What Really Happens When a Person Dies?
John 11:25,26
February 17,
2013 AM
Pastor Craig
Ledbetter
I.
Introduction (1Peter
3:15)
A.
The Bible says that
we must “Be ready always to give an
answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you”
B.
There is a great
Need today to have an Answer for Every Man
1.
Have answers once
again
2.
The modern person is
a sceptic. Doubts everything.
Questions the validity of everything, especially religious.
3.
Most churches and
pastors have ignored answering people’s questions, people’s problems
4.
Modern religious
leaders only talk about “mysteries” but not truth
5.
Ignorant of the
Bible
6.
Too lazy to study
C.
Evangelism means
more than talking about heaven
1.
It means helping
people know that they can know God
2.
Trust the Bible –
know the way to trust God
3.
Helping people seek
truth – not a fairy tale, or
D.
Not everyone has
deep, skeptical questions, but most do, and most are not answered anymore
E.
People Have Good
Questions
1.
Is there really a
good God?
2.
Why doesn’t He act?
3.
Can’t God control
evil?
4.
Without solid
answers, the issues of government and society will only go more out of control –
same-sex marriage, abortion, euthanasia…
F.
We have THE Answers
G.
This month we are
looking at several foundational questions that almost everyone has, but have
given up on finding out the answer to, like:
1.
Is there REALLY a
God?
2.
What happens when a
person dies?
3.
Is the Bible for
real?
4.
Why do we need God?
5.
Which God is the
Right God? The True God?
6.
Is the Bible
Perfectly True?
7.
Can a Person Change?
8.
What’s the
Difference Between Religion and God?
H.
This morning, I want
to give you some solid answers about what happens when a person dies!
II.
Background
A.
Only two things you
can count on in life they say… death and taxes
B.
But, What happens
when a person dies?
C.
Death used to be
declared when a person’s heart stopped – see it in movies that way
1.
But modern doctors
make sure there is no brain activity either
2.
Even now, doctors
and people are just not sure
a.
When a person’s
heart stops, their brain can continue for a bit
b.
When there is no
brain activity (EEG), the heart and
other organs can continue for years!
c.
They make mistakes!
D.
Science and
Doctors describe death as when…
1.
Vital organs fail –
stop working
2.
Cessation of brain
activity
3.
Stopped breathing
4.
But is that death?
Is that the END? Is that all there is to our life?
E.
Many People and
Religions Simply ACCEPT Death
1.
Make it mysterious –
“the unknown”
2.
Even glorify and
honour death – make light of it
a.
Rock Music Culture -
no fear
b.
Acceptance of
Abortion of unborn children
c.
People seeking
suicide and euthanasia
3.
Most people just try
not to think about it at all (even though they watch on average about 20 murders
an evening on TV, in the midst of a dozen adulteries and rapes)!
4.
I just know that I
want to avoid it at all costs!
F.
So, What Happens, at
the moment of death? Is there anything beyond the cold grave that we all will
face?
1.
Nothingness? Just
join with the worms, and with the dirt
2.
Nirvana?
3.
Reincarnation?
4.
Heaven?
5.
Hell?
6.
Limbo?
7.
Purgatory?
G.
Who is to say?
1.
Ancient Egyptians
prepared to ride a ghostly boat down a river to the nether-world. Prepared for
the afterlife by mummifying wealthy people, and packaging foods and toys for
eternity!
2.
The ancient Greeks
feared death. The journey after death was to a land known as Hades, ruled by a
god named Hades. The first part of the journey required crossing the river
3.
Jehovah’s Witnesses
say if you are good enough, you go unconscious until the great judgment day, and
if you are not good enough, you are annihilated and disappear forever
4.
Mormons believe if
you are good enough, you can earn god-hood, and with your celestial wife can
become the god of your very own world. And if you are not good enough, you will
just be stuck on this earth forever
5.
Most people don’t
know, and don’t care!
H.
We need an absolute
authority to tell us
1.
Science can’t
2.
Philosophers can’t –
can only guess
3.
Mystics can’t
4.
Only someone who has
been beyond the grave and BACK, an tell us
5.
Jesus (John
11:25,26)
a.
Raised up the
twelve-year-old daughter of Jairus who had just died (Mark 5:22-43, Luke
8:41-56)
b.
Stopped the
pallbearers at a young man's funeral and commanding the corpse to live again
(Luke 7:11-15)
c.
And then by
summoning Lazarus from the tomb after he had been dead and buried four days.
(John 11:1-45)
d.
As if that were not
enough, Jesus allowed himself to be publicly executed, certified dead by the
Roman authorities, and buried in a sealed tomb guarded by soldiers — only to
rise from the grave on the third day and show himself alive in private and
public appearances to hundreds of people, finally ascending heavenward before
the eyes of assembled witnesses.
6.
I think HE can tell
us what happens after a person dies!
III.
Message
A.
Everyone
Dies (Hebrews 9:27)
1.
Death Happens
a.
It doesn’t matter
who you are, or how rich you become
b.
Doesn’t matter how
young you are, or how strong your may be
c.
Gen 5:3-5; 5:8;
5:11; 5:14; 5:17; 5:20…
d.
It doesn’t matter
how long you may actually end up living, your life is only a vapour!
2.
Satan’s big lie was
that “ye shall not surely die” (Gen 3:4,5) What a liar!
a.
It is appointed to
all, once to die (Heb 9:27)
b.
People may try and
extend their lives, but in the end, death wins. Eccl 8:8 There is no man that
hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the
day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness
deliver those that are given to it.
3.
It can take a while
for death to finally win out
a.
People have lived
long lives
1)
Noah lived 600 years
2)
Abraham 175
3)
Moses 120
4)
Jeanne Calment,
b.
People have lived
on, on their death bed for months and years after people had given up on them
c.
But in the end,
death always wins!
4.
Death isn’t supposed
to happen
a.
Death is an
unnatural part of life – no matter what people say
b.
Life does not have
an OFF switch, or a self-destruct switch
c.
Life is supposed to
just keep going
5.
The Bible refers to
death as “Giving up the Ghost”
a.
It is when you lose
control of your soul and spirit
1)
Abraham gave up the
ghost. Gen 25:8 Then Abraham gave
up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was
gathered to his people.
2)
Isaac. Gen 35:29
And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people,
being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
3)
Jesus. John 19:30
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished:
and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
b.
Several scientific
studies have shown an adult loses 21 grams of weight (1 ¼ ounce) at the moment
of death – no explanation. In 1907, Dr. Duncan MacDougall of Haverhill,
Massachusetts conducted research into the weight of a person changing at death,
and measured 6 patients who lost on average 1 ¼ ounces at death without any
explanation still to this day.
6.
There is more to you
than just flesh and blood!
B.
A Part of You Lives
On (1Thes 5:23)
1.
Your body goes to a
hole in the ground, or is cremated, or is laid out in state in a mausoleum. That
is the end of the part of you that you catered to the most!
a.
Feeding it
b.
Pampering it
c.
Adorning it
d.
Modifying it
e.
Hating it
f.
It returns to dust.
Dust will return to dust (Eccl 12:7)
2.
Your spirit returns
to God (Eccl 12:7)
3.
But your SOUL lives
on forever, somewhere!
a.
You are MORE than
just a miracle of LIFE (trillions and trillions of chemical interactions, and
neurons firing and cells multiplying)
b.
You are a living
soul, that cannot die!
c.
A part of you that
is the REAL you, that feels, and loves, and hurts, and hates, and fears, and
prays, and sings – everything that is invisible about you, is your soul! It is
the part of you that the Bible also calls, the heart! It goes on after death!
d.
According to
Revelation 6:9-11, some people had been killed, but their souls were alive in
heaven.
C.
There is a Judgment
(Hebrews 9:27)
1.
Pronounced by God
a.
At the moment of
death, God’s judgment is passed upon you
b.
Not pronounced or
determined by Mary, or by Peter at the pearly gates, or by Joseph Smith; not by
Muhammad, or by some angel
c.
But by the God who
made you and gave you life and breath!
d.
No courtroom; no
trial; no arguments; the judgment is already decided
2.
Death will hurt!
There is a STING in death (1Cor 15:55,56). Why is it so bad?
a.
Death is the result
of living without God (Romans 5:12)
b.
It is the result of
going our own way (Pr 16:25; Isaiah 53:6)
c.
And there is a COST
to living without God, and trying to do thing our own way
d.
Sin wins (James
1:14,15), not you or me!
e.
The final piercing
of a person’s life – the taking of a person’s life happens at death!
3.
EXCEPT, when a
person gets born again! God takes away the STING of death, and passes us from
death unto LIFE! Now you know why a sinner gets born again!
D.
You will be SOMEWHERE
in an Instant (2Cor 5:6-9)
1.
Various experiences
at death…
a.
People who have been
resuscitated have seen long tunnels of light, but that was while they were dying
b.
Some claim to have
hovered over their death bed
c.
Some people have
spent their last breaths screaming in agony and fear
2.
But in then end,
when death wins, you will be with your ‘God’ – the being that you worshipped and
loved and obeyed!
a.
Either the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who loved you and gave His life for you on the cross
b.
Or the god of this
world, that you loved and followed through the love of money and friends and
success!
3.
It all happens in an
instant
4.
For the Christian,
it is like falling asleep (John 11:11-14; 1Thes 4:14)
5.
For the lost, the
Bible rejecter, it is like falling into a deep pit.
a.
Psalm 28:1
Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou
be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
b.
Psalm 73:13-20
E.
It is
an End that Never Ends
1.
For the Forgiven, it
is rest, and home, and also forever
a.
Not for the perfect,
or sinless, or good – because they do not exist
b.
But for those who
have been FORGIVEN by God
c.
Paul said for me to
live is Christ and to die is GAIN!
d.
All sinners are
loved by God, and ALL are offered forgiveness
e.
But only a few are
brave enough to believe God and decide to follow Jesus into life everlasting!
2.
For the Lost, it is
torment, and punishment and separation also forever.
a.
Physical death has
an end
b.
But a soul cannot
die, so for all eternity, it dies and dies and dies, and yet cannot ever finish
dying!
c.
THAT is why Jesus
wept over the multitudes!
d.
THAT is why God sent
His only begotten Son to take our place in death!
e.
There is no more
hope after death – your destiny is settled FOREVER!
3.
Whatever you are
going through right now, is nothing, and lasts nothing compared to the next
world
4.
Death, and even hell
are not the end! (Rev 20:12-15)
5.
Side Note: Did you
know that populations with a strong belief in Hell have lower crime-rates,
according to a 2012 study appearing in the Public Library of Science journal
PLoS ONE? The study found that criminal activity is MUCH lower in societies
where people’s religious beliefs contain a belief in the eternal punishment of
evil-doers than in places where they believe only in a god who is kind and
loving. A country where many more people believe in heaven than in hell, for
example, is likely to have a much higher crime rate than countries where believe
in both heaven AND hell. The study came from a comprehensive analysis of 26
years of data involving 143,197 people in 67 countries.
F.
No One
can Overcome Death by Themselves!
1.
The Bible clearly
tells us that “the wages of sin is death” period! So death, in all its gore and
ruin is the penalty we all must pay for our sinfulness (Romans 6:23).
2.
That should be the
end of humanity's story - death, both physical death in the grave, and eternal
death in hell.
3.
But God chose to
intervene, and out of love, chose to personally pay the full penalty for us!
Think about it! God, who cannot die, became a MAN, so that He could die! Not for
Himself, but for sinners who couldn't save themselves! As a Man, God lived a
life free from all sin! And then willingly took the sins of the entire world
upon Himself (every last one) and then horribly suffered OUR consequences under
the righteous wrath of the law of God…, so WE might live eternally according to
His righteousness.
4.
If only someone
would just fully believe that it is a done deal! If only someone would STOP
trying to be good enough, and STOP trying to cheat death, and STOP trying to get
into the presence of God through some religious "back-door." If only someone
would cry out to Jesus Christ right now and ask Him to forgive them and give
them the opposite of what they deserve… eternal life!
5.
Thank God I did just
that - I repented and believed this Gospel 32 years ago! Thank God for the LOVE
of God! Thank God for Jesus! Thank God anyone can overcome death by childlike
faith in Jesus Christ!
IV.
Conclusion
A.
What Will happen the
Moment After YOU Die?
1.
Do you even CARE?
2.
I didn’t at first –
for YEARS I lived like I would never die
3.
Then I had a car
accident, and then I was at the funeral of two of my friends who died in car
accidents
4.
I had NO idea where
“I” would have gone if I had been one of them!
B.
There is
LIFE after death…
1.
And you can have it!
If you will only receive it by faith today, from Jesus Christ!
2.
HE is the One who
said in Rev 1:18 “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for
evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”
C.
Your life is as a
vapour
D.
You physically will
die someday, but your soul will live on forever
E.
You Will Have All
Your Memories
F.
You Will Have All
Your Regrets
G.
Where would you
rather be? In heaven, with the God who can wipe away all tears, or in a devil’s
hell, with no relief, and no rest, and no hope, forever, and forever!?