What happens after we die?
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
One of my favorite book series growing up is The Chronicles of Narnia. C.S. Lewis gives us in HIs own words the picture of what will be coming our world. He tells us at the end of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader why he wrote the book.
“This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”
My favorite book in the series is the Last Battle, because I love resolution. And The Last Battle, perhaps more than any other book or end of a series gives the perfect resolution to everything that has happened in the series.
If it’s ok I’d like to read the resolution that happens at the end because it is Narnia’s version of the Bible passage we are going to be reading today.
“Then there came—at first from very far off—sounds of wailing and then, from every direction, a rustling and a pattering and a sound of wings. It came nearer and nearer. Soon one could distinguish the scamper of little feet from the padding of big paws, and the clack-clack of light little hoofs from the thunder of great ones. And then one could see thousands of pairs of eyes gleaming. And at last, out of the shadow of the trees, racing up the hill for dear life, by thousands and by millions, came all kinds of creatures—Talking Beasts, Dwarfs, Satyrs, Fauns, Giants, Calormenes, men from Archenland, Monopods, and strange unearthly things from the remote islands or the unknown Western lands. And all these ran up to the doorway where Aslan stood. This part of the adventure was the only one which seemed rather like a dream at the time and rather hard to remember properly afterward. Especially, one couldn’t say how long it had taken. Sometimes it seemed to have lasted only a few minutes, but at others it felt as if it might have gone on for years. Obviously, unless either the Door had grown very much larger or the creatures had suddenly grown as small as gnats, a crowd like that couldn’t ever have tried to get through it. But no one thought about that sort of thing at the time. The creatures came rushing on, their eyes brighter and brighter as they drew nearer and nearer to the standing Stars. But as they came right up to Aslan one or other of two things happened to each of them. They all looked straight in his face, I don’t think they had any choice about that. And when some looked, the expression of their faces changed terribly—it was fear and hatred: except that, on the faces of Talking Beasts, the fear and hatred lasted only for a fraction of a second. You could see that they suddenly ceased to be Talking Beasts. They were just ordinary animals. And all the creatures who looked at Aslan in that way swerved to their right, his left, and disappeared into his huge black shadow, which (as you have heard) streamed away to the left of the doorway. The children never saw them again. I don’t know what became of them. But the others looked in the face of Aslan and loved him, though some of them were very frightened at the same time. And all these came in at the Door, in on Aslan’s right. There were some queer specimens among them. Eustace even recognized one of those very Dwarfs who had helped to shoot the Horses. But he had no time to wonder about that sort of thing (and anyway it was no business of his) for a great joy put everything else out of his head. Among the happy creatures who now came crowding round Tirian and his friends were all those whom they had thought dead. There was Roonwit the Centaur and Jewel the Unicorn and the good Boar and the good Bear, and Farsight the Eagle, and the dear Dogs and the Horses, and Poggin the Dwarf. “Further in and higher up!” cried Roonwit and thundered away in a gallop to the West. And though they did not understand him, the words somehow set them tingling all over. The Boar grunted at them cheerfully. The Bear was just going to mutter that he still didn’t understand, when he caught sight of the fruit-trees behind them. He waddled to those trees as fast as he could and there, no doubt, found something he understood very well. But the Dogs remained, wagging their tails, and Poggin remained, shaking hands with everyone and grinning all over his honest face. And Jewel leaned his snowy white head over the King’s shoulder and the King whispered in Jewel’s ear. Then everyone turned his attention again to what could be seen through the Doorway. “
We see here that Aslan is separating those who love Him from those who don’t. Those who love Him enter through the doorway. Those who don’t disappear into the terror of his big shadow never to be seen again.
Again, C.S. Lewis wrote this to show even us what is coming in our own world. This isn’t just a story, but a warning to make sure you love Jesus and are loved by Him. Because we all want to know:
The Question: What happens after we die?
The Question: What happens after we die?
Transition to the Text: Turn with me in your Bibles to Revelation 20:11-15. Revelation is easy to find because it’s the last book fo the Bible.
The book of Revelation was written largely as a warning to those churches who might compromise on the Gospel for the sake of lessening persecution that was increasing in the world around them. It was also a challenge to renew their commitment to Jesus and the Gospel because of what was coming. What was coming?
Judgement.
The first time I ever sat down to read the book of revelation was when I was 12 years old and it terrified me. And while many of us don’t like of thinking of fear when it comes to God and the Bible, that’s a pretty appropriate response if we truly grasp the magnitude of God’s plan.
And here’s what it all comes down to.
Introduce the Big Idea:
The Big Idea: We will all spend eternity in one of two places.
The Big Idea: We will all spend eternity in one of two places.
Let’s read:
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.
12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.
14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
The Big Idea: We will all spend eternity in one of two places.
The Big Idea: We will all spend eternity in one of two places.
Main Point #1 - No Jesus, No Eternal Life
Main Point #1 - No Jesus, No Eternal Life
Explanation: It’s interesting that when it comes to answering the question of “What will happen to me after I die?” more often than not, the discussion at least in the Bible seems to center around judgement and damnation. In fact Jesus speaks far more and depicts more vividly the reality of hell than even that of heaven.
And I think I know the reason And it’s found in Revelation 20. And it’s called the Great White Throne judgement, when all will be put right. When the justice of God is completely satisfied. And it serves as a warning to all to make sure you really consider this question before your time comes.
Are you confident you will go to heaven? And if the only answer you have to that question is, “Well I’m a good person?” you should be very afraid.
Let’s look at what the Apostle John sees in his vision of Jesus:
Jesus is seated on a throne and what is about to happen is so majestic and terrifying that even the earth and the sky fled away from His presence. These will be replaced by a New Heaven and a New Earth.
All the dead, great and small are standing before Him waiting to be judged based on what is written in the books. The idea of great and small shows that there is no favoritism in Jesus. Great kings or mere peasants will stand in the same spot. And they will be judged.
Imagine all you’ve ever done good and bad read out not like evidence against you, but like a verdict of guilt. You have no defense, yet you stand there listening. That very thought should strike fear into the heart of any person who has ever lived, because that day is coming.
There is nothing that we can do to hide from God. Even death is no escape. Buries in the heart of the sea is no escape. Even the sea and hades (or the place of the dead) will give up their dead at the command of God.
For all accounts will be settled. No one gets away with anything.
This is what Jesus was warning about in:
23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.
19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
So if we know this day is coming, we ought to try to prepare.
And we are judged not on circumstantial evidence but on the absolute perfect knowlege of God that is based on His perfect standards.
The only hope that you have to have your name written in something called the book of life. We’ll get to that in a minute.
Now, not to leave us in suspense, we are told what will happen to those whose names are not found in the book of life.
They are thrown into the lake of fire along with the personifications of death and hades.
I had a friend from college once say, “Go to heaven for the view and to hell for the company” and then go on to list all these cool atheist people that he’d be happy to spend eternity with.
If we can’t get rid of the doctrine of hell, which if we take the Bible seriously we certainly can’t, we try to lessen it’s intensity. People try to make it out to be one big party. Or others try to make it simply a temporary reality as you serve your punishment and eventually make it to heaven.
The Bible makes it very clear that hell is a real place of conscious excruciating torment that will last for eternity. We will all spend eternity somewhere.
Now I know what you’re thinking. This is a downer message. I came here to be encouraged.
So here is the good news. God made a way for anyone regardless of how good they can be at following rules.
God spends a lot of time encouraging people that they can absolutely be sure of going to heaven.
So why the dire warnings and the fear?
Illustration: Fear is a powerful motivator. It’s true that at times fear can keep us from doing something difficult. Keep us from taking risks. Keep us from following God’s plan for us. Fear can debilitate us.
But at the same time, fear can keep us safe.
We teach our kids to be afraid of the street. Afraid of fire. Afraid of strangers. Afraid of stray dogs.
Fear of consequences can actually keep us on the straight and narrow path. That’s why we have laws. And what happens when a country or nation is unable to enforce those laws? Yep, people stop fearing because there are no consequences.
But God is not like earthly governments. Every offense. Every broken law. Every sin. Every foolish word spoken whether heard or not will be accounted for here…before the throne of God.
We should fear this event. And I don’t mean reverence and awe. Jesus even warned His disciples (and us) while he was on earth.
28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Fear keeps us safe. Fear keeps us focused. Fear protects us and points us to Jesus.
What what are we afraid of? We’re afraid our names aren’t written in the Lamb’s book of life.
27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
If your name isn’t in there, there is no eternal life for you.
Application: For an unbeliever or skeptic, what you should be feeling right about now is despair. The very thought that one day God will lay bare all that we have ever done should make us afraid. Because a day of reckoning is coming and there is nothing you can do on your own to avoid it.
But not to give up, this should also give us some comfort. No one gets away with anything. Every sin will be accounted for because the justice of God demands it.
And for those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, Jesus did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves.
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Therefore, whether or not our name is found in the book of life has nothing to do with how good we can be or how well we can earn it. It’s not about making up for the bad or in the case of some religions getting to the end of your life and having God put the good that you did on one side of the scale and then the bad on the other side. If the good outweighs the bad you get in. In that case no one can be confident of what happens after they die. But our God teaches us to be confident. And we can be confident that our names are in the book of life…if we know Jesus.
Main Point #2 - Know Jesus, Know Eternal Life
Main Point #2 - Know Jesus, Know Eternal Life
Explanation: In the final verse of Revelation 20, there is the answer to how we avoid judgement.
Our names must be found written in the book of life by knowing Jesus.
Now like I said, the Bible speaks far more about the consequences of sin and the coming judgement than it does about how to avoid it. But it does talk about how to avoid it and it talks about the future of those who put their faith in Jesus. But we have to remember that for the unbeliever, they spend their whole lives earning a place in the lake of fire. No one is unjustly condemned.
Which is why the Bible speaks so much about the consequences of that path. But lest you lose heart in despair, the solution to the our sin is not to make up for what we’ve done but to embrace them one who dealt with it. Because how we avoid it is very simple and requires no effort on our part at all. Because Jesus paid it all.
This whole passage is a warning to those who would find themselves outside the family of God. Only in vs. 15 do we actually get a glimpse of hope for the saved. If your name is written in the book of Life, you are not thrown into the fire. So how is your name written in the book of life?
All we must do is believe. Faith is the answer. Faith only is the answer to all our fears with regard to the coming judgement.
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
The only way to know eternal life is to know Jesus. And God doesn’t want us to continue in fear. To continue to worry about where we are going when we die. God wants us to know that we have eternal life. And it’s very simple. You will know you have eternal life if you know Jesus.
Because if you know Jesus, your life will look different. Sure you’ll mess up and make mistakes, but your life will be characterized by peace and obedience. And perhaps one thing that separates believers from unbelievers is a total hatred for their own sin even if you can’t quite break those old habits (Romans 7:14-25). This is what Paul was writing about in Romans 7 which we don’t have time to dive too far into today.
So going to heaven is not about being good, but about knowing Jesus.
But here’s the the thing that many of us neglect. We don’t use Jesus to avoid punishment. We don’t even use Jesus to get eternal life. Jesus isn’t a means to an end.
Our reward is eternal life in Jesus and with Jesus.
Now the Apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation and the Gospel of John and 3 letters. And a major theme for the Gospel of John is the eternal life we have in Jesus. And many of us wonder what we will do with eternity.
Illustration: Have you ever seen cartoons of heaven? They usually have a fat little angel sitting on a cloud with a halo and a harp. And the thought is that this is what we will do. And it seems extremely boring.
However, it’s pretty safe to say a boring existence of sitting on a cloud playing a harp for eternity the alternative if those are our 2 choices.
But is that eternal life? Sounds terrible.
Thank goodness eternal life will be far more than that and far greater than we can possibly imagine.
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
For eternal life is knowing God and getting to know Him more for all of eternity.
All of history and all of the Bible has pointed to Jesus and beckons us to embrace the loving arms of our savior. To not harden our hearts, but to receive forgiveness for our sins and gain eternal life.
And we remember that Jesus is not a reluctant savior, but he saved us because of His great love for us. We are saved by Jesus for Jesus.
13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Illustration: Think of the best friend you’ve ever had. The kind of friend that you can spend all your time with and never get bored. If you’re married, hopefully it’s your spouse.
If you are blessed to have this kind of friend, you know how amazing it can be. Someone that even if we are away from them for a while, when we are reunited, we find ourselves picking up where we left off like we were never apart.
Sometimes we get in trouble with these friends. Other times they keep us out of trouble. Sometimes they even bail us out of trouble.
Jesus saved us from an eternity in the lake of fire so that we can spend eternity with Him.
That’s a pretty awesome friend.
Application: Our mission should we choose to accept it is to avoid eternal damnation by believing in the name of Jesus and accepting what He did for us on the cross.
And when we stand before God, we will stand not on our own merits or on our own sins. We will stand on His righteousness. And we will go into eternity with Him
But of course, the question is, Do you believe in Jesus?
What happens to you after you die depends on how you answer that question?
No Jesus, No Eternal Life.
Know Jesus, know eternal life.
Which brings us to our time of response.
Response: If you were to die today, are you confident what will happen to you?
Response: If you were to die today, are you confident what will happen to you?
Summation:
We will all spend eternity somewhere.
If there is no Jesus in our lives, there will be no eternal life.
But if we know Jesus we will know eternal life and everything that comes with it.
For many of us we don’t really think about death at all. Because how many of us face death on a daily basis.
In most cases it’s a far off thought to deal with at a later time. And honestly, who wants to actually think about death anyway.
But we will all have to come face to face with it at some point and if we’re lucky, we’ll get some time to ponder it before it comes.
For some though it will be quick when we least expect it.
This whole COVID-19 situation has been really trying time for me. So much uncertainty. But what is God teaching us through this?
I’ve been comforted by a story of a lady who hadn’t been to church in a really long time. Even her family would have characterized her as hostile to christianity and the church.
But as COVID hit and we were all at home, at the suggestion of a close friend, she started watching our North Hills Online services. And through several months of watching our services, she began to call North Hills her church.
Now mind you I have never met this woman. I’ve only called her on the phone and sent her a card in the mail, yet she considered me her pastor.
And through watching the services, God softened her heart and called her to himself.
Had COVID-19 never happened, she may have never walked through our door.
I lean on this story, because it reminds me that God is always at work and always in control.
I looked forward to meeting her and spending time with her and baptizing her. But 2 weeks ago, she lost the battle with a long illness. So our meeting will have to wait a little while longer.
But one thing I’m sure of, she was confident at the end of where she was going.
She had been a Christian maybe a few months at most.
It’s never too late.
Do you know what will happen to you when you die?
Consider that question today and embrace the one who died for your sins!
Let’s pray.
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