WHY DO SEEK THE LIVING AMONG THE DEAD? (5 OF 5)
by Jeff Strite
Scripture: John 19:31-37
This content is part of a series.
Why Do Seek The Living Among The Dead? (5 of 5)
Series: The Wonder of it All
Jeff Strite
John 19:31-37
OPEN: In the last century, there was a very prominent British philosopher named Bertrand Russell who had a interesting view of life and death. He wrote:
“The life of man is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, towards a goal that few can hope to reach and where none can tarry long. One by one, as they march, our comrades vanish from our sight, seized by the silent orders of omnipotent death.
Brief and powerless is man's life, on his and all his race the slow, sure doom falls, pitiless and dark. Blind to good and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipotent matter rolls on its relentless way. For man, condemned today to lose his dearest, tomorrow himself to pass through
the gates of darkness, it remains only to cherish, ere yet the blow falls, the lofty thoughts that ennoble his little day.”
Wow. Talk about depressing.
What could possibly have prompted Bertrand Russell to write such a thing?
Well, Bertrand Russell didn’t believe in Jesus.
He was an atheist!
He rejected God and denied the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
For the atheist there is no back door out of the grave.
Once you die, you’re dead, and that’s the way you’re going to stay.
An atheist doesn’t go looking for the living among the dead, because for the atheist death is final.
(PAUSE)
Now in the text we read this morning, the angels at the tomb asked the women:
“Why do seek the living among the dead?”
Why would the angels ask that question?
Well, they asked that question because these women hadn’t come looking for a living Jesus. They’d come to this cemetery to seek the dead amongst the dead. When you go to a cemetery… that’s generally what you’re there for.
ILLUS: Well, almost always. I remember a girl in my home church who dated a guy who took her to the graveyard for their first date. When he mentioned it, s ...
Series: The Wonder of it All
Jeff Strite
John 19:31-37
OPEN: In the last century, there was a very prominent British philosopher named Bertrand Russell who had a interesting view of life and death. He wrote:
“The life of man is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, towards a goal that few can hope to reach and where none can tarry long. One by one, as they march, our comrades vanish from our sight, seized by the silent orders of omnipotent death.
Brief and powerless is man's life, on his and all his race the slow, sure doom falls, pitiless and dark. Blind to good and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipotent matter rolls on its relentless way. For man, condemned today to lose his dearest, tomorrow himself to pass through
the gates of darkness, it remains only to cherish, ere yet the blow falls, the lofty thoughts that ennoble his little day.”
Wow. Talk about depressing.
What could possibly have prompted Bertrand Russell to write such a thing?
Well, Bertrand Russell didn’t believe in Jesus.
He was an atheist!
He rejected God and denied the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
For the atheist there is no back door out of the grave.
Once you die, you’re dead, and that’s the way you’re going to stay.
An atheist doesn’t go looking for the living among the dead, because for the atheist death is final.
(PAUSE)
Now in the text we read this morning, the angels at the tomb asked the women:
“Why do seek the living among the dead?”
Why would the angels ask that question?
Well, they asked that question because these women hadn’t come looking for a living Jesus. They’d come to this cemetery to seek the dead amongst the dead. When you go to a cemetery… that’s generally what you’re there for.
ILLUS: Well, almost always. I remember a girl in my home church who dated a guy who took her to the graveyard for their first date. When he mentioned it, s ...
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