reason why he did. And that reason depends on the mercy of God, doesn't
it? If it's an unbeliever who hated God and shook their fist
in His face all their life, even if they were religious, they
may have loved the Jesus that their preacher talked about every
week, but if they hated the God of the Bible, who saves whom
He will, when He will, The way He will, there's only one way
of salvation now. And that's by the Sovereign Christ.
You've got to come to the feet of the Sovereign Son of God who
gives life to whom He will. And He withholds it from whom
He will. You don't come there, and the reason God killed you
is because you are accountable to Him for all of your sin. And
He's calling you to account. And you're going to be punished
forever for every sin you've ever committed in thought, word,
and deed. But if you're his, if God hath from the beginning
chosen you, oh beloved, we are bound to give
thanks always to God for you. Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit
and belief in it. If you're one of those, you know why God killed
you? To take you home. To give you
life indeed. All he did was kill this body
of death. The body of this death. What
we call life is really death. And what this world calls death
for the believer is really life. But will somebody be laying there
dead, a dead body? Are we not talking about the
God that made them and the God who called them home or called
them into account? The sin that caused their death?
Because even the death of the believer is the reason our bodies
die is because of sin. But that's a good thing if you're
a believer because this body needs to die. You want to live
in this thing forever? The body of this death? I don't. I want to be raised again incorruptible.
I want to be changed. Don't you? Changed. In a moment
in the twinkling of an eye we shall all be changed. But think
about that for a minute. God killed somebody we know and
care about. We're at the funeral now in our
minds. We're thinking about that. God killed somebody that all
of us know and care about. And he did it because that person
was a vile sinner. Think about this in the funeral
of a lost person. And we don't know anybody's heart,
but we know if somebody gave a hoot for God or not in their
life. That's just evident. By their
fruit you shall know them. And we don't know. It's between
them and us. It's not our business, is it?
But here's somebody. I've been to funerals where the
person in that casket never gave a thought for God their whole
life, and the person that's so-called preaching the funeral has no
interest in the God of the Bible. And there they are, God killed
that person that they all know and loved in their way because
he deserved to die, because he was a vile sinner. And you're
sitting there thinking as a believer, he's likely in hell. Every evidence that could be
shown in his life. He's likely in hell for eternity
paying for his sins. And most of the people in the
room are soon going to die and meet the holy God that made them.
And be accountable for all of their sin before that God. And
we'll gather around their dead body then, when that happens,
while God casts them into outer darkness and eternal torment.
But there is a way of salvation and nobody talks about it? Nobody
going to talk about that? The Son of God died and paid
the sin debt for a countless multitude of sinners. And His
Word says that there's forgiveness through His precious blood. And
all we're going to talk about is what a nice boy Tommy was?
Are you kidding me? A funeral doesn't have to be
a sad and depressing time. Now let me tell you something
from our text. If it's not going to be, this is a happy funeral. Can you imagine anything more
happy than this funeral in our text? If it's not going to be though
a sad and depressing and terrible time, The Lord Jesus Christ is
going to have to be there. And there's going to have to
be some assurance that the Son of God has given life to that
dead sinner in that casket. Then, if we have a good hope,
through grace, That God has given life, though
their body, though that body of this death, though that fleshly,
carnal body is dead. If we have a good hope that God
has given life to that sinner, then, even if it's me or you,
we can rejoice. Otherwise, you talk about sad.
What is sadder than for a sinner to die without hope? when the
gospel message is being shouted from the rooftops. That's as
sad as it gets. If I ever did preach the funeral
of a lost man or woman, and I don't believe I have, we don't know
for sure about anybody, but I believe the several funerals
that I've preached have been those of believers. But if I
ever preach the funeral, of a lost person, do you know what it would
be? A warning. What else could it be? What else
could it be but a warning? And listen now, when somebody
suffers as this woman was suffering, have you ever wished that you
could do something about it? Somebody that you care about
is suffering. But there's only one in our text
and there's only one in this room that can do something about
it. Do you ever wish you could say
something? The Lord saw her. The only one that could help
her saw her and had compassion. Do you ever wish you could say
something? that would comfort someone that you love that is
suffering look what he said to her it says he saw her he loved her
he was moved with love for her and he said something to her and this is of course in the
old English and and it's it's The literal word of God, I'm
not saying that, and don't take this the wrong way, but the Lord
didn't talk like a robot. He didn't say weep not. This
is the language. If we said that now, how would
we say it? Don't cry. Don't cry. That's what he said
to her. Don't cry. And we never, ever, ever want
to put words in our Lord's mouth. And that's not what I'm fixing
to do. So understand that what I'm about to say, I'm not saying
that this is what He said to her. What He said to her was,
don't cry. But He said it with power. And
there are some things behind that. When the Lord of glory,
when the Son of God says, don't cry. Think about what's being
said here. This is, I want to impress upon
us what is behind these words, don't cry. Don't cry, I am the
Lord. It says the Lord. It didn't say
Jesus saw her. We love His name Jesus. There's
something about that name. There is, isn't there? Jesus,
Savior, Jehovah saved. Beautiful name. But the Lord
saw her. The one who gives life to whom
He will. The one who says your sins are
forgiven and they are. He could say that to everybody.
He can say that to everybody in this room this morning. Your
sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. And they
are, if he says it. He's the one that said, don't
cry. Don't cry. Remember when the Lord appeared
to Jacob in the book of Genesis at a time
when Jacob desperately needed the Lord to appear to him. This is what the Lord said to
him, I am God Almighty. Now I'm pretty sure Jacob knew
who it was that was talking to him. But God now and then is
gracious to remind us who he is. I am God Almighty. Are you sad? The Lord sees you. If you're
his now, if you're a believer, if you love him, it's because
he first loved you. He loves you. And he says, don't cry. Don't
cry. Don't cry. I am the Lord. I am
God Almighty. Don't cry. Why not? Everything's
falling apart. Nothing's ever going to be the
same now. Yes, but I am God Almighty. There's a lot in that, isn't
there? It happened exactly because He
wanted it to. Because He's God Almighty. It
didn't take Him by surprise. Because He's God Almighty. He
doeth all things well. Because He's God Almighty. He
does everything for the good of His sheep. Because He's God
Almighty. Nobody can stop Him. You can't mess it up. You can't
forfeit it. You can't ruin it. Because He's God Almighty. Don't
cry. Don't cry, I am the Lord. And
don't cry, I love you. Don't cry. I love you. The word compassion
in verse 13 there. A very interesting word. You'll be surprised when I tell
you what it means. It means guts. You know in the scripture when
it says that all is removed with compassion. That's intestines. That's the idea here. Intestines.
Your guts. It's quite a word in the original.
It's pronounced splank-nizoma. And the guts, the intestines,
your inner organs were thought then to be the seat of love,
the source of love and pity. And here's why, it's not difficult
to understand why they thought that. Because when you love somebody,
it hurts, doesn't it? It hurts a little bit. Sometimes
it hurts a lot. Where does it hurt? It hurts in your guts, doesn't
it? It hurts in a good way, kind
of, in some senses. Other times, it hurts in a bad
way. If you lose somebody you love,
it hurts. When somebody you love is hurting,
it hurts you. Where does it hurt you? Right
here, right here. The word also means a heart.
Full of love and mercy. Full of love and mercy. That sounds better than intestines,
doesn't it? I love you with all my guts.
No? Heart is better, isn't it? But
you get the meaning of it, don't you? It's not just a sentimental
thing. It's deep. Think about this. Our Lord's heart hurt for this
woman. Felt it on the inside. Something is breaking. Does it
hurt to see somebody that you love cry? She was weeping her heart out.
Her heart was broken. She was a widow that had just,
she lost her husband and then sometime soon after, sometime
after because the man was young, relatively soon, She lost her
young, only begotten son. And her heart is breaking. And
she's weeping. She was hurting, and the Lord
was hurting with her. Does it hurt you to see
somebody that you love cry? To see your children cry? Does
it hurt you? What does it hurt? Do you have a better heart than
our master does? Something is breaking their heart
and so what happens to ours? It's painful isn't it? And we haven't yet begun to understand
or even have any idea really how much the Lord Jesus Christ
loves his people. Loves us. He loves me. If I had any idea, I'd never worry about anything. If you had any idea how much
he loved me, you wouldn't think about me the way you do. Nor
I you. If we had any idea. You ever catch yourself When
it comes to other people's family or children, somebody that you
love loves somebody else. But that person does something
that really makes you mad. You think, well, wait a minute. It's so-and-so's son or daughter. It's OK. I can let it go. Can we see each other that way?
as the object of the eternal, infinite love of the Master. Can we see each other that way?
Can I see myself that way? Not as deserving of His love,
but as loved by Him anyway. Loved with everlasting, endless,
boundless, infinite love. anyway. Loved yet. You remember the story of Hosea
and Gomer? God said go love her and she's
a horrible wretch. She is the most unlovable thing
that you can possibly imagine. You think about it. I have. There
would be nothing more impossible than to love somebody like her.
And yet God said, you go love her. And he put the love in his
heart for that woman. And when she proved to be the
horrible wretch that she was, he said, you go yet love her. Because you need to understand
something of my love for my sheep. Loved yet. In that while we were
yet sinners. Christ died for us, and there's
no greater love than that. Then a man lay down his life
for those he loves. We're in over our heads, aren't
we? Christ yet loves us. The world
says the greatest love is to learn to love yourself. I got
news for you. You don't need to learn that.
You was born loving yourself. You've always loved yourself.
And you're always going to love yourself. Your flesh is always
going to. Until God gives you a new heart,
then you're going to hate yourself. You're going to hate yourself
while you're loving yourself. You're going to hate the fact
that you love yourself. Does that make sense? If you
have two hearts, it does, doesn't it? And if you don't, then nothing
makes sense to you that God ever said. Not a thing. It's not about loving yourself.
Herein is love. Not that we loved God, but that
he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our
sins. That's what love is. He was moved with compassion. And he said, don't cry. And our
Lord's words to her are not empty sentimentalism. People say at
funerals, you know all the things. They say, everything's gonna
be all right. We can't really say that, can we? I don't know what everything's
gonna be. All right or not all right, do you? Unless God said it. unless God said it. If God says
everything's going to be alright for you, then I can say everything's
going to be alright for you. If you're in Christ, everything's
going to be alright. He can say it. He can say everything's
going to be alright. And it will be. And when he says don't cry, He's
fixing to do something about it. It's not just empty sentimentalism. He's going to do something about
why you're crying. He's not just going to dry your
tears. It says, God shall wipe away all tears from your eyes.
You know what that means? That's a picture. But the way
he does that, he removes every reason for those tears. We are, you know the only reason
that we cry now, the only reason that we cry is because we don't
know how good we have it in Christ. We don't know what He is to us.
We don't know how wonderful it is to be found in Him. We don't
know that we don't have a problem in the world. We don't have a
problem, everything's working for our good, even our problems
are for our good, but we don't know that. We know it in our,
by faith, in our spiritual heart that he gives us. If we plumbed
to it, we wouldn't be worried. We wouldn't complain. We wouldn't
be like we are. But even that reason is going
to be removed someday. Because we're going to know even
as we're known. And that's the last tear you're
ever going to shed. When we see him as he is, you're
not going to shed any more. He will have wiped them away.
In verse 14 it says he came and he touched the beer, the platform
that they carried this dead man on, a bed or a stretcher or some
kind of thing. And they that bear him stood
still. He touched it to stop them and they stopped. And he
said, young man, I say unto thee, arise. Now it's important that
we understand something about the Jewish law, the Old Testament
law here. Because in Numbers chapter 19
we learn that it was forbidden by the law of God that anyone
touch a dead person or anything that had been touched by a dead
person. And so what our Lord did here under God's law rendered
him unclean ceremonially according to the law. It says there in
Numbers 19, if you care to read it later, if you touch a dead
corpse or touch anything that they've touched, their grave
or anything, you're unclean. We read also in Mark 140, there
came a leper unto the Lord Jesus Christ one day, beseeching him
and kneeling down to him and saying unto him, if you will,
you can make me clean. And Jesus moved with compassion. He put forth his hand and touched
him. You don't do that. You don't
touch lepers. You might catch what they got. That's why he did it. That's
why he did it. He put forth his hand and touched
him and saith unto him, I will be thou clean. And as soon as
he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him. Departed
from that man. And he was clean. In both of
these texts, it says he had compassion. And in both of them, it says
he touched something or somebody. And in both cases, the act of
him touching that person or that thing caused him, under the law
of God, to be considered unclean. How much does he love us? How
much compassion does he have? How much does his heart move
toward his people? Enough. God so loved that he
gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish but have everlasting life. They'll be made clean.
How? He took our sins and our sorrows and our disease, our
uncleanness, He took it unto Himself. Under the law of God,
He was declared to be unclean. That's how much He loved you.
He did that for you that you might be clean. Herein is love. He sent His Son to be the propitiation,
the sin offering for our sin. You don't go around touching
lepers unless you want to be a leper. It pleased our Lord to be a leper. He said, I am a worm and no man.
This is a picture of what our Lord did. Such a clear and beautiful
picture of what He did for us spiritually. In Isaiah 53, verse
4 it says, Surely He hath borne our griefs. Do you know what
that word is? Sickness. Surely he hath borne our sickness,
and carried our sorrows, or our pain. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquities,
the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed. The Lord touches us deliberately
to take our sickness unto himself. This is substitution. He took
our place on Calvary's cross as the diseased one, as the sinful
one, as the sick one, under the law of God, having no sin of
his own, being the spotless Lamb of God and never ceased to be. But this tells us something of
the compassion that our Lord does have for sinners like us.
In order to do something about our sorrow and our pain and our
sickness, He Himself had to become unclean under the law. Though He had no sin, no disease
of His own, He bore ours in His own body on the tree. What a beautiful and clear picture
And again, this is not an empty gesture. The result of him touching
us and taking our disease, as it says there in Isaiah 53, is
we are healed. He didn't do what he could. He
didn't do his best. He healed us. He made us clean. He made us every whit hole. He
obtained eternal redemption for us. When the Savior touched that
leper, it says the leprosy departed from him. His touch is powerful. His touch
is effectual. His coming in contact with us,
God with us, Christ born into this world to die for our sins. His precious blood cleanseth
us from all sin. Scripture says it thousands of
ways. One truth, one person, one gospel, one thing needful. Young man, I say unto thee. You reckon anybody there thought
what in the world is he doing talking to a corpse? There's a dead man lad, he's
a young man, he's having a conversation with a corpse. Now you know how
skeptical people are. You reckon anybody was thinking
what in the world? He's out of his mind. What are we preachers of the
gospel? What are we witnesses of Christ doing talking to corpses? Everybody's dead by nature in
trespasses and sins. What's the use of talking to
them then? Well, the one that told us to talk to them is able
to give life, that's what. And that's the way he does it.
This book teaches clearly that sinners are dead in trespasses
and sins. Our text teaches that. It also
teaches us to go and to preach to them. Those dead, very dry
bones of Ezekiel. In Ezekiel chapter 37, when the
Lord took him out to that old battle ground where men had fallen
in battle and they had dried up, their bones even were very
dry at this point. And what did the Lord tell Ezekiel
to do? Preach to them. What in the world? If I start talking to a bunch
of skeletons, everybody will think I'm crazy. Not everybody. Just the crazy ones will think
you're crazy. Preach to them, why is the Lord
speaking to a dead person? Romans 4, 16, Therefore it is
of faith that it might be by grace to the end, that the promise
might be sure to all the seed. Not to that only which is of
the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who
is the father of us all, as it is written, I have made thee
a father of many nations before him whom he believed, even God,
who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which
be not as though they were. He's sitting there talking to
a dead man as though he was alive. That's because the life is his
to give. And here is my testimony in verse
15 of our text. And he that was dead sat up and
began to speak. That just about sums it up, doesn't
it? The Lord Jesus said, I say unto you, the Lord Jesus loved
me with an everlasting love. The Lord Jesus spoke to me in power. The one who said, let
there be light, and there was light, said, arise. And he that was dead, that's
me, sat up and began to speak. What are you doing speaking,
Chris? You can't finish a sentence intelligently. Nobody cares what
you say. You're uneducated. You're nobody
from nowhere. What are you doing talking? Oh,
that's true, but the Lord spoke to me. And so now I've got something to
say. The Lord gave me life. Listen to this, quote this passage
as if it were, I'm going to quote it as if it were me, but you
hear it as if it were you. Ephesians 2 verse 1. And he hath quickened me, he
quickened me when I was dead in trespasses and sins, wherein
in time past I walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, even still.
Among whom also we all had our compensation in time past in
the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
the mind. And I was by nature the child of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy
for his great love, he had compassion on me. For His great love wherewith
He loved us, even when I was dead in sins, hath quickened
me together with Christ. By grace you are saved. Oh, in case you could read all
of that and not understand that salvation is completely of the
Lord, in case you could read all of that and understand that
you had nothing to do with it, In case you could read all of
that and think that you cooperated with God somehow in your salvation
by making some kind of a decision or doing something for Jesus,
just in case you missed all of that, he put in parentheses there,
by grace are you saved. And he goes on to say later in
that text, by grace are you saved through faith and that's not
of yourselves. Even the faith wherewith you
believe on him is the gift of God. We are quickened together, it
said there, with Christ. Let me close with this. We are
quickened together with Christ. In other words, we live because
he lives. There's just one way to have
life and that's with Christ. The cause of Christ, in Christ,
with Christ. Why did our Lord die? Why did
we die? Let's start there. Why did we die? We talked about
that. Because of sin. Why did our Lord Jesus Christ
die? Because of sin. That's all it is. Did anybody ever die? Why did the Lord Jesus Christ
arise from the grave? Why does he live? Why does he
ever live to make intercession for us? Why did he come out of
that grave? Why did the stone roll away?
And he opened his eyes and he rose up like every other man
on that stretcher. And he folded his grave clothes
and laid them down and walked out of that grave. Why? Because
perfect satisfaction was made for sin. That's why. Why do you and I rise then? Why
do we have life? Why do we rise from the spiritual
dead? Because perfect satisfaction is made for sin. That's why. It's not complicated. He died because of sin, not his,
but mine. I live because of perfect satisfaction
for sin, not mine, but his. He paid a debt he did not owe.
I owed a debt I could not pay. I needed someone to wash my sins
away. And now I sing a brand new song.
Amazing grace all day long, Christ Jesus paid the debt that I could
never pay. And he began to speak. What do
you reckon he said? Wouldn't it be interesting to
know what he said? Well, let me ask you that. What would you
say? If the Son of God raised you
from the dead, what would you say? Our Lord told that old demoniac,
the one who had been possessed, was a legion of devils. He said,
just go home and tell your friends what great things the Lord has
done for you and have had. There's our word again. Compassion
on you. Tell them about the love of God
in Christ. Tell them how that he so loved
that he gave himself. That he himself became unclean
under the law, then we might be clean. Acts 4.18, they called them and
commanded them not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of
Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said unto him, Whether it
be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than
God judge you. For we cannot but speak in the
name of Jesus. You know, everybody that can
quit, kid, Because of His grace, because
of how wonderful He is, because of what He's done for sinners,
because we have such hope. And He delivered Him to His mother. Think about that. We could just
skip over that. Surely there's not much to that.
He delivered him to his mother. What grows. He does something for us. He
joins us together with others that he's done something for.
See he didn't just do something for that dead boy. He did something
for that mama too. He delivered him to his mother.
The Lord Jesus Christ has delivered unto me my daughters. It don't get much better than that. And in a larger context,
He brings those together. He brings all those together,
delivers us to one another, those whom He has compassion on. And where the Lord is pleased
to do a work of grace and salvation, like here, in that last verse
there, it says, the rumor went abroad, didn't it? Of all that
He had done. Whenever our Lord does something,
if this is just a social club, you know, it is what it is. But if the Lord is pleased to
do a work of grace, of saving grace, He's going to get all the glory. If man works it up, man's gonna
get the glory. But when the Son of God does
something, he's gonna get the glory. May that be so here. Let's pray.