THE MORE I READ THE BIBLE, ESPECIALLY THE GOSPELS, I SEE THE SAME TRUTH LIVED OUT TIME AND AGAIN. THERE IS PASSAGE AFTER PASSAGE SHOWING JESUS AS HE GOES TO PEOPLE TRAPPED IN DESPERATE SITUATIONS. WHETHER IT IS A SINFUL WOMAN AT JACOB'S WELL; A BLIND MAN AT THE TEMPLE; A POOR BEGGAR IN JERICHO; OR A RICH MAN IN A TREE; WE ARE GIVEN THE PRIVILEGE OF WATCHING AS JESUS MOVES IN POWER FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE TRAPPED IN HOPELESS AND HELPLESS SITUATIONS. WE AS CHRISTIANS ARE SAVED BECAUSE HE DID WHAT WE COULD NOT DO FOR OURSELVES AND CAME TO US, SAVED OUR SOUL BY GRACE. WE ARE SAVED PERFECTLY,COMPLETELY, AND ETERNALLY AND WE DID NOT HAVE ONE THING TO DO WITH IT. NOR DID WE CONTRIBUTE ONE THING TO IT. I AM SAVED BECAUSE "HE CAME TO ME!" I WANT TO LOOK INTO ONE OF THOSE WONDERFUL TIMES TODAY. I WANT TO LOOK IN ON A PITIFUL LITTLE SCENE IN A TINY HAMLET CALLED NAIN. I WANT TO WATCH JESUS DO THE IMPOSSIBLE AND THE INCREDIBLE ONE MORE TIME. PLEASE JOIN ME IN THIS PASSAGE AND WE THINK ON 'THE SIMPLE THOUGHT." "HE SEARCHED ME OUT!" I WANT TO SHOW YOU WHAT JESUS CAN AND WILL DO WHEN HE COMES INTO YOUR IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION. I WANT TO SHOW YOU WHAT HE CAN DO FOR EVERY SOUL WHO WILL OPEN THEIR HEART AND TRUST HIM BY FAITH. PLEASE ALLOW ME TO MAKE THREE OBSERVATIONS FROM THE TEXT: HE CAME TO ME. WHEN JESUS CAME TO NAIN THAT DAY, HE DID NOT ARRIVE AT A JOYOUS MOMENT. WHEN HE CAME IT WAS A TIME OF DEATH AND A TIME OF MOURNING. THE NAME "NAIN" LITERALLY MEANS " BEAUTY" BUT, THERE WAS NO BEAUTY IN NAIN THAT DAY. DEATH HAD INVADED THE LITTLE TOWN OF NAIN. WE ARE TOLD THE VICTIM IS A YOUNG MAN (V14). THAT HE IS "THE ONLY SON OF HIS MOTHER," (V.12). AND WE ARE TOLD HE IS DEAD! A GREAT CROWD OF MOURNERS ARE MAKING THEIR WAY THROUGH THE GATES OF THE CITY, TO A LITTLE CEMETERY, WHERE HE IS TO BE BURIED.
AS WAS THE CUSTOM IN THAT DAY, THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY HAD STOPPED WHAT THEY WERE DOING AND HAD JOINED THE FUNERAL PROCESSION AS IT MADE ITS WAY THROUGH TOWN. THE MOTHER WOULD HAVE BEEN IN FRONT. SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN FOLLOWED BY THOSE WHO CARRIED THE OPEN COFFIN, WHICH CONTAINED THE BODY OF HER SON. BEHIND THEM WOULD HAVE BEEN THOSE WHO WERE MOURNING THE BOY'S DEATH. THESE PEOPLE WOULD HAVE BEEN WAILING, CRYING AND CHANTING PHRASES OF GRIEF AND MOURNING. SOME MAY HAVE BEEN FRIENDS AND RELATIVES; OTHERS MAY HAVE BEEN PAID TO COME AND HELP MOURN THE DEATH OF THE BOY. THOSE BRINGING UP THE REAR WOULD HAVE BEEN TOWN'S FOLK WHO FOLLOWED OUT OF RESPECT FOR THE DEAD. HERE IS A YOUNG MAN WHOSE LIFE HAD BEEN FILLED WITH GREAT POTENTIAL. HE MIGHT OF HAD HOPES OF MARRIAGE AND OF FATHERING CHILDREN, BUT NOW HE IS DEAD. THERE MAY HAVE BEEN PLANS OF GOING INTO BUSINESS TO SUPPORT HIMSELF AND HIS WIDOWED MOTHER, BUT NOW HE IS DEAD. THOSE EYES WHICH ONCE HAD BEEN BRIGHT WITH THE GLEAM OF YOUTH ARE NOW DULLED BY DEATH. THAT MIND, NOW STILLED BY THE COLD OF DEATH, DEATH HAS COME AND IT HAS BROUGHT WITH IT ALL THE CRUELNESS AND HEARTACHE IT POSSESSES. BUT DEATH HAS BEEN PART OF THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE EVER SINCE MAN SINNED AGAINST GOD. IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN. EVER SINCE ADAM CHOSE TO GO HIS WAY INSTEAD OF GOD'S WAY, DEATH HAS STALKED AND CLAIMED LIFE AFTER LIFE. THIS WAS THE WARNING OF GOD TO ADAM, (GEN.2:17). AND THIS WAS THE EXPERIENCE OF ADAM (5:5). IT HAS BEEN, AND IT CONTINUES TO BE THE EXPERIENCE OF EVERY HUMAN THAT HAS EVER LIVED, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF ELIJAH AND ENOCH. DEATH AND ITS PAIN, IS PART AND PARCEL OF THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE (HEB 9:27). WHAT HAPPENED AT NAIN IS WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING TO MEN SINCE THE DAWN OF TIME, AND ONE DAY IT WILL COME FOR YOU AND ME! I THINK THERE IS MORE HERE THAN JUST PHYSICAL DEATH OF A MOTHER'S ONLY SON. I THINK THIS BOY, IN HIS PHYSICAL DEATH, IS A PICTURE OF WHAT SPIRITUAL DEATH IS ALL ABOUT. I WILL CALL YOUR ATTENTION TO GENESIS 2:17). IN THAT VERSE, GOD TOLD ADAM THAT THE DAY HE ATE OF THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT, WOULD BE THE DAY HE WOULD DIED. BUT DID ADAM DIE THAT DAY? PHYSICALLY HE DID NOT DIE, FOR HE LIVED HUNDREDS OF MORE YEARS. BUT, SPIRITUALLY, HE DIED THE VERY DAY HE ATE THE FRUIT. YOU SEE, THERE IS SOMETHING FAR WORSE THAN PHYSICAL DEATH! YOU SEE THE BIBLE TELLS US ROMANS (6;23) "THAT THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH)" THAT VERSES DOES NOT ONLY REFER TO DEATH OF THE BODY, BUT IT REFERS TO THE ETERNAL DESTINY OF THE LOST SOUL IN HELL! DYING IN THIS WORLD IS ONE THING, BUT SPENDING ETERNITY IN HELL, SEPARATED FROM THE PRESENCE OF GOD, WITH NO HOPE OF SALVATION, IS INFINITELY MORE TRAGIC! THAT IS THE END OF THE PERSON WHO LIVES THEIR LIFE WITHOUT GOD AND DIES LOST (Psa. 9:17). (2 THES. 1:8-9). (EPH.2:1). TEACHES THAT HORRIBLE TRUTH. THE YOUNG MAN WAS THERE PHYSICALLY, BUT COULD NOT HEAR THE CRIES OF HIS MOTHER, BUT THE MOURNING AND THE GRIEVING DID NOT EFFECT HIM. HE WAS HEADED TO THE CEMETERY AND THEY WERE GOING TO PLACE HIS BODY IN THE COLD EARTH, BUT HE NEITHER KNEW IT NOR CARED ABOUT IT. HE WAS DEAD AND THE THINGS OF THE EARTH, THE THINGS ASSOCIATED WITH LIFE HAD NO EFFECT ON HIM WHATSOEVER, AND HE WAS BEYOND THE TOUCH OF THOSE WHO LOVED HIM STILL. ONE WHO IS LOST, IS PHYSICALLY ON THIS EARTH ARE ALIVE AND WELL, AND GO ABOUT THEIR LIVES, BUT SPIRITUALLY ARE DEAD. THEY CANNOT SEE, HEAR OR FEEL GOD. THEY ARE DEAD TO GOD, TO HIS WORD AND TO HIS MOVING AND WORKING IN THE WORLD. THEY ARE UNMOVED BY THE CROSS AND THE EMPTY TOMB. THEY ARE UNAFFECTED BY GOOD GIFTS AND AND GREAT BLESSINGS OF A HOLY GOD. I'VE BEEN THERE! IF YOU ARE SAVED YOU HAVE BEEN THERE! IF YOU NEVER BEEN SAVED, YOU ARE THERE RIGHT NOW! IT IS A HORRIBLE PLACE TO EXIST. BUT, THAT IS THE WAY IT IS FOR EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT KNOW JESUS CHRIST AS PERSONAL SAVIOR TODAY! IT WAS A TIME OF DEATH WHEN "JESUS CAME TO ME.
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