On three separate occasions,
our Lord Jesus raised people from the dead by His great omnipotence
and grace. In John chapter 11, He raised
Lazarus from the dead after he had been dead for four days. In Luke, the eighth chapter,
we read of Him raising a young lady, a young girl who was the
daughter of the ruler of the synagogue. But the first display
of our Savior's power over death, the first display of the fact
that this man who walked upon the earth living in righteous
obedience to God as our representative, who would die as our substitute,
the first time he displayed that he is the Lord God to whom belong
the issues from death is found in Luke chapter 7, verses 11
through 17. We had before us here a scene
of great sorrow. As our Lord Jesus and his disciples
and the crowds following him approached the city of Nain,
they ran into a funeral procession. A widow was taking her only son
outside the city to bury him. A widow. taking her only son
outside the city to say farewell to him for the last time. Watch what happened when the
Lord Jesus came upon this scene of woe. Let's begin in 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. 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 were 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 beer.
And that's not a coffin like we have today, but rather something
similar to what the coffin would sit on in front of the funeral
parlor. It was what they would carry folks out to bury them
in. Probably stretch out a mat and lay them on top of it, sort
of like a portable table. He came and touched the beer.
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 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. And
the title of my message this morning is A Blessed Intrusion.
Our Lord Jesus stepped into this widow's life at the time of her
greatest sorrow. He intruded where no stranger
ought to intrude. He stopped what no man ought
to stop. He interrupted a funeral. Oh,
but how blessed, blessed, blessed is the fact that he interrupted
this funeral. I pray that our Lord may intrude
today in some of your lives. Some of you here are like this
widow's son, dead, carried swiftly to your grave
by the gaieties and glamour and things of this world. Your parents weep over you. We
mourn for your souls. Because you're dead. But you're
dead. That means you're totally unaware
of your condition. That means you're unmoved by
anything. That means your heart's as cold
as stone and as hard as steel. That means nothing touches you,
nothing affects you, not spiritually, not spiritually. And so I pray,
oh son of God, come here today. And as you touched the beer and
name and spoke to the dead man and caused him to arise, to set
up and speak and brought forth glory to God, come now and touch
the hearts of men and women here. Cause the dead to live. Oh, Son
of God, intrude into our lives. Now, I want to show you four
things in this text of Scripture. Whenever you read of these miracles
that took place, always remember they're not just written to show
us supernatural things. When you read of the miracles
in Scripture and you read them only as displays of the supernatural,
you've missed the whole message. Our Lord Jesus certainly here
displays his omnipotence as God Almighty, as Lord of life and
death, as that one who gives life and takes it away, as that
one who controls all things concerning life. But this is more than a
display of omnipotence. This is a display of grace. His
design. This man lived, and he died,
and he was raised again to show us who God is and how God saves
sinners. So let me show you four things
here. First, the consequences of our sin. Oh, how this scene
portrays this fact. The wages of sin is death. And everything preceding death
is just the forerunner of it. We live in a world of woe because
we live in a world of wickedness. We live in a world of misery
because we live in a world full of corruption. All sickness and
sorrow, all pain and poverty, all death, all things in this
world that have to do with misery and pain and suffering and sorrow
and death, all of them arise from this fact and display this
fact. We have sinned against God. And the wages of sin is death. Now the reason woe is universal
is because sin is universal. The reason sickness is universal
is because sin is universal. You take your little babies,
folks call them little innocents, you know, we coddle them and
we pet them. The reason they get runny noses
and get sick and die is because they're sinners. If it wasn't
for sin, there wouldn't be any sickness. If it wasn't for sin,
there wouldn't be any runny noses. If it wasn't for sin, there wouldn't
be any sorrow and bereavement. There wouldn't be any funeral
homes or morticians. There wouldn't be any broken homes or broken
hearts. There wouldn't be any lawyers
or courts. There wouldn't be any prisons.
All these things are just the consequences of sin. Sin's the
root and fountain of all sorrow. But that's the way things are
in this world. And that's the way they're going
to be. Every sweet thing we taste in
this world lies just temporary, and it's more bitter than sweet.
Everything. Every happiness we experience
in this world is just temporary, and it will bring, ultimately,
woe and sorrow. Every happiness. And everything
in this world that we look at and seek after and hold on to
from the dearest relationship to the most precious item out
in the world, everything, everything. While we look at it and we say,
boy, this is great. There'll come a time when it's
going to break your heart. Everything. Everything. I promise
you. Because we live in a world of
sin. Wherefore as by one man's sin entered into the world and
death by sin. And so death is passed upon all
men. Death. This thing we call life,
David, is just death in the process. That's all it is. That's the
way it is in this world. That's the way things are while
we live in this world of woe. But blessed be God, things change
when Christ comes. When He comes into our world
of death, He brings life. When he comes into a world of
misery, he takes that which had been nothing but misery and makes
it all mercy. He makes it all blessedness.
He takes that which had been nothing but sorrow and causes
it to turn for our good and works it for our good. And when our
Lord Jesus comes again, He will make all things new. And He will
remove from His creation and from the lives of His people
forever all the evil consequences of sin. Hold your hands there
in Luke 7 and turn to Revelation 21. Revelation 21. Oh, I love to think about how things
are going to be. Oh, how things are going to be.
Before long, this is how it's going to be. I saw a new heaven
and a new earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away. Bless God. And there was no more
sea. And I, John, saw the holy city. Now this is not some kind of
a literal city coming down out of heaven. He's talking about
Jerusalem, which is above. The mother of us all is talking
about the church of God. This holy city, New Jerusalem, coming
down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband. He's talking about people. And
I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall
be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their
God. Look at this now. And God shall
wipe away all tears. from their eyes. All tears. Now this is almost impossible
for me to get a hold of. I weep for you now who don't
know our Savior. I weep for you who live with
your fish of square in God's face because you don't have any
better sense. I weep for you whose plague of corruption is
in your heart and under the wrath of God. But I promise you, the
days coming will there be no tears shed for you. No. Not for son or daughter or husband
or wife or mother or sister. Nobody. No tears shed. God's
people will at last be perfectly in their minds, reconciled to
everything that God does. There'll be no tears shed. No
tears. No tears for you, no tears for
our sins that are past. We still bear the scars of them
now, but the scars will all be healed soon. No tears. We'll look at the past experiences
and say God has done well even in this. He'll wipe away all
tears from their eyes. No sorrows for anything that's
going on. We'll see all things well. Look
at it now. God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. And there shall be no more death. Neither sorrow nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain. For the former things, look at
it, are passed away. And he that sat on the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, Right,
for these words are true and faithful. And he said to me,
It's done. It's done. The consequence of
sin is death and every forerunner of death. That's what sin is. All right, now secondly, we have
a beautiful display in our text of the compassion of our Savior. Look at verse 13. When the Lord
saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, weep not. Can you imagine, I was reading
this and mulling it over last night and this morning. Can you
imagine how shocked she must have been? Can you imagine how utterly dismayed
she must have been? Here's a widow. She's already
lost her husband. No indication she has another
living relative. She's just got this one only
son. She's taking him out to the cemetery,
fixing to bury him. And the son of God walks up and
says, no need to cry. Weep not. Weep not. Oh, how deep
is the compassion of the God-man, our Savior. We haven't begun
to learn. He who is God our Savior is a
man touched with the feeling of our infirmities in such a
manner that we can't begin to fathom how he's touched with
the feeling of our infirmities. We can't begin to grasp it. We talk about it. We have some
sense of it, we have some sensitivity to it, but there's no way on
this earth I had begun to imagine how fully and truly it is that
Jesus Christ, the God-man, is touched with what touches me.
He's moved by what moves me. He cares about everything that
I care about. He comes to this woman and is
moved with compassion upon this woman. Our Lord Jesus beheld Jerusalem. I'm getting to the age and the
experience, I'm getting a little weary of calculating theologians
trying to explain away everything that touches a man's heart. He
looked at that city and wept and said, Oh, Jerusalem. How often would I have gathered
your children as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings,
and you would not. The Son of God came to the tomb
of Lazarus, God who is not touched by anything, God who cannot be
moved by anything, God who is unaffected by anything, God immutable,
glorious in his solitary character. But now God comes in human flesh. And when Lazarus is laid in the
tomb, he wept. Not because of Lazarus. He knew
what he was about to do. He wept because Mary and Martha
were weeping. He wept because folks he cared
about were weeping. And the Jews looked and said,
behold how he loved. Oh, children of God, behold,
he who died in our stead at Calvary, he who was made to be sin for
us, he who bear our sicknesses and our infirmities and our weaknesses
in his body upon the cursed tree, he cares for his people. He moved with compassion. And
he says to this woman, weep not. No one in that procession understood
what was going on. No one except him. No one had ever seen the Lord
Jesus raise a man from the dead before. This is the first time. And he comes and says to this
woman, weep not. Ah, but when he says weep not, he'll give
you reason to quit crying. Weep not. When he says fear not,
he'll give you reason to quit fearing. The Lord Jesus is that
friend, that comforter, who is to be compared with none other.
That friend who sticks closer than a brother. And I'm telling
you that this one who stood here at this dead man's side, at this
grieving widow's experience, this man, Is God Almighty seated
upon the throne of glory in human flesh? And He's exactly the same
now, buddy, as He was then. That's what Hebrews 13 says,
isn't it? Jesus Christ the same. Yesterday, today, and forever. What does that mean? That means
that He cannot. And believe me, when I talk about
something He can't do, I'm choosing my words carefully. He cannot
fail. He cannot disappoint. He cannot change. He who made
the widow's heart to leap on this day outside name will soon
turn your sorrow into joy and your mourning into laughter.
He's a friend who lives to heal the brokenhearted. He's one who sits upon the throne
of glory to mend broken lives. He's one who is seated today
in heaven to wipe away all tears from our eyes. And Bobby, he's
going to do it. He's going to do it. All right, thirdly, this story
sets before us the character of our sovereign God. I love the picture here. The Lord Jesus, as soon as he
stepped in and begins to make himself known, he took over the
whole thing. Manifestly so. He was in control
from the outset, but now he steps in and everybody watches and
sees as he takes over. He stepped into the funeral procession.
He stopped the whole show. And then he spoke. And everybody
listened to him. He touched! And a man was made
to rise. He spoke! And the dead sat up
and began to speak. And God was glorified and the
rumor went everywhere. I know folks these days, I've
heard preachers argue against God's sovereignty. We declare
that God sovereignly intervenes where he will, calls dead sinners
to life, and preachers say, well, God's a gentleman. He doesn't
come in uninvited. Isn't that sweet? The Lord Jesus wasn't invited
to stop here, was he? Nobody asked him for any help,
did they? Oh, but I tell you what, they were sure thankful
he stepped in. When he got done, they were tickled to death, he
interrupted. You see, the Lord Jesus comes unasked, unsought,
unwanted, to folks who are rebels against Him, to folks who have
no concern for His glory, to folks who have no interest in
Him, and gives life to whom He wills. He says, When I passed
by thee, I saw thee polluted in thine own blood. I said unto
thee, When thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee,
When thou wast in thy blood, live. When I passed by thee,
and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love. And I spread my skirt over thee,
and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee, and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest
mine. This is what the prophet said,
I was found to them that sought me not, and made manifest unto
them that asked not after me. While we were dead. But God,
who is rich in mercy for His great love, wherewith He loved
us, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace we're saved. I stand to them that sought me
not. I wasn't seeking Him, He came seeking me. I recall years
ago hearing a fellow tell about a young fellow in his church
down in North Carolina. This fellow said to this young
boy, Pulling his wagon up the hill, he'd been out delivering
his papers, and had a wagon full of them. He got done pulling
it up the hill, and a fellow stopped him. You know how folks
do, religious folks, they've got a buttonhole with everybody.
Said, young man, have you found the Lord? And he said, I didn't
know he was lost. But I was, and he found me. I
was found to them that sought me not. I'm telling you, Christ
comes to sinners who don't even know they need Him. And the first
time you're even aware you need Him, He's already on the inside
working in you. He comes to folks who are dead.
And the first time you know that you're dead, He's already given
you life. He comes to folks who have no
interest in His righteousness. And the first time you have a
hungering for righteousness, He's already given it to you.
You understand what I'm talking about? He comes to folks who
don't know they need forgiveness. And the first time you're made
aware of the guilt of your conscience before God Almighty and you cry
out to Him for forgiveness by blood, He's already given it
to you. I've come to those who sought
not after me. Alright, here's one fourth thing. Our story shows us plainly the
condition of our salvation. I have been told on more than
one occasion that I preach this thing of absolute unconditional
grace. Too much. Go overboard on it. So I decided I'd compromise a
little bit. I'm going to be nice. I'm going to talk to you about
the conditions. Yes, sir, you can't be saved unless certain
conditions are met. Not going to happen. Not going
to happen. I'll tell you what they are. Three of them. First
is the will of God. You will not be saved except
God will it. It's not going to happen. Unless
God steps into your life, unless God comes to where you are, unless
God does for you what you cannot and will not do for yourself,
you're going to hell. The condition that must be met
is God will it. So then it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
Number two, the Word of God. In verse 14, We read here, the
Lord Jesus said to him, young man, I say to thee, arise. Oh, if God sends His Word, He'll
heal you. I keep trying to preach. These men go out and we try to
preach. Send missionaries around the world and try to preach.
But I can't speak a word of life to your heart. Oh, but if God speaks. If God speaks. Oh, Spirit of
God, speak today! And dead sinners live! But unless God speaks, nothing
happens. I'll tell you a third thing. It takes the work of God. The
Lord Jesus touched the bear. Touched him and raised him up. That's what it takes. Blessed
and holy is he that hath power in the first resurrection. On
such the second death hath no power. The first resurrection,
Samuel, is when the Lord Jesus came to you and raised you from
the dead. That's what it is. It's a spiritual
resurrection. That's what new birth is. The
Son quickeneth whom He will. He comes and gives life to the
dead. He comes to those who have been
redeemed by His blood and regenerates them by His grace. And then He
gives us a foretaste here of what He's going to do when He
gets done. He's going to, sure enough, raise us up. There's
going to be a resurrection day coming. When the Lord Jesus comes
and says to the dead, arise, and those that are in the grave
shall rise. Those rising in the general resurrection
who have no substitute and no righteousness before God, they're
going to rise to everlasting damnation. But for those who've done good.
What? Done good? Oh yeah, done good. I've been assigned to preach
this week on what man deserves. I think I'm going to preach on
what he deserves in Christ. Folks have done good. Done good. Dave Burge, we've done good before
God. Nothing but good. Just good. So that God looks on us in His
Son, and declares we've done nothing but good, because His
blood washed away our sins, His righteousness is ours, just as
our sin was made His, and we'll come forth by the power of His
Word, unto the resurrection of life. Oh, eternal life in Jesus
Christ the Lord, because it's fully deserved. Let us pray that God will cause
His Word today to flourish in the hearts of sinners. Oh, God
caused the dead to live. And then go out and spread the
rumor. Go spread the rumor. That's what witnessing is. You
spread the rumor of what the Lord's done. Tell sinners everywhere
what the Lord's done, and he may be pleased yet. to work great
works again in our day, maybe even in our midst, to show forth
the glory of our God. Amen.