Luke 7:11-18; Weep Not!

Why don't we go ahead and just read the passage

and then I'll make some introductory remarks. We're going to

be in verses 11 and we're going to read down

through verse 18. 11 through 18. And it came to

pass the day after 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 was 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 buyer,

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 disciples of John showed him of all these things.

Dear Father, we ask that you would help us today

as we consider your words, as we sanctify your name. Lord,

as we are here at this most important passage, and

we ask that you'd speak to us according to your will.

The Holy Spirit would do his work among us today. Lord,

call those to you that have yet to be called,

and strengthen the church, for we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

So we understand the grief of losing a loved one.

And even in the title of my message today, Weep Not,

that whole idea of the brokenness that we experience at

death is demonstrated. We are constantly reminded of the steady

march of death as people near us, famous people, Distant

relations or acquaintances pass away. Laura just mentioned Betty Smith,

one of our dear members. She went on to be

with the Lord. And of course, we're brokenhearted that she's

no longer with us, but delighted that she is with

the Lord in heaven. And so there's that sense of

sadness that we've lost her, but wonder that She is

there with him. Betty Smith. And then, of course, we

also lost not only Betty, but a custodial member, Joan Moore,

who was a member of Winslow Park. We've also heard

about the deaths of Dolly Parton recently, Tim Curry of

Muppet Treasure Island fame, Gloria Steinem and Hayden Pantier. It's

just every week we could make a list of the

people near us and people that we know about who

are famous that have passed away. Death so surrounds us

that we have become immune to its emotional effects unless

it is someone within our orbit. We were sad to hear,

for example, Dolly Parton's passing, but we don't know Dolly,

so it doesn't really affect us emotionally like it, I'm sure,

does her family. And so in that sense, we are

sort of immune to the whole idea The world system

tells us that death is a natural part of life,

but let me just say it is not. Yes, we

experience death just as we experience birth, and we will

all die, but to say it's natural is wrong. Things

that happen naturally are things that follow the creator's order.

For example, a man leaves his father and mother and

cleaves to his wife, Genesis 2.24. That is natural because...

It follows the order given in creation before the fall.

The order that God set in creation never included decay.

It never included death. He made us to live, not

to die. And so we read in Genesis chapter 2,

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

the Lord God commanded the man, saying of every tree

of the garden, thou mayest freely eat. But of the

tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt

not eat of it, For in the day that thou

eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. It wasn't until the

day that Adam and Eve took of the fruit that

they began to die. And so death has come upon

every man and every man will die. Every funeral then

is a sad reminder of God's strong stroke against Adam's

sin and against our own complicity in that rebellion. And

so when someone dies, we shouldn't say, oh, it's just

a natural part of life. We should say, here is

evidence of the curse of God against sin. Just one

evidence of it. Adam's sin and our own complicity. It's

right there. One of the great joys of the gospel

truth is the subject of resurrection. The ministry of Jesus

included several accounts of the dead being raised. Here we

have it in Luke 7, as we just read, the

widow's son. We also have in the next chapter, in

chapter 8, Jarius' daughter. And then, of course, Lazarus in

John chapter 11. And if you want to include them,

John 11 · chapter mention

the saints who were raised after the crucifixion and resurrection

of Jesus in Matthew 27. Then there are the ones

raised to life during the apostolic period, Dorcas and Eutychus. Also,

the teaching in the New Testament makes it clear that

those who believe in Jesus, their bodies will be changed

at the command of Christ one day and made like

his glorious body. And so you can go to places

like 1 Thessalonians 4, 15-18. It talks about the last trump,

the shout, the bodies being raised, the dead, and the

living meeting with the Lord in the air. John 5,

28-29 says, We're told about the resurrection when Jesus calls

both the wicked and the righteous to come out of

the graves. Philippians chapter 3, verse 21, 1 Corinthians chapter 15,

Philippians 3:21 1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

of course, is a notable passage. 50 through 57 talks

about the change in our bodies that will take place.

All of these are resurrection passages, and that's just, what, one, two, three,

four passages. There are many more, and I quoted nothing

from the Old Testament. You can find that as well. Notably,

Job's statement, you know, that in his body he would

stand on the earth one day and see his Savior,

his Redeemer. So there's resurrection in the Old Testament as well.

Today we will enjoy a unique story. It's unique to Luke.

You won't find it in any of the parallels, Matthew

or Mark. It's only in Luke's gospel about a widow's

son who's raised from the dead. And we just read that.

And this passage teaches us that Jesus, he's more than

a prophet. He's more than a great man. He's much

more than that. He's more than a healer. He's more

than a caster outer of demons. He's more than that.

He has the power over death and life. And we'll

see that in this passage. He is literally Lord of

all things. So we come back to our passage there

in Luke chapter 7 and just notice in verse 11

Luke 7 · chapter mention

it says, and it came to pass the day after. Okay,

so the day after what? Well, last week, where were we?

We were in Capernaum, somewhere in Capernaum, and we went

to the centurion's house. So this is the next day.

He's He's gone home, presumably somewhere, and he's had a

good night's sleep, and then he decided that he was

going to go on quite a long little trip from

Capernaum all the way down to Nain. So this is

the day after the encounter with the centurion, his elders

and his friends and all of that, the day after

Jesus marveled at a Roman soldier's faith, faith placed firmly

in the words of Christ, And you notice something interesting

here is the alacrity of Christ is seen here. He

is active. He leaves Capernaum after only one day, and

he's happily taking his tour in the southern part of Galilee.

He just doesn't stop. He's just always moving. He's always going.

Of course, he's on the clock. He doesn't have a

whole lot of time. And so now he's making his

way through the southern part of Galilee, and he comes back.

to this city called Nain. There in verse 11. The

day after, he went to a city called Nain. And

you'll notice it says he went into. Apparently, this was

his destination. He was headed there. The city is located

southwest of Capernaum. It's two miles west of Endor. It's

just a few miles from Shunem, where the widow's son

was raised. in Shunem by Elisha. Since it had a gate,

we can assume that it was a walled town. It

stood on a rocky northern facing slope of the hill Moreh,

also known as Little Hermon. You'll find the hill Moreh

mentioned in the story of Gideon. When Gideon and the

people that were with him rose up early and pitched

beside the well of Herod, so that the host of

the Midianites were on the north side of them by

the hill Moreh in the valley. Moreh is the southern marker, really,

of the Jezreel Valley, and the Jezreel Valley is huge.

It goes all the way up through the Galilee area,

from the Sea of Galilee all the way to the

west towards the Mediterranean, and it's bordered by the Nazareth

Spur and what's the mountain where Elijah had the confrontation

with the prophets? What's the name of that mountain? Carmel.

That Carmel range looks down onto that valley. It's a

huge area of land. I'm sure they measured square miles.

I don't have that in my notes, but it's massive.

And It's an agricultural place. And, of course, that's where

the Midianites were because they were stealing the crops. And

that's a beautiful place to grow whatever you want to grow.

It's still today used in that fashion. It's still agricultural.

You can drive miles and miles through that valley, sunflowers

and corn and all the rest. It's just marvelous what

they grow there. It is the breadbasket of Europe, they say.

So the hill of Moreh was at the southern end

of that great valley of Jezreel. And on that little slope,

that northern slope, as it went towards the north, there

was built the city of Nain. And it's right there.

And they still point to a place there that they

believe is that city. Many of his disciples went with him.

And much people, it says here in verse 11. So

two groups, you'll notice. Many of his disciples went with

him and much people. The ones who believed, who heard

the word of God to their prophet, were the disciples.

And then there was the rest. This is nothing new.

When Israel left Egypt, there went out with them a

mixed multitude. But you had the Israelites and then you

had the mixed multitudes. And they were not in the

camp of the Israelites, but they went with them out

of Egypt. Well, here you have the same kind of idea.

You have the disciples, and then you have the others,

the much people. They followed along, these much people. They

wanted to, I don't know, see the miracles maybe. Maybe

they wanted a show, and they needed that for whatever reason.

They wanted to catch Jesus in a misstep maybe. Perhaps

there were the Pharisees and the scribes with the much people,

and they had their notebooks that are taken down notes

because they want to be able to accuse him. So

you've got the people that are there for the sensational things.

You've got people that are there for the legal things.

And then you've just got probably people there who are

just part of the crowd. They just love to jump

on the bandwagon. So you've got all these folks that

are traveling with Jesus. the disciples, those who hear the

word of their prophet, and then the rest. And isn't

it amazing that Luke gives us this division? The incarnate

Christ doing miracles and teaching, and yet there are those

who do not consider themselves disciples. What is that about?

The much people, they're just there. They're listening, they're singing,

all the rest, but it does not profit their soul

in any way. That tells us something, doesn't it? That

if we shouldn't be discouraged when we're preaching the gospel

today and we don't get very much in the way of,

we don't get very much in the way of responses,

Jesus himself didn't get very much in the way of

responses either. Apparently there were those who heard him. The

word of God coming out of the mouth of the

Word of God and still they did not believe. It

just points to the fact that the doctrine of election

and the unique work of the Spirit of God on

the hearts of men is in force even in the

time of Christ. We shouldn't be surprised that many hear

the Word of God and yet they don't hear. They

hear with the ears but there's no heart hearing. So

you have the disciples And the people, the much people,

this crowd that's gathered is traveling with them. Now when

he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold,

there was a dead man carried out. So the ancient

gates were meant to be a choke point for entrance

into a city. They were also used as meeting places

for the local elders and judges to hold court. Now

there was no court being held at this gate on

this day because this funeral procession was coming out. and

everybody would have been attending the funeral procession as it

came out. So you have the funeral coming out through

this gate, and Jesus and his crowd wanting to come

in through this gate. And of course, when they see

the funeral, Jesus and his crowd would have stopped, because

the funeral takes precedence there. Just like we treat funerals today.

We see a funeral procession, what do we do? Well,

we pull off to the side of the road. We

let the hearse and the family passed before we continue.

We give a great deal of respect to families that

are mourning. So that would have been the case here.

A dead man was carried out. Notice that it tells

us this man was dead. He was a man. He

had died. And there were stone tombs just outside of

the city of Nain. Archaeologists tell us that they found

tombs outside of this location Although the ancient city is

no longer there, they have found burying places there and

perhaps this fellow was headed to one of those tombs.

Dead men are always, you know, being carried out. This

is an illustration of our condition before coming to Christ.

Paul told us in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through

Ephesians 2:1–5

5 that we're dead in our trespasses and sins before

God and his great mercy quickened us. So we couldn't

We're all dead and we're being carried about by one

thing or another until God in his great mercy quickens us,

that is, makes us alive in Christ. And so this

dead man is being carried just like every dead man

is being carried. But now we get a little identification

of him. He's the only son of his mother and

she was a widow. The great loss of this situation

really cannot be overstated. Only one child and a son

who would have been her shelter in her widowhood, but

now he's lost. She was dead as well. There was

nothing left for her. She had lost her husband. She's

a widow. Her husband had provided her a son, and

now the son is gone, and who knows how closely

those two events took place. Can you imagine the double

grief That was on this woman's heart. As she was losing.

She had lost her husband. Now her son. What in

the world is she going to do? A woman without family.

Without any kind of mooring. Death has come to her.

But it's a living death. It's not. It's not a.

It's not a. Literal death. And it says that. The

man's carried out. His mother, she was a widow. She's

probably at the head of the, you know, right behind

the buyer. She's right there. She's weeping. She probably has

people there trying to comfort her. And it says much

people of the city was with her. So this is

a large procession. The entire city was mourning this man's loss.

Professional mourners would have been there amongst the crowd, but

the size of of this group that Luke gives us

here indicates a much larger train than just professional mourners.

And so we have much people that I just imagine

the entire city was a small place. So they're probably

all there because they know her and they know her son.

Everyone is known in a small place. And an adult

man in the prime of his life, the only son

of a widow who had suffered point previous had lost

her husband, everyone in the town would have felt this.

It would have been a great loss for them as well.

And so you have this mass of people trying to

come through that choke point in the gate. So the

men carrying the buyer, the widow... her friends close to her,

and then the entire city streaming out behind her. What

a sad scene this was. And you can imagine the

colors all black and drab because they're all mourning. There

would have been no music, not music to be happy to.

There would have been crying and weeping. And, of course,

Jesus' crowd, they've come down to the city of Naaman.

They're probably pretty chipper, you know. They just... Heard about,

maybe even were there, when Jesus healed the centurion's servant

and said about the centurion's faith. And now the next day,

they're walking along and they're probably all talking and happy

and wondering what's next. And, you know, when will Christ speak?

And who's going to be healed? And what's the next plan? And,

you know, the buzz that is in a crowd like that.

And then they come to the gate of Nain and

everybody stops. What pain. Suddenly, daylight fades, and they're faced

with the reality of this tragedy that could be anyone's tragedy.

And so even then, everyone in the crowd, not only

the people that are in the train that's following the

buyer out to the grave, but even the people in

Jesus' group, they're feeling this horrible grief. And then you

have there in verse 13. And when the Lord saw her,

he had compassion on her and said to her, weep not.

As I said, this must have put a damper on

the jubilant chipper crowd that was following Jesus as these

two groups met. And of course, it affected our Savior. Notice,

he had compassion on her and said to her, weep not.

Such a statement from anyone of us to a mourning

widow would be considered cruel, wouldn't it? You wouldn't say

that to anyone at a funeral, especially if they're following

the body to the grave and they're bawling because they

know that they're not going to travel with this person

ever again. You wouldn't say, it's okay, don't weep. Because

this isn't a hopeful, it's okay, don't weep. You know,

he's in heaven. It's not that. No, this is a command.

Jesus walks up to her and says, don't weep. It's

a command. It's not a suggestion. It's not a hope.

Now he speaks specifically to this poor widow and says,

don't weep. Weep not. And this will not be the

last time Jesus said such a thing during a funeral.

You remember Jarius's daughter. We'll see that one of my

favorite passages in Luke chapter 8 and it says all

Luke 8 · chapter mention

wept and bewailed her and he said weep not she's

not dead and they all laughed him to scorn knowing

that she was dead their mourning turned to laughter just

like that well here he walks up to this widow

and says don't weep he knew what he was going

to do she didn't but he did don't weep nothing

could change for the man or for the mother if

compassion was not present. Jesus had compassion on her. Thank

God that he has mercy on us. Thank God that

he loves us enough to have mercy on us. Thank

God that he loves us enough that he made a

covenant with the Son in eternity past, which he executed

in the life of Christ, and he sent him to

the cross to die for us, and then to be

raised the third day for our justification. Thank God for that.

What compassion. What eternal universal passion is that? For us.

We're nothing. Less than nothing. We're creatures here on some

blue globe. In the middle of blackness. God cares for us.

Just as the psalmist said. What is man? That you

consider him or the son of man. That you think

about him. And yet. He has compassion on us. And

here it's demonstrated by Christ for this poor widow. He

had compassion on her. He walked up to her and

he said, don't weep. Because he knew what he was

about to do. Robertson translates weep not. And I mentioned Dr. A.T. Robertson,

one of the greatest Greek scholars that Baptists have ever produced.

He said weep not. And he translates that as cease weeping.

It's an imperative. Jesus is life and light. And he

intended to translate the death to life and grief to rejoicing.

Something only he could do because he is Lord. And

he came and touched the buyer. So he has compassion

on this widow. He sees her there at the head

of the line. He walks up. And he says, cease weeping.

And then he doesn't even wait for anybody to say

anything to him. He just walks up to the buyer

and he puts his hand on it. He touches the buyer.

This is also, you'll find this mentioned as a bed.

It would have been born by several men, possibly as

many as 12, three on each part, on each side

of the bed. And touching the bed or the buyer

was not forbidden by the law and carried no stigma whatsoever.

of uncleanness with it. And Jesus just walks up and

touches that pallet that they're carrying the body on with

the same amount of freedom and confidence that he touched

the leper in chapter 5. The leper came up to

him and said, if you will, you can make me clean.

And Jesus says, I will. And he touched him. Here

he comes to the buyer. He says to the mother,

cease weeping, goes up and touches the buyer. And it says,

and they that bear him stood still. Jesus touched the

buyer and the procession stopped. He staunched the progress of death.

Only he could do such a thing. Notice that Jesus

stopped the train without a word, simply a touch. They

were coming out of the gate. Jesus and his followers

were there outside watching this happen, this proceed. And he

walks up and says to the widow, don't weep. And

he touches the buyer and everything just stops. The power

of Christ, the power of God's Son over death. The

living obeyed even his touch. They could go no further

because he had given the command to the widow, weep not.

Something's about to happen. A change is in the air.

This is no longer grief, but now wonder what's next.

What's going to happen? There was no more need for buyers.

No more need for pallbearers. One of the commentators that

I read about this passage said that they probably set

the thing down on the ground now. Jesus touches it

and they stop and probably laid it down on the ground.

And then Jesus stands there and he says to the man, arise.

There was no more need. for mourning, no more need

for making a show of grief, no more need for mourners,

professional or otherwise, no more need for the blackness of

loss because the light of light has come to name.

And when Jesus says, weep not, friends, something is about

to happen. And he said, young man, I say unto thee, arise.

So we know that he was a young man. He's

a man, but he's a young man. Again, imagine the

grief of that mother. Her son in the prime of

his life is lost. Young man, I say unto thee, arise.

One word directed to the dead man on the buyer,

carried by bearers. Now we know why he said, weep not.

And you notice how specific he is. He doesn't just say, arise,

all the tombs would have opened. The power of the

Son of God, the creative word of the universe, when

he speaks, things happen because it's by his word that

all things are created. And if he said, arise, well,

then everybody would have come out of the graves. But he,

looking at that young man, says, young man, and there's

only one young man there who's dead, arise. And Did

it take two weeks? Did he have to go to therapy?

Did he have to take some medicine? No. He sat

up and began to speak. Don't you wonder what he said?

Don't you just wonder what he said? I bet he

looked at his mother and said, Mom, what's going on?

Why am I here? Why am I on this thing?

Why does everybody look so sad? Of course, by that time,

everybody's eyes were, you know, big as saucers. This man

sitting up talking, you know, only Jesus. Friends, only Jesus.

He wasn't dead any longer. Dead men don't sit up

on their own. They certainly don't speak. He was very

much alive and all because Jesus spoke first. Do you

know why I am alive today? Do you know why

you are alive today in Christ? Because Jesus spoke first.

And we set up. He gave us new life. We're

born again. And he delivered him to his mother. Now,

this was the complete reversal of her misfortunes. For her,

this was life from the dead. She had her son back. Yes,

he's alive, but for her, this meant a future, something wonderful.

Just like the Gadarene demoniac, Jesus doesn't invite him to

go along to be his disciple, but rather to do

what he needed to be done for his mother. The

Gadarene demoniac, he sent back into the city. He said,

you tell people what's happened. Here, he gives him to

his mother because that's the thing that's needful. You go

and take care of your mom. He didn't say, why

don't you come and follow me? And you can be

a great testimony. I can put you up on stage.

And you can tell everybody how I raised you from

the dead. No, Jesus doesn't do that. He says, go

take care of your mother. That's your duty. Go do that.

Presents him. Delivered him. I love that. Delivered him to

his mother. What a marvelous, marvelous reversal. And of course,

By this time, the weep not thing's been forgotten. She's

overwhelmed with joy that her boy is alive. And then

I'm going to use the last couple of verses here.

Let's see. Beginning in 16 as the conclusion for the

sermon today. It says, there came a fear on all

And they glorified God saying that a prophet has risen

up among us and that God has visited his people.

There came a fear on all. Now this wasn't a

fear of oh no disaster is upon us. This is

not a fear of oh no God is going to

judge me. This is not that kind of fear but

rather oh no God is at work. What does that

mean for me? That's the fear. This is the hand

of God come to a little place at the southern

end of the Jezreel Valley, a little-known place, and we

would never know about name if it weren't for this.

And they're saying, something is happening. What's going on? They

saw a man sit up who was on his funeral

pyre in the open street at the command of a

man named Jesus. What was God up to? Who was

this man who gave the commands? And they glorified God.

Fear of the Lord leads us to glorifying him. When

we don't fear the Lord, we're not going to glorify him.

Because we don't think he's great at all. But when

we fear him, the glory of God is natural. And

they glorified God saying, a great prophet is risen up

among us. They saw in Jesus a reason to glorify God.

They were worshiping God because of what Jesus had done.

In the face of this miracle, they at that moment

knew the truth of the prophet's words. O death, where

is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? In

the presence of Jesus, every knee will bow, even the

knee of death. John faces the Lord Jesus in the

first chapter of his revelation. And he writes, and when

I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.

And he laid his right hand upon me, saying to me,

Fear not. I am the first and the last. I

am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I

am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell

and death. Well, apparently Jesus has the keys of hell

and death while he was in his life, in his ministry.

And he pulled that key out of his pocket and

unlocked it for this young man and said, Arise. and

delivered him to his mother. And they not only stopped there,

but they said, God hath visited his people. Yeah, that's right.

They got it right. This was a messianic sign. But

Jesus was more than just a prophet, wasn't he? He

was prophet, priest, and king. Zechariah's prophecy had come true.

You remember Zechariah, John's father, there in the first chapter

of the book of Luke? When he gives that prophecy.

And he says, blessed be the Lord God of Israel.

For he hath visited and redeemed his people. And hath

raised up a horn of salvation for us in the

house of his servant David. Absolutely. And that's exactly what

the people saw. And it was right for them to

bless God. It was right for them to glorify God.

It was right of them to be fearful of God

and was right of them to say God has visited

his people because that's exactly what has happened. This visitation

of God did not stop with the resurrection and ascension

of Christ. He has now shed forth the Holy Ghost

and given us the gospel so that Jesus Christ can

appear before all generations of men until that day in

which he returns. and that all may know him who

speaks life to the dead. And then you have this

piece there, I think it's verse 17. It says, and

this rumor of him went forth throughout all Judea. I

love the way that King James puts that. Probably in

your translation, you're going to have something like the report

of him, which is maybe a better translation, but rumor

just You know, that's such a juicy word, the rumor

of him. This report, you know. The word, the Greek

word actually means to cast forth, to emanate, to take

rise from, to come abroad. So it's the report, you know.

Everybody's talking about what's happened here. And just imagine, too.

Just in chapter 7 now, we've had the We've had

the centurion servant healed and now the widow of Nain's

son raised from the dead. Can you imagine the talk?

Everybody's talking about this. Jesus is here. God has visited

his people and he's doing a work through this man,

Jesus of Nazareth. So the translators have this as the report,

but I think it's something more than that. I think

it It borders on rumor because it has a life

of its own. It's just spreading across hill and dale.

And it says, and throughout all the regions round about.

So it wasn't just Judea, but it was going everywhere.

And the disciples of John showed him all of these things.

Now this sets up for us next time when the

disciples of John come to Jesus and ask him, You know,

what do we tell John? John's in prison, and John's

maybe doubting. Maybe his disciples are doubting, and they're going

to come to Jesus and say, what do we tell

John about all this? Okay. So are you spreading a rumor?

Is it a good one? Because God is still visiting

his people. He's still calling out a people out of

this crooked and perverse world. He's still reversing the curse

of death. Yes, we're still going to die. These bodies

are going to expire. But ladies and gentlemen, let me

just tell you something. There are only two places for

the soul to inhabit after the body is ended. That

is hell in punishment until the great day of judgment.

when they will be raised body and soul to stand

before God at the great white throne and receive their

eternal punishment, or it is in heaven with Christ and

the Father before the throne. Those are the only two places.

There is no other place, there is no other existence

for the soul of man. There's no such things as

ghosts that wander about or spirits. There's no such thing

as a nirvana where you just fade into nothingness. There

is either hell or awaiting the punishment of God or

heaven because we have trusted in Christ. Those are the

two options here. Those are the two options. This young

man in Luke chapter 7, he's going to die again.

Luke 7 · chapter mention

He's going to die again. Jesus raised his body up,

but it wasn't the resurrection to life. This was just

a raising of a body. But there's going to come

a day when we will all be raised from our

graves if we've trusted in Christ. That's the first resurrection.

And blessed are those who participate in that first resurrection.

And so when we have a funeral like we had

with Betty Smith, and we all grieve her loss, but

we know for certain that Betty Smith trusted in Christ,

she followed him in believer's baptism, she participated in local churches,

She gave her heart to Christ in everything she did.

And so we say to ourselves, we know exactly where

Betty is. She's with her Savior. And so we rejoice

in that. And one day, that body that they laid

in a grave is going to come out and is

going to be joined with her soul, and she will

ever be with the Lord. That's beautiful. Absolutely wonderful. And

this passage teaches us something about that. So I ask

you the question, have you trusted in Christ? Because there's

coming a day, and we don't know when that day

is for any of us, when we too will be mourned.

We will be lost, and we will either go to

an eternal salvation or we will go to an eternal judgment. Father,

we thank you for this story and for all that

it teaches us and so much more. Lord, we ask

that you'd help us today as we consider that Ponder

this in our hearts. Call the sheep to yourself today,

dear Savior, dear Shepherd. Do your work among us, for

we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.