Jesus Said I Am The Resurrection
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead yet shall he live.
And whosoever liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die: Believest thou this?
She said unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art that Christ that Son of God, which should come into the world.
John 11:25-27 (1599 Geneva Study Bible GNV)
If you once do believe in Christ, and come to live, there is this sweet reflection for you, “Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” Our Arminian friends say that you may be a child of God today and a child of the devil tomorrow. Write out that statement, and place at the bottom of it the name “Arminius,” and then put the scrap of paper into the fire: it is the best thing you can do with it, for there is no truth in it.
Jesus says, “Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” Here is a very literal translation: “And every one who lives and believes on me, in no wise shall die forever.” This is from “The Englishman’s Greek New Testament,” and nothing can be better. The believer may pass through the natural change called death, as far as his body is concerned; but as for his soul it cannot die, for it is written, “I give unto my sheep eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” “He that believeth in me hath everlasting life.” “The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” “He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved.”
These are not “ifs” and “buts,” and faint hopes; but they are dead certainties, nay, living certainties, out of the mouth of the living Lord Himself. You get the life of God in your soul, and you shall never die. “Do you mean that I may do as I like, and live in sin?” No, man, I mean nothing of the sort; what right have you to impute such teaching as that to me? I mean that you shall not love sin and live in it, for that is death; but you shall live unto God. Your likes shall be so radically changed that you shall abhor evil all your days, and long to be holy as God is holy; and you shall be kept from transgression, and shall not go back to wallow in sin.
If in some evil hour you backslide, yet shall you be restored; and the main current of your life shall be from the hour of your regeneration towards God, and holiness, and heaven. The angels that rejoiced over you when you repented made no mistake; they shall go on to rejoice till they welcome you amidst the everlasting songs and Hallelujahs of the blessed at the right hand of God. Believest thou this? Come, poor soul, believest thou this? Who are you? That does not matter, you can get into the “whosoever.” That ark will hold all God’s Noahs. What is any man that he should have the filth of another man’s drains poured into his ear? No, no: confess to God, but not to man unless you have wronged him, and confession of the wrong is due to him.
“Ah,” saith one, “you don’t know what I am.” No, and I don’t want to know what you are; but if you are so far gone that there seems to be not even a ghost of a shade of a shadow of a hope anywhere about you, yet if you believe in Jesus you shall live. Trust the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is worthy to be trusted. Throw yourself upon Him, and He will carry you in His bosom. Cast your whole weight upon His atonement; it will bear the strain. Hang on Him as the vessel hangs on the nail, and seek no other support. Depend upon Christ with all your might just as you now are, and as the Lord liveth you shall live, and as Christ reigneth you shall reign over sin, and as Christ cometh to glory you shall partake of that glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Excerpt from Though He Were Dead.