Death to Life

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Life for a dead Boy.

1 Kings 17:17–24 KJV 1900
17 And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. 18 And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? 19 And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. 20 And he cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? 21 And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again. 22 And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23 And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth. 24 And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth.
In our Story there is a sudden tragic turn. The faithful widows son dies unexpectedly.
We would think that being faithful she would be spared pain, but as we saw last week, God is not an insurance policy”.
Her sudden pain, causes her to to lash out at Elijah, but she is in pain and the prophet is mature, he does not take her complaint personally, he does not even try to show that her accustation is wrong. He simply takes the boy upstairs and intercedes for him.
The stretching upon part of his prayer was identification with the boys state. He lay, and identified with the deceased child.
God heard the prophet and restore the boys soul.

Just Like Jesus

This intercessory act is exactly like what Jesus did for us.
Like Elijah lay with the boy, in the likeness of the boys death.
Jesus came to us , in the likeness of sinful man.
Romans 8:3 KJV 1900
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
And as the dead was made alive, so too were we made alive in Christ.
Ephesians 2:1 KJV 1900
1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Lets examine this simple verse tonight.

1: You were dead.

Let us bring a dead man into this service. Let’s examine him in that dead state.

The dead man has no sense - He cannot hear.

Call him, shot his name, shout a warning. ask him a question. Give him a command. The dead cannot be taught. Thy cannot understand. This is why you can plead with a sinner to change his/her ways and they will not, because the dead cannot hear.
There is only who’s voice can go beyond the close tomb of the grave - Jesus Christ.
John 11:43 KJV 1900
43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

The dead man has no sense - He cannot see.

In Scripture there is always a contrast between light and darkness.
2 Corinthians 6:14 KJV 1900
14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
Jesus is the light and has no darkness.
1 John 1:5 KJV 1900
5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
also the bible says:
John 1:14–15 KJV 1900
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
To those who have been made alive and have received sight, the difference between light and darkness is easy to discern. Evil and righteousness, holy vs unholy, pure vs impure, these are obvious to a believer. But to the dead, light and darkness are the same, they don’t know the difference.
The dead do not know light, because they do not know Jesus. This is perhaps the most frustration thing for a Christian to deal with. We often expect nonbelievers (the dead) to behave like believers (the living) and they are simply not capable of that.

The dead man has no sense - He cannot Smell.

Whether you house this corpse in a valley of roses or in a pit of manure, it will not mind. The sweet smelling flowers they are put on the grave, the dead has no affection for them. Whether you place flowers or foul smelling salts, the dead do not react.
Sin is a stench.
Isaiah 65:5 KJV 1900
5 Which say, Stand by thyself, Come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, A fire that burneth all the day.
The dead can watch a movie with blasphemy, pornography, violence and it will not phase them. They will listen to music, tell obscene jokes and it will not offend them.
The stink of sin, has no effect on a dead mans nostrils.
But to the living, we cannot stand it. we cannot be in its presence for very long at all. The stink of it drive us out of places of sin.

The Dead man has no Power - He has no Strength.

Can the corpse sit up? stand up? roll over?
No. He simply does not even have the strength to do even the smallest of tasks.
Sin, drains all the strength out of a man. A sinful man is a weak man.
When David held on to sin, the might warrior lost all his strength.
Psalm 22:14–17 KJV 1900
14 I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint: My heart is like wax; It is melted in the midst of my bowels. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; And my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; And thou hast brought me into the dust of death. 16 For dogs have compassed me: The assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: They pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I may tell all my bones: They look and stare upon me.
Look at Sampson. he had the strength of 1000 men, yet at his sin, he lost it all.

The Dead man starts to decay.

When Lazarus was dead in the tomb, and Jesus commanded the stone be rolled away, the people had a very good reason to be hesitant.
John 11:39 KJV 1900
39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
Let me tell you about a dead body, have spend lots of time around them.
After one day, the body looks very peaceful. Devoid of the pain thats constantly suffered, the face softens and looks at rest.
After 2 days, as the remanding moisture leaves the face begins to look hard and sharp.
After 4 days, the effects of the unchecked bacteria which our living substance keeps at bay, not =begins to go unchecked and the body begins to stink.
After 6 days the body goes into whats known as bloat and doubles in size as the full effects of death are in effect and then the body enters into a stage of decay.
Sin starts of small, but gets worse and worse.
James 1:15 KJV 1900
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

2: You have Ben Quickened!

Ephesians 2:1 KJV 1900
1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
I was dead, but now i am alive.
The dead me, with all its symtoms of death is gone.
2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV 1900
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Whats is new?
Well now that i am Alive:

I have New Wants

Ezekiel 36:26 KJV 1900
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
When i was dead i did not care. But now that im alive i do care and i have a whole new set of wants.
i want to holy, i want to be kin, i want to give god glory, i want to be his servant, i want to honor him with my life.
2 Corinthians 5:9 NIV84
9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.

I have New Joys

The things that used to bring me joy no longer have any hold over me. things like materialism, or lust or whatever.
Now I find joy in Jesus, in his word, in his spirit. in his church.

I have New Reasons to Live.

Jeremiah 29:11 KJV 1900
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
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