Life After Death

So we are beginning a new series today called One Minute After You Die, and the idea of this series is to take a look and pull back the curtains of life after death. And today I just want to give you an overview of what life after death is like, what we can expect. We don't like to talk about death. Talking about or thinking about death is something that makes us terribly uncomfortable. But why do we do that?

Well, partly because we don't really know what happens. Nobody has lived to tell us or have come back from the dead to tell us what's happened. And everyone will face it someday, and we face it alone. It's inevitable. Everybody faces death.

But here's the truth. You don't really die. From a biblical worldview, we don't really die. Our physical bodies die. The physical body ceases function, but the real you, the soul of you, never really dies.

And we see this in 2 Corinthians 5. So if you'll turn with me there, and if everybody would stand for the reading of God's Word. 2 Corinthians 5, beginning with verse 1, and then we'll skip to verse 6, and then jump to verse 8 a little later. I'll give you indications of when we are jumping to those things. So it says this, We grow weary in these present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing.

For we will put on heavenly bodies. We will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh. But it's not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on the new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.

So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies, we are not at home with the Lord. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. Or some versions say to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So what is our purpose as we're on this earth? That's probably the question you have today.

So what do we do while we're here in these earthly bodies? And verse 9 explains this. So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, meaning if our souls are separated from the body at death or it's here, our goal is to what? Like lots of money? Be YouTube famous?

Get a lot of likes to look good, to look attractive, to have the biggest house, to have the biggest car? Is that the objective of our lives, to be successful in our businesses and look good to men that are around us and the world around us? To make great accomplishments for ourselves so that we can be approved of and thought of as great? Is that why we are here? No, it says this.

Our goal is to please Him. To please Him. Whether we're in the body or outside of the body, wherever we are in eternity, it is our goal always to please Him. For we must all stand before Christ to be judged, and we will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body. So why do we need to talk about the afterlife?

Here's the thesis of everything that we're going to talk about today. What you believe about eternity determines how you live today. What you believe about eternity, what you know about eternity, your understanding of eternity determines how you live today. In fact, this is the thesis for the entire series. What we know about heaven, what we know about hell, what we know about the afterlife, where we're going, and what that's going to mean for us determines how we live our life today.

If you believe that you are an accident and there is no eternal purpose for your life, you will live life for the pleasures of this time, and it will be all about yourself. Everything you do will be for selfish ambitions to approve of yourself, to have others look at you and say, wow, that's a great guy. That's a great guy out there. That's what we want. If we believe that there is no eternal purpose, we live for the here and now.

In fact, Paul even said, you know, if Christ didn't raise from the dead, then we eat, drink, and we're married, because tomorrow we die, and there's nothing. So we might as well live for now, and that's how you think. That's how your worldview will be if you do not believe in any type of eternity. On the contrary, if you believe that you were created by God for his glory, for a purpose, an eternal purpose, you will live for more than the here and now. Because we all will live somewhere.

We don't die. And what you do today will impact eternity. So here's where we're going to set it up. Next week, we're going to talk about hell. We're going to talk about why is there a hell?

Who goes to hell? And what is hell like? And is it just some big party that we all go to and play cards and drink and laugh and have a great time for eternity? Is that hell? We're going to look into that and decide and discover what hell really is.

In the Word of God, we too are going to talk about heaven. Who goes to heaven? Where is this place? Do we gain wings? Do we pluck hearts?

Is it some long, boring worship service that we repeat the same thing over and over again for eternity? Or do we have new bodies? Do we recognize people? We've got all these questions. And feel free to chime in on our social media or info at saltchurch.

org on our email. And if you have questions, ask those questions because we want to be able to answer these questions throughout our series. But today I just want to lay a foundation for the rest of the series, and I want to give you three things that we can pull from Scripture. First of all, our physical bodies die. Our physical bodies die.

Studies are conclusive. One out of one people die. You are going to die. We are nothing but dust. It says we come from the dust and we're going back to dust.

One out of one people die. I love how Hebrews puts it. Just as people are destined to die once and face the judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many. And he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. Let me just start out with that first part.

Just as people are destined to die once. That means there's only one life. There is one life. And unfortunately, Eastern ideas and Eastern religions have crept into the church. And unfortunately for many Christians, they may believe in things like reincarnation.

But this adamantly states that there is no reincarnation. We don't come back again and again and again as other people and other lives based on our works. Because it is about works at that point. But it's about Jesus who paid the price once and for all. See, this is the point of grace.

He's done it once and for all. We are destined to live once and die. Our physical bodies die. And after that, to face the judgment. So Christ's sacrifice is once and for all.

He died once and we face judgment. Our physical bodies die. Secondly, our souls separate from our physical bodies. That means when we pass from this earth, we never really die. Although our physical bodies die, our souls separate from our body to be with God.

Jesus said it like this, Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and cannot kill the soul because the body and soul are two different things. Rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. He's talking about having a reverent fear of the Father, a reverent fear of God, the one who created your soul. Nobody else can destroy your soul. Nobody else can do anything to you.

They can do things to your physical body. Your physical body dies, but your soul continues to live. So when your funeral is going on and when your family is getting together during your funeral to have a potluck dinner, you've never been more alive. You are more alive that day than you were when you were walking on this earth. And Jesus shows up to his friend's house to prove this in the scriptures, in the Gospels.

In fact, the Gospel of John shows us this story. Jesus shows up to his friend Lazarus' house. Lazarus' best friend or one of his best friends. He spent a lot of time with Lazarus. In fact, it's one of the only times in the Bible we see emotion come from Jesus about his death because Lazarus ends up dying.

Jesus doesn't arrive until four days after Lazarus dies. They were expecting him to show up. They were expecting him to perform a miracle, to heal him. But Martha says to him, if you had been here, he would have lived. And here's what Jesus says.

He says, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even though they die. And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. You'll never die. If you believe in God, you will never die.

If you believe in Jesus, Jesus who is the resurrection and the life, that's where the soul comes from. That's why we're talking about soul. It never dies. So what happens with our soul when our physical body dies and detail, we're not completely sure. The Bible doesn't scream out loud about it.

But what we do know is Paul says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. When we leave these bodies, when these bodies die, our soul goes to be with the Lord. We can be confirmed in that area and we can be confident in that area that we will be with the Lord. The Gospel also shares with us that there were two thieves on the cross. They were beside Jesus.

Both guilty. Both saw the same thing. Both needed forgiveness. One of them recognized their need for a savior by looking at Jesus. And he responds to Jesus.

And here's what happens in this story. He says to Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom? And Jesus answers him, truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise. So something's going to happen that day. When they pass from this life, his soul goes to be with Jesus and it happens today.

So immediately something happens. Again, what does this look like? We're not completely sure what it looks like, but it is this. It's way better than what we have in this life. Way better.

See, even Paul knew this and he struggled with this. He says, it's better to leave this world, but I struggle with leaving this world because I want to be here to serve the Lord. In Philippians one, he says, and I trust. I'll we'll do it as well. I think the following day is, man.

That my life will bring honor to Christ whether I live or die. For me, living means living for Christ and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don't know which is better. I'm torn between the two.

I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better to me. But for your sake, it is better that I continue to live. So he struggled with this because he knew that it was much, much, much better to be with the Lord. But he knew also that God had a mission for him on this earth. And he struggled with that.

That he was glad to be here on the earth to serve and be alive and live in this earthly body. But he also knew that it is far much better to be with the Lord. And if I'm dead or alive, I live to please the Lord. So our physical bodies die. Our soul separates from our body.

And thirdly, we will all face judgment. We will all face judgment. Here's what Peter says. And remember that the Heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge and reward you according to what you do.

So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as temporary residence. See, remember, this world is not your home. You are just passing through. It's just a temporary point in time. And at the end of this life, you will be either judged for what you've done wrong or rewarded for what you have done well.

So there's two judgments here that I want to talk about. The first judgment is what we believe is the non-believers judgment. It's called the great white throne of judgment. The great white throne of judgment. And most scholars would agree that this is a judgment for those who are not believers, who do not follow Christ.

And John gives a vision on the Isle of Patmos as he was exiled. And Jesus gives him this vision. And it says this, And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and the sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. I saw dead.

I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God's throne. And the books were open, including the book of life. And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. Now, let's talk about that. The book of life.

What do we believe about the book of life? We believe that we were all born sinners. And there was no hope for us. And there is no hope for us outside of Jesus Christ, who we believe is the Son of God. He was the perfect land who came to earth, was sinless, and died on the cross for our sin.

And when we believe this and confess our sin to him, our names are written in a book of life. A book of life that's never erased or blotted. And it's by grace, not by works, that we are saved. And he puts us in that book, never to be taken out. Whether that's a realistic book, we don't want to make it walk on all fours necessarily.

But the idea here is that God has us in mind. He's written us down in life. When we gave our lives to Christ, when he offered his sacrifice by grace, not by works. I want to say that again. Not by works, but by grace.

He made a sacrifice, and we are put in that book of life, and we are made right with him. But those who are not in the book of life, they will be separated from him. That's where we have hell. And Jesus said this, and it's one of the most shaking verses I believe in the Bible. It troubles me every time I hear this.

It's challenging, it's convicting in every way possible. And it says, Not everyone who calls out to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who actually do the will of the Father in heaven will enter. And on judgment day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name. We cast out demons in your name, and we performed many miracles in your name.

And this is what he will say. I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God's law. For you, we prophesied, we cast out demons, we performed miracles might be, I went to church every Easter. I was a nice guy.

I was better than a lot of those religious hypocrites in the church. I donated money to the Salvation Army. I went on missions, projects. I did a lot of things for you, God. But Jesus will reply, but you didn't have a relationship with me.

You were works-based. You didn't really connect with me to the level, relationally, that I wanted you. It really isn't about all those things you do. You don't earn yourself salvation. And that is the great white throne of judgment.

And then there's another judgment, and that's for believers. It's called the judgment seat of Christ. The judgment seat of Christ. That's for the believer. And Paul says to the Corinthian believers, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due for the things done while in this body, whether good or bad.

So, if we look at the Greek word for judgment seat, we see this word called bema, the bema seat. The bema seat is taken from the Greek Olympic Games. And what happens at this seat is when the race is done, when the challenge is done, when the games are done, the judge will come out and sit at this judgment seat, this bema seat. So, let's see. And award those who won the race or won the event, they awarded the winners.

So here's what the Bema Seat is not. It's not a place where you qualify to be in the games, but a place that you receive rewards and recognition based on what you have done. And the Bema Seat of God is the very same thing. It's not the judgment seat. It's not the great white throne of judgment that we talked about just a second ago.

This is the seat where the believers will appear before Jesus, because Jesus has already paid for the sins of man. We're not working for anything at this point. Rather, it's a place where we finished a race, where we receive our rewards. We receive our rewards in heaven. So wait a minute, Pastor.

I thought we weren't saved by works. We're not saved by works, but we are rewarded for works. And when we have experienced a life-changing, transforming relationship with Christ, where we're no longer the old and we are new people, it is no problem to work and to serve the Lord. We work from salvation. We don't work for salvation.

You don't work to earn salvation, but we work to please God and rewards are given in eternity. So how will this look? We don't know. A bigger mansion or access or commissioned authority in heaven. We don't really know.

But what we do know is that it is going to happen and it's going to be amazing. So what do you do today that really matters? How do we live our lives today as if eternity matters? What are we judged on? How we treat people, perhaps?

The words you speak to others? The attitude you give to others? What you do with your money? How we endure suffering in this life? Leading others to Christ?

And I cannot begin to imagine how humbling and how sobering and how awe-inspiring it will be when we kneel at the feet of Jesus. And he will say, you've made such a difference in the lives of so many people. My brother, my sister, my daughter, my son. Here's your reward. You made a difference in the lives of kids.

You gave your time to the children. When nobody else would volunteer for children's ministry, you presented the gospel to them with dignity and love and joy. And I just appreciate you so much for that. Here's your reward. You didn't have much to give, but you gave.

You tithed every Sunday. You did what you could do. You didn't know anyone was watching. And I saw your faithfulness. I saw your faithfulness.

You gave food to the hungry. You gave water to the thirsty. You visited me when I was in prison. You clothed me. And to the least of these you gave.

And when you gave to them, you gave to me. And Christ will say, what you did brings joy to my heart. Here's your reward. I can only imagine what that would be like. But here's something that I've always thought.

The longer you walk with Christ, the easier it would be to be heavenly minded. That the longer I walk with Christ, the more mature I would be. And my mind would be set on the things of God as I come closer to the end of my life. But the opposite tends to happen. The longer I live in this world, the deeper my roots grow to hold on to this earth.

There's a force that pulls strongly back to the world that I fight constantly. So what do I have to do? I have to give when it's uncomfortable to give. I have to pray a little longer. I have to spend more time in God's word.

I have to do whatever I can to grow just a bit closer to God as I become more rooted in this world. So whether we are in the body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. So my question for you today, are you living today like eternity matters? Are you living today like eternity matters? What if we were a church that lived like eternity matters?

What is our struggle? This statement from a pastor I wrote down, it says, One minute after you slip behind the parted curtains, you will either be enjoying a personal welcome from Christ or be catching your first glimpse of gloom as you have never known it. Either way, your future will be irrevocably fixed and internally unchangeable or eternally unchangeable. So what are you living for today? If that's your struggle, I want to pray for you.

If that's your struggle, right where you are. How many of you would say, I struggle to keep out of the world and focused on Christ? I'm often rooted in the world. How many of you would say that? Father, in the name of Jesus, I ask that you would renew us, Lord, mentally, physically, spiritually, in every way, so that we can better focus on the task at hand, that we would live more for heaven than we would in this world.

Because what we do in this world matters. It matters for eternity. It matters for life. It matters. eses.

Hopefully, if you leave know infected or not dead yet. Whether we're working, or living, or loving, or whatever we're doing, Lord Jesus, we're doing it as if everything is to please You. So we ask that You change our hearts today. Let me ask another question. Maybe there are those of you that don't really know if you truly know Christ.

Do you truly know Christ? Are you like the people that say, Lord, Lord, cast out demons, perform miracles, but Father will look at you and say, depart from me, I never knew you. I pray that you're not in that camp, but if you are in that camp, you can make a decision today to honor and follow Jesus Christ. By number one, believing that He is the Son of God, that He died on the cross for our sin, that today you can say, Lord, Lord, not only do I cast out demons in Your name, perform miracles, and do all these wonderful things, I have a personal relationship. It's no longer about works.

It's about the love that You have for me. If that's you today, would you raise your hand? Would you pray this prayer with me today? Father, in the name of Jesus, I believe that You are the Son of God, that You died on the cross for my sin, that You came to this earth to live a perfect life, sinless. I believe that, Lord.

And after You died and You were buried for three days, You rose again from the grave. You conquered death, and You did it for me. So today I receive You as my Lord and Savior. Come into my life, come into my heart, transform me from the inside out, and I live for You today, this day forth, and forever, and even in eternity. Eternity begins today.

Amen. Eternity begins today. Eternity begins today. As you've made that step, you've made that decision. If you made that decision for Christ, there's opportunities for you to take the next step.

You can be water baptized. That's the first step that God asks us to be a part of. Get plugged into a small group. Get a Bible. We have Bibles at our table.

You can start attending services. Start attending small groups. Get connected in any way you possibly can so that you can grow in Jesus. It takes effort to grow. Jesus is free, but He asks us to walk in Him and grow closer to Him.

So we're asking you to do that today. God bless you. Have a great week, and we look forward to seeing you back next week as we talk about hell and what that really means for the unbeliever. God bless you. Have a great day.

Anyone else wants to do that and how they can make money done. Do not miss. Thank you.