The Certainity Of Eternal Life Series

Romans Series # 35 April 24, 2002

Title: The Certainty of Eternal Life

email: pastorsarver@yahoo.com

website: www.palmcitynewlife.org

Introduction: Welcome to New Life in Christ. Tonight we are continuing with message #35 of our verse-by-verse study of the Book of Romans. We are currently in Chapter 8 which, as I noted two weeks age, is primarily focused on giving assurances to the Christian about life’s most important issues. We have already discussed two of those certainties in Chapter 8 verses 1-9.

First: When You Are Trusting In Christ You Can Be Certain That You Are Forgiven.

Second: When You Are Trusting In Christ You Can Be Certain That You Are Accepted and Approved by God. (Expound briefly from last week.)

This brings us to Romans 8:10.

Read Romans 8:10,11

Opening Prayer

Most of us want and need to have some assurances or certainties about important areas of our lives: Our Marriage, Retirement Funds, Our Health, etc. Of all the areas where we desire certainty, probably the most important is on our future after death. What will happen to us when we die? I want a definite answer to that question. People, in general, fear death because they are uncertain as to the answer to that question. Some people joke about death in order to avoid any serious discussion about a matter they are so unsure about.

Quote: Woody Allen, "I do not fear death, I just do not want to be there when it happens."

Quote: The Comedian W. C. Fields, who was known for his immoral behavior and atheistic beliefs, was on his death bed when a friend came to visit him and was astonished to find him reading the Bible. The friend asked, "What in the world are you doing reading the Bible?" W.C. Fields said, “I’m looking for loopholes.”

Some people may joke about death and eternity but that does not change the seriousness of the subject or the fact that even those who joke about the situation often do so because of have internal concerns and uncertainties. I personally have seen the abject terror that some go through because of their concerns and fears of death. Many people will not talk about the subject in any manner, growing angry if the subject is broached, because of their fear. Many others, out of that same fear, go to great extremes to avoid death, but of course silence about the issue or strenuous efforts to avoid death will not stop a person from dying.

Many people in the world they fear death or are uncertain as to their future beyond the grave but you should not be one of those people. The Christian need never have any fear or uncertainty about this issue. This is one of the areas in which we have God given assurance of eternal life and physical resurrection. One place in the Bible that we receive this assurance concerning death and eternal life is in our Scripture verses tonight. I can summarize the main point of vs. 10,11 as follows:

Summary Sentence: When You Are Trusting In Christ You Can Be Certain That You Will Live Eternally With God.

Why can Christians have this certainty? Because as it says in verse 10, "Christ is in you." All believers have the Holy Spirit living in them as verse 9 emphatically and logically asserts. In verse 10 "Christ" is used interchangeably with "Spirit” because the two are so closely related. To have Christ in you is synonymous or nearly synonymous with having the Spirit of God in you. This is one of the texts that are supportive of the doctrine of the Trinity. You can be certain that you will live eternally and that your body will be resurrected because “Christ or the Holy Spirit is in you.” How is the presence of Christ or the Holy Spirit logically connected to the resurrection of our bodies and life after death? In other words, what is the connection between “Christ in you (the believer)” and eternal life?

To answer those questions and to understand the connection we have to understand the cause of death. When a person dies, the family is issued a death certificate and on that certificate there is listed a cause of death. It may list cancer, heart failure, or some other means. In reality, this death certificate is not completely accurate. While cancer or heart failure may be the immediate cause of death, they are not the ultimate cause of death.

People do not ultimately die of cancer or heart failure but the ultimate cause of death is sin. All people die physical deaths because they are guilty of sin and as the Bible says, “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 3: 23) As God told our human parent - Adam, “You shall not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:17) Death is the consequence and the punishment for sin. Disease and physical deterioration are just the means of death; they are not the cause of death.