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00:00:01
Moved by Grief (Luke 7:11-17)
18 Plays18 days ago
Sunday Message recorded 06 April 2025
by Associate Pastor Josh Shell
First Baptist Church - Columbus, TX, USA
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Rejoicing
00:00:06
Speaker
Well, good morning, everyone. We doing I sure hope so. I mean, the scriptures tell us that today is the day that the Lord has made and we must what? Rejoice to be glad in it. know i say it a lot, but we never forget it, right? Because there's so much truth in that.
00:00:23
Speaker
the The life and breath that we have today has been given to us. It's a gift. And we must rejoice and be glad in it and and and embrace it and utilize it for his kingdom while we still have breath in our lungs, right?
Studying the Gospel of Luke
00:00:34
Speaker
If you guys have your Bibles, go open them up to Luke chapter 7. That's where we'll be spending the rest of our time this morning. Luke chapter 7.
00:00:44
Speaker
I hope you guys have enjoyed going through the the gospel of Luke so far. I know I have, I know Victor has, and we're going to continue just to move through it section by section. And I cannot believe that the timing in which, like, as we work through this book and the seasons that we face, ah the timing of passages that we come across with the different seasons.
00:01:07
Speaker
Because today, the topic that we're be looking at is not typically one that we like to talk about.
Linking Easter to Resurrection
00:01:12
Speaker
um As you see, the title of the of the the the message is Moved by Grief. right But when we talk about the season that we're in, with Easter coming up, and the reason why we celebrate Easter is why?
00:01:28
Speaker
The resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus. And what does that resurrection bring for us? Jesus. Hope, freedom, life.
00:01:41
Speaker
So when we when we look at passages like this and we look at what Jesus does in these passages, it ultimately brings us back to the ultimate reason why he came, which was to die on the cross for our sins and that he not just died on the cross, but rather he conquered sin, he conquered death, defeating it, rising from the grave, and now he's sitting on his heavenly throne in heaven, awaiting for his return, and we are here to rejoice and be glad in Amen?
00:02:09
Speaker
Come on, y'all. For real? Thank y'all. I mean, there's nothing else in this world worth getting more excited about than that reality and that truth. Right. Because like I said, for many of us, we in this life will face many different seasons.
00:02:25
Speaker
Right. I'm not talking about fall, spring, winter. you know, Texas will only have two. It's either hot or hotter. Right. ah But we all face different seasons in life.
Seasons of Life and Challenges
00:02:37
Speaker
Right? And two in particular that we do experience, and I pray that we've experienced some, is we experience seasons of happiness and joy. Right? What are things that bring about happiness and joy? y'all weren't ready for that, were you? Y'all ready to participate? What are things that bring about happiness and joy?
00:02:56
Speaker
The resurrection of Jesus, right? Easter, right? Absolutely. What else? Family. Thank you. Family. Family. How about relationships, right? Or many of us in this room, we have children. Hopefully your children bring you happiness and joy. Now, I get to have a three-year-old. She also brings a lot of frustration, okay?
00:03:15
Speaker
But children, how about for for all all of us in the room who've been married, right? So we go through this season of marriage and what joy that brings to us when we get married. And we invite our family and our friends alongside with us to celebrate that season. And for many of you guys in the room who've had the privilege of having grandchildren,
00:03:35
Speaker
Right? many of y'all love your grandchildren? Y'all need to quit spoiling them. Okay? But there's there's seasons where you bring a lot of happiness and a lot of joy. That way you create these really fun memories and you can have reason to be excited.
00:03:52
Speaker
But on the flip side, for every season that there's happiness and joy, typically what follows at some point, not saying right away, but at some point, sadness and grief.
00:04:06
Speaker
Sadness and grief. These are the two realities of life, right? We're all promised. we I mean, I say we're all promised, but we all experience happiness and joy. but we all also experience sadness and grief, right?
Questioning God in Hardships
00:04:21
Speaker
That's just the result of the sin, the brokenness of this world.
00:04:24
Speaker
It wasn't created and designed to be this way, but rather because of our own selfishness, sin had crept in and it caused us to where now we experience these things. And often in the Christian world, we call these seasons trials. We call these seasons hardships or storms, right?
00:04:43
Speaker
And we all face them. They're inevitable. And unfortunately, the reality is that there's many people in this world and maybe even many of you in this room who have experienced far more sorrow, far more sadness and grief than you have happiness and joy in this life.
00:05:04
Speaker
As a youth pastor and as someone who's been in ministry for a number of years, you hear so many sad stories. So many stories of sorrow and g grief, especially of young ones and of teenagers who have hard lives, who have hard upbringings. It just makes you just want to hug them and never let them go.
00:05:24
Speaker
Because they've experienced more in their short amount of life than I have my entire life. And in those moments, what do we typically do? We question. God, why?
00:05:36
Speaker
Why allow this to happen to this individual? Why allow this to happen to me? Why allow this to happen? Why, why, why, right? we And a lot of times we're not careful. It goes from questioning to blaming.
00:05:49
Speaker
God, it's your fault. If you're such a loving God, then why are you allowing all these hard things to happen to me? Have y'all heard that before? I mean, it doesn't take much to look at in our culture and our society today, and you see people pointing the finger at God saying it's his fault.
00:06:05
Speaker
It's his fault. Why is he allowing these things to happen? Why is there so much racial tension in our culture today? Why is there so much hatred? And why is there so much war or famine, whatever, right? Fill in the blank.
00:06:19
Speaker
lot of times it's because it's God's fault. But is it really God's fault? The short answer is no Now, I know some of you in this room are probably thinking, well, can you expound on this? And and that's a whole nother summer for whole another day. If you want to come talk to me, I'd love to explain it to you after.
00:06:36
Speaker
But in a short answer, it's just a result of our brokenness. It's a result of the broken sin nature of humanity and what we bring into it.
Hardships as Opportunities for God's Glory
00:06:46
Speaker
And as a result of this reality, ah these people find themselves in a number of different emotional states or emotional responses, right? Whether it's depression, loneliness, anxiety, worry, hopelessness, and we can go on and on and on.
00:07:03
Speaker
But what I can do before you is though I can't really give you a black and white answer why God allows these things to happen to specific people. now I can point back to scripture and I can give you examples of where God did allow it to happen. And you want to know why he allowed it to happen?
00:07:20
Speaker
So that God can be glorified in it. Like go back to John chapter 9 with Jesus healing the blind man. But the disciples walked up and said, Jesus, who sinned? Was it the the the son or was it the the mother and father who sinned? He says, no, it wasn't the sin of either of them or any of them.
00:07:38
Speaker
But rather, this has happened so that God may be glorified in it. And then what did Jesus ultimately some do? He healed a blind man. You see, we we oftentimes view our hardships, our our seasons of grief, or our seasons of sorrow or or or hardships,
00:07:56
Speaker
And we view them as God strickening us with so these hardships for a reason whether it's because of a sin or things like that. But rather, we miss the point of it. And it's that god see God allows us to experience these moments. One, to remind us of our frailty, to remind us of our brokenness and his perfection and his love. so that way we cling to him rather than to our own wisdom and understanding.
00:08:21
Speaker
But he also allows us to walk through it so that way he may be glorified in it when we come out on the other side.
Focusing on Positive Outcomes
00:08:27
Speaker
You see, we forget about that. We have a tendency of focusing on the hardship and not focusing on how we come out on the other side.
00:08:35
Speaker
Right?
00:08:38
Speaker
we we we We have a such, it's it's easy to remember the the negatives. It's easy to remember the hard things. But yet when you when you get on the other side, it's like, oh, praise God.
00:08:49
Speaker
Let's go on. Let's keep going. When really it should be, we should be over here. We should be dwelling in this side, praising God for the the relief of our sorrow, the relief of our pain or our hardship.
00:09:04
Speaker
But yet we still dwell over here. So today, though, we're going to looking at a a passage where there is a ah woman who is experiencing extreme, extreme grief.
Jesus' Compassion and Miracles
00:09:19
Speaker
But yet Jesus, when he encounters her, he sees her grief. He meets her where she's at, and she relieves her of her grief. And you see this incredible response, not only from her, I'm sure, but also from the crowd.
00:09:37
Speaker
And it's my prayer that as we walk through this passage that we will learn to to dwell in the goodness of God. Even in the signs of grief, even in times of grief or hardship, that we'll dwell in the presence of God and the hope that we have as He is our Messiah.
00:09:55
Speaker
See, on this side of the cross, we can have full assurance of full hope of the fact that He is indeed resurrected. We have proof that He is alive. The grave is empty.
00:10:07
Speaker
He is alive.
00:10:10
Speaker
And so for us, as we look back on these accounts, we can look back with full assurance and full hope, knowing that, yes, praise God, I can walk with joy happiness. Well, maybe not just so much happiness, but with joy because of the fulfillment that Christ it did rise from the grave.
00:10:29
Speaker
and So let's look at this passage together, and we'll work through it. So we're going Luke chapter 7, verses 11 through 17. Let's read these together. Pick up verse 11. It says, Soon afterward, he went to a town called Nain.
00:10:47
Speaker
And his disciples had a great crowd with him. or 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.
00:10:58
Speaker
the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And 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.
00:11:16
Speaker
Then he came up and 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 began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.
00:11:30
Speaker
Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, a great prophet has arisen among us, and God has visited his people. And this report about him spread through the whole judea throughout the whole area of Judea and all the surrounding country.
00:11:45
Speaker
Will you pray with me? Father God, we just again, we come before you and we just give thanks for this morning. Father, what a time that it is when we get to come together and to partake in the Lord's Supper and the remembrance of what you did on the cross for us and how your body was broken and was shed for for sinners like us so that we could be able to come into your presence and to worship you.
00:12:08
Speaker
But God, I just pray that we will never truly forget that. Lord, that this will be something that is on our hearts and our minds daily that no matter what season we may face, we can have hope knowing that you truly have risen from the grave and that we can have salvation in you as a result.
00:12:25
Speaker
So Lord, lead us and guide us through this passage. May we learn from the different characters and the different pieces of it. May we truly just glorify you in all we do. So in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
00:12:38
Speaker
All right, so I just got with the remainder of our time. I just want to walk through these things and pull out some some interesting facts with this particular passage. And I wanted to be able to apply it to us because, again, it's inevitable. We're going to have seasons of happiness and joy. We're to have seasons of great sorrow and of grief.
00:12:56
Speaker
But when we look at passages like this, we could prepare ourselves for when those seasons come. It's not that the Lord doesn't give us what we need. He gives us everything we need that is sufficient for today.
00:13:09
Speaker
And the first place that we must go to is His Word. right?
Unique Account of Resurrection in Luke
00:13:14
Speaker
So let's walk through this. The first thing I do want to say, though, this is just a side note, that this account of the the widow's son being raised is only found in this particular gospel. It's only found in Luke.
00:13:24
Speaker
And the reason why I wanted to bring that out is because I want us to take us back to Luke chapter 1, when Luke, when he's beginning his gospel account, what's the purpose of him giving this gospel account? Do y'all remember?
00:13:38
Speaker
Pick it up in verse four that you, talking to Theophilus, whether it's an individual or the greater church, he says, I'm giving this account that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. Right? So he's he's giving these different accounts in his gospel account because he's done his own research. He's taken his own time to compile his the the gospels based off of the eyewitnesses, much like Matthew and and John.
00:14:06
Speaker
He is giving his own account. He's giving certainty in light of uncertainty. And then what we're seeing here within this particular passage is that there is hope. He's reminding us. He's giving us assurance that in times of grief and hardship, there is purpose and there is hope.
00:14:27
Speaker
And you can cling and trust in Jesus to get you through it. Right? Remember, I mean, what did we just look at last week? We looked at last week the account of the Roman centurion whose servant was ill and he was grieved to the point to where he sought after Jesus. He knew Jesus. who He heard about him. who he was, who he was capable of doing. And what did he do?
00:14:49
Speaker
He sent a servant to him said, Jesus, if you are willing, please heal my servant. You don't have to come to me. I'm the man of authority. I understand how this works. I don't deserve to have you in my presence, but I know that you are able to do it.
00:15:02
Speaker
And what did he do? What did Jesus say? I've never seen anybody with such faith. And what happened? He healed a servant. Right? So he goes from healing that specific servant to where now in this, Luke thinks it's it's important enough to put this in there because of this theme that
Resuscitation vs. Resurrection
00:15:20
Speaker
we're seeing.
00:15:21
Speaker
That Jesus is the hope. That Jesus is the life. And Jesus has the full power and authority to be able to ah meet us even in our darkest times.
00:15:32
Speaker
So again, if you're in this room today and you're walking through a dark season, you're in the right place for the right reason right now. Because I hope you hear that there is a Savior who is willing and ready to meet you where you're at to bring you through this season. um'm I can't guarantee how long it's going to be, but guess what? It's going to happen.
00:15:53
Speaker
But God sent his son Jesus so that way through Jesus we can get through these seasons together. Right? So, but again, so this is only time. And then the other thing I wanted to mention too is that ah the other unique thing about why this is only found in Luke. Remember what John said in John chapter 21 verse 25 where he says, now there there are also many other things that Jesus did.
00:16:17
Speaker
Were every one of them to be written, I suppose the world itself could not contain the books that would be written if we actually had an account of every miracle Jesus did. so it's do So when we look at this, we can't be like, oh man, it's only found in Luke's account.
00:16:31
Speaker
we got We gotta just do away with it. It's like, no, there's purpose behind it, right? So picking up in verse 11 though, the first thing I want us to see here is how Jesus, there's be times where he has divine appointments.
00:16:44
Speaker
We see this all throughout his ministry. Just as when he was on his way to from Judea to the Gentile region, where did he go? do y'all remember? He went through a region that was not very popular to the Jews. Starts with an S. Samaria.
00:17:01
Speaker
He thought it was fit for them to go through Samaria. And what happened in Samaria? Do y'all remember? He met the woman at the well. Again, that's not by chance.
Divine Appointments and Compassion
00:17:14
Speaker
That was a divine appointment. And so what we see here, even in verse 11, that even in the same way that Jesus met the woman at the well Samaria, he saw it fit to come to this town called Nain to meet this particular woman. So soon after he went to the this town called Nain and his disciples, and a great crowd went with him.
00:17:33
Speaker
And as he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died had been carried out. Right. So the fun the interesting thing about Nain is that it's actually located about 20 miles southwest of Capernaum, which is where their host city is. And it's six miles southeast of Nazareth. So this city, though it must be small, was one that Jesus probably knew about.
00:17:55
Speaker
I mean, he'd been traveling around in this region. He had heard about the city. Again, even within the words here where he says that the great crowd followed him and they went to the town and went through the gate, what that represents is just the main entrance to the town. This city probably did not have walls around It was probably very much a small town like Columbus, if not smaller.
00:18:14
Speaker
So there was really no significance to this town other than the fact that Jesus saw it was a purpose to be there for this particular moment with this woman. And it was important for his disciples and this crowd to be there with them.
00:18:29
Speaker
So again, it was a divine appointment that jesus thought or Jesus knew that he had to be there for this particular woman. The second thing I want to see here is that not only was it divine appointment, but rather I want us to see Jesus' providential care.
00:18:46
Speaker
So he goes into the town with this with his disciples and this crowd, and he sees what's happening, and does he just keep walking by and ignore it? No, what happens?
00:18:58
Speaker
It says that a man who had died been carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow considerable crowd from the town with her. And then verse 13, and when the Lord saw her, he had what? Compassion.
00:19:12
Speaker
He had compassion.
00:19:15
Speaker
And so, but there's a few fun things that i wanted to bring to light here real quick is that with the dead young man, for example, one, we don't know anything about him other than the fact that he was the only son to his mother. There was a, we don't know who he was. don't how old he was. We don't know even know the cause of death.
00:19:30
Speaker
All we know is that this particular moment as Jesus entered into the city, the funeral possession procession is leaving the city with his body, which means that most likely the funeral had already taken place.
00:19:42
Speaker
And if you guys remember anything about the ceremonial laws of this of this time, for them to have the funeral means that the time of death was actually around that same time.
00:19:55
Speaker
Because it would be unclean for them to leave the body in the city. So not only did Jesus see them carrying the body out, but he is interacting with them at the climax of their grief.
00:20:08
Speaker
Not just the crowd, but the mother. The mother.
00:20:13
Speaker
He's meeting them at the climax of their grief. So again, when you think about this divine appointment, it was not by chance that Jesus just walked in. And for this mother in particular, look at the details. It says that the son was this the only son of his mother. And what else?
00:20:30
Speaker
She was a widow. So not only is she experiencing the grief of her loss, but she's already walked through a season of grief of losing her own husband. And again, when you look at the cultural context of this time, when a woman loses her husband, is that a big deal?
00:20:50
Speaker
Yeah, she loses part of her identity. She loses her care, her caretaker. She loses her provider. And if it wasn't for her son, she would have lost everything. But now she even lost her son.
00:21:02
Speaker
Her whole world is turning upside down right now. And it says that this crowd was with her. And typically back then, they would have they would have these hired crowds of these mourners that would come along with you. And they would wail and weep with the crowd. They'd kind of get it all emotionally stirred up.
00:21:19
Speaker
But when you think about what the mother just walked through, she was probably in the loneliest place the world had ever seen in that moment. Losing her husband, now losing her son.
00:21:32
Speaker
Talk about feeling isolated and alone. But yet Jesus, when he sees this happening, he stops and he does something that he does so frequently in the scriptures, he sees her.
00:21:46
Speaker
Don't remember back when, a few months back, when we were looking at when Jesus called Matthew or Levi, and he says that he saw Levi. And that word saw meant that he was intently looking at Levi.
00:21:59
Speaker
And he calls him to follow him. This is the same kind of moment. When it says that Jesus saw her, he literally stopped and intently looked at her and had what? Compassion.
00:22:13
Speaker
His heart broke for her. He realized what she was going through in that moment. i mean, you gotta remember, this is Jesus, God incarnate. God who is perfectly loved, perfectly holy, perfectly merciful, right?
00:22:27
Speaker
Can you only imagine how Jesus was feeling in this moment?
00:22:33
Speaker
He saw her and he met her, had compassion on her. Not only did he see her, but he spoke to her. What did he say? This isn't a trick question. What did he say? Do not weep.
00:22:48
Speaker
Do not weep. Now, we may see that phrase and be like, man, Jesus is being pretty harsh here, right? he says I mean, does he not understand what this woman's going through? But that's not what Jesus was trying to communicate here. If anything, he was communicating out of an overflow of his empathy and his love and sorrow for it and his pity for this woman.
00:23:07
Speaker
He says, sweetheart, child of mine, do not weep. And he was saying this ultimately as a foreshadowing of what he was about to do.
00:23:19
Speaker
What he knew what he was going to do from the moment he stepped into this city of Nain. He knew that he was going to meet her and that he was going to bring her son back.
00:23:31
Speaker
But this is what i what I don't want us to miss here is that Jesus, even in the climax of her grief, did not leave her, did not ignore her, did not abandon her.
00:23:42
Speaker
but rather he saw her. He saw her, met her where she was, and spoke to her, and then as a result, he provides for her.
00:23:56
Speaker
He provides for her. Now I want to say this. Some of you in the room, you have loved ones in your life who are going through some really hard things. Some of you in this room may have even lost their loved one recently.
00:24:08
Speaker
And I wish I could say that Jesus could bring them back right now. And he could, he has the power to do that. But what we're going to see here is that Jesus chooses by his divine authority and his divine will to bring people back in a timely manner.
00:24:23
Speaker
And this right now, this season, this era of living that we live in now is not the time because there's going to time when he returns. And guess what? When he returns, he's going call all of us home.
00:24:36
Speaker
What a glorious day that's going to be, right? So though we there may be weeping and sorrow for this season in your life, as long as your hope is in Jesus, he's going to bring you to an even in greater place on the other side of joy that is unending and unbounding.
00:24:56
Speaker
But for Jesus here, he does meet her
Authority Over Death and Reaction of the Crowd
00:24:59
Speaker
need. He sees her, has compassion on her. He says, do not weep. And then verse 14, he says, then he came up and touched the beer. I am saying that right, okay? Don't think I'm saying beer as in a pub, okay? It's beer, B-I-E-R, that's how pronounced.
00:25:14
Speaker
Beer, which is, a beer is, sorry, i haven't heard my notes tonight. move past it. There you There it is. It's a movable frame in which a coffin or a corpse is moved by, right? So it's not the actual coffin, but it's the platform that they put them on as they carry. So he comes up and he touches the beer and he says to the young man, i say to you, arise, arise.
00:25:39
Speaker
And what happens? Does he just lay dormant? Does he still lay cold? No, man. Breath comes back in his lungs and he sits up and then what is and what does he start doing?
00:25:52
Speaker
He starts talking. Talk about a moment, right? don't know how these pallbearers did it. Did y'all catch up what they did?
00:26:03
Speaker
They stood still. They stood still. still So Jesus walks up, he touches it. And this is a key thing too, because back then for Jesus to have touched something that was dead or something that was not living would have been ceremonially unclean.
00:26:17
Speaker
But for Jesus, gotta remember, who is he? He's God. is God incarnate. And he is able to do that because of who he is in his divine nature.
00:26:27
Speaker
But i also want to read, there's a couple passages, one from Hosea chapter six, where it says, verse six, for I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. In other words, Jesus says, it's better for me to have compassion and for me to have a love for an individual than obeying the law in this moment.
00:26:50
Speaker
After all, the Old Testament law is summed up in two commandments. Do y'all remember what they are? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength into love your neighbor as yourself.
00:27:02
Speaker
Jesus was fulfilling that in this moment. Amen. Also in Matthew 9, 13, when Jesus is talking to the Pharisees about their hypocrisy and their legalistic mindset, he says, go and learn what this means.
00:27:14
Speaker
I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I came not to call the righteous, but what? Sinners. Sinners. So Jesus in this moment understood his assignment that the law required mercy above sacrifice.
00:27:33
Speaker
So he comes up, he touches it, and he speaks to the young man just like he spoke to his mother. And the young man sits up and begins to speak. And Jesus gives him back to his mother. And again, I'm not overlooking the pallbearers here, guys. Like, this is a big deal because they stood still. And the reason why i feel like they did that is because they anticipated Jesus doing something powerfully.
00:27:53
Speaker
You've got remember, Jesus' ministry has been going on for some time now. his his The testimony is going out about him. So they probably knew who Jesus was. i mean, his hometown is only six miles away. his home The hub city that he's in is only 20 miles away.
00:28:07
Speaker
So they've got be familiar with what Jesus is doing. So when they saw Jesus walk in, they were probably thinking, oh boy. This is going to get interesting, right? And especially when Jesus actually stopped and saw the mother and then he actually stopped and said, hey, and he walked up to the the coffin.
00:28:25
Speaker
They're probably thinking, all right, here we go.
00:28:31
Speaker
But the key thing I do want us to see here is that in verse 15, after he spoke to the dead man to rise, he began to speak and Jesus gave him back to his mother. So again, my encouragement and reminder you guys is that you're going to experience hardship in life.
00:28:50
Speaker
But no matter what you may face, Jesus, God is not surprised by it.
00:28:56
Speaker
He's not surprised by your hardships. He's not surprised by the the sorrow that you're going to face. But rather, you know what Jesus does beforehand? He prepares the way for you to experience those things.
00:29:11
Speaker
So that way when you do face them, he gives you the strength. He gives you the wisdom. He gives you the knowledge and the comfort you need to be able to walk through those things. Again, I get it. Easier said than done.
00:29:25
Speaker
But when you know the almighty God is personal Lord and Savior and you believe and confess in your heart that he is Lord and you allow the Holy Spirit to come and take residence in your heart and you trust in him and you allow him to walk with you, there's no better and safer place to be.
00:29:41
Speaker
when you're facing sorrow
00:29:45
Speaker
because of the hope that we have in salvation.
00:29:53
Speaker
Can you only imagine how the mother's feeling in this moment?
00:29:58
Speaker
What an emotional rollercoaster, right? I mean, going from an extreme sorrow to extreme joy.
00:30:06
Speaker
It doesn't say how she responds to Jesus, but I can only imagine how she responds to Jesus. But what we do see is how the crowd responds to Jesus. And says, fear sees them all, which rightfully so. I mean, hello, there's like a zombie on the coffin right now, right?
00:30:21
Speaker
In their eyes. This young man who was once dead, he's now alive and he's speaking. This cold body that was lifeless, that had nothing it, is now sitting up and speaking.
Eternal Hope in Resurrection
00:30:31
Speaker
So fear sees them.
00:30:34
Speaker
But it doesn't stop there. it says, as a result of their fear, though, they begin what? Running? No, glorifying God.
00:30:45
Speaker
Glorifying God. Because they just witnessed an incredible miracle from Jesus. And the reason why this is so incredible is because Jesus in this moment is just is displaying his authority over death.
00:31:01
Speaker
His authority is on full display in this moment.
00:31:06
Speaker
You see, and this is also a foreshadowing of even what Jesus would do with himself. Of how he would rise from the grave. But the difference is this. See, not to confuse y'all real quick, but I just want to make a clarifying point here. So, this moment when Jesus raises this guy from the dead, we like to label this a resurrection, right? Right?
00:31:29
Speaker
And this is not, I don't want to make this a ah dividing point or anything, but I heard from one of my professors that he calls this a resuscitation. A resuscitation.
00:31:41
Speaker
And the reason why is because when someone is resuscitated, they're brought back from the dead only to what? Die again. Whereas when someone is resurrected, they are brought back from the dead only to live eternally.
00:31:59
Speaker
And they received their glorified body. And the reason why wanted to bring that up is because this is an incredible moment for us of hope. See, Jesus has the authority. Jesus has the power to bring anybody back from the dead.
00:32:12
Speaker
But on this side of the cross, guess what? He not only has the power to give them life, but he gives them life eternal now. see we not See, for us, if we were just clinging to resuscitations, we'd only experience sorrow again because we'd only die again. We'd only have people who would die again and leave us once more.
00:32:31
Speaker
But for us you are and who believe in Jesus and who have hope in the resurrection, right, we get to cling to a greater hope. Knowing that one day, even when if our loved ones do pass away before us, or if we leave before others, that one day we're going to meet them in heaven with a resurrected, eternal, glorified body dwelling forever in the presence of Jesus.
00:32:53
Speaker
Amen?
00:32:55
Speaker
And again, that's why I think this is so cool when we walk through series like this and a time in the time of it lines up with the season because we're fixing celebrate Easter and Jesus' resurrection.
00:33:09
Speaker
So again, I know that some of us, who again, some of us in this room have lost loved ones here recently. And man, I get it. We would love to have them back.
00:33:20
Speaker
But the reality is, it's like, man, how much more joyful will it be when we're dwelling with them forever in a new resurrected body for eternity? Now, the tricky part is, is when we have loved ones in our lives that don't know Jesus.
00:33:33
Speaker
That's the hard part. And that's why we're called to live on mission daily to share the good news of the gospel. So we we can do our due diligence to try to bring those into salvation while we still have great this this period of great grace where the Lord is allowing us to live among one another and to share the good news.
00:33:55
Speaker
So may we feel the weight of that. it says that they glorify God saying a great prophet has arisen among us and God has visited his people. Which is true. God was visiting his people here in this moment. he um he Jesus is our Emmanuel, God with us.
00:34:13
Speaker
But they did miss a part here when they said that a prophet has arisen. Because guess what? Is Jesus just a prophet? No, he's far greater. He's our Messiah.
00:34:24
Speaker
And so when we experience these seasons in life where Jesus brings about miracles that we encounter, that we see, is we shouldn't like, man, a prophet's among us. He's like, no, this is Jesus. This is our God.
Excitement in Sharing the Gospel
00:34:36
Speaker
who is dwelling with us, and he brings us through this. So again, you I know like i get up here at times and I'm like, hey, good morning. And you're like, good morning. I'm like, no, good morning. You're like, this is what i'm talking about. It's moments like this in scripture where you see the goodness and the glory of God, and it should give us every ounce of joy to be excited.
00:35:03
Speaker
That's what makes Christianity different from every other world religion is the fact that we have a Savior who is not dead, that we have a Savior who is alive, and that we can walk faithfully with him.
00:35:21
Speaker
Last verse, verse 17. It says, And this report about him spread throughout the whole ju the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country. See, this is what happens when you encounter Jesus.
00:35:35
Speaker
This is what happens when you allow him to come into your life and to to do great and wondrous things. There's no other response for us to take than to be excited, than to be praising God as a result. Now we if we truly encounter Jesus, should have no other response but to go,
00:36:00
Speaker
And to share what Jesus has done in our lives. Church. Not just you guys. I'm talking about the capital C church. All of us.
00:36:13
Speaker
if we want to see revival in this next generation, we want to see God move in a way that we've never seen him move, we've got to get excited about the gospel.
00:36:25
Speaker
We've got to get excited about going and sharing the good news. And that's not just going to someone and shoving it down their throat, but rather it's going alongside them and rubbing shoulders with them and telling them about the goodness of God and how God brought you from death to life. He brought you from darkness into his glorious light And he's continuing to do that.
00:36:48
Speaker
We have a generation that's before us right now who's desiring light.
00:36:57
Speaker
But yet it's getting snuffed out by other beliefs and other realms of thought because we as Christians are not stepping up to the plate
00:37:09
Speaker
and and and sharing what God is doing in our lives. Right?
00:37:16
Speaker
It's not about us. It's all about God.
00:37:22
Speaker
It's easy to dwell in sorrow. It's easy to dwell in grief.
00:37:29
Speaker
But when we encounter Jesus, who's willing to meet us where we're at in the dirtiest moments of our lives, and he brings us out of it, that's that's where the real work begins, right? Right?
00:37:43
Speaker
Because we have a witness to the testimony of what God is capable of doing if we allow him to do it. Does make sense?
00:37:53
Speaker
So are we ready to allow the spirit, are we ready allow Jesus to come into our life to to mobilize us? to meet us at our darkest moments so that way through our darkest moments, he can use it as personal witnesses or witnessing for those around us who are also experiencing the same thing.
00:38:17
Speaker
Again, we like to make it about us, but really God's saying, no, no, no, it's not that I want to see you in pain. It's not that I want to see you walk through this Think about Job. God did not want, do you think job that God thoroughly enjoyed watching Job go through those things?
00:38:33
Speaker
No, because he's a God of compassion. He's a God of love. But yet he also knew that for Job to go through those things, that he was going to receive the glory, that God was going to receive the glory, and that through that hardship, through those through those trials, many more were going to come and to experience the witness of God.
Invitation to Accept Jesus
00:38:58
Speaker
So, as we go into this time of invitation, though, we wrap up our time. I know I've gone over. i just want to extend this invite to all of you. Whether you're a believer or you're not. Whether you're Christian or you're not in this room.
00:39:15
Speaker
All of us, it's inevitable. We're going to experience hardships. We're going to experience grief. Grief in ways that we would never imagine. imagine
00:39:29
Speaker
But it's even in those darkest of moments, Jesus is ready and willing to meet us there because he's already gone before us. he Remember, he took it to the cross, nailed our sin to the cross on our behalf.
00:39:46
Speaker
And then was buried for three days. He was in the grave for three days.
00:39:54
Speaker
But he didn't stay there. See, he paved the way for us. he is a He is a man of sorrows, ah acquainted with grief, as Isaiah talks about.
00:40:06
Speaker
Are we ready and willing to allow him to meet us? Because he didn't just stay in the grave. Like i said, he rose. He conquered sin. He conquered death. Raising from the grave so that way we can have life eternal in him and through him.
00:40:19
Speaker
So if you're here and you're experiencing pain or sorrow or fill in the blank and you need Jesus, Jesus, I pray that you allow him to come into your life today.
00:40:30
Speaker
Or if you're a Christian and and you're struggling with letting go, that you'll do this.
00:40:38
Speaker
As easy as that. Let it go. As Elsa would say.
00:40:46
Speaker
Let it go. For we have a God who is willing and ready to meet us where we are right here, right now. And guess what? Again, if you're a Christian, you have the fullness of God already dwelling within you.
00:41:02
Speaker
That's the Holy Spirit. Don't neglect the Holy Spirit. God gave him to us for a reason.
00:41:11
Speaker
So will you guys pray with me?
00:41:15
Speaker
Father, we there's no telling what is actually going on in the hearts of your people right now in this place. Whether it's in this place or in community, Father. there's there's um i know for a fact that there's got to be grief and there's got to be pain or hurt or hardship or confusion, loneliness, whatever it may be, Lord.
00:41:39
Speaker
God, my heart breaks over that.
00:41:45
Speaker
But God, you are a God who's ready and willing to meet us where we're at right now.
00:41:51
Speaker
To break those chains that bind us, to to eliminate the things that are causing us hardship. You're ready to meet us where we're at, to comfort us as we experience grief.
00:42:02
Speaker
And pray, Father, there's anyone in this room today that is walking through this, that they will allow you to truly come in and dwell with them.
00:42:12
Speaker
Maybe it's someone in this room who's never surrendered their life to you. Who's never believed and confessed you are Lord. I pray that they will do that this morning. Holy Spirit, that you'll meet them where they are at. That they will start a personal relationship with you. So that way they can truly walk in the light as your light.
00:42:33
Speaker
But God, work in us. We are your people. You've commanded us to go and to make disciples. And pray, Father, that's exactly what we will do. That we will not allow our momentary afflictions or troubles hinder us from going and fulfilling the Great Commission, which you've called us to.
00:42:53
Speaker
God, again, I thank you for your word. I thank you for it is how it is timely, how it is living and an active, and that it pierces our hearts.
00:43:03
Speaker
But God, move in this place this morning. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
00:43:12
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.