Freedom from the grave
Good News from the Law • Sermon • Submitted
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19 Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.
20 As the nations which the Lord destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God.
John 3:
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
Today we are going to take a look at freedom from the grave.
Starting with the fact that “you will perish.” 10 out of 10 people will die.
We will see the hope we have in Christ.
And finally death in disbelief.
You WILL Perish ()
You WILL Perish ()
Why will we perish?
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
gives us several reasons that we all fall into.
We’ve forgotten our God
We’ve forgotten our God
The people of the OT forgot their God.
This is your lot,
The portion of your measures from Me,” says the Lord,
“Because you have forgotten Me
And trusted in falsehood.
Jer. 13:25
The people of the NT forgot their God.
1 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples,
2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.
3 Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.
4 For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
5 But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.
6 They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,
7 greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’
8 But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.
9 Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.
10 And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.
11 But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.
12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
Friends, we’ve forgotten our God.
If God were suddenly condemned to live the life which He has inflicted upon men, He would kill Himself. – Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre is is right. He did kill Himself, only He did so for the sake of the men who were inflicted with sin.
Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make when in the presence of religious dogma. – Sam Harris
Sam is right. Atheism is a noise and religious dogma isn’t right either. Christ is the only answer.
We’ve followed other gods
We’ve followed other gods
Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex, Jell-o, and all the other things I can prove and that make this life the best life I will ever have. – Penn Jillette
Penn is right. The life he now leads is the best he’ll ever have.
I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world. – Richard Dawkins
Dawkins is right. True understanding comes from a relationship with Christ, and Him alone.
We’ve followed other gods
We’ve followed other gods
It happened in the OT.
12 and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger.
It happened in the early church.
18 We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.
It is happening now.
6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel,
We’ve served and worshipped other gods
We’ve served and worshipped other gods
Deuteronomy tells us what will happen when we worship other gods.
“you shall surely perish.”
1 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things?
3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.
4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?
5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
There is hope in Christ ()
There is hope in Christ ()
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
“whoever believes in Him shall not perish.”
“whoever believes in Him shall not perish.”
The word here for “believe” is not the same as “I know it to be true.”
The word is the same one found in
3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
Also in
6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”
This word carries with it the idea to believe with the extension of trust, reliance, faith, and confidence.
What does it look like to “believe” in Him?
The Apostle John told us in the first chapter of his gospel.
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
Jesus was sent that might have life-abundant life!
Friends, there is hope in Christ! He came to save sinners, not to condemn the world.
The world was condemned already.
Why was it condemned already?
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Listen to Charles Spurgeon on the grounds of the sinner’s faith:
There is death in disbelief ()
There is death in disbelief ()
My dear friends, I have already said that no man will believe in Jesus, unless he feels his need of him. But you have often heard me say, and I repeat it again, that I do not come to Christ pleading that I feel my need of him; my reason for believing in Christ, is not that I feel my need of him, but that I have a need of him. The ground on which a man comes to Jesus, is not as a sensible sinner, but as a sinner, and nothing but a sinner. He will not come unless he is awakened; but when he comes, he does not say, “Lord, I come to thee because I am an awakened sinner, save me.” But he says, “Lord, I am a sinner, save me.” Not his awakening, but his sinnership is the method and plan upon which he dares to come.
C. H. Spurgeon, “None but Jesus,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 7 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1861), 108.
Friends, the reason we are so grateful to Christ is not because of who He is, but what He’s done for us.
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
He is God despite what people might think.
Freedom from the grave is not found in the fact that He is God, but in that as God He paid for your sin debt on a Roman cross!
There’s hope in Christ!
Do you believe in such a way that you live a changed life?
Are you sharing this Good News with others?
Do you need to come to Christ by faith, repenting of your sins, and confessing Him as Savior and Lord?
As the musicians come up I’d like to close by reading this quote by Penn Jillette, a comedian, magician, and famous atheist.
At the end of the show as I’ve mentioned before, we go out and we talk to folks, you know, sign an occasional autograph and shake hands and so on. And there was one guy waiting over to the side in what I call the “hover position”...he had been the guy who picks the joke during our psychic comedian section of the show. So he had the props from that in his hand because we give those away, the joke book, the envelope, and the paper, and stuff...
And he walked over to me and he said, “I was here last night at the show, and I saw the show and I liked the show...” he was very complimentary about my use of language and complimentary about honesty and stuff. He said nice stuff, no need to go into it, he said nice stuff.
And then he said, “I brought this for you,” and he handed me a Gideon pocket edition. I thought it said from the New Testament but also, Psalms is from the New Testament right?..Little book...And he said, “I wrote in the front of it and I wanted you to have this, I’m kind of proselytizing.” And then he said, “I’m a business man. I’m sane, I’m not crazy.” And he looked me right in the eye and did all of this. And it was really wonderful.
I believe he knew that I was an atheist. But he was not defensive. And he looked me right in the eyes. And he was truly complimentary,...it didn’t seem like empty flattery. He was really kind and nice and sane and looked me in the eyes and talked to me and then gave me this Bible. And I’ve always said that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there is a heaven and hell and that people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think that, well, it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward...How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?
I mean if I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you and you didn’t believe it, but that truck was bearing down on you, there’s a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that. And I’ve always thought that and I’ve written about that and I’ve thought of it conceptually.
This guy was a really good guy. He was polite, and honest, and sane and he cared enough about me to proselytize and give me a Bible. Which he had written in it a little note to me...just like, liked your show and so on. And then like five phone numbers for him and an email address if I wanted to get in touch.
How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?
Word Studies in the New Testament Chapter 3
Unbelief, in separating from Christ, implies judgment. He has been judged in virtue of his unbelief.
He has been judged in virtue of his unbelief.
But here’s what people say today:
I don’t believe a good God would send good people to hell.
I can’t worship a god who would judge so harshly.
I refuse to bow my knee to someone who could do something about all the horrible things in the world and does not.
Friends, Paul told the Christians in Rome the very same answers that people need to hear today.
Romans 2:1-
1 Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.
2 But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.
3 And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?
4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
6 who “will render to each one according to his deeds”:
7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality;
8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath,
9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek;
10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
11 For there is no partiality with God.
12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law
13 (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified;
14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves,
15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them)
16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.
15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.