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00:00:00 today's scripture reading is read is taken from John 11: 17-44 reading from the NV on his arrival Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the Tomb for 4 days now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother when Martha heard that Jesus was coming she went out to meet him but Mary stayed at home Lord Martha said to Jesus if you had been here my brother would not have died but I know that even now God will give you whatever
00:00:42 you ask Jesus said to her your brother will rise again Martha answered I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day Jesus said to her I am the resurrection and the life the one who believes in me will live even though they die and whoever lives by believing in me will never die do you believe this Yes Lord she replied I believe that you are the Messiah the Son of God who is to come into the world after she had said this she went back and called her sister Mary aside the teacher is here she said
00:01:26 and is asking for you when Mary heard this she got up up quickly and went to him now Jesus had not yet entered the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him when the Jews who had been with Mary in the house comforting her noticed how quickly she got up and went out they followed her supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there when Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him she fell at his feet and said Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died when Jesus
00:02:03 saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled where have you laid him he asked come and see Lord they replied Jesus wept then the Jews said see how he loved him but some of them said could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying Jesus once more deeply moved came to the tomb it was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance take away the stone he said but lord said Martha the sister of the Dead
00:02:47 Man by this time there is a bad order for he has been there 4 days then Jesus said did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God so so they took away the stone then Jesus looked up and said father I thank you that you have heard me I know that you always hear me but I said this for the benefit of the people standing there that they may believe that you sent me when he had said this Jesus called in a loud voice Lazarus come out the dead man came out his hands and feet wrapped with
00:03:29 strength strips of linen and a cloth around his face Jesus said to them take off the grave clothes and let him go this is the word of God once again it's my joy and privilege to be standing here sharing with you from the word of God today is the Eighth Day of Chinese new year and it's also my joy to wish you sing qua it's uh nice to see soon many of you uh come dressed in red the color of this uh FY season if you're not in red is okay red is also the color of blood you know in the Bible blood is
00:04:24 associated with life and twice in Leviticus 17 it says that that the life of a creature is in the blood hence red is the color of life and you all look so Lively which is what we want to discuss this morning we are now in between uh series uh we had earlier finished a short series on some selected Psalms and before we start a new series on James and then one John over the past few weeks the preachers have been given free topics actually a free topic is a harder assignment because I couldn't decide
00:05:02 what to speak on and in the end I I chose the sermon title a matter of life and death some of you may be frowning why talk about death during such a happy occasion as Chinese New Year isn't it pantang to talk about the Dreadful subject of death pantang is the Malay word for taboo well the reason is simple if you want to live you better known something about death so that you can avoid it in order that you might live the topic on on life and its opposite death is therefore rather apt during this time of the year when all
00:05:51 around us is the color red the color of life as you know in the word yisang that must have Dish uh during these two weeks the character for s in isang means life or Alive we want to discuss how to stay alive and what it means to be alive what we really want to do is to is to understand what scripture says about life and death and the text I've chosen is John 11: uh 17-44 but I will not be unpacking uh these verses as I normally do yes I'll will highlight some notable parts of the text but we will mostly be be surveying
00:06:40 the the Bible from cover to cover to to piece together important lessons on this subject matter the sermon comes in two parts one what does God think about life and two what did God do about death before we begin shall we commit this time to the Lord in prayer Our Father in Heaven you are the god of Life the one true Living God who gives life as we search your word this morning may your spirit deepen our understanding and appreciation of the precious life precious gift of life especially during
00:07:27 this season of Chinese New Year for we for we ask this in Jesus name amen now a quick look at the pulpit schedule for the next few weeks um next Sunday Dr Peter will kick off a short series on James followed by two back-to-back sermons by Elder Arnold on decision making and God's will okay with that out of the way uh let's do a bit of uh armchair traveling as an introduction uh to the sermon early last December I brought a group of 24 people to go for a short holiday in Danang Vietnam you may call it um Revenge
00:08:17 traveling about half of the group was from FBC while the rest were friends and and family members here are the lovely ladies in the group at this uh UNESCO heritage site known as uh hyan not far from Danang I'm sure you can recognize some of them if you are in this photo you'll be looking at no one else but yourself to make sure that you look okay but it's good to travel together once in a while doing things together sing shopping eating chatting now before you think I work for the Vietnamese tourism promotion
00:09:03 board the reason I'm talking about this trip because I saw something pretty amazing we visited this beautiful Church in the middle of the city the Danang Cathedral also known as the pink church only 8% of the population is Christian so it was quite a sight to see this gorgeous building the front entrances as you can see were lock so we walked to the back of the church to find a door to go in and I stumbled upon this kind of enclosure that happened that appeared to be used to to commemorate someone
00:09:45 important what struck me was this bowl with jaw sticks that were burning they were new joysticks on the floor in case you want to burn some wow burn jaw sticks in a church I have never seen anything like this I thought to myself another surprise awaited me as I entered the sanctuary in front of the altar was this huge brass ear with a pair of Chinese dragons on his left and right as you know the dragon is a common motive in Buddhist temples what's going on you see in Revelation chapters 13 and 20
00:10:33 the dragon clearly represents Satan I was amazed to see dragons inside a church symbol for Satan but some of you may say Noah Chinese dragons not the same as Revelation Dragon well as for the jaw sticks just now they are perhaps a little bit more understandable after all in in ancient Biblical times they were burning incense on the golden altar inside God's Temple but still jaw sticks are often associated with prayers and and worship in Buddhist rituals should they be allowed in churches now the thinking behind this on
00:11:19 the part of the Danang Cathedral becomes clearer if we zoom in on this big brass ear look carefully near the rim on top is seen the Buddhist symbol the the sastia symbol so together with the jaw sticks it is an unmistakable infusion of Buddhist elements into the church perhaps in an attempt to make Christianity more palatable to Buddhists now what do you say to this what would you say for example when won was designing this church building what if W were to suggest placing a dome on top of the church building and with a
00:12:05 minet on the side to make FBC more inviting to people of another Faith now to help answer this question long answer actually I wish to briefly visit an obscure verse from the law of Moses taken from Deuteronomy 22: 11 do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together and this is repeated in Leviticus 1919 do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material wool is from animal linen is from plant Woolen yarn and linen yarn were not allowed to be combined to make fabric now when I check my my files I
00:12:57 realize that I touched on this point earlier uh in a sermon four or 5 years ago but even if you heard that sermon I don't think you'll be able to recall what I said so it's okay for me to explain again a good example would be this this piece comprising 56% wool and 44% linen which would be a no no in ancient Biblical times this prohibition against mixing wool and linen is known as the shut Ness law shz law is the law still enforced today oh yes if you were a religious Jew you'll be very careful about what you wear
00:13:44 today today in places where a lot of Jews live they are shop selling shut nness compliant clothing shut nness approved where you won't find anything that would contravene the shess law but has Christians we are generally not bothered with the composition of the material used in our clothes most Christians are not even aware of such a law in the Old Testament that alone obeying it but are we not supposed to follow this command of God not many of you know the answer as Paul write writes in Romans 6:14 you are not under the law
00:14:20 but under grace and hence the the sharpness law doesn't apply to us but but there was a time throughout most of the Old Testament when God forbade his people to combine wool and linen when making garments in the Deuteronomy verse the command was issued through Moses but in the Leviticus verse God was speaking directly to the Israelites in the first person pronoun why did God gave them such a command what's wrong with with weaving wool and linen together now if you examine the law in context it appears to carry a higher
00:15:05 spiritual symbolism it points to the nature of God who doesn't like things to be mixed it's either wool or linen it's a metaphor for either you are one or the other for example either you are inside his kingdom or outside there is nothing in between no middle ground in God's economy and equivalent of the shutes law in the New Testament might be in the Revelation three I know your Deeds that you are neither cold nor hot I wish you were either one or the other but because you're lukewarm neither hot nor cold I'm
00:15:52 about to Speed it out of my mouth God doesn't like L War he doesn't like mixing hot and cold water of course metaphorically speaking perhaps this will help to answer the questions I POS as now about jaw sticks and Dragons inside a church by now you might be wondering what is the Danang trip what has the sharpness law got to do with the issue of life and death now if you'll be a bit more patient I'll will come to the Ser Topic in a bit now what I'm trying to do is to paint a large larer picture of God as a
00:16:32 god of Separation he is a God who prefers to keep things separate he detests contamination and compromise for example in the Joshua uh 23:7 after the Israelites had conquered the land of Canaan that God had promised them God warn his people not to associate with the Godless and evil Canaanites and this included inter marriage from uh verse 12 further down God wanted his people to keep themselves separate from them if we scan the pages of scripture we can detect a few important areas where God wants things to be kept
00:17:18 separate now you will take an entire sermon to expound this on this interesting topic on Separation on this biblical theme of of Distinction distinction between two diametrically opposing entities anyway here are a few of the key areas of separation or distinction as far as God is concerned now you may add more to the list but mainly it is the distinction between one God and man two between good and evil three between life and death four between men and women and five between what is sacred and what is
00:18:06 profane for example the command to the Israelites not to associate with the Canaanites was part of the need to maintain the distinction between good and evil now my observation is this as we March towards the end times Satan the dragon has been particularly active he has certainly been active on many fronts but one thing that he has done well is to blur the distinctions that have listed here in order to undermine God's agenda for example looking at distinction number one distinction between God and man throughout the
00:18:46 modern era in the past 100 years man has elevated himself to the level of God increasingly he thinks that he can be the master of his own destiny you know it's is the stated aim of Communism to build a Utopia on Earth minus god without God be careful of such dangerous and unbelivable ideologies where man thinks that he can be God but God is God Almighty man is man man is mere man now the blurring of of this distinction between God and man may not be so obvious to us what is even more glaring is number
00:19:27 four the blurring of the distinction between men and woman there's been the growing lgbtq movement that is getting louder now here is the gay right gay pride uh parade that took place in 2021 in Jerusalem of all places think about it Jerusalem the city of God I think God must have wept to see this happen in this city it's called a pride parade because they were proud to be lgbtq man is man woman is woman that's how God made us but that clear distinction is now being challenged sorry for the digression but
00:20:16 what I really want to do is focus on distinction number four the distinction between life and death which is also under threat the distinction between life and death my focus also under threat now I'm talking about the the pro-choice movement the term pro-choice if you heard of it is the is a euphemism for pro-abortion and this is also a very vocal and passionate group with catchy slogans like keep your theology off my biology they demand the right for any woman to have access to abortion together the lgbtq movement and
00:20:59 the pro-choice movement they constitute the two biggest assaults today on biblical values we live in unprecedented times in church history how are pro-choice activists blurring the line between life and death well the fact that the fetus in the womb is alive means little to them that the feters can and will grow into a beautiful baby in a couple of months matters to them you see the understanding of life and death gets gets all gets all mixed up all in name of choice the choice of an abortion or the right of the woman to
00:21:41 choose if she wants to end her pregnancy thereby ending the life of the fetus the life of the fetus is less important than her right to choose but David wrote in Psalm 139 you need me get in my mother's womb I praise you because I'm fearfully and wonderfully made each of us was given life from the time we were conceived in our mother's womb we are well into the first part of the sermon that is what does God think about life now if you truly know God and His nature the first thing to know about God is that he is a
00:22:24 lifegiver and that every life is precious to him including the life of these fetus and hence I hence I imagine God weeping each time the life of a fetus is snuffed out at an abortion clinic the the the the diminished perception of the sanctity of life on the part of the pro-choice movement is shocking if you understand God and His nature now I'm using this abortion issue as a backrop to drive home the point that God is a lifegiver no one has the right to take someone else's life that God has given God is a
00:23:07 lifegiver he first gave life to Mo to to Adam in in Genesis 2:7 the Lord God formed man of the Dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and Man became a living Soul God breathed life into a a hip of dust and he became a living being don't worship any deity or person who doesn't have the power to impart life the account of Jesus raising Lazarus in in in John 11 that Michelle read to us is proof that God can also Grant life to a dead person who supposed to return to dust if God
00:23:48 could breathe life into dust of course he can give life back to the dead but more on this uh in the next part of the sermon besides being a lifegiver the second inherent nature of God is that he's the god of life God is a lifegiver and he's also the god of Life both are related but not the same now what do I mean by God being the god of life now earlier we talk about God as a god of separation and we saw the distinctions uh between life and death in the list you see God is so much a god of life that he doesn't want to have
00:24:27 anything to do with death death is never a part of his plan now God May destroy a person or a city or a nation because of sin or evil or Rebellion but other than that the notion of death is so antithetical or opposing to God's nature not only does God give life he also want that life perpetuated not ended now now let me demonstrate from scripture how in this matter of life and death how God is a god of life not death do you know that in the days of the Tabernacle and then the temple the priest must never go to a funeral paror
00:25:14 or any place where there was a dead body not even when his own father or mother died this is based on Leviticus 2111 you see the thing is the high priest was the one who entered the the holy of holies to commune with God directly face to face God was like saying if you have been near dead body stay away from me don't you come near me to of course things are different a pastor can conduct a funeral on Saturday and then the next day attend worship Services as I explained from uh Romans 6:14 we are no longer under the law but
00:25:54 under grace and just like the shutes law this law doesn't apply anymore now let me go a bit further there were other laws relating to death that were applied to all Israelites in those days now based on numbers 19:1 if an Israelite touched a dead body he would be deemed unclean for 7 Days quarantine 7 days and by extension he would be forbidden to step on the temple ground because he had contact with death and therefore banned from the vicinity of the god of life and this verse is explained uh is expanded in in verse 16
00:26:40 below it doesn't matter if the person was killed with a sword such as a soldier who died in battle or if he died of a natural cause touching any dead body would render you unclean and you will be barred from the temple it gets even stricter at the end of the verse even if you just touch the grave the result was the same now you get a picture these are rather obscure laws in the Old Testament that few Christians talk about today I'm bringing them up simply to illustrate this point about God as a god of Life how he
00:27:18 cannot have any hint of death in his proximity the god of Life separates himself from Death in him is life not death now let me point you to one more obscure law from Leviticus and we we are done with this part of the sermon are you aware that in ancient Biblical times a woman having her period was also deemed to be unclean also for seven days and hence not allowed to come to the temple from Leviticus 15:19 you may wonder why this bizarre law as I mentioned at the start the Bible teaches that blood is the essence
00:28:06 of life so that when blood is discharged from the body for example during menstration it is likened to life living the body and in those days it was seen to be a reflection of death and hence a woman having her period was treated like a person who touched the dead body and once again this law is no no longer applicable today otherwise our ashers we have to ask the younger ladies excuse me are you having a maners there are many other similar laws in the Old Testament relating to this issue of life and death the overall
00:28:46 theme in these laws is that God's very nature his will his actions they revolve around life and not death we often derive from scripture a clear picture of a loving God or a faithful God or a holy God but today in line with the sermon topic we learned that God is also the god of life now moving um to the second part of the sermon if God is the god of life then why is there death in this world we will now tap into some basic ology as most of you already know death came into this world because of sin the
00:29:35 Bible teaches in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is death sin is defined as the transgression of God's laws it simply means going against God and the penalty for that is death sin first came into the world in the Garden of Eden when Adam disobeyed God God had warned him in Genesis 217 of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil you shall not eat for the day for in the day you eat of it you will surely die but God but Adam chose to defy God he decided to rebel against his lifegiver and as a result death entered
00:30:19 the world now all this is is basic stuff you know all this as highlighted earlier death was never a part of God's plan is not what he had wanted to happen there wasn't supposed to be any Death In His creation blueprint nobody nothing was supposed to die because God is the god of Life Death was a was an unwelcome cursed That Came Upon God's creation because of sin and the first instance of death in the Bible was is implied in Genesis 3:21 when when an animal was killed so that its skin could be used as covering for
00:31:01 Adam and Eve and before long the first murder took place in Genesis 4 when Cain killed his brother Abel and since then death has been an undeniable part of life all life eventually ends with death if your life is not cut short by murder or accident or or disease your biolog ological clock will run out eventually the psalmist noted in Psalm 90 the years of our life are 70 or even by reason of strength 80 now through advances in medicine you may stretch it to 90 recently the oldest person in the world uh I think it was middle of the
00:31:49 month a French nun passed away at age of8 but that's a rare exception rather than the norm you may be eating only organic exercising daily doing everything you can to keep healthy but when the time comes you still end up in the grave Dr Peter once told me when it's time to go it's time to go again I heard this remark that no one escapes Life Alive we all born with an expiry date the only thing is that they EX ex date is not told to us death is the only certainty in life yes Death is certain but it doesn't
00:32:38 have to be final more on this uh crucial Point later and this leads us to the question what did God do about death now before I I address that most of what I've just explained you already know but still it's a good reminder to Earth of the reality of death what I have just explained is best personified by this sculpture sitting in the cemetery in Italy and sculptured in 1894 it depicts a woman on a death bait looking at her son she's near her death while the young boy has a whole life ahead of him what a sobering picture of
00:33:25 life and death not to appreciate what God did about death it's worall for us to know exactly what death is as I said earlier although it is a TBO subject it's better for you to know as much as you can about death if you want to avoid it in order that you might live death is often thought to be the opposite of life or the end of life but that's shallow thinking it actually goes much deeper than that the Bible talks about three types of death one spiritual death two physical death and three second death in that order
00:34:07 chronologically now the correct way to understand death is to think of it as a kind of Separation now what do I mean death as separation now take the case of of number two physical death which is what we've been discussing for a while this is the death referred to in Hebrews 9:27 it is appointed for men to die once that's physical death when physical death occurs the Soul and Spirit are separated from the body separation and this is depicted in this 1805 art by an English painter when a person dies the
00:34:45 Soul and Spirit leave the body which becomes just an empty shell to be buried or burn now there are people who think that at the at the moment of death the person seizes to to to exist completely including Soul and Spirit total censation of existence now this is completely unbal so imagine this person's shock when at the moment after he dies he realizes that that his b his Soul and Spirit haven't been annihilated and now he has to has to give an account to God now to continue with the idea of death as separation in the case of
00:35:23 number one spiritual death it is man in the state of separ ation from God because of his sin so that when Paul wrote in Ephesians 2 you were dead because of your sins he was referring to spiritual death now we are all born spiritually dead and that's why spiritual death is top of the list we are all born spiritually death dead because of our sinful nature which we inherited from Adam which is why we need a rebirth which I'll elaborate shortly the third type of death is the worst is known as the second death and is not
00:36:05 often talked about the term appears only four times in the Bible all in the Book of Revelation it is also separation from God but not just separation but Eternal separation it refers to Eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire after the final judgment as stated clearly in Revelations 20:14 the Lake of Fire is the second death now the important difference between spiritual death and the second death is that you can always do something about your spiritual deadness during your lifetime on Earth but there
00:36:41 will be nothing you can do after second death second death is permanent but let's take a closer look at the Dynamics behind all this now we are ready to answer the question what did God do about death the first thing to note is that God doesn't want anyone of us to suffer death especially the second death he has given us life precious life and he wishes that none of us will lose this life he's also the god of love and in his love he desires that all to come to be safe from The Sting of Eternal death 2 Peter 3:9 says the Lord is not
00:37:22 slow in keeping his promise instead he's patient with you not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance because God wants everyone to come to repentance to be saved from Death he did the most unimaginable thing he sent his only son Jesus to the cross to bear the penalty of death which we were supposed to Bear Jesus died and atoning death meaning a replacement death he died so that we might live now if you accept this atoning death of Jesus and believe in him then your sins are forgiven since he has
00:38:04 already paid the penalty on your behalf you will then be free from sin and the penalty which is death one Peter uh uh 24 224 explains he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might be free from sins and live for righteousness now this again is is basic stuff many of you already know this so I won't go further it is the core of the Gospel but if you are an unbeliever and you want to find out more I urge you to join the alpha program starting this Thursday if you want to be free from the
00:38:49 curse of of death but for the for the benefit of Believers let's go um uh a little bit deeper and see how we are released from each type of death all three deaths are the direct consequence of sin and the first thing that happens as a result of Jesus atoning death and the forgiveness of sin that is if you accept his offer of Salvation the first thing that happens is that from being spiritually dead you become spiritually alive it is your regeneration your rebirth or as we say you are born again now since spiritual death is
00:39:35 separation from God hence when you are reborn or born again you are reconciled to God and fellowship with God which was first broken in the Garden of Eden is now restored you can now enjoy a close personal relationship with God all Christians all Christians have a personal relationship with God if you are a Christian but you say you don't have a personal relationship with God then I will send you to attend the alpha program next because of Jesus atoning death that is if you accept his salvation the second thing that happens
00:40:21 or rather will happen is that you will not face the second death no Eternal condemnation for those in Christ instead eternal life for those in Christ and this is guaranteed to us in Revelation 20:6 the second death has no power over those who are in Christ whose names are found in the book of life now many of you may be itching to ask you talk about spiritual death you talk about the second death death what about physical death we want to know more about physical death when the Bible says it is
00:41:08 appointed for men to die once physically that is it includes Believers and non-believers alike but if God had taken us out of spiritual death and he will exam us from the second death why doesn't he also spare us us from physical death why doesn't he also spare us from physical death don't you want to know the answer is that this body is corruptible and not suited for eternal life is a body born of sin and susceptible to disease and Decay it needs an upgrade before we get to heaven in 1 Corinthians 53
00:41:59 15:53 Paul explains very well this body that decays must be changed into a body that cannot Decay this Mortal body must be changed in into a body that will live forever hence we have to go through physical death just like any other person but after we die we will be resurrected one day and given a body that is perfect and Incorruptible there are many many verses in the Old and New Testaments that promise us this future Resurrection I wanted to show you some but just too many to choose from a look at this at the three types
00:42:52 of death One Last Time what we have so far discussed can be some R like this if you are born only once physical birth that is then you have to face death twice physical death and second death but if you are born twice Spirit uh physical birth and spiritual birth then you will face death only once physical death you should be followed by your Resurrection in other words if one birth two deaths but if two births one death and then eternal life in the concluding part of the sermon after all I've been said what are
00:43:41 some practical lessons that we can take home from this huge topic on on life and death I shall offer you two application points one the fear of death to the joy of life I like to talk about talk first about the fear of death after having discuss so much about the inevitability of death a Greek philosopher once said I cannot escape death but I but I can escape the fear of it which backs the question how do you escape the fear of death he didn't elaborate no it's hard to escape the fear of death the fear of death is
00:44:22 universal people in general are afraid to die the vast majority of human beings want to live longer if they can the thought of death is unpleasant the prospect of death Dreadful and the reality of death terrifying and hence death is the tuo subject but today my focus is more on life just to clarify you see death is such a tboo subject that for example there should be no connection with death during a a say a wedding celebration if you attend a funeral you should not attend a wedding anytime soon no this is not from Bible this is
00:45:06 Chinese culture the general rule is that there should be a gap of 100 days if you break this rule they W know one and if the bridal couple find out they will be really upset now this culture may have it roots in in numbers 19 where if an Israelite touched a dead body he deem unclean indeed the fear of death is real in most people especially the singaporeans who are known for to be kassi or scared to die sorry youarm I couldn't resist that the fear of death is real in most people Everyone is K is coming to it now
00:45:57 this is partly because dying is often assoc associated with suffering if the person is battling a prolong and serious illness now on the part of the family relatives and Friends there's also the the pain of Separation you know of losing someone you love and hence funerals are are typified by mourning and grieving which was what Jesus saw when he arrived D at Bethany after Lazarus had died from verse 33 in our text from uh from John 11 Mary was was crying and the people in the village also crying the air was thick was thick with
00:46:45 the sorrow it further says that Jesus was deeply moved in spirit and troubled then comes the the shortest verse in the Bible verse 35 Jesus wept Jesus wept why did Jesus weep that this often asked in in the study of uh John 11 the common answer is that Jesus was overwhelmed by emotions when he felt the sadness that engulfed the place it's a good answer but I don't think it's the right answer you see in a minute or two Jesus was about to raise Lazarus he was about to turn their tears into Joy he could
00:47:32 have told them don't be sad you'll see what I'll what I'm going to do in a minute now let me offer you another reason why Jesus wept in the death of Lazarus I imagine Jesus reflecting on all the all the destruction all the devastation that sin and death have brought Upon This World from a time of Genesis 3 and throughout all of human history all the pain all the sufferings all the sorrow because of the curse of death and I imagine Jesus thinking it's not this is not supposed to be what it is it's not supposed to be
00:48:14 like this death wasn't part of my father's plan and I believe this incident in John 11 made him all the more Resolute in going to the cross to settle this issue of of death once and for all so that we may enjoy eternal life which is why he declared in verses uh 25 and 26 I am the resurrection and the life comes the important partner he who believes in me will live even though they die and whoever lives by believing in me will never die if you are can't see you read this verse that will never die
00:49:09 wow and these are two of the most powerful verses in the Bible it's God's promise of life after death it is his guarantee of eternal life it gives us the greatest hope in our Earthly life which is the first application point that is Christians have no reason to Harbor any fear of physical death because for us death is never a destination it is a transit or a doorway to eternal life and we have to remind ourselves that we have this blessed hope Death is certain but it doesn't have to be final when Jesus said I am the
00:49:53 resurrection it wasn't about the resurrection of Lazarus because if you have not realized Lazarus will later die again perhaps in his old age in saying I'm the resurrection Jesus was referring to his own Resurrection which serves as a foreshadow of our own future Resurrection which when we will receive new bodies that will never die when Jesus resurrected Lazarus it was prove that Jesus is God and that he has a power to Grant life but in the resurrection of Jesus himself it was more than proof that God
00:50:30 could Grant life it was meant to be an assurance to us that we too one day will be raised to life after we die and hence the picture here of an empty tomb likewise one day on that great day of Resurrection all the graves of Believers will be emptied as we begin our life in eternity all the graves of Believers will be emptied including the graves of those we love in our midst who have gone before us and this is our confidence in Christ it's the same confidence that motivated Paul to pen in 1 Corinthians
00:51:17 15:55 oh death where is thy sting oh grave where is thy Victory I say that again oh death where is thy sting oh grave where is thy Victory yes there's a real fear of physical death in most people although they should really be more afraid of the second death but for us Believers this powerful verse this very powerful verse which is actually a quote from Hosea 13:14 it will be our motto for the rest of our life because Jesus had conquered death now not only should Christians cast off their fear of death we should also
00:52:02 embrace the joy of Life which brings me to the second application point which is more important the fear of death must be replaced by the joy of Life some Christians live as if they are half dead despite the fact that we have been we are now spiritually alive having come out of spiritual spiritual death despite the fact that we now have have the hope of eternal life for the second death has no power over us how then should we live now back to the Danang trip that I related at the start one of the major
00:52:40 landmarks of the city is this stunning Dragon Bridge as if the dragon in the church wasn't enough I saw this long Dragon over a huge River and with this dragon sitting and watching over the city I somehow felt or sense a covering of Darkness over the land now in contrast we Believers are covered by the blood of Christ so that no forces of Darkness can touch Us in addition as I said in the b in the Bible blood is associated with life it means that we are now alive in Christ alive we should live a life that is
00:53:26 alive no that sounds a bit difficult we should live a life noun that is alive adjective that's better we should live our life with much zest and Zeal we should be more lively now today you all look Lively which is a good first step Jesus declared in in John 10:10 I come that they may have life and that they may have have that they may have it more abundantly in some version say that they may have it may have life in all its fullness now in the context of John 10 Abundant Life can mean eternal life
00:54:06 but in the context of our current Earthly life it can also mean a life that is Meaningful a life that is purposeful since we are now reconciled to God and have a relationship with him there a life of growing in faith a life of increasing trust in Jesus that is the joy of life my advice to you in three words Live It Up live it up but not in a material sense but with a sense of of Eternity in mind shall we close with a word of prayer Our Father in heaven in this matter of life and death we praise you
00:54:47 for the physical life that you've given us we praise you for the spiritual life that you will have in your son and we praise you for the hope of eternal life Upon Our Resurrection one day we pray that you will enable us to taste the joy of life and not be shaken by the fear of death for you are the lifegiver and the god of life and we say this and ask this in the name of Jesus Amen if you can stand for the response song [Music] because he live [Music] I can face tomorrow he Liv all fear is God because I know
00:56:28 he gos the [Music] future and life is worth the living just because he [Music] [Music] let's live it [Music] up they come Jesus he came to [Applause] love [Music] you and to by my and empty gra to Pro because he I give PR [Music] tomorrow is because I know he holds the future and life is wor the living just because he [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] then one day ioss the river I promise GL and his way to Victory I see the light of and I prise tomorrow because he is God because I know
00:59:26 holds the future and life is wor the living just because I give tomorrow because he is because I know was the future and the living just he is living because [Applause] anding just because [Music] as we come to the end the service please remain standing for the benediction people of God now receive blessings from God May the god of Life take away from you any fear of death as you continue to trust in him believing in his promises May the god of life fill you with the joy of life as you continue to
01:00:59 walk with him drawing closer to him and may the god of Life envelop you with the hope of eternal life as you continue to look to Jesus whose Resurrection guarantees your Resurrection go now in the love and the joy and the peace of God Amen the service is over please join us for Fellowship uh at the Garden C Jey [Music]
