Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is
an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,
with dozens of nationalities worshiping together.
We invite you to connect with us from wherever
you are through our website ecb .asia or our
mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed
by this week's sermon. In the study above all,
living in the victory of Jesus, we have been
studying What Jesus has accomplished for us so
that we can walk in that freedom. And today we're
going to be talking about a topic that is mortality.
We come across mortality in different ways, but
every time that it comes to us, it's just disorienting.
The first time I experienced it was when my daughter,
one -year -old daughter, died at home. and it
was so unexpected, and suddenly you are hit with
the reality that this is what it means to be
mortal. The pain, the grieving, the abruptness
of it all, the feeling that it was robbed from
you, and all the theological questions that come
to mind in a moment like that. Then later, my
father -in -law, who was a missionary in Thailand
for many years, retired. And in his retirement,
as he was now 86, 87 years old, he was diagnosed
with cancer. And I saw him being consumed by
this cancer and the treatment that he was following
to do nothing for it. And I was standing there
in the bedroom when he breathed his last. And
we were there standing around him grieving for
his passing because we loved him and just missing
him after he was gone for so long, even until
today. And it doesn't matter whether it comes
abruptly with your one -year -old daughter or
it comes as one that is later in life in his
80s. Mortality feels wrong all the time. And
depending on what you understand about mortality
and what you understand what Jesus accomplished
will determine how you face those seasons in
your life. But because we are followers of Jesus,
what God wants us to do is that we experience
that reality of our lives with truth. Understanding
what Jesus accomplished for us so that that truth
shapes the way we experience this reality. Because
otherwise, we will experience things like anxiety
and anger and control. Anxiety because the idea
of mortality makes us have anxiety attacks and
we start becoming so emotionally engaged with
it that fear rather than peace is what defines
our experience. Or someone that you love is taken
from you so abruptly. That instead of realizing
that death and mortality is actually the enemy
that Jesus came to destroy. You turn to Jesus
and to God and you turn in anger. Because you
blame God for not doing something to prevent
this from happening. And instead of turning to
God and following him, you turn away from him
in resentfulness. And control. Because we want
to so avoid it that instead of trusting God with
our fears and the anxieties of the future, we
try to control everything so that this will never
happen to us and to our children. As if we were
God and as if we could control things beyond
our control. And control can take different shapes.
Even today, I can hire a company called Alcor
that they are going to take my body the moment
it dies, and they promise that they are going
to take it through this entire chemical treatment
to prevent the biological decay and the cellular
decay from happening, so that then they can keep
my body from decaying. And if I pay $220 ,000,
They are going to keep my body there in these
big machines with nitrogen with the promise that
the day when scientists figure out how to overcome
death, then they will take me out of those machines
and they will do the treatment so that I can
come alive again. Just $220 ,000. That's all.
The way we understand mortality shapes our lives,
how we invest our money, the emotions we engage
with, who do we go to. And Jesus wants you to
know the truth. Because he came to overcome the
power of death, and he did. But exactly what
did he accomplish? Because the Bible does say,
that actually death is not a biological problem.
We may experience it biologically, but it's actually
a spiritual reality. Read with me what Romans
5 .12 says. Let's read it together. When Adam
sinned, sin entered the world. Adam's sin brought
death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone
sinned. And in one simple verse, It defines exactly
what this is. The Bible says that the first humans,
Adam and Eve, they were created in God's image
and likeness. And when Adam decided not to love
God, and he disobeyed God instead, and turned
away from Him in disobedience, at that moment,
two things entered the created order. Sin and
death. And to how many people did it pass? To
all of us. That's why to be a human today means
that you are someone who is a sinner and someone
who is mortal. Those two things define the human
experience. Why? Because of this event at the
beginning of creation. From the biblical perspective,
sin and death are not part of what God created
for us. This is something that the enemy of God
and your enemy that wants to kill and destroy
did against us. Death is an enemy. And that's
why when the Bible talks about what Jesus came
to do, he came to address these two things, sin
and death, because that is where the core of
salvation is about. Last week, we learned how
the Bible said that when Jesus was on the cross,
he took care of sin. He took all the sin that
we were guilty of, everything that was against
us, and he crucified it on the cross. He took
away the power of Satan to accuse. Therefore,
sin is done with. We no longer follow Jesus out
of guilt or out of shame. Because we have been
completely forgiven. 100%. But what about death?
What did Jesus do in order to overcome death
so we can experience life? And this is where
we engage with truth. And understanding what
Jesus did is what's going to shape the way we
understand it and we follow Jesus from here into
the future. Because we have to understand what
Jesus accomplished and enter into the scriptures
to really understand what this rescue plan was
like. And this rescue plan will be like a treatment
that has three stages. And they are chronological.
And therefore you have to understand that this
treatment that God brought into us is still ongoing.
Some parts of it have been done, some parts are
being done, some parts will be experienced in
the future. And all of it is part of the salvation
that Jesus accomplished on the cross. In fact,
the Bible tells very specifically why Jesus came
and was born. And in the book of Hebrews it tells
us very specifically, it says, Because God's
children are human beings made of flesh and blood,
the Son also became flesh and blood. The reason
why Jesus, the Son of God, became a human being
and was born in Bethlehem was because we were
flesh and blood and he had to experience the
same nature. Why? It tells you in the same verse.
For only as a human being could he And only by
dying could he break the power of the devil who
had the power of death. There's a reason why
Jesus was born a human being. Because only after
becoming a human being, he could now die and
enter the realm of the death. And as he entered
the realm of the death, now from within, he can
defeat the power that Satan had over death. And
destroy that power and now gain authority over
that realm. That previous to the cross was not
something that he had authority over. Because
we were, as you would say, taken captive by the
enemy after death. And to really understand this.
We will have to look at what Jesus accomplished
on the cross. And we will look at the three parts
of the treatment. The three strategies. So we're
going to dig deep into the Bible today. And I
understand that for some of you this is the first
time you hear any of this stuff. So you are in
for a good study. Pay attention and take notes.
Because it is important that you follow Jesus
with understanding. So that you experience this
dimension of mortality in your life and the life
of others from the right perspective and never
be moved from that foundation. The first part
of the strategy is that Jesus entered the realm
of the dead after dying on the cross in order
to open the way to God. And Jesus knew this.
So when he talked about... what he came to accomplish,
there's a moment in which he tells the apostles
these words. He says, For as Jonah was three
days and three nights in the belly of a huge
fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and
three nights in the heart of the earth. Jesus
knew that he was going to die on the cross. And
he had told the apostles in other moments, Hey,
we're going to Jerusalem. We're going to face
opposition. I'm going to be trialed and I'm going
to die. But don't worry, I'm going to resurrect
after that. And even though he said all of these
things, it went like, the apostles didn't understand
what he was talking about. It didn't match the
expectations they had about what Jesus was going
to do. But this is the very only time in which
Jesus tells them what was going to be happening.
In between dying and resurrecting. He says, after
I die and before I resurrect, I have a mission
to accomplish. I have to go where? Into the heart
of the earth. What for? What is he going to accomplish?
Well, he didn't say it. He just told us that.
That's all. But in order to understand this,
you have to understand what death is. And how
it was experienced before Jesus came and how
that changed after Jesus died on the cross and
defeated Satan. Well, let's take a moment to
explain that. When God created the first humans,
the Bible says that he created them in his image
and likeness. And all human beings are descendants
of these first humans called Adam and Eve. And
the very first human that God creates is Adam.
And the Bible says that as he creates Adam, he
shapes them from the ground of the earth, and
then he breathes into him, and then he becomes
a living being. That's why humans have a human
body that is physical, but they have a spirit,
it's a spiritual reality, that is distinct from
the body. are part of what makes us human. I
remember that many years ago I was watching a
documentary from National Geographic on the human
body. And I was so amazed that even though these
guys are not Christians and they don't believe
the Bible is true, the beginning of the documentary
starts, the opening words, says something like,
Stardust. That's what we are. Mixed with water.
We are just a bunch of minerals that you can
buy at the store. And I thought, dust, water,
that's mud. And that's exactly what the Bible
says God did. He shaped us from the ground of
the earth and breathed into us and we became
a living being. Amazing. Truth is truth. But
what happened? As we read earlier, when Adam
sinned, what entered the world? Sin and death.
Previous to this point, death was not part of
the human experience. It became a dysfunction.
It became almost like a virus to your body. It's
a foreign agent. Death. Into humanity. Death
into the created order. Was a foreign agent.
Introduced by Satan. That's why as you will see
later. The Bible describes death as an enemy.
And what happens therefore is that from that
point on. This integration of the body and the
spirit. Becomes disjointed. A death. The body
becomes dust. And it becomes separated from the
spirit. The spirit still alive. The spirit still
is conscious. The spirit still a thinking being.
But no longer connected to the body. And at that
moment. Even though the body becomes dust. The
spirit goes to be in this place. That is the
realm of the dead. And before the time that Jesus
comes. And defeats Satan on the cross. The human
experience of death. Was that the spirit went
to be into this place. That the Bible calls in
Hebrew Sheol. In Greek Hades. And this place
of the dead. Is where the spirit went. And there's
a moment in which Jesus is talking about this
place in one of his parables. And he describes
it as a place where the godly and the ungodly,
those that follow God and those that didn't,
are there but they are separated almost like
in two different groups with this separation
in between. But either one of them completely
separated from God. And what Jesus does when
he comes to die on the cross and he enters that
realm of Sheol or Hades, the realm of the dead,
is that he enters that space and now he defeats
the power of Satan. And he opens a way for those
that were God followers to now have access to
God, where now they can be with him. That's why
when you read passages in the Old Testament like
Job, for instance, chapter 7, verse 9, it describes
the human experience at that time in these terms.
As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so one who goes
down to Sheol and does not return. Where did
the spirit go after dying? To Sheol. When did
it come out of there? Never. Captive. Into the
realm of the dead. That is. Until Jesus comes.
Because. The Bible says. As we read in Hebrews.
That the son of God. Had to come from heaven.
Into the earth. Become a human being. Flesh and
blood. And as he is born. Now he has a second
part of the mission. And that is that he has
to access the realm of the dead. So he dies on
the cross. And now that he access the realm of
the dead. He is going to be able to now open
access to God. Now heaven is accessible to human
beings for the first time in human history. That's
why as we read last week in the study. We noticed
two things. One, that the veil of the temple
was torn in two. Because now that separation
between God and man was broken. Now there was
direct access to heaven. And the second thing
we noticed is that after Jesus resurrects, there
are other people that are resurrected that he
mentioned in the passage. The graves were opened.
There's something massive that happened that
we don't really understand. But what we know
is simply this, that Jesus entered the realm
of the dead before his resurrection to break
the power of Satan, open the way to God, and
now for the first time, heaven has become directly
accessible to humans. At that time, those that
were in Sheol that were God's followers, and
from that point on, any follower of Jesus that
dies goes straight to heaven, not to Sheol. Those
that die before knowing Jesus, those that do
not know Jesus as their Savior, and they die
in their sins, they will still have to go to
Sheol, to this place of the dead, awaiting the
final judgment. But those that have been saved
by the power of Jesus, their sins have been forgiven,
and now they have been given access to heaven
directly. This is what Jesus accomplished. That's
why when the apostle Peter talks about this,
summarizing what Jesus did on the cross before
his resurrection, it puts it in these words.
And pay attention because this is one of those
passages that you go like, what? I never noticed
that. For Christ died for sins. How many times?
Once for all, that is all it took. Our sins paid.
The record, gone. Satan no longer has power to
accuse because Jesus is the one that paid our
sins. So Christ died for sins once for all. The
righteous for the unrighteous. With what goal?
What goal? To bring us? To God. Because before.
We were separated. We couldn't. We die go to
shield. But because he died for us. Now he dies
to bring us. To God. He accomplished that on
the cross. But not only that. Look at the following
verse. He was put to death. In the body. Dies.
Enters the realm of the dead. But made alive
by the spirit. Through whom. Also, he went and
preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed
long ago when God waited patiently the days of
Noah while the ark was being built. It's like,
what did we just read? That Jesus went into this
place that he described, like Jonah, I had to
go into the depths of the earth. And I had a
mission to accomplish. And part of that, Peter
says, was preaching to the spirits that were
there since the time of Noah. And it's like,
I wish he would have written a footnote to give
us more information about this. But he doesn't.
He just moves on. And it's like, wow. That is
why once you go all the way to the book of Revelation
and at the beginning of the book of Revelation,
Jesus starts speaking. Jesus says this. Do not
be afraid. Do not be afraid. If you are a follower
of Jesus. Do not be afraid of death. Do not be
afraid of mortality. Do not let anxiety take
over you. Do not be afraid. Why? Because I am
the first and the last. I am the living one.
I was dead and now look. I am alive forever and
ever. And I hold the keys to death of death and
Hades. Not Satan anymore, but me. I have overcome
the power of Satan. No longer he has no power.
To accuse you because now I have forgiven your
sins. But he has no power to hold you captive
in the realm of the death. Because I have opened
the gates for heaven. That is the first strategy.
Can you say amen? Can you say glory to God for
what he did? That is what was happening. When
the apostles saw him die on the cross and took
his body, crying, disoriented for everything
that was going on, and they had no idea that
the King of kings, Lord of lords, was still alive,
battling for us. That's why you can read the
apostle Paul saying, you know, I may die any
time now because the Romans have me in prison.
And I can smell it. You know my time for dying
is soon. But you know that's no problem. Because
actually as I think about it. Dying is better
by far. Because to die is to be with Christ.
To be absent from the body is to be present with
Christ. For me to live is Christ. And to die
is gain. Only a follower of Jesus can say that.
Because if we die, our spirit goes to be with
Christ in heaven straight. Why? Because Jesus
died the righteous for the unrighteous to bring
us to God. So, if you come from a background
where you were taught that after you die you
have to go to a place called purgatory. And in
purgatory, you will finish paying for your sins.
I'm here to tell you that is not biblical. You
have to pay for no sins. Jesus paid them for
all. And Jesus opened the way to heaven. You
don't have to go to a purgatory place in between.
Jesus defeated Satan. The accuser, silence. The
one that was holding the keys of Hades and death
no longer holds them. Jesus has won. And it gets
even better. The second strategy, the second
part of the treatment to bring salvation against
this aspect of death is that God has the goal
of eradicating mortality completely from the
human experience because mortality is not meant
to be part of who we are. And that's why the
Bible says that what Jesus accomplished on the
cross has a second stage. And that stage is going
to be future. How does this work? Now, I remember
that after I moved to Thailand and I started
working here at ECB, we got the phone call from
my mother saying, I just have been diagnosed
with stomach cancer. Stage four. And you know,
once you hear cancer and stage four, the first
question that comes to mind is, is this it? Is
this like the death sentence? Are we going to
see you again? All these questions come to mind.
So she scheduled the surgery. They removed the
tumor. It was the size of a tennis ball. So great.
Two more gone. So she is under no more risk,
right? They said, no, no. Now we have to have
second surgery. We have to remove the stomach
altogether. It's like, what? Can you live without
a stomach? Did you know that? You can? They connect
the stomach to the esophagus. I mean, the esophagus
to the intestines directly. Now your diet has
to change, your metabolism changes, but you can
live and have digestion without the stomach.
Okay, so she has no stomach. Is that done? It's
like, nope. Now she has to go chemo. Oh, so the
treatment was like very intricate and different
stages of it. Yep. And until she finished the
chemo and there was no longer... Any cancer cell
in her body, now she was declared cancer free.
The same thing is going to happen with us on
death. The first treatment, the first part was
opening access to God. Now you don't have to
worry about going to Hades or Sheol. Go straight
to God. Great. But the second part of the treatment
is going to be experiencing death in your body.
What's going to happen with it? There's a chapter
in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
It's a long chapter. But it's in this chapter
that the Apostle Paul speaks in detail about
these things. If you never read that, go back
home and read the whole chapter. And read it
five times. Because lots of details. But this
is what it says. You see? Just as death came
into the world through a man. Who was that? Adam.
Now the resurrection from the dead has begun
through another man. Who was that other man?
Jesus. Just as everyone dies because we all belong
to Adam, we all have his DNA, descendants of
him, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given
new life. Just as you have inherited this sinful
nature and this mortality from Adam. If Jesus
is your savior. Now you are inheriting the resurrection.
The same resurrection that Jesus experienced.
Now is going to be part of your experience. And
then he says. But there is an order to the resurrection.
Christ was raised. As the first of the harvest.
And then all who belong to Christ. Will be raised.
When? When he comes back. So it gives us a chronology.
We know the appointment that we have. For the
next part of the treatment against death. Is
going to be the day Jesus comes back. When he
comes back. The Bible says that. We are going
to experience the same resurrection that Jesus
experienced. So think for a moment about this.
The apostle Paul talks about this in Thessalonians
as well. But it's like this. If I were to die
today. My body becomes dust. My spirit goes to
be with Christ in heaven. And now I am there.
And when Jesus comes back. I'm going to come
back with him. But at that moment. My spirit.
Is going to experience the resurrection. Is going
to be united now to a body. But is going to be
what we call the glorified body. No longer mortal.
No longer sinful. Just as Jesus. We will be like
he is. Says John. And this will happen when Jesus
comes back. But do we have a little bit more
information about this? I would like to know
a little bit more. Yes, we do have more. The
whole chapter, chapter 15. That's where the Apostle
Paul continues. And he says, look, this is a
mystery, but I'm going to tell you. It will happen
in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the
last trumpet is blown. When Jesus comes back,
that resurrection, that glorification, that transformation
of your body is going to happen. How fast? In
the blinking of an eye. So please blink. Okay,
that is how fast it will be. And you say, Pastor
Pablo, that sounds like fantasy, you know. How
can transformation, life happen in the blinking
of an eye like that? It's like, don't be so surprised.
That's how your life began. That's how you started
becoming what you are today. The moment the sperm
fertilized that egg, in the blinking of an eye,
you became you. Your cells started multiplying
and your body started shaping and before you
knew it, you were born. And when did your life
begin? When did your human body begin to shape?
In the blinking of an eye. And now God says when
Jesus comes back, the next stage of your treatment
is going to be experienced. At that moment, you
will have no single mortal cell in your body.
You will be declared mortality free. But just
like my mother had to wait for the next appointment
to go to the next part of the treatment, Saul
will have to wait and suck it up until that time.
Because until that time, we are still mortal.
But the day comes when we will no longer be mortal.
And that is what Jesus accomplished. That's why
the Apostle Paul continues, and he says, For
when the trumpet sounds, those who have died
will be raised to live forever, never to die
again. And we who are living will also be transformed.
For our dying bodies must be transformed into
bodies that will never die. That has to happen.
And our mortal bodies must be transformed into
immortal bodies. That has to happen. Because
in the future. God is going to create a new heaven
and a new earth that we'll discover later in
the study. A place where death will be no more.
And the only way that we can be in that place
is that if we are death and sin free. Our mortal
bodies have to become immortal. Our sinful bodies
have to become sinless. And that is going to
happen on that day. And only then, and only then.
When our dying bodies have been transformed into
bodies that will never die, this scripture will
be fulfilled. Death is swallowed up in victory.
Finally. Oh death, where is your victory? Oh
death, where is your sting? No longer power over
us. And that is going to happen in the future.
And therefore, as we await the resurrection of
our bodies, you have to remember that the body
that you have today is destined at this point
to be mortal. And mortality will hit your body
unless Jesus comes back first. And when that
happens, oh, we know, the rest of the story?
It's the difference between watching a movie
when you have watched it already and where you
are watching it for the first time. See, when
you're watching it for the first time, you do
not know the end. And when the danger happens
and you think the person is going to die and
something bad is going to happen, you go, what's
going to happen? Oh, I don't want to see it.
And you start experiencing all these emotions
because you do not know the hero is going to
show up and save everything. But if you know
the ending, And you're watching the same movie,
you go through the same scenes, but you're all
cool. Because you know, it seems like it's going
to be the end, but it's not the end. They survive,
just wait for the hero. Very different experience,
isn't it? The same thing happens the way we live
our lives. If you do not know the end of the
story, you're going to go through mortality with
resenting God, Thinking that he is the enemy.
You are going to go through mortality. Questioning
why God hasn't done anything. As if he has not
done anything. There is going to be the difference.
Between anxiety and resentment. Or peace and
hope. So do not forget. That that second stage
of the treatment. Is coming. But then. there's
a third part of the treatment. And that is that
God is going to kill death. The day will come
in which death will be completely destroyed.
Not just eradicated from us, but destroyed. No
longer in existence ever again. But in order
to understand that, You have to go back to 1
Corinthians 15. And the apostle Paul tells us
these words. After that. After Jesus returns.
We experience the resurrection. We are with him.
We have glorified bodies. Until all of that happens.
The end will come. When he will turn the kingdom
over to God the father. Having destroyed. Every
ruler and authority and power. Starting with
Satan himself. The ruler of this world. Destroyed.
After he has destroyed every ruler and authority
and power. For Christ must reign. Until he humbles
all his enemies beneath his feet. And the last
enemy to be destroyed is. Death. In case you
missed it, let me highlight it there for you.
The last enemy to be destroyed is death. Two
important things. Who is the enemy? Death is,
not God. God doesn't want us to experience death.
He doesn't want my daughter to have to experience
death at one year old. That's the curse of sin
and death that we're under. But he came and became
a human being so he could be on the cross. Because
only by being a human being he could die. And
only by dying he could break the power of Satan
over death. Because death is the enemy. And it's
going to be the last enemy to be destroyed. Death
is the enemy. And God did something about it.
So it will not be the end of your story. And
it's going to happen. But it's going to happen
at the end of the movie. And therefore you have
to wait till the movie ends before you can experience
this joy and this excitement. And actually you
read it right there in Revelation chapter 20.
It tells you exactly at the end of history, before
God establishes the new heaven and the new earth,
it says, and the devil who deceived them was
thrown into the lake of burning sulfur. That
is the end of Satan. And then it says, then death
and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire,
and the lake of fire is the second death. So
if the lake of fire is the second death, and
Hades and death are thrown into there, then death
is dying. And that will be the end of mortality.
And actually, that's a pretty cool title for
a book. The day death... Isn't salvation amazing?
But it gets better. Let me read the next verse
of chapter 21. God will be with his people. We
will be with him. And he will wipe every tear
from their eyes. There will be no more death.
We will be. Death free. Death survivors. The
treatment completed. There will be no more death
or mourning or crying or pain for the old order
of things has passed away. It's nothing but history.
That is the end. So here you have Jesus. He becomes
a human so he can die. And the first thing he
does is that he opens the way to heaven. The
second thing he will do is that he will resurrect
our bodies with the same resurrection he experienced
the day he returns. And then, after he had put
all his enemies under his feet, the last enemy
to be destroyed is death. And finally, after
all of that is done, the new heaven, the new
earth. Where death will be no more and sin will
be no more. Will be established and we will be
with the Lord forever. That is what Jesus has
accomplished. On your behalf and on my behalf.
That is what it means to be saved. That is what
it means to follow Jesus. That's why when the
Apostle Paul finishes this whole section of 1
Corinthians 15. He finishes with these words.
Let's read it together. So my dear brothers and
sisters, be strong, unmovable, always work enthusiastically
for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do
for the Lord is ever useless. Now that you know
the end of the movie, that you know what's going
to happen, you face life completely differently.
Jesus is the Savior. He did overcome the power
of Satan, not only to accuse, but also to separate
us from him. Now Jesus holds the keys of death
and Hades. This is who Jesus is. If you want
to learn more about these topics, and now you
have more questions than I tried to answer in
this study, I recommend a couple of books. One
of them is called Heaven by Andy Alcorn. Alcorn
experienced this inspiration to write this book
because his mother was dying and he spent all
this time with her reading the Bible to her.
And he remembers reading Revelation 20 and 21
many times to her. And as he did that, even though
he had gone to seminary, he says, the only involvement
I had with eschatology was about pre -trib, post
-trib, when will Jesus come back, is the millennium
literal or not? All these things were the only
things that he had done. But he had never studied
what heaven was going to be like. And when he
discovered, it's like, oh wait, it's a new creation,
a new heaven and a new earth. So he got inspired
to write this book and became a bestseller because
it's thick and every possible question you may
have, he answered. He also wrote another book
about the way you manage your finances with eternal
perspective. So those two books, The Treasure
Principle is important as well. And then there
is Lee Strobel who wrote these other two books
from a different perspective, from the aspect
of apologetics in the sense of If you are the
person that says, how do I know that actually
the spirit survives the body and that that's
real and that we're not just matter? Especially
if you come from an evolutionary perspective.
How do I know that these things are real? Well,
Lee Strobel writes it for you. He says in the
book Heaven and in Seeing the Supernatural, he
tells you, look, this is the evidence. This stuff
is real. Not only real, but it's scientific.
We have proof. So those two other books are also
helpful for this study. But by the way, it is
this topic of understanding what death is, how
it's the enemy, and what Jesus came to do, and
that we inherited death from Adam, the first
human. And because the first Adam and the second
Adam is this contrast in the book of Romans,
all of this aspect of soteriology, death is the
enemy, the last enemy to be destroyed. That is
one of the strongest reasons why I do not believe
in Darwinian evolution. It's because the idea
of death as being designed by God as an instrument
to create life is completely incompatible with
the doctrine of soteriology as we just read.
They don't mix. Death is either the enemy by
Satan and to be destroyed or it's an instrument
created by God. That separates. Now you can talk
to me after. But. Let's conclude this study.
With this. First. Jesus. Came. To save you. Save
you. From the power of Satan. Over your life.
Death. And guilt. And on the cross. He solved
both. But just like my mother when she was diagnosed
with stomach cancer, just having the diagnosis
didn't cure her. She had to be willing to trust
the doctors and go through the treatment. And
if Jesus is not yet your savior, you will have
to take the step of trusting Jesus as your savior
and ask him to save you from your sin and from
your mortality. Follow Jesus. Give your life
to him today. And that is something that you
want to do today. I invite you to come forward
to the front. He will pray with you. And you
can tell the Lord in your own words. But Jesus
wants to be your savior. And he's inviting you
to follow him. Secondly, we are mortal. And the
day will come. But we will come face to face
with our mortality. You will get a diagnosis.
You will get the news of the accident and you
are gone. We experience mortality with hope because
we know who Jesus is and what he has accomplished.
So if you are in the midst of the suffering and
the grieving that comes from facing mortality,
your own or the loved one, Turn to Jesus for
strength rather than blame him and walk away
from him. Jesus is not the enemy. He is the savior.
Death is the enemy. And thirdly, Jesus came for
us to experience life and life we will experience.
Heaven is a real place. And as my daughter went
to be there, as my father -in -law went to be
there, ever since that happened, I think of heaven
now, not as a concept anymore, but as a real
location where they are, and one day we will
be together again. And there was a guy that said,
you know, yeah, but I'm sad that I will never
be able to hug my daughter in heaven. I was like,
why? Yeah, because, you know, we will be spirits,
and how can a spirit hug? You know, he was thinking
like, you know, the matter, and it's like, did
you miss the resurrection part? You are not only
going to hug your daughter, but Jesus. Remember
that Jesus, after the resurrection, he ate fish
with the apostles? Listen, heaven is going to
be awesome. The new heaven, the new earth, where
we are with the Lord forever and death no more.
That is where we are going. And a loved one will
be there if Jesus is their savior. So our goodbye
is not forever. It's only temporary. And I ask
you this question. Are you living with eternal
perspective? Are you facing the reality of mortality
with truth? With hope, don't lose your perspective.
Don't lose your perspective. First, Satan attacked
us with mortality, and now he's going to attack
you with wanting to lose your perspective. Don't
let him. Turn to Jesus. Lord, we stand in your
presence in awe. In awe of what you have done.
This is complex stuff. This is intricate rescue
operations. This is strategies that you had to
plan and implement with precision. Our salvation
is just amazing. So we are here to say thank
you. Thank you. Thank you for what you have done.
We love you, Lord. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
If God is calling you to support our ministries,
you will find giving options on our website.
And remember to join us next week. God bless
you.