Beyond Death

One day before very long, unless the Lord comes back in the meantime, each one of us here will arrive at a place where we will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that the moment has come for us to die. It may be that when that moment comes, something deep within us will sigh with relief, at last, this thing that I've been dreading all my life has come. Let's get on with it.

Or it may be that we find ourselves overwhelmed with dread such as we've never known. But what a wonderful thing it will be if when that moment arrives, and it will, we can welcome it with absolute joy. And thou, most kind and gentle death, waiting to hush our final breath, oh, praise him.

Hallelujah. From Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14, since, therefore, the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage. And deliver those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage.

Now, as we look back on the life of the apostolic church, as we see it described on the pages of the New Testament, we're struck by the awesome power with which these people lived. They went forth into the world and broke through those gates of death and set the captives free. They lived with boldness.

They manifested the kingdom of God. And we often try to figure out what it was that they had that we don't seem to have, and we get many answers. One, well, they received the gifts of the Holy Spirit and exercised them.

And this is certainly true. Two, they lived in unity with each other. They had a unity such as most of us have never experienced.

That's true. But underneath both those things, and basic to them both, was the fact that these men and women of the apostolic churches, we read about them in the Book of Acts and in the Epistles of Paul, were free from the fear of death and from the lifelong bondage that fear brings. Without that freedom from fear of death, the gifts of the Spirit and the unity of believers become shallow and empty.

These people had come to know a Jesus who was worth dying for. Finding him worth dying for, choosing to die for his name, it now became possible for them to live for him. By comparison, modern evangelical Christendom in this country and elsewhere, of which we're a part, is not free from the fear of death.

And this is manifested in many ways. One, the fact that we almost never talk about death, our own death. Maybe we talk about the rapture, or if we don't talk about the rapture, we talk about the return of Jesus, but we don't talk about death.

We'll think about somebody else's death, we'll go to somebody else's funeral, but we never think about our own death. Much less choose to die for the name of Jesus. Somebody says, well, I mean, that's all theoretical.

I mean, we're living in a time and place where there is no danger. Who's going to kill you for following Jesus in this country in 1983? When Peter, Andrew, James, and John brought their boats to land and forsook everything and followed Jesus, it was a day just like today. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, everything was glorious, and there was no threat of death on their lives.

They had no conception of what waited for them down at the end of the road, but very soon they found themselves so taken up with their master, so in love with Jesus, that they were willing to die for him. And he began to teach them that to follow him meant death, meant that you put your feet on a path that would take you to a cross which was your own. And as we know, tradition has it that every one of the apostles died a violent death for the name of Jesus.

There was a possible exception of John. And as men and women began dying for the name of Jesus by the handfuls and then by the dozens and then by the hundreds and then by the thousands at that age, the amazing thing was that the church didn't fall apart or shrink. The numbers grew and increased as death came in on the church from the outside.

And the reason for this was that these people had found the Jesus who was worth dying for. So now it was possible for them to live for him. The word of the Lord, the word of the Spirit to us today may seem rather strange, almost out of place, but it won't seem strange or out of place if we really soak ourselves in the atmosphere of the New Testament.

The word of the Spirit to us today, this flock, comes in the form of a question. Do you love Jesus enough to die for him? Are you willing to put your feet on a path that will take you to a cross? When we begin to say yes to that question, in reality, not only with our mouths, but with our hearts and with our actions, we will begin to find ourselves filled with the atmosphere of heaven. And we will find that we will now be able to live in this world, the Detroit area or wherever we end up, 1983, with a power and a boldness and a freedom as we travel through the battlefield of this earth, which come to us from heaven, from the world on the other side of death.

Because we will have found that once we're prepared, truly prepared and willing to die for Jesus, we can then begin, in fact, to live for him. Now, when Jesus calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow, it's not as if death is the end of the road. He makes very clear that death becomes, this death that we choose, becomes the doorway to the fulfillment of every promise, the place where our hope really lies, the source of our power even now.

And so when Jesus calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him to death, he also teaches that on the other side of death, there is a reality, there is a reckoning, there are rewards, and there is a resurrection. And he's the center of all these things. So Jesus teaches us, calls us, today again, to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and choose to die for him.

Because on the other side of death, there is a reality which waits for us. Reading from Luke 16, 19, there was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, who feasted sumptuously every day, and at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus full of sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores.

The poor man died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades, the region of the dead, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom.

Now, this rich man was very religious. He went to church. He got saved at an early age.

He knew everything about the plan of salvation, read his Bible, but he also watched quite a bit of TV. Watch that. And, you know, he had a kind of confusion of creeds.

The creed which really, the belief that really governed his life was the creed he picked up on TV. You only go around once, get all the gusto and the pesos that you can, pile it up, because this is your only chance. And he lived like that.

I mean, he kept going to church and doing all this, but his real creed was, I'm going around, I'll come to the end, so I'm going to get it all now, I'm going to hold on to it, and I ain't going to give it away. What a shock! When he comes to the end of the road, passes through the door of death and discovers you don't go around at all. You go straight on through and keep on going.

Now what's he going to do? Meanwhile, here's Lazarus the beggar. This man is so beaten down and so lonely and so in pain and so desolate and so hungry that it's easy for him to believe that there's got to be something better on the other side. So when he gets to the other side, it's no big shock to be met by these angels who carry him to Abram's bosom.

And what Jesus is telling us in his parable is that there is a reality on the other side of death instantly, immediately, he tells us. And it's connected with what we do over here. And the way we live now is going to be affected very much by whether or not we truly believe there is such a thing.

But not only does Jesus call us to pick up our cross and follow him to Calvary because there is a reality over there but because there is a reckoning. So we read on in the same passage. A reckoning.

He called out, Father Abraham, have mercy upon me and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am in anguish in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things and Lazarus in like manner evil things. Now he is comforted and you are in anguish.

Besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed in order that those who pass from here to you may not be able and none may cross from there to us. And he said, Then I beg you, Father, send into my father's house for I have five brothers so he may warn them lest they also come to this place of torment. But Abraham said, They have Moses and the prophets.

Let them hear them. And he said, No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead they will repent. He said, If they do not hear Moses and the prophets neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.

Okay, when the rich man gets on the other side he remembers Well, you don't go around once this thing keeps going, but I do remember that I did go to church and I did get saved and I know all about salvation. What's the deal, Abraham? Don't you remember the time I went down to the front and asked Jesus into my life? And over there is Lazarus. This guy never even went to church.

What's the deal? The deal is this. That there is a reckoning. And the basis of the reckoning is this.

Those who receive no mercy from man on this side of death can expect mercy from God on the other side of death. Those who show no mercy on this side of death to their fellow man can expect no mercy from God on the other side of death. Wait a minute.

What are you talking about? What about the cross? What about the blood of Jesus? What about salvation? You're going past all that. No, I'm not. The center of it all is the cross of Jesus.

Jesus came into this world and laid down his life to open a door of mercy so that even in this world the mercy of heaven can flow like a river. Everyone who receives that mercy can experience heaven even on this side of the grave. But if I open my heart and receive the mercy of God now through the blood of Jesus and then walk right past Lazarus Sorry, buddy.

Then I better be wary of what kind of salvation I have. There is a reckoning. Jesus calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him to a calvary because there are also rewards on the other side of death.

From Matthew 6. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust consume. Where thieves do not break in and steal or where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And remember if somebody's getting bent out of shape over the lack of the doctrine of grace, you think we're going into works.

Remember we are listening to the words right from the mouth of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We're listening to the words that come straight from the mouth of our only salvation. Listen some more from Luke 16.1. He also said to the disciples there was a rich man who had a steward and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.

And he called him and said, What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your stewardship for you can no longer be steward. And the steward said to himself, What shall I do since my master is taking the stewardship away from me? I'm not strong enough to dig and I'm ashamed to beg. I've decided what to do so that people may receive me into their houses when I'm put out of my stewardship.

So summoning his master's debtors one by one he said to the first, How much do you owe my master? A hundred measures of oil. Take your bill quickly and write fifty. He said to another, How much do you owe? He said, A hundred measures of wheat.

He said to him, Take your bill and write eighty. The master commended the dishonest steward for his prudence for the sons of this world are wiser in their generation than the sons of light. And I tell you make friends for yourselves by means of the unrighteous manner that when it fails at your death they may receive you into the eternal habitations.

Yes, we're given salvation as a gift. The salvation is Jesus living in us. He who has the son has life.

He who has not the son has not life. And when Jesus lives in us this means we live in mercy. And every time we show mercy every time we take some of this unrighteous manner, money and things and help somebody and give and give Jesus says it registers on the other side.

Watch out for works righteousness. I can hear you saying but this is what Jesus tells us. See the salvation we already have.

We don't have to earn it. We got it. It's a gift but we have to live it.

Now we will have rewards on the other side as we live in mercy. But if we fail to live mercy then we're pushing our luck to be able to go over there and say wait a minute maybe I didn't show much mercy maybe I never gave a dime away maybe I didn't stop and help people but I am saved. It's quite possible that at that point Abraham would shake his head and not know what we're talking about.

Jesus calls us to deny ourselves take up our cross and follow him to a Calvary to our own death for his name because there is a resurrection on the other side. From John 5 Do not marvel at this for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come forth those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of damnation. And from Luke 14 12 he said also to the man who had invited him when you give a dinner or a banquet do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or your rich neighbors lest they invite you in return and you be repaid.

But when you give a feast invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. Now the proof that there is a resurrection of the just that we can share in is Jesus himself who is the first fruit of that resurrection.

And Jesus in his mercy comes into our midst with the life and power of that resurrection now. From Romans 8 If the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken, give life to your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you and that life comes not only after death but even before. So that by the quickening power of the spirit the resurrection life of Jesus enables us to manifest God's kingdom now.

But to have that there's a package you gotta take. And Paul describes it in Philippians 3 when he says that I may know him in the power of his resurrection, hallelujah and in the fellowship of his sufferings, hallelujah and be made like him in his death, hallelujah. And so today the word of the Lord to all of us and each of us very personally is do you love Jesus enough to die for him? Are you willing to put your feet on a path that will take you to a cross? If we can say yes to that we can expect the power of the resurrection to begin to work in us.

And we will begin to experience the power of heaven, the boldness of God, and the liberty of the spirit such as we've never known it. And when we come to the end and face the moment of our death we will be able to welcome it with unspeakable joy. And you most kind and gentle death waiting to hush our final breath.

All praise him. Hallelujah. Let's pray.

Father, you know how dense we are and how hard it is for us to learn the things that apply to your kingdom. And how the hardness of our hearts makes it so difficult for us to receive what you would teach us. But we ask that today, in a way beyond our comprehension, you would put us in the atmosphere that surrounded Peter, Andrew, James, and John as they brought their boats to land, forsook everything, and followed your son.

Grant that on this beautiful day, the sky blue and the sun shining, we may choose by your grace to do whatever we have to do to be faithful to Jesus, willing to lay down our lives for his sake, for each other, for whoever, in whatever time or place you choose. And in that choice, Lord God, may we begin to experience the power of the resurrection working in us individually and corporately beyond anything we've ever known.