Facing Death with Faith
What Happens When We Die? • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 7 viewsDeath is certain for all, but through Christ it becomes the doorway to eternal life, not the end of our story.
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Today’s Reading from God’s Word
Today’s Reading from God’s Word
But now he has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself.
And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment—
so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Introduction
Introduction
Over the next few months we are turning our attention to eternity.
Our theme is “Our Arrival in the Kingdom of God.”
For the next three months, we ‘ll be asking honest questions about what happens after this life.
What happens when we die
How to live with eternity in mind
What it will mean when the books are opened on the last day.
As we enter the capstone phase of our Vision 2025 curriculum, we want you to be anchored in the hope of God’s promises.
Death is real, but so is the victory God has given His people.
Dwight Lyman Moody did not grow up as a preacher.
He was born in 1837 in rural Massachusetts, the sixth of nine children.
His father died when Dwight was only four, leaving his mother to raise the family in deep poverty.
At 17, he moved to Boston to work in his uncle’s shoe store. His uncle insisted he attend church, and there he came under the care of a Sunday school teacher named Edward Kimball.
One day Kimball visited the store, walked to the back room where Moody was stocking shoes, and shared the gospel with him. Soon, Moody was baptized.
From that small beginning, God shaped one of the most influential evangelists of the 19th century.
Moody moved to Chicago, where he began a Sunday school class for poor children, then started a church, and later founded schools and missions.
He became an international evangelist, preaching in Great Britain and across America.
Crowds of 15,000–20,000 came to hear him.
His plain, heartfelt preaching emphasized God’s love, the cross of Christ, and the need for personal faith.
By the end of his life, hundreds of thousands—perhaps millions—had heard the gospel through him.
One of his most famous quotes, one I have used many times in my eulogies:
Someday you will read in the papers that I am dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. At that moment, I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone up higher, that is all, into a house that is immortal, a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint, a body fashioned unto His glorious body.
And when the time came for Moody to die in 1899, on his deathbed he declared, “Earth recedes, heaven opens before me… this is my coronation day.”
Moody’s conversion showed the power of God’s grace; but his peaceful death showed the hope of God’s promises.
He faced death with faith—and that is exactly what we’ll talk about today.
We live in a culture that avoids talking about death.
It makes people feel uncomfortable so it gets pushed aside.
But the Bible never avoids it.
In fact, Scripture insists we face it squarely.
And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment—
This is not meant to terrify us, but to prepare us.
God speaks about death so that we will know how to live, and how to die with hope.
So, today we begin with a simple truth: death is real.
It is certain.
For you are dust, and you will return to dust.”
But it is not the end.
and the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
For the child of God, death is the doorway to eternity and the beginning of life in the presence of the Lord.
Our task today is to face death with faith - honestly, but also confidently, because of the promises of God.
Death is Certain
Death is Certain
When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, everything changed.
Before sin, there was no death.
But with the curse came death:
For you are dust, and you will return to dust.”
This one sentence explains every graveyard, every funeral, and every tear we have ever shed at the loss of someone we love.
Death is the result of sin:
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.
The Bible is blunt about this. It does not soften the truth.
Look again at our base text:
And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment—
Notice … it is “appointed.”
Death is not an accident.
It is an appointment you will keep.
You don’t know when, but you know it will come.
You know, when you read Genesis 5, it feels like the tolling of a bell.
The chapter lists the names of Adam’s descendants, and after each one you hear the same refrain:
“and he died … and he died… and he died.”
Some lived 900 years, others fewer, but the result was always the same.
It is as if God was driving home the point that sin always ends in death.
The same is true for us today.
No matter how long or how short our lives may be, the truth is the same:
Unless the Lord returns first, our story on this earth will end with those same words.
The Psalmist said:
Our lives last seventy years or, if we are strong, eighty years. Even the best of them are struggle and sorrow; indeed, they pass quickly and we fly away.
In the New Testament, James reminds us:
Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.
So the first step in facing death is accepting its certainty.
Pretending it won’t happen won’t prepare us.
Think of obituaries in the local paper.
Every day, no matter the age, every newspaper prints the same truth: people die.
It doesn’t matter if the person was rich, poor, famous, or unknown — death levels us all.
Only when we admit death is sure can we begin to live wisely.
Moses prayed:
Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.
The admonition is to face death’s certainty and allow it to shape how we live today.
I think heeding this admonition is actually an opportunity to strengthen our faith.
It sobers us. Knowing death is certain keeps us from wasting time. It reminds us that every day matters.
It humbles us. We are not in control. God alone holds our breath and our future.
The life of every living thing is in his hand, as well as the breath of all humanity.
It prepares us. Denial leaves us unready. Acceptance drives us to Christ, the only One who has conquered death.
It gives urgency. If life is a vapor, we do not despair. Instead we turn our eyes to God’s promises.
Faith does not deny death, it looks past it to the God who raises the dead.
So if death is certain, the next question is, what exactly happens when we die?
Death is a Separation
Death is a Separation
The Bible defines death not as the end of existence, but as a separation.
and the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
When a person dies, the body and the soul part ways.
The body goes back to the dust of the ground, but the spirit continues on.
James said it this way:
For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
Death happens when the spirit leaves the body.
This is why the lifeless body lying before us in the casket is not the whole person.
The true self - the soul - has departed and gone back to God who gave it.
I think this is important to grasp, because there are many who think of death as annihilation — as if we simply cease to exist.
The Bible never teaches this.
Instead it shows us life goes on, only in a different state.
Jesus told the thief on the cross:
And he said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Paul said:
In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
Earlier in this chapter, Paul compared our bodies to tents.
Tents are temporary.
You may live in one for awhile, but they’re not meant to be permanent.
When you leave the tent, you don’t cease to exist, you just move out.
This is what happens at death.
The body - our earthly tent - goes back to the dust, but the soul moves out and goes to be with the Lord.
So, for the faithful, death is separation from the body, but union with Christ. (It’s a homecoming!)
And I think this should have real meaning for us.
It should change how we view the body.
We honor it, but we do not cling to it as if it were all there is.
The body is temporary housing, the soul is eternal.
It strengthens our hope.
If death were the end, despair would be natural.
But knowing the spirit continues gives us courage.
It provides comfort when our loved ones die.
When we dee the body of loved one, we know the real person is not gone, but alive in the presence of God.
So, separation is not the end of the story.
Death is Not the End
Death is Not the End
So, we should clearly see now that death is the doorway into eternity.
Life does not end when the body is laid into the ground.
The soul continues and each of us will stand before God.
Jesus confirmed this when he spoke of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16.
Both men died, but their story did not end at the grave.
One was comforted, the other was in torment.
Death closed the door on earthly life, but opened the door to eternal realities.
This truth provides us with both warning and comfort.
Warning - because judgment is certain, and we must be ready to meet God.
Comfort - because for the Christian, death is not defeat, but victory.
For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Death is not the end of our story, but the beginning of life with Christ in glory.
So in death we must see:
Urgency.
Today is the day of salvation.
For he says: At an acceptable time I listened to you, and in the day of salvation I helped you. See, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation!
Hope.
We face death with confidence because Jesus has conquered it.
When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory.
Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting?
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
Perspective.
The grave is not the finish line; it is the starting line of eternity.
This should change how we live every day.
As We Close
As We Close
Don’t you just love this DL Moody quote? Could you say it with him?
Someday you will read in the papers that I am dead. Don’t believe it. I shall be more alive than I am now.
Death is certain. Everyone of us has an appointment we cannot escape.
Death is a separation. The body returns to the dust, but the Spirit returns to God.
Death is not the end. It is the doorway into eternity, leading either to judgment or to the joy of God’s presence.
So, how do we face death with faith?
Not by ignoring it.
Not by fearing it.
But by trusting in the One who conquered it.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live.
This promise means that we can stand before the grave without despair; because we know death does not have the final word.
The real question is not if we die, but are we ready?
It is only the faithful Christian who can say:
For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
If you are outside of Christ, all that remains after death is fear, judgment, and eternal separation from God.
Today is the day to prepare.
Today is the day to put your trust in the Savior who holds the keys of death and Hades.
