Dead Man Talking | Luke 7 | Gary Hamrick

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] luke chapter 7 is where we are this morning if you have your bibles there i'm going to begin reading in verse 11 down through verse 17. luke chapter 7 starting at verse 11. now it happened the day after that he that's jesus went into a city called nain and many of his disciples went with him and a large crowd and when he came near the gate of that city behold a dead man was being carried out the only son of his mother and she was a widow and a large crowd from the city was with her and when the lord saw her he had compassion on her and said to her do not weep and then he came and touched the open coffin and those who carried him stood still and he said jesus said young man i say to you arise and so he who was dead sat up and began to speak notice that and he presented him to his mother and then fear came upon all and they glorified god saying a great prophet has risen up among us and god has visited his people and this report about him went throughout all judea and all the surrounding region i've entitled my teaching today dead man talking because that's what this is about and it actually paints a picture of something that's very important for us to understand so i'm going to share three points but first we're going to pray and then we'll kind of unpack this story together so let's go to the lord in prayer lord we commit our bible study to you now we pray that you speak to us through this story thank you for your timeless truth i thank you for all those who have gathered here and those who are watching online we just pray it would bring you much glory lord as we study together and that you would use it to strengthen our hearts in jesus name and everyone said amen a tombstone in england features these words quote pause now stranger as you pass by as you are now so once was i as i am now so you will be so prepare for death and follow me and somebody came along and scratched their response to that in the tombstone and they wrote to follow you i'm not content until i know which way you went well death is a sure thing for all of us it's not a matter of if it really is a matter of when but for three people in the gospels between matthew mark luke and john they were able to cheat death temporarily because unbeknownst to them because they were dead they had a divine appointment with jesus yeah in fact through the gospels matthew mark luke and john there are three records of different people whom jesus raised from the dead the one that is probably most familiar of course is jesus raising from the dead his friend lazarus that story is found in john's gospel john chapter 11 as a matter of fact in fact john is the only one who records that story and lazarus that particular lazarus is mentioned only in the gospel of john not matthew mark or luke that's probably the most familiar raising from the dead that jesus miraculously performed for his friend lazarus another time that jesus raised someone from the dead was a guy by the name of jairus who had a daughter who had died and in the next chapter luke chapter 8 luke records that matthew records that story and also does mark that's the most recorded story of jesus raising someone from the dead jairus's daughter and then the third time jesus raised someone from the dead is recorded here in this story that we're reading from luke chapter 7. but that was it jesus raised just three people it's not like he went around raising a bunch of people from the dead i mean think about it in the course of his ministry there were probably thousands of people who died in israel but jesus only raised three people from the dead and after that they died again you see we'll talk more about that but he did make a habit raising a bunch of people from the dead he did it three times in order to prove that he had the power over death and that's what's important for all of us to understand that jesus has power over death and one of those stories for our benefit is recorded right here now here's the scene i'm just going to kind of retell this story a little bit and break down the verses first before i share with you three important points from this story but here the story begins with jesus traveling around the galilee region the bible says and what he would do is he would go to villages and towns and he would teach he would often go into the synagogues if there was a synagogue there in a town uh he would perform miracles he would heal people and between all of those facets of his ministry teaching and healing and praying jesus made himself known through this whole region of the galilee think about a territory like a county so the the the county of galilee was spread out around the sea of galilee and jesus went from village to village in town to town and one of the villages he comes to is this little known in fact unknown town of nain name that's where this story takes place now luke is the only one who records this story it's not recorded anywhere else in the bible and in fact as it relates to the village of nain nain is not mentioned anywhere else in the bible outside of this story not once so it's a very obscure village it was located about 25 miles southwest of capernaum capernaum was where jesus had the home base of his ministry for three years it was located on the northwest coast of the sea of galilee the name is 25 miles southwest of capernaum it's about eight and a half miles south of nazareth where jesus grew up so no doubt jesus would have been familiar with this town and in proximity to nazareth but but that's that's the little bit we know about name not mentioned anywhere else in the bible in hebrew the word name means pleasant or charming and today it is an arab village i've driven through it many times and jesus puts that little town on the map because of this story and so the bible tells us that jesus is going into nain right around the city gate and coming out of the city gate is a funeral procession there is a dead man in an open coffin who is being carried out by paul bearers which was customary in the day you would never bury someone within the town walls you would bury them outside the city and in this funeral procession is a mother the mother of the of the dead young man she's weeping understandably there's a large crowd that is following her and so here's this funeral procession and jesus intercepts them as he's going into the city and they are coming out and it tells us there in verse 13 if you look again in your bibles in verse 13 i love this it says when the lord saw her that's the mother of the dead young man when the lord saw her he had compassion on her now just circle that word compassion in your bibles it's the greek word splunk that's omei and it means ten jesus's tender loving concern for people in need that word is used ten times throughout the gospels to um speak about that tender compassion that jesus had towards people when he saw people in need or distressed or hurting his heart went out to them so that's like it's compassion it's this tender loving concern that peop that jesus had for people in their helpless condition again used ten times in the gospels to describe jesus's heart towards people for example here's a couple of examples in matthew 9 36 it says but when jesus saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd at the miracle of the feeding of the four thousand in matthew 15 32 it says now jesus called his disciples to himself and said i have compassion on the multitude because they have now continued with me three days and have nothing to eat and i do not want to send them away hungry lest they faint on the way so he was always filled with compassion tender loving mercy and concern for people in their helpless condition and here's an example of it in our story he had compassion on this dear woman not just because she was a grieving mother though that was obviously part of it but he also had compassion on her because of her particular circumstance in life what do i mean if you notice again in verse 12 it says that she was a widow her husband has already died she's already been to one funeral so she's a widow she's lost her husband and now also in verse 12 she has lost her only son she had to bury her husband and now she's on her way to bury her only son and this describes her particular circumstance which was very difficult for a woman in this particular day why because a woman in this particular day was completely dependent upon a man for providing for her you know today listen ladies today like the motto is i am woman hear me roar right okay in that day it was i am woman without a man i am poor because literally if a woman did not have a father a brother a son or a husband to provide for her she was destined to be destitute that's just the way that culture was back in that day it was a prescription for poverty she had lost her husband and her only son so you see when jesus has compassion on her he doesn't only have compassion on her and want to comfort her emotionally by bringing her son back from the dead but he also wants to comfort her materially because by bringing her son back from the dead her son will be able to help provide for her and jesus sees this and knows this this this really this miracle here that we're reading about really was as much about the mom the woman in this story as it was for the young man that got raised from the dead and probably even more so about the woman because notice the emphasis here look again in your bibles at verses 12 and 13 it says and when he came near the gate of the city behold a dead man was being carried out the only son of his mother that's it about the guy but now notice and she was a widow and a large crowd from the city was with her and when the lord saw her he had compassion on her you notice that it wasn't as if jesus was filled with compassion for the dead guy not that he was heartless or anything but the story doesn't say and then jesus you know saw them carrying a dead man out and an open casket and he had compassion for him and he thought to himself what a tragic thing this is that he has died i shall raise him from the dead that he might liveth and laughter again okay no that's not there that's not there because his focus was on the dear mom here was on the woman who had lost her son no in fact when you read this story jesus was just like young young man arise and go get a job that you can support your mom that's basically what he's going to do here and i sometimes think about the young guy who is dead and i wonder you know was this a good day or not for him you think what jesus raised her from the dead of course it's a good day well i if he was in hell it's a good day if he was in paradise and jesus brought him back so he could get a job at home depot i don't know he's like really you brought me back so i can get a job for my mom i was enjoying paradise but anyway we'll never know jesus does refer to him in verse 14 as a young man the greek word there is neoniscos that is a word that does not describe a child so don't think about this in sunday school class they used to teach oh this little boy it wasn't a little kid this was a young man of marital age neoniscos is the greek word and so he's probably in his early 20s and it tells us here that after jesus has compassion for this woman that he turned to her in the rest of verse 13 and he says to her do not weep now i want you to please note with me that jesus was the only man on the face of the earth who could get away with telling a woman stop crying and that probably is because jesus is the only man on the face of the earth who could actually fix the problem every man that wants to fix the pr why are you crying stop crying i'll fix it now you can't fix it you made it worse now because you told her to stop crying but jesus can get away with it because he's about he's about to fix the problem he says to her do not weep and then in verse 14 then he came and touched the open coffin and those who carried him stood still okay this would have been a very unusual thing for any rabbi or priest to touch a coffin like this because you don't want to have contact with any dead person it would it would ceremonially defile you but you see jesus was never concerned about being ceremonially defiled he went to where the need was and he wasn't concerned about ritualistic things so he had no problem touching this coffin and he basically wanted the pallbearers to put this on pause for just a moment as he touches the coffin those who were carrying the casket stood still and it reminds me of this story about an elderly woman who died and she had never married and so she specifically requested for her funeral that no male pallbearers carry her out because she quote she wrote in her handwritten note for the memorial service quote they wouldn't take me out while i was alive i don't want them taking me out when i'm dead so so here jesus is he puts a pause in this funeral procession when he touched the open coffin those who carried the coffin stood still and he said the last part of verse 14 young man now he speaks now to this young man who's dead he says young man i say to you arise one one word command arise by the way it is the same word in the greek that is used in our story last week in luke 5 when jesus told the paralytic man arise this this is this is a this is a command that god gives that jesus gives here to bring healing and wholeness and to raise this guy here from the dead and so verse verse 15 so he who was dead sat up and began to speak and again i i wonder like what did he first say you know i i made a joke about you brought me back to get a job but you know he's a man and how long has he been dead so i'm wondering if the first thing he said was i'm hungry uh that's just the way men are where's the nearest five guys i think that might be what he said that's in the message bible i think but the rest of verse 15 and and jesus presented him to his mother what a what a wonderful picture that is what a wonderful picture that is and how how long did they embrace and and we're peaches and herbs standing on the sidelines reunited and it feels so good reunited cause we understood a young man was dead and then jesus said arise and get a job so that you can give your mother bread all right anyway that's that i'm look i just took a tender wonderful moment and completely completely disgraced it so my apologies this this this scene here is just this wonderful reunion of mother and son but there are three main points i want to leave with us and so now let me try to get serious number one god is always on time god is always on time why is this an important note jesus got criticized when he showed up to raise his friend lazarus from the dead and he got criticized by lazarus's sister martha and if you remember the story from john chapter 11 what happened was when lazarus was sick and near death but he hadn't died martha the sister of lazarus and mary sent word to jesus that his friend lazarus was sick and about to die and the bible says that jesus tarried where he was for a few more days now why would he do that why would you not feel the urgency to go to your sick and dying friend why would you just let him die so that by the time jesus does get there to the home of mary and martha and lazarus not once but twice martha says in john chapter 11 to jesus if you'd have been here my brother wouldn't have died now you can read that and you can think well maybe she was just you know saying that he had the power to do something before he died but i i might have to apologize to martha one day but i hear it sassy i think she was critical of him that if he had been there then her brother wouldn't have died but now he's died because if and we don't have time to unpack it but when you look further in john chapter 11 the reaction that jesus had says that he was troubled in his spirit and it is a greek word that means to snort like a horse i think that he was definitely bothered by their lack of faith in him because he's always on time even to though it may not look like it to us if you'd have been here my brother wouldn't have died yeah but you know what this is what's going to happen there's going to be a greater miracle than healing him of his sickness i'm about to raise him from the dead now jesus didn't say that but what he did say was i am the resurrection and the life he who believes in me though we were dead yet shall he live and he that liveth and believeth in me shall never die and he said to her do you believe this she's like yes lord i believe this but her initial reaction was you showed up late god is always on time and let me say this because i think somebody needs to hear this sometimes god allows circumstances to get the most dire so that he can display his most power i really believe that i think that sometimes god allows situations and circumstances in our lives to get the most dire so that he can display the most power he wants to glorify himself in our lives and and listen if he always intervened on our behalf before we went through something difficult or trying how would we ever know how would we ever know that god is at work in our lives if he always intervened and intercepted the bad things so that we sailed through life without any difficulties we'd never know the wonderful mighty hand of god and sometimes he will allow things to get desperate so that we will know when he's brought us through it that it was only by the hand of god that this happened so god is never late he's always on time and when he shows up to raise this guy from the dead he's on time and it's going to amaze the people they're going to glorify god because of this how many people would have not seen the glory of god on that day if jesus had shown up earlier if jesus had healed this guy before he got sick enough to die so sometimes in our lives when we look at our circumstances and we think i don't know that god really hears i don't know that god cares and where is god and i've been crying out to him sometimes he allows things to get the most dire so that we can see the most power from god this is how god helps to build our faith too by the way if we were always exempt from difficulties and trials and crises we would never have opportunities for our faith to grow because only in those difficulties when we see god show up is our faith stretched and grown and so this is what god often wants to do he wants to show himself strong to us and often the circumstances have to get desperate enough so that he can display his power his glory and his grace this is what god would say in second chronicles 16 9 for the eyes of the lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him god wants to show himself strong to you but sometimes we won't see it unless things get bad enough that we realize oh this was only by the hand of god that he saw me through this paul would write in similar words when he would talk about the hardships that he faced in his life and particularly throughout his missionary ministry and he would write in second corinthians 1 8 and 9. listen to this he said we were under great pressure far beyond our ability to endure so that we despaired even of life i'm not asking for a show of hands but there's probably plenty of people who could say i've been to the place where i've despaired even of life because life has been so hard at times but listen to his next verse this is second corinthians 1 verse 9. indeed in our hearts we felt the sentence of death but this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on god who raises the dead so paul was writing there and he's saying i felt death in my own heart i felt the sentence of death because of all that i've been through and all that i've had to endure and experience and the hardships and the trials and the difficulties but then i recall this to my mind that all of these things are helping me to be less self-reliant and more god-dependent and the only way that i can see that is when i recognize that through my trials the one who raises the dead god himself is there to help me without the trials i don't see the mighty hand of god so paul even writes there this happened he says i got to the place where i realized these things have happened that i might not rely on myself but on god who raises the dead god is always on time the second thing i see from this story that i think is wonderful and worth noting is that god is compassionate toward us even when we don't ask him or think we deserve it you know there's often times in the bible when you read the gospels and jesus ministry people will call out to him you know the the leper uh son of david have mercy on me uh bartimaeus the blind man heard that jesus was passing by jesus son of david have mercy on me and jesus would often stop and jesus would often bring healing and sometimes he would even ask as he did bartimaeus what do you want from me like to draw it out are you even interested in what i have to offer do you even believe in what i had to offer but then there are other times and this is one of them where jesus is not asked to do anything he just does it nobody in this story asked him can you raise this man from the dead nobody prompted him this was his unsolicited help in a very dire situation and why is that because it's his nature the nature of god is compassion and some of you might be going through things and you don't even know how to ask or think you even deserve it you know a lot of us can do all this kind of self-shaming stuff well i don't i don't even really deserve hey truth is none of us deserve any of god's goodness or grace but because he's a god of compassion you know what he loves to pour it out anyway because that's his nature the bible says in psalm 145 verse 8 the lord is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and great in mercy and also in lamentations 3 22 and 23 it says through the lord's mercies we are not consumed because his compassions fail not they are new every morning great is his faithfulness but there's an even bigger point in the last one i want to stress with us from this story i don't want us to miss it and it has to do with jesus raising this guy from the dead while jesus did in fact raise three different people from the dead as i've already mentioned it was resuscitation not resurrection now don't misunderstand me they were fully dead i'm not saying that he just kind of perked them up they were dead as dead can be but he resuscitated them he gave them back life but all three of them would eventually die again it was a spectacular miracle every time jesus raised somebody from the dead indeed but it was a temporary one and as far as resurrection goes the kind that jesus first displayed that the bible says we likewise can experience that kind of a resurrection is different from the miracles that he performed by raising people from the dead because they would die again and the last point that's important for all of us to know is that god offers a permanent resurrection from the dead for all who believe in him you see this was just a foreshadowing this was an inferior raising from the dead but a picture of a greater one that is available to every single one of us you see jesus said and i'll put the screen the verse on the screen for you john 5 24 he said most assuredly i say to you he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment but has passed from death into life now there's a lot in that verse let me just unpack a couple of points here what what jesus is saying there is basically this we've all sinned and we're all going to die and we're all going to have to face judgment that's what he's saying to us a just and holy god cannot overlook our sinfulness otherwise he would not be a just and holy god so therefore sin must be punished and thus we must be punished because we are all sinners every single one of us and hebrews 9 27 says it is appointed for men once to i and after that the judgment so we all have to be accountable to god one day but what if what if god provided a way out so that we didn't have to face the judgment that we deserve and what if god implemented a plan that would satisfy his wrath concerning our sin well then we wouldn't have to suffer the consequences that we deserved but more than that what if god not only implemented a plan that would satisfy his wrath concerning our sins so that we wouldn't have to face judgment but what if he went beyond that and said in addition i will reward you with heaven and i will accept you as my sons and daughters because all this god did do through jesus you see when jesus died on the cross all the punishment intended for us because of our sin was placed on him he suffered the consequence that i deserved that you deserved jesus took it on for us even though he had committed no sin he who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of god a miraculous thing that god did but by his providential prerogative god said all of us deserve hell all of us deserve to die and to suffer the consequences for our sin but because i love you because i'm a god of compassion and mercy i will make a gracious provision that i will allow my son to die on a cross and i will place all of the intended consequences for the sins of humanity upon him and then by faith if you believe in what jesus did for you you can be forgiven you can be saved you can be adopted as my sons and daughters and you no longer have to be punished for your own sins judgment is reserved for those who don't know jesus not for those who do we were judged with christ on the cross if you accept him by faith and so the glorious reward is not only will i accept you as sons and daughters and i will forgive you if you accept what my son did jesus on the cross but then in addition when you die you'll go to heaven to be with me forever that the moment that we die our spirit separates from our body and our spirit goes to be with the lord and this body of flesh decomposes or is cremated it just goes to the same dust composition whether it happens natural decomposition or cremation whatever happens then this frail body the bible says will one day be raised imperishable incorruptible to be reunited with our spirit so we get a glorified body just like what jesus has that is the resurrected life that jesus provides for us it is a free gift for all who would receive and believe that's why jesus said you'll pass from death to life yes we die physically but our spirit lives forever the question is where will your spirit spend eternity where god has opened up heaven by sacrificing his son that's the curtain that made the way and all we have to do is put our faith and trust in him receive salvation get a glorified body that's real resurrection and god offers it to all who would believe i close with this quote okay for those of you who uh from the 70s and 80s you'll remember the rock band the police okay so sting the british rock legend sting whose real name is gordon sumner he weighed in on his view of death and here's what he said without wishing to seem morbid i'm trying to work out how to die well death's a taboo in our society but let's think about it and work out a strategy it's the most important thing we all face and it's kind of unavoidable if you want to live well you must surely want to die well well he's right that it's unavoidable but he's wrong that there's a human strategy to work it out there's no human strategy but there is a divine plan that god made a way for all of us to be saved the only way to die well is to know jesus well and then we pass from this life to the next and we get a glorified body and we're with the lord forever and ever and ever amen amen give him praise today let's pray father we bow our heads and our hearts before you thankful for this story as a reminder that even though this young man was raised from the dead he died again it was a wonderful miracle but you were giving us a glimpse that you have power over death so that one day we can all be resurrected and never die again and lord for those of us who know you we thank you but for those of us of us here today who don't know you i pray right now lord that you would open the eyes of their hearts that they might receive you as lord and savior that they might believe in you and pass from death to life to have the assurance when they leave here today that they'll go to heaven when they die and they'll spend eternity with you and i pray right now for those who don't have that certainty i pray right now for men women and children those in our sanctuary those watching online those who will later watch or listen to this teaching for anyone who does not have the certainty that they're going to go to heaven when they die that their sins are forgiven i pray for them right now that you would open the eyes of their hearts that they would trust you and receive you now i'm going to pause in my prayer with your head still bowed just in an attitude of prayer and i want to give an invitation for as many of you as want to trust christ as your savior because some of you realize as i was praying that i was talking about you because you don't have that certainty you don't know for sure that when you die you'll go to heaven and i want to offer you an opportunity today to pray a simple prayer and to invite christ into your heart to trust him as lord and savior so you can have the same certainty that the rest of us have who already know jesus but you're gonna have to decide that you want to choose christ he already chose you he wants you to choose him so if you're here today and you would say pastor gary that's me i i need christ as my savior i don't have that certainty i want that certainty that you're talking about then just slip up your hand so i know who to pray for and then put it back down just slip it up yes god bless you yes god bless you sir god bless you god bless you young lady just lift up your hand and then back down so i can see it i'm just going to offer a prayer in a moment yes god bless you man anyone else just up in the rake yes god bless you sir anyone else yes ma'am god bless you in the back yes god bless you sir pray this prayer with me you raised your hands or you're watching online just pray this prayer with me just whisper it to the lord i'm going to pray it you just follow along with me just say lord jesus i thank you that you died on a cross for my sins i confess that i'm a sinner like everyone else but right now i surrender to you forgive me of my sins come into my life as lord and savior i surrender to you i want you to be my lord i want to live for your glory i thank you that you love me so much you died for me and i received the free gift of salvation so that with certainty i might know that i'm going to spend eternity with you by faith i accept and receive and believe in your name i pray amen now listen before you're dismissed if you prayed that prayer with me you're not obligated but we'd love to just give you a bible to remember today's decision there's gonna be a pastor down front give you a free bible we don't want anything from you no strings attached just to be able to give you a bible if you prayed that prayer with me online you can text to 703-844-9969 just text i've decided we'll mail you a bible we'll send you a bible so that you can have one too god bless you god bless you he is the resurrection of the life amen and he offers it to us have a great day you

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

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Id: 16TQuV2QfUI

Length: 39min 5sec (2345 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 23 2021