Ours is a derived, and not a natural immortality. In the light of nature, we can only say that a future life is a possibility.II. The Word of God gives us the most explicit assurance of the future existence of the soul.7. By sin the creature is subject to corruptionDictionary of Bible ThemesJob 14:1-228615prayer, doubtsJob 14:10-155535sleep, and deathLibraryFebruary 18 EveningAdam . But if the Lord be not there, if no eye has seen their silent sacrifice, what right have you to tell them that their works shall live after them? It is a prudent thing to forbear the burden of life as a whole, and learn to bear it in the parcels into which Providence has divided it. There is one truth which is involved in almost every principle of morality which the Bible sanctions, that fully confirms the idea of the resurrection of the body the future and eternal existence of man. The murderer, the tyrant, the impenitent, the backslider. Great sermon on the foundational truth of our faith. 4. transl., Sarah Findlater, 1854 My God! Waiting always carries the idea of expectation.2. If a man die, he shall not live again to scatter hemlock seed, and sow sin in furrows. There is a power of the air that sways us, without reason or choice. There are but few who are called to accomplish glorious actions; the life of the great majority is composed of small, insignificant, humble, yet most necessary duties. Job writes, For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at latter day upon the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. . We Christians can still believe in a future existence on grounds derived from reason. Now a man is justified by the first grace. . Job 14:11,12. But within a week, it begins to wilt. A future life is demanded by our feeling of the symmetry of things. As a matter of fact, if a man dies he does not live again. The structure and development of man's body do not give us reason to think that if a man dies he shall live again. [13]B. Schmolk. . But they do not see what happens in regard to us: hence Gregory commenting on Job 14:21, "Whether his children come to honor," etc. Conscience is not truly correlated to human life. Men tell us, "Lay down your pride, give up your selfish hopes; individuals pass away, but humanity remains: labour, therefore, for humanity; your afflictions, your sufferings form part of the universal harmony. xc. Man ought to live again. (George Wagner. In examining this part of the subject, it is necessary to have distinctly in view that which constitutes moral depravity. We are not left in uncertainty as to what takes place when a man dies. And Christ knew what He Himself said. THE APPOINTED TIME ALLOTTED TO EACH OF US ON EARTH, AT THE EXPIRATION OF WHICH THE CHANGE WILL TAKE PLACE. The long suffering of God shall wait for thee through thy life of provocations; but thou shalt not be born again into this world; thou shalt not a second time defile its air with blasphemies, nor blot its beauties with impiety. In connection with our estimate of all earthly good. Whatever preparation is necessary, the good man will take care to make. What has materialism to say to conscience? Let us allow no sense of weakness to invest the word probability. Emmons, D. D.Mutability cleaves to all mankind from the cradle to the grave.I. The ethical implies the eternal. But this feeling of immortality will seldom visit the bosom of the man who does not honestly try to live on earth the life of heaven. Will God to judgment call A worm, for what a worm hath done Against the Lord of all? But is it needful to insist on this point? They are not dead. It is the Word of God alone, that is our only sure guide and instructor in regard to the original cause of death, and the circumstances and manner in which it entered into our world. we know this only too well. No more shall he bitterly repent of sin; no more lament the plague of his own heart, and tremble under a sense of deserved wrath. 1. Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.--No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceful fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. )Yes and noI. "To him who is emulating the resolve of Job, there is not only caution, but abundant comfort in his reflection that if a man die, he will not live again any such life as the present. A future life is demanded by our feeling of the symmetry of things. He means death.1. It is at times such as this that we are sure that no one else as ever experienced the pain and loneliness that we feel. For a gloss on Is. Temporal death is the cessation of life in the present state of being. God is able to do it, and has issued the promise. He speaks of a tree cut down, yet, under the influence of heat and moisture, sprouting again; and expresses his wonder that man, when "he dieth and giveth up the ghost," should be utterly "wasted away" and become a nonentity. Consider the place man holds here ca earth amongst God's creatures. It is otherwise with man. This is one of those simple questions which, by their very simplicity and directness, set us thinking about the importance of our personal life. There will be no difference in the Christian's object in life when he gets to heaven. But when conscience is violated, the anguish it causes also points to the future. The affections of men plead most eloquently of all for a future life. All good men wait for death by preparing for it. We analyse their feelings and convictions, and find that those take hold on eternity, and look forward to judgment. It is not often alive now. . But justice is not done upon the earth, and is never done, if there be no hereafter. Dutton. )The advantages of religious resignationW. 3. Thus, when Christianity comes to us with its magnificent revelation of immortality it finds us already prepared, on such grounds as we have been just noticing, to welcome the revelation, because it accords with some of the deepest convictions both of our heads and of our hearts. Objection 2: Further, blood is one of the four humors. He can entertain the conception of glory, honour, and immortality, in a higher and future state of being. This is the hour in which God hath appointed you, not to wrath, but to obtain salvation by Him; to be fellow workers with Him in accomplishing your renovation. Made known a future existence not known before? I go to prepare a place for you. Job's question waited long for an answer. The word is impressive and full of meaning. And now, let me remind you that it is the same with the saint, "If a man die, shall he live again?" Hence the gloomy views men had of death. It is one class of persons, and one only, of whom it may be said, that they will wait till their change come those who have put on the Lord Jesus while here, and who are continually longing and looking for His glorious appearing. Look at the strong support and comfort which belief in a resurrection can give the heart.(R. The former had no God in whom he could trust; no Saviour to whom to resort when heart and flesh were fainting; no hope but the eternal sleep of annihilation. . Though there is plausibility in the sentiment which stimulates us to self-admiration, the only sound sentiment is that which inclines us to true humbleness of mind. We shall live again in our works, say you; and the wicked, what of them? This is the rock on which we build our hope of rising again. xii): "Even as those who still live know not in what place are the souls of the dead; so the dead who have lived in the body know not the things which regard the life of those who Saint Thomas AquinasSumma TheologicaMoral Depravity. This is the kind of atmosphere that should characterize a Christian funeral, for as far as the departed one is concerned, death is but the docking of the ship of life on the shore of eternity after a long voyage across the sea of time. The main current of human opinion sets strongly and steadily towards belief in immortality.2. It seems a high attainment to feel a desire for death; the desire which is a longing to be with Christ. Bring back that self-righteous man who was always speaking against the Gospel, and striving to prejudice other men's minds against Gospel light? Therefore how important it is in the common interest that each of us should look above all things to his own life and its character, John PercivalSermons at RugbyA Voice from the Hartley CollieryThis text is appropriate to the occasion, but God alone knoweth how applicable the discourse may be to some here present; yes, to young hearts little dreaming that there is but a step between them and death; to aged persons, who as yet have not set their house in order, but who must do it, for they shall die and not live. The future life is not in the nature of things a matter of present experience. Keep a firm belief that the universe is under the superintendence of an all-powerful Being, whose justice will finally distribute rewards and punishments according to our virtues and vices.2. The word rendered "appointed time" has in the original a peculiar signification. He never intended for anyone to become crippled with age. All nature dies to live again. What has materialism to say to conscience? And if we regard the one to the neglect of the other, we do but endanger the blessedness of both. Life is like Monopoly. Original Sin. Men tell us, "We pass away, but our deeds remain; we bye on in those good actions which have contributed to the advancement of humanity; we live on in the truths which we have boldly proclaimed without fear of man, and which we thus hand down to future generations to be translated into noble deeds. We live in the memory of others! Elisabeths life here on earth is over but, her life in heaven with her beloved Savior Jesus Christ has just begun. We analyse their feelings and convictions, and find that those take hold on eternity, and look forward to judgment. Any given morning you could find her sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and the daily cross word puzzle, during the summer you would find her sitting near a TV or radio eating Planters Peanuts and listening to the Cincinnati Reds, but one thing you would never hear from her was a cross word about anyone no matter what they did. By proclaiming the complete triumph of justice in the world to come, Christianity has prepared the advent of justice in this life. If a man die, shall he live again? Possibly they mistake Job's hope and prospects for the future, not less than his three friends did his character and the probable design of his sufferings, who do not know, or who are unable to perceive, that it was his hope of a future life, and of complete vindication, implying honour and happiness in a future state, which almost alone sustained him under his unusual load of troubles.
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