Our Everlasting Fountain Of Youth

Our Everlasting Fountain of Youth

Romans 8:18-25

The fountain of youth has been told in stories since medieval times. The Fountain of Youth is a mythical spring that restores the youth of anyone who drinks or bathes in its waters. Many have gone on conquests to find this mythical spring of water, but all have failed. In 1565, a Spanish explorer named Pedro Menéndez de Avilés established the first Spanish settlement in America, or the New World. This settlement is now located in modern day St. Augustine, Florida. Menéndez was on a political gain, and, on his conquest, he claimed he had found the fountain of youth. Many settlers came from Spain and other areas to see the fountain of youth after hearing of its great stories. Now, even today, there is a park in St. Augustine in memory of this first settlement and fountain of youth.

In the olden days, every man and woman longed to find the fountain of youth, to live forever and to be eternally young. One of the facts of life is that we all are aging. The Bible tells us that in Ecclesiastes 3:1 “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” In verse 11 it states, the one who has made everything appropriate in its time has also “set eternity in our hearts.” Mankind doesn’t want to die. Mankind doesn’t want to grow old – he wants to live forever. Men and women desire to have the perfect body and the perfect mind. We long to run and not get tired and to walk and not become weary. We do not like the thought of getting older and facing our own mortality even when the signs are all around us.

Billions of dollars are spent each year, in this country alone, for cosmetic surgery. The identity and self-worth of many people are significantly based on their outward appearance and perceived ability to always look youthful. They want to look younger and beautiful. They don’t want the works of time to affect their outward beauty. Like in the olden days, imagine how many people would try to flock to a mythical spring of water. People would pay billions of dollars for a taste of the water that can make you youthful again. But I am here to tell you that the “Real Fountain of Youth Exists.”

It is possible to live forever and be eternally young in a mortal body. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the Bible tells “those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” Isaiah 40:31 – it is possible to never know sickness, pain, or death.

The Fountain of Youth is real and referred to in the Bible as God’s Holy Word. The Apostle Paul speaks of it in Romans 8:18-25. God’s Holy Word promises to fulfill every hope and desire God had in mind when he set eternity in our heart. Through this wonderful passage of Scripture, Paul reveals four truths concerning this fountain of youth, which God has already placed within our hearts. Firstly.

I. The Everlasting Fountain of Youth is More than any Suffering:

Paul says in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” This statement comes from a man who knew what it was like to suffer for Christ. Paul’s sufferings are also listed in 2 Corinthians 1:8. He told the churches at Corinth: “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life.”

Yet in spite of his sufferings, Paul rejoiced. He considered suffering for Christ a gift: For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake. (Philippians 1:29). Paul also considered suffering for Christ one of his three gains in life: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformable unto his death;” (Philippians 3:10). So, Paul cherished the fellowship of the Lord’s sufferings for he knew it was producing great gain in his Christian life.

God also gave Paul the spiritual insight to see that the great gain through suffering is a temporary glimpse of light compared to the eternal glory that awaits us in our Father’s kingdom. The future for a believer is more than a fountain of youth, it is a future inexpressible in words. Today people suffer through painful cosmetic surgery, brutal workouts, and starving diets to obtain youthful beauty and satisfaction. “Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown” (1 Corinthians 9:25). Brothers and sisters, nothing is worthy to be compared to the glorious fountain of youth that has been crowned upon us through our servitude for the Lord.