Luke chapter 7, let's begin reading
at verse 11. Verses 11 through 17. The title of my message is, A
Case for the Great Physician. Verse 11. And it came to pass
the day after that he went into a city called Nain, and many
of his disciples went with him, and much people. And when 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 already
a widow, had lost her husband. Now she loses her only son. 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. How often we find that expression
in scripture concerning our Lord. He was moved with compassion. Not like the man in James where
he says to those who were unclothed and hungry, go your way, be ye
warmed and filled and does nothing to help them. No, our Lord sees
this woman and he's moved with compassion. He had compassion
on her and said unto her, weep not. And he came and touched
the beer, this stretcher-type coffin that they were carrying
this dead man on. 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. What a scene
that must have been. Verse 16, And there came a fear
on all, and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet
is risen up among us, and that God hath visited his people. And this rumor of him went forth
throughout all Judea, and throughout all the region round about. Notice again how we're introduced
to this miracle, verse 11, and it came to pass, we're told,
we read, and it came to pass the day after. Our Lord had the
day before this healed the centurion's son, or servant rather, who we're
told in verse 2 was sick and ready to die. But the servants
of the centurion who came to meet our Lord on the road said,
if you can just speak the Word, if you'll just speak the Word
from here, this is our message from our Master, from the centurion
with the six servants. You don't even have to come to
my house. I'm not worried that you should
enter under my roof. But if you'll just speak from
where you're at, my servant will be healed." And he was. But now he comes to a city called
name, where he comes up to the coffin, the beer, of this dead
widow's son. An even harder case. But as he said to the prophet
Jeremiah, is anything too hard for the Lord? Is anything too
hard for God? Lonnie, thank God, no. The only evidence I need of that,
the only proof I need of his power and his might and his mercy
is to stand in a mirror and look at the reflection staring back
at me. As old Newton said, since he
saved me, I don't despair of any sinner this side of glory. This is a picture. This is a
picture of what Paul calls reigning grace. He has unlimited power
and he never loses his ability to save. This is a picture of
what Paul spoke of in Romans 5. As sin has reigned unto death,
That's the outcome of sin. That's the fruit of it. Spiritual,
eternal death. Even so might grace reign, Paul
said. Thank God he didn't stop there
with the reign of sin, but he said, even so might grace reign
through righteousness unto eternal life. That's the outcome of grace. Reigning grace through Jesus
Christ the Lord. ever sufficient, as I often quote
that old hymn. I'll quote it again. Dear dying
lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power. Never till all the ransomed church
of God be saved to sin no more. Jesus Christ the same yesterday. Yesterday when he was healing
the centurion's dying servant. The same today, when He's raising
the widow's dead son. And the same tomorrow, whatever
tomorrow might bring forth. Look, if you will, and we'll
come back to this, but look in chapter 8 of Luke. The same yesterday,
today, and tomorrow. Not many days after this in Luke
chapter 8, look what the disciples encountered. Verse 22. Now it came to pass on a certain
day that he went into a ship with his disciples, and he said
unto them, Let us go over to the other side of the lake. And
they launched forth. But as they sailed, he fell asleep. And there came down a storm of
wind on the lake, and they were filled with water and were in
jeopardy. And they came to him and awoke
him, saying, Master, Master, we perish. We perish. Would not he had to perish too? Before they could drown, would
not he have had to drown with them? Of course, but they forgot
that. Then he arose. Then he arose. Now there's hope. Now there's
hope. Then he arose and rebuked the
wind and the raging of the water, and they ceased, and there was
a calm, a calm. And he said unto them, Where
is your faith? And they, being afraid, wondered. They stood in holy wonder before
him and said one to another, What manner of man is this? What
manner of man is this? Did you see what He just did?
Did you see the wind obey His voice? Did you see the waves
lay down at His feet? Did you see that? What kind of
man is this that even the winds and the water obey Him? Hallelujah! What a Savior! And the response of His Likewise,
reigning, conquering grace is the same. To everyone who experiences
it, they cry, hallelujah, what a Savior. There will never be
a time believer that finds him unable to keep that which you've
committed unto him against that day. Never. As we said, the same
yesterday, today, and forever. That being the case, that being
so, that being the reality, he's able to save to the uttermost
all that come unto God by him. Always, always, all the time. As we said, the title of the
message is a case for the great physician. Physician, singular,
singular, only one. Not plural, only one. Luke, the
writer of this gospel. He was a physician. Paul referred
to him as the beloved physician. But this case of the widow's
dead son was far beyond his ability. Far beyond his ability. Someone
said a picture is worth a thousand words, and that's certainly true
here. Our Lord's parables were His spoken lessons, what He taught
people with His lips. His miracles, someone said, are
His acted lessons, what He teaches people by His actions. And this
miracle that He performed this day in the city of Nain pictures
what God's Word teaches about sin and about salvation. Are you interested in that? Are
you interested in that? Are you interested in finding
the answer to the question, how can I be just with God? Are you interested in the answer
to that? In Genesis chapter 2 we read,
and God created man, he formed man of the dust of the ground,
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, the very
life of God, and man became a living soul. an immortal soul, a soul
that shall never die. And then we also read in Genesis,
God said, the day that you eat thereof Adam, thou shalt surely
die. And he did. And we all died in
him. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15,
in Adam all died. Whatever happened to Adam in
the garden happened to you and I. Every one of us. We can trace
our roots back to fallen Adam. When he died, we died. When death reigned in him, it
passed on down to his posterity. It reigns in you and I as well. and Adam all die without exception. If there's any hope for fallen
Adam, if there's any hope for his restoration, God must come
to him. He must come to him. Adam won't
come to God. It's contrary to his fallen nature. At one time it was Adam's chief
joy, his greatest delight was to walk with God in the garden
in the cool of the day. Remember the old hymn? Oh, what
a joy! What a blessing, what a delight
for any sinner, Lord, to be enabled to sing and to experience. He walks with me and He talks
with me. Can you imagine that? And He
tells me that I am His own. That's what Adam experienced.
Oh, but something happened. After the fall, after he disobeyed
God, after he was fallen from God, from the arms of mercy into
the arms of Satan, he hears the voice of God. And it's no longer
his delight to come out and walk with God and talk with God. Now
he hides himself from God. Oh, how he's changed. How he's
fallen. Everything about him has fallen.
Everything about him is enslaved. His mind, his will, it's all
enslaved to his nature. And Adam said, I heard your voice,
and I was afraid, and I hid myself. Can you imagine? Can you imagine
what happened to him? He actually thinks he can hide
from God Almighty? He really thinks that God doesn't
know where he's at? And God knows where you're at.
And He knows where I'm at, where I am. God knows where each of
us are. In Adam, all die. God must come
to him. If he ever lives again, If he
ever experiences the delight of walking with God, of knowing
God, of having peace with God, God must come to him. Our Lord
in John 6 said to the religious leaders of His day, He said,
the flesh profiteth nothing. John 6 and 63. It is the Spirit
that quickeneth. The word is, gives life. The flesh, what part does the
flesh play? I mean, all around us this morning,
people are being exhorted to do something in the flesh. Move
a foot. Do you want to come to God? Move
your feet. Move from that place to this
place. or raise a hand, or say a prayer,
or sign a card, do something. And our Lord said, that profits
nothing. Nothing. It is the Spirit that
gives life. The first need of a dead sinner,
like this widow's dead son, is life. And a man cannot give himself
life. It's not possible. And that's
exactly what our Lord said. It is the Spirit that gives life,
that quickeneth the flesh, profiteth nothing. He said, the words that
I speak unto you, They are spirit, and they are life. Oh, may He
speak today. First, let's notice the scene
without the great physician. Notice this picture before us
without him. Verse 12. Behold, 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. A picture without the great physician. This multitude is led by the
rider on the pale horse. And without the master, without
the great physician, it's a picture of nothing but hopelessness.
Nothing but sorrow. This is what sin has wrought. When sin is finished, it bringeth
forth death. All flesh is grass. He's a young man, yes, but he's
still a dead man. Just like you and I, apart from
God's grace, no matter what we claim, What we experience, what
we know, what we do, apart from Jesus Christ coming on the scene
of our depraved hearts, we're dead in trespasses and sins. And there's nothing we can do
about it. Nothing we can do about it. This young man is a picture
of what we are by nature. Without spiritual life, first,
First, this is why our Lord said to Nicodemus, you must be born
again. That's the first thing He said. Nicodemus, until you're born
again. Until that happens, and note
what He said to Nicodemus. He didn't say this is something
you can do, Nicodemus. It's something that must be done,
but only God can do it by His Spirit. You must be born again. Without spiritual life, there
can be no spiritual acts, such as repenting. such as believing,
such as a willingness to come to Christ. Those are all, every
one of them and each of them, are the fruit of the new life. It's the response of the regenerated
nature to the call of God. God gives us eyes to see and
then says, Behold the Lamb of God. But until He gives us that
spiritual life, we sit in darkness. The dead son can't raise himself. He can't do it. None of the much
people that are with his grieving mother can raise him either.
And his mother's tears can't raise him. Or if they could,
he would be raised. She calls his name, but he can't
hear her. He can't see. He can't move. All fallen men by nature are
pictured in Ezekiel's vision of dead, dry bones. And God asked
Ezekiel, can these bones live? Can they live? Can this widow's
son live? Can our children live? Can our sons and daughters live? If you sat here this morning
without Christ, you're in this same condition, dead. Can you live? How? How is it possible? People say,
and I was told all my life, it's easy. It's easy. How can the giving of life be
easy? How can it be anything less than
an absolute miracle from the hands of God Almighty? How can we live, and that's He
who is the resurrection and the life, comes to where we are,
just as He did here? And that's the second scene I
want to look at. this same When Christ comes,
everything's about to change. Oh, bless God. Everything's about
to change now, only for one reason, verse 13. And when the Lord saw
her, oh, now, now there's hope. The great physician comes on
the scene. Can you picture this meeting?
Here Christ comes. Toward the city. And here comes
this funeral procession out of the city. And they meet. They come face to face. Death
and life. The results of sin and he who
is full of grace and truth. He who said, I'm the resurrection
and the light, no one else is. He who said, the dead shall hear
the voice of the Son of God. Have you ever heard that? Have
you ever heard that voice? He said, the dead shall hear
the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. They shall live. When they hear
the voice of the Son of God say that them arise, they'll arise
to walk in newness of life. They'll believe. They'll bow. They'll repent. They'll embrace
Christ. They'll ask for forgiveness and
bless God, He'll give it. Oh yes, He delights to show mercy. Behold, I am He that liveth. and was dead, that's true. But
behold, I'm alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of
hell and of death. Verse 13. And when the Lord saw
her, this is the turning point. Everything is about to change,
Louie. Everything. If any man's in Christ,
it doesn't make any difference what he was before, how fallen
he was before, how depraved, how much he may have wandered
from the Father's house. When the Son of God comes to
him, if any man's in Christ, He's a new creature. He's a new
creation. He's not what he once was. God breathes in him the breath
of life and he becomes a living soul. Oh yes, when the Lord saw
her, he had compassion. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. As a man, as one may liken to
his brethren, as flesh of our flesh and bone of our bones. That eternal Word that spoke
everything into existence was made flesh and dwelt among us. He's touched with the filling
of our infirmities. What he saw produced compassion. Listen, listen. God help us,
children of God, to hear. dear hurting child of God. He hasn't changed. He hasn't
changed. He knows exactly, exactly what
you're passing through. And He's moved with compassion
for you too. He said, I know my sheep. I know everything about them.
I know every trial. I know every heartache. I'm aware
I take notice of every tear that falls from their eyes. I know
my sheep. I know how frail they are. I
know how they're prone to wonder. I know how they doubt. I know
how they'll cry sometimes, Master, Master, don't you care? They
were about to perish. I know my sheep. that union of
God and man in one, that glorious person, that unique individual,
that great physician, being God and man enables him to know and
to feel and to do for his own. He said that night to his broken-hearted
disciples, Upon hearing the news, I'm going away. I'm leaving you
now, and you can't follow me now. Where I'm going, you can't
come." And sorrow filled their hearts. But he said, Peace, I
leave with you. Peace, I give unto you. Not as
the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. The captain of our salvation
is still on board. He never abandons ship. The great shepherd of the sheep
is ever faithful to his own. All those that the Father put
into His hands, that He became responsible for, this is His
declaration. I'll keep them. They'll never
perish. Nothing can pluck them out of
My hand. Nothing. No one. Never. Not one. So in that day, when
we're ushered into the presence of God Almighty, with the captain
of our salvation in the forefront. The great shepherd, it will be
his boast, and the theme of our song forever, worthy is the lamb. Because of all that the Father
gave him, he lost none. Oh, marvelous grace. Oh, glorious
shepherd. Yes, he was moved with compassion. The same compassion that moved
him When Bartimaeus said, Lord, I want to receive my sight. What do you want, Bartimaeus?
What do you want? I want to see. And we read our
Lord moved with compassion and restored his sight. What do you
want? That poor leper came to him on
the road and bowed down before him and said, Lord, if you will,
If you're willing. That's the issue. That's the
issue. It's not my will that determines
this. It's not of him that willeth,
but of God that shows mercy. That's the determining factor.
And the leopard that bowed down before him and said, if you will,
you can make me clean. You can cleanse me. You can make
me whole. You can restore me if you're
willing. And you remember what he did?
Our Lord reached out and touched that dying, cankerous man and
said, I will. I will, my soul. No wonder we read that there's
rejoicing in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. Our Lord
said, I will. Oh, what music to the sinner's
ears when the Lamb of God, in response to the cry, Lord, have
mercy on me, He comes to where I am. And glory of glory. Mighty grace. He reaches down
His hand for me and says, I will. I will be thou clean, as clean
as Christ Himself, as righteous as Christ Himself, as accepted
before God Almighty as Christ is Himself. He said unto her,
verse 13, Weep, Weep not. Weep not. The psalmist said, weeping, oh
yes. The child of God knows what weeping's
about. He weeps over those same things
every man does, but he weeps in a way that the unbeliever
does not. He cannot. He weeps over his
ungrateful heart. He weeps over his sin. He cries
out, oh wretched man that I am. But the psalmist said, weeping
may endure for a night. But joy, but joy, brothers and sisters,
eternal, everlasting, unceasing, uninterrupted, perfect joy comes
in the morning. Turn, if you will, to Revelation
chapter 21. Look at these words from the
lips of our great King who sits upon the throne. That one who
sits upon the throne and says, I have my way. in the whirlwind,
and their clouds are but the dust of my feet. That one who
says, I shall do all my will, that one of whom the prophet
said, he shall not fail or be discouraged. If the Christ you
trust can fail, he's not the true Christ. But listen to he
that is. Verse 4 of Revelation 21, And
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. What will that
be like? My soul, I can only imagine. What will that be like? To never
have a reason to cry. Never to cry. Never to weep again. No sin. No sorrow. No heartache. All tears wiped
away from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow,
neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain,
for the former things are all passed away. And he that sat
upon the throne said, Behold, behold, my soul, what of you? of that one who is the mighty
God, the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting Father. Listen to
the Captain of our Salvation, our Great Shepherd, our Great
Physician. He says, Behold, I make all things
new. And he said unto me, Write, for
these words are true and faithful. He's that one who said to this
poor, grieving widow, Weep not. Verse 14. And he came. And he came. Oh, can you hear
the words of the Our great God, when Christ comes, when Christ
comes to offer Himself an atonement for sin, when Christ comes to
put away the sins of His people, when Christ enters one time into
the holy place to obtain eternal redemption for us, when Christ
offers Himself without spot or wrinkle to the holy God, what
does God say? Deliver His soul! the soul of
all his people, the soul of all those for whom he made atonement,
deliver his soul from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom,
a ransom that satisfies my holy justice. A ransom that satisfies
my divine attributes. Every one of them deliver his
soul. He'll not perish. My son satisfies
me forever. Oh yes, now there's hope when
he came. When he came. Will you hear me? There's no hope for any sinner
anywhere else. Not at all. The only hand that
could reach me, the only hand that could reach this fallen
wandering prodigal that stands before you right now was the
hand of omnipotence. The only hand powerful enough,
the only hand mighty enough that could reach down for me was the
hand of my great shepherd. The preacher couldn't do it.
They tried. I applied to them. And like those
physicians on which the poor woman gave all her money and
it was made none better but only grew worse, that was my case. Preachers couldn't do it. And
the priests couldn't do it. And the church couldn't do it.
Oh Lord Jesus, when he came, when he came, Joe He came to
where I was. He came to the pit that I could
not get out of. And he reached down his hand
for me. He reached way down for me. I was lost and undone without
God or His Son, and He reached out His hand for me. Praise His
name. Oh, Lord Jesus, come to our dead
children and reach down Your mighty arm of grace and bring
them out of darkness, bring them out of darkness into Your marvelous
light. He came and touched the beer. Oh, His life-giving touch, the
touch of the Master's hand is a life-giving touch. That's my
only hope. His touch is a cleansing, healing
touch. It reaches deeper. deeper than
the stain has gone. He reaches down and brings me
out of that horrible pit and he sets my feet up on the rock,
the solid rock of Jesus Christ. And look what he says, verse
14. And he said, he said, that's the voice that I want to hear.
That's the only voice that has the power to make me new. The only voice that can bring
me out of darkness, the only voice that can truly result when
He speaks and says, Thy sins are forgiven, they're forgiven.
It doesn't matter who else tells me that. It doesn't matter. It
won't make it so. It won't make it happen. Oh,
but when he says, Larry, Chris, your sins are all forgiven you. Bless God, I can go home and
lay down and rest in peace because I know I have a mediator between
me and God, the man Christ Jesus. He said, young man, I say unto
thee, I say unto thee, I who have the keys of death and hell,
I who am the resurrection and the life, I whose words are light,
I'm speaking to you now. You can't hear the cries of your
mother, or the multitude, or these disciples. Oh, but hear
my voice. I say unto thee, young man, arise. Arise! And look what happened. Look what happened. Verse 15.
And he that was dead was dead. Past tense, Lord. He's not dead
anymore. This, my son, was dead. Oh, but
he's alive again. He was lost. Oh, but bless God,
now he's found. He that was dead sat up and began
to speak. Have you ever heard him speak?
That's the need. That's the only thing that brings
the cure. The great physician to come to
where I am and speak, arise. And he that was dead, he's alive
now. Martha, he that liveth and believeth
in me, That describes every child of God here this morning. Take
those words to yourself. He that liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Shall never die. Oh, the day will come. It comes
quickly that I'll drop this robe of flesh, but, oh, I'll arise. I'll arise to be with Him forever,
shall never die. Oh, great Shepherd of the sheep,
again, again I pray, speak to our loved ones, our children,
those who are here right now. Speak as only you can and say,
arise. Arise! Look how the miracle ends,
verses 16 and 17. And we'll wrap this up. Verse
16, and there came a fear on all. and they glorified God. Those who witnessed this great
miracle stood in holy wonder at that one. They looked at him
and thought, my soul, this must be that prophet. This must be
that prophet that Moses wrote about. This is him. And they
glorified God saying that a great prophet has risen up among us
and the Lord has visited His people. And this rumor of Him,
what did they go forth from that place speaking about and telling
others about? It's all about Him. It's all about Him. Went forth
throughout all Judea, and throughout all the region, round about. God was glorified, and the name
of Christ was spread abroad, spread the tidings all around. Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Oh, redeemed sinner, this is
your song, is it not? Grace taught my soul to pray
and made my eyes overflow towards grace which kept me to this day
and will not let me go. Say by grace alone, this is all
my plea. Jesus died for all his own and
bless his dear name. Jesus died for me. God bless you.