Admonition Podcast

Last weekend, the Nesbitt Church of Christ had a lectureship, or yeah, lectures series,
dealing with the tabernacle and the typology between the tabernacle and the church and

Christ and the Christian age.

But as one of those lessons was being presented, I got to thinking about something as

If you talk to many preachers, you'll find they often do while they're listening to
someone else preach.

And it dawned on me that I don't know that I've ever presented a lesson describing God,
the one who gives life.

Take your Bible, if you will, and open to Genesis chapter 1.

as you consider all of the things that this world has advanced in, as you consider all of
the wonders of technology and medicine, the procedures that exist down to the ability to

rewrite the genomic structure of a person.

One of the things that is a great separator

between man and all of his ingenuity and God is man is very adept at reordering what God
created.

but man can create nothing.

and yet God creates out of nothing.

Genesis chapter 1 and in verse 1, in the beginning we read,

The earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep and the
Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Then God said, let there be light.

And there was light.

Out of nothing, God created light.

If you go down through the remainder of this chapter, you will find over and over and over
again.

and God said.

And then God creates something out of what had never existed.

Turn over to Hebrews chapter 1.

In Hebrews chapter 1, the Hebrew writer as he is beginning to present the argument that
Christ is

better than Moses, that the new covenant is better than the old, that the new sacrifices
are better than the old, that the gospel is greater than the law of Moses.

He will write God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the
fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has

appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.

Turn to Psalm 19.

you find in Psalm 19 that the psalmist writer will point out

that the heavens declare the glory of God.

And the firmament shows His handiwork.

when you look at the world around you, you observe the universe, when you give insight to
everything that exists, you are looking at the handiwork of God.

And when God created it, go back to Genesis chapter 1 and you'll see everything He created
in its created state as He finished it was very good.

It was not the imperfect picture you see today.

It was not the degrading version that you look at in the mirror each morning.

It was very good.

we consider number one, that out of nothing, God created life.

not something that humanity can do.

You might say, well, Aaron, humanity can do this or that, yeah, with a machine running on
electricity that only exists because there's gravity, that only exists because there's a

planet, that only exists because there's a sun.

Trust me, we don't create anything out of nothing.

Because everything we'd use

To create it, we'd have to use God's stuff to do it.

We don't create anything out of nothing, let alone life out of nothing.

But then consider as well as we track forward in the Old Testament that God also created
life out of a body that was good as dead.

The text tells us, turn to Genesis chapter 18.

Through the course of the Old Testament, God will promise to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12
and reiterated in Genesis chapter 15 and elsewhere that Abraham or Abram as he was known

at the time and Sarai would have a son.

That he would come from Abram and Sarai.

That he would not be born of someone else but from Abram and Sarai.

And yet when the promise is made, Abram is seventy-five years old.

When the Son finally arrives, Abram's a hundred years old.

In Genesis chapter eighteen and in verse nine we read, then they said to him, Where is
Sarah your wife?

So he said, here in the tent.

Now as this event is unfolding, God has manifested himself in the form of a person and
together with two angels he is visiting with Abram.

and they ask, where's And he said, I will certainly return according to the time of life.

And behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.

Sarah was listening in the tent door, which was behind him.

Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age and Sarah had passed the age of
childbearing.

Therefore Sarah laughed within herself.

saying, "'After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure my Lord being old also?' And the
Lord said to Abraham, "'Why did Sarah laugh, saying, "'Shall I surely bear a child, since

I am old?

"'Is anything too hard for the Lord?' "'At the appointed time I will return to you,
"'according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.'"

out of a life that was beyond the point of childbirth, out of the body of a person who was
beyond the point of bearing children, God says, I will bring forth a son.

If you turn to Genesis chapter 21, Genesis chapter 21 and in verse 1, and the Lord visited
Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken.

For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the set time of which God had
spoken to him.

And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him whom Sarah bore to him Isaac."
If you turn over to Hebrews chapter 11, you'll notice that the Hebrew writer has something

to say concerning this event.

The Hebrew writer writes to us and he says, beginning in verse 11, by faith Sarah herself
also conceived strength, or received strength.

to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged him
faithful who had promised.

Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, the text says, were born as many as the
stars of the sky in multitude innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.

Out of one who was as good as

dead in his body, in the physical function to be able to give life, God created a nation.

And not just one nation, but as the text points out, a number as innumerable as the sand
of the seashore in direct fulfillment of the promise of God.

When you think about God, He's the one who can create life out of nothing.

He's the one who can promise life out of a body that is dead.

but then consider that God can even create life out of a dead stick.

Turn to Numbers chapter 11.

in Numbers Chapter 11.

as Israel is.

going through some tumultuous times.

I'm sorry, it's Numbers chapter 17.

If I could read my own writing it would help.

Numbers chapter 17, the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and
get from them a rod from each father's house.

All their leaders, according to their father's houses, twelve rods.

Write each man's name on his rod.

and you shall write Aaron's name on the rod of Levi.

For there shall be one rod for the head of each father's house.

Then you shall place them in the tabernacle of meeting before the testimony where I meet
with you.

And it shall be that the rod of the man whom I choose will blossom.

Thus I will rid myself of the complaints of the children of Israel which they make against
you."

So Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and each of their leaders gave him a rod, a
piece.

For each leader, according to their father's houses, twelve rods, and the rod of Aaron was
among their rods.

And Moses placed the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness.

Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses went into the tabernacle of witness, and
behold, the rod of Aaron

of the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and had produced blossoms and yielded
ripe almonds.

Then Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the children of Israel and
they looked and each man took his rod.

And the Lord said to Moses, Bring Aaron's rod back before the testimony to be kept as a
sign against the rebels that you may put their complaints away from me lest they die.

Thus did Moses, just as the Lord had commanded him, so he did.

So the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, Surely we die, we perish, we all perish.

Whoever even comes near the tabernacle of the Lord must die, shall we utterly die.

In this text, you have those who are arguing against Moses and against Aaron that they're
taking too much power to themselves, and God says, I'm going to end this discussion.

Gather up a rod, one from every tribe.

For the tribe of Levi, you gather a rod from Aaron, you put his name on it.

You go put him in the tabernacle in the testimony before the ark, and you put them there
where I commune with you.

and I'm going to tell you what's going to happen.

You're going to lay down a pile of sticks and one of them is going to come to life.

So they take the rods in, these are just normal everyday walking sticks, rods like a
shepherd might use.

They take the sticks in, they lay them down on the floor of the tabernacle, they go out.

They come the next morning and here's all the sticks.

And all of them are exactly the way they were the day before, except one.

And you know, we talk about Aaron's rod that budded, but maybe that's just a little bit of
a misnomer, because it wasn't just Aaron's rod that budded, it was Aaron's rod that

blossomed, budded, flowered, and brought forth almonds without being stuck in the ground
and in one night.

Now if you can do that, that's impressive.

But what's the point?

Out of nothing, God gives life.

Out of a dead body, God gives a son.

Out of a dead stick, God can create life.

But we're not done.

Turn to 2 Kings chapter 5.

In 2 Kings chapter 5

we're told of a man.

His name was Naaman.

We read verse one, now Naaman commander of the army of the king of Syria was a great and
honorable man in the eyes of his master because by him the Lord had given victory to

Syria.

He was also a mighty man of valor but a leper.

If you know much about leprosy you will know that it is a disease whereby the flesh

dies and decays while it is still on the person.

And this man had a body that was full of it.

Notice the text, the Syrians had gone out on raids and had brought back a captive, a young
girl from the land of Israel.

She waited on Naaman's wife.

Then she said to her mistress, if only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria,
for he would heal him of his leprosy.

And Naaman went in and told his master saying, and thus said the girl who was from the
land of Israel.

Then the king of Syria said, Go now and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.

So he departed and took with him ten talons of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and
ten changes of clothing.

Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel which said, Now be advised when this
letter comes to you that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of

his leprosy.

And it happened.

When the king of Israel read the letter that he tore his clothes and said, am I God to
kill and to make alive that this man sends to me a man to heal him of his leprosy?

Therefore, please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel with me.

The king of Syria, not knowing any better, he sends Naaman with the gifts to the king of
Israel, not realizing the king of Israel and the Lord are not exactly on good terms.

So, Namban arrives before the king of Israel with all the gifts, with all of the great
things that he brought and a letter that says, from the king of Syria, please heal my

servant.

that to be an opportunity for the king of Syria to cause a war and start an argument.

He says, am I God?

How am I going to do this?

But then notice verse 8, so it was when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of
Israel had torn his clothes that he sent to the king saying, why have you torn your

clothes?

Please let him come to me and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.

Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot and he stood at the door of Elisha's house.

And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and
your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.

But Naaman became furious and went away, and said, Indeed I said to myself, He will surely
come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over

the place, and heal this leprosy.

Are not the Abana and the Farpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than the waters of
Israel?

Could I not wash in them and be clean?

So he turned and went away in a rage.

And his servants came near and spoke to him and said, My father, if the prophet had told
you to do something great, would you not have done it?

How much more then when he says to you, wash and be clean?

So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan according to the saying of the man of
God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child.

and he was clean.

Naaman came with the perception, with the mindset, you know what?

I'm going to arrive with all the gifts, with all the treasure, I'm going to arrive and
they're going to recognize my glory, they're going to recognize my status, they're going

to perform some great ceremony, and then I'm going to be healed.

And God proves again that God doesn't do things the way humans think God ought to do
things.

He does them his way.

Elisha doesn't even go out to talk to him.

He sends a servant.

Go dip seven times in the River Jordan and you'll be clean.

Neyeman is furious.

starts back towards Syria.

Can't imagine why he would dip himself if he wanted to get a bath.

He could go back to the rivers of Damascus and get a bath.

but his servants come to him and question his reasoning.

If the prophet had asked you to do some great deed, would you not have done it?

So he turns around and he goes to the Jordan River and he dips himself in seven times.

Time one, still has leprosy.

Time two, still decaying in his flesh.

Time three, still dead in his flesh.

Time four, still has leprosy.

Time five, six.

You know, sometimes when we are commanded by God to do something and it doesn't work time
one, even though God never said it would work time one, we start to wonder, does God

really know what he's talking about?

And then it doesn't work time two and we start to wonder some more.

And time three and we start to wonder some more.

Time four and we start to wonder some more.

Time five, by the time we get to the fifth or sixth time and it hasn't worked yet, even
though God never told us it would, we start to think maybe I should just adjust it a

little bit.

Maybe God didn't know what he was talking about.

Maybe we should just do it our way instead of God's way.

had Naaman stopped after the sixth dip, gotten up and said, you know what, the rivers of
Damascus really could do better than this.

Went back home, plunged himself in the rivers of Damascus for seven times, what would he
have been?

Dead, decaying, and in leprosy.

But he didn't.

as a soldier, as one who understands the execution of orders.

He did exactly what he was told to do.

And the seventh time, he plunged himself into the Jordan River and he came up and his body
was not just healed.

It was like he had just been born.

And if anyone in the world, in any corporation, could package that up and deliver it and
sell it to females, they would make all the money in the world.

but Naaman understood that it was God who could give life.

then consider, if you will, John chapter 12.

Sorry, John chapter 11.

In John chapter 11, there was a certain man who was sick, Lazarus of Bethany.

The town of Mary and her sister Martha.

It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair,
whose brother Lazarus was sick.

Therefore the sister sent to him Jesus saying, Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.

When Jesus heard that, he said, this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God,
that the Son of God may be glorified through it.

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was.

Then after he said, after this, he said to his disciples, let us go to Judea again.

The disciples said to him, Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone you, and are you going
there again?

Jesus answered, there not twelve hours in the day?

If any one walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.

Then he said these things he said, and after that he said, Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but
I go that I may wake him up.

Then his disciples said, Lord, if he sleeps, he will get well.

However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought he was speaking about taking rest in
sleep.

Then Jesus said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was
not there, that you may believe.

Nevertheless, let us go to him.

Then Thomas, who is called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, let us also go, that we
may die with him.

So when Jesus came, he found that he had already been in the tomb four days.

Now Bethany was near Jerusalem about two miles away.

and many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary to comfort them
concerning their brother.

Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him.

But Mary was sitting in the house.

Now Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.

Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again.

Martha said to him, know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live.

And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.

Do you believe this?

She said to him, Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to
come into the world.

And when she had said these things,

She went away and secretly called Mary, her sister, saying, The teacher has come and is
calling for you.

As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to him.

Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but he was in the place where Martha met him.

Then the Jews who were with her in the house and comforting her when they saw that Mary
rose up quickly and went out followed her, saying, She is going to the tomb to weep there.

Then when Mary came where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him,
Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

Therefore when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in
His spirit and was troubled and said, Where have you laid Him?

They said to Him, Lord, come and see.

Jesus wept.

Then the Jews said, See how he loved him.

And some of them said, Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept
this man from dying?

Then Jesus again groaning in himself came to the tomb, and it was a cave, and a stone lay
against it.

Jesus said, Take away the stone.

Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, Lord, by this time there is a stench,
for he has been dead four days.

Jesus said to her, Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory
of God?

Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was laying and Jesus
lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me and I know that

you always hear me, but because of the people who are standing by, I said this, that they
may believe.

Now when he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

And he who had died came out bound hand and foot.

with grave clothes and his face was wrapped with a cloth.

Jesus said to them, lose him and let him go.

Out of

a four-day-old carcass.

Jesus called back his friend and gave him life.

The point was made, and maybe appropriately so, by Brother Marshall Keeble years ago.

He made the point that there's a reason why Jesus said Lazarus' name.

Because the power of God is such that had Jesus not specified who was to come forth, he
would have said come forth and the whole graveyard would have come forth.

out of the tomb came life.

But you might already know what comes next, right?

Turn to Luke 23.

Luke 23.

beginning in verse forty four

We read, now it was about the sixth hour.

And there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.

Then the sun was darkened and the veil of the temple was torn in two.

And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, Father, into your hands I commit
my spirit.

Having said this, He breathed His last.

So when the centurion saw what had happened, he glorified God, saying, certainly this was
a righteous man.

And the whole crowd who came together to that site, seeing what had been done, beat their
breast and returned.

But all his acquaintances and the women who followed him from Galilee stood at a distance
watching these things.

Now behold, there was a man named Joseph, a council member, a good and just man.

He had not consented to their decision.

Indeed, he was from uh Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who himself was also waiting for the
kingdom of God.

This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the
rock where no one had ever lain before.

That day was the preparation and the Sabbath drew near.

And the women who had come with him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the
tomb and how the body was laid.

Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils, and they rested on the Sabbath
according to the commandment.

Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they and certain other women
with them came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.

But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

And it happened as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold two men stood by
them in shining garments.

Then as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, Why do you
seek the living among the dead?

He is not here, but is risen.

Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be
delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

And they remembered His words.

Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the
rest.

It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them.

who told these things to the apostles.

And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.

But Peter arose and ran to the tomb, and stooping down, he saw the linen clothes laying by
themselves.

And he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.

Jesus Christ.

God in the flesh.

went to the cross.

and there He gave up His life.

that the glory of God might be known, that the purchased pardon might be enacted, that the
blood of the sacrifice might be shed.

But as he was taken down from that cross, as he was wrapped in that linen, as he was laid
in that tomb, for many of us, that would have been the end of the story.

but his father is the God who gives life out of nothing.

Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

Paul would write in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 and in verse 1.

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preach to you, which also you
received and in which you stand, by which also you were saved, if you hold fast the word

which I preach to you, unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third

day according to the Scriptures."

and that he was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.

After that he was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part
remained to the present, but some have fallen asleep.

After that he was seen by James, then by all the apostles, then last of all he was seen by
me also, as by one born out of due season."

Paul will write, our Lord is an innu-grave.

Our Lord is an innu-tomb.

He's alive.

And because He's alive, there is a message to be preached.

Because He is alive, there is a message to be heard.

Because He is alive, there is a message that gives life.

turn to Romans chapter 6.

Paul as he writes.

Romans chapter 6 verse 1 says, what shall we say then?

Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

Certainly not.

How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized
into His death?

Paul, as he writes to the church at Rome, will ask them, do you not realize that if you
are a member of the body of Christ, if you are a part of the church for which he died, if

you are a saved individual who was once dead in your sins, there was a moment when you
died with Christ and you were buried with

Christ.

But Christ didn't stay in the tomb, did he?

Notice what he says.

He says, Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ
was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of

life.

For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also
be in the likeness of His resurrection.

knowing this that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done
away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

For he who has died has been freed from sin."

Some will tell you, if you're lost, pray and God will save you.

The only problem with that is there's not a passage or a command anywhere in scripture
that commands it.

And just like Naaman in the days of old, when Elisha told him what to do, Naaman didn't
have a say.

Rather, Jesus said in Mark chapter 16 verses 15 and 16, he that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved.

He that believeth not shall be damned.

And Paul will write in Romans chapter 6 that the individual who is one who has died with
Christ, has been crucified with Christ, has been buried with Christ, and has been

resurrected with Christ is the person who has life.

Paul was intimately familiar with that because Paul had been met by Jesus on the road to
Damascus.

Paul revealed in 1 Corinthians 15 that he had seen Jesus as well there on the road to
Damascus and he had been told to go to Damascus and after he had seen Jesus, after he

believed in Jesus, Paul spent three days praying to God.

And yet when Ananias

Acts chapter 22 verse 16, Ananias says, Saul, Saul, why tarryest thou?

Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of Lord.

Ananias arrived and Ananias was not under the mistaken assumption that Paul was now saved
because he had been praying.

Rather, Paul, sorry, Saul was being told to obey the command.

to die, to die to sin, to be buried with Christ and be resurrected to newness of life.

Turn, if you will, as we close to 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

Paul as he writes to the church at Corinth.

We'll write this.

Verse 12, "'For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity to
boast on our behalf that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not

in heart.

For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God.

If we are of sound mind, it is for you.

For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus, that if one died for all,

And then all died, and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for
themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

Therefore from now on we regard no one according to the flesh even though we have known
Christ according to the flesh yet now we know him thus no longer.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creature.

Old things have passed away.

Behold all things have become new.

Now all things are of God.

who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of
reconciliation.

Paul writes to the church at Corinth and he says, you know what God's been doing?

God's been giving life through our message.

God has been giving life to those who are willing to receive that message, who are willing
to be saved by that message because guess what?

God's the only one who can give life out of death.

If you're here this morning and you're outside the body of Christ, if you haven't been
obedient to the gospel call, to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, to repent of

your sins, to confess the name of Christ and be immersed in water, to die to sin because
you're already dead in sin, to be resurrected with Christ out of that watery grave of

baptism.

to rise in newness of life because it is in obedience to God that God says He will make
you a new creature.

If you've not done that, maybe today is the day where you begin asking the questions you
need to have answered to be ready to do it.

If you're outside the body of Christ, why stay there?

Why?

continue to be dead.

Naaman's servants asked him, if God had asked you to do some great thing, wouldn't you
have done it?

we ask the same question.

If God had asked you to do some great thing, wouldn't you do it?

but he simply asked you to die to yourself, to be immersed in water for the remission of
your sins.

And Ananias asks, what are you waiting on?

If you have need of the invitation, why not come forward now as we stand and as we sing.