The Truth About Death From A Person Who Has Been There

November 4, 2007

First Reading – Revelation 7:9-17    After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes – who are they, and where did they come from?” I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will head them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Second Reading –2 Timothy 1:8-10  So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me, his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life-not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 

Gospel – John 14:18-20 (The words of Jesus, spoken to his followers just before He was betrayed and crucified, paid for our sins, died and rose from the dead) “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”

SERMON

We have been talking over the past weeks that one of the things we need to do is have a Biblical World View, taking what the Bible says and actually making it a part of our lives. So as a review, how are you this morning? (The congregation answered “Perfect, in the sight of God through the blood of Jesus Christ!”) Someone said to me this week “A lot of people think that Christians think they’re better than everyone else and may not hear the word ‘perfect’ in the way it is intended.” Some people accuse Christians of being hypocrites, which we are because we are sinners, so you may want to rearrange your answer if you run into someone who has that attitude. Depending on who you are ministering to, you may want to rearrange your answer a little bit and say “I’m a rotten sinner, but through the blood of Jesus Christ in the sight of God, I’m perfect.” 

Remember that God declares believers not guilty of any and all sins through faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. If you are not guilty of any sins you are holy and acceptable to God. God declares believers “not guilty” (holy) through faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. The Bible uses the words “holy ones”, “believers” and “saints” synonymously. Because we are holy in God’s sight, because we are perfect in God’s eyes through the blood of Jesus Christ, we are Saints. That’s why the Church has instituted a celebration called “All Saints Day” to remind us that we don’t belong to the devil, that we belong to God, and that we are perfect, holy, and acceptable to God. We are His Saints. The Bible refers to saints as believers, either living or dead. Those people who have died in the faith are the Saints; those people who are still alive and believe in Jesus Christ are known, Biblically speaking, as Saints. This morning, we are an assembly of Saints. You are God’s Saints through your faith in Jesus Christ, perfect in the sight of God through the blood of Jesus Christ, and as a Saint you have many benefits.

God takes delight in you. Psalm 149:4 says “For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation. Let the saints rejoice in this honor.” We rejoice in the fact that God takes delight in us. What good news!   Sin is the one thing that stops God from hearing our prayers. In Isaiah 59:1-2 God says “Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear to dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you so that will not hear.” It’s not that God is deaf; our sins have cut us off from Him. God does not hear the prayers of everyone who prays; He hears the prayers of only those who are not separated from Him by sin. You need your sins forgiven and, as a Saint, your sins are forgiven, you’re perfect, you’re holy, you’re acceptable to God. You have access to God in prayer through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Sometimes people will say, “I just wish that someone in authority, someone with a lot of pull would speak to God on my behalf.” You do have someone in authority speaking to God because the Holy Spirit intercedes on your behalf. Romans 8:26-27 tells us “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Sprit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts, knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.” Do you ever have those times when you don’t know what to ask God for because the situation is so complex? You think, “I just don’t know what to pray about, I don’t even know how to formulate a prayer on this.” Just give it to God because the Holy Spirit knows what needs to be done and He will intercede with God the Father for you. Isn’t that the most wonderful news in the whole world? You have the Holy Spirit praying for you all the time!

You have lifelong employment in this world and the world to come. Over the past several months we’ve talked about what God wants for you,   the plan for your life. When Jesus rose from the dead, He said to his followers, “Here’s the plan. The plan is that repentance and forgiveness of sins would be preached in My name throughout the earth.” (Luke 24:47) And, as we have talking about the last few weeks, you are either actively doing that, or you are a support person for people who do that, or a combination. That’s the plan for your life. So you are at the job you’re in, the neighborhood you’re in, the social circle you’re in, to give a testimony to Jesus Christ. You have the problems you have to give a testimony to Jesus Christ. You have the good things you have to give a testimony to Jesus Christ. Also, 1 Corinthians 6:2-3 says “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life?” You have lifelong employment as a Saint, you have work to do, you have a position of power and authority that God has given to you. That’s the plan.

You will live forever! 2 Timothy 1:10 says that “it has been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”   What great words!  Jesus Christ abolished death. Those words are from someone who died and came back from the dead, who said “I’ve taken care of death, I’ve destroyed death, I’ve abolished it.” Think about the money that’s in your bank account. Would you be happy if your bank account were abolished? Probably not! If your bank account were abolished, it wouldn’t be there any more, you couldn’t pay your bills, the money would be gone. Now transfer that concept to death. God says that death is gone, it’s abolished, it’s done away with through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ!

And yes, as a consequence of sin our bodies will physically die, but even though our bodies die, we will live on in Heaven with the Lord.   And those are the words from someone Who died and came back and has a mansion prepared for you. Jesus tells us in John 14:1-3 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you; I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Jesus will personally return for you and lets you see your future in Revelation chapter 7, the first reading for today. Through faith in the blood of Jesus Christ, you will be in the great multitude, you will be wearing a white robe, you will have garments of salvation. You will be standing there in heaven in the Temple of the Lord in a white robe with a palm branch in your hand, praising God saying “Amen. Praise, glory, wisdom, thanks, power and strength be to our God for ever and ever.” You will be serving God day and night and He will wipe every tear from your eyes. That is your future as a Saint, guaranteed by the One who died and came back, Jesus Christ.

Because Christ has been through death and has come back, you can actually cancel your death. Killing people was one thing the Romans did really well. They made sure Jesus was dead. He was as dead as they come and they buried Him. Mark 16:5-7 tells us that when His followers went to the cemetery looking for Him, “they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. ‘Don’t be alarmed’, he said, ‘you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here.’ If you were the Keeper of Records back there in Jerusalem, you would have to take His death certificate and write “CANCELLED” on it! His death had to be cancelled. But you might say, “Well, He’s Jesus, He’s God, that’s not me.” So let’s look at someone just like you and me.

Because Moses had disobeyed God, he could not cross the Jordan to enter the Promised Land but God permitted Moses to see into it. And Deuteronomy 34:5-6 tells us “Moses, the servant of the LORD died there in Moab as the LORD has said. He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.”  Someone would have made out a death certificate for Moses when he died. Going forward several hundred years to 29-30AD, Moses is dead, he’s buried, and his body is dust blowing in the wind over in Israel someplace. But when we read Matthew 17:3 “After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shown like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus”, there was Moses, recognizable, talking with Jesus, his lips moving, thoughts coming out of his brain, communication taking place.   So if you had the death certificate for Moses, you would have to get it out and write “CANCELLED” on it. God is not kidding around, The Guy that died and came back was right, He has abolished death.

How about for you? When you have one of those days where everything is going wrong and you think “I’ve had it!” Or maybe you’re sick and you know that a few years from now you won’t be here. Write out your death certificate, write in a proposed date of death, sometime in the future and then write “CANCELLED” on it. The truth about death from the One Who has been there is that your death has been “CANCELLED”! Jesus Christ has destroyed death and brought life and immortality to those who believe in Him!