Participants: Pr. C.A. Murray
Series Code: HHR
Program Code: HHR000009
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05:04 Amen and Amen, Thank you Todd, so very very much.
05:07 Tonight's message is entitled Soul Man! 05:11 I'm going to ask you to turn with me if you will, 05:14 to 2 Samuel and we will read from Chapter 14 after we pray. 05:23 2 Samuel 14:14, but before we do that, 05:32 shall we not go to the Lord in prayer. 05:33 Father God we thank you again for the truth of Your word. 05:38 We thank you for Jesus, our Savior and our friend. 05:42 We ask You Lord again to speak to us and allow us to 05:48 hear your voice, and your words, because we need to know 05:54 the truth in these last days so that we can prepare 05:58 for that grand and awful day when Christ returns for His own. 06:04 Please dear Lord, teach us again this night and help us to be 06:10 doers of the word and not just hears only. 06:14 We thank you, in Jesus Name! AMEN! 06:17 How many have ever had a lie told about you? 06:24 About 50 percent. 06:28 It's not very pleasant is it? 06:31 It it's awful to have people think something about you 06:35 that is not true. 06:37 It is very difficult to put a stop to a lie once it begins 06:44 to circulate. 06:46 Because all you can say is it is not true. 06:48 People tend to believe what they want to believe. 06:52 What is sad is that even in our world today 06:56 people tend to believe a lie sometimes more than the truth. 07:01 Well a lie, in fact several lies have been told about God. 07:09 God has spent the last 7000 years of earth's history, 07:15 of earth's recorded history, trying to tell the truth 07:21 about certain lies that were spread about Him 07:26 even in heaven itself. 07:28 These untrue statements have reached planet Earth 07:34 and they have, as it were, defaced the image of God. 07:41 and so we want, as best we can, from God's Word to put to rest 07:48 one of the most vicious of those untrue statements. 07:53 Our message is called Soul Man! 07:55 I'm in the book of 2 Samuel, what book did I say? 07:58 2 Samuel 14:14 08:35 Now, before we go little further I want to go to the 08:38 New Testament to the book of 1 Timothy 6:16 09:08 Now if you didn't know who the text was talking about 09:10 the idea that it ends with honor and everlasting power means 09:15 we must be talking about who? 09:16 We must be talking about God. 09:18 Two things we need to establish right now. 09:22 Every person who has lived or who is living, unless they are 09:31 alive at the second coming of Christ, will at one time or 09:35 another, sooner or later, see death. 09:38 Is that understood? 09:40 All of us are going to die. 09:44 Unless Jesus comes and we are translated, it is appointed 09:49 unto man, Solomon says, once to die, and then the judgment. 09:54 1 Timothy 6:16 makes a very important foundational statement 10:03 It says that there is one being in the universe that has 10:08 immortality, it is not you, it is not me, it is God. 10:15 Now we need to nail that nail down, only God has immortality. 10:23 Amen! and Amen! everybody else then is mortal. 10:32 God alone has a immortality! 10:38 It is a biblical statement, it is true, it is fact. 10:42 only God has immortality. Can you say Amen? 10:47 Now, what about us? 10:49 Let's go to the very first book of the Bible, book of Genesis. 10:52 What book did I say? 10:53 I'm in Genesis 3:4 10:58 If indeed God alone has immortality, 11:02 where did the confusion come from? 11:04 Here is one of lies. 11:16 You will not surely die. 11:20 Satan, speaking through the serpent, twisted the truth 11:27 and that twisting of the truth of God, has spawned more 11:33 confusion and consternation, and unbelief, and woe, 11:40 and outright rejection of the grace and gospel of Christ than 11:45 perhaps any other. 11:46 What has come from that original statement 11:51 has confused many and turned many off against Christianity. 11:57 You will not really die, is not a God-given utterance, 12:06 it is a Satanic utterance. 12:08 The idea that when you die, you don't really die, 12:15 does not come from God. 12:17 It comes from the lips of Satan himself, do you understand that? 12:22 It is very, very important. 12:24 It doesn't come from God, it comes from Satan. 12:28 Because at Adam and Eve did not drop dead that second, 12:34 they believed it. 12:36 There are many who believe it and teach it today. 12:40 But it does not, I say again, come from God. 12:45 The moment you accept that idea, the idea that when we die 12:52 part of us lives on, you have created for yourself one big, 13:01 fact theological conundrum. 13:04 In other words, you have dug a hole for yourself and in order 13:09 to solve that problem, you have to deface the image of God. 13:16 Now I want you to listen very carefully, because this 13:19 is very, very important. 13:20 To get out of the Ecclesiological or 13:25 Eschatological quicksand that, that theology creates, 13:28 you have to throw mud on the face and reputation of God. 13:34 If you believe and preach and teach that when you die 13:40 you don't really die, you turn a loving God into a monster. 13:48 I am going to show you how in just a little bit. 13:51 Now let's head in another direction and try to tie some 13:55 of these things together. 13:57 What is man? It's a basic question. 14:02 What are we? Let's answer that question from the 14:06 book of Genesis, what book did I say? 14:08 Genesis 2:7 and let's begin to answer that question. 14:14 What is man, what are we anyway? 14:17 The word of God answers that question I'm in Genesis 2:7 14:21 The Bible says, Genesis 2:7 "and the Lord God formed man 14:28 of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils 14:34 the breath of life and man became a living being. " 14:40 Alright, let's look at it for just a second. 14:43 God formed man from the dust of the ground, breathed into 14:50 his nostrils the breath of life, and man became, the Bible says 14:56 a living being. 14:58 Let's go to the book of Job, Job 4:17 I will give you 15:05 a second to find it. 15:07 Job 4:17 15:26 Alright, first God made us from the dust and breathed into us 15:36 air and we became souls. 15:40 Now the Bible does not play with words or mince words. 15:44 It uses the exact terms for what it is trying to say. 15:49 The Bible says, God took dust, breathed into it air and man 15:56 was given a soul. 15:58 Amen! you're not listening, that is not what the Bible says. 16:05 That's what man says. 16:07 The Bible says, God took dust, breathed into a air 16:13 and man "became" a soul. 16:18 Didn't say man was given a soul, it says, man became a soul. 16:25 There is ladies and gentlemen a great deal of difference 16:28 can you say Amen! 16:30 Different becoming as oppose to given. 16:34 The Bible equation is this, I want you to get it. 16:38 Body plus breath equals soul. 16:53 Body minus breath equals? 17:04 Equals dust! Equals dust! 17:08 It does not equal soul. 17:11 Because to get to a soul, according to Genesis you have 17:15 to have body and breath, if you don't have body 17:22 and breath, you don't have a um hum, makes sense? 17:30 Let's go to the book of Psalms, what book did I say? 17:32 Psalms 146:4 18:01 Psalms says and uses the word spirit, there are some 18:07 translators who use the word breath, but all the translators 18:13 agree that which leaves the body is not a conscious entity, 18:18 we will come to that a little later, but rather the breath 18:21 of God that was given at creation. 18:26 The spirit leaves, or the breath leaves, and returns to God 18:32 who gave it, the body goes to the ground. 18:34 Now what is important in that text is that the Bible says 18:38 in that very day the thoughts do what? Perish! 18:42 They stop, doesn't come back and congratulates you, 18:46 and pat you on the back when you do good in a baseball game. 18:52 Doesn't come back to your house and haunt you at night. 18:54 Doesn't wait for you in the cemetery when the Sun goes down. 19:02 Thoughts perish! AMEN! 19:06 Right from the word of God the Bible does not use the word 19:12 spirit as a conscious entity that lives on after death. 19:17 I'm going to prove that to you in just a little bit. 19:18 So the Bible says in that very day the thoughts do what? Perish 19:23 So everything you planned to do tomorrow, what happens? 19:25 Gone! All the bills you have to pay, Gone! 19:37 Car payment, Gone! 19:39 House note, Gone! 19:42 Credit card payment, Gone! 19:45 Your thoughts perish! 19:53 So that which goes to God is not a thinking entity, 19:56 it has no personality. 19:58 Further proof let's go to the book of Ecclesiastics. 20:01 What book did I say? 20:02 I'm in the book of Ecclesiastics 9:5 20:33 So when you die how much of what is going on earth are you aware? 20:38 NOTHING! 20:41 You don't know, You do not know. 20:45 Let's go to verse 6, I'm in Ecclesiastics 9:5, we just read 20:49 5 let's go to 6. 20:58 So if you have a girlfriend or wife, and loved her 21:00 Are you still loving her? 21:01 People say I will love you forever, no you won't! 21:07 You'll love till you die. 21:09 Amen, bring it back up guys, let's finish. 21:23 So once you die, that's it! 21:27 Amen! That's it! 21:31 Once you die, that is it! 21:35 Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived, is saying once you 21:38 die, no love, no hate, no envy, no jealousy, no malice, 21:42 no revenge, it ends when you close your eyes in death. 21:48 So if you don't get it right you don't get to come back 21:52 and say I'm sorry. 21:57 That's why you straighten things out why you are alive 21:59 ladies and gentlemen, because you don't get to come back 22:02 to say you are sorry. 22:03 Or if someone does you wrong you don't get to come back 22:06 and bug them. 22:13 Love, hate, envy, it all ends. Let's look at Ecclesiastes 9:10 22:33 So God is saying, Solomon is saying this also, under 22:37 inspiration from the Lord, what ever you have to do 22:42 do it now, and do it well because this is your one chance 22:47 ladies and gentlemen, this is it! 22:49 Whatever you do, put your whole body into it, put your whole 22:54 mind into it, put your whole soul into it, particularly 22:57 when it comes to serving the Lord because your life 22:59 depends on it. 23:01 Amen! Because when you come to the grave it's too late then. 23:06 There is nothing more that can be done, so do it now, 23:12 Because you don't have a part anymore in anything that happens 23:16 under the sun. 23:18 Amen! and Amen! Lets go to the book of Job, I'm in the book 23:23 of Job 14:14 23:38 So when we die Job is affirming that you're going to wait 23:42 someplace, we are going to stay someplace until the change comes 23:47 The change does not come at the point of death. 23:51 That's Job's point, it doesn't happen at death it happens 23:54 later on, and we are going to see what the later on is. 23:58 I'm in Job 17:13 now 24:02 I hope you are getting a chance to write these texts down or 24:04 outline them in your Bible because you can go back 24:07 and reference these things, it will be good to do that. 24:17 Job is continuing a series of statements that affirms the fact 24:21 that when I die after my toil here on planet Earth, I wait 24:27 as it were in the grave. 24:28 My house is then the grave. 24:30 I don't go anywhere, I wait and something spectacular 24:35 happens a little later on, and we will talk about that 24:39 in just a little bit. 24:42 The point I am trying to stress here is that there is no 24:46 indication anywhere in the Old Testament, certainly not 24:49 in the book of Job who discusses death quite a lot. 24:52 That when we die we ascend immediately into the 24:56 presence of God, and I want you to understand that, because 24:59 later on we are going to come to a text that seems to say that 25:02 I'm going to show you that it does not. 25:03 So the majority of the Scriptures that we have read 25:07 tonight, in fact all of them, have affirmed that we are 25:11 going to die, when we die we are going to the grave, 25:15 and we don't come back and haunt haunted houses or visit our 25:20 relatives on their birthday, or say nice things, 25:24 or even scores, when you die you die and ladies and gentlemen 25:29 as cold as it is, that is it! 25:32 That's why God says today if you hear His voice, do what? 25:35 Harden not your heart. 25:37 Because tomorrow is not promised to you. 25:39 So does the Bible say that the soul is immortal? 25:48 One word answer, Nope! 25:56 Your silence says, you are waiting for Scripture. 25:59 Amen! here it comes. Ezekiel 18:4 26:04 What book did I say? 26:25 Now according to that text, souls do what? 26:29 Die! The soul that sins shall die. 26:34 Very first text that we read. The second one, God alone has 26:38 immortality. Souls die! Further proof, same book of Ezekiel 26:45 same 18:20 27:07 The very first line, "the soul who sins shall die. " 27:12 Two times in that same chapter and there is a third time in 27:16 the same book of Ezekiel, we didn't and put it down 27:19 but it is in Ezekiel 33, the statement is made again. 27:22 "A soul that sins shall die. " 27:25 Can it get any plainer than that? 27:26 Souls do die! Romans 6:23 27:48 Romans 3:23 27:55 So the punishment for a sin is what? is death! 28:01 The gift of God is? Eternal Life 28:05 So if everybody had eternal life when they were born 28:08 then what is God's gift? 28:13 Doesn't make sense. 28:15 Eternal life is promised to those who are in Christ 28:20 as a gift from God. 28:23 Everybody doesn't have it. 28:26 Amen? Amen! The wages of sin is not eternal life, the wages 28:33 of sin is death! 28:35 So that sooner or later sinners are going to die. 28:41 Now You may not die today, you may not die tomorrow, 28:44 but sooner or later, God says the wages of sin is death. 28:49 Galatians 6:6, 7, "Be not deceived, God is not mocked 28:52 What a man sows he is going to... and the wages of sin 28:56 if you work for sin, you are going to get your wages. 28:59 It would be unfair to have you work for something 29:02 and not pay you what you deserve. 29:03 So the wages of sin is death! Is that plain? 29:07 So that just simply means that everybody doesn't live for ever. 29:11 Sinners are going to die. Amen! 29:16 Very, Very true. 1 Corinthians 15:26 29:30 So one day God is going to destroy sinners and death. 29:36 It is all going to be over. 29:38 Death is no figment, it claimed the life of Christ, but it 29:45 could not keep Him. Can you say Amen? 29:47 Even Jesus did not ascend to heaven immediately. 29:54 Now this is a very important point, even Jesus didn't 29:57 die and go right to heaven. 29:59 Let's look at John 20:17 30:25 So Christ didn't die go right to the kingdom. 30:28 He did not, nor do we die and shoot right to the kingdom. 30:32 We are going to wrestle with that in just a little bit. 30:35 I will come back to that. 30:36 Let's go to the book of Acts, What book did I say? 30:38 Acts 2:34 30:57 Now David's life was an incredible life. 30:59 Those of you who has studied the life of David what a saga. 31:03 When he was good, he was very good, when he was bad 31:08 Lord, he was very bad. 31:11 Just about every sin that you can name, David at one time 31:20 or another, in his life, committed. 31:21 He surely did, as you pick them off, David pretty much 31:26 stepped on all of them. 31:27 Yet God called him a man after Mine own heart. 31:34 One of the reasons he did that was because when David was 31:37 called for his sin, David never made excuses. 31:40 He said Lord if you have to punish me, punish me. 31:44 Just save me. 31:46 You see God can work with that. 31:48 When you say Lord I have sinned, I am throwing myself on Your 31:51 mercy, do what you have to do, just don't block my name out. 31:54 Just don't take my name off the list. 31:57 God can do that. 31:59 If you look at Saul's life, and David's life, Saul the first 32:03 king, David the second. 32:04 Saul was rejected by God, David was not. 32:08 David's list of sins far eclipses Saul's. 32:11 David's, dare we say, rap sheet was much longer than Saul's. 32:15 The difference between Saul and David, is that when David 32:20 was called to account for his sins, David said Lord 32:23 I have sinned and I repent. 32:27 Saul made excuses and he did not repent. 32:33 Saul made excuses, that is a lesson for you and me. 32:36 When God calls you, the best thing you can do, 32:40 the only thing you can do is say Lord, I sinned. 32:43 Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit. 32:49 God knows you sinned. 32:50 You have to admit it to yourself. 32:52 and if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive. 32:58 But David, the Bible says, has not gone into heaven. 33:05 He is dead and buried. 33:07 Right to this day. Acts 2:29 33:23 Now, does it say that David is in the presence of God? 33:26 Does it say that David is dancing around the throne? 33:29 NO! New testament, book of Acts the word is given, David is 33:36 dead and buried in the tomb, to this very day. 33:40 He didn't immediately go to heaven, he didn't really go to 33:42 Hell, in the tomb waiting for something, waiting for something 33:48 and we are going to come to that in just a little bit. 33:49 Nowhere does it give indication, that the great David is in glory 33:54 with the Lord. This is very, very important! 33:57 If anybody would have gotten in, could have been David, 34:00 should have been David, but David is waiting just like 34:04 we are waiting. 34:05 The Bible is singular, straight and secular and makes sense. 34:09 It says David is in the ground waiting. 34:11 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 What book did I say? 34:13 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 35:17 Now let's look at this! 35:18 The Bible says it is going to happen at the last trump. 35:23 The trumpet shall sound and the dead will come up incorruptible. 35:30 At that point death is swallowed up in victory, it's the key text 35:36 that Paul is writing to the Corinthian church. 35:39 You do not go to heaven immediately when you die, 35:42 nor do you go to hell when you die, you wait for the 35:47 trumpet of God, you wait for 35:49 the day of judgment, 35:50 you wait for the return of Christ and at that point 35:54 you put on a incorruption. 35:56 At that point you're corruptible body, your mortal body becomes 36:01 immortal, do you understand that? 36:03 It is very, very important! 1 Corinthians 15:16-23 37:15 Now let's just tie a bow around this, if we can. 37:18 The Bible is saying some very important things. 37:21 He is saying that Christ's resurrection from the dead 37:25 guarantees that those who fall asleep in Christ, will be 37:29 resurrected from the dead. Can you say Amen? 37:32 Resurrected, it means that they will go down and come up. 37:37 But it says that is going to happen when Jesus comes again. 37:44 Not at the point of death, is that clear? 37:47 It is very, very important, because a lot of people are 37:50 teaching you some things that are not biblical. 37:51 You need to know what the truth is. 37:54 Jesus is coming to gather His own. 37:58 If Jesus is coming back with His reward, and you go to heaven 38:05 at the point of death, what is Jesus coming back for? 38:17 So why is He coming back here? 38:20 The saved are there. 38:24 Wasted trip, don't you think? 38:26 Burning gas for nothing. 38:33 Let's go on. 38:34 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 40:22 Now, it's interesting that Paul ends that statement to the 40:26 brethren at Thessalonica with a statement, comfort one another 40:30 with these words, he's saying that because when you really 40:34 know that, it shouldn't distress you, it should comfort you. 40:38 It is designed to be a comfort. 40:42 My dad died in 1979, the year that I was ordained. 40:50 Never got to come to my ordination because he had 40:56 a stroke and was somewhat disabled, couldn't come 41:00 to my ordination. 41:01 I have said this so many times, that I had the privilege of 41:05 baptizing my father one month before he died 41:08 of a massive stroke. 41:10 We were very pleased about that. 41:11 My mother lived on a number of years, it was my privilege 41:16 to bring her into the church and baptize her also. 41:19 But the last ten years of my mom's life, she also suffered 41:24 a number of mini strokes. Each one taking her further 41:29 into herself so that the last 4 or 5 years of her life she 41:34 could not communicate with us. 41:37 She couldn't talk, she could walk some, when I would go home 41:40 I knew that she recognized me, by the twinkle in her eye. 41:45 You know the dance in her eye. 41:47 She would take my hand and squeeze it very firmly. 41:50 But she could audibleize, she couldn't say hello but I 41:56 knew new she knew I was there. My sister determined as a nurse 41:59 that we were not going to put her in a nursing home. 42:01 We determined we would keep her home. 42:03 So my sister took care of her. 42:05 Between the two of us we got our finances together. 42:09 I sold my car and we got a hospital bed for her, 42:12 and we got a number of things for her. 42:14 To try and keep her home, we didn't want to put 42:16 her in a nursing facility. 42:18 My sister decided that she would make that sacrifice 42:19 and said if you are going to make the physical sacrifice 42:22 I will make the financial sacrifice, if I ever have any 42:25 money and you need money, I will send it home so that my 42:28 mothers last years can be fine. 42:30 But she declined precipitated- lessly the last couple years. 42:35 Now do you think if my dad were in heaven looking down 42:39 at his wife of just shy of 40 years, going down to the point 42:46 where she had to be fed through a straw. 42:48 Couldn't take care of her bathroom needs. 42:53 My sister had to bath her, and walk her, and nurse her, 42:57 and actually move her limbs so they wouldn't freeze. 43:00 Do you think my father could enjoy heaven knowing that 43:03 person who had shared his life for 40 years was suffering 43:07 like that, would heaven be heaven if you had to watch 43:09 the suffering here on earth? 43:11 It would not! So the idea that people fly immediately to 43:16 heaven and turn around and look at what is going on down here 43:18 on earth is unbiblical. 43:20 Heaven couldn't be heaven if you have to watch what is going on 43:24 down here on earth. 43:25 I was just looking the other day at all the carnage of 9/11. 43:30 If Saints were in heaven watching that 9/11, could 43:33 heaven be heaven? 43:34 Could you enjoy heaven watching what is going on, what mankind 43:37 is doing to mankind? 43:39 The drugs, the violence, the guns, the pornography, the filth 43:45 even on TV sets, our literature, how can heaven be heaven 43:49 if I'm in heaven watching all that stuff that is going on? 43:51 Heaven could not simply be heaven, it would not be heaven. 43:55 Solomon says that once we die we have no more portion of 44:00 what's going on, on planet Earth 44:01 Our loves, our hates they are all forgotten and we wait until 44:05 the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 44:07 Can you say Amen? 44:08 If we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so God will 44:14 bring with him those who sleep with Jesus. 44:17 There are basically 4 classes of people, I'm looking at my time. 44:20 You have, when Christ comes, the righteous living. 44:23 You have the righteous dead. You have the unrighteous living. 44:28 And the unrighteous dead. Those last two categories 44:31 we don't have time to go into right now, but it is safe to say 44:35 that those of us who are alive, those who have died in Christ, 44:39 at that point will ascend to be with Jesus. 44:42 The Bible says we will ever be with the Lord. 44:45 Can you say Amen? 44:46 A couple more things, then we are done. 44:51 We saw what 1 Thessalonians had to say, and we saw the 44:58 order of ascension. 44:59 What about the idea that souls burn forever? 45:05 Here is the problem, if you buy, I'll use that terminology, if 45:13 you believe that creation, at birth you are given, or mankind 45:20 is given an immortal soul, as I said before, you 45:24 immediately dig a hole for yourself and here's why. 45:28 If you have an immortal soul at birth, that means at death 45:34 you have to put that soul someplace. 45:36 Does that makes sense? Since it doesn't die, you have 45:41 to put it someplace, you have to develop a theology that puts 45:45 So if a person says to you I believe in an immortal soul 45:48 then you don't have to ask them what they believe about death. 45:52 They have already told you. 45:53 One they have to believe that soul goes immediately to heaven 45:58 or hell, they have to believe that because the 46:00 soul is immortal. 46:01 So since it is immortal and does not die, you have to develop 46:05 a theology that says the soul has to go someplace immediately 46:09 at the point of death. 46:10 So that means they also believe in an eternally burning hell. 46:14 Because if the soul is immortal that it has to be someplace 46:19 for eternity, make sense? 46:21 So that means if it is going to hell, then hell has to burn 46:26 forever because the soul never dies. 46:29 You see the closet you sort of box yourself in? 46:32 Then you turn a loving God into a monster, 46:37 because someone is saying, How could God be just and fair 46:42 loving and then burn people forever, it doesn't seem fitting 46:46 for loving God. How could God do that? 46:48 So you have to invent this theology that says people burn 46:53 forever because you have this soul that you say is eternal. 46:58 The Bible says, the soul that sins shall die. 47:02 At creation, our very first Scripture, our first lesson, 47:07 Body plus breath equals soul. Body, no breath, no soul. 47:14 Amen! Well what about fire that burns forever? 47:18 Well let's go to the book of Jude. 47:22 We are running into a little thing the Bible does. 47:24 Look at this! Jude verse 7. 47:50 Hmmm! Sodom and Gomorrah were burned with eternal fire. 47:56 Are Sodom and Gomorrah burning today? No! 48:02 If we got on our plane and went over to Jordan or Israel 48:07 and went to the southern end of the Dead Sea, 48:10 would we find Sodom and Gomorrah burning? 48:13 No! So what does the Bible mean when it is talking about 48:19 or mentions eternal fire? 48:22 What kind of fire is eternal fire? 48:27 Eternal fire is fire that burns with the eternal affect. 48:37 Did you hear me? Eternal affect! 48:42 In other words, when God burns it, it is gone once and for all 48:49 and forever. 48:51 It will never come back again, the effect is eternal, 48:56 not the duration. 49:00 You are mighty quiet. 49:01 The affect is eternal, not the duration. 49:07 Sodom and Gomorrah were burnt with eternal fire. 49:15 Affect not duration. 49:17 Now let me deal quickly in the time is left to me 49:21 with a text that many, many people use to try to justify 49:26 the idea that when you leave the body you go into the 49:29 the presence of the Lord. 49:30 2 Corinthians 5, what's book did I say? 2 Corinthians 5:8 49:35 And what is interesting is that this theology has been based 49:38 on this one text, but you never based a theology on one text. 49:41 The Bible says here a little there a little. 49:43 You look at every place the Bible speaks about a certain 49:45 issue and develop your theology after you read all the Bible 49:48 has to say, not just one text. 49:55 Does that sound to you like a theological statement? 49:59 Shouldn't because it is not. 50:02 It is Paul's desire, because if you read on he says, 50:06 listen, whether I'm absent or present I'm going to be in Jesus 50:08 He is saying I would rather be out of this tent, I'd rather 50:13 be out of this body with its aches and pains 50:15 and be with the Lord. 50:16 It is his desire, it is not a statement that when I leave here 50:20 I'm going to the Lord. 50:21 Now I can say the same thing, I would rather be out of 50:24 body and with Jesus. 50:27 Amen! Anybody else? 50:30 Yeah! I'd rather that! 50:32 I'd rather be out of this world and with Jesus. 50:40 Amen! This world is so good to use you want to stay 50:44 in it forever? NO! 50:46 I'm getting old, hate to admit it, but I am. 50:51 You know when I was a child, we used to go into my 50:54 father's room and I use to watch my dad get up 50:58 in the morning, he had his routine. 50:59 He would get up, sit on the side of the bed, 51:02 and make sure that everything was still there. 51:04 You know! And we would say, daddy, come on, get up. 51:07 Because as children you wake up and you get up. 51:10 but now at 50 years of age, I get up and sort of sit on 51:15 the side of the bed now. 51:16 I don't just jump up, actually what I do is get up and slide 51:20 to the floor and pray. 51:21 but I don't hop out of bed to pray, I slide to the floor 51:25 and pray. 51:27 Yeah! because I'm getting old. 51:29 I wish it were not true, but I am getting old. 51:33 Now don't let this lack of hair be, or let that frighten you 51:41 or disturb you, I am not bald, I am shaved, there is difference 51:45 shaved is volitional, if I let my hair grow it will grow 51:51 but it wouldn't grow right here. 51:52 So rather than deal with that I just took it all off. 51:57 So I'm not bald, I'm shaved. 51:59 Bald means you have no hair. I have hair, 52:01 it's all on the inside. 52:09 So Paul says I would rather be out of this body 52:11 and be with the Lord. 52:12 Now I agree with Paul, but the Bible says we have got to wait 52:16 because Jesus has asked us to wait. 52:18 Now, I'm going to skip over a couple things, 52:20 and go to a very powerful text, John 5, let's go to 52:30 John 5:28 52:35 I'm throwing my graphic guys a curve and jumping a little bit 52:37 because time is getting away from me, but here we go. 52:39 John 5:28-29. 52:57 Is That pretty plain? 52:58 All of those in the grave are going to come one day 53:01 to the resurrection of life, or condemnation. 53:04 I could give you some numbers, like the term Ruwach or Nephesh 53:07 which are the terms that are used in the Old Testament for 53:11 souls being used 388 times. 53:13 None mean a conscious thing that goes 53:16 to heaven immediately when you die, that is not biblical. 53:18 The one text that I really want to come down to 53:21 is in Revelation where Christ says, "I am coming quickly 53:26 and my reward is with me. " 53:31 Jesus says, "hold fast, I am coming quickly and my reward 53:36 is with me. " That is a powerful text because Christ is saying 53:40 to us, I'm coming to get you. 53:44 I love you so much, I'm not going to send you on 53:52 I'm coming back to get you. 53:53 "behold I come quickly, and my reward is with me according 53:58 to every man as his work shall be. " 54:01 We put together a lot of texts and we have gone very, very fast 54:04 but it is an important doctrine, it is important that you 54:08 understand what happens when you die 54:10 so that there is no fear in death. 54:12 There is no consternation in death. 54:14 We go to our graves and we wait the call of Christ and then 54:18 Christ comes with a trump and the graves open and the dead 54:22 in Christ come alive. 54:23 We join those who are dead, those who are still alive 54:26 should that be your case, and we as ascend up to meet Jesus 54:29 and we will always be with the Lord. 54:31 That is God's will for everybody here and everybody across 54:35 the planet and everybody under the sound of my voice. 54:37 It is God's will that you meet Him in peace. 54:41 Should you die, or should you be alive when He comes 54:45 it is God's desire that all of us ascend in the clouds 54:48 and be with the Lord for ever and ever. |
Revised 2014-12-17