Sermon Tone Analysis

! What The Bible Teaches \\ Unit 3 \\ Is There Life After Death?

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! Lesson 11 \\ How Do I Overcome Death?

This is the greatest question of all time.

Can death be overcome?

Remember that we described death in three ways –

 

Physical death of the body

Spiritual death or separation from God due to sin.

Eternal death – forever separated from God in eternity

 

The question for all people is whether or not any or all of these deaths may be overcome.

A review of the literature and philosophy of the ages shows that this is the major question of humanity.

John 3:16 (NKJV) \\ 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.

This is the best-known verse in the Bible.

Here Jesus promises everlasting life.

This promise points to the ability to overcome death.

This is today’s lesson.

!! Getting Attention

 

The above discussion should be your attention getter.

If there is anyone in your class not interested in overcoming death, maybe you should call a doctor for that person.

There must be something extremely wrong with them!

 

!! Knowing and Practicing the Bible

 

You may recall from an earlier lesson that death is not the problem of life.

Death is only a symptom.

God commanded Adam not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

The problem was disobedience.

Death is the punishment or symptom of that disobedience.

Such disobedience is called sin, the negative relationship that exits between men and God.

Man’s nature is to be at war with the Creator.

Death entered the universe by the sin of Adam and all men are subject to death, all three types of death.

In order to over come death, man must over come sin.

!!! I.

The Divine Dilemma

 

Romans 3:26 (NKJV) \\ 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

!!!!!

The dilemma God faced

 

God knowingly faced a dilemma.

This dilemma is set forth in Romans 3:26 – how can God be both just and the justifier?

Another way of stating the problem may make the issue clearer.

How can a holy God overlook sin and forgive the sinner?

God’s perfect holiness demands a punishment for sin.

God finds the solution in His grace and love.

Most religions and cults strive to find peace with God via good works.

This is an accounting approach.

If at my death I have more good works than I have bad works, the good should out weigh the bad God should forgive my sin and allow me into heaven.

If this is true, then man is capable of saving himself.

God is not needed.

The Scriptures teach the fallacy of such a position.

Man is sinful and is not capable of performing any works that are good in the eyes of God.

As such, if an accounting approach were to be used, no one would achieve a positive balance.

All persons would go to eternal death.

Man must submit to the standards God has established.

God demands perfection and sinful man is not capable of perfection.

Romans 11:6 (NKJV) \\ 6 And if by grace, then /it is/ no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace.

But if /it is/ of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.

Romans 10:2-3 (NKJV) \\ 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

This seems to make man’s dilemma more serious than God’s, for man will never achieve perfection.

Romans 3:23 (NKJV) \\ 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

 

 

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The Old Testament sacrifices

 

The Old Testament is the foundation of the New.

Many of the ultimate revelations of God are hinted at in the pages of Israel’s history.

This is especially true of God’s plan of salvation.

God’s solution for sin and death are hinted at in the opening chapters of Genesis and are then developed in the Law of Moses.

After Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, God provided them with clothing to cover their nakedness and shame (Gen 3:21).

This is the first recorded sacrifice in the Scriptures.

One or more animals had to offer their lives in order to provided the skins for the couple’s clothing.

This pattern of sacrifice continues throughout the Old Testament.

Noah offered a burnt offering of the clean animals after the flood (Gen 8:20, 21).

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all offered sacrifices as part of their worship (Gen 15:7-21; 35:14; Job 1:5).

God provided a ram in place of Isaac when Abraham was directed to sacrifice his only son (Gen 22).

The Day of Atonement is established in the Levitical Laws as the annual method of removing the sins of the nation (Lev 16).

This is a part of a complete system of sacrifice set forth by God for the nation of Israel (Lev 1-9; 16; 17; 23).

What is clear about all of these sacrifices is that they are only pointers  to the ultimate sacrifice of Christ.

None of the sacrifices permanently removed sin or forgave sin.

The had to be continually repeated.

As the author of Hebrews writes:

 

Hebrews 10:4 (NKJV) \\ 4 For /it is/ not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

What the sacrifices do tell us is about the heart of God.

Blood had to be shed for the forgiveness of sins.

Further, the sacrifices point to the idea of substitutionary death for man to over come sin and death.

Leviticus 17:11 (NKJV) \\ 11 For the life of the flesh /is/ in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it /is/ the blood /that/ makes atonement for the soul.’

Hebrews 9:22 (NKJV) \\ 22 And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.

If more proof of the substitute idea is necessary, consider the following Old Testament versions that clearly point toward Christ on the Cross.

Daniel 9:26 (NKJV) \\ 26 “And after the sixty-two weeks *Messiah shall be cut off*, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.

The end of it /shall be/ with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined.

Isaiah 53:4-6 (NKJV) \\ 4 Surely He has *borne our griefs* And *carried our sorrows*; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 But He /was/ *wounded for our transgressions*, /He was/ *bruised for our iniquities*; The *chastisement for our peace /was/ upon Him*, And *by His stripes we are healed*.

6 All *we like sheep have gone astray*; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the *Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all*.

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The purpose of the Incarnation

 

While it is true that Jesus during His life offered wonderful teachings and moral directions for living, His primary purpose for coming to earth as a human was to die!

He came as the “Lamb of God” to be that substitute for our sins.

This purpose was accomplished with His death on the Cross, not by any words spoken or miracles performed during His life time.

John 1:29 (NKJV) \\ 29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold!

The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Luke 19:10 (NKJV) \\ 10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Matthew 20:28 (NKJV) \\ 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

!!!!!

The gospel of eternal life: basic elements

 

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (NKJV) \\ 1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,

 

The “gospel,” the “good news,” is God’s plan for eternal life through the work of Jesus Christ.

Paul sets forth the gospel in short form in many of his letters, such as the passage from 1 Corinthians 15.

The gospel is that Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures (such as the Old Testament sacrifice pictures), He was buried, and Christ arose again from the grave on the third day, again, according to the teachings of Scripture.