Three Faces of Death
Romans 5:12
Introduction
I heard a saying one time as a young boy. Now the source of the individual that I heard this from escapes me. But it was Benjamin Franklin who we get this quote from. I heard it as “The only thing certain in life are death and taxes.” When Benjamin Franklin said it, it was like this, “In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes.”
How many have heard that? There is a truth to it. I am not going to talk about taxes this morning. But I am going to talk about death. There is not one person here this morning that has not been touched by death in one way or another. Whether by a family member or friend, we have been affected by this phenomenon called death. It has touched the lives of all who have lived. And as we continue in this world the way it is, it will continue to do so.
No doubt about it, death is a sad topic. Nobody really likes to talk about death. We try to avoid it, explain it away but when it all boils down to it, Mr. Franklin was right. We will face death.
May I say this morning that death is not a respecter of persons? It is not. You go to a grave sight and you see different sizes of graves. There are long ones, and there are short ones. Many of you know that I have a triplet brother that died three days after he was born. The church that Connie and I attended in Virginia Beach many years ago was pastured by a man who lost his little boy. He drowned in a pool.
Human beings try to avoid it. Try as they might, as hard as they can, we try not to think of this topic. Death is a morbid subject to many. We don’t gather around the water cooler and start talking about dying. Death brings sadness, emptiness and loneliness. Death leaves many grieving over the loss of a loved one and friend that has departed this life. But we have to understand that it is a part of life.
One thing that death does, it leaves us with questions. Why did God take them? Is he/she going to a better place? Too sadly, many don’t think about death until it is too late. We have to understand that we all will die. Hebrews 9:27 As it is appointed unto man once to die… I think the hardest part about death is losing that person that passed away down here on earth. We may think about all they are going to miss out on, about how much we will miss them (and we will) and so on and so on. Yes death is a sad and often times tragic event. People die lots of ways. From sickness to accidents. They range in age from infants to well over 100 years. It happens to the rich and the poor, the educated and the ignorant, black and the white. We cannot escape it no matter how we try.
This morning I would like to take a look at death. There are many passages of scripture that I could go to, like Luke 16 where we have the story of the rich man and Lazarus. I could go all the way back to the first death (physically speaking of course) in Genesis where Cain slew Able his brother. But I want to use our text verse found in Romans. I believe that answers a lot of questions about death. I.E. where did death come from, who does it affect?
This morning I want to look at the three faces of death. You have heard me many times talking about two deaths: Physical death and spiritual death. But there is a third. Lets look at these three faces.
I. Physical Death
This is the death that brings sorrow to our hearts.
This death refers only to the physical body and it means a separation of the spirit from the body. It is also the kind of death mentioned in Hebrews 9:27. We all have an appointment with this death.
This is the kind of death that sin brought about way back in the Garden of Eden. It’s that which came about thanks to Adam. We have him to thank for that. Lets look at Genesis 2:15-17. It says in James 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Now we need to understand from our text verse that the sin we’re talking about is the sin of Adam. Not his second sin or his third or his fourth. It was his first sin of disobedience which brought death upon all mankind. Romans 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners,…
Let me explain something here. You and I are sinners, as we have said. We are sinners though in four different ways.
1. We are sinners because we commit acts of sin.
2. We’re sinners by nature(sin doesn’t make us sinners, but we sin because we have that nature.
3. We are in the state of sin.
4. Finally, you and I are also sinners by imputation (to put on our account). That is, Adam acted for the human race because he was the head of it.
We are all sinners. That nature is passed down from the man. Everyone here this morning was born and has or had a father. You could not be born, outside of the miracle of God without a father. It is through the father that we all, man and woman, inherit this nature. That is why the virgin birth is so important in our faith. Jesus Christ was born of a virgin. He had to be so that He would not be tainted with the sin nature. That is a fundamental belief and it is one that must not be done away with.
Now, because we all have that nature, according to scripture we will die (physically). Once again our text verse says it very plainly. Not only was the sin nature passed upon all men, but what else? Death. There is no escaping death. We can’t do it. The only we can escape death is by the rapture, but then again, when that happens we get a new body. We will be separated from this physical body and united with a glorified body.
Now to some, physical death is the end of all things. There are people who believe that when you die, that’s it. You are buried and your life if you will is over. I can use Hebrews 9:27 to show the faultiness of that belief. Yes it does say we are appointed to die, but then it says after this (what? Death), the judgment. We all will give an account to God when we pass from this life.
The same can apply to those who think we are reincarnated. That is another myth. We are not reincarnated and coming back as another person or an animal. Again to absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
After we die, or after our spirit leaves the body, it has to go somewhere. No it does not roam this earth scaring people and waiting to “cross over” as some believe. I do not believe in ghosts or goblins. There is a Ghost I believe in that is mentioned in the Bible and he is the Holy Ghost. And I promise you He is not going around trying to scare people.
Where do Christians go when they die? 2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Yes that is where the Christian goes, to be with the Lord. What about those who are not saved? Well I believe the answer to that question is found in Luke 16 and the latter part of verse 22 and the beginning of verse 23. …the rich man also died and was buried. And in hell he lift up his eyes…
That is the physical death. Now lets look at number two:
II. Spiritual Death
This is the death that brings sorrow to God’s heart.
Many have heard me say that spiritual death is when a person goes to hell and is eternally separated from God. I have to stand before you this morning and say that as I was studying for this message, the Lord revealed to me that I was wrong. They say confession is good for the soul. Remember, I am not perfect, and never claim to be. I still need to be taught a lot about the Bible just like you do. But I studied and the Lord has made known to me my error and I corrected it and I learned something. Now I do believe that hell and the lake of fire is a type of death and we will get into that at my last point.
But the second death I would like to show you is a spiritual death. We all at one time or another have already experienced this death. There are some that are still experiencing this death.
How many remember Neil O’Lenick? He is a missionary that we support. He sings a song entitled “Dead Man Walking” If you think about it, that has a lot of truth to it. We all were once dead men walking.
This spiritual death is us being separated from God. This is a condition that we are born in. Remember physical death was passed on to us through Adam, and this death we are born into. What do I mean? Well I want us to look at a verse that we looked at in Sunday School this morning. John 3:18.
There was a time that we were condemned. We were separated from God. Now let’s look at some passages in Scripture and see what the Word of God has to say. First is Ephesians 2:1-5; and Colossians 2:13.
Now looking at those passages, we can see what I am talking about. How many in here are saved? Raise your hand high for a testimony. The writer to the church in Ephesus and the church in Colosse is talking about those that are unsaved. We were like that, dead in our trespasses and sins (separated from God) but because we have accepted Jesus as our Savior we are no more dead (separated from God), but are made alive in Jesus. That is what Coll. 2:13 is talking about. It says quickened together. Who are we quickened together with? It is Jesus. We are alive in Him.
We no longer serve the Devil. We are as the scripture says no longer dead in trespasses and sins. Praise His Holy Name.
But if you are here this morning and you don’t know Christ as your Savior. Then you are still dead. Your sin and evil ways have separated you from God.
We saw physical death, spiritual death and now I want us to look at the last one:
III.Eternal Death
This is a death that brings sorrow to God and to the Christians heart.
This death is the eternal separation from God. Wow! Just imagine that for a moment. To be eternally separated from the One who loves us. From the One who has compassion. To be eternally separated from the One who gave you His only begotten Son.
There is a verse in Luke 12:5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. The book of Matthew says it like this: Matthew 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
If you are saved, you do not have to worry about this death. Jesus has already died this death on the cross at Calvary. Remember when He said My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me? God turned His back on His Son. God if you will separated Himself from the Son so that we can have fellowship with Him. Christian, you have nothing to worry about that third death. Jesus’ death became your death.
Lost person, I want you to see something in the book of Revelation. Turn to Revelation 21:8. Unless you believe on Jesus Christ, that will be your fate. To be eternally separated from God and His love. Can you imagine a world without love? That will be the way you spend eternity.
I don’t want anyone to be bummed out and say wow Preacher what a message. A message on death. That really cheered me up. But I want you to understand something. In order to live, we must first die. Death is not an end. We need to look at death as the beginning. For the Saints, death is like a graduation. We will begin to live in the presence of God for all of eternity.
I don’t want to end this message on a sad note. If you are here this morning and your not saved, I have some good news for you. Today could be the day that you are made alive. That you are as Jesus told Nicodemus in the book of John, born again. Listen, theres nothing we can do about the physical death. We are going to one day depart our bodies. But theres something you can do about the other two. Romans 10:9.
