God Has Visited His People! (Luke 7:11-17)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple

And as we turn to God's Word, we look today at

Luke chapter 7. So I invite you to turn in your

Luke 7 · chapter mention

Bibles to Luke 7, 11 through 17. What we've been

doing is studying some of the miracles of Jesus.

So we're not just in one book of the Bible, but

we're seeing the miracles of Jesus throughout

the Gospels. We've been in John, we've been in

Mark, and today we're in Luke chapter 7. And

Luke 7 · chapter mention

today I want you to listen to this text, and

I don't believe this is the most well -known

of Jesus' miracles, but it's miraculous. And

so I would ask you to hear this miracle as if

you're hearing it for the first time. Indeed,

that's kind of what I said last Sunday when it

comes to the Christmas story, the birth of Jesus.

I would pray that at this time of year, we've

got all the reds and the greens and the lights.

And yet, how wonderful would it be if we were

able to hear the gospel with fresh ears, to be

wowed by it all over again. And so I pray that

this story, this truth of Jesus, this miracle

that he performs would help with a wow factor,

and that you would more and more trust Jesus.

And so let's hear this word from Luke chapter

Luke 7 · chapter mention

7. Please give attention because this is God's

holy word. Soon afterward, he went to a town

called Nain and his disciples and a great crowd

went with him. As he drew near to the gate of

the town, behold, a man who had died was being

carried out, the only son of his mother, and

she was a widow. a considerable crowd from the

town was with her and when the Lord saw her he

had compassion on her and said to her do not

weep then he came up and he touched the beer

and the bearers stood still and he said young

man I say to you arise and the dead man sat up

and he began to speak and Jesus gave him to his

mother fear seize them all and they glorify God

saying a great prophet has arisen among us and

God has visited his people. And this report about

him spread through the whole of Judea and all

the surrounding country. The grass withers and

the flower fades but God's word stands forever.

Let's pray. Oh Father we praise you and we thank

you for this word and we ask that you would help

us to hide it in our hearts. and to know that

Jesus is the promised Christ who has come once

and will come again. Would you grant us understanding

as we look at this in Christ's name, amen. Have

you ever ridden in a funeral procession before?

The line of cars that maybe leaves from the church

or maybe leaves from the funeral home. Maybe

you can remember that. Maybe you've even ridden

in the first car, the second car, a sad black

limousine. Maybe you can remember being in a

funeral procession that left out of here and

turned to the right and headed towards the cemetery,

that long walk to the cemetery gates. Have you

had that experience? I believe that probably

many of you have. And it's sad. And it's overwhelming,

right? Now, imagine you're in that procession,

that line, be it the line of vehicles or the

walk. What if somebody had jumped out and said,

stop. Stop the cars. Stop the walk. Just stop.

We would say, that's terribly disrespectful.

Get out of the way. We'd say, that's callous.

What are you doing? This is a solemn. We are

grieving. What are you doing? But what if that

person could raise the dead? Now, that would

be a different story altogether. That would be

miraculous. That's what Jesus does here. This

is the first recorded resurrection miracle that

Jesus does. And as we look at this text, you'll

notice the person that is raised and the woman

grieving over her son. These are not somebodies.

We're not given their names, right? These are

probably not people of great influence. Probably

not too many people cared. Maybe just those within

the town. But we see Jesus care. We see the incredible

compassion of Jesus within this text. Jesus takes

note of this woman. She's fraught with grief

and he shows her compassion. And because of what

he does, you see what the people exclaim. God

has visited us. This is truly a miraculous miracle.

We said last time and in previous weeks, the

miracles of Jesus showcase his compassion and

they also showcase his authority. Jesus doesn't

perform miracles to show off. You remember how

Jesus turns the water to wine. You remember how

Jesus. casts out the demons you remember how

Jesus touches the sick and they are healed Jesus

doesn't do this to show off he does this such

that you would see these things read these things

know these things and believe in Jesus that's

that's the point and yet we know this from other

historical writings that others were able to

perform healings there were even others who at

the time of Jesus could cast out demons of this

miracle. Now we're moving into nearly uncharted

waters. And I'll explain what I mean by nearly

in a minute. This is off the chart. Jesus now

is raising the dead. As we look at this, I think

we see three unexpected actions of Jesus. And

so I'm going to go through these. The first unexpected

action of Jesus is that he stops that processional,

right? I began this week to think of famous funerals,

famous processions. I thought of Abraham Lincoln

and the procession as his body was moved by train

and by horse -drawn carriages and things across

many states to go from Washington D .C. to Springfield,

Illinois. And as Lincoln was taken along, people

would line the tracks, lighting fires to let

the train know where to go. Incredible amounts

of people went out for that. Or maybe you remember

Princess Diana and the procession at her funeral.

Maybe you remember pop stars or even popes, hundreds

of thousands of people attending such funerals.

This one is not that. Jesus doesn't show up to

this funeral because he heard it on the news.

Jesus is here because of the providence of God.

The providence of God has Jesus in this town

that's called Nain. This is somewhere southeast

of Nazareth. It's probably not that big of a

town, and yet because of the crowd following

Jesus. Suddenly there's an influx of people there

and the people following Jesus approach the city

gates and they see the scene before them, the

funeral procession coming towards them. But before

we see what Jesus does, before we see the unexpected,

we need to understand this woman. We need to

understand what she is going through. This woman,

according to the text, has lost her son. He's

probably a grown man. But notice the text also

says that she is a widow which means this poor

woman has walked this sad and lonely road before

She has walked out of those city gates before

She is she's heard the mourners before she's

seen the casket before and she is thinking to

herself self How is it possible that I have to

go through this all over again with each step?

towards the city gates, it becomes more and more

real to her. And the reason for going outside

of the city gates is because of Jewish cleanliness

laws, that those who are being buried would have

to be buried outside the city gates. And so for

her, those gates represent death. They do. Perhaps

as you look at the cemetery, or perhaps when

you go by a place where a loved one is buried,

That's what those tombstones, that's what those

gates represent to you. You've all perhaps experienced

that, the grief of death. I myself have had to

do the funerals for both of my grandfathers.

And I can remember the feeling of just trying

to hold it all together. I think of my grandfather

in Connecticut who was buried on a slope of a

Pennsylvania Cemetery with a cold mist following

and just trying to be able to hold it together

to get through the service. That's this woman.

She's just trying to hold it together. But it's

there. It's in the back of her mind, something

else, as she has already lost her husband. And

now she loses her son. It has to be there in

the back of her mind. Who's going to care for

me? Who is going to take care of me? She doesn't

want to think about it because she knows she

needs to grieve, but it has to be there in the

back of her mind. She's lost everything. If I

can apply this to an Old Testament text, this

is Naomi without Alimelech, without Malon and

Killian, without Ruth and without Boaz. This

woman. is totally and completely desperate. Have

you felt the despair of death before? If you

haven't, you will. Some have said funeral workers

have some of the best job security in the world,

because as long as the world is under the curse

of sin, there will be death. There will be funerals.

There is never an end to the funeral processions.

Just go to a busy funeral home, and you'll oftentimes

notice They'll have more than one funeral going

on that day. There is never an end to these.

And what this tells us then is that if all our

hope is in the here and the now, we will be left

heartbroken and hopeless. Money will not save

us from our tears. If all our stock is placed

in stocks, we will be poor ultimately. Our relationships

will not save us from tears because the relationships

we have with people will be interrupted by death.

Our jobs will not save us from our tears. The

reality is every single one of us is replaceable

and business carries on. And so in a life where

there's the reality and the sadness of death,

who shall save us from our tears? Jesus and Jesus

alone. And you see the good news in this passage.

The good news of the passage is that Jesus has

compassion. And the word for compassion here

is a very descriptive word. It means that which

wells up inside of a person, a sympathy, a care

for somebody else. The compassion word that is

used here is the same that is used with the good

Samaritan. or the father of the prodigal son,

this is the compassion that Jesus has for this

woman. And so he does what I would say is the

unexpected. As the procession of people of the

mourners comes toward Jesus, he does something

amazing. Before I get to that though, what would

you have done? How would you have had compassion

for this? Maybe you see the procession coming

towards you and you would just step back and

pause from the busyness of life. Maybe you would

bow your head in prayer. These would have been

fine things to do. Maybe you would even join

the procession of mourners. That would have been

an acceptable thing to do. But Jesus does the

unexpected. He steps to the front of the line.

He cuts to the front of the line to be where

the woman is. Years ago, in a Bulgarian village,

somebody said to me, hey, look out the window.

And I looked out the window within this place,

within this house, in this village, and I saw

a line of people. And they were following a horse

-drawn cart with a coffin on the back. And they

were doing exactly what is here. taking a village

resident to the cemetery outside of the gates.

It would have been perfectly acceptable to join

in the throng of people. But Jesus doesn't do

that. He goes right to the woman. And I cannot

imagine anybody else ever doing this. And Jesus

does something that the people would never, ever

forget. Look at verse 13. And when the Lord saw

her, he had compassion on her and said to her,

Do not weep. This is not a rebuke from Jesus.

Jesus isn't saying it's wrong for you to weep.

We know this because Jesus himself wept over

his friend Lazarus. This is Jesus saying, weep

no more because I'm going to do something about

this. And ultimately what he does for her on

a very grand eternal scale is what he does for

us. what he does for Christians. Jesus turns

our mourning into gladness. Jesus takes away

our tears. We mourn in this life, but we have

something that awaits us. We have glory that

awaits us where we will no longer have such tears.

Consider the promise of Revelation chapter seven,

16 and 17. It says they shall hunger no more,

neither thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike

them nor any scorching heat for the lamb in the

midst of the throne will be their shepherd and

he will guide them to springs of living water

and God will wipe away every tear from their

eyes. This is what Jesus does for the believer.

This is what he will do for us. And this is such

a reality that Jesus is actually already taught

on this. We're in Luke seven. If you just went

back to Luke chapter six, you would see the Beatitudes.

And within the Beatitudes, you would see this.

Blessed are you who weep now for you shall laugh.

Jesus turns our mourning into laughter. Jesus

turns our mourning into dancing. But the problem

of the passage is the woman doesn't know these

things. She might not have a clue who Jesus is.

She might have said, I don't care who you are

in this moment because I'm fraught with grief.

But then Jesus does the next unexpected thing.

Look in verse 14. Jesus reaches out and he touches

the beer. Now this is B -I -E -R. This is not

talking about a beverage. This is talking about

the platform. upon which the dead would be carried,

upon which an open coffin would rest. But you

might say, why is this unexpected for Jesus to

touch that? Well, remember where they're headed.

They're headed outside of the city gates. They're

headed to a place that is considered unclean.

What else is considered unclean? The coffin,

the platform that Jesus reaches out to touch.

For Jesus to do this, this would have been considered

unclean, but Jesus doesn't shy away from these

things. You see this throughout the miracles

of Jesus. He doesn't shy away from the unclean.

He actually came for this. I want to read you

a few verses, a few passages that illustrate

what Jesus does for those who need his cleansing

touch. Philippians chapter 2. And this is a very

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

well -known passage. I'll begin. In verse 5,

have this mind among yourselves, which is yours

in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form

of God, did not count equality with God a thing

to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking

the form of a servant, being born in the likeness

of men, and being found in human form, he humbled

himself by becoming obedient to the point of

death, even death on a cross. Another one for

you, Galatians 3 verse 13. Christ redeemed us

Galatians 3:13

from the curse of the law by becoming a curse

for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone

who is hanged on a tree. And last one, 2nd Corinthians

chapter 5 verse 21. For our sake he made him

to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we

might become the righteousness of God. Jesus

doesn't shy away from the dead. Jesus doesn't

shy away from the unclean. No, he goes towards

them. And Jesus goes towards us. He who takes

away our tears ultimately will have tears shed

for him. And so Jesus reaches out and he touches

the beer and he indicates that the people are

to stop. They are to stop walking. They are to

stop proceeding and surely they're all thinking

what in the world is Jesus doing whatever he

is doing it better work because otherwise this

is terribly out of order this is callous and

so all the eyes are fixed on Jesus the mourners

have stopped the instrumentalists have stopped

everybody is completely still everyone is completely

still and Jesus does something miraculous But

in order to help us see the miraculous, I want

to take you to one more text. If you want to

turn there, it's 1 Kings 17. 1 Kings 17 verse

1 Kings 17:17

17. And this is a bit lengthy, but I'm going

to read it because I think this gives us great

insight to what Jesus does. 1 Kings 17 verse

1 Kings 17:17

17. After this, the son of the woman The mistress

of the house became ill, and his illness was

so severe, there was no breath left in him. And

she said to Elijah, what have you against me,

O man of God? You have come to me to bring my

sin to remembrance and to cause the death of

my son. And he said to her, give me your son.

He took her, took him from her arms, and carried

him up into the upper chamber where he lodged,

and laid him. on his own bed and he cried to

the Lord oh Lord my God have you brought calamity

even upon the widow with whom I sojourn by killing

her son then he stretched himself upon the child

three times and cried to the Lord oh Lord my

God let this child's life come into him again

and the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah

And the life of the child came into him again

and he revived. And Elijah took the child and

brought him down from the upper chamber into

the house and delivered him to his mother. And

Elijah said, See, your son lives. And the woman

said to Elijah, Now, now I know that you are

a man of God and that the word of the Lord in

your mouth is truth. You see the similarity there

between what Jesus does and what Elijah does.

Certainly there are differences. The main difference

is when Elijah is healing this widow's son, he

speaks to the Lord. But when Jesus heals this

widow's son, Jesus speaks to the son. And he

says, young man, I say to you, rise. now all

those people looking on surely they're wondering

what in the world is he doing and yet this is

what God does with us Rick Phillips says Jesus

speaks to the dead man and with sovereign grace

and with divine power and without any human help

Jesus brings life to the dead friends we were

dead in our trespasses we were lost in our sin

but through Jesus we have been made alive. So

like Jesus healing the official son in John,

or like Jesus raising Lazarus, or God speaking

the world into existence, Jesus merely speaks

and it happens. And then the dead man is no longer

dead. And he sits up and he speaks. And if you

thought it was miraculous, if you thought it

was something for Jesus to command a dead man,

What about the formerly dead man speaking back?

And so Jesus gives him back to his mother and

he gives him back alive. Now thus far we've zeroed

in on Jesus, the mother, the son, but don't forget

about the crowd. Don't forget the crowd is looking

on and so look in verse 16 for their reaction.

Fear sees them all and they glorified God. They

might say, what kind of fear is this? This is

the kind of fear that you would have if you saw

someone raised from the dead. This is fear with

reverence. This is fear with awe. This is fear

with respect and worship and the acknowledgement

of holiness. As they are filled with fear, they

glorified God, which shows they believe Jesus

to be divine. And as I shared about Elijah, No

doubt, right here, they are thinking of the prophet

Elijah. They are thinking, perhaps, of the prophet

Elisha, both of whom raised the dead. So they

are associating Jesus with the prophets. But

you see, even more than that, because the next

thing they say, God has visited his people. And

isn't that exactly what we celebrate this time

of year? Isn't that the point of Emmanuel? Isn't

that the point of the incarnation that Jesus

came to be with us and to be one of us? He is

the God man. At Christmas, Jesus visits us so

that we would say, God has visited us because

Jesus is one with the Father. And so here we

have this first resurrection miracle of Jesus.

and it ultimately points ahead, it points beyond

this miracle and it points to the death and to

the resurrection of Jesus and ultimately to our

resurrection. For we know this, that yes, if

Jesus tarries, we shall all die, but we will

not remain dead. We have in Jesus everlasting

life. And so as I begin to wrap up, consider

this quote, from Spurgeon about this passage

who said this was a rehearsal upon a small scale

of that which shall happen by and by when those

who are in their graves shall hear the voice

of the Son of God and live then shall the last

enemy be destroyed only let death come into contact

with him who is our life and it is compelled

to relax its hold whatever may be the spoil which

it is captured Soon our Lord shall come in his

glory and then before the gates of the new Jerusalem

We shall see the miracle at the gates of Nain

multiplied a myriad times Friends know this today

Jesus turns our mourning into dancing Jesus alone

turns our death into life What Jesus does for

this woman and her son is what he shall do for

us for believers on a grand scale. Really, as

we look at this, we should see there's not just

one procession going on. There are two. There

is the march to the grave. What Jesus represents,

what Jesus does, is takes us on the march to

everlasting life. Jesus stops the procession

to the everlasting grave and leads us to everlasting

life. Let's pray.