Friday, June 13, 2008, Part 1

"Women received their dead raised to life again. And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection" (Hebrews 11:35).

IDEA: There are those who have gone to death to testify that there's more to life than simply living.

PURPOSE: To help listeners understand the power in the promise of resurrection.

Have you ever had a younger person who was close and dear to you die?

If it were possible, would you want that person to come back to life again?

I. The resurrection to life of someone we love would bring great comfort.

You can see that in Hebrews 11:35 where it states that "Women received their dead raised to life again."

It is not hard to think of the delight of those women who had their sons restored to them.

II. But following that verse, the writer said, "there were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection" (11:35).

What do you think the writer means in speaking of "a better resurrection"?

If someone is simply restored to this life, that person will get sick and will die again.

A "better resurrection" is to be raised to eternal life.

In the Scriptures "eternal life" is not merely everlasting life. It is a quality of life that is really the very life of God.

III. To believe in "a better resurrection" gives Christians confidence in death and hope in the life to come.

It gives confidence.

When John Wesley was asked the secret of the Methodist movement, he responded, "Our folks die well."

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews says that their confidence was so great that people would not give in to torture because they believed in the reality of resurrection.

It gives hope.

Toward the close of his life, John Wesley visited a wealthy friend. They walked through his formal gardens, and his friend said, "Wesley, you could have had all of this and more." John Wesley replied, "And there is another world."