There was a man who had everything going for him. He was rich, he was smart – high I.Q. – he was well educated.
There was only one thing wrong with him. He thought he was dead.So his family and friends prevailed upon him to visit a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist recognized that this man was
intelligent, educated, successful in business. He thought, “Well, I’ll reason him out of his illusion!”So he asked him, “Listen, tell me, do dead men ear?” The patient said, “Well, as a matter of fact, maybe they do. In
many cultures – in the Orient for example – they put food in the tombs so that the dead can come back and consume it. Apparently dead men do eat.”And then the psychiatrist asked him, “Well, do dead men talk?” And he said, “Well, maybe they do. You know,
Houdini, for example, had a telephone put in his coffin so he could call back from the other world. And people apparently talk through mediums. Yeah, dead men do talk sometimes.”Next, the doctor asked, “Do dead men walk?” The man said, “Sometimes they do. There are documented cases, in
England, for example, of haunted castles – the former occupant comes back and walks during the night, rattles chains. Yeah, dead men do walk.”In desperation, he finally asked, “Do dead men bleed?”
And the patient said, “No, absolutely not.
Dead men do not bleed.”The doctor said, “Roll up your sleeve.” So he rolled up his sleeve and the doctor took a scalpel and made a small incision in the man’s forearm. The blood began to roll down his arm and he put his finger on it and tasted it and he said,
“What do you know … dead men do bleed!” [1]
Key Biblical Thoughts:
- beliefs
- salvation
- convictions
- emotions
- commitment
- falsehood
- stubbornness
- hard-heartedness
- The Pharoah of Egypt
- lying to yourself
- self-deception
. . . . .
Sermonic Example:
[restate the story]
The point? You cannot reason people out of unbelief. It will take the Spirit of God to open their eyes to see the glorious promise of life everlasting in a new heaven and a new earth! Even with the assurance of the forgiveness of all of our sins, men will not be persuaded to give up their resistance. . . . .
RhetoricAndHomiletics.Org 