Participants: Jim Reinking
Series Code: LDS
Program Code: LDS000018
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00:34 I am gonna remind you what we have been studying
00:37 from the very beginning, this all is a part, 00:39 every truth fits into this master template of the Bible. 00:45 And remember, you haven't forgot, have you? 00:47 It all began with this perfect world 00:49 that God created at the very beginning. 00:51 You know, God really wanted us to live in an environment 00:56 in which everything was going to work out just great. 01:00 Everything was gonna be good. 01:02 Everything was gonna be good. 01:03 But you know the other peace as we look at the template 01:06 was the peace that was happening in heaven. 01:08 There was this rebellion 01:10 of the second place in the presence of God. 01:12 Both God and the angels of God in heaven 01:14 and Lucifer and the third of the angels 01:16 ended up being defeated 01:19 and they were cast down to the earth 01:21 and you know, I think if I gave you the microphone 01:23 you could take a point, my point from this point forward. 01:27 And you will remember, 01:28 they only had access to the planet only at one place 01:33 and that was the tree of the knowledge 01:35 of good and evil, okay. 01:38 Until, they get into the tempter 01:42 and then it spread all through this planet. 01:44 And my friend, again we are living 01:47 with the results of what sin has done. 01:49 This knowledge of evil and it has so corrupted the human race. 01:52 God--God just could not let us go, 01:54 God had to step in, He had to take action 01:56 and He did at the cross of cavalry. 01:59 And you remember, I talked about the two trees, 02:01 there was the tree in the Garden of Eden, 02:05 that's where the faithful decision was made 02:07 but 2,000 years ago God erected another tree 02:11 and it was there at the cross of cavalry 02:13 that Jesus paid the price of our redemption. 02:17 And it is there that we have 02:18 another decision that we must make 02:20 and it must be an individual decision for each one of us. 02:24 A decision for Jesus, right, and for life eternal. 02:29 And as we've studied furthermore, 02:31 another piece that we added just a week or so ago, 02:34 we discovered that when Jesus having been crucified, 02:37 having died on the cross of cavalry 02:39 was resurrected and He ascended into heaven 02:43 where He functions as our high priest. 02:47 He is interceding before God the Father on our behalf. 02:51 And again, that's again 02:53 another vital part of what we've studied. 02:55 And then of course the piece that we put together, 02:58 it's been weeks ago now, the glorious truth of the fact 03:01 that Jesus is coming back in power 03:04 and coming back in glory 03:07 to bring an end to the reign of sin 03:10 and death upon this planet 03:12 and to take His people to Himself, right. 03:15 That's all good news. 03:17 And then He's going to make a new heaven and new earth. 03:22 The first heaven and first earth passes away, 03:24 it says in Revelation 21:1, "The curse of sin is removed 03:28 and paradise is going to be restored." 03:31 And we have this again wonderful future 03:33 that God has prepared for us. 03:35 But I am taking you back to an issue 03:37 that again relates to the tree of the knowledge and evil. 03:40 For God said in Genesis 2:16, 17, 03:44 "If you eat of the tree you will surely die." 03:49 You will surely die. 03:50 Now the serpent has something else 03:52 to say about that, didn't he? 03:55 But as we talk about that, certainly in recent years 03:58 we have been hearing reports of individuals 04:01 who have supposedly died 04:03 and has some kind of near death experience 04:07 and then following by being some out revived. 04:11 And one of the questions we want to examine tonight, 04:14 what is actually happening in these near death experiences? 04:18 Is there really life after death? 04:21 Is death simply the means 04:23 of being transformed into another reality? 04:27 And the most important is what does the Bible teach 04:31 about this matter of death? 04:34 You know some of us are going to be surprised this evening 04:38 at what the Bible actually teaches on this subject. 04:42 Indeed we're going to discover 04:44 that many popular ideas about death 04:47 are in many respects contrary to the Bible's teaching. 04:52 Now I am preparing you for something to follow. 04:54 It's gonna be biblical and remember, 04:56 as I've said a number of times before, 04:59 use the analogy, we're setting up a fence line 05:03 and we're gonna be putting these texts down, they are the posts. 05:06 And once we get this text down and this text down 05:09 and this text down then we began to see the line of truth. 05:13 And so you know, allow me to do that tonight again 05:16 as you have allowed me to do it on previous nights 05:19 because it is a truth that is sensible. 05:23 And you want to follow this right on down 05:25 to the very conclusion of the presentation 05:28 because there's good news. 05:29 There is a way out of this whole thing of death. 05:33 But we must go back to the very beginning 05:35 when God created us. 05:36 We must take note of how it is 05:38 that He made us in the beginning. 05:40 And we find that in Genesis 2:7 where it says, 05:43 "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, 05:47 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life 05:51 and man became a living soul." 05:54 Now notice this, it says God took the dust, 05:57 God took really basic elements from the earth 06:00 when He in a very powerful, 06:02 the creative way created the human body. 06:05 I mean, 75% of the body is made up of water. 06:09 And if you look at the other elements, 06:11 my friend, they are pretty basic elements. 06:13 It was a powerful creative thing that God did 06:16 when He created the human body, right? 06:19 And having created a perfect body 06:23 it was only until God breathe 06:26 into his nostrils the breath of life. 06:29 We'll find this is the word that is translated 06:31 as spirit in other passages of scripture, 06:34 the spirit of life, the breath of life. 06:36 It was only then that having been animated 06:41 by the breath of life, that man become a living soul. 06:45 Notice, we've got a formula here. 06:47 We have the dust representing the body 06:49 plus the breath of life constitutes a living. 06:54 What's the word here? A living soul. 06:59 We do not usually think of in popular teaching 07:03 of the soul as having physical properties 07:06 but look at the formula, 07:09 it's the body inhabited by the breath of life 07:13 that constitutes a living soul 07:15 according to the creation record as we have in Genesis. 07:19 Now, I know that raises some questions 07:21 but again, let me just put this together. 07:23 Just try to follow each piece as I go, 07:26 it will make a lot of sense. 07:27 In Job 4:17, I would add this thought 07:31 the question, the question is, 07:33 "Shall mortal man be more just thank God?" 07:36 what does it mean, mortal man? 07:39 What is it mean to be mortal? 07:40 Did God create us to be mortal at the beginning before sin? 07:45 Now God intended that we will be immortal but we are mortal. 07:50 Why are we mortal? Because of sin. 07:54 Sin has made us mortal, so we have mortality. 07:59 It means in effect that we are subject to death, right. 08:02 And have you noticed even Christians die 08:05 except for those who would be alive at the coming of Jesus. 08:10 That will be an exception. 08:11 Look at Romans 5, the New Testament page 122. 08:15 122, Romans 5:12. 08:21 Romans, oh, we spend a lot of time 08:23 in Romans last weekend, didn't we? 08:26 Its' a wonderful letter that Paul wrote 08:28 and again as we come to the fifth chapter 08:31 we find this written by Paul in verse 12, 08:34 "Therefore just as through one man 08:36 sin entered into the world, and death through sin, 08:40 and so death spread to all men because all sinned." 08:43 Now notice the mechanism by which 08:45 death entered into the world and that mechanism is sin. 08:50 Notice the direct cause effect relationship 08:55 between sin and death. 08:58 In fact in Romans 6:23 it says, 09:01 "For the wages of sin is death." A direct correlation. 09:09 And let me tell you there is nothing good to say 09:11 about this matter of sin and death 09:15 except as I get to the good news 09:17 there was a way out of it, out of both. 09:22 The way out of it is as a solution to both. 09:25 Years ago I was in Kennewick, Washington 09:28 and that was in the days when my family 09:30 was on the road fulltime with me. 09:32 We had a 47 foot, fifth wheel trailer. 09:34 Two bedroom model, full dishwasher 09:37 and a stack of wash and dryer, I just-- 09:40 was intend to making this as comfortable 09:42 for particularly my wife, 09:44 you know, living on the road is never and easy thing to do. 09:48 And which meant that our mail was being forwarded to us 09:51 and Donna got the mail that have been forwarded to us. 09:55 I know this is a letter from Pat Pangborn and she read it. 10:00 And that night after the meeting 10:02 she didn't give me that piece of mail 10:04 because she knew it was gonna trouble me. 10:06 She waited until the next morning after breakfast 10:08 and then she came to me and she said, 10:10 you know we got this letter from Pat. 10:13 And so I went back to my little study 10:15 that was in the back bedroom 10:17 and I opened it up and I read this letter 10:20 and I just began to weep, I have to tell you honestly. 10:23 There's a story behind this. 10:24 I've got acquainted with Tom and Pat back in seminary 10:29 and in fact Tom was in my singing group 10:32 that had back in seminary called the Voices of Praise. 10:35 He was one of my second tenors. 10:38 And so we had got acquainted with each other, 10:41 and when I went down to Loma Linda 10:42 to work on my masters in public health, 10:44 they were pastoring in the area up in Big Bear 10:47 in San Bernardino Mountains 10:49 and so we got reacquainted there 10:52 and eventually I found myself pastoring 10:55 in the Portland, Oregon area 10:56 down there in Canby, Molalla, 10:58 had two churches in those two towns. 11:00 And Tom and Pat moved into the area 11:04 just above the Colombia River 11:06 into the State of Washington and we reconnected. 11:08 We had a great time together. 11:10 We often spend Saturday nights together 11:13 and Tom and I will go to Mount Hood Skiing. 11:17 And we were really pretty close friends 11:20 but something happened in Tom's experience 11:23 and he ended up leaving the ministry. 11:27 And that I did not really understand at that time 11:29 and that's what hit me so hard 11:31 because he left the ministry and he ended up in Michigan 11:34 and he combined two of their interest in a business. 11:37 They both were pilots 11:39 and they both were interested in photography 11:41 so they combined the two 11:42 and what Pat was explaining to us in the letter 11:45 that Tom had flown his photographer 11:47 out of the Lake Michigan, 11:49 there was a Regatta that was taking place 11:51 and so they were flying low 11:52 and pretty slow and Tom was flying 11:56 and the photographer was taking pictures 11:58 of these beautiful sailboats that were racing 12:01 and something happened. 12:03 Low altitude, going slow, the plane ended up in the water 12:08 and the photographer got out but Tom didn't make it. 12:13 And it just bolt me up, just bolt me up inside. 12:16 I was haunted by it. 12:19 And I was haunted because 12:20 I didn't know where he was spiritually, 12:23 I know that's what grab me 12:25 then in fact the next night 12:26 I was dreaming about this of all things, 12:28 we were flying in an old World War II B-17 bomber, 12:32 we were flying over a vast forest, 12:34 just over the tips of those trees 12:37 and were looking for Tom and we couldn't find him. 12:42 And I tell you, I woke up from that dream, 12:44 I just had that awful empty sense of loss, 12:47 we couldn't find him. 12:48 You know, dreams sometimes 12:50 affect your motions the next day. 12:52 And in fact my in motions 12:53 the whole next day that sense of loss. 12:55 You see nothing affects us like death 12:58 bringing us face to face with the reality of the curse of sin. 13:01 And my friend, it is a curse, absolutely it's a curse. 13:07 There's been a couple that's been attending our meetings 13:09 and I thought maybe they are gonna come tonight 13:12 but Daniel was telling me that his aunt has one week to live, 13:16 they are gonna visit her because she's leaving tonight, 13:20 heading to Mexico to see some of her family before she dies. 13:24 It's a horrible thing. Death is absolutely horrible. 13:30 I hate it, how about you? 13:33 And God never intended for us to live in a world 13:35 that we had to live with this kind of pain 13:38 and losing people and dying and all of these stuff. 13:41 And let me tell you, the Bible, 13:43 the Bible again clearly presents death as a result of sin. 13:48 Death is the enemy, my friend, it's the enemy. 13:52 Death is not, listen to me, death is not a door 13:55 to which we pass to another form of existence. 13:58 You cannot find that in the Bible. 14:00 Death in deed is something to be conquered 14:02 and that's' where the God news comes in 14:04 because there is a way out of it. 14:06 But let's continue our study. 14:08 Psalm 104, I know I am now in the Old Testament, 14:10 we'll be in the New Testament you know that. 14:12 Let's put them both together, Old and New Testament on this. 14:15 Psalm 104, the Old Testament, page 438. 14:20 438, Psalm 104:29, 14:24 again we're studying what the Bible teaches about death. 14:29 It's the enemy we have to understand, 14:31 something of the nature of the enemy, 14:33 it came above because of sin as we've already noted. 14:36 And here in Psalm 104:29 it says, 14:39 "You hide your face, they are dismayed, 14:43 you take away their spirit, they expire," 14:47 that means they die, and where do they go? 14:50 I am just about to say here, "And return to the dust." 14:53 God created the body of dust and the body returns to dust. 14:58 That's literally true, isn't it? 15:01 But notice there's a footnote there by the word spirit. 15:05 I think its footnote number eight in your Bible. 15:07 Look down at the bottom, 15:08 what does that word actually mean, 15:09 the word spirit there? 15:12 It means breath, it's the word Ruach in Hebrew. 15:16 That is in some text translated spirit as here 15:21 but in other text it is translated as in Genesis 2:7, 15:27 the same word is translated breath. 15:29 The word spirit means breath. 15:32 It is that element of life that God breathe 15:35 into the nostrils of the human race 15:37 at the very beginning of the time 15:39 that animated the human body. 15:42 It's the spirit of life, it is the breath of life. 15:46 Now we're gonna discover that there are some popular ideas 15:49 about this matter of the spirit 15:52 that really do not hold up biblically. 15:57 How many of you think that when it comes 15:58 to Christian teachings and thought 16:00 we really ought to clearly you know, 16:03 this ought to be clearly indicated in the Bible. 16:07 Let me see your hands. 16:08 It ought to be in the Bible, right, if it is truth. 16:13 Well, I saw most of your hands go up 16:15 so we're on solid ground 16:17 as we began our study on this matter of death. 16:22 So remember what we've looked at in Genesis 2:7, 16:25 the formula, dust plus breath constitutes a living soul. 16:31 And as we're looking in Psalm 104 16:34 it talks about the spirit, 16:37 what does it says here specifically? 16:39 You take away their spirit, that's talking about death 16:44 and, what do we end up with? 16:46 Well, let's put it in the terms of the formula in Genesis 2:7, 16:50 if dust plus breath constitutes a living soul, 16:53 what does that body represented 16:56 by the dust minus the breath of life, 16:59 the spirit of life leave us with? 17:02 A dead soul. 17:04 And let me show you tonight how consistent this is 17:08 with what the Bible teaches and where this idea 17:11 of the immortal soul came from anyway 17:14 if indeed it is not biblical. 17:17 In fact as we talk about how this word spirit 17:20 and breath are used interchangeably, 17:23 let me share with you this text in Job 27:3 where it says, 17:27 "All the while my breath is in me, 17:29 and the spirit of God is," where? 17:31 "The spirit is in my nostrils." 17:35 So that according to Bible teaching is where the spirit is? 17:39 It's right there in your nose, your noggin, noggin. 17:47 Where does that come from? 17:48 You said, German or something? So it's in your nose. 17:53 But when you understand that the word means actually breath 17:56 and the nose is there impart for the purpose of respiration 18:03 then it becomes a little bit more understandable. 18:06 But notice the correlation 18:08 between the breath and the spirit 18:10 that we find in Job 27:3. 18:13 And then take a look at Ezekiel 18, 18:15 the Old Testament, page 600, 18:17 page 600, Ezekiel 18:4. 18:25 Ezekiel 18:4, and notice what the Bible teaches 18:29 about this matter of the soul as we go further into it. 18:32 God is speaking when He says, "Behold, all souls are mine, 18:36 the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine. 18:40 The soul who sins will," what's the next word? 18:44 "Will die." 18:47 And how many souls have sin? 18:49 What does the Bible teach? All have sin. 18:53 We saw that in Romans 5:12 just a few moments ago. 18:57 You know as we are putting down this fence line, 18:59 we are getting kind of sense, an initial sense 19:03 of the drift where the Bible is leading us in this 19:06 but we don't have all the pieces in there yet, do we? 19:10 We don't. 19:11 But the soul who sins will die 19:14 which means that the soul is mortal 19:17 and the soul is mortal because of sin. 19:23 But not though as intention that the soul to be mortal, 19:28 its intention was so we would immortal. 19:32 But the soul itself is mortal but just a minute, 19:37 I know this what many of us have been thought 19:41 but the soul is immortal. 19:44 My friend, take your concurrence out and look up the word soul. 19:49 Now it may take you an hour or more 19:52 to take a pencil and paper and to look up each text, 19:55 look up what it says about the soul 19:58 and find out if you find anywhere in the Bible, 20:01 Old or New Testament where it teaches 20:03 that the soul is immortal 20:04 and my friend, you will not find it there. 20:08 Which again, is kind of puzzling because this is almost so basic 20:14 to our concept of life and death 20:17 and what does death really mean and what's involved with it. 20:22 And yet here is an idea, when you test it out, 20:26 when you check it out biblically just is not there. 20:32 And let me tell you in preaching this for a lot of years, 20:35 nobody has ever come to me with that text to say, 20:38 oh, over here, did you happened to notice, Mr. Reinking, 20:43 back here in this text where it indicates 20:46 that the soul will never die. 20:50 Nobody has done that. 20:52 And I wouldn't say it so boldly 20:56 if I didn't know that indeed it was not there. 21:00 So here's an ideas that is not supported by the Bible 21:05 but it seems so basic, it's what we've always known, 21:09 it's how we understood we even taught this in the church. 21:13 If it's not in the Bible then where did this idea come from 21:17 which is something we want to spend a little time looking at 21:20 with this idea of immortality of the soul. 21:22 It really comes out of the mysticism out of the east 21:28 and comes into the church by means of the Greeks. 21:34 Particularly Plato and Socrates there was and Aristotle. 21:39 They were the three main ones 21:41 that really were into this idea of the immortality of the soul. 21:46 Let me share this with you 21:48 from the book Immortality of the Soul, 21:49 pages 53 and 54, where the observation is made, 21:53 "We have failed to find any trace of this doctrine" 21:56 the immortality of the soul they are talking about. 21:58 "In the Bible, it is altogether alien, 22:01 both in phrases and thought 22:04 to the teaching of Christ and His apostles." 22:08 And then in an approach to Christology, page 314, 22:12 "It has the natural immortality of the spirit 22:15 is a Greek rather than a Christian concept." 22:20 And then from the Book Eternal Hope, 22:22 page 100, I would add, 22:24 "For the history of western thought the platonic teaching" 22:27 and that's talking about the teachings of Plato 22:30 "the platonic teaching of the immortality of the soul 22:33 became of special significance. 22:35 It penetrated do deeply into the thoughts of western man 22:38 because although with certain modifications, 22:41 it was assimilated" this Greek teaching of Plato 22:46 "was assimilated by Christian theology 22:50 and church teaching was even declared 22:53 by the Lateran Council of 1512 (1513)," 22:56 they met both years "to be a dogma" 22:59 that is an official teaching of the church 23:02 "to contradict was a heresy." 23:05 And so it was the established church that in 1512 23:10 declared this an official teaching 23:13 and has been transmitted down 23:14 through the various churches to our own day 23:17 but it came straight out of the mystic teachings 23:20 of many the Greek philosophers. 23:23 And I have a paper on this posted in the website. 23:28 If you want to get into this a little bit deeper 23:29 then I am gonna have time to get into it tonight. 23:32 It's going to give you more chapter 23:33 and verse historically how this came to be. 23:37 And it's the certain it's really going back 23:38 to that fourth, fifth and sixth century that period of time. 23:42 Remember, we were studying about the apostasy of the church 23:45 that was predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2, 23:48 and out of the apostasy will develop the antichrist. 23:53 It was in that state, the apostate state 23:57 that the church embraces many teachings 24:01 and ideas and practices that were not truly biblical. 24:05 In the fourth, fifth and sixth centuries, 24:07 if you study what the church fathers were writing about 24:10 and what they were reading, 24:12 my friend, they were not really 24:14 all that much into what the Bible was teaching. 24:17 They were enamored, their world was enamored 24:21 with Greek philosophy and they sought to find a way 24:26 to bring Greek philosophy 24:28 and teaching into Christian theology. 24:32 There was an assimilation of Greek teaching 24:36 as it relates to immortality of the soul. 24:40 And that's how it got transmitted down 24:43 to the various churches down to our own day. 24:46 Though a reasonably careful study of scripture 24:50 will bare-out it is not biblical. 24:54 And we always pay a price 24:55 when we stray from what the Bible teaches. 24:57 You know that? 24:59 We come up with ideas and some of us again are raised 25:02 with some of these ideas but anyway, 25:04 let me take you on to Psalm 146:3-4, 25:08 it goes on to say, 25:10 "Do not trust in princes, in mortal man, 25:13 in whom there is no salvation. 25:15 His spirit departs," his breath or spirit departs 25:19 "he returns to the earth," 25:22 that's where one goes when they die. 25:25 You all following this? 25:26 I know its Old Testament, 25:28 let's see New Testaments consistent here. 25:31 "He returns to the earth in that very day his thoughts," what? 25:37 "His thoughts perish" is what the Bible says. 25:40 Just a minute, I know, take a deep breath. 25:45 I know that's taking a significant step further 25:48 than what we've done up to this point 25:52 because somehow we have gotten hold to this idea 25:56 that relates to the spirit or maybe the soul 25:59 and actually sometimes there's confusion about this 26:02 whether its a spirit or soul that we are talking about 26:04 but never less the idea that the essence 26:07 of the individual survives at death, 26:12 the essence in the form of the spirit or the soul. 26:15 Again, they are used interchangeably 26:17 as if they were synonymous 26:19 and they are not actually as you look at it from the Bible. 26:23 And so this idea that-- what did it say? 26:29 "In the very day his thoughts perish," 26:31 that when an individual dies 26:33 they enter a state of unconsciousness 26:38 is something that does for some of us take our breath away 26:42 but let' have another text too, Ecclesiastes 9, 26:44 the Old Testament, page 482. 26:47 Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6 and who wrote Ecclesiastes? 26:53 Well, you say, Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes. 26:57 And the Bible says of Solomon 26:58 he's the wisest man that ever lived, right. 27:01 And here's what the wisest man that ever lived 27:03 under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, 27:05 this is what he said about this matter of death. 27:09 Ecclesiastes 9:5-6, he says, 27:14 "For the living know that they will die, 27:17 but the dead do not know anything, 27:19 nor have they any longer a reward 27:21 for their memory is forgotten. 27:23 Indeed their love, their hate 27:26 and their zeal have already perished 27:28 and they will no longer have a share 27:30 in all that is done under the sun." 27:32 That is in this life. 27:35 Living know they will die but the dead know how much? 27:38 Nothing. 27:40 Man shall not live by bread along, Jesus said 27:43 but by every word that preceded out of the mouth of God. 27:47 Paul in writing to Timothy said, 27:48 all scripture is given by inspiration of God 27:52 and it's profitable for doctrine that's for teaching, 27:55 and goes on to talk about for correction 27:57 and for reprove and instruction, 27:59 righteousness, all scripture. 28:02 And you noticed that in the seminar 28:04 we take all scripture and we found them to be-- 28:08 these scriptures are harmonious, aren't they? 28:10 Isn't that what we found whether we're talking about 28:12 the coming of Jesus of the millennium 28:14 or whether we're talking about the commandments 28:16 or the Sabbath or the plan of salvation? 28:20 My friend, there's a consistency 28:22 between the Old and New Testament. 28:24 We've seen that with our own eyes. 28:27 Actually, I love that, don't you to take the whole Bible, 28:32 the whole Bible and you understand 28:35 how unique the New Testament really is 28:37 and how important and vital it is 28:39 because all that was predicted in the Old Testament, 28:41 it was fulfilled in the place of Jesus in the New Testament. 28:44 Think about when a person dies, 28:47 where does the thought process take place? 28:50 Where does consciousness takes place? 28:53 That's a human brain, you know, 28:57 that's where it all happens. 28:59 But what happens when a person dies 29:01 and with the death of the individual 29:03 the brain ceases to function. 29:07 Can consciousness, can the thought processes 29:11 exist without the brain? 29:16 See, scientifically as you think about it, 29:20 the science bares-out with the Bible is teaching. 29:24 No, the mind ceases the function 29:28 with the death of body is what we find. 29:31 So how about the New Testament? 29:33 How about the teaching of Jesus? 29:35 Well, take a look at John 11, turn there, 29:37 New Testament, page 82. 29:39 Page 82, the John 11. 29:41 We'll began with Verse 11 in just a moment 29:43 but let me give you another illustration 29:45 before we read what Jesus thought about this. 29:47 Take a light bulb as we've illustrated here on the screen. 29:51 The light, you know, 29:53 what a marvelous invention this really was. 29:56 And as long as the current is flowing 29:58 through the filaments of that bulb there's light. 30:01 But break the current, what happens to the light? 30:07 It goes out because without the current 30:12 flowing through the filaments there is no light. 30:14 And my friend, without the spirit of life 30:17 flowing through our being, 30:20 through our bodies there is not life. 30:23 Are you with me? 30:25 And we don't say, where did the light go? 30:27 Oh, it went to a higher plane, the light, 30:31 you know, it's so mystical, the light is so mystical. 30:36 No, no, no. 30:37 No, we don't get into the mysticism about light, 30:40 it's just gone. 30:42 But we've got very mystical 30:44 about this matter of life and death. 30:47 And my friend, that mysticism that's associated with it 30:51 is not primarily Christian, 30:54 it was simulated by the church as we already noted. 30:57 It comes from Greek mystic teachers. 31:00 So what did Jesus said about this matter of death? 31:03 Let's take a look at John 11, beginning with verse 11, 31:05 the story of Lazarus. 31:08 Oh, yes, we remember the story of Lazarus, he was really ill. 31:12 Word is sent to Jesus but He lingers. 31:15 And then finally verse 11 here he says, this he says, 31:18 "And after that He said to them" to his disciples 31:20 "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep but I go, 31:24 so that I may awaken him out of sleep." 31:27 The disciples then said to Him, 31:29 "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover." 31:32 They thought, man, what a-- that's good news. 31:35 He's sleeping, he's going to recover. 31:38 Verse 13, "Now Jesus had spoken of his" what? 31:41 "Of his death." 31:43 So what did Jesus uses as an analogy in reference to death? 31:49 What was the analogy? 31:51 Sleep, natural sleep, okay. 31:54 So Jesus spoken of his death 31:57 but they thought that He was speaking of little sleep. 31:59 "So Jesus said to them plainly, 'Lazarus is dead.'' 32:06 So death, it's like in the Bible, to sleep. 32:12 Sixty six times in 17 different books of the Bible 32:17 death is like in to sleep. 32:20 And I have these very fond memories of my sons 32:24 when they were in grade school. 32:27 And they were going to a Christian school 32:29 which made my wife or I 32:30 or both of us would pick them up. 32:32 And I remember, particularly, Kevin. 32:34 We would bring him home 32:35 and Kevin was this great Lego builder. 32:40 Several years ago we discovered that he-- 32:43 in a pinch needed a little bit money, 32:45 sold his vast Lego collection. 32:47 He thought it was his but you know who paid for it. 32:53 He sold his Lego collection to a friend of his 32:56 who had children and his mother and I 32:59 because there are some emotional attachment to those Lego's, 33:02 besides, who knows we may have grandchildren some day. 33:06 Would that be a great thing to have around yet? 33:08 And so we bought them back, and we got them back. 33:13 And I have these memories 33:14 of Kevin coming home from the school. 33:17 I love to be around my kids. 33:18 And I remember it was then often I would lay on the couch, 33:22 I have these pleasant memories 33:24 of Kevin down in the family room 33:27 with his Legos and how creative he was. 33:30 And I would drift to sleep. 33:32 I'll be so relax just to be in there with my son. 33:36 And let me tell you, as long as I was asleep 33:39 I was totally unaware of anything 33:42 that was going on around me. 33:45 Now because it was a little sleep 33:46 I could be awaken to a state of consciousness 33:49 but would you not agree as long as one is asleep 33:52 one is unaware, unconscious, right? 33:56 That's what Jesus was picking up 33:58 and that's what He was meaning 34:00 when He talked about death being like sleep, 34:03 it is an unconscious state. 34:07 Raymond Moody, let's get to these life-- 34:09 these near-death experiences. 34:11 Raymond Moody in his book, Life after Life readily admits 34:16 that none of his subjects were actually dead 34:18 by brain wave definition of death. 34:24 You know, we know that in actuality 34:27 it's only when the brain wave goes flat 34:31 that death actually takes place. 34:33 And you know, even that is not as you know, 34:36 as we have answer of science. 34:39 So you know, we had to redefine, 34:41 you know, when death really take place. 34:44 But he admits that none of subjects 34:46 he studied were actually dead 34:49 because when the central nervous system dies, 34:52 it is impossible to resuscitate an individual. 34:56 That's pure silence. 34:58 I had the word of that from my anesthesiology friend. 35:03 So what's going on? 35:06 You see, again with our science 35:08 we've been exploring the frontiers of death, 35:12 the edges of death. 35:15 And Raymond Moody makes this statement about-- 35:19 as he observes this experience 35:20 of these near-death experiences. 35:22 He says, "Life after death 35:23 cannot be proven scientifically." 35:27 This what he says. 35:28 There's probably not a better expert 35:30 on this whole subject than he. 35:33 "I think that life after death is still something 35:35 that has to be accepted pretty much on a kind of faith, 35:38 and that the near-death experiences 35:40 as impressive as they are, 35:42 don't really give us scientific evidence 35:45 that we live after we die." 35:47 And yet that's been used as exhibit number one, 35:50 these near-death experiences. 35:52 Going towards a bright light, 35:53 being in presence of tremendous love, 35:55 you know that's--you know this is being represented 35:59 as what happens when one dies, right? 36:04 That's what's being represented. 36:07 But my friend, experience must always been in subjection 36:12 to the clear teachings of scripture. 36:16 We interpreted other experiences 36:18 that one goes through by means of the truth-- 36:22 that we find in scripture. 36:25 And my friend, this is not born out 36:27 by what the Bible teaches. 36:28 Furthermore, these near-death experiences 36:31 lend themselves to universalism, 36:34 the idea that all are going to be saved 36:36 because this is been reported not only be Christian believers 36:40 but by distinctly non-believers. 36:46 So we need to be very careful 36:48 how we use these near-death experiences. 36:50 And by the way, oh my friend, 36:52 take a good look at the term itself, near-death. 36:59 We're near-- well, where are we near to? 37:02 We are near to the coast, the Oregon Coast. 37:06 To be near the Oregon Coast 37:08 is not the same as being at the Oregon Coast. 37:12 How many of you would agree? 37:15 All right, I've got five of us. 37:17 I got little work to do tonight, don't I? 37:20 So it is with near death, to be near death 37:25 is not the same as being dead. 37:28 And if it is not the same as being dead 37:30 therefore they are not an exhibit of what happens 37:35 when one dies because they haven't died. 37:40 Near-death, think about it, okay. 37:46 It's interesting that some of the experiences out of the 60s. 37:51 I am referring now, I am taking you back in time. 37:54 For some of you, you remember Timothy O'Leary. 37:57 Oh, Timothy O'Leary who in the name of science 38:00 there at Berkeley was investigating 38:02 the mind expanding properties of LSD and other drugs. 38:08 Remember that, the 60s. 38:09 And he heard about these mushrooms down in Mexico 38:13 and he had to go out-- he had to go down there 38:15 on a field exhibition, expedition, there's the word, 38:19 expedition to do an official investigation. 38:24 And so he ingested some of these mushrooms. 38:27 This is what the report says from the Saturday Evening Post. 38:31 He said, "I realized that I had died, 38:34 that I, Timothy Leary, 38:35 the Timothy Leary game was gone. 38:37 I could look back and see my body on the bed." 38:40 He had the outer-body experience on Mexican mushrooms, 38:45 don't you forget it. 38:47 Okay, furthermore it said, "I relived my life 38:50 and re-experienced many events I had forgotten." 38:52 His life flashed before him on Mexican mushrooms. 38:58 Now, look out for those Mexican mushrooms 39:00 L.J. Meduna reports that all the effects of the hallucinogens 39:05 can be reproduces by carbon dioxide. 39:10 And what's happening as one nears the point of death? 39:13 The breath becomes typically more and more shallow, 39:17 which means less and less oxygen 39:19 is being picked up by the hemoglobin 39:20 and the red blood cells and be delivered to the body tissues 39:25 which automatically means as the oxygen levels are going down 39:29 the carbon dioxide levels physiologically are going up. 39:34 It's zapping all to the body and in the brain as well. 39:38 There are cycle chemical reactions that are taking place 39:40 in the brain as one is nearing the point of death. 39:46 Let me share this with you, 39:48 I picked it up from Readers press agency in the paper. 39:51 It said, "An undertaker nearly dropped dead 39:54 when he heard snores coming from the coffin 39:56 containing 85-year-old Rose Hanover 39:58 that was getting ready for burial." 40:01 She had collapsed and apparently had died at home 40:05 and had been declared by her doctor to be dead 40:09 by normal breath and-- 40:10 there's no breath and there was no pulse, 40:12 he said she's dead, take her off to the morgue. 40:15 But two hours after arriving at the funeral parlor 40:17 she began to snore. 40:20 And to me that's just kind of comical to imagine, you know. 40:24 I've been in funeral parlors, I haven't been really down there 40:27 or back there where they prepare the bodies for burial 40:31 but I can imagine what this guy was going through 40:33 as he was anticipating preparing for burial 40:36 and she starts to snore. 40:40 And they discovered she really wasn't dead. 40:42 I was at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 40:44 I had somebody in my meeting 40:46 that picked up some of these ideas 40:47 and had gone to his friends and to his family and said, 40:50 don't you let them bury me until you know 40:53 without a question I am dead. 40:56 He just had this horrific idea that somehow they bury him 41:00 and he wasn't really-- and he would you know, 41:02 awake in his coffin six feet under. 41:05 And that is pretty horrific thought. 41:09 I wonder if that has actually ever happened 41:12 and probably it has. 41:14 But since we do embalm we do embalm 41:19 now that probably takes care of at least in our culture 41:22 the probability of that happening. 41:26 Let's go back to the tree of the knowledge, good and evil. 41:29 You know what God said about this tree, 41:30 if you sin you will surely die. 41:33 In Genesis 3:4, "And the Serpent said to the woman," 41:36 it's the first lie, the first lie 41:38 is over this matter of what happens when you die. 41:41 "The serpent said to the woman, 41:42 'you surely shall not die.'" 41:45 It was a direct contradiction to what God had said 41:47 about the consequence of sin. 41:50 But the devil said, no, no, no, just a minute. 41:52 No, you are not going to really, really die. 41:55 No, you are not. 41:56 Adam and Eve were face with the choice, 41:58 where they going to take God at His word 42:01 or were they going to take the word of the serpent. 42:04 And my friend, we have much as same choice to make. 42:06 Are we going to take God at His word 42:09 that we're discovering in the study of His word 42:12 or are we just going to because it's so familiar 42:15 and we've heard this for so long 42:16 and we've heard this in the church 42:18 actually being taught. 42:20 Are we going to hold on to this idea? 42:23 But this whole idea that the essence of a person 42:25 survives at death on the basis of channeling, 42:28 are spirit mediums and the like. 42:32 And we have warnings about this is in Isaiah 8:19, 42:36 the Lord says, "And when they say to you, 42:38 'Consult the mediums,'" the future of human being. 42:42 Human being there's a medium 42:44 through which the spirits can communicate with the living. 42:48 We call that spiritism, channeling, 42:51 what other term you want to use is the same. 42:54 So it's talking about the medium. 42:57 "Consult the mediums and the spiritists, 42:59 who whisper and mutter,' 43:01 should not a people consult their God? 43:04 Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?" 43:08 My friend, we have very clear warnings about this whole matter 43:11 and there's some interesting programming 43:13 that's being produced today 43:14 on this whole thing of spirit mediums. 43:18 Have you noticed this in the media? 43:21 I haven't seen this program, 43:22 actually I wouldn't choose to watch this program 43:25 but "The Dead Want to Speak With You," 43:29 it was a special back on October 12 of last year. 43:33 It's a continuing program on Lifetime. 43:36 The Dead want to Speak with You, did you know that, 43:38 the dead want to speak with you? 43:44 So what's going on? What's behind this? 43:47 Look at 1 John 4, the New Testament page 186. 43:50 1 John 4:1, I am going to move you on tonight, 43:59 as we do with spiritism 44:01 in the context of our study tonight. 44:03 1 John 4:1, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, 44:07 but test the spirits to see whether they are from God." 44:11 How will we test them? According to this book, right? 44:17 "To see whether they are from God, 44:18 because many false prophets have gone out into the world." 44:23 And my friend, it's not the spirits of departed dead. 44:27 Who is behind this? Who really is at work? 44:30 And my friend, the answer is, it was the forces of wickedness, 44:33 it's the forces of darkness as indicated here in Ephesians 6:12 44:37 where it says, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, 44:40 but against the rulers, against the powers, 44:42 against the world forces of this darkness, 44:44 against the spiritual forces of wickedness." 44:48 My friend, that is what's on the other side. 44:53 That's' who's whispering and muttering 44:55 and communication and all of this. 44:57 It is a deadly deception. 45:00 2 Corinthians 11:13, New Testament, page 145, 145, 45:06 2 Thessalonians Chapter 11, that's what I said, isn't it? 45:11 And we want to look at Verse 13. 45:13 Notice what Paul says in writing to the Corinthians church. 45:17 He says, "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, 45:20 disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 45:23 No wonder, for even Satan 45:25 disguises himself as an angel of light. 45:28 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants 45:30 also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, 45:33 whose end will be according to their deeds." 45:36 And so it says Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 45:41 Does he have that kind of power? 45:44 Of course he does because he once was an angel of light, 45:47 now an angel of darkness. 45:51 And so I take you back to 1991, I was in Magadan, Russia, 45:55 the Far East and I was preaching this series of meeting. 46:00 So second night as I was doing this series 46:02 I came to this great battle in heaven, 46:05 that broke up between the forces of good and evil. 46:08 And after it I had this Russian man in his mid 30s 46:10 approach me through my translator 46:12 asking me questions about the organization, 46:14 the hierarchy and so I was giving him biblical answers. 46:17 I though he was you know, he just was 46:19 a little bit fascinated with all subject. 46:21 A few days later he sought me out where I was staying 46:25 and again I had to have my translator Ortum, 46:29 one of my best translators I ever had overseas. 46:32 And he began to tell me about angels. 46:35 He said, there's actually 12 archangels. 46:38 Bible says not a word of 12 but he was convinced of it 46:41 and he said that he was the son of Gabriel, the archangel. 46:45 And at that point I just wondered you know, 46:48 if everything was right there as it should be 46:50 but he was quite serious and was explaining to me 46:53 how his whole group through his sister 46:57 was in communication with these angels. 47:01 They would take control of his sister's hand 47:04 and she would write and these messages 47:07 would flow out from her hand. 47:09 Boy, that sounded like a medium to me 47:11 and I told him I thought so. 47:14 But let me tell you it was so close, 47:18 so close to what the Bible talked. 47:21 And but my friends, it was deadly, it was deceptive. 47:27 And it's not the angels of God communicating with them 47:31 because when I asked him the question, 47:33 do they tell you whether you can communicate with the dead? 47:36 And when he said, yes, they said we can communicate with the dead 47:39 I thought to myself, I got you because that's a lie. 47:44 The Bible does not teach that we can communicate to the dead. 47:47 It forbids it. 47:49 In Job 7:9, 10, it says, "When a cloud vanishes, 47:52 it is gone, so he who goes down to Sheol," that is to the grave, 47:56 "does not come up. 47:57 He will not return again to his house, 47:59 nor will his place know him anymore." 48:03 My friend, they do not return to their house. 48:05 There is no such thing as haunted houses. 48:12 Now there maybe some other forces 48:14 who are haunting those houses, the forces of evil. 48:19 I was doing a series at Claxton, Washington 48:21 and I had a young woman that was attending 48:24 and she told me the story, 48:26 she knew what the Bible taught about this. 48:28 She said, me and two of my friend 48:31 entered into a suicide pact 48:33 and one of us carried it out 48:35 and she's been appearing to me at night 48:37 in my bedroom even touched me. 48:40 Now she knew what the Bible taught on this, 48:41 she knew it was not her friend. 48:44 It looks like it, like her and I tell you there's this, 48:49 some cultures really have a lot of this going on. 48:52 Over in Africa, let me tell you, 48:54 there's a lot of this kind of phenomena going on. 48:56 Down to Caribbean, there's lot of this going on. 48:59 Even in I founded in Hispanic cultures 49:02 there's a fair amount of this. 49:03 In native Indian cultures there's actually a fair amount 49:06 of this kind of phenomena that's going on. 49:11 And when I saw this young woman 49:12 after baptism several months later, 49:14 she said, you know, I haven't been bothered 49:16 with that apparition from that point forward. 49:19 That tells you something, doesn't it? 49:22 It wasn't a God at all. 49:24 So let's get down to the good news of that. 49:26 What's the answer? 49:27 My friend, the answers will be found in Jesus, 49:30 in His death for us at the cross of Calvary 49:32 and in the precious promise of His coming, 49:35 "For it declares for the Lord himself 49:37 will descend from heaven with the shout, 49:39 with the voice of the archangel, 49:41 and with the trumpet of God, 49:42 and the dead in Christ shall rise first. 49:46 Then we who are alive and remain 49:48 shall be caught up together with them in the clouds 49:50 to meet the Lord in the air 49:52 and thus we shall always be with the Lord. 49:54 Therefore comfort one another with these words." 49:57 My friend, why is Jesus coming? 50:01 He's coming for His people, right? 50:06 And many of His people lay in the graves, they are dead. 50:10 And what does He do at His coming? 50:12 He calls them forth, He resurrects them. 50:16 And those who are alive are caught up together with them 50:19 to meet the Lord in the air. 50:20 Where do we, when do we raise to meet the Lord? 50:26 At His coming. 50:28 Oh, keep that thought because John 14 bares this 50:31 of the New Testament, page 85, John 14:2, 3. 50:37 John 14:2, Jesus said, 50:38 "In my Father's house are many dwelling places. 50:42 If it were not so, I would have told you 50:44 that I go to prepare a place for you?" 50:46 Who was Jesus speaking to? Look at the context. 50:50 He's talking to his disciples. 50:52 In chapter 13, He's explaining to them, 50:55 I am gonna be leaving you and Peter can hardly stand this. 50:58 Lord, where are you going? 51:00 Lord, why I can't follow you now? 51:03 I lay down my life for you. 51:04 Read a lot of part of chapter 13, that's a context. 51:07 And that's why Jesus says, don't let your heart be trouble, 51:09 He's trying to comfort His disciples. 51:11 He's telling them why He's leaving. 51:13 I am going there to having to prepare a place for you. 51:16 And then what else does he said there? 51:17 Well let's see, verse 3, 51:19 "If I go and prepare a place for you, 51:21 I will come again and receive you to myself, 51:25 that where I am there you may be also." 51:27 Think about this, here's the question, 51:31 are the apostles there in heaven now? 51:38 It doesn't make sense. 51:41 Think about this, when Jesus said 51:43 I go to prepare a place for you, 51:45 if I go to prepare place for you I will come again, 51:50 that's the coming of Jesus, to do what? 51:53 To receive you to myself, 51:56 so that where I am, you may be also. 52:00 My friend, if they-- 52:04 when they died, they went to heaven, 52:06 they are already there. 52:08 They don't need Jesus to come back 52:11 to get them to take them there. 52:16 And my friend, let me tell you this whole thing on death 52:19 has undermined the significance in Christian church 52:21 of the second coming of Jesus Christ. 52:24 That's been the effect of it. 52:27 And my friend, we don't go to heaven when we die. 52:30 We all go the heaven together in the resurrection morning, 52:34 Jesus leading the way, 52:35 the angels with the songs of glory 52:38 and triumph attending us on the way. 52:40 But how about-- how about the thief on the cross? 52:45 Lets look at that in Luke 23:43. 52:48 "Remember Lord, remember me when you coming to kingdom, 52:51 Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, 52:52 today you shall be with Me in Paradise." 52:55 In the regional language in Greek there's no punctuation. 52:58 So that comma was placed by the interpreters, 53:01 the translators, no punctuation. 53:06 But notice what happens 53:07 when you put the comma after the word today. 53:12 "Truly I say to you today, 53:14 you shall be with me in paradise." 53:16 How can we know where the comma ought to go? 53:18 Well if you follow scripture with scripture, 53:22 it becomes clear. 53:23 Remember, it was early in the morning, 53:25 Sunday morning that the disciples, 53:27 many of the women came 53:29 to the burial site of Jesus including Mary 53:32 and the tomb was empty. 53:34 She was grief stricken, 53:35 what is happening to the body of Jesus. 53:39 And then the tears, I mean, Jesus came and stood there 53:42 but she didn't recognize Him. 53:43 And she said, tell me where you've taken Him. 53:46 She thought it was the gardener and I will take His body away. 53:49 And notice what we find here in John 20:16, 53:54 "Jesus said to her, 'Mary,'" 53:57 and in that moment, that powerful moment, 53:59 the recognition of the voice of Jesus. 54:01 What a thrill must have crossed through her heart 54:05 when she recognized the voice of Jesus. 54:07 It goes on to say, 54:08 "She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, 'Rabboni!' 54:13 And Jesus said to her, 'Stop clinging to Me, 54:16 for I have not yet ascended to the Father.'" 54:23 Now it was on Friday, Good Friday the Jesus said, 54:27 "I say to you today you shall be with Me in Paradise." 54:31 But Jesus go to paradise on Good Friday? 54:35 No. How do we know? 54:37 Because on the third day in John 20 here 54:40 Jesus says, stop clinging to me 54:42 because I have not yet ascended to the Father. 54:46 I am not gone there yet. 54:51 So it's clear. 54:53 Now follow something else, Jesus sets a pattern, 54:56 Jesus did not ascend to heaven until after His resurrection. 55:01 So it is with God's people, 55:03 it is not until after the resurrection 55:05 that we too will ascend to heaven. 55:07 Are you with me? 55:09 He's the first fruit since what it says 55:11 in 1 Corinthians 15 in regards to the resurrection. 55:15 And my friend, He's the resurrection, the life. 55:18 Revelation 1:18, "I am he who lives, 55:20 and was dead, and behold, 55:21 I am alive forever more. Amen. 55:23 And have the keys of Hades" 55:25 that is of the grave "and of death." 55:28 And my friend, the coming of Jesus, 55:29 He's gonna take those keys 55:31 and He's going to set the prisoners free. 55:34 And so is there life after death? Absolutely. 55:39 But what people commonly mean when they say life after death, 55:42 they mean actually life in death. 55:45 Is that what they mean? 55:47 But the Bible actually teaches life after death. 55:49 It is after the period of death that the dead shall live again 55:56 is what the Bible teaches. |
Revised 2014-12-17