GREAT POWERS
Luke 7:11-17
INTRO.- ILL.- Three boys at school were bragging about their fathers. The first boy said, “My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a poem, and they give him a $100 for it.” The second boy said, “That’s nothing. My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a song, and they give him a $1,000 for it.”
The third boy said, “My Dad can top that! He scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, calls it a sermon, and it takes six men just to collect all the money!”
MONEY IS POWER. It represents power to some people.
ILL.- Bill Gates is the chairman of Microsoft Corporation, which is the worldwide leader in computer software. Microsoft had revenues of $22.96 billion for the fiscal year ending June 2000. However, I also read that Bill Gates is worth over 60 billion dollars. He is the world’s richest man! AND MONEY IS POWER! At least, to most people it is.
Most people think that if you have enough money you can buy anything, go anywhere, and do anything you want. BUT THERE IS A LIMIT TO WHAT MONEY CAN BUY! TO WHAT MONEY CAN DO!
Matthew 16:26 Jesus said, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”
No man, including Bill Gates, can buy their way into heaven! So there is a limit to the power of money!
ILL.- Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! IT’S SUPERMAN! Fasting than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! IT’S SUPERMAN!
When I was a child, Superman was a super hero! And he was a man who represented great power! He could do almost anything. He was unstoppable! Man of steel. Man of power.
ILL.- In 1972 I got to go to the Olympic Weightlifting trials in Detroit, Michigan. I witnessed a weightlifter by the name of Ken Patera, 6’ 3” 315 lbs., lift 502 lbs. over his head in the clean and jerk lift. IT WAS AWESOME! The people roared with applause after his lift. He was the first American to have officially lifted over 500 lbs. overhead! KEN PATERA WAS A MAN OF GREAT STRENGTH AND POWER! And unlike Superman, he was the real thing, the real deal!
Great physical strength is impressive to some people, but there is a limit to what it can do.
ILL.- Even though the O.T. hero Samson could tear a lion apart with his bear hands (Judges 14:6), he couldn’t tame a woman named Delilah! She was stronger, more powerful than he.
There is a limit to what physical strength can do. And in other ways too.
I Timothy 4:8 “For physical training (or perhaps physical strength) is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”
Physical strength has a limit. It can only do so much. And it certainly can’t get us into the door of heaven!
In Luke 7:11-17, we have the meeting of two sons. They were the only sons of their father. One was alive, but was destined to die. And the other was dead, but was destined to live. Jesus raised the widow’s only son from the dead. Talk about power! Jesus demonstrated great power.
And Jesus is still at work in our world today. Please don’t be a skeptic! Please don’t be faithless! Jesus is at work in people’s lives. He is still raising people from the dead. He is raising to life those who are dead in their sins. JESUS IS POWERFUL! He is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Savior of the world!
PROP.- In this text, there are three other powers that we want to examine:
1- The power of death
2- The power of love
3- The power of tears
I. THE POWER OF DEATH
ILL.- Some dear friend from Southern Illinois sent me an article about “the benefits of growing older.” They are:
- Kidnappers aren’t very interested in you.
- No one expects you to run into a burning building.
- Things you buy won’t wear out.
- You can eat dinner at 4 p.m.
- You have a party and the neighbors don’t even realize it.
- You quit trying to hold your stomach in, no matter who walks into the room.
- Your eyes won’t get much worse.
- Your joints are more accurate than the National Weather Service.
- Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can’t remember them either.
- Your supply of brain cells is finally down to a manageable size.
- Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.
THE BENEFITS OF GROWING OLDER. And we could add that the benefit of growing older is that of getting closer to heaven’s door.
Of course, some people are either not too excited about that or are not too sure about that. They know that aging means getting closer to death, but they are not too confident about going to heaven.
This young man was dead. He was in his coffin. Death had exercised its power over him. We are not told why he died or what caused his death. It could have been accident or it could have been disease. People of all ages die every day.
Hebrews 9:27 “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.”
Our destiny to die. But sometimes, death comes sooner than expected for one reason or another.
ILL.- Peggy Fancher was a member of the First Christian Church of Iberia, MO. Little Peggy was small of stature, less than 5 feet tall. She waited until she was 30 years old to get married. She married an IRS agent who was 34 years old.
They went on a two-week honeymoon and the next day after they got back home, her husband walked out the door to go play golf and dropped dead of a heart attack.
ILL.- Doc and Bessie Hall of Bayard, IA, were the parents of three very bright boys. Those boys were extremely intelligent. One of them, the middle boy, Dennis, was in his first year at Iowa State University when he was riding in a car with several other boys. They were involved in an accident and Dennis was killed. A bright Christian young man and his life was taken away in a matter of minutes.
He wasn’t doing anything wrong. He wasn’t drinking. It was just an accident and his life was snuffed out.
Young people of all ages die every day. And it can happen to anybody, any time. Consequently, we all need to be prepared for death.
Death is a very powerful thought to most people. It is frightening to most people because they are not prepared to leave this world and face the Lord.
ILL.- It was said that near the end of his life, Sir Winston Churchill said, “I am ready to meet my Maker, but whether my Maker is ready to meet me is another matter entirely.”
As great a man as Winston Churchill was, he was wrong! GOD DOES NOT FEAR MEETING OF US HUMANS! But some of us human should fear meeting God!
ILL.- When I was about 19 years old I worked at Safeway in Joplin, MO, on the night shift. I went to work at 10 p.m. and worked until 7 a.m. I didn’t particularly like working nights, but it was work. One night for some strange reason I decided to take a back road to Safeway. I think that I thought it was shortcut, but I soon found out I didn’t know the road like I thought I did.
I was driving about 50 mph, which was slow for me, and suddenly I found myself going through a curve that was made for 15 mph. Needless to say, I didn’t make that curve. I headed straight toward a telephone pole and I immediately fell down in my seat and hung on for dear life.
All I remember was that the car was bouncing all over the place with me bouncing around in it. It was over in a matter of seconds. I was able to climb out of the car and look the situation over. For some strange reason, I had completely missed hitting that telephone pole head-on. I had gone between the pole and the guy wire. But I did mow down a large wooden fence just past that telephone pole. I SURVIVED! I WAS ALIVE! But I was scared. I thought, “What if I had been killed?”
I was raised in a Southern Baptist Church in a time when hell was preached and I feared going there! The reason I feared was because I knew in my heart of hearts that I had not surrendered my life to Christ in faith and obedience. And true faith obeys the Lord.
Brethren, some people should fear death! Some people should fear the torment of hell! It’s a real place!
Hebrews 9:27 “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.”
What’s this judgment business? When a person leave this life they will automatically face their judgment. The text doesn’t read “condemnation.” It reads “judgment.” This means that when a person dies they will be judged in regard to their relationship to Christ, because it is Christ who is the Savior.
We are not going to be judged as to whether or not we are worthy to be allowed into heaven or not. BECAUSE NO HUMAN BEING IS WORTHY! Our righteousness is in Him! II Corinthians 5:21
Without Him, all of us would be lost and damned to hell! But thank God for His grace, His mercy, His love!
DOES THE POWER OF DEATH GRIP YOU? Are you right with God? If death grips your heart and you know you are not right with the Lord then you need to do something about it!
What is that you need to do in your relationship to the Lord in order to be prepared for death’s door? Do you need to confess your faith in Christ publicly? Do you need to repent of some sin? Do you need to be baptized into Him according to Acts 2:38 and Romans 6:4-6? WHY WAIT? Why not get ready?
Some people, however, fear death when they probably don’t need to.
ILL.- A Christian man in his 70’s said to me one time, “I need to talk to you. Would you come by my house?” I did just that. He had cancer and he knew he was going to die some day. He probably thought it was going to be sooner rather than later. He feared death and the judgment.
You see, He had worked as a civilian employee at Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo. He confessed to me that he had taken or stolen some things from work which they were going to throw away anyway, but suddenly, he was feeling very guilty about it.
I told him, “Have you confessed this sin to God?” I said, “I John 1:9 teaches that if we confess our sins He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I said, “If you’ve confessed it and asked forgiveness for it, then quit worrying about it. You are forgiven. God is not going to hold that against you. You need to trust God’s Word.”
THAT MAN WAS LIKE SO MANY OF US. We worry, fret and stew about many things which God has probably already forgiven. That’s what His grace is all about. BUT AGAIN, THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE WHO SHOULD FEAR DEATH AND THE JUDGMENT! Payday some day!
1- The power of death
II. THE POWER OF LOVE
ILL.- A mother of two teenage daughters called the telephone company and said, “I WANT TO REPORT AN OBSCENE PHONE BILL.”
Some times it is hard for parents to love their children. Most of the time, however, we do love our children in spite of their misbehavior. Parents love their babies.
ILL.- When my twin sister Sharon and I were born in 1944 mom already had a three-year-old baby boy and I think he had just moved out of the diaper stage. But mom had us twins AND THERE WAS NO SUCH THING AS DISPOSABLE DIAPERS! And mom had no washer and no dryer. Back in 1944, they didn’t have much of anything. Mom basically, just had a washboard with which to wash our dirty diapers. Mom told me that after she washed out our diapers she would boil them in a lard can on the stove in order to get the soap out of them.
When we got sick with a cold or whatever, she would swab out our mouths with a cotton swab on her finger with saline solution.
Mom never worked outside the home when we were little, because she had too much work to do at home! Mom fed us babies, bathed us, cleaned us up when we dirtied our diapers. Mom washed clothes and ironed them. She cleaned the house. Cooked meals and generally, three times a day. YOU NAME IT AND MOM DID IT. She was the chief cook and bottle washer and everything else! Mom had her hands full and there were only three of us children.
I must share one story that mom told me. Whenever mom baked pies she would put them on a table on the back porch to cool. She said that we lived next door to the Christian church and the preacher’s son came over and ate her pie. NASTY KID. Watch out for those preacher’s kids! The preacher tried to make up for it by offering to buy her some ice cream.
Brethren, some of you came from much larger families than I did, and it was tough, to say the least. NEVERTHELESS, MOST OF THE TIME OUR PARENTS LOVED US. And they tried to demonstrate their love in many ways.
In Luke 7:13 Our Lord told that mother not to weep. WHY DID SHE WEEP? Because she loved her son. She had just lost her son in death, perhaps thinking she would never see him again.
Mothers love their children, their babies! Both mothers and fathers love their children. And one of the hardest things in the world is to lose them in death. I have preached many, many funerals for children and I feel so burdened for those hurting parents.
I can’t begin to understand to hurt, the pain, the loss, that parents feel when they lose a child in death.
The power of love is seen in the actions of a mother and father. That love is evident in the way we take care of our children, provide for them, train them, and especially, in the way we lead them in the way of Christ.
ILL.- My mom took us three children to the First Baptist Church of Webb City, MO. We attended Sunday School and church. And on occasion, we kids went to the youth meetings at night. I THANK GOD THAT SHE DID THAT FOR US. If she hadn’t done that for us no telling where I would be today! I might be a real hell-raiser! I might not be a Christian!
Thank God for parents who love their children enough to take them to Sunday School and Church and try to teach them to live the Christian life! THERE IS NO GREATER DEMONSTRATION OF A PARENT’S LOVE THAN THAT!
Parents, don’t you dare tell me how much you love your children when you don’t make a strong effort to bring your children to Sunday School, church, youth meetings and then give them that example in your own life!
The power of love in people in seen in our desire to lead people in the way of Christ. Our own children and everybody else we have contact with! You can’t love people any better way than that!
Giving gifts is one thing, but giving the gift of Christ is the best way to show that we love people!
There is great power, however, in loving people anyway we can!
In Acts 10:38 Peter said that the Lord Jesus went about doing good to people. Why did He do that? BECAUSE HE LOVED PEOPLE. That was one way that Jesus demonstrated love for people.
ILL.- Do you remember the singer/entertainer Pearl Bailey? She was one of 425 people one time on a Chicago-to-New York Amtrak train. The train crashed into a stalled tractor-trailer, and 52 passengers were hurt. In the panic that followed, Pearl Bailey dashed to the train’s public address system in her nightgown, robe, and sneakers. She said in her familiar voice, “THIS IS PEARL, HONEY.”
The Sheriff’s officers said she was one of the most stabilizing factors in keeping a dangerous situation from becoming worse.
Why did she do that? Why did she rush to help during that situation instead of taking care of herself? Pearl said, “I guess it’s just love, honey. You can’t call it nothing else.”
The power of love looks out for others, cares for others, especially, when the chips are down.
Jesus was there for that hurting mother. We must be there for hurting people. The power of love must be demonstrated in our lives.
1- The power of death
2- The power of love
III. THE POWER OF TEARS
ILL.- A young father returned home after a hard day at the office to find both of his little kindergarten age girls acting up. He gave them both a spanking for their bad behavior and sent them to bed. The next morning he found a note stuck on his bedroom door. It read, “Be good to your children and they will be good to you. Signed. God.”
Kids. What they don’t think of! Kids will be kids and sometimes they will drive us to tears. And sometimes, we will drive them to tears.
Luke 7:13 “And when the Lord saw her He had compassion on her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’”
The mother in our text was weeping over the death of her only son. Who wouldn’t weep in a time like that? If someone didn’t weep we would think them abnormal.
There are times when it is good to weep. Tears are a way of relieving some forms of stress. Tears help to heal the wounded spirit. That’s the power of tears.
ILL.- Studies show that women cry five times more than men and that 85% of the time that crying made them feel better. The most common reason for crying is sadness, followed by happiness, anger, sympathy, anxiety, and fear.
And don’t you ever tell me that it is wrong for a man to cry. I don’t know where we got this idea that the “manly” thing is not to show any emotion, not to cry, etc.
God gave both men and women tearducts for a purpose. He gave us all emotions and sometimes those emotions just overtake us and cause the tears to flow. DON’T BE ASHAMED TO CRY!
And whenever someone sheds tears and we see those tears, we should respond in compassion.
Jesus told the mother in our text, “Do not weep.” He was moved with compassion for that hurting mother and He was going to fix the problem.
Jesus wept. Where is that found in the Bible? John 11:35 when Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus.
Regardless of why Jesus wept, whether it was over human sin or human suffering, Jesus still wept. JESUS IS NOT WITHOUT COMPASSION FOR HURTING PEOPLE! And sinful people.
Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses....”’ Jesus, who is our great high priest, is completely sympathetic with us in our times of weakness and suffering.
ILL.- The songwriter put it this way.
Does Jesus care when my heart is pained
Too deeply for mirth and song?
As the burdens press, and the cares distress
And the way grows weary and long?
O yes, He cares, I know He cares
His heart is touched with my grief
When the days are weary, the long night dreary
I know my Savior cares.
Jesus cares and we should too.
Romans 12:15 “Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.”
ILL.- One time in our church in Anna we lost two good deacons in death a day apart. Both died from cancer. One died on Saturday and the other Sunday morning. Early Sunday morning when I got the phone call I went to see man’s wife and family. And that morning she and her family came to church.
And this preacher, who never changes his sermon at the last minute, changed his sermon at the last minute. After visiting with that lady and her family, I went to my office and got out an funeral message which I had used before. One that I felt was full of love and compassion. I looked it over and preached it that morning. It was short, BUT THE CONGREGATION WAS NOT SHORT ON TEARS. That morning the whole congregation was in tears.
We had just lost two good deacons. And some of their family members were in church. HOW COULD WE NOT SYMPATHIZE WITH THEM? HOW COULD WE NOT WEEP WITH THOSE WHO WEPT?
Tears move us to compassion. Or they should. And there is great power in tears.
ILL.- Preacher R. A. Torrey tells this story. “One of the mightiest soul winners I ever knew was Colonel Clark of Chicago. He would work at his business six days every week. And every night of the week year round, five or six hundred men would gather together in that mission hall. It was quite a crowd: drunkards, thieves, pickpockets, gamblers, and seemingly, every person who was hopeless.
“I used to go and hear Colonel Clark preach, and he seemed to me one of the dullest preachers I have ever heard in my life. He would ramble along and yet these five or six hundred men would lean over and listen spellbound while he preached.
“Some of the greatest preachers in Chicago used to go down to help Colonel Clark, but the men would not listen to them as they to Colonel Clark. When he was speaking they would listen and be converted by the score. I could not understand it. I studied it and wondered what the secret of it was. Why did these men listen with such interest, and why were they so greatly moved by such preaching?”
“I finally found the secret. It was because they knew Colonel Clark loved them, and nothing conquers like love. The tears were very near the surface with Colonel Clark.
“Once in the early days of the mission, when he had been weeping a great deal over these men, he got ashamed of his tears. He quieted his heart and tried to stop his crying, and succeeded, but he lost his power too. When he saw that his power was gone, he went to God in prayer and said, ‘Oh, God, give me back my tears.’
“And God gave him back his tears, and suddenly, he had a marvelous power over of these men.”
That’s the power of tears. Have you lost your tears of compassion?
CONCLUSION-------------------------------------
ILL.- An American was watching the Niagara falls with an Englishman. The American said, “That is the greatest unused power in the world.”
The Englishman replied, “No my brother, not so. The greatest unused power in the world is the Spirit of the living God.”
The power of death produces fear in many. The power of love moves and motivates us to action. The power of tears humble us. AND THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT SHOULD CONTROL US AND EMPOWER US! But often, He doesn’t.
Let’s be honest. Most of us are spiritually negligent. We know what we should do in our relationship to God, but we put it off. We know we should love more, do more, read more, pray more, but we don’t. And this is the reason we don’t have more power in our lives.
Paul said in Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
Do you want more power for the Christian life? Do you want to do more for Christ and for others? Do you want to experience greater joy? Then stop being negligent of the things you know God wants you to do. Surrender. Obey.
