It is not just that we are dead but that we also asleep that is the problem. We’ve all heard the phrase popularized in movies, “dead man walking.” It took hold because it is a catchy phrase that applies to a lot of situations in our lives.
There are times that we find ourselves in situations where we feel like a dead man walking. It may be as our company falls apart. It may be in a time of caring for a loved one who is dying. It may be in reaction to the threat of attack or terrorism. But, most appropriately, it is an apt description of life without Jesus.
The phrase in movies represented an inmate who had received a conviction sentence of the death penalty. They were still breathing, but their days were numbered. Without Jesus, that is the state of all mankind. We a born, we breath, we walk, we die. But Jesus offers to take us from death into life, to enable us to cross over, from the land we are to one where we are forgiven and set free of our death sentence.
But for all too many people, they are not dead men walking, but dead men asleep. They go through life in denial of death, not wanting to think about it. They go through their days as if they will last forever, while knowing they won’t. Routines govern our days, to do lists and tasks. We sleep walk.
The greatest call to those around us is not “do you want to live forever?”, but “can you wake up out of the hypnotic sleep that sin puts us in to realize where we are, what awaits us and to understand that we have a choice?”.
My Answers:
9.
a.
crossed over from death to life – we live in the land of the dead / sin
b.
If I hear and believe (Revelation: Reads, Hears, Heeds), then I am assured
c.
It says all rise from the dead, some to eternal life, some to condemnation – v29. This is contrary to what non-christians believe that there is nothing after death or that they miss out on heaven only.
10.
That we have assurance. That He stated that He is God, the Son of God, the judge of the world and worthy to receive honor and praise as God the Father does. These are not things someone else said of Him, but His words. And in those words He promised to give us the ability to cross over from death to life.
The Notes are Good 