Temple Baptist Church - 10-25-2023
John 11:25-37
Introduction:
A. We have spent a lot of time on these verses because of their importance and implications.
1. Life is short; death is sure; sin the cause; Christ the cure! These few words express both the importance and implications of life and death.
2. Life is short: People have only a short time to get salvation right as life is like a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Oft times death comes quickly and without warning giving no time to take the right road of the few. 9 Faster than a weaver’s shuttle, life passes away. I often quote the psalmist who said: “I have been young, and now am old” (Psalms 37:25a)
3. Death is sure! Solomon wrote these words concerning the day of death which all will face. Death is sure and in the day of death, no power on earth can circumvent it. When it comes time to die, no doctor on earth can save you.
Ecclesiastes 8:8a There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war;
4. Sin the cause! Most people treat the symptoms of death instead of realizing the cause of death. My dad said that they would never find a cure for cancer until they discovered the cause of cancer. Thus, it is with death. Man will never find the answer to death until he realizes that it is a sin problem, both Adamic and personally.
Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
5. Christ the cure! Though Christ died for our sins, the penalty of sin is still death but the cure for death is resurrection through the finished work of Christ Jesus. Not religion or personal merit but through repentance from dead works and faith toward God.
John 11:25-26 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: (26) And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
B. As we look at nature right now, we see the end of summer and the beauty of fall. Nature tells us what we need to know about natural life.
1. Spring is the youth of life as we see resurrection in nature. I love Spring because it is the beginning of new life as everything begins to leaf out and the flowers appear. It is a type of our youth when we are budding into what we will be.
2. Summer is the middle of life as everything has matured and come into full bloom. It is the strength of our mature years when we are strong and productive in life. Our working years.
3. Fall is the beginning of the end of life as the “dog days” of summer have taken its toll and the sap begins to fall. Along with the falling of the sap, plants begin to die and the foliage changes into the beauty of old age. The beauty of the hoary head; the wisdom of years of experience; and the beginning of the end of life.
4. Winter is a type of death without dying. The leaves of Fall are now gone as the sap of the tree or plant has gone underground but life is still there though buried. When our body dies, life continues for eternity. We step out of these bodies and one day our Lord will resurrect them.
C. We find that death and life hold hands in resurrection. I want to take a short look at these three things.
1. The beginning of man’s life is found in Genesis, chapter 2. This was found in the first man, Adam.
a. The physical body of Adam had all the elements that it needed but had no life. Although Adam’s body, like ours, had all types of elements in it, it had no life.
Genesis 2:7a And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground …
1 Corinthians 15:47-48 The first man is of the earth (soil or dirt), earthy (soil like, dusty, or dirty) … As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy …
The human body is made up of water, fat, protein, minerals, and carbohydrates. The key chemical elements that are used in biological molecules. Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur. These six elements make up 99% of the human body and NONE OF THEM HAVE LIFE!
b. The life of the body of Adam came from God!
Genesis 2:7b And the LORD God … breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
1 Corinthians 15:47-49 the second man is the Lord from heaven ... and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. (49) And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Life is not spontaneous. Luis Pasteur proved that only life could produce life. Adam’s body came for the dust of the earth and to dust it will go back to. The life of Adam came from God!
"There are only two possibilities as to how life arose; one is spontaneous generation arising to evolution, the other is a supernatural creative act of God, there is no third possibility. Spontaneous generation that life arose from non-living matter was scientifically disproved 120 years ago by Louis Pasteur and others. That leaves us with only one possible conclusion that life arose as a creative act of God. I will not accept that philosophically because I do not want to believe in God, therefore I choose to believe in that which I know is scientifically impossible, spontaneous generation arising to evolution." (George Wald, “Innovation and Biology,” Scientific American, Vol. 199, Sept. 1958, p. 100)
D. Death came by sin.
There was no death before sin as death was a consequence of sin. Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Physical death came through Adam but spiritual death came through personal choice.
E. Eternal Salvation comes from God through spiritual resurrection. The New Birth:
John 3:5-8 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (6) That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (7) Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (8) The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
Romans 6:1-11 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? (2) God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? (3) Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? (4) Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (5) For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: (6) Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. (7) For he that is dead is freed from sin. (8) Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: (9) Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. (10) For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. (11) Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
F. And, one day, these earthy, mortal, corrupt, sinful bodies will resurrect into glorious bodies, like His, celestial and fit for eternity. No sin, no death!
1 Corinthians 15:19-22 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. (20) But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. (21) For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. (22) For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Conclusion: John 11:25-27 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: (26) And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? (27) She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
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