A Woman's Son Raised At Nain

Well, what a challenging time we are all living in, right? During this coronavirus trial, God certainly has our attention. And many of you are responding to God in the right way. And there have been many theological terms that have been part of our conversations with our families and friends and unsafe loved ones such as God's love, God's mercy, God's kindness, and His grace to see us through this multifaceted trial that the epistle James speaks about.

Well, two other well-known popular topics we believers have had conversations about is first on the subject of God's sovereignty. God's sovereignty. What do we mean by God's sovereignty? Well, Wayne Gruden, author of Systematic Theology, says God's sovereignty is a supreme rule, authority, and ordination over all of his creation.

God rules everything. In fact, Psalm 103:19 says, the Lord has established his throne in the heavens and His sovereignty rules over all. Well, another theological topic that is directly connected to God's sovereignty is God's providence. What do we mean by God's providence?

And you all know this. Grude again says God's providence is the outworking of God's sovereignty as it relates to God and man. God works daily through events and circumstances in our lives until his purposes are fulfilled. So God is working in and through our lives to accomplish his goal of sanctification by making you and me more like Christ, and in the end, glorification.

Isaiah 46:9-10 says, for I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is no one like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things which have not been done, saying my purpose will be established and I will accomplish all my good pleasure. And a verse that we're, we're all familiar with, that's Romans 8:28, and that says, we know that God calls us some things, right? No, God causes all things to work together for the good, for those who love God and to those who are called according to His purpose.

Both of these verses speak about God's sovereignty and His providence working together for our good and for God's glory. John MacArthur says God's superintending control over all human choices, action, and events to affect his predetermined purposes is known as His providence. Unlike a miracle when God supernaturally interrupts or suspends a natural course of events, His providence involves perfectly controlling natural events to infallibly bring about his purposes. Given the staggering complexities involved in coordinating even relatively simple events, God's providence is in some ways even more awe inspiring than the miracles he performs.

God's providential control over events flows directly from his sovereign authority, omnipotence, and omniscience. We just heard MacArthur use the word predetermined. You may have also heard it called prearranged or preordained, or sometimes we even call it divine appointments. These are personalized divine events planned by God before he created the heavens and the earth to bring about his purposes in your life and my life.

One Saturday morning, about a year ago as I was riding my bike, I met a teenager who was also riding his bike, but we had a short, pleasant conversation and I had an opportunity to share Christ with this young man. I believe that this was a pre-arranged event planned by God for me to share the gospel with this high school student. And I'm sure you all can testify about God's divine appointments in your lives too. Well, speaking about God's sovereignty, His, His providence or prearranged events, we're about to witness in a small nondescript village called Nain, God's sovereignty and providence intersect as the divine power of Jesus, the Son of God, will be on display.

So I invite you, if you have your Bibles to turn with me to Luke chapter 7, verses 11 to 17. Luke chapter 7, verses 11 to 17. And the title of our sermon this morning is A Widow's Son Raised at Nain. As we come to our outline, we'll see 5 prearranged events by God, showing that Jesus, the Son of God, has authority over life and death.

Well, the first pre-arranged event by God showing that Jesus, the Son of God, has authority over life and death is when, #1, Jesus approaches the city of Nain. Jesus approaches the city of Nain. Verse 11 says, soon afterwards he went to a city called Nain. Soon afterwards speaks about, or your version may even say, and it came to pass a day after.

Well, this phrase soon afterwards takes us back to the previous passage in Luke chapter 7, verses 1 to 10, about Jesus healing the centurion's servant. So let's briefly look at Luke chapter 7, verses 1 to 10. Luke chapter 7 verse 1 says, and when he had completed all his discourse in a hearing of the people, he went to Capernaum. According to Luke's chronology, Jesus had just finished the last of his five discourses known as the Sermon on the Mount in Luke chapter 6.

In his last discourse, Jesus taught on true discipleship, and we will see in a few moments that this centurion was a true disciple of Christ. And after Christ was rejected at Nazareth, he relocated and made the city of Capernaum his headquarters. Verse 2 says, and a centurion slave who was highly regarded by him was sick and about to die. A centurion, as you all know, was a very powerful military leader and was in charge of approximately 100 soldiers.

But what great respect and deep compassion this centurion had for his slave who was sick and about to die. Where verse 3 says, when he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking him to come and save the life of his slave. what great faith the centurion had in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to show mercy and heal his servant. Verse 4 and 5 says, when they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored him, saying, He is worthy for you to grant this to him, for he loves our nation, and it was he who built our synagogue.

These Jewish elders gave a positive report of the centurion to Jesus, even though he was a Gentile. Now, now this is amazing because as you all know, the Jews and the Gentiles did not like each other. They hated each other, right? But in God's providence and amazing grace, the centurion learned about Jesus which brought about his genuine saving faith.

Now how do we know that? Look at verses 6 and 7. Now Jesus started on his way with them, and when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends saying to him, Lord, do not trouble yourself further, for I am not worthy for you to come under my roof. Verse 7 says, for this reason, I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you, but just say the word and my servant will be healed.

Well, we know that the centurion was saved because he called Jesus Lord, son of a true believer, right? He was acknowledging that Jesus was not just his savior, but also the Lord of his life. As we know Romans chapter 10 verse 9 says, if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be what? You shall be saved.

And also in verses 6 and 7 that he asked Jesus not to visit him because he said he felt unworthy. Wow. Talk about a humble heart which you need to have in order to be saved from your sins. Well verse 8 tells us that this centurion was a man of authority.

Verse 8 says, for I also am a man placed on authority with soldiers under me, and I say to this one, go and he goes, and to another come and he comes and to my slave, do this, and he does it. We see how Jesus responded to the centurion's faith in verse 9. Verse 9 says when Jesus heard this, he marveled at him and turned and said to the crowd that was following him, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith. And then in verse 10, the confirmation of Jesus' miracle, it says when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

Wow, Jesus was as always as merciful, compassionate, and answered the centurion's request from a distance and healed his slave. From these verses, we briefly saw that Jesus, the Son of God, has power over sickness and disease. Well, in contrast, what about somebody who was already dead? What amazing things would Jesus, the Son of God, do in that situation.

Well, let's look at our passage this morning starting at verse 11. It says, soon afterwards, he went to a city called Naine. The name means charming or beautiful. In fact, one commentator said Nain, the only time it's mentioned in the entire Bible, which by the way, is a great Bible trivia, game question if you play Bible trivia, but Naine was a tiny village about 20 miles southwest of Capernaum, like the distance from Riverside to Lake Elsinore.

Now, unlike the centurion who had asked Jesus to come and heal his servant, Jesus was not asked or sent a text message by anyone to come to the city of Nain. In fact, no one knew why Jesus, who was in Capuria, would travel 20 miles off the beaten path to visit Nain. However, God in His sovereignty and providence had other plans, right? Talk about divine appointments, right?

One commentator said God always acts with a fixed purpose and there are no unexpected coincidences for him. Verse 11 says, and his disciples were going along with him accompanied by a large crowd. And as we read in the Gospels, Jesus always attracted large crowds wherever he went. These people were anxious, curiosity seekers of Jesus' next miracles.

It's like, well, before the coronavirus when people would wait with great anticipation for the next episode or a popular show or movie to come out, it would camp out outside the movie theater in order to see the premiere showing at midnight. Well, that was what this thrill-seeking crowd was like. What was the first thing that happened as Jesus approached the city of Name, which leads us to the second prearranged event by God showing that Jesus, the Son of God, has authority over life and death when our second point, Jesus encounters a funeral procession.

Jesus encounters a funeral procession.

Verse 12 says, Now, as he approached the gate of the city, and by the way, we will spend a lot of time in 0.2 of our outline. But normally in ancient times, according to Deuteronomy chapter 25, city gates were places where men met, conducted business, people socialized, and elders resolved problems. It's like where City Hall is located here in Riverside. Next, in verse 12, it says a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother.

Well, the funeral service was over and now the body of the dead man was probably dead for only a short time, was being taken out of the city on a stretcher to be buried outside the city. When commentators said the warm climate in Palestine necessitated a speedy burial, following death, the eyes of the deceased were closed, the mouth bound up, and a corpse washed and anointed. The deceased were buried either in their own clothes or wrapped in cloth prepared for this purpose. And we really don't know much about the only son of his, his mother, what his name was, or even what caused his death.

The only real detail we have about him is in verse 14 when Jesus addressed him as a young man. Now he was probably a loving, hardworking son who helped to support and protect his mother. In fact, verse 12 says, and she was a widow. Now what do we know about widows in Jesus' day?

But one commentator said widows were associated with others who were disadvantaged like orphans, aliens, or day laborers. They suffered wrongs, wrongs, loss of rights, and they were held in low esteem. Well, what do we know about this particular widow from the city of Maine? Well, she had lost her husband, and now she had just lost her only son.

This meant that her son who had just died, was also without his father for a time also. a double blow. What a catastrophe. In addition, MacArthur says his passing also marked the end of the family line.

Wow, the family genealogy came to a crashing halt. Well, it was an extremely difficult trial and and tragic time for this widow. put yourself in, in her sandals. How would you react?

She was now attending her 2nd funeral. And I'm sure this widow was physically and emotionally drained from both ordeals, and she was understandably destitute, distraught, and felt abandoned. Well, one thing she needed was a big hug, right? A big squeeze and a ton of compassion and mercy thrown her way.

As we just heard, so many in Israel rejected widows. But how does God feel about widows? Well, Psalm 68 verses 4 and 5 says, sing to God, sing praises to his name. Lift up a song for Him who rides through the deserts, whose name is the Lord, and exalt before him.

A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows is God in His holy habitation. God is a judge or as New King James Version says, a defender of widows. So watch out, don't mess around with widows. God will defend them.

In fact, James chapter 1 verse 27 says that true ministry is what is visiting orphans and widows in their distress. And I know that some of you can relate to this poor widow. Or maybe like Christ, you've been rejected. Well, like this widow, God sometimes brings us all to the point where we are desperate, and the only one we can turn to is Jesus.

And sometimes we would cry out, why me, Lord, right? We would say that to him. How many times have you asked God that question? And maybe you became a little angry at God.

Well, I'm sure we've all done this at one point in time. Remember in Job in chapter one, he did not question or curse God. After the tragic loss of his cattle, his servants, and children, right? He didn't curse God.

Amazing. sometimes when tragedy or tough trials providentially comes into our lives, we just want answers to our questions, right? God, what is the reason this is all happening to me? Cancer, unsolvable illnesses, the coronavirus that have doctors scratching their heads, loss of a job, financial issues, relationship problems, the list goes on and on and on.

No, M and I received a text from a close friend of ours saying that his mother-in-law was infected with the coronavirus, and now they are just waiting for the Lord to take her home. Actually, the Lord took her home to be with him right before I recorded this sermon. Well, praise the Lord that she is saved, but how devastating, right? A huge loss for the family when mom is not there.

My mom went home to be with the Lord about 7 years ago. Make sure that you cherish your mom, especially today on on Mother's Day. When the MacArthur study Bible, there is an interesting and encouraging comment in a note section for Job chapter 1 verse 22, to help us respond in a godly way whenever we suffer through any unexplained, difficult, and tough trials in our lives. MacArthur says, hasty words against God in the midst of grief are foolish and wicked.

Christians are to submit to trials and still worship God, not because they see the reasons for them. Because God wills them and has his own reasons which believers are to trust. And how true that is. And also during times of grief, we turn to lamenting Psalms, a Psalm such as Psalm 88, when, whenever we feel that God has abandoned us in our trials and we want a way to, to release the pain and sorrow that's in our souls.

In fact, let's look at Psalm chapter 80 verses 13 to 18. Verse 13 says, but I, oh Lord, have cried out to you for help. Have you ever said that? And in the morning my prayer comes before you.

Verse 14 says, oh Lord, why do you reject my soul? Why do you hide your face from me? I was afflicted and about to die from my youth on. I suffer your terrors.

I am overcome. Verse 16 says, your burning anger has passed over me. Your terrors have destroyed me. They have surrounded me like water all day long.

They have encompassed me altogether and in verse 18 says, you have removed lover and friend from me. My acquaintances are in darkness. This Psalmist was not in any good health. He was hurting.

He was injured, as one of one of the commentators says, but we've all been there, right? We've been injured, we've been hurt, we've been abandoned. And this is probably how this poor widow felt, abandoned. Well, to better understand this Psalm and why should, as believers, we should read this during painful times, let me paraphrase a blog called Feeling abandoned by God, for the, from the contributors of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors, ACBC about the lamenting Psalms such as Psalm 73, Psalm 78, and others on why God gave us these Psalms for us to read.

ACBC says God gave us Psalm 88, Psalm 73, and other psalms in order for us to voice our expressions of suffering to God in prayer. They say psalms of lamentation are there for us to pour out our hearts in prayer to Him to let God know how you are feeling. I believe what we learned from the Psalms of lamentation is that we have permission to voice our complaints reverently to God in prayer. That's not the same as complaining out loud about God to other people, that's sin.

These Psalms are prayers, dark prayers, but they're prayers. Well, biblical counselor Dale Johnson also of ACBC shed some more light and says. The distinction regarding our complaints that we see in the Bible is that you either turn from God toward bitterness, questioning His goodness, or we can bring those requests and cares to the Lord and lamentation and concern and deep and raw confession before the Lord. Don't allow it to turn you away from God but run to Him.

Isn't that great? And make no mistake about it, especially during the situation we're in our lives today, whether it is having small gatherings for funerals as we try to bring some sense of closure for a lost loved one or having family owning only weddings, right? Or postponing a wedding or, or having marital and family issues. By the way, they say that domestic violence has increased since the whole coronavirus pandemic.

Maybe there are child problems. Well, remember, God is there. He is there with you every difficult time in your life. Well, two encouraging verses from the Psalms as we suffer.

Psalm 34:18 says, the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Also, King David said in Psalm 56:8, You, God, have taken account of my wanderings. Put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?

Can you imagine that? God takes our tears and he puts them in a bottle. David wanted God to keep a record of when he suffered so that he could be exonerated. Well, for the believer, remember, we are not alone, right?

Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15 says, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, double negative there, which means we have a high priest who can sympathize with us, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. The Greek word sympatheo comes from the is is where we get our English words sympathize, which means to share an experience with someone. In fact, Hebrews chapter 2 verse 18 tells us that Jesus understands your pain and suffering because he himself suffered and is able to aid those who are tempted.

Isn't that great?

Jesus Christ is there with us throughout the trials that we face. So come to Jesus, whenever you are suffering, he is waiting for you. And we know that God is good, so we must continue to trust God and His reasons and persevere no matter what is happening in our trial. Amen.

Well in this widow's day, society didn't have the financial resources to take care of her as we have today. Social Security, right? Accidental death and disability insurance and life insurance for your children. like this widow, you'd never think about burying your children.

Somebody approached me a couple of years ago and and offered me life insurance for my children. I couldn't believe that but I never really think about burying my children. Well, looking back at our passage, we see that there is no mention in text of any other family members or relatives to support this poor widow. Let's look at verse 12, it says, now as he approached the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out.

The only son of his mother and she was a widow and a sizable crowd from the city was with her. What do we know about the large crowd? The crowd in the funeral procession was made up of musicians and paid professional whaling women who were part of every Jewish funeral. In fact, one commentator said, according to Jewish custom, everyone in the village was to take part in the funeral procession.

a good act of encouragement for this widow who has just lost another loved one but not the same as having family members there, right? Well, she is about to be strengthened and encouraged even more when she meets Jesus, which leads us to the third prearranged event by God showing us that Jesus, the Son of God, has authority over life and death is when Jesus shows a widow compassion. Our third point is Jesus shows a widow compassion. Verse 13 says, when the Lord saw her, he felt compassion for her and said to her, Do not weep.

This widow did not request that Jesus come to name like the centurion did for his sixth servant. However, Jesus knows everything and came to meet her at her darkest moment. And notice in verse 13 that Jesus addressed the grieving widow first before he addressed her dead son. Now Jesus could have performed the miracle for for this widow by raising her son from the dead right on the spot, just like that, when he met the funeral procession.

But why didn't he? Well, if Jesus would have quickly raised the young man from the dead, this miracle-seeking crowd would have all focused their attention on the young man and the widow would have been left alone again, abandoned. Amazing, the mercy, compassion, and wisdom of Jesus. Well, how did Jesus personally interact with this widow?

Well, notice three ways. First, he saw her as verse 13 says. In the Greek language, the word lepo means having the capability to see as opposed to being blind. But very interesting, a different Greek word is used in verse 13.

The Greek word used here for saw is harato, which means to look, to perceive, and in this case, to take special note of someone. I made a great application here for us, right? Like Jesus said, let's make sure that we notice people considering others as more important than ourselves, especially as we go through this coronavirus time. Well, why did Jesus give this woman his undivided attention which shocked the Jewish people?

When you talk about Jesus breaking cultures, cultures norms, right? When women in the Jewish culture oftentimes were ignored. John Piper and Wayne Gruom in their excellent book called Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, which exalts women and also covers the distinct roles of men and women in the church, said, the place of women in the first century Roman world and in Judaism has been well documented. Women were regarded as second-class citizens.

Jesus regularly addressed women directly while in public. This was unusual for man to do. For Christ, women have intrinsic value equal to that of men. Women were created in the image of God just as men are, as Genesis chapter 1 verse 27 says.

When only did Jesus see her, but also next, Jesus felt compassion for her. Look at verse 13. The verb compassion means to have pity, to feel sorry for someone. The noun form of compassion describes the inward parts of the body, your bowels.

The bowels are figuratively spoken as the seat of emotions because our emotions can physically affect our bodies and we know that. When Jesus felt compassion for this widow, he had deep sad feelings for her and his inward parts, in his stomach or bowels. Compassion means that we put ourselves in the other person's shoes and share their pain with them. And what's so amazing is that Jesus still had compassion for her even though he was going to raise her son from the dead in a few moments.

Yes, our God is compassionate. But at times he is angry at sin, like when Jesus cleansed the temple, remember? Well God the Father had mercy and compassion on us sinners when He sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins. If you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior today, I pray that you would trust Jesus Christ that he died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and that he rose again.

Do that today. And also let's make sure that we, as believers are showing compassion and mercy to others too, as Romans chapter 12 verse 8 tells us. Well, Jesus saw her, felt compassion for her, and lastly, Jesus spoke to her. Jesus and mercy wanted to comfort this widow and said, do not weep.

the word weeping is the same word used in John chapter 11 verse 33, as Mary wept for her brother Lazarus, who had died. Jesus wanted her to stop weeping. Why? Because she is about to experience God's amazing grace and mercy in her desperate time of need, which leads us to the 4th prearranged event by God showing that Jesus, the Son of God, has authority over life and death is when point number 4, Jesus brings the dead man back to life.

Jesus brings the dead man back to life. Verse 14 says, and he came up and touched the coffin. The word touched means that Jesus put his hand on the open coffin. This, the open coffin used in Jesus' day was basically a portable frame in which the body was, was laid.

And we can safely assume that the crowd, also being aware of Jewish tradition and law regarding defilement, probably must have been shocked and greatly surprised to see Jesus touch the dead man's coffin. If you as a Jewish person was unclean, you would not be able to enter the temple. For a certain time period until you had a ceremony that cleansed you. Well, why did Luke highlight the fact that Jesus touched the coffin?

Because sickness or disease can't affect him like it can't affect us, because Jesus, the Son of God, is ruler over the physical world. Not only does Jesus have the power over sickness and disease, but Jesus has power over people too. Notice the pallbearers in verse 14 who carry the coffin. They came to a halt when Jesus touched the coffin.

MacArthur says normally attempting to halt a funeral procession and touching the corpse would have produced an outrage, and the person who did so might have even have been physically attacked by the angry mourners, but because of the Lord's commanding authoritative presence, the bears came to a halt. And my advice to you is do not try to stop a funeral procession. Bad things could happen. Well, what did Jesus say to the young man?

Look at verse 14. Jesus said, young man, I say to you, arise. The creator of the universe commanded life to surge back into the body of this dead man. Remember, no one came to ask Jesus to bring this dead man back to life.

And obviously this dead man couldn't drum up enough faith in himself for him to be raised from the dead because he was, he was dead. Where verse 15 says the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. Definite signs of a living person. His life was instantly restored.

Jesus felt compassion for the widow and moved into action, and he gave life back to her son. Now, the passage doesn't tell us what the young man said. Now, this is pure speculation on my part, but maybe he said something like this. Mom, where am I?

Mom, what is going on? Why are all these people here? Then he said, like every teenage boy would say, Mom, I'm hungry. When are we going to eat?

A definite sign of life, right? Jesus then gave him back to his mother, personal touch from Jesus. She had her provider and protector back. Her family line and dignity was restored.

Now, the centurion who we had read about earlier had great faith in who Jesus was, God Almighty. Well, in contrast, there was no mention in this passage about the widow or her son having faith in Jesus, but Christ showed mercy and compassion to both of them anyway. What a great example for us to show the love of Christ to others. So let's show mercy and compassion to others, especially during this coronavirus situation today.

And I know that many of you are doing that already, so keep excelling, keep doing that. That's great. Well, how did the crowd react to Jesus bringing the widow's son back to life? Which leads us to the 5th and last prayer range event by God showing that Jesus, the Son of God, has authority over life and death is when Jesus' miracle brings several responses from the crowd.

0.5 is Jesus, this miracle brings several responses from the crowd. What were the responses from the crowd who were following Jesus? Look at verse 16. 1st of all, fear gripped them.

Fear gripped every person in the crowd. Why? Because they felt that God was in their presence. Well, what else did the crowd do?

They started glorifying God. They gave God the glory, right? No, they said a great prophet has risen among us. They missed the whole point, right?

Sadly to them, Jesus was just another great prophet or representative from God to them. Like Elijah or Elishah, who also raised people from the dead. And lastly, they said, God has visited his people. Now it is true that God had prearranged a visit to them in human flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, but they missed their Messiah.

And what a warning and an exhortation to people today not to miss who Jesus Christ is. And if you do not know who Jesus Christ is today, and again I plead with you to believe that he is God. Trust him as your Lord and believe that he died on the cross for your sins, was buried and rose again on the 3rd day. In fact, Acts chapter 4 verse 12 says, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.

The news about Jesus started to spread all over Judea, all over the land of Israel, and the surrounding districts around Nain. 5 prearranged events by God showing that Jesus, the Son of God, has authority over life and death. We serve God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is involved in every aspect of our lives. And there are no such things as coincidences with God when it comes to ministering to people.

So keep looking to God's divine appointments in your life as you meet unsafe people and introduce them to Jesus Christ, the compassionate Son of God. Amen. Well, let's pray. Our heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your time.

Thank you, Father, for this passage to remind us who Jesus Christ is. He is the son of God. He is a compassionate, merciful God who loves sinners, but also, Father, even as believers, he loves us and He is with us during our trials. I do pray for, Father, for anyone who may not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior today, that they will place their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, that they will believe that He died on the cross for their sins, was buried, and he rose again.

So, we love you, Father, we thank you again for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our compassionate high priest. For in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.