Is There Life After Death? - [Ecclesiastes 3:18-22]

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D .L. Moody was a famous evangelist, and he was talking to a songwriter on his deathbed,
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Mr. Thompson, and he said to Mr. Thompson, Will, I would rather have written softly and tenderly,
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Jesus is calling, than anything I have been able to do in my whole life. Do you know that song, softly and tenderly,
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Jesus is calling? Many know it. Here's the stanza. Softly and tenderly,
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Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me. See on the portholes he's waiting and watching, watching for you and for me.
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And then the refrain says, Come home, come home, you who are weary, come home. Earnestly, tenderly,
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Jesus is calling, O sinner, come home. Stanza two. Why should we tarry when
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Jesus is pleading, pleading for you and for me? Why should we linger and heed not his mercies, mercies for you and for me?
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Stanza four. Oh, for the wonderful love he has promised, promised for you and for me. Though we have sinned, he has mercy and pardon, pardon for you and for me.
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Except I left out stanza number three, because many don't want to sing it. It talks about something that's so grim, so ugly, and so awful that people sometimes just want to avoid the subject altogether.
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Stanza three. Softly and tenderly, written by Will Thompson. Time is now fleeting.
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The moments are passing, passing from you and from me. Shadows are gathering.
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Death beds are coming, coming for you and for me. For all of us, we are one day closer to eternity.
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And of course, we're hoping that the Lord Jesus comes back and we'll all be going the same time, but it is a fact that we will die.
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And it's hard for our society to talk about. Lots of times we can't even say the word death because it's so final.
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We say words to lighten it a little bit. Passed on, passed away, expired.
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Sometimes even using biblical terminology, he's gone to Abraham's bosom. Many will try to lighten it a little bit because it is so fearful, it is so frightening to think about death.
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They call death things like going to Davy Jones' locker, right? It's just, it's so difficult to talk about.
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Well, let's lighten it up a little bit and talk about going to God's happy hunting ground or something like that.
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Death is, in fact, awful. It is repulsive. It is ugly.
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And it is inevitable. How do we work through it? How do we think about death now while we live?
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And could we have joy in life knowing that one day we'll die, knowing that one day all of our loved ones will die?
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How can we have joy and satisfaction in a life where death is certain?
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If you'll take your Bibles and open to the book of Ecclesiastes, we're going to ask and answer that question today at Bethlehem Bible Church.
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I love Ecclesiastes for lots of reasons. Here's one. He will not shy away from important issues.
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He will not shy away from issues of life and death and everything in between. He's not just going to say, you know, let's just talk about all the good stuff.
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Kind of positive, encouraging, Caleb only. No, he deals with everything. Did I just say that? I like positive.
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I like encouraging. But just like with the Psalms, there's all kinds of Psalms, right? Psalms of joy.
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Psalms of rejoicing. Psalms of lament. Psalms that call down judgment.
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And so we see all of humanity encapsulated in what we talk about as wisdom literature,
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Job, and Psalms, and Proverbs, and Song of Solomon, and, in fact, Ecclesiastes.
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There is a way to think rightly about death, and I think we can learn that today from the message.
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It says in chapter 1, verse 2, remember, vanity of vanity, says the preacher. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
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Go back to the previous chapter, the last chapter of Proverbs 31. I think it's kind of interesting what some people call the
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Proverbs 31 woman. It says in verse 30, charm is deceitful, beauty is what?
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Vain. Is it? Is beauty vain? I think beauty is pretty wonderful. But while beauty isn't frustrating, it's not vexing, it's not puzzling.
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What is beauty? It's fleeting. And so when you see this word vanity in Song of Solomon, that'd be true too, but in Ecclesiastes, you say to yourself, it could be puzzling, it could be vain, or frustrating, or it could be fleeting.
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Things go by quickly. And we learn in chapters 1 and 2 that in this world, in this fallen world where we strive after wind, that you still can have enjoyment knowing that every good thing you have spiritually, physically, comes from God himself.
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And you could say to yourself, my wife is from the hand of God. It's a gift from God himself, my salvation, my adoption, the spirit of God who dwells in me.
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It's at the end of chapter 2, remember verses 24 and 25, that we could eat and drink and find enjoyment in this toil.
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When you're searching for happiness and joy in this world, you don't find it. When you search and trust
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God by faith alone, and the just shall live by faith, and you think about the Son of God who loved you and gave his life for you, then you get everything else too.
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It's like, remember when Spurgeon said, when you're struggling with the doctrine of assurance, when you chase assurance, you don't get it.
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It's like a dove, it flies away. But when you focus on and meditate upon and search after the
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Lord Jesus, the dove of assurance just settles down on your shoulder. It's the same thing with pleasure, same thing with joy.
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When you chase pleasure and it's club med and everything else, you don't get it. But when you walk by faith and you trust in Christ Jesus and his promises, then you get everything else in life too.
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Not just eternal life, but you get to appreciate the good things on this earth, even though life is difficult, even though life is hard.
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Chapter 3 talks about the sovereignty of God. And this is seeing the world through God's sovereign lens.
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If you see everything as trouble and toil and sweat and vexation, that's one thing.
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But if you say, there has been a fall, Adam has sinned, and I still have to walk by faith and trust that God is causing everything to work together for good.
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I don't see it on this earth maybe, I don't understand it, but God's promises are true and I have to walk by faith and not by sight.
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God says he's sovereign, the world looks like a mess. I still have to look through the mess of the world, through the screen door, or through a lens that says
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God is in fact sovereign. Remember verse 14, it talks about things that don't endure, and then it talks about fearing
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God. And in verse 14 at the very end, so that people fear God. God is so sovereign, the unbeliever should say, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living
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God. And the Christian says, I'm not crouching and cringing with fear of God, but he is so great
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I want to honor him with reverence and obedience and respect, because I'm a son or I'm a daughter.
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And then lastly, remember last week, how do we live in this world where there's corruption everywhere? Solomon says, expect
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God to judge. Remember in verse 16 and following, in just places, should be just at least, there's injustice.
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What do we do? And the good news is we don't have to worry. God's sovereign, vengeance is mine, he said,
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I will repay. We don't have to run around making everything right. There could be priests sons like Eli and they're evil.
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We understand that, but God sees, God knows, and everything is going to be taken care of one day.
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So now we come to chapter 3 verses 18 through 22. I know what you're thinking. You said the first week we did first and second chapter, the second week we did 15 verses, last week we did two verses, so today we're going to do how many verses?
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Wrong, four. Maybe five. Let's see, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, five verses.
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That's today. And the section here follows logically.
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Here's what Solomon's thinking. There's going to be a judgment day. Expect God to judge.
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We looked at the second coming last week. But before that judgment, something's got to happen.
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Before the ultimate judgment, something has to happen. And here's what has to happen. You have to die.
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It's appointed for man once to die and then what? The judgment. And so this brings up the idea of death for Solomon.
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Yes, there will be a final judgment day. If God doesn't judge on this earth, and often He does, but the ultimate judgment will be after people die.
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So he begins to think about the difficult question of death. And he's got some questions sprinkled in here.
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Verse 21 has a question. Who knows? Verse 22 has a question. Who can bring?
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So I'm going to use that inquisitive heart of Solomon for our outline today, and I'm going to give you six questions that will help you work through this passage and think about it rightly.
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And the answers will need to be found in this passage are in the revelation of God between Genesis and Revelation.
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To think rightly about life and death. Six questions.
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I'm happy he doesn't shy away from this. It's important. Question number one.
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Is man, is humankind, is mankind, are men and women any better than animals?
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Are we any better than animals? It's a good question. People in evolutionary circles will say what?
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We're just the same. We're just a little bit farther along the chain. Verse 18. I said in my heart,
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Ecclesiastes 3 .18, with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts.
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But what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same.
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One dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath and man has no advantage over beasts for all is vanity.
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All go to one place. All are from the dust and to dust all return. Are we any better than animals?
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Animals are made out of dust. We're made out of dust. Animals die. We die.
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Animals go to the dust. We go to the dust. We're just animals. Yes?
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No? Both men and animals are made out of the dust.
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That's true. Both men and animals, women and animals have been affected by the fall.
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We know that because people what? People die, right? That's the effect of the fall. But there are some differences between animals and humans.
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Correct? While they're made both out of dust, while they both die, have been affected by the fall.
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Are animals made in the likeness and image of God? Well, I hope you say no.
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I know you're thinking about that special dog or cat of yours that seems like they're human, but believe me, they're more satanic than human.
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Genesis 1, then God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
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So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them.
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And while it seems maybe like a dog or a cat or your favorite animal might have a conscience, they don't.
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They certainly have brains and they have instincts, but to have a will, to think that I'm made in God's image and likeness and that I'm morally responsible,
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I have to answer to this creator. They don't have any of that. Do animals have souls?
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Will you see your dog in heaven? Will you see your cat in heaven? Well, it's interesting because both men and animals are made out of the dust, but uniquely
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Genesis 2 says, then the Lord formed the man of the dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living creature.
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What do animals lack that humans have? Answer, in this context, souls.
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While animals live and then they die and then that's it, humans live forever.
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Their souls live forever. We have some netting on some blueberry bushes that we have and we're finally getting some blueberries and we put the netting on so the birds don't get it and there was a snake the other day stuck in that netting because it went through a small hole and now it's stuck and I thought, oh great, what am
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I going to do? It's just going to die and it's going to smell. Do I want to be a wonderful snake rescuer today or just smash its head like Adam should have done in the garden?
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I said, I'll just leave it to die. Then I said, I can't do that. So I got my special scissors out and I went over and I thought, you know, this poor thing, it's trying to bite me.
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I'm trying to save its life. I mean, isn't this like a mouse trying to get the thorn out of the lion's paw or something?
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Come on. So there I am working and working, cutting this thing, cutting this thing. It's trying to bite me. It's wrapping its tail all around my wrist, trying to strangle my wrist.
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I thought to myself, why am I even bothering? It's going to die anyway, either today or in five years.
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It's nothing. It's an animal. Then I heard my little Kim conscience. Rescued it.
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From the perspective under the sun, without anything else going on about eternal life and everything else and Genesis to Revelation, Solomon looks around.
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I know judgment's coming. I've got to die first. Are we like, I mean, we're just animals, are we?
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Are we not? They die, we die. We're made out of the dust. They're made of the dust. Of course, we know we're not the exact same.
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They don't have any spirit. They don't bear God's image. Psalm 8 is said of men and women, not of animals.
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You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. Are we better than animals?
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Okay, you give me that, then I'll just give you this. There was a man who discipled R .C. Sproul. His name was John Gershner. And John Gershner was talking about depravity and sin and the fallen, and he said people are worse than rats because God made people to love and extol and trust in the
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Lord Jesus Christ, and they don't do it. And God made rats to be radish, and they do it perfectly.
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Question two, has mankind passed
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God's test? Verse 18, I said in my heart with regard to the children of man, that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts.
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That word test is to sift, is to winnow, is to take some seed with chaff and throw it up.
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The wind blows away the chaff. What's left? God is testing. Here's what he's testing.
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Do you know what? If you're going to leave God out of your life, you're going to act like an animal. A person who lives his life without God at the center, without trusting in the triune
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God, by faith alone, they act like animals to each other.
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Benjamin Shaw said, I do not think Solomon has in mind here the manner in which animals treat their own kind, but rather the manner in which they treat other animals.
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The lion shows no sympathy for the zebra. The fox shows no sympathy to the hare.
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The cat shows no sympathy to the mouse. Thus men treat one another.
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God isn't testing people because He needs to know the answers. He knows. He's testing.
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He sees. Can't you see this is all leading up to they have to have a Redeemer and they have to think of life under the sun as thinking about who
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God is. Remember 40 times in this book the word Elohim, God. It's either you're walking by faith in God or you're left to your own devices and you act just like animals to people.
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God is testing. I mean, the ultimate test was for Adam. Do this and live. I think about other tests in the
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Bible. Remember the rich young ruler? He runs to Jesus. He gets down on his knees and he says, What must I do to inherit eternal life?
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And what did Jesus say? You ask me a law question? You ask me a to -do question? You want to get to heaven by doing?
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Okay, here's what you do. Perfectly obey the law. And what did he do? It said he went away what?
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Sad. You know what he should have done just earlier in Luke chapter 18? What did the tax collector say?
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He knew he was a sinner. And what did he say? Lord have mercy upon me, the sinner.
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That rich young ruler, when this test was given to him, he should have said, I failed the test. I don't keep the law.
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I need a savior. I've heard you're merciful. Would you be merciful to me? The test for all of us, if you're here as an unbeliever, here's the test to get into heaven.
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To be a perfect doer of the law. Because then you'll be justified, Romans 2 .13. It's impossible.
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Love God and love your neighbor perfectly? We fail the test. There's no fear of God in our eyes as unbelievers.
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All right, these are building. Let's ask another question. Is death inevitable? Is death inevitable?
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Short of the second coming of the Lord Jesus, is your death inevitable? Verse 19, for what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beast is the same.
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As one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath. The wages of sin is death.
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That's exactly right. You know, one of my favorite things as a pastor is when I hear the children finish the sentences.
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And I don't care if it's a rhetorical question they give me the answer anyway. They'll learn about rhetorical questions another day. They're listening.
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Worst thing you could do is during the sermon, send off your five -year -old child to some nursery. No, no, they sit under the word of God, so congregation, good job for doing that very thing.
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In terms of mortality, Solomon knows we have no benefit over animals because it's inevitable that they die and inevitable that we die.
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We are going to die. You are going to die. Verse 20, all go to one place.
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All are from the dust and to dust all return. What do you think is in the back of Solomon's mind?
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What Bible verses do you think are back there mulling around? All this dust and returning to dust stuff.
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Does this sound familiar? God said to Adam after the fall, By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it you were taken for you are dust and to dust you shall what?
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Return. That's where we're all going. Question four. Can we know what happens after we die?
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Okay, now we're getting somewhere. Can we know what happens to us after we die? At the first glance here, maybe you think the answer might be odd.
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Who knows whether, verse 21, the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth.
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I mean, who knows? Maybe it happens, maybe it doesn't. Is that what Solomon is saying? I don't think
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Solomon has that in his mind at all. Because he says in Ecclesiastes 12, the dust returns to the earth as it was and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
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That's where our spirits go. He knows our spirits go someplace when we die, but he's asking this question. If you go to a hospital room with a loved one who's dying and you have all the machines there, can a machine figure out where that spirit goes after the person dies?
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Is there a way to empirically find out with scientific evidence that spirits go to heaven, that spirits go to hell, that a beast goes someplace?
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Do they have a spirit? That's what he's after here. He's not after, well, I don't know what happens.
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He's saying from our perspective under the sun, we don't know. We couldn't tell unless we had revelation. So you're thinking, does the
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Old Testament teach that there's an eternal life or eternal damnation for men and women? Is that found anywhere in the
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Old Testament? The one that I always go to is Daniel 12 .2. Let me read it to you.
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And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
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The Bible, including the Old Testament, teaches that when we die, we live forever. Our bodies die, our souls live forever.
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Keep your finger there in Ecclesiastes and go to Job, if you would, please. Job 7. I think
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Job is another place we can go to to ask the question, does the Old Testament teach there's eternal life?
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And I think the answer is yes. Solomon is just saying, empirically speaking, how would we know?
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Without revelation, how would we know? Job 7 .7. I think
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I better start preaching through books of the Bible faster because how am I ever going to get through Job, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Hezekiah?
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How will I get through those books? Is Hezekiah a Bible book? No. You just took it like it was golden.
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I told you, don't trust me. Remember my father said, don't trust him, only trust him as far as you can throw him.
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You trust me as far as you can throw this book. No, we wouldn't do that. Remember that famous preacher? And he was
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Southern Baptist. And he said, if you don't believe, I was there when it happened. He said, if you don't believe this Bible, you can just throw it.
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And he threw it in the congregation. I thought, man.
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So I remember I have a friend and he asked him at lunch, why do you throw your Bible like that?
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I mean, it's a precious thing. He goes, that's nothing, son. This is my preaching Bible. This is my throwing
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Bible. Job 7 .7
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Remember that my life is a breath. Doesn't this remind you of vanity and fleeting? My eye will never again see good.
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Verse 16 of Job 7 I loathe my life, I will not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.
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I mean, he's lost things, his health, everything else, and there he sits. He asks a question, which is really a good question for the rest of all the books of the
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Bible since this was the first one written. You're looking for this answer. Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity?
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I mean, I just need my sins forgiven. Is there someone who would forgive my sins? Job 9, please.
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If I wash myself with snow. 9 .30 Cleanse my hands with lye, yet you will plunge me into a pit.
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My own clothes will abhor me, for he is not a man as I am that I might answer him that we should come to trial together.
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There's no arbiter between us who might lay his hands on both of us. My life is going by quickly.
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If I could just have my sins forgiven, if I could know that, if I could just have someone stand between me and God, put his hands on both of us, as it were, to be an advocate, if I only have an advocate, if I only have a mediator.
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And then Job 19. This is where I want to draw our attention this morning. I think you've sung songs like this, haven't you?
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Job 19 .25 For I know that my, what? Redeemer lives, and at the last, he will stand upon the earth, and after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh,
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I shall see God. What I'm looking for when I read the book of Job is, is there a way to have your sins forgiven through a mediator that stands between you and God, because the resurrection is true.
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Isn't that amazing? Back to Ecclesiastes, please. How do we know what happens after we die?
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Do we need to read a book by a kid from Nebraska called Heaven is Real to figure it out? Don't trust people from Nebraska.
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That's one of the things we need to know, let alone a kid. You say, well,
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I know people who have had near -death experiences, and so we kind of know a little bit about that. People, you know, they're close to dying and they feel peaceful, out -of -body experiences, they feel love and acceptance and warmth and angelic beings and bright lights.
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As my old pastor would say, the key word in near -death experiences is what? Near. Right?
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They don't really die. Who knows whether the spirit of a man goes up and whether the spirit of a beast goes down?
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Answer? Because of revelation that we have in our hands right now, who knows? Somebody comes up to you on the street and says, do you know for certain that if I die,
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I'll either go to heaven or to hell? Could you tell me? And what do we say? Well, to quote Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3, who knows?
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Is that what you'd do? Or you'd call up the pro? You'd call up Steve? Pastor Steve, what do you think?
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No, no. You know, don't you? Of course you know. God's Word is sufficient.
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It tells us. Of course heaven is real. 2 Timothy 1 .10,
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Jesus abolished death and brought life and immortality to the light through the gospel.
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Jesus said to Nicodemus, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up that whoever believes in Him may have what?
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Eternal life. For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
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We know. I went to the hospital yesterday and visited a man who most likely has months left to live.
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They gave him two months to live. He's at two months now. And we talked. And I thought, as I drove there,
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I thought, Lord, I'd like to encourage this person. I'd like to encourage this man. What if I had no gospel to give?
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What if I just said, I don't know? As I began to rehearse some great scriptures to this man, and he was listening, he probably had them memorized as well, a
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Bible teacher, and I started talking about how God demonstrates His love toward us that while we are yet sinners,
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Christ died for us. And I said, Jesus loves you. Jesus paid for all your sins.
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You have the hope of heaven. You can take God at His word. He's trustworthy. It's by faith alone, nothing else.
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Come unto me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. This is a trustworthy saying that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
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We have an advocate before the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And I wanted to comfort. We know.
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By the way, it was interesting. He said to me, I'm trusting in all those promises. And he said, at times like this, isn't
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Christianity really simple? I'm a sinner. I have a sin bearer who loves me.
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I can trust Him even though I'm going to be dead. Wife, children, grandchildren,
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I can trust Him. We know. You know.
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About eternal life. More on the good news, question 5. What should we do in light of our impending death?
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This is a good question. We know we're going to die. Now what do we do? Maybe you have a diagnosis that you have a year or two months or whatever.
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Maybe you don't. But there's a day for all of us short of the Lord's return. What do we do in the meantime? Panic attack?
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Anxiety attacks? Get mad at God? God, how could you? Run away?
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Commit suicide? Be like Ernest Hemingway? Life is a dirty trick from nothingness to nothingness.
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Verse 22 gives us the answer. So I saw that there's nothing better than that a man should what?
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The context is death. Should rejoice in his work for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?
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Can you imagine? I'm going to die one day. What's my response? Paralyzed with fear?
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Have a nervous breakdown? Party on? What's he say here? Curse God?
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Luther said a lot of good things. He'd be good for Twitter. Luther said, if Jesus were coming back tomorrow,
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I'd plant a tree today. That's ecclesiastes. To work.
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That's amazing. To rejoice in his work. Because God sees.
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God understands. And he says, I want you to work. I'm going to work today and trust you
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God the Father to do what's right tomorrow. To do what's right when I have to meet you face to face. And I'm going to take pride in my work.
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Now of course work is sweat and toil. It's affected by the fall. But when you go to work or you wake up at work like lots of moms do and you get the job done, you stand back and you can take pride in it.
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Lots of times my work is just... It's not tangible because it's preparing sermons. But even there,
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I think I preached a sermon. I prepared all week. I preached it. I go home and I think, Lord may your word run in the hearts of the people.
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I could have done better but I discharged my duty. And you think, you know what? Not sinful pride but you enjoy it.
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You rejoice in it. Sometimes I just appreciate shoveling and mowing.
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Why? Because I can't even mess that up. And you look and you go, there used to be a bunch of snow there and I went through and I got it all done and I put my snowblower away and I stand there looking and I go, that's a good job.
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Mission accomplished. That's actually what he's talking about here. Every one of you, including me, is going to die sometime, maybe sooner than others.
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What do we do? Remember 1 Corinthians 15. We're going to work for the
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Lord. We're going to work to provide for our family. We're going to work to take care of our children because we know that our work's not done in what?
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Vain. 1 Corinthians 15, 58. I know I'm going to die.
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What's the practical application? What's the so what? Well, then work. Honor God with the hands and with the eyes and with the mind that He's given you to do what you're supposed to do.
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And I'll tell you what, if you don't do something like this and stay busy, then you spiral into hopelessness and despair.
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You're just sitting around thinking about things that you ought not to be. There's a pop song and it has this lyric,
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The devil will find work for idle hands to do. No, we're to be busy.
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You think maybe you just should be full of despair and think dogs die, I die. What's the use? No, no, no.
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God exists. And now question number six. Everything was leading up to this. Should death terrify a
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Christian? Should death terrify a Christian? I have good news for you today.
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The tomb is empty. You know, Jesus Christ is risen, just as He said.
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People want to get to Rhoda Springs pretty fast. They're already typing in how to get to Rhoda's.
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You are so fired. Better than a Kenny Loggins ringtone.
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Behold, there was a great earthquake for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.
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His appearance was like lightning and His clothing white as snow. And for fear of Him, the guards trembled and became like dead men.
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But the angel said to the women, Do not be afraid. I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified, for He has risen as He said.
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Did you know after the great account of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 15, there's a refrain?
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Here's the refrain. Can you catch it? And that Jesus appeared to Cephas. Then appeared to the
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Twelve. Then He appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time. Then He appeared to James.
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Then He appeared to all the apostles. Lastly, as the one untimely born, He appeared to me.
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What's the refrain? He appeared because He's alive. It's true. Did you know if Jesus isn't alive, that we not only should be pitied, but we should be thinking about death completely differently.
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I mean, we rest with those promises. Absent from the body, what? And if Jesus isn't alive, that's not true.
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To live is Christ and to die is... Don't we hold on to those and embrace those truths?
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But if Jesus isn't alive, that's a lie. This is opiate for the masses.
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But if it is true, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. If it is true, what
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Jesus said is true. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in Me.
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In My Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
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And I go and prepare a place for you and I will come again and take you to Myself, that where I am, you may be also.
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Last passage, turn to Hebrews 2. And we'll wrap it up here. Should a
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Christian fear death? Of course, the dying part is painful. But what we're after here is what happens after you die.
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What happens after you die? Should you be afraid? Of course, the dying part, like I said before, there's suffering.
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I think it was Woody Allen who said, I'm not afraid of dying, I just don't want to be there when it happens.
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Pain is difficult. I'm not talking about that kind of issue.
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I'm talking about when you die and stand before God, should you be afraid? Hebrews 2 .14.
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If you want to visit somebody in the hospital and they're dying, I think you should read this.
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If you've got a loved one who's sick, I think you should read this. If you know what the
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Bible teaches, that one day you'll stand before God, I think you should read this. It's anything but vanity.
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It's anything but futility. Hebrews 2 .14. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood,
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He Himself, Jesus, likewise, partook of the same things, incarnation, assumed our nature.
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That through death, that's His death, what can be accomplished through someone's death?
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That through death, He, Jesus, might destroy and disarm the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
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That's the unbeliever and they know they're going to die one day and it is a slave master, a task master, because after that, the unbeliever can just say,
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I hope it's annihilation. I hope it's purgatory. I hope it's a cessation. I hope it's soul sleep. I hope it's something else.
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And by the way, I just won't think about it because I'm afraid. And they know deep down in their consciences, the fool has said in his heart there's no
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God, but he can't get rid of his conscience. She can't clear that. And so there's this slavery of death.
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I want you to know, Christian, we're not under that slavery. Verse 16. For surely it's not angels that He helps, but He helps the offspring of Abraham.
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That's us. Therefore, talking about Jesus, He had to be made like His brothers in every respect, of course, except sin, so that He might become merciful.
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Do you know your Lord is merciful? So much different than Satan. And faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation, to assuage the wrath of God for the sins of the people.
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For because He Himself has suffered when tempted,
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He is able to help those who are being tempted. Luther commented,
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Why should you fear? Why should you be afraid? Do you not know that the Prince of this world has been judged?
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Satan is no Lord, no Prince anymore. You have a stronger, different Lord, Christ who has overcome and bound
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Him. Therefore, let the Prince and God of this world look sour, bear His teeth, make a great noise, threaten and act in an unmannerly way.
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He can do no more than a bad dog on a chain which may bark, run here and there, tear the chain.
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But because it is tied and you avoid it, it cannot bite you. So the devil acts toward every
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Christian. Therefore, everything depends on this, that we do not feel secure, but continue in the fear of God and in prayer, then the chain dog cannot harm us.
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But this chain dog may at least frighten Him who would be secure and go ahead without caution, although He might not come close enough to be bitten.
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Solomon, he doesn't shy away from this topic. We shouldn't shy away from this topic.
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But I think it's built in for us to do that. You know, next to churches in the old days, they had something next to every church.
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And it wasn't a water runoff or a septic tank. It was a cemetery.
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Because when you went to church, you walked past your first and second wife who died in childbearing, your children, your grandparents, your father, your mother, and you thought, there's an eternal truth.
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And I need to be reminded today, not how to get through my work week, not how to have five easy steps and four simple principles and three methods and two non -negotiables.
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I need to hear about the eternal God. I need to hear about heaven and hell and sin and judgment and Jesus Christ, the captain of my salvation.
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I need to hear about the God who loved me so much that even when I was sinful, how much does He love me now?
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I need to understand eternal truths. And I need to live in light of, I'm going to go home one day to Him.
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How do I live? You say, Mike, I need something more practical. Okay, we're not maybe big on some of the practical.
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Why don't you tell somebody that you love how much you love them?
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I think to myself, I always want to make it sure my dad never said, Mike, I love you and I'm proud of you.
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So hence all my daddy wounds. I never let a time go by when
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I don't say to my children, like I said to my kids last night, I love you and I'm proud of you.
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You're more than I could ask for for children. I love you. Thanks for making me a proud dad.
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There's going to be a day I'm not going to be able to say that. That day was almost last year. And so I want to say to you as a congregation, dear congregation, if this is my last sermon that I ever preach, keep an eye on Steve.
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No, just kidding. Just kidding. To have a congregation that wants to hear about the
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Lord Jesus, week in and week out. You are my, you are a pastor's dream.
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And I'm proud of you. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this sobering truth, yet real truth.
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And we need to live in light of our, our mortality. Lord, how can we have grudges against people and be bitter and unforgiving and husbands and wives at each other's throats and children and relationships that are torn apart?
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For what? There's an end coming. May we live in light of that. May your spirit convict us of these things.
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May we be people who encourage. Maybe we be people who have thankful hearts, nitpicking and finding every fault with every person.