So that's one thing we do. So remember as you get your response card, if you have any questions,
if you have any comments, if you have any prayer requests, please write those on there and we will
look at, we'll draw that out again tomorrow night. And then we have a question from yesterday.
Because last night we talked about the seventh day Sabbath and we saw that it was in Genesis
and throughout Scripture. And the question was given, what about the feast days? Because the
feast days in the Bible are also sometimes called Sabbaths. And we do see stories where Jesus
kept the feast days, like Passover, He also kept the feast of lights, which isn't one of the original
feast days, but is probably what we would modern day would call Hanukkah. But He keeps that in
John. So what is going on with the feast days? Well, let's look at a couple of verses here.
Let's go to Leviticus chapter 23. So Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus chapter 23 is where we see
the majority of these feasts mentioned. Leviticus chapter 23. So this is when the children of Israel
are making their way through the wilderness, going from Egypt, making their way to the promised land
and God is giving them instructions in what they are supposed to do. And you can notice Leviticus
23 and verse 3, it says, six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn
rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your
dwellings. So that is talking about that Sabbath that goes back to Genesis chapter 2, that's in
Exodus 20, that seventh day Sabbath. Six days you shall work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath.
The rest of this chapter, if your Bible has little subtitles like mine does, the next subtitle says
the Passover and unleavened bread. And verse 4 begins and says, these are the feasts of the Lord,
holy convocations which you shall proclaim in their appointed times. And then it gives the dates for
Passover and unleavened bread and the feast of firstfruits and the feast of weeks, which in the
New Testament became Pentecost, and then the feast of trumpets and the day of atonement and the
feast of tabernacles and so forth. So all of these different feasts are listed there. But before that,
it talks about the seventh day Sabbath. And two or three of these through this chapter are actually
two or three of these feasts are referred to as a Sabbath day because it was a day of
worship, it was a day of rest, it was a day of celebration for those people. Let's keep that in
mind, but let's turn over to Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter 45. So Isaiah chapter 45,
so Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, and then Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter 45. And verse 17,
Ezekiel 45 and verse 17. It says in Ezekiel 45 verse 17, then it shall be the prince's part to
give, and it lists off a bunch of things here, burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings,
and then it talks about the feast, the new moons, the Sabbaths, and at all the appointed seasons of
the house of Israel. So again, it's talking about different feasts, different celebrations,
and it's talking about, as it says in, he shall prepare the sin offering, the grain offering,
the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, and then it says specifically
for the house of Israel, for the house of Israel, it says right there. And let's look at one more
here. Let's look at Colossians in the New Testament, Colossians chapter 2, because sometimes
people have a question about this as well with this topic. Colossians chapter 2, Colossians chapter 2,
and verse, we'll start in verse 16 here. Colossians 2 and verse 16. It says,
so let no one judge you in food or in drink or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbath.
It's those same list of things listed in the same order. And then notice verse 17. It says,
which are a shadow of things to come, a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
And so those feast days, the Passover feast, all of those feasts that we
relisted in Leviticus 23, those are a shadow of things to come. The substance is Jesus. Those
are pointing to Jesus as the Messiah, different segments of his ministry, including his second
coming. The seventh day Sabbath, is that a shadow of something to come? No, we saw last night,
it's a memorial of something that happened. It's a memorial of God as our creator. It's looking back
at what Jesus has done before there was a house of Israel, before there was any type of nationality
or anything. And so those feasts pointed forward, looked forward to Jesus and his ministry.
The seventh day Sabbath looks back to the creative power of God and the creative power of Jesus. So
I hope that answers a little bit. If you have more questions about that, please write that down or
ask me later or any other questions that you might have. And so there's one other thing that
we need to do. Miss Katie asked me to do this because at our last session this morning, I
mentioned how baptism is like marriage and I talked about my marriage and I had a picture,
but our screens weren't working this morning. And so I wasn't able to show the picture. I did show
Miss Katie, but she said, well, you should show it to everybody. So here is a picture from 15 years
ago. Jolie and I, this was at a wedding chapel in Gatlinburg when we got married. And so that was
requested to show tonight since we didn't get to show it this morning. So I'm a little bit thinner,
no hair then, no hair now. So that part didn't change, but that was from then.
So one other thing that we want to mention, as we shared last night, we talked about
the Seventh-day Sabbath and for some people that was a new thing. That was something you hadn't
learned, you hadn't heard before. And so we want to offer a free book. It's a book by Mark Finley.
He used to be the speaker for a show called It Is Written. And he has written a book about the
Sabbath and it's called When God Said Remember. If you would like to receive this book, then on
your response card, just write on the front or the back, just write free book and we'll see how
many we need to get and we'll make sure that we get that to you because it's a small book.
It's easy to understand. It answers questions that people might have. And it even talks about
the experience of what does it mean to keep the Sabbath? It doesn't matter. How can it impact
my life in a grace-oriented, in a Christ-centered way? So if you would like that book, just write
that on that response card and we'll make sure that we get that for you and have that for you.
So I think that's all of the business that we need to mention. I do want to say one thing because
we put this online and we put it on there, but if anyone is watching online right now and you have
a question or would like a book, let us know. Write that question. Send us that question. Tell
us you want the book and we'll make sure that you can get some of these materials as well.
But with that in mind, let's bow our heads and we'll get started at this time.
Dear God, we thank you so much for a beautiful Sabbath day that we have been able to do.
We thank you that we could come back together again and join and open up your Word and be
reminded of the incredible saving grace that Jesus has for us and the incredible gift of life
and the gift of eternal life. Lord, just open up our hearts and minds to all that you would have
us to learn. In your name we pray. Amen. So just one other thing I thought of. When do we meet next?
Not Thursday. Oh, come on. Oh my goodness. When do we meet next? Let's try that again.
Tomorrow night at seven and then Thursday. So one more of this weekend and then we'll take some days
off. So we meet Sunday night at seven and then Thursday. So tonight's topic is Revelation's
keys of death. I want to introduce you to a gentleman named George Van Tussle. He's an
aerospace mechanic. He's an inventor and he's also a UF-ologist. What? A UF-ologist. He studies
UFOs, unidentified flying objects, and in the 50s he moved out to the desert of California
close to a place called Giant Rock and he would lead people out near this rock and they would
meditate and do different things like that. And in 1953, George Van Tussle claimed that he was
visited by a UFO, by a spacecraft from the planet Venus. He came and woke him up, invited him onto
the spaceship and then while he was on that spaceship verbally and telepathically gave him
instructions to create something called the integraton. The integraton. What in the world
is the integraton? Well he described that this was a scientific and spiritual research that was to
rejuvenate the cells to anti-aging, anti-death. Perhaps even time travel was involved and this
invention was supposedly able to at the minimum extend life and perhaps even
make humans to be able to defy death completely. Unfortunately the integraton was never fully
completed due to the fact that when it was about to open in just a couple short weeks
Mr. Van Tussle died. Prematurely his sudden death led to the end of that experiment, to the end of
that scientific whatever you want to call that. It did not extend his life and the integraton is
still there serving as a tourist attraction there if you want to visit it in California.
Van Tussle like so many people was trying to go on a quest to discover eternal life
and to avoid the clutches of death. But the good news is that as we study the Bible tonight, as we
dig into prophecy and revelation we're going to see that the Bible gives us some clear answers
about death and we're going to go to Revelation chapter 1 because this is a question that people
have had throughout the years, throughout the centuries, throughout the millennia. What happens
after life? What is death all about? And many many people throughout the years have tried different
things to overcome that and to try to avoid death. But as they say there's two things that are certain
in life, taxes is one and death is the other. So we're going to go to Revelation 1 and verse 18.
As we dig into this opening chapter again of Revelation, this is the words of Jesus and in
Revelation 1 18 we see that the Bible says, Jesus speaking here says, I am he who lives and was dead
and behold I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and the keys of the
death. Jesus is saying this is not a topic that we have to be afraid of. This is not something
that we need to worry about. God is saying this can be a scary thing but not for us. He says I
lived, I died on the cross, I went to the grave and I overcame that. I resurrected, I came back,
I had victory over death and now I hold the keys of death. And Jesus wants to share that with us.
He wants to give us the answers to questions that we might have. And so as we look at this tonight,
as we want to consider the end of life, I think an important thing is to first think about the
formation of life, look at the beginning of life. So like we've done so many times, we're going to
go from Revelation and we're going to go all the way back to the beginning, we're going to go
to Genesis. And so we're going to go to Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3, we've read this
passage before because we read about a war that started in heaven and it came down to the end of
the earth. I think that was about the second night that we were together and that same story
plays into this aspect. So Genesis chapter 3, we're going to start in verse 1. Genesis chapter 3
and verse 1, it says, Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field, which the
Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree
of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden,
but the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat it,
nor shall you touch it, lest you touch it. And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit
of the tree of the garden, but the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has
said, You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you what? Lest you die. And then the serpent
said to the woman, You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes
will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil. So we have Adam and Eve here in a
garden. For they were filming God going throw themselves near this tree of knowledge of good
and evil, the one they were supposed to avoid. And there's the serpent there. And who
is the serpent? Satan or the devil. The Bible clearly says that the serpent is the devil. And
as Eve is there, Satan tries to twist things as Satan often does. And he starts off saying,
eat of every tree of the garden? That's not what God said. God didn't say most of
those trees they were able to eat from. How many were they not supposed to eat
from? Only one. And the only thing that made that tree different is that God
said don't eat from it. And so Eve, a mistake, she tries to argue with the
devil. She tries to correct the serpent and she says no we may eat the fruit of
the trees of the garden but the one in the middle of the garden God has said
don't do it or we will die. Now God knew that when humankind chooses to disobey
him that sin separates us from God, separates us from the life-giver and it
sets us upon Satan's ground and it begins the process of death. Now they
didn't die in that very moment in that very instant but that process of death
begun at that time. And so while God says you will die the serpent says the very
first lie that was ever told was a lie about life and death where the serpent
said you will not surely die. And there's a lot of people that don't want to walk
through a cemetery at night because they know those people are dead but they're
not sure if they're they're surely dead or not. And so that's why it's important
to understand this subject because the devil tells a lie about it. You will not
surely die. Instead he says if you eat this fruit you're gonna you're gonna
become like God. You're gonna become more wise. You're going to know good and evil.
In fact the mysteries of the universe will be opened to you. God never intended
for us to know evil. But this lie that Satan tells it precisely mirrors a
spiritualism in the world today. Spiritualism says that when you die well
you're not you're not really dead. You're just in another sphere another world of
existence and that idea of spiritualism goes all the way back here to the Garden
of Eden. And ever since then the devil has been trying to twist the truth that
God has laid down in his word. We know that the wages of sin is is death. But
Satan wants to say oh no you're not gonna surely die. Even something like
that the wages of sin is death. But Jesus says I am the one that has the keys of
death. And so we want to to untwist the devil's lie and we want to see God's
truth. And as we do this tonight we have to start by explaining looking at a
particular term. The term that we need to explain that we need to look at is the
term immortal soul. Anybody ever heard that term before immortal soul? Yes we've
heard of that. People talk about it. But it may surprise us that that term never
ever ever never appears in the Bible. It's never there. There are 1500 1600
times the word soul appears and it is never referred to as an immortal soul. In
fact the only thing that is referred to as immortal in all of God is excuse me
in all of the Bible is God himself. The soul humanity is never referred to as
immortal. But like some of these other things that we've talked about this kind
of crept in through some pagan philosophy during the Middle Ages. Now
you can take out a concordance. You can look it up online. You can look up the
word soul in Scripture and it will never ever be referred to as the immortal soul.
Even though that is a term that we have heard so many times. So what is a soul?
Well let's figure that out. Let's stay here in Genesis but let's go
back to Genesis chapter 2. This story of creation here Genesis chapter 2 and
verse 7 because if we want to understand death we've got to know for sure what
life is the process of life. So we're gonna look at Genesis 2 and verse 7 and
the Bible says the Lord God formed man out of the the dust of the ground and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. So we
see that as God is involved in this creative act you can almost picture God
with hands in the dirt, hands in the mud forming, creating Adam with his hands
and then breathing into him the breath of life and it says man became a living
soul. So a soul is not something that God put in to Adam and Eve. It's something
that they are. Man became a living soul. So dust plus breath equals a soul and a
soul is simply a living person, a living being. I don't have a soul. I am a soul.
You don't have a soul. You are a soul and we sometimes use phrases like that if
we see someone you know maybe down on their luck or they're going through
some things in life we might say oh that poor soul. My son is a pilot. He's
working to be a pilot. He's training and pilots and captains of ships they use
the same phrase. They say something like we have 63 souls on board. That's not
that doesn't mean in the back of the plane they have a bunch of you know
Casper the friendly ghosts. It means they've got 63 people, 63 souls on board.
So dust plus breath as we see here in Genesis 2 7 equals a soul equals a
person. The soul is not something separate from the body. The soul is who
we are. Like I said the soul that word is used 1600 times in the Bible and never
once is it something that's inside. It's simply referring to individuals. Let's
let's look at some. Don't worry we're not gonna look at 1600 but let's let's look
at two here. Let's go to Genesis chapter 46. Genesis chapter 46 and verse 27 and
in the King James Version it says and the sons of Joseph so this is talking
about Joseph he had been sold as a slave into Egypt and God blessed him and he
rose to a position of power. The sons of Joseph which were born him in Egypt were
two souls and all the souls of the house of Jacob which came into Egypt were
three score and ten or sixty and ten seventy people. So there were two souls
that Joseph's wife gave birth to. Is that two little ghosts? Two little spooks? No
it's two people. Two people is what that's referring to. She gave birth to
two little baby boys. Let's go to the New Testament. Let's go to Acts chapter 2.
Acts chapter 2. This is the story of one of those feast days that became the day
of Pentecost as Peter and the other disciples were empowered by the Holy
Spirit and they were were preaching in the power of God and notice what
happened at the end of their sermon. Acts 2 and verse 41 it says the Bible says
then those who gladly received his word were baptized and that day about 3,000
souls were added to them. What an incredible day of the gospel that was
as Peter finished that sermon the people said what must we do? Repent and be
baptized and 3,000 people, 3,000 souls gave their hearts to Jesus and were
baptized that day. Not Casper but 3,000 people because a soul is a person and
that's why in Ezekiel 18 verse 20 it says the
soul who sins shall die. So a soul is able to die because you and I are a soul.
We don't have a soul. We are a soul and the wages of sin is death so the soul
who sins will die. That's just what the Bible teaches. So we have to ask
ourselves the question what happens when someone dies? Is there something
that goes back? Is there something that returns? Well let's ask the
wisest man who ever lived. Who is that in the Bible? Solomon.
Let's go to the book of Ecclesiastes. So you've got Psalms, Proverbs,
and Ecclesiastes. We haven't been there yet in our series. So Psalms, Proverbs,
and then Ecclesiastes written by Solomon who was given great wisdom by God and
we're going to go to Ecclesiastes chapter 12. Ecclesiastes chapter 12 the
last chapter of the book and we're going to look at verse 7. This is one of the
the wisdom books. It's got many different sayings and different tidbits of wisdom
and in Ecclesiastes 12 7 the Bible says then the dust will return to the earth
as it was and the spirit will return to God who gave it. Okay so this is what
happens when somebody dies. The dust returns to the earth just like God
created humanity from the dirt, from the mud, from the dust and it says the
spirit will return to God who gave it and some would say oh there it is
there's that immortal it's not a soul but the spirit but let's hold
on here for just a second let's determine what this spirit is. Let's let
the Bible interpret it for us because the body makes sense you know there's a
the old children saying ashes to ashes and dust to dust and so when someone
dies we know they return to dust that that comes from the Bible here the body
returns to the elements but then what about this spirit? It says the spirit
returns to God. What did what happened in Genesis 2 7? God formed the man from the
dust of the ground and then what did he do? He breathed into him the breath of
life. Now the Hebrew word for spirit is a word ruach and that word really means
breath. You can you don't have to take my word for it. Let's look at a verse here
let's look at Job chapter 27. Job chapter 27 and verse 3. Job chapter 27
and verse 3 we see these two words are interchangeable here. It says all the
while my my breath is in me and the Spirit of God is in my nostrils. Now is
that the Holy Spirit hanging out in our nose? No no that's not what it's talking
about. The Holy Spirit has has better places to be than than in our nose but
it's that that same phrase that breath and the Spirit of God that spark of
life that God breathed into him the breath of life and man became a living
soul. This sounds a little bit strange but it makes sense when you think about
it because when someone dies they stop breathing and that breath that spark of
life goes back to God and so just a few verses of Scripture can kind of make
that clear as we put these things together. So what happens to someone what
happens to someone after they die? Is there life beyond the grave? Is there any
consciousness? What's going on here? Let's stay in Ecclesiastes but let's go to
Ecclesiastes chapter 9. Ecclesiastes chapter 9 because we'll see what Solomon
says about this. Ecclesiastes chapter 9 we're gonna look at verse 5 starting
Ecclesiastes 9 and verse 5. The Bible says for the living know that they will
die but the dead know nothing and they have no more reward for the memory of
them is forgotten also their love their hatred their envy have now perished
nevermore will they have a share in anything under the Sun. Then it goes on
in verse 10 and it says whatever your hand finds to do do it with all your
might for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where
you are going. So let's kind of let's kind of summarize and look at what we
saw. The living know they will die but the dead know nothing. The dead know nothing
and then it says their memory is gone because of their unconsciousness that
they don't have any memories anymore and we have to pause here for just a second
because sometimes when people read this the memory of them is forgotten people
will say well wait a second I'm not gonna forget my mother that passed away
I'm not gonna forget my grandmother but that's not what it's talking about of
course we are going to remember those people that we love those people that we
care about it's saying that those who have passed away their memory their
consciousness is is going to be peacefully sleeping in the grave they're
no longer involved in the affairs of the world as as we see here so there our
memory of them is not gone but their thoughts their memories are no longer
because it says the living know that they will die but the dead know nothing
and that's why it goes on and says their love their hatred their envy have
perished we have precious people with us and we're going to continue to remember
them and sometimes maybe you've been to a funeral as a pastor I've done numerous
funerals over the years and the hardest ones are the ones where family members
have have something that they haven't straightened out they have hard feelings
about that person that passed away and they never said I love you they never
said I'm sorry they never they withheld forgiveness or whatever it was and now
it seems so silly that they didn't communicate that they avoided each other
and now death has come and it's erased any possibility so I would just
encourage you say you're sorry forgive someone make that call to that person
that you haven't talked to in a while just be the bigger person because
there's gonna come a time when you're not gonna be able to do that anymore so
don't let death make that decision for you go ahead and say I love you give
them a hug before it's too late life is too precious for us to be harboring ill
feelings toward each other what does it say in verse 10 whatever your hand finds
to do do it with all your might don't let little things offend you or get in
the way make things right before death comes and puts a stop to even that
capability of doing that because the truth is we don't know when our time
will come we look forward to Jesus coming again very soon but we don't know
what's gonna happen between between now and then so whatever your hand finds to
do do it with all your might take your life seriously take your your spiritual
life seriously take your walk with Jesus seriously whatever your hand finds to do
do it with all your might there's a benefit to knowing the Jesus of the
Bible because Jesus says I've got the keys I've got the keys of life I've got
keys of death I've got victory over the grave so what does that mean for us well
God gives us Jesus gives us a demonstration of what that victory over
the grave looks like let's turn to John the gospel of John chapter 11 John
chapter 11 you know Jesus as he ministered on this earth he had a lot of
people that were but listen to him but then there was a whole lot of people
that were out to get him and they wanted to do everything they could to
entrap him to trick him and there was at least one place that Jesus could go to
kind of escape from the the crowd escape from those who were after him and that
was the home of three siblings two sisters and a brother Mary Martha and
their brother Lazarus and the Bible says that in Bethany sometimes Jesus would be
there with that family but something happened one day and Lazarus the brother
became very sick he became ill now Jesus was in another part of the the country at
that point in another part of the territory and so Mary and Martha sent
word to Jesus if Jesus can heal the sick if he can cleanse the leper if he can
make the lame to walk again then surely he will come and heal his friend our
brother Lazarus and so they sent word to Jesus please come Lazarus is sick and
what happened next astounded the disciples because Jesus got that
message and then he he waited he didn't go he waited about two days and we'll
pick up the story in John 11 and verse 11 John chapter 11 and verse 11 notice
what the Bible says in John 11 and verse 11 that these things he said and after
that he said to them our friend Lazarus sleeps but I go that I may wake him up
so he tells the disciples Lazarus is what he's sleeping and the disciples
think right that's that's great his disciples said Lord if he sleeps he'll
get well when you or I are sick it's really nice to take a long nap and to
get some some extra sleep if he sleeps he's gonna get well but notice what it
says next however Jesus spoke of his death but they
thought he was speaking about taking a rest and sleep and then Jesus said to
them plainly verse 14 Lazarus is dead what word did Jesus use to describe
this death he said that Lazarus was asleep and over and over in Scripture
about 50 different times five zero fifty different times the Bible refers to
death using that phrase that idea of sleep he was sleeping in the grave and
then now two days later Jesus goes to Bethany and by the time he got there
Lazarus had died and when Lazarus excuse me when Jesus went to the tomb the
family was there that the friends were there the mourners were there and Jesus
his heart touched Jesus's heart was broken and it's there we find the
shortest verse in the Bible maybe you've memorized this verse for some time when
a you know at some contest will recite a memory verse and you knew the shortest
verse in the Bible John 11 35 where it says Jesus wept it's the shortest verse
in the Bible but one of the most profound because it shows that the
Jesus's heart was touched as Mary and Martha and the other people that were
there as their hearts were broken by the death of their brother by the death of
their friend Jesus is a sympathizing Savior and Jesus weeps along with them
he saw the pain that they were going through and it broke his heart and he
cried with them now Jesus knew in just a few moments little spoiler alert that
Jesus is going to raise Lazarus from the dead he knew that was about to happen
and yet he still wept because he saw the emotion and the people around him you
think Jesus still weeps when he sees challenging things in our world when he
sees hearts that are broken when he sees individuals that are crying because of a
sad horrific thing that happened in their life but Jesus here decided to
give them a picture of what it means for him to hold the keys of death he prays
to to his father and we'll pick up the story in verse 43 John 11 and verse 43
we see what happens here now when he had said these things he cried with a loud
voice Lazarus come forth and he who had died came out bound hand and foot with
grave clothes and his face wrapped with a cloth and then it goes on and says
Jesus said to them loose him and let him go
Jesus called out Lazarus come forth do you think there was a shock in the crowd
what's he what's he talking about he's been dead four days he stinks it said
earlier and there was probably a little bit of a pause there because Lazarus is
still in the grave clothes it would take him a little while to to sit up to
jump out to shuffle out it would take a few minutes and the people are like what
is going on and then they could see him and Jesus said loose him and let him go
take those grave clothes off of him as this miracle took place as Jesus the one
with the keys of death speaks life into one who had been dead for multiple days
and we can imagine an alternative ending if the Bible taught something else
imagine they unwrap Lazarus his eyes are getting adjusted to the light and he's
like where am I what happened and his sisters maybe Martha's like Lazarus you
died you were dead for four days and and Jesus brought you back to life and with
a with a look of anger on his face Lazarus could have said this is the
fictional story Jesus why did you do that I was on the streets of gold I was
singing in the heavenly choir why would you bring me back to this sinful world
to this place of pain to this place of decay of all these different things but
that's not what happened because Lazarus was sleeping Lazarus was resting in the
grave and and the Bible says that we'll get our reward at the second coming if
we if we went to heaven as soon as we die why does the Bible talk about a
resurrection why does it talk about something else why would Jesus pull
Lazarus from the glories of paradise and bring him back that would be that would
be almost a dirty trick you could say but Lazarus is sleeping and that's why he
had no story to tell and if you think about it sleep is a beautiful way to
think about it because if you've had a long day or a long week and you lay your
head down at night and you sleep how many hours six hours eight hours ten
hours anybody get ten hours of sleep I hope that you do but but you those hours
of sleep pass and the next thing you know the the alarms going off are the
dogs jumping on you because it's time to take them out whatever it is and and you
you wake up and you're like whoa is it is it time to get up already and seven
hours have passed and you don't even realize it because you've been asleep
you've been sleeping and that time passes by unnoticed and the Bible says
that's what death is like the next thing that someone sees is is the face of
Jesus and when someone is resting in the grave then sin can't hurt them anymore
then a heartache can't hurt them anymore whether they've been in the grave for
three years or three thousand years they won't know the difference the next thing
they know is they see the face of Jesus Christ they see the the one who has the
keys of death the one who is waking them from the grave and sometimes people say
well pastor I don't I don't like that because you know I have loved ones who
have passed away and I like to picture them in heaven this takes my my joy away
but if we think about it how much joy would there be for my mom if she was in
heaven and looking down and seeing mistakes that are made seeing people
turning away from God seeing relationships broken seeing hearts
broken over different things seeing grandchildren or children or a relative
strain from the Lord seeing a nephew die at a young age when his mom is still
weeping that's not that doesn't bring joy as you see heartache as you see all
these different things but when someone is resting in the grave then they're
resting in God's protection and the heartaches of this world and the sins
of the world doesn't impact them anymore doesn't mess with them anymore and we
get to all experience the glories of the second coming together well let's look
at a verse we've looked at this before but let's go to 1st Thessalonians chapter
4 there's 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 is an incredible promise about a day that I
think is coming very soon 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 16 it's
the Bible says for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with
the voice of the Archangel with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ
will rise first the dead in Christ will rise first but then notice what happens
then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up what's that next word
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall
always be with the Lord what an incredible promise we get to be caught
up together so that we can always be with the Lord and that's an incredible
picture of that wake-up call that that wake-up trumpet that God is going to to
pour out upon all who have passed away all who have died in him in fact 1st
Corinthians 15 it says that the mortal will put on immortality at that
resurrection at that last trumpet so you can almost picture that day the clouds
the glory the trumpet the voice of the Archangel the the graves bursting open
and think of reunions that will take place mothers brought to their their
children who passed away too soon spouses being reunited siblings being
reunited parents and grandparents grandchildren brothers and sisters
together making their journey to the kingdom of heaven why Jesus is their
Savior why because Jesus has the the victory over the grave Jesus has the
keys of death what an incredible day that will be but we've got to talk about
a couple other things here as incredible as that day is because sometimes people
ask questions well what about you know I see a I read a book or I see a show
about some sort of near-death experience or or someone who talks to somebody
different things like that one thing we need to keep in mind is that when a body
is going through some sort of serious trauma perhaps with with medication or
is near death the mind can can do lots of different things I mean it can do
that on a normal night how many of us have had a dream of something and we
wake up the next day and we're like whoa that that monster was chasing after me
and it was just a dream and that's just a normal day the mind can do the same
thing when the body is hovering between life and death and then some would say
well why why does this even matter well it's important because Jesus said that
he has the keys of life the keys of death and we recognize that Jesus is
all we need for salvation we're saved by grace we're not saved by works but every
teaching every doctrine of the Bible is something that if we misunderstand it
then we can misunderstand the character of God and so a particular doctrine may
not save me but it can help me to stay on the right path with God and so
sometimes in our society today we may see you know on television or on the
internet or a phone number to call where you can talk to a medium or a psychic or
someone who says oh I can communicate with someone on the other side I can
talk to someone who has who has passed away and the occult or the supernatural
have become a billion dollar business in the world so what do we make of that
can someone claim to talk to someone who is dead and yet the Bible says the dead
know nothing well let's look at a verse let's go to Isaiah chapter 47 Isaiah
chapter 47 so Isaiah and then Jeremiah so kind of the middle of the Old
Testament we're gonna go to Isaiah chapter 47 and God gives some very strong
language about how to to deal how to think about people who are speaking to
the dead or claiming to speak to the dead and he's actually uttering a rebuke
here against Babylon and spiritualism goes all the way back to that kingdom of
Babylon and even before as we saw it in in the Garden of Eden so let's read
Isaiah 47 and we're gonna start in verse 12 Isaiah 47 and verse 12 notice what
the Bible says stand now with your enchantments and the multitude of your
sorceries in which you have labored from your youth perhaps you will be able to
profit perhaps he will prevail you are wearied in the multitude of your
councils let now the astrologers the stargazers and the monthly
prognostic haters stand up and save you from what shall come upon you so they've
been talking to these different groups and God says good luck let them let them
help you and then it says behold they shall be as stubble and the fire shall
burn them so they're trying to get help from these other people and God uses
some pretty some pretty blatant language there he says see if they profit you see
what kind of advice they give you and in verse 14 he's basically saying get away
from them because theirs is a road that leads straight to the fires of
destruction to the fires of hell that's how serious God is he's saying have
nothing to do with this get away get as far away as possible because we've seen
that the Bible says the living know they shall die but the dead know nothing so
if people are communicating with someone on the on the other side someone who has
died who are they really communicating with it's not my grandma it's not my
mother because they're sleeping in the grave it's something else let's look at
second Thessalonians second Thessalonians chapter 2 second
Thessalonians chapter 2 notice what it says here in second Thessalonians chapter
2 it says the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan
with all notice these words powers signs and lying wonders the devil can can do
wonders the devil can do signs can do miracles how did the devil appear in the
Garden of Eden he was a snake he was a talking snake he was a serpent so it
appears that the devil can impersonate even a dead loved one because he knows
how deceptive that would be if someone were to come and say you know what all
that stuff in the Bible that's not really true that's not accurate don't
follow any of that anymore I should know I've died I've gone to
heaven let me tell you what what it's really all about that would be very
deceptive if we saw someone who we cared about who we loved telling us to do away
with what God teaches us so we need to make sure that we're we're trusting in
what the Bible says because we see that the devil wants to deceive us for every
truth that God has the devil has a counterfeit the devil has a deception I
want to look at one more verse here because this is one that sometimes
people have a question about we can see all these verses but but there may be a
one that sometimes people wonder about and what about the question is what
about the thief on the cross when Jesus died on the cross there were two thieves
with him what did he say to that guy let's look in Luke chapter 23
Luke chapter 23 Luke chapter 23 this is Jesus on the cross it's told in all of
the Gospels but in Luke it tells the story of this conversation with this
criminal on the cross notice what Jesus says in Luke 23 and verse 43 the Bible
says and Jesus said assuredly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise
okay well okay look that's he says today you're gonna be in paradise is that what
it says that's what it looks like it says but let's consider something there's
a problem here Jesus is not saying that okay today on on Good Friday when I die
on the cross you're gonna be with me in paradise because if that's what he says
then that contradicts what we just read about the living though they shall die
and the dead no nothing we've seen that it talks about a sleep until a
resurrection in the scripture the punctuation was not there initially in
the Greek and the punctuation makes a huge difference let's look at an example
here now this next slide I'm gonna put up this is for exhibits only this is not
something that I believe I just want to I just want to be clear about that so
this phrase says a woman without her man is nothing this is just for example's
purpose I just want to make that clear it says a woman without her man is
nothing but if we were to add a little punctuation notice what it says a woman
without her man is nothing this is probably much more accurate here but
just a couple points of punctuation change the entire meaning but let's look
at one more here this next one you know a young child is hungry and they say
let's eat grandma if you were to take out some punctuation there it changes
the meaning totally let's eat grandma that meal suddenly is no longer grandma's
you know famous mashed potatoes but it's something totally different the
punctuation makes a big difference so what does that mean for this story that
we're looking at in Luke chapter 23 as I said the the punctuation was not there
initially so as they were in the medieval churches they were putting this
in that prevailing idea is that when you die you go somewhere but let's just
change that punctuation just a little bit and now it says and Jesus said to him
assuredly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise and so Jesus in this
time of turmoil as his life is draining from his body his life blood is draining
from his body this criminal is about to die as well as he's also on a cross
Jesus says to him I say to you today when it when all hope seems to be gone
when when all hope seems to be lost I'm telling you today that you will be with
me in paradise and that is in perfect harmony with the rest of the verses of
the Bible in fact it could not be the other way because it wouldn't go with
the story with the happenings of Jesus himself if you look over at John chapter
20 John chapter 20 as as Mary comes to the tomb on that Sunday morning of the
resurrection she sees someone she doesn't recognize who it is at first and
then Jesus calls her name and she falls down and grabs hold of his feet and
Jesus says to her do not cling to me for I have not yet ascended to my Father so
he couldn't tell that criminal you're gonna be with me today in paradise
because Jesus didn't even go to paradise Jesus slept in the grave Jesus slept in
that tomb Jesus was not lying to Mary Jesus was not lying to the thief he said
on this darkest day I'm gonna give you hope and I'm gonna tell you that you
will be with me in paradise when I come in my kingdom when that trumpet blows
you will be with me in paradise and now we can see that with the comma in the
right place these verses all make sense and God knew that we could put these
verses in scripture together and that we can trust in what God says and I want to
leave with with this verse here in John 11 verse 25 as Jesus is there with Mary
and Martha as he's brought about to bring Lazarus back Jesus says I am the
resurrection and the life he who believes in me though he may die yet he
shall live death is not something that we have to be afraid of because in this
world we recognize that unless Jesus comes first death is coming but we see
that Jesus paid the death penalty for us that Jesus laid down his life on the
cross so that we can have his righteous life Jesus took my sins so that I can
have his perfect life Jesus holds the keys of death and when we have Jesus
then death is not anything to fear it's only a sleep it's only a sleep for a
short time until Jesus comes again and if I want to have victory over the grave
the way that I can do that is to have Jesus as my Savior and so as we've
mentioned night by night it's up to you it's up to me to make sure am I
accepting Jesus as my Lord and Savior am I willing to trust my life with him
because he holds the key of death Jesus says I am the resurrection and the life
let's bow our heads for prayer dear God a difficult subject we don't like to to
think about death or talk about death and yet we can see that there's good news
because we recognize that Jesus is the giver of life that Jesus is the Savior
that Jesus holds the keys of death and we cannot wait for that trumpet to sound
for that cloud to burst forth so that we can be caught up together to meet the
Lord in the air and we can always be together with our loved ones together
with our family together with all who have given their heart to you and Lord
be with each one of us and may we just see your grace and see your power in our
life in your name we pray amen