In the Days of His Flesh — E.A. Johnston

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

Listen to me, friends. Buddha lived, died, and was buried. Muhammad lived, died, and was buried. Confucius lived, died, and was buried. Jesus lived, died, and was buried. But he rose again. Christianity was never built on a coffin lid.

We serve a resurrected Christ. The celebration of Easter is the celebration of Jesus Christ and his resurrection. We serve a living Lord. My text today is found in the book of Hebrews. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends.

Hebrews 5:7–9 and Obedient Salvation

We will be in chapter 5 and verses 7 through 9. Let me read us a striking passage of Scripture to us at this time. Listen to the word of God, friends, and may God's Spirit attend the reading of his holy word.

Who, in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears unto him, that was able to save him from death, and was heard, and that he feared that we were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered, and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that accepted him as their personal Savior.

Salvation and Obedience Under Judgment

Does it say that? We think it says that. Listen to it again. He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that what? Obey him. Now, we just chomped a good portion of the church right out the door and put a padlock on the gates of heaven because the only ones who will get into God's holy heaven are blood-bought believers who obey him.

This lawless bunch in our pulpits and churches today, friends, will not pass muster on that day when all lives are revealed and reviewed under the white-hot scorching and searching spotlight of the Holy Spirit as the books are opened and the awe passes beneath the intense scrutiny of the judge of all the earth.

Listen to me, friends. What we call salvation today is a laughingstock to devils and an utter amazement to angels. Although he were a son, our text says, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.

Counting the Days of Our Flesh

We better start talking about what time we have left in this world and take it more seriously as it relates to things of eternal worth. The only thing that has any worth in this world is the worth of a soul in regard to what our text calls eternal salvation.

The title of my message today, friends, is In the Days of His Flesh because there came a time in the counsel of God when Jesus stepped out of heaven to be born a man. He left a timeless eternity to reckon his life by days.

His earthly ministry was a clock ticking away and an hourglass of sand slipping away. As all human flesh is here for a little while, my Bible tells me, our life is a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away, so says James.

We spend our years as a tale that is told and man is soon cut off and we fly away, so says Moses. And Jesus knew his shortened days and he knew that each day counted and he counted the cost of each day that ticked away as he set his face like a flint on his way to Calvary.

Christ’s Humanity and Ministry in Time

Our text says, In the days of his flesh. That is referring to his three and a half years of public ministry that had the constrictions of a timeline of 24-hour days that ticked away as the crowds pressed upon him as the religious leaders reviled him.

He only had so many hours in the day to perform miracles for the sick and needy. Only so many hours in the day to train his stubborn disciples who, although were teachable men, they were only men at best, just like the rest of us.

This man Jesus had a ministry which was measured in days. The older I get, friends, the shorter the days are as time flees away from me. Some men have different days of flesh to serve God and the gospel.

Some live to be old men, like John Wesley or Trolls Finney. Others die young, like David Brainerd or Robert Murray McChain. Some make it to middle age, like Whitefield or Edwards or Spurgeon, each dying in their fifties.

Some make it to their sixties, like Moody or Nettleton. I like what Graham Scroggie had to say about the days of our flesh. As he spoke about Stephen being stoned to death, he said, Stephen's day of ministry had scarcely begun when it was violently ended.

But the greatness of one's life must not be looked for in length of days. Stephen means crown, and early did he receive his. As followers of Christ Jesus do we place a great emphasis on how we spend our days as we live for him?

Do we realize just how short the days of our life really are, friends? Are we living for eternity and the things of eternal worth, like the souls of men? Our text in Hebrew states that with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, Christ in the days of his flesh subjected himself to death.

As a man he grew tired and slept. As a man he perspired in sweat. He was tempted as a man. He wept like a man. He hungered like a man. He thirsted like a man. He suffered. He bled. He died. He rose again.

He ascended into heaven. He sits at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again to judge the living and the dead. He is resurrected Christ, who has the form of a man in heaven, the man Jesus.

He couldn't reconcile us sinners to the Father without emptying his glory to be born of a virgin who in the days of his flesh came down here so we could go up there. Where would you be, friend, without his death and resurrection?

Where would you be? What would you be doing with your life as it ticks away in the days of your flesh? Let us count the days, and let us count the cost as we live for him and the spread of the gospel.

The Curse of Sin and the Urgency of Salvation

This whole world will one day be burned up, so Peter tells us, and people right now are burning in an everlasting hell of smoke and misery because of sin. Sin is the most deadly disease to ever infect mankind, but there is a remedy for sin in the person of Jesus Christ, who bore the curse, became sin for us as a sin substitute so we can have pardon for sin and eternal life.

If you've never been saved and have never gotten to Christ, friend, to have your sins washed in his blood, don't delay. Time is slipping away. Let us pray.