Part 1 - Life After Death

Introduction

I’d like to begin a series this morning surrounding the thought of “One Minute After You Die” - I want to look specifically at Life after Death this morning.

There’s been many speculations concerning what happens after death, but the Bible is our only trustworthy source about life after death...

Let’s take that one step further and state that Jesus is the only one qualified to speak authoritatively about death and the afterlife...

We are going to examine what happens after we die, but I’ll go ahead and tell you; you don’t really die; at least not in the manner that we think of it most time.

Your physical body dies, it ceases to function, but the real you - your soul, it lives on...

Here’s what the Bible says:

2 Corinthians 5:1–3 (KJV 1900)

1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved (torn down, set loose), we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:

3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.

Our tabernacle is taken down at the time of our death. This could happen to us at any moment. The body goes into the grave, whereas the spirit and soul of the believer go to be with the Lord.

The Bible tells us here that we will be clothed - clothed with what? Well, if you’re saved, you’ll be clothed with the righteousness of Jesus…If you’re not saved, you’ll be found naked...some people have not accepted His righteousness. They have rejected Christ. Therefore, there is a resurrection of the just and of the unjust.

Let’s read on...

2 Corinthians 5:4–6 KJV 1900

4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. 5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:

2 Corinthians 5:8 KJV 1900

8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

So what do we do right now? What’s our purpose? Let’s read on...

2 Corinthians 5:9–10 (KJV 1900)

9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

WHY?

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

The goal in life is not to be a star, it’s not to make lots of money, it’s not to build the biggest house on the block or build an empire around ourselves…The goal is to be accepted of Christ!

Erwin Lutzer, pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago in his book “One Minute After You Die” writes, “One minute after you slip behind the parted curtain you will either be enjoying a personal welcome from Christ or catching your first glimpse of gloom as you have never known it. Either way, your future will be irrevocably fixed and eternally unchangeable.... those who find themselves in heaven will be surrounded with friends whom they have known on earth... Every description of heaven they have heard will pale in the light of reality. All this, forever.

Others – indeed many others - will be shrouded in darkness, a region of deprivation, and unending regret. There, with all their memories and feeling fully intact, images of their life on earth will return to haunt them. They will think back to their friends, family and relatives; they will brood over opportunities they squandered and intuitively know that their future is both hopeless and unending. For them death will be far worse then they imagined.

And so while relatives and friends plan your funeral – deciding on a casket, a burial plot, and who the pallbearers will be – you will be more alive than you have ever been. You will either see God on His throne surrounded by His angels and redeemed humanity, or you will feel an indescribable weight of guilt and abandonment. There is no destination midway between these two extremes; just gladness and gloom.”

WHAT YOU BELIEVE ABOUT ETERNITY DETERMINES HOW YOU LIVE TODAY.

You will live one of two places—What you do today impacts eternity!

The two options are Hell or Heaven...

3 THINGS THAT HAPPEN AFTER THIS LIFE IS DONE...

1-OUR PHYSICAL BODIES DIE

Hebrews 9:27–28 KJV 1900

27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

The phrase “after this” reminds us that this life we are is fleeting.

The Bible writers describe the briefness of our lives in various ways. James says it is like “a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away,”James 4:14.

Job said life is “swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,”Job 7:6.

In Job 7:7, he said life was like “the wind.”

David said that God had made his “days as a handbreadth,”Psa. 39:5. He prayed that God would help him to “Remember how short my time is,”Psa. 89:47.

In Psalm 102:3 David described his days “as smoke.” And Peter said our days are as “the grass,” which “withereth and the flower thereof falleth away,”1 Pet. 1:24.

These are all vivid images of the briefness of this life we now live. They remind us that we will not live in this world forever. When our lives in this world end, we continue to live on somewhere else. That is why the phrase “after this” is so important.

When you die, your physical body will be put into the ground, it will die, but…

2-OUR SOULS SEPARATE FROM OUR PHYSICAL BODIES

Matthew 10:28 KJV 1900

28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

When you die, there is a separation from your physical body…your soul lives on…

Considering Matthew 10:28, all that men can do is kill the body; and, if they do, the believer’s soul goes home to be with the Lord.

I’ve said it before and I believe it with all my heart, the worst thing this world can do to me is send me to Heaven!

We ought to fear God! So many people fear man, and lose sight of God...

But God is able to destroy both body and soul in hell! Of course, God will never condemn one of His own children

John 5:24 KJV 1900

24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Martin Luther wrote about this:

Let goods and kindred go,

This mortal life also;

The body they may kill:

God’s truth abideth still;

His kingdom is forever.

The person who fears God alone need never fear any man or group of men.

The fear of God is the fear that cancels fear.

It’s obvious from the Bible, at the moment you die, the physical body dies, and the soul separates from the body, living on…Let’s look again at the phrase “After This” from Hebrews…After this - this being death...

3-WE WILL ALL FACE JUDGMENT

1 Peter 1:17 KJV 1900

17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:

I spoke of this just a moment ago, but lets look deeper into it now:

God judges every man’s work impartially. God doesn’t have little pets. God is going to judge the work of every Christian fairly. This has nothing to do with your salvation; it has everything to do with the kind of life you are living down here on this earth. The fact that God is going to judge us ought to cause us to become very sober minded and to give a little more attention to the life that we are living.

There are two judgments after we die...

The Great White Throne Judgment:

This judgment will be for non-believers, or those who died without Christ.

Revelation 20:11–12 KJV 1900

11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Revelation 20:15 KJV 1900

15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Names that are found in the book of life are written by GRACE - Not WORKS…Those who didn’t know Christ will be separated from HIM - That is what makes Hell, Hell...

Matthew 7:21–23 KJV 1900

21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Many should bring us to our knees today! - These are nice people, these are people that did good works, these are people that donated to charity, that went to church, that thought they were ok, but Christ doesn’t know them! Their names are not in the book of life!

There is another judgment…For believers only!

The Judgment Seat of Christ

2 Corinthians 5:10 KJV 1900

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

Paul is writing this passage to Corinthian believers…Another name for this is the Bema Seat…Bema is a term taken from Greek Olympics which signifies the end of the race - The Judge would stand on the Bema Seat and give awards to the winners.

Let me be clear that this is not a judgment for your sins, the prices for your sins was paid on the cross...

Here’s the thing we need to know as believers concerning the Bema Seat…We are saved by grace and rewarded for works!

We will be judged on how we treat people, the words we speak, what we do with money, how did we endure suffering, soulwinning…

Remember...

2 Corinthians 5:9 KJV 1900

9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

Conclusion

What you believe about eternity determines how you live today...

Do you truly know Christ?

Are you living today like eternity matters?

“One minute after you slip behind the parted curtain, you will either be enjoying a personal welcome from Christ, or be catching your first glimpse of gloom as you have never known it. Either way, your future will be irrevocably fixed and eternally unchangeable.”