We're turning to Luke's Gospel, chapter 7 this evening. Luke's Gospel and the chapter number 7. We'll begin our reading at verse 11 of the chapter. So it's Luke's Gospel, chapter 7, verse number 11. The Lord Jesus Christ has been in Capernaum and he has healed the centurions. a servant, and so we're coming to read of the following day. So it's the verse number 11 of Luke chapter 7. Let's hear God's word. It says, And it came to pass the day after that he went into a city called Nihon, and many of his disciples went with him, and much people. And when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, weep not. And he came and touched the buyer, or the bearer, and they that bear him stood still. And he said, young man, I say unto thee, arise. And he that was dead sat up and began to speak, and he delivered him to his mother. And there came a fear on all, and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us, and that God hath visited his people. And this rumor of him went forth throughout all Judea, and throughout all the region round about. And the disciples of John showed him of all these things. We'll end our reading there at the verse number 18. A short reading this evening. Let's seek again the Lord. In a word of prayer briefly, we pray for God's servant as he preaches the word that help will be given, that even the physical weakness would be removed and that God would give strength even to preach the word tonight. Our loving Father, our gracious God, we come before thee, who is the altogether lovely one, who is the very heart of the gospel, Rejoice, O God, that He is the sum and substance of it all. O may we see our Savior this evening, His great power, here seen physically. O God, in the raising of this young man, O may we see it spiritually, in the raising of young men and women, older men and women, out of their sin. O God, and on to Christ we pray. May he who is the resurrection and the life speak into the dead and soul this evening. May, O God, great glory and praise and honor be brought to thy holy name. Fill me with thy spirit. Grant, O God, a stillness. May the meeting take on eternal worth now, as the word of God is preached. May God, the Holy Spirit himself, draw near. And grant, dear God, signs to follow, the preaching of the word tonight in this house and across this province and across the world, for we offer prayer in and through the Savior's precious name. Amen and amen. the services of the one that we will think upon this evening, most if not all of us will require someday. However, when the services of such a person are called upon, we ourselves will be unaware and unconscious that they actually are. Now that may sound to be a riddle to you, but whenever we consider that we'll preach tonight a message for an undertaker, then that seeming riddle is no longer a riddle anymore, because when his services or her services are required, In our lives, when we die, we will not be conscious of it. We will be unaware that their services are being performed on our body, because our souls will have left, we will have died, and we will be unconscious even of their work in our lives. I'm sure the services of the local undertaker in the city of Nian were required in the home that we have been reading about this evening, a home in which not only a single tragedy but a double tragedy has struck in recent times. The first tragedy is that the head of the home, the father, the husband had died. That tragic event led now and left a mother to care for her only son, and to care for him single-handedly. We find here a single-parent family. A mother bringing up her only son, doing the best that she can. Now if that tragedy wasn't great enough, a second tragedy would strike that same home again. The son of the family is now taken in death. life no longer exists within his body. And we find the reading of scripture here. We find that this young man is being carried out of the city of Naean to the place of public burial. And we want to think about that, that very event in the life and the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the penultimate message. Next Lord's Day we'll finish off this little series on these occupational messages. And so this is the penultimate message, the one from last, as we consider a gospel message for an undertaker. But the amazing thing about this message is that this was the day that the undertaker in me was made redundant. His services were required to, yes, a certain point, but I believe that his services were no longer required when Jesus Christ stepped into the scene, when Jesus Christ visited the city of Nian. It was the day that the local undertaker was made redundant, at least in respect to the event here, with respect to this young man. So we want to consider a number of things. that this passage of God's Word presents. I want you to think first of all with me concerning the condition of the Son. The condition of the Son. Now there are three things that we find noted in this passage of God's Word that mark this young man's condition. I want you to notice first of all, his condition is marked by inactivity. His condition is marked by inactivity. Now Luke's gospel, chapter 7, verse 12, tells us that when Jesus came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and much people of the city were with her. Now I want you to notice who the writer of this gospel is. This is Dr. Luke. And so if there was anyone qualified with respect to the condition of this young man, and to give us a proper, a trustworthy assessment of his condition, it is surely Dr. Luke. And Dr. Luke uses clear, unambiguous emphatic language to inform us concerning the medical condition of this young man because we read in verse 12 that he was a dead man he was a dead man as i've said before There may be varying degrees with respect to a person's health. Some are well, some are unwell. Some are stable, others are critical as with respect to health. But there are no degrees. whenever it comes to the state of death. Because whenever a person is dead, they're dead. Life is gone. The vital statistics and signs have ceased. The body lies lifeless, motionless, cold, because death, the great enemy, has come to lay hold and to seize off the individual. And whenever death comes, it leads to a state of inactivity. Whereas in life we are able to see and to think and to talk and to touch. Whenever death comes, those activities cease. All activity ends when it comes to death. Solomon, he reminds us of that in the book of Ecclesiastes, the chapter nine, the verse 10. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whether thou goest. And so we find here a young man whose life is now marked by inactivity. For him to get to the place of burial, he requires the services of another and others to carry him out of the city to his final resting place. As I thought about the inactive condition of this young man, I started to think about the inactivity of the sinner when it comes to the state of soul with regard to the things of God. Now, it's true to say that the soul of the sinner is alive to many a thing. The sinner's soul is alive to sin. They understand that. The sinner's life is alive to the fleshly lusts and the passions that reign within. The sinner's soul is alive to the pleasures of the world, and to the earthly objects, and to vain pursuits. Yes, the sinner is alive to these things, but when it comes to the soul, and when it comes to spiritual things, and when it comes to God, the soul of the sinner is dead, inactive. There is no pursuit of God. There is no seeking after God. But rather the soul of the sinner is inactive. You see the unregenerate? The sinner is described as being dead. Dead in their trespasses and their sins. And that deadness leads to spiritual inactivity on the part of the sinner. Is it not the case? Here you are tonight. And tonight finds you in such a state. Tonight finds you paralyzed, spiritually speaking, plagued by spiritual inactivity. The minister, the preacher, the evangelist calls you in the gospel to arise out of your sin and to come to Jesus Christ, and yet you remain in your sin. Yet you remain in your unbelief, in your opposition to God, in your rebellion against Him. And so you, because of inactivity, spiritual inactivity, there is no seeking after God, there is no arising unto God. Because whenever God finds a sinner, He doesn't find the sinner in the ICU unit of humanity's hospital. But whenever God finds a sinner, He finds them in the morgue. Not in ICU, but in the morgue. That's where God finds the sinner. And therefore tonight, you don't only need a sinner or a saviour to save you from your sin, you don't even need, and you don't need beyond, or you don't even need not only a saviour to forgive you of your sins, but you need a saviour to impart spiritual life to you. You need a Savior to raise you out of the grave of your sin, out of the deadness of your soul. And you need God to impart life to you this evening in the gospel, that your heart might be inclined to receive Jesus Christ as he has offered to you in the gospel. And so his state, his condition, is first of all marked by inactivity. But following on from this state of inactivity, this young man's condition was also marked by inability. Inability. lying lifeless on this particular carrying implement. We find this young man incapable and unable to do anything about the death that has laid hold of his physical body, found now in a deadened state. This young man, lifeless, motionless, can do nothing himself to reverse the state into which death has brought him. He is utterly unable. to quicken himself from that deaden soul. He cannot impart life into himself. He cannot make himself alive. This is entirely beyond his control, entirely beyond his ability. And as I thought of that, I thought, is that not the case? When it comes to any sinner in the gospel, Because no sinner in and of themselves can raise themselves from the spiritual death that sin has brought into their life. No unsaved man, no unsaved woman, no unconverted boy, no unconverted girl can impart to themselves life and bring life into that deadened soul. Such is beyond human capability. Is it not true that left to yourself, sinner, that you'll stay in your sin? Not only will you stay in your sin, but you'll love your sin. And you'll live a life of sin. And you'll be happy to live a life that is anti-God and is anti-gospel. Now while you've tried to maybe improve yourself, Maybe you've tried to reform the life, maybe you've tried to curb your sinful habits, and yet none of these things have led to spiritual life being imparted to you. Because you need to understand something, that you are wholly incapable of doing anything that will bring you into a right standing before God. Sin's corruption has extended to every faculty of the human body, to every part of the human nature. And so tonight, there's a heart in you that is hostile to God. There's a soul in you that is deadened to any impression of the gospel. What you need is for God to come. What you need is for God to intervene. What is required is outside intervention, wholly incapable, unable to do anything for self. You need outside intervention. That intervention does not come by some human agency or by some human means. But that intervention comes from God himself in the gospel. Divine intervention is what you need in the gospel. When God himself God in the guise of God the Holy Spirit comes and convicts of sin, regenerates the heart and plants new life within, gives faith and repentance to you the sinner. That's the only answer for the individual that is paralyzed by inability. And so we find his condition marked by inactivity. inability, but thirdly, his condition is marked by insensibility, insensibility. Notice what the Lord Jesus Christ says to his mother in verse number 13. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said unto her, Weep not. Here's a mother crying, wailing, Here's a mother brokenhearted over the condition of her son. But what about his condition? What about his sensibility to that? Does he understand his mother's brokenness? Does he understand and feel the emotion that she's expressing here as she weeps for her only son? Here's a young man lying lifeless, cold, there on the pyre, and here he is, insensitive to the brokenness that existed in his mother's heart because of his death. While she's moved to tears, he's wholly unmoved. Holy, insensitive to the heartache that his death has caused to the one who loved him the most. And as I thought about this young man's insensitivity to the sorrow of cause to his mother, I thought, how many a sinner. And then a sinner goes on carelessly and heedlessly in their sin with no thought of what their sinful living is doing to the mental and to the physical state of those that love them the most. Maybe there's a young man or a young woman, a boy or girl in this meeting place tonight, and you're wholly insensitive of what your sin is doing to that godly Father. That Christian mother of yours, look how they've aged. Sinner, look how they've aged. Note the grey hairs that appeared on their head since you went and lived for sin. Note the thinness of the body. Note the furrow on the head. Note the concern, the distress of soul. Note how look how downcast they become since you threw off mental restraint and you went hammer and tongs at sin. What do you care? What do you care, sinner? Read there in the book of Proverbs that the backslider is full of his own ways. And that's so true. But what about the sinner? What do you care about a mother? What do you care about a father who's brokenhearted over your sin? What does it matter to you that your parents lie awake wondering where you are? And where you've been? And who you're with? And what you're doing? What does it matter to you, sinner? Because you just love your sin, don't you? What does it matter to you sinner that your mother weeps on her pillow at night because you're destroying your life by sin? What does it matter to you sinner concerning the chaos and the mayhem that you're brought into the family home because of the sinful choices that you've been making? What does it matter to you that your mother carries you day after day to the throne of grace and prayer. You're such a burden, a burden to those who love you the most. What does it matter to you that you're now disinterested in the house of God and that you're forsaken coming to the house of God and you're living in open sin and rebellion against God? I tell you sinner, your sin makes you a selfish insensitive, self-centered being with no thought about anyone else but yourself. What does it matter to you? Little do you realize by your conduct and by your choices governed by that sinful nature within It's going to put that mother of yours, it's gonna put that father of yours into an early grave. Sinner, I would exhort you, I would implore you to cease from your sinning. End your parents' grief. Come to your mother's God. Come to your father's friend and be saved tonight in this house. But there he lies. holy and sensitive of what he's doing to his mother because of his state. I tell you, there's many a sinner like that in this province, many a sinner connected with families in this church, and they care not for mom and dad, care not for them, the grief, the sorrow, and the heartache that sin has brought. What do they care? Just as long as they can get their sin and live for it. I pray you're not one like that. Deny that you'll come to Christ in sensitivity. Having considered the condition of the son, I want you to notice the coming of the Savior. The coming of the Savior is this young man's lifeless body. It's carried out of the city for public burial. Lord Jesus Christ meets the funeral procession. It's as if the battle lines are drawn. It's as if the arena of conflict is established just beyond the gate. Just beyond the gate is the arena of battle. Just beyond the gates of Nain, it's as if death is on one hand and life on the other. and the accompanying bands of people, those with Christ and those with the widow, they're going to act as spectators as this great tussle, this great battle is about to take place outside the gate, outside the gate. Either death or life is going to be crowned the victor by the end of this encounter. It takes me to a place called Calvary, outside the gate of Jerusalem. Is that not the place where the conflict raged the hottest? God the Son is kneeled to the tree. There all of the darkness, and all of the wickedness, and all of the devices of satanic forces, they come to meet Christ. And there's spectators there, the centurion, the disciples, many are watching, bypassers. But they're going to see who's going to be crowned the victor. And blessed be God, Christ comes forth as the victor. He takes on death. has come to destroy the works of him that is the devil. As I thought about Christ coming to the city of Nian, I note the distance he traveled. The day before we noticed it, mention it to you, he's in Capernaum. Capernaum, a little fishing village there to the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, 600 feet below sea level. He now travels to the city of Nian, some 30 miles. That journey takes him now to 700 feet above sea level. You can imagine that journey, 600 feet below and right up to 700 feet above. That journey to Nian would have been an arduous uphill climb for the Savior. He comes a great distance to bring relief to this widow and to bring release to this young man. But what is 30 miles compared to the great journey the blessed Son of God took when he came to save sinners from their sin and from hell? That journey was like no other journey. That journey caused him to leave eternity and to step into time. It causes him to leave heaven and to come to earth. What a stoop, what a stoop for the Son of God, coming from untold wealth into unparalleled poverty. From the praise of angels to the scorn of men, from heaven's heights to earth's depths, from the highest throne of glory, to the cross of deepest woe. Does it not amaze you? Does it not amaze you that the Son of God would embark upon such a journey from heaven to earth to secure salvation for a sinner like you and for a sinner like me? Ah, you could maybe understand it if He came to earth for someone who was deserving of His grace and His mercy. But for you, the Christ-rejecter, the God-denier, the lawbreaker, it's an astounding fact that God would leave the glories of heaven behind for the likes of you and yet the wonder of it all, the wonder of the gospel is that he did. God the Son leaves heaven's glory in order that he might do all that was required to reconcile holy God to men and men to holy God. As the Savior neared the city, he meets the funeral procession. What people would have deemed a coincidence, the Son of God saw as providential. The encounter at Nehem's gate was purposefully planned by God. And now God the Son finds himself in the right place at the right time. I mentioned it a few weeks ago, I don't want to rehash all I said then, but I just want to say that you're in this preaching house this evening, not by coincidence, but by the planned purpose of God, that you might hear the gospel once again. Christ is here. Christ is here for the purpose of meeting you so that you might be quickened in newness of life. There's nothing of chance about it, sinner. The eternal decrees of God have arranged it so that tonight you would be in the right place at the right time to meet the right Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, may you seek him. May you call upon him while he is near. Another detail concerning the Savior's coming. He came to him. He came to him. Though this young man could not come to Christ, Christ came to him. And sinner, it is no different in the gospel. Because of your spiritual inability, though you cannot come to Christ, he comes to you. He comes to you. He comes to you in the gospel. The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Note the words in verse 14, and he came, and he came. They mark the turning point in the whole chapter. He comes, he comes, into the scene of sorrow, into the scene of sadness, into the scene of grief, into the scene of brokenness, into the scene of heartache, into the scene of anguish, into the scene of hopelessness, steps forth Christ. He steps forth to turn the whole situation on its head. One, he comes. He comes to take the sorrow and the sadness and the grief, to replace it with happiness and joy. He comes to take the brokenness and the heartache, to replace it with a mended heart. He comes to take away the hopelessness and in its place bring hope, the hope of the gospel. He came. Oh, that He would come to this house tonight, and He would save you. that He would come by. Oh, that He would come and reverse all that sin has done in that life of yours. He came. He came. We focus continually on Christ here. Note a third thing, the commands of the Sovereign. The commands of the Sovereign. There are three identifiable commands in Luke chapter 7, this account. Notice firstly the command that the Son of God directed to the mother, weep not. was the Savior's instruction to this woman. Such came from a heart touched by what he saw before his eyes, his heart deeply touched. Luke states that the Lord Jesus had compassion on her. The word compassion literally translates his bowels yearn for her. Such was a depth of feeling for this woman that his inner being wrenched. in sympathy for her. This is the Savior. He tells her not to weep. Before this woman stands, a sympathizing Savior, a great high priest's touch of the feelings of our infirmities. Christian mother, weep not. Christian father, weep not. Yes, the present circumstances concerning that child of yours may cause you to weep. Those circumstances may look bleak with respect to the potential of salvation, with respect to your offspring, but God, with God all things are possible. Mother, weep not. Trust God. God can save them. But for you, the sinner, God would say, weep not. Let your mourning He turned into joy as you come to know Christ in the gospel. The God of the Bible is a God of compassion, compassion that he wants to evidence to you in bestowing great mercy in the gospel. Psalm 145 verse 8, the Lord is gracious, full of compassion, slow to anger enough, great mercy. Sinner, there's great mercy with God tonight. The second command, It was a command directed to the, we'll call them the pallbearers. Now this command is not verbal in nature. It was rather simply a touch from Christ on the buyer of the beer that caused these pallbearers to stand still. It was as if the Savior was saying to these men, take this young man no further. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Would it not be a grand and glorious thing tonight that God would put his hand not on the buyer of the beer, but that he would put his hand on your life, and he would say to you, the sinner, no further, sinner, no further in your sin. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Thank God he is able to change that present course that you're on, a course whose trajectory is in the direction of hell tonight. And thank God he can turn you around and set you on course for heaven. Christ comes in the gospel and he issues the following directive. Deliver him. from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom. The third command is to the young man himself. With the funeral procession now stopped, the Savior speaks to this lifeless body, lying, young man, I say unto thee, arise. It's not the first time he's done it, and said such words, and neither will it be the last. He addresses Jairus' daughter in this way. He addresses Lazarus in this way. But on all occasions, the dead hear his voice, and they come forth as God the Son calls them personally. Arise. Arise. And tonight in the gospel, God comes to you, the sinner, and commands you to arise. Arise out of your spiritual impoverishment, sinner. And rise out of the death of your unbelief, sinner. Arise out of the bondage of your sin, sinner. Arise out of your apathy. Arise out of your indifference, sinner. Arise and run to Christ. Run to Christ. Run to the cross. run to the blood, run to the sacrifice, run to the arms of infinite mercy, run to Christ. Arise. Will you do that? Sinner, will you arise tonight? Will you embrace Christ in the gospel, or will you remain in your death and a distance from him? who conforms us that on hearing the command, that he that was dead sat up, verse 15, and began to speak, and he delivered him on to his mother. You know, it didn't take a month. It didn't take a week. It didn't take a day. It didn't take five minutes. But immediately, he arose from the dead. Immediately, he obeyed Christ's command. It was the day that the... the undertaker in Nian was made redundant. For what need had this young man of his services any more? What need had he? Thank God, when God speaks to the soul of the sinner, that sinner obeys the effectual call. In a moment of time, God saves the sinner. Oh, that tonight that such would happen. Finally, very quickly, the conclusion of Neon Society. Notice the effect of such a moving, the work of God bringing him back to life. What effect had that on Neon Society? Verse 16, it tells us, and there came a fear in all. They glorified God saying that a great prophet has risen up among us and that God had visited his people. Why were they afraid? They were afraid because they knew that they were in the presence of God. They knew what they had witnessed firsthand was only possible because of the power of God. I tell you, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Do you fear God? Do you fear God? Do you fear an angry God? Do you fear a God of holiness and a God of justice? Oh, that that fear would propel you to Christ. Do you fear the one who is not only able to destroy body, but is able to destroy both body and soul in hell? May the fear of God bring you to Christ. may God visit you. We read here that they said, God had visited his people, but oh, that God would visit you. What is man's, that thou wert mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou visitest him? May God visit you tonight in the gospel. What a change What a change comes across the scene in Luke chapter 7 because Christ intervened. What a change will come into your home and into your life. if Christ would only but intervene into your soul tonight. I pray that such would happen and you tonight who are dead in your trespasses and sins would be made to walk in newness of life. Thank God Christ won the battle at the gate. Beyond the gate, Christ wins the battle. The place of victory He is the resurrection and the life, and all that trust in Him will never die. May God save you. May God raise you from that state you're in tonight, and may you come to walk in newness of life. May God be pleased to speak to your heart this evening in the gospel. Let's unite in prayer. Can I say that I am here to help you? Maybe tonight you see yourself to be well pictured in this young man. Holy, unable, inactive, insensitive, but God has started to work upon your soul. Tonight you felt God speaking. Oh, that this evening that you'd come to him and be saved. Meet the man, the God-man that we've been speaking about, the Lord Jesus Christ. What he does here in the physical, he does in the spiritual. May God do such a work in your soul. What joy and gladness that would bring to that loved one of yours who knows Christ. Bring joy to the heart of God, to the saints of God, May God be pleased to work in your soul. Please seek us out if I can help in any way. It is the Savior you need. I'm just here to help. Maybe tonight you need that help. Well then make that need known to us and we'll take the word and speak to you about how you can be saved. Repent of sin. Believe the gospel. May God visit his people tonight. May God visit this house with salvation power. Our loving Father and our gracious God in heaven, we give, O God, this meeting into thy hand and into thy care. We recognize, O God, that this was a miracle that we have been reading about tonight. No con artist could, O God, have brought this young man to life. only God himself, the person of his Son, could speak life into this young man. Oh God, we recognize that no man, no preacher, no individual can do anything for the sinner but God himself. Lord, do thine own work. Speak life into where there's death and where death reigns. Speak to the children, speak to the teenagers, speak to the adults of this congregation. Bring them to the Savior. Lord, do thine own work, we pray. Take, O God, that selfish sinner. O God, deal with their heart. Make them into a child of God. O God, answer prayer. Do thine own work, we pray. For I offer prayer in and through the Savior's precious and holy name. Amen and amen. Thank you.