Participants: Pr. John Carter
Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001623A
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00:13 Welcome back.
00:15 Today we're talking about 00:16 what happens when a person dies? 00:18 In the last program, we spoke about 00:20 the reality of Christ's resurrection. 00:23 But there is overwhelming evidence to prove the truth 00:28 that Christ is alive and well in heaven, 00:31 that Christ rose from the dead. 00:33 And our hope today 00:34 is in the resurrection of Christ. 00:37 Question we're going to ask and answer now is this. 00:40 Where do we go at death? What happens when I die? 00:44 Come over here to the Book of Acts 2:29. 00:48 Would you please to the Book of Acts 2:29. 00:53 Where is the Blessed Virgin Mary? 00:55 Let's go, Acts 2:29, "Men and brethren, 00:59 let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, 01:02 that he is both dead and buried, 01:04 and his tomb is with us to this day." 01:06 Now we're talking about David, 01:08 the man who wrote the book of Psalms, 01:10 I mean one of God's great men, one of God's great heroes. 01:13 So if anybody is in heaven, it ought to be David, 01:16 don't you think? 01:17 Now verse 34 says, "For David did not ascend 01:20 into the heavens." 01:23 I mean, how plain can you get it. 01:25 David did not ascend into the heavens 01:28 but he says himself, 01:29 'The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, 01:32 Till I make your enemies your footstool." 01:35 So the Bible says 01:37 that Saint David is not in heaven. 01:41 Now come over now to the words of Jesus, 01:43 come over here to John 11, 01:46 Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, 01:48 John 11:43 and 44. 01:54 John 11:43 and 44. 01:59 Now this is talking about the resurrection of Lazarus, 02:04 a man who died, who was dead for four days, 02:07 and Jesus went to the tomb and resurrected him. 02:11 Amazing story, amazing because it's true. 02:15 So look at this, John 11:43. 02:19 "Now when He had said these things, 02:21 He cried with a loud voice," Lazarus, come down from heaven. 02:30 He came to the tomb. 02:32 "When he said these things, He cried with a loud voice, 02:35 "Lazarus come forth." 02:37 And he came, you know where Lazarus was? 02:41 He was in the grave, he was in the tomb. 02:43 "And he who had died came out bound hand 02:47 and foot with grave clothes, 02:49 his face was wrapped up with a cloth. 02:51 Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go." 02:56 I want you to know this. 02:59 The Bible says that Lazarus was called from the grave. 03:04 He wasn't called down from haven 03:06 and he wasn't called up from hell, 03:09 and he wasn't called out of purgatory. 03:11 The Bible says he came from the grave. 03:14 Now come over here to John Chapter... 03:15 Now why don't we read the Bible? 03:17 Why don't we believe this text? 03:19 John 5:28 and 29, Jesus said, "Do not marvel at this, 03:26 for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves 03:29 will hear His voice and come forth. 03:32 Those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, 03:35 and those who have done evil, 03:37 to the resurrection of condemnation." 03:40 Now listen to me. 03:41 Look at me, the Bible says, 03:44 "I don't have an immortal soul." 03:47 The Bible says the doctrine of the immortality of the soul 03:50 comes from the devil. 03:52 This is in the Book Genesis. 03:54 The Bible says, "When I die, I go to sleep 03:58 and I rest in the grave." 04:01 Now if the Bible is true. 04:04 Now this is rather delicate, what I'm gonna tell you now. 04:09 I don't want to offend my beloved Catholic friends. 04:14 But Mary is not in heaven, Peter is not in heaven, 04:20 the saints are not in heaven. 04:23 So why should I trust in Mary 04:28 to save my soul, 04:32 when she is in the grave all waiting the resurrection, 04:36 and that's why the Bible teaches 04:37 that only Jesus Christ can save me. 04:42 And you see the true church is not built upon a dead saint. 04:47 The truth church is built upon the living Christ. 04:50 Did you hear this? 04:53 The true church is built upon the living Christ. 04:56 And so the Bible tells me 04:58 that my hope is in the resurrection of Christ. 05:02 Our loved ones are not in pain. 05:06 Our loved ones are not in... 05:08 You say, you don't believe in purgatory. 05:10 No, of course, I don't believe in purgatory. 05:13 Purgatory is not taught in the Bible. 05:16 Purgatory was an invention of the medieval church 05:22 to scare people into going to church 05:25 and supporting the church 05:27 with their silver and their gold. 05:30 It is not taught in the Bible, 05:32 neither is limbo taught in the Bible. 05:34 How many souls are burning today 05:39 in the fires of hell? 05:42 Well, there's none. 05:45 None, the Bible tells us that we sleep in the grave 05:49 until the resurrection. 05:53 Now we come to the next question 05:55 that we have already asked and answered it. 05:58 But we'll do it again. 06:00 Are the dead conscious? 06:03 And this is a very important question, 06:04 because all of my Catholic friends 06:06 and most of my Protestant friends, 06:08 certainly Martin Luther didn't believed 06:09 in the immortality of a soul. 06:11 Hear this Lutherans. 06:12 Martin Luther did not believed in the immortality of the soul, 06:15 but most of my Protestant friends 06:17 believe in the immortality of the soul, 06:19 and they believe that the dead are conscious 06:23 and the dead can come back on occasions 06:26 and talk to you. 06:27 This of course is spiritism. 06:29 I want you to come over here to John 11, 06:32 Matthew, Mark, Luke John, fourth gospel. 06:34 John 11, we're going to notice the words of Jesus 06:39 and the words of John also. 06:40 John 11:1, are the dead conscious? 06:44 "Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, 06:47 the town of Mary and her sister Martha." 06:50 So here's a man who get sick 06:52 and he gets so sick this man dies. 06:55 Then if you come to verses 11 to 14, 06:59 "These things He, Jesus said, and after that He said to them, 07:04 "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, 07:06 but I go that I may wake him up." 07:09 Then His disciples said, "Lord, if he sleeps he will get well." 07:13 How be it. 07:14 However, Jesus spoke of his death, 07:18 but they thought that He was speaking about 07:21 taking rest in sleep. 07:23 Then Jesus said to them plainly, 07:27 "Lazarus is dead." 07:32 Now I challenge you. 07:34 You may find this to be a shocking talk, 07:37 some of you may be saying, 07:39 I really don't want to hear this. 07:40 My friend, I'm not here 07:42 to defend the opinions of my church 07:46 or some organization, 07:47 I'm here simply to show you what the Bible teaches, 07:51 and all the way through the New Testament, 07:53 death is likened unto a sleep and Jesus, our blessed Lord, 07:58 and if we can't believe Jesus, we can't believe anybody. 08:01 Jesus said, "Lazarus is sleeping, 08:04 Lazarus is dead." 08:08 And that's why we read a few moments ago, 08:10 Jesus went to the tomb where Lazarus was sleeping 08:15 and Jesus said Lazarus come forth 08:18 and the dead man woke up and came out. 08:22 And I believe that's going to happen 08:24 to God's people one day. 08:25 So I don't believe in the immortality of the soul. 08:28 I don't believe in purgatory. 08:31 I don't believe 08:32 in the edification of the saints, 08:35 because a dead saint cannot save me, 08:38 I need a living Christ. 08:40 Amen. 08:41 Do you hear this, and so Jesus here I say, 08:46 you Peter, you were just a tumbling old stone he said, 08:50 I said you Peter, I'm going to build my church on the rock, 08:55 and the rock is Christ Himself. 08:58 So the true church is built upon a living Christ, 09:01 the false church is built upon a sleeping saint. 09:08 There was a little boy who lost his soldier dad. 09:13 Little boy was grieving. 09:15 The young mother didn't know what to tell him, 09:18 but she thought about it and she prayed about it, 09:22 seems to me that God helped her. 09:25 She said, "Remember how we used to play, 09:29 used to play in the daytime, summertime. 09:34 All right. 09:35 Long summer days, 09:38 then I'd call you in our supper time 09:40 and say come home, come home, it's supper time. 09:43 When you came in late in the day, 09:48 you'd have dinner 09:50 and as you would have dinner you start to nod off. 09:55 And mummy and daddy would pick you up 09:57 and take you into your bedroom 10:01 and we'd undress you and put your pajamas on 10:05 and you'd fall asleep, 10:09 and you'd peacefully sleep unconscious, 10:14 until the sun was shining through the glass windows 10:18 and the birds were singing. 10:22 So she said that's how it is with death. 10:27 Daddy is sleeping. 10:30 And when Jesus comes and the sun is shining, 10:36 Jesus is going to wake him up. 10:39 Just as he woke up Lazarus, Lazarus come forth, 10:44 this man who'd been dead for four days, 10:46 whose body was starting to deteriorate, 10:51 he came out of that tomb... 10:57 same as Jesus did. 10:59 Jesus came out of the tomb. 11:03 Next question, will we see our loved ones 11:06 who died trusting in Christ again? 11:09 For instance, will I see my mother? 11:12 I'm largely here today 11:13 because of my mother teaching me this faith, 11:16 and praying with me as a bit of a delinquent youth. 11:21 Will I see my father again who was brought up 11:24 in the great Roman Catholic Church. 11:27 As a young boy he was an altar boy 11:29 in Australia serving under the priest. 11:33 But later on in life 11:34 after he came to some of my meetings, 11:37 he discovered Christ in the gospel 11:40 and was baptized in the Christ 11:42 and died in the truth of the resurrection, 11:45 will I see them again? That is the question. 11:49 I want you to take your Bible, 11:50 come over here to 1 Thessalonians 4, 11:54 1 Thessalonians 4, 11:58 you folks who are watching in television, 12:00 just listen to this one in the Bible verse 13, 12:03 "But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, 12:05 concerning those who," what? 12:07 Fallen asleep. 12:08 And not talking about people in church either. 12:11 No, I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, 12:13 concerning those who have fallen asleep..." 12:15 What's he talking about? 12:17 "Lest you sorrow as others who have no hope." 12:20 Now there you got it again, 12:21 Jesus spoke about a death 12:25 and Jesus called it a sleep. 12:29 He did this all the way through His teachings. 12:31 When Jesus went into the tomb, Jesus slept for three days. 12:36 He was unconscious, didn't go to purgatory, 12:38 didn't go to any place called hell, 12:40 any of that stuff. 12:41 No, no, no, that's not taught in the Bible. 12:43 He slept and the Bible says, Paul says, 12:46 I don't want you to be ignorant concerning people who've died, 12:50 people who've fallen asleep. 12:53 Now verses 16 and onwards. 12:54 Have a look at this, because this is really terrific, 12:57 verse 16 and onwards. 12:59 Have you got it? 13:01 "For the Lord Himself 13:02 will descend from heaven with a shout, 13:04 with the voice of the archangel, 13:07 and with the trumpet of God. 13:11 The dead in Christ will rise first. 13:13 Then we who are alive and remain 13:16 shall be caught up together 13:17 with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. 13:21 And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 13:24 Therefore comfort one another with these words." 13:28 Now the Bible teaches this. 13:30 I just want you to think about this. 13:33 The Bible teaches that Christ is going to come, 13:36 and He's going to come in power and great glory. 13:41 And Christ is the mighty Son of God, 13:44 He died and He came out of that tomb, 13:47 and the Bible says, 13:49 "He is going to come back in magnificent glory. 13:53 And I'm gonna put up a picture on the screen 13:55 and it just moves my heart 13:58 because it's a picture of Christ 14:01 coming with the angels. 14:05 That's going to happen. 14:07 I believe it's going to happen soon, 14:11 I believe the signs of the times tells me 14:13 that we are living in the very last days. 14:17 I believe this. 14:19 I'm convinced that this is true and the Bible says 14:22 when Christ comes back, He is going to give a shout, 14:27 it's gonna be pretty noisy, folks, 14:29 not gonna be a secret rapture. 14:31 No, no, no people said, 14:32 "You believe in secret rapture?" 14:34 No, I can't believe in the secret rapture, 14:36 that's the delusion of the devil, 14:38 it's not taught in the Bible. 14:39 The Bible says Christ comes backs 14:41 with the sound of the trumpet, 14:44 you know, shout of the archangel, 14:48 and then something tremendous is going to happen, 14:51 the graves are going to crack open, 14:54 and people by the millions are going to be resurrected, 14:58 think about that. 14:59 Amen. Think about that. 15:03 So do I expect to see my old dad, 15:06 who is baptized in the Catholic Church? 15:09 I shall do. 15:11 He's not gonna be an old man, 15:15 going to be young man, 15:17 young strong, lost most of hair 15:21 but he's gonna have it all back. 15:24 My mother is going to be a beautiful young woman again. 15:27 I have just come back from Australia. 15:29 For last few days, I have traveled 19,000 miles, 15:32 and every time I go to Australia, 15:34 I can tell you something. 15:35 This must be a scientific truth. 15:38 The continents must be drifting apart 15:41 because it seems to be further to go there each time. 15:44 All the planes are going slower, 15:46 even though I went on a Dreamliner, 15:47 came back on a Dreamliner, 15:49 but it seems though it takes a longer now. 15:52 But I went down to Australia to bury my old friend. 16:01 I guess, perhaps the best friend I ever had, 16:05 Graeme Bradford. 16:06 We traveled the world together, we went to Russia together. 16:10 We went to lots of places, dangerous places together, 16:13 but he got melanoma 16:15 and he fought it for about five years. 16:18 The doctors would see him out, you know, they would say, 16:21 you look remarkable for a man who ought to dead 16:24 because he was running and jogging, 16:27 and preaching and he kept going, going, 16:29 keep, he kept going on 16:33 and we are going to see him again. 16:35 Yes, on the last day at the resurrection. 16:39 When I see him again, he's not going to be a man 16:43 dying of c cancer, nothing like that. 16:47 He's gonna be the same guy, the same Graeme Bradford, 16:52 same sense of humor, 16:54 same child of God, but no cancer, 16:58 no melanoma, no pain, no hospitals, no doctors, 17:02 no morphine. 17:06 That's our hope. 17:09 I want you to think about it. 17:11 If the doctrine of the immortality of the soul 17:14 is really true. 17:16 Just be honest, think about this. 17:20 The Bible says that the way to destruction 17:23 is wide and broad, and most people go there. 17:27 The way to salvation the Bible say 17:29 is narrow and straight, only a few that will find it. 17:32 Now people don't want to hear that. 17:34 They want to think that everybody y 17:36 is going to go to heaven, everybody, 17:39 but the Bible says, 17:42 few there be that find it if that is true. 17:47 And if the doctrine of the immortality of the soul 17:50 is true, 17:53 then right now there are billions of people 17:55 screaming in hell. 18:01 Think about that. 18:03 People say, "Well, you know, it gives a lot of comfort 18:06 to my heart to believe it." 18:08 No, no, no. 18:09 What sort of God would that be? 18:12 So there's nobody in purgatory, there's nobody in hell, 18:16 there's nobody in limbo, 18:18 there is a judgment day when Christ returns. 18:22 There's gonna be a big fire, God is gonna clean up the mess. 18:26 It's going to be a judgment day. 18:28 But right now, our loved ones are sleeping. 18:34 When I was a boy preacher... 18:36 Oh, just a few years ago. 18:40 A family came to me in Australia 18:41 in the little town of Parkes, 18:43 that's it's on the outer Barcoo where the preachers are few, 18:47 and men of religion are scanty, 18:49 on the path seldom crossed, that's an Australian poem. 18:53 I won't say it all because it wouldn't be appropriate. 18:56 A family came to me 18:58 because these people had come to my meetings 19:01 and this old man, they called him Pops, 19:03 he's a dear old man. 19:06 He passed away and the family came to me 19:08 and they said, 19:10 would you bury Pops 'cause you're a pastor. 19:12 I said of course I will. 19:14 And then they brought along their sons, 19:16 this is true story. 19:19 The sons opened up their wallets, 19:22 and took out thousands of dollars, 19:25 they put it down on my desk, and they said pray for Pops 19:29 so he will get out of purgatory. 19:35 What sort of God would he be 19:38 that you could pay him off? 19:42 What are you talking about? 19:44 You mean to say 19:45 that if you pay money to the church, 19:48 God's gonna let somebody out of hell? 19:50 What sort of God? 19:53 He be more crooked than some modern day politicians. 19:58 Now isn't that the truth? 20:00 Yeah. 20:01 So I told them, Pops died with his faith truly in Christ. 20:07 Living according to the truth of the Bible. 20:10 I said, you don't, I wouldn't take your money, 20:14 that would be an offence to me. 20:16 It would be an offence to God. 20:18 I could not belong to a church 20:20 that took money for praise for the dead. 20:23 I couldn't belong to that. 20:26 I think it's disgusting. 20:29 But I said, "I'll pray for you, and I'll bury the old man. 20:35 And one day by the grace of God, 20:37 you'll see him in heaven because it's going to happen, 20:43 which leads people to this question. 20:45 What about the dying thief? 20:47 Come over here to Luke 23, Matthew, Mark, Luke, 20:51 'cause this troubles some people, 20:53 the dying thief, 20:55 Luke 23 20:58 :39-43. 21:04 "Then one of the criminals 21:06 who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, 21:08 "If You are the Christ save yourself and us." 21:10 But the other answering, rebuked him saying, 21:14 'Do you not even fear God 21:16 seeing you are under the same condemnation? 21:18 And we indeed justly, before we received 21:20 the due reward of our deeds, 21:22 but this Man has done nothing wrong." 21:25 Then he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me 21:28 when You come into Your kingdom." 21:30 And Jesus said to him, "Assured, I say to you come, 21:34 today you will be with me in Paradise." 21:37 That text seems to teach 21:41 that Jesus and the thief went to Paradise that day. 21:45 Now I will show you 21:48 an apparent contradiction in the Bible. 21:50 Come over here to John 20:17, 21:54 John 20:17 and this describes 21:58 what happened on the day of the resurrection. 22:01 John 20:17, three days after the Friday 22:05 John 20:17, 22:07 "Jesus said to her, He is talking to Mary, 22:10 "Do not cling to me 22:12 for I have not yet to ascended to my father, 22:14 but go to my brother and say to them 22:16 "I 'm ascending to My Father and your God, 22:19 and to My God and your God." 22:20 Listen, you get it? 22:24 On the Sunday Jesus said, "I haven't been to Paradise, 22:29 said I haven't been there yet." 22:32 So there's a conflict, listen. 22:38 The Bible is a inspired Word of God 22:41 but in the original there are no punctuation marks, 22:45 the commas were placed by the translators 22:49 who believed in the immortality of the soul, 22:52 therefore this text can read this 22:55 "Assuredly, I say to you, 22:57 today you will be with Me in Paradise." 23:00 You see where the comma is? 23:03 Or else it can say this, 23:06 "Assuredly, I say to you today, 23:11 you will be with me in Paradise." 23:17 The thief didn't go that day home. 23:22 He was still alive probably live for another week, 23:26 and Jesus didn't go that day, 23:30 but one day that thief will be with Christ in Paradise 23:37 like Sammy Tannahill. 23:39 Have you heard of him? 23:41 He is a terrible criminal. 23:43 Sammy Tannahill had murdered many, many people. 23:49 He was going to die in the electric chair. 23:51 There is the man, Sammy Tannahill. 23:56 A pastor visited him and gave him a Bible. 23:58 Sammy started to read it, and read it. 24:03 He read it for three days, and three nights 24:05 and couldn't sleep. 24:07 And in the end he got down beside his bed, 24:09 he said God forgive me for every sin in the book 24:11 because I've broken them all. 24:14 And then he was taken 24:16 and put in the electrical chair, 24:18 and the pastor stood in front of him 24:21 and said Sammy have you got anything to say, 24:23 he said only this 24:25 that I have put my life in the hands of Christ, 24:30 and I have asked God to forgive my sins. 24:32 And the pastor let him in saying the Lord's prayer 24:35 and as they were praying, 24:37 they turned on the electricity 24:43 and Sammy fell asleep, 24:46 and he will be with Christ in Paradise 24:49 and so will you be. 24:52 We do not believe that the Bible teaches 24:55 a monstrous doctrine of the immortality of the soul. 24:59 We believe in the resurrection of Christ, 25:03 and we believe 25:05 in the resurrection of God's people. 25:10 Remember the text that God so loved the world. 25:14 So if you believe in Him, you will not perish, 25:19 but you will have everlasting life 25:22 in the resurrection when Jesus comes. 25:27 Amen. 25:28 Now, I just want to do something. 25:31 I want to dedicate this program today, 25:35 and we're gonna put this in the program. 25:39 We lovingly dedicate this program today 25:42 to the memory of my great friend, 25:49 and your great friend, Dr. Graeme Bradford. 25:54 And as I said at his funeral service, 25:57 Graeme rest in peace, 26:03 rise in glory. 26:05 Amen. 26:06 And all the people said amen and amen. 28:18 For a copy of today's program, please contact us 28:22 at P.O. Box 1900, Thousand Oaks, California 91358. 28:28 Or in Australia contact us at P.O. Box 861, 28:33 Terrigal, New South Wales 2260. 28:38 This program is made possible 28:39 through the generous support of viewers like you. 28:42 We thank you for your continued support. 28:45 May God richly bless you. |
Revised 2016-08-04