I've entitled this message, Three
Dead People Christ Raised. There were three dead people
that he raised during his earthly ministry. Now, Paul asked Agrippa, why
would God raising somebody from the dead be incredible? Why would
it be unbelievable? Why would you have trouble with
that? Believing God removes all the
difficulties. If you don't believe in God,
I can see why you'd have a hard time with it. As a matter of fact,
it would be impossible to believe that if you don't believe in God. But
God is. God is all powerful. God is sovereign. God is the creator. His will
must be done. God can raise someone from the
dead. It's not incredible, is it? When's
the last time you looked at a dead body? Lifeless. Cold. Motionless. There was a time
when there was life in that body. This was a person who had relationships
with other people and was important to other people in their life.
They had plans. They had dreams. They had aspirations. They had beliefs. They had likes. They had dislikes. They were a person with life and meaning. And now you look at them, there's
no life there. There's nothing but a Awful silence. Death. Cold. You know, even seeing an animal
dying is a solemn thing. It just killed me when we put
our little dog to sleep. Watching it just all of a sudden
quit breathing. It was an awesome thing to think. There was life. And now it's
gone. Now, why is there death? There's
only one reason for death. Sin. Romans 6.23 says the wages
of sin is death. Now you and I are going to die. It may be a year, it may be ten
years, it may be tomorrow. We realize that. If the Lord
doesn't come back first, you and I are going to die. We're
going to be laying in that coffin. motionless, cold, stiff, and
people are going to be around us thinking about what we used
to be like, grieving. But you and I will be laying
in that coffin, dead, lifeless, and motionless. And the reason
behind that is sin. Wherefore, by one man sin entered
the world, and death by sin. So death passed upon all men
in that all have sinned. Now, when Adam sinned, I did
too. Really, I don't think we're being
very accurate if we say Adam's sin was charged to my account
and I was held responsible for what Adam did. It's more this,
when Adam sinned, I did too. I sinned when he sinned. And
I was charged with what I did when Adam sinned, because Adam
was a representative. He was a representative man.
All of our race was represented by him. If you would have been
Adam, you would have done the same thing. We all sinned in
Adam, and death comes by sin. Now, there are five deaths spoken
of in the Scriptures. First, there's physical death. My heart's going to stop beating.
I'm going to start breathing. I'm going to be dead. That is
the heritage of every single one of us. We're going to die.
And then there is spiritual death. You remember when God said to
Adam, in the day you eat thereof, talking about the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, in the day you eat thereof, thou
shalt surely die. Now, he ate it and he didn't
die physically that very day, but he did die spiritually that
very day. spiritual death, and that was
seen, that was seen, the spiritual death. It's before the fall,
it says, and they were both naked and they were not ashamed. They
didn't have any unclean thoughts. They didn't have any sinful thoughts.
They weren't ashamed. There was there was no sinful,
evil nature. And what is the first thing that's
pointed out about them after they ate of the fruit? They knew
they were naked. They were now all of a sudden
they had these vile, evil thoughts. They had a sinful, evil, spiritually
depraved nature. And that's what spiritual death
is. Now, death. What is death? You can't perform
the functions of life. A dead man can't see. Show him
a beautiful picture and he doesn't have any appreciation of it.
He can't see. Play a beautiful piece of music
to him. He has no appreciation of it.
He can't hear. Let him smell a rose. He doesn't smell anything. He's dead. Put something really
good that tastes great in his mouth and see if he's dead. He's got no ability to appreciate
that. Rub his back. Make him feel better.
No response. He can't feel anything. He's
dead. And spiritual death means you cannot perform the functions
of spiritual life. You don't see any beauty in the
gospel. It's boring to you. You don't understand it. You
see no beauty when you're spiritually dead. You can't hear the gospel.
You're unable to hear. You don't really understand what's
being said. You don't taste that the Lord is gracious. You don't
smell the sweet savor of the gospel. You're dead. You can't
perform the functions of spiritual life when you're dead. You know
what that means? It means you can't believe. It means you can't repent. It means you can't love. you're
dead, and sins, spiritual death. There's physical death, and there
is spiritual death, and then there is eternal death. Eternal
punishment. It's called in Revelation 20,
14, and 15, the second death. After you die physically, then
there's spiritual death. It's talking about hell and the
lake of fire. It's called eternal death. And
fourth, there's the death Paul spoke of in Romans chapter 7
when he said, when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. I died to all hopes of self-salvation. I was a dead man. I saw at that
time I had just as much ability to save myself as a dead man
has in giving himself life from the dead. No ability whatsoever. When the commandment came, sin
revived, and I died, and the commandment which was ordained
to life, I found to be unto death. I died. Have you ever had that
death, where you died to any hopes of ever saving yourself? And then there is the death that
every believer experiences daily, where Paul said, I die daily. I die daily. Every day. I'm called
upon to crucify, to put to death the flesh with the affections
and the lusts. And every day I deal with the
same things over and over again. And I'm called on every day to
put them to death. Death. I die daily. Now, let's take this dead man. Physically dead. What can society
do for him? Well, they can supply him with
a nice place to lay six feet under. until he turns into dirt. They can do that. They can put
a nice headstone and say good things about him, talk about
what a great guy he was. What can science do for him? Well,
they can freeze him and hope somehow 20 or 30 years down the
road or 100 years down the road, they'll come up with some kind
of way to raise the dead. But you know, that's not going
to happen. That's wishful thinking. What can religion do? Well, they
can talk about him. what a good man he was, and how
he's in a better place, and all the kind of stuff you always
hear in funerals, you know, what a great guy he was. Somebody
once said, I don't remember where I heard this, somebody once said,
well, nobody's mom goes to hell. Dad might be there, but nobody's
mom. What can this person's loved
ones do for him? Nothing but grieve. Only God. can do something for a dead man.
That's evident, isn't it? Only God can do something for
a dead man. He can raise him from the dead
spiritually, quicken him, give him life. He can raise him from
the dead physically, the resurrection of the dead. He can deliver him
from eternal death. He can cause him to die to all
hopes of self-salvation, and he can cause him to die daily. Only God can do something for
someone who's dead. Now, how much help does God have
in this? How much help? How much cooperation
is involved on the dead man's part? If you go to the dead man
and say, if you'll just let God give you life, he'll give you
life. But you've got to let him first. You say to the dead man,
if you'll just take the first step out of the grave, God will
help you the rest of the way. If you, if you, if you of your
free will let God give you life, you'll have life. You say, well,
that's foolishness. Yes, I know it is. I know it
is. It's utter foolishness. It sounds
like most preaching that goes on in our day. Utter foolishness. Only God can raise the dead and
he does it by himself. Now, the Lord Jesus is God. I
love, you know, I believe that might be my favorite thing to
say. I can say just over and over, Jesus is God. Isn't that
great? He's God. I love Him. He's God. And He can do what
only God can do. He can raise men from the dead.
And during His earthly ministry, He raised three different individuals
from the dead. A little 12-year-old girl just
died. Perhaps her cheeks were still
flushed and her body was still warm. Just died. She looked alive. She just died. And then there was a young man
in a funeral procession. You could have looked at him
and thought, well, he looks dead, but maybe he's alive. He was
kind of you couldn't you assume he was dead because he was in
a coffin, but he didn't look that dead. And then there was
Lazarus. Nobody doubted his death. The
process of decay had already began. The smell of death was
in the place where he lay, being dead four days and that terrible
stench of death. Question. Was little girl less
dead than Lazarus? Was Lazarus more dead than her? Was the young man in the coffin
somewhere in between? No. They were all graveyard dead. Now, they represent something
to us. I believe that little girl is
the religious dead person. Looks good. She had just died. She still felt warmth. Still
had the flush in her cheek. She looked good. You would have
looked at her and thought, oh, she looks good. But she was dead. The young man in the coffin.
Well. He looked dead, but maybe he's
asleep. You weren't real sure whether he was dead or alive.
But he was dead. And then there was Lazarus. There
wasn't any doubt about him. Everybody knew he was dead. He
stank. Now that's the type of people
there are. Some that look alive. Some you're not sure whether
they have life or if they don't. And some there's no doubt that
they don't. But what difference does it make
with all three of these? They're still dead. Dead in sins. Now was this little girl any
less dependent on God than Lazarus? Did Lazarus need more power than
the little girl? Did the young man in the coffin
need less power than Lazarus, but more than the little girl?
No. Nothing less than a miracle of God's almighty grace could
give life to any of them. Now let's look at all three of
them briefly. Turn to Luke chapter 7. Ephesians 2.1 says, And you hath
he quickened, who were what? What's the word the Bible uses
to describe our spiritual condition? Dead. Dead in trespasses and
sins. That is the biblical description
of you and I. Dead in trespasses and sins. Now look in Luke chapter 7, beginning
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 had come 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. What a sad sight. Her only son,
She was a widow. This was her only means of support. What a sad, sad sight. Verse 13. And when the Lord saw
her, he had compassion on her. He was moved by this sight. He had compassion. Very much
like when the Lord saw that leper. There came a leper. And the Scripture
says the Lord was moved with compassion. Now, the resurrection
of this individual begins with the compassion, the grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is moved
with compassion. at human misery, at sin, and
need. Now, He is a glorious God. And He's moved. Where there's
a needy sinner, there's a willing Savior. Now, you just write that
down. Wherever there's a needy sinner,
there's a willing Savior. He was moved with compassion.
And He said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the gear,
the coffin. He came and touched it, the place
where the man lay. His touch. Look in the next chapter,
in chapter 8, verse 43. I want you to think about the
touch of the Lord Jesus Christ. And a woman. Having an issue of blood twelve
years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither
could be healed of any. She had reached the end of a
rope. She came behind him and touched the border of his garment. And immediately her issue of
blood was stanched. She knew she was healed. And
Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and David
with him said, Master, the multitude's wrong, the impressed thee, and
sayest thou, Who touched me? And Jesus said, Somebody hath
touched me, for I perceive that virtue, saving power, is gone
out of me. And when the woman saw that she
was not hid, she came trembling and falling down before him.
And she declared a name before all the people. For what cause?
She touched him. And how she was healed immediately.
And he said unto her daughter, be of good comfort. Thy faith
hath made thee whole, go in peace. Now here's what I want us to
think about. When Christ was touched, when
he touched, something went out of him. Virtue. saving power. Something went
out of him. He said, I can feel it's gone
out of me. But something else happened in
that touch. Something goes into him. On the cross, my sin became his sin. When he
touched me, My sin became His sin. And His saving virtue and
saving power becomes mine. He touched all the touch of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The touch of Christ. What saving
power is in His touch. Something goes out of Him. Saving
power. Virtue. On the cross, He was
emptied. Everything He had, He was emptied
of. He was made poor that we, through
his poverty, might be rich. Everything he had, the love,
righteousness, he was made sin. And that saving righteousness
of his is made ours. Thank God for his touch. And
let's go on reading. Luke 7. And he came and touched the beer,
and they that bear him stood still. And here we have the command
of Christ. Young man, I say unto thee, arise. What power there is in his command. And I tell you, when you believe,
when he tells you to, when he says, rise, you rise. And what happened? And he that
was dead, verse 15, sat up. Can you imagine saying that?
All of a sudden he sat up and he begins to speak. He begins
to speak. You know when, let the redeemed
of the Lord say so. When the Lord redeems somebody,
when he gives them life from the dead, they confess Christ
with their mouth. They began to speak. They didn't have anything to
say before. They might have used a lot of words, but they didn't
have anything to say. Now they've got something to say. He gave me life. They
began to speak. Luke 8, 31. 41, I'm sorry. And behold, there
came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue.
And he fell down at Jesus' feet. and besought him that he would
come into his house, for he had one only daughter, about twelve
years of age, and she lied dying. So he goes with this man, and
the people thronged him. And we just read this passage
of scripture, and remember that the Lord told this man, whose
daughter was dying, I'm going to come and heal your daughter.
So he witnessed all this happening. He saw the Lord. Heal this woman
and he thought. He can heal my daughter. So he
witnessed all this. So pick up reading in verse 49
after he'd heard what all this woman had to say while he yet
spake. There cometh one from the ruler
of the synagogue's house saying to him, My daughter's dead. Trouble not the master. Too late. But when Jesus heard it, he answered
him, saying, Fear not. Believe only, and she shall be
made whole. Believe only and she shall live. Now, won't you listen to me?
Everybody in this room, you believe the gospel and you'll
live. You'll live before God. You believe. You rely on the Lord Jesus Christ. You believe that who he is and
what he did is enough to make you holy before God. You believe
who he is and what he did is all that's needed to give you
life, to make you alive, to make you perfect before God. You'll
live. You believe. And you'll live. Now. How do you go about doing that
if you're dead? How in the world can a dead man
believe? How do you go about that? Well, logically, life's got to come before faith,
hasn't it? Logically. You have to be given life before
you'll believe. It's ridiculous to think you
can believe if you're dead in sin. You have to be given life
in order to believe. Logically, life comes before
faith. Now here's something I don't
understand. But I believe, chronologically, they come at the same time. Now
can I explain that? No way. I can't explain that.
But I know it's so. Logically, life comes before
faith chronologically. Believe, you believe, you live.
The reason you believe is because you live. You live because the
scripture tells us to speak to dead men as if they were alive.
Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ
will give thee light. That's what the Bible says. And
we speak to dead sinners and we say, believe, live, and they
do. Faith is the emphasis of this
old girl. Believe only, and she shall be
made whole. Verse 51, And when he came into
the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter and James
and John and the father and the mother of the maiden. And all
wept and bewailed her. But he said, Weep not, she is
not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to score,
knowing that she was dead. And he put them all out. I like
thinking about that. You got this bunch of people,
he got them out. And he took her by the hand and
called, saying, maid, arise. You know, the Lord never makes
requests, does he? He only speaks by commandment.
And what happened to this little 12-year-old girl? And her spirit
came again and she arose straightway. And he commanded to give her
meat. And his parents were astonished, but he charged them that they
should tell no man what was done. Now, when she was alive, what
did she need? She needed something to eat.
And if you have spiritual life, you must feed on the gospel. You must. You must have the bread
of life. John chapter 11. You know the story. Lazarus has
died. Been dead four days. In a tomb. With a rock in front of it. The
process of decay has already began. Verse 21. Then said Martha unto Jesus,
Lord. If thou had been here. My brother
had not died. Could the Lord have kept him
from dying, even if he wasn't there? Of course he could. This was too low a view of the
Lord by her. But she's right here, verse 22,
but I know that even now whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will
give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, thy brother
shall rise again. Well, Martha already knew about
the doctrine of the resurrection, she'd been taught that by the
Lord about the final resurrection. And Martha said unto him, I know
that he shall rise again in the resurrection of the last day.
I already know that. Jesus said unto her, I am the
resurrection. The resurrection is not an event.
It's not an event. I am the resurrection. And I am the life He that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever
liveth and believeth, note the order, liveth and believeth,
shall never die. Now do you believe this? She
said unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the
Son of God, which should come into the world. Now look down
in verse 32. Then when Mary was come where
Jesus was and saw him. This is Mary now, not Martha.
The one who sat at his feet and heard his word, the one who broke
the alabaster box of ointment. When Mary was come where Jesus
was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him,
Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." She
said the same thing her sister said. When Jesus therefore saw
her weeping and the Jews also weeping which came with her,
he groaned in the Spirit and was troubled. What all does that mean? I have
no idea. That's what it says about the
Lord. He groaned in the Spirit. He was troubled. We know He wasn't
troubled because He was out of control. He's controlling everything
that takes place. But He groaned in the Spirit
and was troubled. And He said, Where have you laid
Him? They said unto Him, Lord, come and see. Shortest verse
in the Bible. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, behold, how
he loved him. They saw the Lord Jesus weeping,
crying, shedding tears at this sight. There's been so many different
speculations about why he was doing this. I love the way the
Bible doesn't give us the reason. There's a lot of reasons. And
some of them said, Could not this man which hath opened the
eyes of the blind have caused that even this man should have
not died? Jesus therefore again, groaning in himself, cometh to
the grave. It was a cave and a stone lay
upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the
stone. Martha, the sister of him that
was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinks. He's
been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, said I
not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, you'd see the glory
of God. If you believe, you'll see Verse 41, Then they took away
the stone from the place where the dead was laid, and Jesus
lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou
hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest
me always, that because of the people which stand by, I said
it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he
had thus He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth! And he that was dead came forth,
bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound
with a napkin. Jesus saith unto him, Lucy, set
him free, and let him go. Now, the point here, now the
first emphasis was with the young man, the compassion of Christ. With the little girl, the place
of faith. But here we have the glory of
God. If you believe, you'll see the
glory of God. When I see a man dead in sins, dead in sins, given life, I see
the glory of God. When I see how that man's sins
are paid for, how Christ took that sin on and wiped it out
and put it away, and that's what He did on Calvary 3, He put away
my sin. I see the very glory of God. When I see how that man who's
given life is made just like Christ, glorified in the Lord
Jesus Christ. I see the glory of God. Oh, how God is glorified in the
salvation of a sinner. And when I see that effectual,
irresistible, invincible call. Lazarus is dead in the grave.
Lazarus come forth. He couldn't say no. He couldn't reject. He couldn't
decide not to do it. He didn't have any choice. He
that was dead came forth. That's the effectual, irresistible,
invincible call of God's grace. When He calls a dead sinner,
they come. Looking at these three people
that Christ raised from the dead, there's something different pointed
out about each one of them. The first one began to speak,
didn't he? He confessed Christ. If thou
shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in
thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. What about the little girl? She
began to eat. She began to eat. She fed on
the gospel. That's what living people, people
that are alive have to eat, don't they? They have to. They have to. And what about
Lazarus? Well, he comes hobbling out with
grave clothes on. You know something about everybody
in here? This room? Every one of us? We've
got grave clothes on. And this life is a continual
loosing and letting go. Loosing and letting go. Loosing
and letting go. Is it a thing credible to you
that God raises the dead? No. Let's pray.