THE HOPE OF IMMORTALITY

JOB 14:1

A. "IF A MAN DIE, SHALL HE LIVE AGAIN? ALL THE DAYS APPOINTED WILL I WAIT, TILL MY CHANGE COME"
  1. The man Job was deep:
    1. In sorrow and pain
    2. He had lost all his earthly goods
    3. Too, his children
    4. His health was gone too - his body was full of painful sores
  2. But worst of all:
    1. His wife became an infidel and urged him to curse God and die
    2. On top of all this, his relatives, his professed comforters turned out to be his severe critics
    3. Death stared him into the face and raised the question, "If a man die, shall he live again?" B. IS THERE LIFE BEYOND THE GRAVE?
  3. This has been the question of the ages:
    1. Life and death are so closely related in this present world that man has difficulty in separating them - to be born is to die
    2. Job reasoned that upon his death the grave was his resting place - "If I wait, the grave is mine house; I have made my bed in darkness" - Job 17:13
  4. The craving for immortality is instinctive:
    1. Man loves life and attempts to hold on to it with all the natural powers he possesses
    2. But there comes a moment when his flickering hold on life leaves him and he dies Ps. 146:3; Eccl. 3:19-20
  5. Nature does not satisfy the craving for immortality:
    1. Job turns to the analogy of nature; he speaks of the tree being cut down and it sprouts again
    2. The awakening in nature in the spring seems to indicate the mystery of life; after life - death or dormant - and after dormant short life
    3. But man dieth and giveth up the ghost and where is he? - Job 14:10; Ps. 22:27-29
    4. Nature does give us a faint hint of life after death - but only faintly C. CHRIST AND CHRIST ALONE CAN SATISFY THE CRAVING FOR IMMORTALITY
  6. He brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:
    1. By his revelation of the plan of redemption - "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" - John 3:16
    2. By His direct teaching
  7. "I am the resurrection and the life" - John 11:25
  8. "I am the way, the truth, and the life" - John 14:6
    1. By His own resurrection - He "is the first fruit from the dead" - I Cor. 15:20; one man has risen that is enough - I Cor. 15:12-22
  9. Note three glorious Bible truths about the hope of immortality:
    1. Immortality and Jesus Christ are synonymous if you have Christ you have the hope of immortality
  10. "And this is the record, that God hath given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son hath not life abiding in him" - I John 5:11-12
  11. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ" - Rom. 6:23
    1. Note further that immortality is the gift of God - that shows that we do not possess it - we do not deserve it; we cannot earn it
    2. This eternal gospel truth is our only hope of immortality; eternal life - we must seek and find it in Jesus Christ and in Him only - Rom. 2:7
  12. The hope of immortality is, again, synonymous:
    1. With the first resurrection; it is at that glorious event that this mortal will put on immortality and this corruptible will put on incorruption - I Cor. 15:53-57
    2. This is the great promise of the Lord Jesus Christ our Lord. Said He, "Marvel not at this, for the hour cometh in which all that are in the graves..." - John 5:28-29
    3. And this promise will be consummated at the second coming of Jesus Christ - I Cor. 15:23; Wherefore comfort one another with these words" - I Thes. 4:13-17


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