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Book: John
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John 11:25 The Resurrection and the Life
I. Is there life after death?
A. This is a question that has been asked by man from the
beginning.
1. In one of the oldest books of literature, the book of
Job, at the news of the death of his 10 children in a
tragic accident, Job asked the question, "If a man
dies, will he live again?"
2. There was no definite definitive answer given to Job,
just a hope. "I know that my redeemer liveth, and
shall stand in the last days upon the earth, and
though the worms destroy this body, in the flesh, I
shall see God."
B. There really is not much teaching on the subject in the Old
Testament.
1. Daniel wrote, "And many of them that sleep in the
dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting
life, and some to everlasting contempt.
2. David in Psalm 22 declared, "And they that go down in
the dust shall bow before Him."
3. In Psalm 23 David spoke of walking through the valley
of the shadow of death, not in the valley. At the end
of the Psalm he declared, "And I shall dwell in the
house of the Lord forever."
4. In Psalm 49 David said, "God shall redeem my soul from
the power of the grave."
ISA 26:19 Thy dead [men] shall live, [together with] my dead body shall
they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy
dew [is as] the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the
dead.
HOS 13:14 I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem
them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I
will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine
eyes.
5. Not much upon which to base a doctrine of resurrection.
C. The age of philosophy was born and the greatest minds of men
were engaged in a search for meaning to life, and the
possibility of life after death. And the philosophers found no
adequate answers for man.
D. It took the coming of Jesus to bring us insight and knowledge
of the resurrection.
1. The age of philosophy was dying when the story before
us took place.
2. Two sisters Mary and Martha, lived in Bethany with
their brother Lazarus who was dying. They believed in
Jesus and had a close relationship with Him. So the
sisters sent Jesus a urgent message to come quickly
for his friend Lazarus was very sick.
a. We know from the story how that Jesus did not
immediately respond to their appeal but
remained there at the Jordan a couple of days
before beginning the two day journey to
Bethany.
b. By the time Jesus finally arrived, His friend
was dead and had been buried four days earlier.
c. The mourners were with the sisters in their
home when word came that Jesus was approaching
the village coming up from Jericho.
d. Martha left the other mourners and rushed down
the road toward Jesus.
e. When she came to Him she said in almost an
accusing way, "Lord if you had only been here,
my brother would not have died."
f. It was like saying, "What took you so long?"
g. Where were you when we needed you?
h. She then said, "I know that even now,
whatsoever you ask God, He will give it to
you." Is she possibly suggesting that Jesus
raise him from the dead? It seems so, yet later
when Jesus told them to roll the stone away
from the entry of Lazarus's tomb, it was Martha
who objected declaring that his body would be
very smelly by now.
i. Jesus said to her, "Martha, your brother will
live again." She answered, "Yes Lord, I know,
in the resurrection of the last days."
j. It was here that Jesus said to her, "I am the
resurrection and the life, He that believeth
on Me though he were dead yet shall he live,
and he that liveth and believeth in Me shall
never die, belivest thou this?"
3. Here is a straightforward clear answer to the question
of life after death.
4. There are two scriptural definitions for death.
a. The separation of a man's consciousness from
his body. In the scripture it says, "And he
gave up the ghost."
b. The separation of a man's consciousness from
God.
c. Obviously Jesus was referring to the second
definition. If you live and believe in Him you
will never be separated from God.
5. This is a radical claim made by Jesus, one that demands
a decision. You either believe it or not.
a. Jesus asked Martha, "Do you believe this?"
b. The question is, "Do you believe that?"
c. Martha answered in the affirmative. "Yes Lord,
I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of
God."
6. It is now up to Jesus to prove the claim, so he went to
the grave of Lazarus and commanded that the stone be
rolled away from the entrance to the cave.
7. He then called Lazarus to come out.
8. What a dramatic moment, if nothing happens, then Jesus
is a fraud. He has made fraudulent claims, He deceived
the people. Wait a minute, don't leave yet, here comes
Lazarus hopping out still bound in the grave clothes.
9. This means that you must seriously consider the claims
of Jesus.
II. What does the Bible teach about life after death?
A. It teaches that the real you is not your body, but your spirit.
1. That your body is just a tent in which your spirit
lives.
2. Your body is the medium by which your spirit expresses
you.
3. Your body is like a well designed machine that has
certain needs to keep it functioning properly. Much
like the engine in your car that needs the oxygen, the
fuel, the cooling system and the exhaust to keep it
running.
a. It needs oxygen to fuel the cells. The whole
marvelous design of the lungs and the heart,
and the blood distribution system, bringing
the oxygen to all the cells.
b. It needs moisture to keep it cool because the
cells are burning up so much energy.
c. It needs food to nourish the cells so the
design of the mouth, teeth, stomach and all
the acids and chemicals to dissolve the food
into the basic chemicals to be carried into the
body to feed the cells.
d. It needs to dispose of the waste material so
the marvelous design of the bowels and bladder.
e. It needs sex to perpetuate the human race.
f. These needs all make their demand on us in the
form of drives.
4. Man is more that just a machine, he is a spirit. He has
a consciousness, the capacity to think and to know, to
analyze and to choose.
a. The lower side of man's nature is the body, the
mechanics of the body, the various body drives.
b. The higher side of man's nature is the spirit.
The capacity to know and understand a to
worship the one who created the body with all
of it's marvelous capacities.
c. Man can choose to live after the lower or
higher side of his nature, or the higher side.
He can live after the flesh or after the
spirit.
d. To live after the flesh is spiritual death, the
separation of his consciousness from God.
e. To do this is to live life on a purely
mechanical level. You go through the motions,
but you actually abide in death. Your mind is
controlled by the body needs, and thinks
basically on the things of the flesh which are
temporal and will perish. The result is worry,
anxiety, lust, strife, and envy.
f. To live after the spirit is to live in
fellowship with God the creator, and your mind
is on Him and the things that are eternal.
The result is life, joy and peace.
5. To the one that lives and believes in Jesus Christ,
there is life after death. It is eternal life. "For God
so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life."
You really do not die, but only move out of this body,
into a new body that Jesus has prepared for you. "In My
Father's house are many mansions, I am going to prepare
a place for you."
6. For those who do not believe in Jesus Christ, there is
death after death.
REV 20:6 Blessed and holy [is] he that hath part in the first
resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they
shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with
him a thousand years.
REV 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of
fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet
[are], and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
REV 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from
whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was
found no place for them.
REV 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the
books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [the
book] of life: and the dead were judged out of those things
which were written in the books, according to their works.
REV 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and
hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were
judged every man according to their works.
REV 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is
the second death.
REV 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was
cast into the lake of fire.
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