Participants: Pr. David Asscherick
Series Code: DP
Program Code: DP000016
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00:16 Good evening everyone, a great privilege to be here yet again.
00:20 I'm looking forward to tonight's presentation: How to face death 00:23 unafraid, and with absolute confidence. 00:27 Death is something that we've all thought about, some of us 00:29 are a little older and thinking about it more than, perhaps, 00:33 the younger class, but the reality is that this is 00:35 a question that everybody wonders about, no one is immune 00:39 from thinking about this question of death. 00:42 Most people would probably face death with fear, with 00:46 trepidation, with confusion, with concern, and our message 00:49 tonight is entitle: How to face death unafraid and with absolute 00:54 confidence. So what are we going to do first everyone? 00:57 - [Audience] Pray. - That's right, we're going 01:00 to pray, so let's begin with a word of prayer together. 01:04 Father in heaven, we come to You this evening believing 01:08 that Your Word holds the key, holds the answer to this 01:12 question of death. Father, we think about our 01:15 Savior, Jesus who faced death, the Bible says He tasted death 01:20 for every man, but the great good news of the gospel 01:24 is that even though Jesus died and was buried, that He rose 01:28 again in accordance with the Scriptures. 01:31 So Father, today as we study this question of how to face 01:34 death unafraid, may our faith, our confidence not be in self, 01:41 may our confidence not be in us, for Father, every one of us 01:44 will face this great eventuality, may our confidence 01:48 be in Him alone who has conquered death, that is Jesus. 01:54 Be with us now as we open Your Word, may You open 01:56 our hearts, for we ask it in Jesus' name, let everyone say 02:01 amen. Alright, let's go directly 02:03 to our study guide: How to face death unafraid and with 02:07 absolute confidence. Let's go right to our study 02:10 guide and we'll commence by reading the opening paragraph 02:13 there, it say: The question of death, and what happens when 02:17 one dies is a question that has intrigued mankind since the very 02:21 dawn of time. Even today with significant advances in 02:24 technology, medicine and science, the question of 02:27 the mystery of death remains entirely unanswered. 02:30 Truth be told, science is ill equipped to deal adequately 02:34 with the issue of death. 02:36 Death is more than the cessation of physiological 02:38 functions and activities; it has mental, emotional and certainly 02:43 spiritual ramifications as well, both for the dying and for 02:46 those who remain. The Bible, the Holy Scriptures, 02:50 contains the keys that unlock this mystery of death. 02:53 The Bible can provide the kinds of answers that humanity 02:57 is seeking concerning this question of death. 03:00 The Bible alone can illumine death's dark door. 03:06 I suppose it was a couple months ago I was looking through 03:08 a magazine I had received. It was on the extremes in 03:11 nature, it was entitled something like "Time's Extreme: 03:15 "Nature Special", or something like that, and very interesting 03:18 in there, there was this quotation from a TV camera 03:22 man who was caught in the Mt. Saint Helen's eruption 03:25 and these were, he thought, his very last words. 03:28 Notice this, Mt. Saint Helen's eruption, D. Crocket, 03:31 the TV Camera man, he says: [text on screen] 03:44 You know we're all like that aren't we? 03:46 We think that we would face death with such courage, 03:48 with such confidence, but the reality is that for the vast 03:52 majority of people, when we are knocking right at 03:55 death's door, we can have a tendency to be cowardly, 03:59 and to wonder in confusion: "Is this the end? And if it" 04:02 "is the end, am I ready? " You sense that here in 04:04 this quotation, he says "I'm either alive or it's dark, " 04:09 "God, I want to live. " Notice there on your study 04:13 guide it says: According to the Bible, death is not the end. 04:23 It is not the terminal stop on this journey of life, 04:26 there is more beyond death's door. 04:29 The next chapter following the death event is what 04:32 the Bible calls "The resurrection"; that's what you'd 04:35 write in there on that line. The next event after the death 04:38 event is what the Bible calls "the resurrection". 04:42 In fact, as we will learn in a future lesson, there are 04:44 actually 2 resurrections. We have been studying and 04:50 spending quite a bit of time in the book of Revelation, 04:52 and no other book in the entire Bible gives us a broader, 04:56 more powerful, more amazing picture of the resurrected 05:00 Christ than the book of Revelation, and of course, that 05:02 would be expected. Revelation 1, 4, 5, 7, 14, 19, 05:08 all have pictures of the post resurrection Jesus. 05:12 Now, there's good reason for this, and I want to turn your 05:14 attention here to Revelation 1:18, Jesus said 05:18 these words to John as He appeared to him on the island 05:21 of Patmos, He said: [text on screen] 05:30 And notice what He says next, absolutely awesome, Jesus says: 05:33 [text on screen] 05:37 The word "Hades" is the Greek word, it means "the grave". 05:39 He says "I have the keys of the grave and of death. " 05:42 Jesus appears to John, He says "I am Him who am alive, " 05:46 "but I was dead, and now I will be alive forever more. " 05:50 The book of Revelation shows Jesus in His post resurrection 05:53 appearances all throughout the whole book, 05:56 the resurrected Christ, absolutely, totally powerful. 06:02 Notice here on the screen: the resurrected Christ is 06:05 the foundation of the Christian faith, that's right there 06:08 in your study guide. The resurrection of Jesus Christ 06:11 is the foundation, and the cornerstone of the Christian 06:15 faith, notice this: [text on screen] 06:23 I'm opening my Bible to 1 Corinthians 15, where the 06:26 apostle Paul, writing to the church of Corinth says 06:29 this very thing, 1 Corinthians 15, you can say 06:32 amen when you get there. I'm in 1 Corinthians 15:12, 06:40 we'll read several verses here, kind of climaxing in 06:44 verse 20, I'm in verse 12. The apostle Paul says: 06:47 "Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from" 06:49 "the dead, how does some among you say that there is no" 06:52 "resurrection from the dead? But if there is no resurrection" 06:55 "of the dead, then Christ is not risen. " 06:57 You see the logic here, very logical, very linear: 07:01 "And if Christ is not risen then our preaching is empty" 07:05 "and your faith is also empty", King James says "vain". 07:08 Verse 15: "Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God" 07:11 "because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, " 07:14 "whom He did not raise up, if in fact the dead do not" 07:17 "rise, for if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen", 07:20 and notice verses 17-19, he says: "and if Christ is not" 07:24 "risen, your faith is futile. " I want you to think about 07:29 that for just a moment, Paul says if Jesus is not raised 07:32 from the death, your confidence in Christ, your faith in Christ, 07:36 as the one who has overcome death is absolutely, totally 07:39 futile, which means vain and silly. 07:41 Verse 18: "Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ" 07:45 "have perished. " I want you to do something 07:47 here for me. Notice it says there in verse 18 07:49 "Those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. " 07:52 I want you to take that phrase there, "fallen asleep in Christ" 07:55 I want you to take that idea, and hang it on a hook 07:57 in your mind because we're going to come back to it. 08:00 Look at verse 19: "if in this life only we have hope in" 08:02 "Christ, we are of all men most miserable. " 08:06 It is not difficult to follow Paul's line of reasoning here, 08:09 what he basically says is the Christian person has put 08:12 their confidence in the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus. 08:17 If Jesus is not raised, if Jesus is not resurrected, what he's 08:21 saying is our confidence in the resurrection of Jesus 08:24 is foolish, silly and futile. Apparently there were some 08:28 in Corinth who were denying the resurrection of the dead, 08:31 and Paul says "Listen, of course there is a resurrection, " 08:34 "Christ Himself was raised from the dead", and look at verse 20, 08:37 here the apostle Paul affirms this in the most powerful, 08:40 unequivocal language, verse 20: "But now Christ is risen from" 08:44 "the dead, and has become the first fruits of those" 08:47 "who have fallen asleep. " There it is again, remember, 08:50 that's that phrase I told you to hang on a hook in your mind, 08:52 "fallen sleep", 2 times he says it, and we're actually going 08:55 to look at it a little later into our presentation. 08:58 It's not difficult to follow Paul's line of reasoning, 09:00 it's not difficult to sort of say "Yeah, that makes sense, " 09:03 "I see where he's headed with this. " 09:04 The Christian faith is rooted and grounded, and founded 09:08 on this great fact of the death of Jesus, the burial 09:13 of Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus. 09:17 Paul says, and it just makes good common sense, if Jesus 09:21 is not raised, then your faith in Christianity, your faith 09:24 in Jesus, is totally, completely futile, and that's why we say 09:28 here: "without the resurrection we have no hope. " 09:33 So you're back there in your study guide, very, very simple. 09:36 Notice here the underlined portion, it says: "The future" 09:38 "resurrection of Christ's followers is founded upon" 09:42 "the historical fact of Jesus' own resurrection. " 09:46 In other words, the reason that we can have confidence in our 09:49 own resurrection is that we have confidence in 09:51 the historical resurrection of Jesus. 09:54 G.B. Hardy in his marvelous book, "Countdown", put it 09:57 this way, he said: "There are only 2 essential requirements, " 10:08 "number 1: has anyone ever cheated death?" 10:11 "and number 2: is it available to me? " 10:15 Mr. Hardy goes on to say: "Let us survey the historical" 10:17 "record; Confucius' tomb: occupied; Buddha's tomb: " 10:22 "occupied; Mohamed's tomb: occupied; Jesus' tomb: " 10:28 "empty", that's exactly right. Hardy goes on to say: 10:31 "argue as you will, but for me and my purposes, " 10:34 "there is no point in following a loser. " 10:40 When Mr. Hardy here uses the phrase "following a loser", he's 10:43 not using that phrase in the sort of "nanny-nanny-boo-boo" 10:46 pejorative sense, he's not saying "My dad can beat up" 10:50 "your dad" kind of a thing, what he's saying is 10:52 that everyone will have to face this great eventuality 10:55 called death. Buddha faced it, and lost 10:58 the battle, Confucius faced it and lost the battle, 11:01 Mohamed faced it, and lost the battle, but Jesus faced it 11:05 and He was victorious, He won the battle with death. 11:09 And as Mr. Hardy says very simply, very powerfully, very 11:11 logically, there are only 2 essential requirements: 11:14 has anyone ever cheated death, the answer to that is yes, 11:16 the man Christ Jesus, and the second was: is it available 11:19 to me, and Jesus said in John 3:16, when speaking 11:22 to Nicodemus, "For God so loved the world, Nicodemus, " 11:26 "that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth" 11:29 "in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. " 11:38 Yes, someone has cheated death, number 1, and yes, it is 11:41 available to you by faith if you put your confidence, 11:44 your belief, and your trust in the man, Christ Jesus. 11:48 Let's go back to our study guide here, we're on page 2, 11:51 we're making excellent time, for which we praise the Lord. 11:54 Notice here on the screen, we're going to ask a question, 11:56 it's the same question that's there in your study guide, 11:59 and it is a question that unfortunately many people have 12:02 not reflected adequately upon. It says: [text on screen] 12:09 These 2 things are mutually exclusive. 12:16 It's an either/or situation, not a both/and. 12:20 You can't say "Oh yes, the soul is immortal, and there's" 12:23 "a resurrection", it doesn't make any sense, we'll talk 12:26 about that in a little bit. It's either that the soul 12:28 is immortal, that is, non-dying, unending, or there's 12:32 a resurrection, either this or that. 12:36 Notice there in your study guide it says: This is a very 12:39 important question, one that most Christians have not 12:42 reflected upon adequately, even non-Christians. 12:45 Consider, for example, the case of Mary. 12:49 Mary, the mother of Jesus, has been making frequent appearances 12:52 here on planet earth to encourage, inspire, and warn 12:56 believers of a coming calamity. 12:59 These appearances are sometimes called apparitions, are 13:03 occurring with increasing frequency. Millions of people 13:06 claim to have seen Mary at locations all over the globe, 13:10 both urban locations, rural locations, western nations, 13:14 eastern nations, so called, 3rd world countries, and so called 13:17 1st world countries; millions of people claim to have 13:19 seen this Mary. 13:21 Bleeding statues, weeping statues, visions in the sun 13:24 and clouds, and physical appearances are all cited 13:26 as mounting evidences that Mary has returned with an important 13:30 message. This phenomenon has even 13:32 been reported in many of the popular newspapers, and news 13:35 magazines of the world. In fact, if I had time, I could 13:38 walk you though a stack of materials that I have in my own 13:41 study that's probably an inch to 2 inches thick, just full of 13:47 articles about this very thing, people see Mary in the clouds, 13:50 people see Mary between 2 buildings in the sunlight, 13:53 people see Mary, remember this? ...even in a grilled cheese 13:56 sandwich. People say "Oh, there's Mary", 13:59 in fact, I heard that that sandwich actually sold, 14:01 believe it or not, on EBay for some $10,000. 14:05 People are seeing Mary everywhere. 14:08 Some of this is sort of silly, and we understand that, but some 14:10 of it is downright, unquestionably supernatural: 14:13 bleeding statues, and weeping statues, and even Mary 14:17 appearing in some kind of a bodily form to people. 14:20 I'm back at the study guide: even Protestants, agnostics, 14:23 atheists, and others have reportedly been visited, or in 14:26 some way touched by this "Mary", I'm using the term "Mary" 14:30 in quotes, by the way, "Mary". All of this raises serious 14:33 questions for the committed Christian believer. 14:37 Is this really Mary? Could it even be Mary? 14:40 And how can we tell if this is true, or if it is 14:43 a dangerous deception from Satan? 14:47 These are some of the very questions that we will seek 14:49 to answer, and in answering these questions we will 14:52 answers our larger question about the resurrection, 14:54 and about the immortality of the soul. 14:56 Several years ago I came upon this book entitled 14:59 "The Thunder of Justice: the warning, the miracle, " 15:02 "the chastisement, and the era of peace" written by 2 Catholic 15:05 individuals, Ted and Maureen Flynn. 15:07 Ted and Maureen Flynn are here claiming, and documenting, 15:12 that Mary, that is, what they believe to be Mary, 15:14 has been appearing to people as we've just suggested, 15:16 all over the globe, and she has a special message of warning, 15:21 a special message of chastisement for planet earth. 15:25 It's actually quoted right here in this book entitled 15:27 "The Thunder of Justice" in the opening page, it says this, 15:31 this is supposedly the "virgin Mary" speaking, she says: 15:35 [text on screen] 15:51 Fascinating, here's Mary 15:53 coming back from the dead, coming from heaven with 15:57 a special message for us, a special message for planet 16:01 earth, and of course, the question for the commit believer 16:04 like myself, and like many of you, is: is this really Mary? 16:07 And how can we know for sure? I mean, we really only have 16:10 2 options, one is that it really is Mary, and she really does 16:14 have a special message for us, or number 2, that it is 16:17 a dangerous, subtle deception of the enemy. 16:21 We shouldn't be surprised if that is the case incidentally, 16:24 because as we've already learned, Satan transforms 16:27 himself, not into an angel of darkness, but into an angel 16:30 of light. We would not expect Satan 16:32 to show up with red leotards and a pitch fork, and a pointy 16:36 tail, no, the Bible says he would transform himself 16:40 into an angel of light, so we have a very serious question 16:43 before us this evening, and that is this: are these so called 16:46 Mary apparitions the real deal, or are they a deception brought 16:51 about by the father of lies? In answering that question 16:55 we're going to answer the larger question of how to face death 16:58 unafraid, and with absolute confidence. 17:01 Has Mary, the mother of Jesus been sent with a special 17:05 message for planet earth. I want to let you know right 17:08 now, I believe the answer to that question is "no". 17:11 And here's why, at least I'll give you the answers 17:13 to why, and you can make your own determination, 17:15 but I'll say this, if you're going to trust the Bible, and 17:18 the Bible only, I think you'll be forced to come to the same 17:20 conclusion. Unfortunately for us, 17:23 false prophets do not show up like this: [on screen] 17:33 If a false prophet showed up like this, with a sign, 17:36 or a placard hanging around his or her neck, it would be so 17:39 easy to detect them. Yet, as we've already seen 17:42 in Matthew 24, Jesus said, I don't remember if it was 3 17:45 or 4 times, "take heed that no man deceives you", 17:48 "that no man deceives you", He said false Christs and false 17:50 prophets would arise and deceive, not a few knuckleheads, 17:53 not a few that weren't paying attention, he said that they 17:56 would arise and deceive many. 18:00 And the reason that deception is so dangerous, as we've already 18:03 said, that you're unaware that you're being deceived. 18:06 Satan doesn't show up as some kind of figure of darkness 18:10 who openly opposes Christ, etc, the Bible says that he would 18:14 transform himself into an angel of light, and that his ministers 18:17 would transform themselves into ministers of light, 18:20 rather than ministers of darkness, and that's our 18:23 quotation here, 2 Corinthians 11:14: 18:25 [text on screen] 18:34 And that's why we can't just look at this thing and say: 18:36 "Oh, it's Mary, clearly it's true, clearly it's from God, " 18:39 "clearly it's Biblical", no, no, no, we have to test this 18:42 to see if it is Biblical, to see if it is true, and ask 18:45 the question: is it even possible that Mary has come back 18:49 from the dead. In doing that, let's begin 18:51 by looking at a text of Scripture that's actually not 18:54 in your study guide, I want to be crystal clear about something 18:57 and I'm going to Leviticus 20. That's the 3rd book of 19:02 the Old Testament, Leviticus 20, and I'm going to read the last 19:05 verse of that chapter, Leviticus 20:27, it says: 19:10 "A man or a woman who has a medium, or who has a familiar" 19:14 "spirit shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall" 19:22 "be upon them, they shall stone them with stones " 19:25 It's a consistent teaching in the Old Testament that if 19:29 somebody was a channeler, or a medium, or somehow communicating 19:33 with the dead, that these people were not to be praised, 19:36 these people were not to be looked up to for their spiritual 19:39 gift, the Bible actually goes so far as to say, God speaking 19:42 to Moses, Moses speaking to the children of Israel, 19:44 these people should be stoned. Why so severe? 19:48 Why so harsh? Why was God so insistent about 19:51 the austerity, and the seriousness of this punishment, 19:55 the answer is this: God knew that people that were 19:58 communicating with the dead were not communicating 20:01 with the dead at all, in fact, they were actually communicating 20:04 with the Devil and his demons. In fact, I'm in 20:07 Deuteronomy 18, you're there in Leviticus, just go to the next 20:10 book, which is numbers, and the next book which is Deuteronomy, 20:12 Deuteronomy 18:9: "When you come into the land" 20:20 "which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not" 20:23 "learn to follow the abominations of those nations". 20:26 Verse 10: "There shall not be found among you anyone who" 20:30 "makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, " 20:33 "or anyone who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, " 20:36 "or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who" 20:40 "conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritualist, or one who", 20:43 listen: "calls up the dead. " Verse 12: "For all who do these" 20:47 "things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these" 20:51 "abominations the Lord your God is driving them out from before" 20:54 "you, you shall walk blameless before the Lord your God. " 20:57 Fascinating, here 2 times in the Old Testament, and other 21:00 instances could be cited, God says if there's a channeler, 21:03 or a medium, somebody who is calling people up from 21:07 the dead, God does not say "Oh sure, laud them for their" 21:10 "spiritual keenness, laud them for their spiritual gifts, etc", 21:14 no, God says "those people are an abomination to Me, they" 21:17 "should be an abomination to you, they aught to be stoned. " 21:21 Again, we are forced to ask the question: why is God so 21:23 strong here? Why is God so serious here? 21:26 Why is God so seemingly austere here, it's because God knows 21:30 that people that are talking to the dead are not really 21:32 talking to the dead. They're talking to the Devil 21:37 himself, masquerading himself as a dead loved one, or etc, etc. 21:44 So this really, right at the very outset gives us 21:47 very strong cause to wonder: is it even possible that Mary 21:52 has returned back and is communicating with people in the 21:55 present tense? 21:57 If we're going to look at the Old Testament picture of this, 21:59 the idea that Mary has returned from the dead to communicate 22:02 with us, now that would be significant cause for concern 22:05 because people in the Old Testament, people in the Bible 22:10 times who communicated with the dead were stoned to death 22:14 because it was such a serious abomination and infraction 22:17 to God. Let's continue on here, 22:20 in order to understand this question about death, 22:23 and immortality, it will be absolutely critical for us 22:27 to recognize something, and that is this: man is not, 22:30 by nature, immortal. I want to say that again: 22:34 man is not, by nature, immortal. There are many people that 22:38 believe that, but Bible believing Christians should 22:41 not believe that, the Bible nowhere says that man is, 22:44 by nature, immortal, the Bible nowhere says that man is 22:47 inherently immortal, the Bible says that immortality is given 22:51 to us as a gift when we exercise faith in the Lord 22:54 Jesus Christ. 22:59 In fact, we've already quoted John 3:16, let's quote it again: 23:02 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only" 23:04 "begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not" 23:08 "perish, but have eternal life. " 23:12 So notice that eternal life, or immortality, comes as a result 23:15 of accepting Jesus as your personal Savior, 23:18 it's not something you posses inside of yourself, it's not 23:21 something that you posses innately, or inherently, 23:23 it's a gift that God gives you, we'll come back to they point 23:26 in just a moment. There are people that believe 23:28 that you are naturally, innately, inherently immortal, 23:32 but most of them are New Age spiritualists, 23:38 like this man here, Marshall Applewhite, you might remember, 23:41 he led 38 people, himself being the 39th, to commit the largest 23:45 mass suicide in the history of the human experience here 23:48 in the USA, 39 people, many of them intelligent people, 23:52 well educated people, ending their lives, why? 23:57 I'll tell you why, because this man had convinced them 23:59 that they were immortal. Of course, the word immortal 24:02 means you can not die, and he had them convinced that when 24:05 they ended their life here they weren't really dying in 24:07 the traditional sense, they were just, as he said, 24:10 "shedding this shell, shedding this skin and moving on" 24:13 "to a higher plain. " And the higher plain, as you 24:17 recalled it, they were going to get on was they were 24:20 going to get in some kind of a spacecraft, a space mobile, 24:23 and ride around through the universe behind the comet 24:26 Hale-Bopp. 24:28 Beloved, this man believed in the natural immortality of 24:31 the soul, but he was wrong. Bible believing Christians 24:35 who are going to stand on what the Bible says, and not what 24:39 New Agers say, or what spiritualists say, they are 24:42 going to have to base what they believe about death 24:45 on the Bible, and nothing else, if you believe that, say amen. 24:49 So let's go to our study guide here as we address this 24:51 question of the issue of immortality. 24:54 Notice right here on your study guide that there are 2 24:56 essential elements that sort of under gird, and are 25:00 the foundation for spiritualism. Spiritualism is founded upon 25:04 2 essential elements, the first is: [text on screen] 25:15 That's one of the foundational, cardinal elements of 25:18 spiritualism; the second is: [text on screen] 25:22 That's New Age spiritualism, that's Egyptian Paganism, 25:26 that's Babylonian Paganism, that's Greek Paganism, 25:29 it's not Biblical Christianity, as we've already seen, in the 25:32 Bible if somebody was communicating with the dead, or 25:34 channeling the dead, or acting as a medium for the dead, they 25:37 weren't lauded for the spiritual gifts and attributes, they were 25:39 stoned. Beloved, you know I'm speaking 25:42 very strong here, and powerful here, but the reason is this: 25:46 there is a gross deception that is sweeping the world, 25:50 and that is this idea that mankind is naturally immortal, 25:53 and it's not just people like Marshall Applewhite, and others, 25:56 who are going to fall for it, even many Bible believing 25:58 Christians, many good people, have been lured into this 26:03 ridiculous, non-Biblical teaching that when you die 26:06 you don't really die. 26:10 Now, 2 cardinal elements of spiritualism, number 1: 26:14 natural immortality, that is conscious life after death, 26:17 and number 2: the dead can communicate with the living. 26:20 As we've already said, in Israel those who communicated 26:23 with the dead were stoned, that's exactly right. 26:27 So, where is Mary, the mother of Jesus? 26:29 Does she have a special message? 26:32 I believe the answer to that question is going to be 26:36 easier to find when we go to man's original creation, 26:39 Genesis 2:7. 26:45 First book of the Bible, Genesis 2:7, we're going 26:48 to take a look at creation, in order to understand 26:50 death we're going to first understand creation, and what 26:53 we're going to find is that creation is very easy, 26:55 very simply to understand, it's 1+1 mathematics. 27:00 1+1 equals something else, and we'll see that right here 27:03 in Genesis 2:7. It says: "And the Lord God" 27:06 "formed man", notice this carefully, "out of the dust" 27:09 "of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath" 27:12 "of life, and man became a living soul." 27:17 Does everyone see that there? That He formed man out of 27:20 the dust of the earth, and so here was this man this form, 27:22 this figure, a cadaver, if you will, but it was lifeless, 27:27 it had no energy, it had no vivifying power, so God 27:30 had to breathe into this man the breath of life, and then 27:35 notice what it says, notice the language very, very carefully, 27:38 it doesn't say that God gave man a soul, it doesn't say that 27:41 man possessed a soul, it says became a living soul. 27:48 I want you to think about that for just a moment, 27:50 it's not as though Adam could have reached into his 27:52 pocked and pulled out and said "Oh, look what I have here, " 27:56 "I have my soul. " No, he didn't posses a soul, 28:02 he didn't own a soul, he didn't have a soul as much as he 28:06 was a soul, and that's directly out of your study guide, 28:09 and it's directly out of the Bible; man became a living 28:13 soul. Let's all say that together: 28:15 Man became a living soul. But what were the 2 elements? 28:23 [text on screen] 28:26 That is the dust of the ground, plus the breath of God, 28:29 equals a living soul. So there it is, body+breath 28:33 equals a living soul, 1+1 equals 2, you've got it. 28:38 I'm on page 3 of your study guide. 28:40 Think of a light bulb, in order for us to have light 28:45 we would have to have 2 elements, number 1: 28:47 we'd have to have the housing, that is the physical housing 28:50 of the bulb, but then we'd have to have power. 28:56 So notice this, here's our light, and it's shining 28:59 because both elements are there, we have power, and we have 29:02 a housing, but what happens if we take that light and we go 29:07 and unplug the power source, the light goes out. 29:12 Beloved, where does the light go when the power source is 29:17 pulled out? Where does the light go? 29:20 Well, let me tell you where it doesn't go, it does not go 29:23 to light heaven, did you catch that? It doesn't go to light 29:28 heaven, it ceases exist, so here let's look at it again, here we 29:34 have the light, because both elements are there, you have 29:36 the housing, that would be just like Adam, he was there in 29:39 the garden, not yet alive, just a form, a piece of dirt, a piece 29:44 of dust, and then God breathed into his nostrils the breath of 29:48 life and Adam comes to life. Both elements are there, 29:51 just like the light bulb and the power, both are there, 29:55 but if we take the power out, if we unplug it, what happens 29:58 to the light? Well, as we've already said, 30:00 the light goes out, so too if God would have removed His 30:04 breath, if God would have removed His Spirit from the form 30:07 of Adam, Adam would have crumpled over like a rag doll, 30:10 and he would have gone out. So both elements are essential, 30:13 body+breath equals a living soul, again, let's say that 30:17 together: body+breath equals a living soul. 30:20 Here's another way of communicating it: imagine 30:23 that I had here box. This box is made of 2 30:28 components, it's made of boards and nails. 30:33 So I've put my box here all together, and we're looking 30:35 at my box, we're admiring my fine workmanship, 30:38 we're admiring my box, but then I want you to imagine that 30:40 I take my hammer and I put the boards over here, 30:44 and I put the nails over here, okay, 2 components, right? 30:47 The boards and the nails, let me ask you this question: 30:50 where did the box go? 30:55 That's exactly right, it ceased to exist. 30:57 What I want you to notice is that the box did not go 31:01 to box heaven, it simply ceased to exist, and that's 31:05 exactly what we're going to discover here in our study 31:08 guide and in the Bible. [text on screen] 31:18 Think about it, if body+breath equals life, then body minus 31:25 breath would equal death. So death is simply creation 31:30 in reverse. If you take the body, the form 31:33 that God has given us, this physical form that's here, 31:36 if God takes His breath back, then of course, I would die. 31:40 In fact, let me show you that, we're in the book of 31:43 Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament, you open your 31:45 Bible right to the middle, you're probably in Psalms, 31:49 go forward to Proverbs, and then we land in Ecclesiastes. 31:52 Ecclesiastes 12, and notice with me here, let's say if we can 32:00 discover it, Ecclesiastes 12:7. 32:07 It says: "Then the dust will return to the earth as it was" 32:11 "and the spirit will return to God who gave it. " 32:15 So the dust goes to the earth as we say, "ashes to ashes, " 32:18 "and dust to dust", and notice it says here: "the spirit" 32:20 "returns to God who gave it. " You might be saying 32:23 "Oh, but David that says the spirit", the word "breath" 32:25 and "spirit" in the Old Testament are translated from 32:28 the word "ruwach", and it's the same word, "breath" 32:31 and "spirit". In the New Testament it's from 32:33 "pneuma", that's the spirit and that's the breath, we have 32:36 pneumatic tires, we have pneumatic drills, it just 32:38 means "breath", or "spirit". So very simple here, it says 32:42 that a man's body returns to the dust, and the breath 32:45 of the spirit returns to God who gave it. 32:48 So life is body plus breath, equals a living soul, and death 32:53 is body minus breath, equals death, or the cessation of life. 32:58 You're getting it, it's very, very simple as a matter of fact. 33:00 Now, let's address this whole question of immortality 33:03 because there's going to be someone who hears these tapes, 33:05 or who sees these DVDs, or who's sitting in our audience tonight 33:09 who's just bound to believe that you are naturally immortal. 33:11 Notice this, 1 Timothy 6:16, it's speaking of God, it says: 33:16 [text on screen] 33:25 Now according to that verse, who alone has immortality? 33:28 God, God has immortality innately, God has immortality 33:32 inherently, and God gives us immortality as a gift when we 33:36 accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. 33:39 In fact, if you'd like you can write down 1 John 3:15, 33:43 let's see if I can find it quickly, if you'd like to meet 33:46 me there you're welcome to do that, 1 John. 33:52 1 John, after Peter, there it is, 1 John 3:15, it says, 33:59 listen carefully: "Whoever hates his brother is a murderer" 34:03 "and you know that no murder has eternal life" 34:07 "abiding in him. " "No murderer has eternal life" 34:11 "abiding in him. " Okay, so if the murderer 34:15 doesn't have eternal life, that means he doesn't have 34:19 immortality. Of course, the unrepentant 34:22 murderer does not get eternal life, the only one who gets 34:25 eternal life are those who put their faith in Jesus Christ, 34:28 as we've already quoted John 3:16 several times, 34:31 only those who put their faith in Jesus receive everlasting 34:33 life because God gives them immortality. 34:40 Now let's just look at that word "immortality" so we can 34:43 better understand it. [text on screen] 34:55 Question: is man subject to death? 34:58 Absolutely, so is he mortal or immortal? 35:01 He's mortal, God alone has immortality. 35:05 It's interesting to note, by the way, that the Bible never 35:08 uses the terms "immortal soul", or "immortality of the soul", 35:11 you won't find those terms anywhere in the Bible, 35:14 "immortal soul", or "immortality of the soul", in fact, as we're 35:17 going to discover perhaps today, and perhaps in a future 35:19 lesson, they this whole idea of the immortality of the soul 35:23 is actually a Greek idea. It was called "Platonic Dualism" 35:27 or sometimes referred to as "anthropological dualism", 35:30 it is not a Biblical idea, the Bible writers saw man as 35:33 a holistic entity, not in this dual fashion that the Greeks. 35:38 The Greeks believed that man had a physical component that 35:42 would die, but then he had an invisible component that was 35:45 eternal, and imperishable, and thus immortal. 35:50 We're going to discover that's a Pagan concept, not 35:52 a Biblical concept. Now look at Psalm 115:17, 35:57 right there in your study guide it says: [text on screen] 36:07 I want you to notice that, the dead don't praise the Lord, 36:10 very simple; the dead do not give praise to God. 36:14 Beloved, what many people teach is that the moment you die 36:18 you are whisked away into heavenly places, and of course, 36:22 if we're in the presence of God I'm going to be praising Him, 36:24 aren't you going to be praising Him? 36:26 Sure, of course, but notice what it says: "the dead no not" 36:30 "praise the Lord, nor any who go down to silence. " 36:32 In fact, there are several passages right there in your 36:34 study guide, let's look up just a few of them very quickly, 36:37 let's see if your fingers are as dexterous as mine. 36:40 I'm in Psalm 146, you're there in Psalm 117, so it should 36:43 be easy to find Psalm 146:3. 36:50 "Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man" 36:55 "in whom there is no help, his spirit departs, he returns" 36:59 "to his earth, in that very day his thoughts perish. " 37:04 That's verse 3 and 4, so notice: "don't put your trust in" 37:06 "princes", in a modern day translation it would probably 37:09 say something like "don't put your trust in politicians, " 37:11 "don't put your trust in presidents". Why? 37:15 Because they're going to die. Put your trust in God 37:18 who can't die, or better yet, put your trust in the Lord 37:22 Jesus Christ who did die, but through His power, overcame 37:25 this great enemy called death at the resurrection. 37:28 Notice he says "don't put your trust in princes because they" 37:31 "die, their dust returns to the earth and their breath" 37:34 "is gone. " Very simple. It says that very day 37:38 their thoughts perish, their plans perish. 37:43 You're there in Ecclesiastes, remember, that's easy to find, 37:45 Psalms, and then you go to Proverbs, and then you go 37:47 to Ecclesiastes 9. We've already been in chapter 12, so you 37:53 should be able to find it pretty easily, Ecclesiastes 9:5. 37:59 "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know" 38:06 "nothing", plain as the noonday sun, "the dead know nothing, " 38:09 "for the memory of them is forgotten, neither have they" 38:12 "anymore reward of anything that is done under the sun. " 38:15 You can drop down to verse 6: "also their love, their" 38:17 "hatred, their envy have now perished, never more will they" 38:20 "have any share in anything that is done under the sun", 38:23 and finally Ecclesiastes 9:10, "Whatever your hand finds" 38:26 "to do, do it with all your might", why? 38:28 "For there is no work, or device, or knowledge, " 38:31 "or wisdom in the grave where you are going. " 38:34 Beloved, it's very simple, in the day you die your 38:37 emotions perish, your love perishes, your hate perishes, 38:40 your envy perishes, in the day you die your thoughts perish, 38:43 in the day you die your plans perish, in the day that you die 38:46 conscious existence comes to an end. 38:50 you say "What?! I've never heard such a radical idea. " 38:54 Beloved, that's what the Bible is teaching. 38:56 The moment that you die conscious existence comes 39:00 to an end. In fact, that's right there 39:03 in your study guide, all of these texts speak of death 39:07 as the end of conscious existence, it's like a sleep. 39:16 What was that word I told you at the beginning of the message 39:19 to hang on a hook in your mind? What was that word? 39:22 It was the word "sleep". Open your Bible with me 39:25 to John 11, and we're going to find that this is precisely 39:29 how Jesus referred to the question of death, He referred 39:34 to it as a sleep. I'm in John 11. 39:37 Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, 4th book of the New Testament, 39:40 John 11:1, it says: "Now a certain man was sick, " 39:45 "Lazarus, of Bethany, in the town of Mary and her sister, " 39:48 "Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant" 39:51 "oil and wiped His feet with her hair, who's brother, Lazarus, " 39:53 "was sick. therefore the sisters sent him saying "Lord, behold, " 39:56 "he whom Ye love is sick. " Verse 4, Jesus says: 39:58 "this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God" 40:01 "that the Son of God might be glorified through it. " 40:03 Verse 5: "Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sisters, " 40:06 "and Lazarus, so when He heard that He was sick, He stayed" 40:09 "in that same place 2 more days. Then He said, " 40:12 "Let us go to Judea again. " The disciples protest, they say: 40:15 "Lord, the last time we went to Judea they tried to stone You", 40:17 but Jesus says something very interesting, He says in verse 11 40:21 "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I'm going to go wake him up. " 40:25 2 days earlier Jesus has received a message, 40:27 "Your friend, Lazarus, is sick", now Jesus says "Lazarus" 40:30 "is asleep, I'm going to go wake him up", 40:32 and the disciples say "Oh no Jesus, maybe we need" 40:35 "to explain something to you about the principles" 40:38 "of health, maybe we need to explain something to you about" 40:40 "the principles of how you get better, and how you feel" 40:43 "better after you've been sick for a time, you've got to let" 40:45 "him sleep", notice that in verse 12, the disciples said: 40:48 "Lord, if he sleeps he'll get better. " 40:51 "If he sleeps he'll do well. However Jesus spoke of his" 40:56 "death, but they thought that he had been speaking of taking" 40:59 "a rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, " 41:03 say it with me, "Lazarus is dead. " 41:09 What did Jesus first call this? He said "our friend Lazarus" 41:14 "sleeps. " When the disciples didn't get 41:16 it, Jesus reluctantly used the term "death", Lazarus 41:20 is "dead". So Jesus shows up there, 41:24 and of course, He's greeted by Martha, and He's greeted 41:28 by Mary, we'll pick it up in John 11:21: "Now Martha said" 41:32 "to Jesus, Lord, if You had been here my brother would" 41:35 "not have died, but I know that even now, whatever You ask" 41:37 "of God, God will give it to You. " 41:40 Jesus said to her, "hey listen sister, you're brother will" 41:42 "rise again". Now Jesus is thinking in His 41:45 mind "in about 20 minutes", but I want you to notice 41:48 Martha's response, Martha said to Him, verse 24: 41:51 "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection", when? 41:58 "at the last day. " We might legitimately ask 42:02 the question: what did Martha believe about death? 42:06 Did she believe that Lazarus was up in glory? 42:09 Did she believe that, as so many modern day preachers 42:11 teach, did she believe that Lazarus was up just chilling 42:14 with Gabriel on streets of gold in the New Jerusalem? 42:17 She didn't believe that for a moment, Jesus said: 42:19 "Your brother's going to rise again", and she said 42:22 "I know he'll rise again in the resurrection at the last day. " 42:25 Powerful, Jesus says to her, here it is in verse 25: 42:28 "I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in" 42:31 "Me, though he may die, yet he will live. " Powerful. 42:38 Let's jump all the way down to verse 38: "Jesus then again, " 42:41 "groaning within Himself, He came to the tomb, it was" 42:44 "a cave, a stone lay against it, Jesus said, Take away" 42:46 "the stone, and Martha, the sister of him who was dead, " 42:49 "said, Lord, I don't think that's such a good idea, " 42:52 "he's going to stink. He's been in there for 4 days. " 42:54 Then verse 40: "Jesus said to her, Did I not say to you" 42:56 "that if you would believe you would see the glory of God? " 42:59 "Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead" 43:01 "man was lying, and Jesus lifted up His eyes, and He" 43:04 "said, Father, I thank You that You have heard Me, and I" 43:06 "know You always hear Me, but because of the people who are" 43:09 "standing by I said this, that they may believe that You" 43:13 "sent Me. Now when He said these things He cried with a loud" 43:17 "voice: Lazarus, come forth. " 43:23 "Lazarus", not "come down", not "come up", Lazarus come forth. 43:34 Look at verse 44: "And he who had died came out, bound hand" 43:38 "and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped" 43:41 "with a cloth, and Jesus said, Lose him and let him go. " 43:45 There's Jesus at the tomb, He doesn't say "Lazarus come" 43:49 "down" because Jesus knew what Martha new, 43:52 Lazarus wasn't in heaven, he was in the grave; 43:56 what was he doing in the grave? Jesus said he was sleeping. 44:04 So He doesn't say "Lazarus come down", I mean, wouldn't that 44:07 have been a story? Can you imagine Lazarus up there 44:09 in heaven, one arm around Gabriel, one arm around another 44:12 angel, just praising the Lord Jesus, to be in glory, 44:15 and he hears this voice: "What, what?!", 44:18 and he looks down, and he looks over a cloud there, and sure 44:20 enough it's Jesus saying "Lazarus, come down. " 44:25 I can imagine Lazarus saying "No, no, no, I've been there, " 44:29 "I don't want to go back to that dark old world. " 44:33 Jesus didn't' say "Lazarus come down" because Jesus knew 44:36 Lazarus wasn't in heaven. Martha didn't believe that, 44:40 Jesus didn't believe that; He said "Lazarus come forth", 44:43 why? Because he was in that grave, 44:45 as we've already seen, man is not naturally immortal. 44:48 As we've already seen, in the day you die, you don't praise 44:51 the Lord, in the day that you die your thoughts perish, 44:53 in the day that you die your emotions perish, in the day 44:56 that you die, your plans perish, why? 44:57 What's happening? Jesus equated it to a sleep. 45:03 Now I'm not one of these people that falls asleep in church, 45:06 or that fell asleep in school, but there are people like that, 45:09 and I can remember on one occasion I did fall asleep 45:11 in school, and it was one of those things, you might have had 45:14 a similar experience where I just put my head down for 45:17 a moment, and I was just so tired, I think it was maybe 45:20 Chemistry class, or something, and I just [yawns], 45:26 and it felt like it was about 15 seconds, I just... 45:31 And when I woke up I was in social studies class, 45:36 an hour and a half had passed and it had seemed like just 45:40 a moment. I'm a very deep sleeper, in fact, every night 45:44 I go to sleep and the last thing I say to my wife is 45:47 "Sweetheart, I love you very much", and the next thing I know 45:49 is my alarm clock, that's how I am, I'm just a very deep 45:52 sleeper. In fact, sometimes my wife 45:55 will say: "Oh sweaty, did you hear the thunder, and see" 45:58 "the lightning?", or "did you hear the heavy rains? ", 46:00 and "did you hear the boys crying at night? " 46:03 And I'll say "Nope", when I go to sleep I go to sleep, 46:06 for me it seems like a moment, it seems like a second, 46:09 and I go to sleep, and the very next thing is I wake up, 46:12 that's how death is. Beloved, death is like a sleep, 46:16 it's a suspended state of consciousness, it's a suspended 46:20 state of awareness, so that if, heaven forbid, tonight as I'm 46:24 driving home from the meeting, driving home and a car would 46:27 hit me and I were to die, the very next thought that I would 46:32 have, the very next thought that would be in my mind is 46:35 the resurrection and the second coming of Jesus. 46:38 Guess what, that would be true for Adam, that would be true 46:41 for Abraham, that would be true for Isaac, and Jacob, because 46:44 while you're in that grave you have no conscious, 46:47 cognizant awareness of time. Lazarus, all he knew is that he 46:52 was there on the deathbed getting sicker and sicker, 46:57 and the next thing he knows he's coming out of tomb wrapped 47:00 with all these funny clothes, the grave clothes. 47:05 Beloved, that is God's plan. The Bible calls death a sleep. 47:10 Let's say that together: the Bible calls death a sleep. 47:17 You see beloved, the dead sleep the sleep of death until 47:19 the resurrection. Go with me in your Bibles 47:21 to 1 Corinthians 15, we read this at the outset when we 47:26 looked at the first few verses there when the apostle Paul 47:28 says if Christ isn't risen your faith is futile, but what 47:30 I want you to do now is go to the last part of 47:32 1 Corinthians 15:50. 47:39 "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit" 47:41 "the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit" 47:44 "incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not" 47:46 "all sleep, but we shall all be changed - in a moment, " 47:52 "in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump." 47:57 "For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised" 48:00 "incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible" 48:03 "must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on" 48:05 "immortality. So when this corruptible has put on" 48:08 "incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, " 48:11 "then", and not a moment before, "shall be brought to pass" 48:14 "the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up" 48:17 "in victory. " Did you see it there everyone? 48:19 Remember that word I told you to hang on a hook in your mind, 48:22 it was the word "sleep", and that's what the apostle Paul 48:25 says here, he says not everyone is going to sleep, but we'll 48:27 all be changed, in other words, some people are going to be 48:29 alive when Jesus returns, some people, like Enoch of old, 48:32 and like Elijah, who was taken to heaven in a fiery chariot, 48:35 are not going to die, they'll be translated directly to heaven 48:39 without seeing death. Oh Lord, I want to be in that 48:42 number when the saints go marching in. 48:46 I want to be in that number, don't you? 48:48 I would just assume "not die" as "die", that's what Paul says. 48:54 We're not all going to sleep, but we will all be changed, 48:57 and did you hear the language, he says at that time at 49:00 the last trump "this mortal will put on immortality. " 49:10 Beloved, we get immortality as a gift, when? 49:15 At the resurrection, you've got it. 49:18 Powerful. So this sleeping the sleep 49:20 of death is Biblical. In fact, there are so many 49:23 texts, the Bible actually refers to death as a sleep 49:26 more than 70 times; more than 70 times the Bible refers 49:30 to death as a sleep. Jesus knew that, you have 49:32 all kinds of Old Testament passages like this, 49:35 2 Samuel 7:12: [text on screen] 49:43 Sleep, it doesn't mean you'll take a nap with your dad, 49:46 it doesn't mean you'll take a nap with your grandpa, 49:48 what it means it you're going to die. 49:51 Over 70 times the Bible refers to death as a sleep. 49:55 It's like God is trying to get our attention, He's trying 49:57 to say "It's like a sleep, it's like a sleep". 50:03 What's it like when you sleep? When you sleep you go to sleep 50:06 and the very next thing you know is you wake up, right? 50:10 The very next thing you know is "I'm awake", and that's 50:13 how the resurrection will be. I want to be sensitive here 50:16 because I know there are some who have believed that 50:19 Uncle Benny, or Aunt Judy, or some dear loved one has been 50:25 in heaven, I want to speak to you as a pastor, I want to speak 50:30 to you as a friend, beloved, that's not Biblical. 50:34 The great truth of the Scriptures, the great truth 50:37 of the New Testament is that when you die you sleep 50:40 the sleep of death, and you awake the resurrection, 50:43 and because Christ was raised, we can be raised. 50:46 In fact, nowhere is this clearer in 1 Thessalonians 4, 50:49 go there with me. 1 Thessalonians 4, unmistakable 50:53 language, 1 Thessalonians 4, the apostle Paul writing to 50:58 the church at Corinth. 1 Thessalonians 4:13, Paul says: 51:07 "But I do not want you to be ignorant brethren, concerning" 51:09 "them which have fallen asleep", notice that, he says 51:12 "I don't want you to be confused about those who have fallen" 51:15 "asleep", he's clearly not talking about those who have 51:17 taken a rest and napped, because it says in the rest of verse 13, 51:21 it says: "...lest you sorrow not, even as others who have" 51:25 "no hope". If I go to take a nap my wife 51:28 doesn't start crying, if I go to take a nap my wife isn't 51:30 sad, what he's saying here is "I don't want you to be" 51:33 "ignorant concerning those who have fallen asleep like others" 51:36 "who don't have the hope of the resurrection, how they" 51:39 "sorrow. Sure we sorrow when someone dies, but we don't" 51:42 "sorrow like they sorrow. " Verse 14: "For if we believe" 51:45 "that Jesus died and rose again", and how many of us 51:47 believe that tonight? "...even so God will bring" 51:49 "with Him those who sleep in Jesus", and someone says 51:52 "Oh, look, He's bringing them back with Him", no, no, no, 51:55 look at verse 15, the context makes is abundantly clear: 51:58 "For this we say to you by the word of Lord, that we who" 52:01 "are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by" 52:04 "no means precede those who are asleep. " 52:06 See, that's what the people in Thessalonica thought, they 52:09 thought "Oh no, this person died; oh no, this person died; " 52:12 "oh no, this person died, God has forgotten about them" 52:15 "and the Redeemer's going to come and they'll be" 52:18 "lost forever. " No, Paul is saying 52:20 "I don't want you to be ignorant concerning those that have" 52:22 "fallen asleep because if we believe that Jesus died" 52:25 "and rose again", and we all believe that, amen? 52:27 "...we believe that Jesus will come, and He will" 52:30 "raise the dead. " 52:31 Powerful. And then it goes on to say: 52:34 "We who are alive and remain will by no means precede" 52:36 "those who are asleep, for the Lord Himself will descend from" 52:38 "heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, " 52:41 "and with the trumpet of God, " that's the 3rd time we've seen 52:44 that today, "the trumpet of God", and notice this: 52:46 "...and the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are" 52:49 "alive and remain shall be caught up together with them", 52:52 who's them? Those that were dead that have 52:54 been raised, "...in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, " 52:57 "and thus we shall always be with the Lord", and look 52:59 at verse 18, verse 18 is powerful, it says: 53:01 "Therefore", and remember beloved, when you see the word 53:04 "therefore" ask yourself "what's that there for? " 53:07 "Therefore, comfort one another with these words. " 53:10 What words? With the words that there's 53:12 the hope of the resurrection because we're trusting in 53:16 the resurrected Christ. Notice he doesn't say 53:19 "Comfort one another with the words that's they're already" 53:22 "in glory", "comfort one another with the words that they're" 53:24 "already in heaven hanging out with Gabriel and the other" 53:27 "angels", he doesn't say that at all, what he says is: 53:30 "comfort one another with the words that even though" 53:32 "they've died, even though they're in the grave, they will" 53:34 "not remain there, because the resurrected Christ has the keys" 53:37 "to death, He has the keys to Hades, and He can awake them" 53:40 "by His grace and mighty power", if you believe that 53:43 say amen. Don't get me stirred up here. 53:47 The word "spirit", we're going to skip right over that, 53:50 we've already talked about that. James 2:26, notice James 53:52 says it as plain as can be: [text on screen] 53:59 The body minus the spirit is dead, death is a sleep. 54:07 Well, where did this idea of the immortality of the soul come 54:10 from anyway? Someone says "Well where did" 54:12 "that come from, I've always believed that. " 54:15 Remember what the serpent said there to the woman? 54:17 He said "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt" 54:20 "not surely die. " God had said 4 words: 54:23 "In the day that you eat of it, thou shall surely die", 54:26 and the Devil inserted a word, didn't he, he said 54:29 "You will not surely die". That's what many people 54:31 believe today, they believe that when you die, you don't 54:34 really die, you only sort of die, kind of die-ish. 54:40 Beloved, God was telling the truth, did Adam die? 54:44 Sure he did. Did Eve die? 54:45 Sure she did, God has said "Thou shalt surely die", 54:49 4 words, it was the Devil who said "Thou shalt not surely die" 54:55 and that's what all the Pagans believed, that's what 54:57 the Babylonians believed, that's what the Greeks believed, 55:00 that's what New Agers believe, that when you die you don't 55:03 really die, you only kind of die, and that's why they 55:06 believe you could communicate with the dead. 55:15 You see, it's all coming full circle now, isn't it? 55:18 This is not just a little theoretical truth, 55:21 this is a powerful Biblical truth, because as we began 55:24 this presentation we asked the question: has Mary been sent 55:28 with a special message for planet earth? 55:30 The answer is absolutely not. 55:35 Where, according to the Bible, is Mary? 55:37 She's in the grave awaiting the resurrection. 55:44 "What's the big deal?" you might say. 55:47 Beloved, it saves us from deception. 55:51 Not only that, it's a much better plan. 55:55 God's plan is so much better, why? 55:58 Because we all get to go to heaven together. 56:03 When? At the resurrection. 56:07 Jesus said "let not your heart be troubled, you believe" 56:10 "in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are" 56:12 "many mansions, if it were not so I would have told you, " 56:15 "I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare" 56:17 "a place for you, I will come again to receive you unto" 56:20 "Myself that where I am you might be also". 56:22 Notice Jesus didn't say "Peter, I'll see you in a few years" 56:24 "when you're crucified upside down, and Bartholomew, 56:26 "I'll see you in a few years, and Thomas, I'll see you in" 56:29 "a few years when this happens...and I'll see you all" 56:31 "at different times. " No, knew that He was going 56:33 to see all of His disciples at the same time when He came back 56:37 to call them from the graves. 56:41 Beloved, I don't want to be one of those that dies, 56:44 I'd rather be one of those that is translated without 56:46 seeing death, but the reality is that a crowd this size, 56:49 some of us likely are going to die before Jesus returns, 56:52 but you have the hope that Jesus died and was raised, 56:55 and you can be raised because He was raised, He has the keys 56:58 to death, He has the keys to Hades; this saves us from 57:01 Pagan ideas, this saves us from non-Biblical ideas, and most 57:04 of all, it gives us a very powerful, very beautiful, 57:07 very accurate world view, it gives us a Biblical picture 57:12 of death. You can face death with absolute 57:14 confidence and unafraid. How many of you tonight want 57:17 to accept this Bible truth, and accept the death, burial, 57:20 and resurrection of Jesus as your personal hope 57:22 your personal confidence? 57:26 Amen. 57:28 Let's pray together. Father in heaven, we are 57:31 thrilled as we see the Biblical picture, not some man made, 57:36 manufactured picture, but the Biblical picture. 57:40 Give us confidence, resolute confidence in the resurrected 57:44 Christ. Father, help us not to imbibe Paganism, or New Ageism, 57:50 help us, Father, to imbibe the Bible. Jesus said death 57:53 was a sleep, Paul said death was a sleep, the whole Bible says 57:57 death is like a sleep, and Jesus calls to raise His 58:01 sleeping children from the dusty graves, and He has every 58:06 right to do it because He Himself was in the grave 58:10 and was raised. As we began Revelation 1:18, 58:14 "I am He who was dead, but I'm alive forever more, " 58:19 "and I have the keys of death, and of Hades. " 58:21 Oh Father, we put our trust in Him who has the keys of 58:24 death and of Hades: Jesus Christ. Let everyone say 58:28 amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17