Non Posse Pecare
Doctrine of Man • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 9 viewsNotes
Transcript
Handout
Boston Review
Boston Review
(one more time)
Innocence
Nature
Grace
Eternal
Gateway to the Eternal State
Gateway to the Eternal State
23 For I know that you will bring me to death
and to the house appointed for all living.
He [Job] seems to intimate, that we have no life in this world, but as run aways from death, which stretches out its cold arms, to receive us from the womb: but though we do then narrowly escape its clutches, we cannot escape long; we shall be brought back again to it.
Death & Change
Death & Change
The sobering truth here is that we will, short of the Lord returning first, will die. This is clear enough through our own experience and what we see throughout Scripture:
27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,
48 What man can live and never see death?
Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah
There’s no doubt that some will not experience death in this sense. But for those who are alive when Christ returns will shall be transformed:
51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
It seems that though death as we know it and what people who are alive at the return of Christ will experience is different in many ways, what they both have in common is that they will experience significant change. The word change in 1 Cor. 15 is a word that refers to transformation. It is used by the author of Hebrews to describe the kind of change the heavens and earth will experience:
10 And,
“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,
and the heavens are the work of your hands;
11 they will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment,
12 like a robe you will roll them up,
like a garment they will be changed.
But you are the same,
and your years will have no end.”
Death is not discriminatory. The wise, the fool, the rich, the poor, the moral, the immoral - all will die.
Death is an equalizer. Consider how God comforts and encourages Israel as they deal with the idea of turning from their sin and pursue instead righteousness. He is encouraging them to be courageous as they commit themselves to this way of life.
1 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
you who seek the Lord:
look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the quarry from which you were dug.
4 “Give attention to me, my people,
and give ear to me, my nation;
for a law will go out from me,
and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.
7 “Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
the people in whose heart is my law;
fear not the reproach of man,
nor be dismayed at their revilings.
and here is encouragement that includes the reality of death.
12 “I, I am he who comforts you;
who are you that you are afraid of man who dies,
of the son of man who is made like grass,
The fact that all people die is clarifying. As we think of our lives in light of eternity, the emptiness of the vain pursuits we are tempted to prioritize over that which honors Christ will be all-the-more obvious to us.
The death of the righteous & unrighteous
The death of the righteous & unrighteous
What may seem to be an oversimplification is in fact true: people are either righteous or unrighteous, and while everyone dies, the death the righteous and the unrighteous experience is different. This distinction between the righteous and unrighteous is seem throughout Scripture:
18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.
The unrighteous
To use Boston’s description of where the unrighteous go when they die:
They are driven out of the society of the saints on earth, into the society of the damned in hell.
Luke 16:22-23
22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
The sheep and the goats live together now, but death separates them.
Psalm 125:5
5 But those who turn aside to their crooked ways
the Lord will lead away with evildoers!
Peace be upon Israel!
The righteous
I don’t know how often you think about the fact that you will one day die, but when you do, do you ever find yourself wondering if the promises regarding the eternal state for the righteous are in fact true? Will it really be the way the bible describes? Consider what Jesus does now on behalf of the righteous:
Jesus is the judge of the righteous
John 5:22-24
22 For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
The Son has ruled in the case of the righteous. The case is over. The righteous do not come into judgement, but will pass from death to life.
Jesus is the advocate for the righteous
1 John 2:1
1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
1 Peter 1:18-19
18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
The blood of Christ was the currency that secured our ransom.
Much more we could say here, but this is Resurrection Day. We spent a little time on the subject of death, but now let’s go to resurrection.
Resurrection
Resurrection
John 5:25-29
25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
Jesus resurrects (25)
Jesus resurrects (25)
Who does Jesus resurrect?
Believers (v. 25, 29) & Unbelievers (29)
The fact that all people will be raised from the dead is not a NT idea:
2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
But it does occur elsewhere in the NT:
15 having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust.
All the dead who have ever lived will be raised by Jesus.
Jesus resurrects by His voice (25)
Jesus resurrects by His voice (25)
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God…
But consider what Paul said:
16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
When you get behind the language here, it’s not as clear who is said that will issue this cry of command at the second coming of Christ.
But consider what else is happening by His word:
3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high
Whether it will be an angel on His behalf or the voice of Christ, we can conclude that the power of Christ and His authority is what will summon the dead to life.
The hour of the resurrection has come (25)
The hour of the resurrection has come (25)
25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here…
In what sense was the hour present when the dead would hear the voice of Jesus and live?
Perhaps there is more than once sense meant, but it appears that Jesus was showing through His ministry on earth the sort of thing that would characterize the age to come.
We have a foretaste of resurrection in Jesus’s ministry:
We know the account of Lazarus’ resurrection. Lazarus has been dead four days. Jesus goes to see His friends, Mary and Martha, and he says to Martha:
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
And Martha says to Him
24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
In other words, she agrees that the hour is coming when the dead will rise, but she probably would not understand what He says in 5:25 - an hour is coming, and is now here.
So Jesus responds:
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Jesus is saying that the hour of the resurrection is here because I am here. He is the resurrection and the life. He came into the world in advance of the last day, before the final judgement, to show who I am and what eternity in His presence will be like.
The day will come when the dead will rise from their graves just as surely and just as bodily and just as obediently as Lazarus did. So, Jesus was showing in that hour (the hour in which Lazarus rose) what the last hour would be like.
The power to raise the dead is in Jesus as God (26)
The power to raise the dead is in Jesus as God (26)
26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
Verse 26 is the basis for how the Son can command to dead to rise.
Jesus is saying, in the same way that the Father has life, He has granted the son to have life in Himself.
Jesus has life in Himself. Life comes from the Son, not just through the Son.
That the Son is the Son of Man is essential to His raising the dead (27)
That the Son is the Son of Man is essential to His raising the dead (27)
I know that the title Son of Man is to be understood as exalted and divine (Dan. 7:13).
Remember what Paul said about Jesus when it comes to His role as judge:
31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
Or consider what John wrote in Rev. 5.
2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”
5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
9 And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
In other words, the fact that Jesus was the slain lamb, the crucified one is very much part of what qualifies Him to be judge over the earth and raise the dead.
Eternal life and the deeds of men (28-29)
Eternal life and the deeds of men (28-29)
28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
This can’t mean that people are justified by their good works. We know that Scripture is clear about this elsewhere, but what does Jesus mean here?
Since people are justified by faith, we can expect such faith to produce good works. If someone is united to Christ, he will bear the fruit of that union.
At the judgement, the works of men will be the verification of their justification.
I think John gets at this in chapter 15
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
Apart from the vine, there are no good works, so you can’t get into or be fed by the vine by doing good works. The vine attaches itself to the branch. People trust the vine and then receive what they need to yield fruit.
One day you and I will be raised. We will hear and obey the voice of the Lord.
Non Posse Pecare
Non Posse Pecare
We will be in the presence of God
We will be in the presence of God
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
We will have full enjoyment of God
We will have full enjoyment of God
12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
We will have uninhibited fellowship with God
We will have uninhibited fellowship with God
2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
We will have new joy in God
We will have new joy in God
11 You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
There will be no sin
8 And a highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
the unclean shall not pass over it.
It shall belong to those who walk on the way;
even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.
9 No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
