A Sermon For You
A Ministry of Huckaby’s Evangelism
The Reality of Death And The Entrance Into Eternal Life
By - Evangelist Gary Huckaby D.D.
Our text verse comes from the book of Romans. Please turn with me to this text from,the book of Romans 5:12; "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men; for that all have sinned:"
The awesome reality of death is a subject which must be faced by each person who is born upon this earth. It is the most definite fact of life. One day each will depart this life by the vehicle of death. So what is death? Why is death to the inhabitants on earth? What happens after death has taken life from the physical bodies of people? It has rightly been stated that at the moment of birth, the journey to the grave is begun. Death stalks every living soul, and always takes it’s bounty. In walking through the grave yards of this earth, we can readily see that death is no respecter of persons. It takes the old, the middle aged, the young and the infant. No one who is born is excluded from this fact, that as in Adam, all must die. Death is such a pertinent fact of life, that even the Lord Himself physically gave His earthly life to death. This He did willingly, to provide a means of escape from the original cause of death; SIN. For the sake of our understanding, let us look into the awesome fact of this subject; Death!
Man’s Creation
Genesis 1:26, says, "And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." Verse 27, then states; "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he them; male and female created he them" And now verse 28, says, "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Man was created in the image of Almighty God, by God. This creation of the first human created is further pictured in the second chapter of Genesis. Many false teachings abound as to the origin of human kind, but the fact of life itself stems from the Creator, God. It is of little value to argue with false believers concerning the origin of mankind as that most will not change their opinion as to the definition of the beginning of life. Only a meeting with the Creator Himself will change these individuals concerning our beginning. No amount of argument will change these poor souls, only God could persuade them to see the truth. God created mankind and He created us for the purpose of having fellowship with Him. in Genesis 2:7, a bit more detail is given to the creation of man. "And 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." The word "formed" in the verse is understood from the Hebrew, as "molded; hand shaped." Before man had a soul, he had a body. The living soul was breathed into the body by God Himself.
Man’s First Sin, Disobedience
Then God took the man which He had made, and put him into the garden of Eden to keep it. (Verse 15.) It was then that God commanded His creation of one warning of his earthly reign on earth. Verses 16, and 17, tell us this; "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Only one command was given restricting man from living in his original state of creation. Not to obey this command would bring as it’s results; disobedience to God’s command, which is sin and then sin which brings forth Death. Romans 6:23, says, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. "The word "death" is defined as "separation." To die means that one is separated from the original state of their creation. To die physically is when the soul and spirit are divided from the physical body. To die spiritually is for the body, soul and spirit of man to be eternally separated from the Creator, God Almighty! This is called in the Bible the second Death! Revelation 20:14, "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. "With only one limitation given to man it would seem too easy not to fail, but as time passed by and the woman was added to the race, man succumbed to the awesome reality of NOT OBEYING that command from God, and he ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This single act of disobedience brought about the fact of death. Death was and still is, the results of disobedience to God. That act of disobedience is called sin, iniquity, unbelief, transgression, and it’s results is the fact that man must die. Romans 5:8, says, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Adam in his willful act of disobeying God’s direct command, caused death to enter into this world. Now death is upon all mankind, passed to us from the first created man. Now all of us are sinners by nature, by birth. Although we have not committed the exact same act of disobedience as did Adam, (eating of the tree) we all are still guilty of being sinful in nature.
Death By Sin
Verse 14, "Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come." Romans 2:11-12, "For there is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law." Romans 3:9, "What then? Are we better than they? No, in no wise; For we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. Verse 10, "As it is written, There is none righteous, no not one." Romans 3:23, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Romans 5:17-18, For if by one man’s offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offense of one many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." In Adam sin began in the whole human race, and all of mankind is passed on that sin nature. This sin nature is what has caused Death to reign upon the whole earth and over the human race. Romans 6:23, says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Death is a result of sin. It is the payment that must be made because of sin, and all of us have to pay the price; "for all have sinned."
After Death, What?
What happens to a person after death takes it’s wages of us? Where does one go when death comes? To answer these two questions we must look at the only book which explains this subject, the subject of death. Death as we have seen is a result of sin. It is the penalty we must pay for our sinful nature. But what after death? 1 Corinthians 15, is notably called the resurrection chapter of the new testament and in this chapter we find this tremendous statement; 1 Corinthians 15:19, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." Verse 20-22, "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." It would do you well to carefully consider this whole chapter, but for our understanding of what death is and what happens after death let us look at verses 25-26. "For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." The first thought is that death our last enemy is gone forever to the believer in Christ. But to the unbeliever it is the beginning of the awful truth that the last enemy death is always upon them forever. For the believer in Christ, death is called sleep in the Bible, but there is more to this than just the word definition sleep. The apostle Paul states in Philippians 1:21, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." How could death be gain if one just sleeps, or lay’s in a grave as some cults teach? There is gain for the believer. Paul in another place tells us, We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord." 2 Corinthians 5:8. For the unbeliever there is not just one death there are two deaths. First a physical, second a spiritual death. Revelation 20:14, "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death."
Which one for you? Are you a Christian? Do you personally know Jesus Christ a Saviour? If not bow to Him and receive Him into your heart and life right now. Pray, Come into my heart Lord Jesus. I repent of my sins and believe you died and rose again to save me. The best I know how I receive your gift of eternal life. In Jesus Name Amen!
If you have made a decision to trust in Christ as your Lord and Saviour, please write and tell us of this your greatest decision in life. We would love to hear from you. Our address is given below.
Huckaby’s Evangelism
P.O.Box 1011
Pine Mountain, Ga.31822
glhuck@earthlink.net
glhuckaby@yahoo.com
glhuckaby@excite.com
