The graves will open.

Intro.

Before your speak -

-Welcome

-Turn off cell phones

-Birthday greetings

1. What is my message about? Resurrection

2. Why is it important? This life is not all there is

3. What do I want them to do? Live a committed life to God

4. What is the single most persuasive idea? This life is not all there is.

Sermon Series: Life after Death. [What happens after we die?]

Main message: The eternal purposes of God should take priority over the temporary plans of man.

As Vice President, George Bush represented the U.S. at the funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Bush was deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev's widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev's wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed: She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband's chest. There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped that there was another life, and that that life was best represented by Jesus who died on the cross, and that the same Jesus might yet have mercy on her husband. 

Human beings generally want to know that life does not end at the grave. We believe as self-conscious beings that life is valuable, important. Our lives have significance not only for this present time on earth but also for all eternity. This life is not all there is.

Even the ancient Egyptians believed that when someone died, their soul left their body. The soul would then return and be reunited with the body after it was buried.

The Bible teaches us about the resurrection - after we die, one day the bodies we dwell in presently will be raised from the dead.

The most startling characteristic of the first Christian preaching is its emphasis on the resurrection.

The most startling characteristic of the first Christian preaching is its emphasis on the resurrection.

Christian resurrection is different from Greek and Jewish.

Greek thought the body was a hindrance to true life so looked forward to the time when the soul will be free of its shackles.

Jews thought we will have the exact same body as on earth.

Proposition: Our bodies will be resurrected and we will continue to live forever after we die.

1. Man always hoped for a resurrection

Deep within the heart of man, there is a desire for life beyond the grave. man has a desire to live forever.

That desire is built into our DNA - God has set eternity into the hearts of man.

Today people are always searching for ways and means to prolong their earthly lives also.

In the OT, we see glimpses into this hope for the resurrection -

Daniel 12:2 NIV

Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.

Daniel 12:3 KJV 1900

And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

Job 19:26 NIV

And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;

Psalm 49:15 NIV

But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead; he will surely take me to himself.

Psalm 49:14 NIV

They are like sheep and are destined to die; death will be their shepherd (but the upright will prevail over them in the morning). Their forms will decay in the grave, far from their princely mansions.

Psalm 49:14–15 NIV

They are like sheep and are destined to die; death will be their shepherd (but the upright will prevail over them in the morning). Their forms will decay in the grave, far from their princely mansions. But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead; he will surely take me to himself.

Job 19:25–26 NIV

I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;

Job had lost everything in life - wife, children, home, property, servants, even his health. He had nothing more to look forward to in this life. Life was miserable! He had lost all hope and it was his eternal hope that kept him going.

The hope for life after death, the resurrection, is not a fantasy. It is as old as man’s existence because God has built it into our hearts so that we can prepare for it.

If there is no resurrection, this life has no meaning, no purpose whatsoever. Everything is futile! A waste of time. Suicide is an attractive option. I can simply check out.

But if I know I have to give an account to God for my life, He will judge me, I will take my life seriously, and trust Him that my future existence will be rewarding.

I can hold on regardless of what comes my way.

But just as there are people who deny the existence of God, there are those who deny the resurrection.

2. There are those who deny the resurrection.

There are those who will always deny God’s truth. This happened in Jesus time too.

Mark 12:18–26 NIV

Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?” Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?

Mark 12:18–23 NIV

Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

Mark 12:24–25 NIV

Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.

. 24-

Mark 12:26 NIV

Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?

These were religious men who doubted the resurrection.

Jesus answer:

You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures

You are in error because you do not know the power of God.

Referenced Abraham etc, inferring they were alive even now.

Jesus could have emphatically answered the query of the Sadducees because He was well aware of the resurrection. As a matter of fact,

3. Jesus is the agent of the resurrection

By raising the dead Jesus proved He was Resurrector!

He raised Jairus daughter, the son of the widow of Nain, and more dramatically,Lazarus.

John 11:25–26 KJV 1900

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

John 11:25 NIV

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;

He is the Life!

John 5:24–26 NIV

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

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The dead in the grave will hear the voice of the Son of God. Just as He did when He called for Lazarus.

But is all resurrection the same?

4. There are two kinds of resurrection

The Scriptures teach two resurrections:

The First and Second Resurrections

Resurrection of the just and the unjust.

Acts 24:15 ESV

having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust.

: 28-

John 5:28–29 NIV

“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.

Revelation 20:4–5 NIV

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.

There are two separate resurrections with two different outcomes.

The First Resurrection

Phase one: Jesus’s death

Matthew 27:51–52 NIV

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.

Phase two: Rapture

Matthew 27:51–52 NIV

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 NIV

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

1 Thess. 5

Phase three: End of the Tribulation

Revelation 20:4–6 NIV

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

Rev. 20.4

a)

The Second Resurrection

John 5:28–29 ESV

Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

When the wicked, the unjust, those who rejected Christ are resurrected, they will be judge and assigned to hell.

Conclusion

John 11:25 NIV

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;

Revelation 20:10 NIV

And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

We have one life to live in this present world. Death does not mean we cease to exist. We were created to live forever but the conditions under which that happens differ based upon one critical decision we make while on earth. What did you do with Jesus?

The hope of the resurrection is hinged upon the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The hope of the resurrection gives us joy, strength and courage in times of difficulty in this life.

The hope of the resurrection stirs us to examine life and what truly matters.

The eternal purposes of God should take priority over the temporary plans of man.

Are you aware that after you die, you continue to live? Are you aware that one day your body will be resurrected from the ground and you will live eternally?