Questions Christians Ask: What Happens When We Die?

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Lord Jesus, we uh hear the summons that comes to us today.

When the hymn says, All creatures of our God and King, it's a reminder that you are calling us to yourself.

You're inviting us into a relationship with you.

We began by singing about that.

You're going to prepare a place for us so that where you are, we may be also.

So at the heart of God, and all you do, God, is relationship.

And so speak to us today.

Shape our intellect, our thoughts, our emotions, and our actions as a result of what you say to us from your word today, Lord.

We've not uh come together just to check the box.

Today's one of those days that's not for the faint of heart.

We're here because of what we believe, what we long for.

We're here because we have a Godward appetite.

And so slake our thirst and feed us the truth today, we pray in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

You can have a seat.

If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up to 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

2 Corinthians chapter 5.

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

And uh we begin a new series today entitled Questions Christians Ask.

Questions Christians Ask.

And we'll talk about a bunch of different questions.

I want to talk, start off today talking about a question that can be like, you can feel kind of like, oh, dude, that's like a downer.

But actually it's very much an upper.

The question I want to talk about today is what happens when we die?

What happens when we die?

And so if you have a Bible, I want you to kind of follow along.

So I want you to see some things in the Bible and mark them.

If you don't have a Bible, there's one on your row there.

Uh, you can take it, you can mark in it and take it home with you.

We'll get some others to replace that.

Amen?

Uh and so, oh, we'll talk about different questions, but today, and here's why I want to talk about this question while you're finding 2 Corinthians.

It's because every one of you in the this is profound.

Don't miss this.

Look at me.

Here's why I'm talking about what happens when we die.

And number one reason, I'll give you three reasons.

Number one, because every one of you in this room is going to die.

I know that's a news flash.

I've been in the hospital before with somebody's grandmother that was 96 and died, and a guy comes out of the room and he's offended.

Like, how could God let this happen?

And I'm standing there supposed to be the preacher that's like, you know, comforting, and I'm like, hey man, she's 96, okay?

She's shriveled up.

It's like a raisin with feet in there.

Are you kidding me?

She's been wanting to go to heaven for the past 10 years.

Y'all been artificially keeping her alive by dragging around here, hooking up these machines.

I mean, are you what?

Uh but but that's the first reason, because you're going to die.

And here's not just that.

I want you to have a sense of peace and perspective and understanding, okay?

Uh second reason is because before you die, you're going to experience death.

You're going to lose people.

People that you know and love, people in your family, friends of yours are going to lose loved ones.

They're going to come to work on Monday and they're going to be all day like, what's up?

They're going to say, My dad died.

And you need to know what to say, okay?

Because what you don't want to say is what I hear all the time.

Well, they read poems and stuff at funerals.

Uh, well, you know, don't cry for me.

I'm still here.

I'm in the babbling brook.

I'm in the sunrise.

I'm in the tree.

No, you're not.

That's pantheism, okay?

That's not a biblical theology of human of humanity or of death.

And here's the last reason I'm talking about this, and then we'll jump into the text.

It's because the Bible says that death is intended to glorify God.

Death is intended.

You say, what do you mean?

Uh you don't have to turn there, but Jesus is talking to Peter after he asked Peter, you know, do you love me?

And he's like, You know I love you.

I'm your man, Jesus.

And he said, Feed my sheep.

Peter, do you love me?

Yeah, I love you.

Tend my lambs.

Peter, do you love me?

Jesus, this is like the third time, man.

Yeah, I love you.

Feed my sheep.

And then he says, Hey, when you were young, you dressed yourself, you went where you wanted, but when you get older, somebody will take you by the hand and lead you where you don't want to go, and they'll stretch out your arms.

And what Jesus was saying was he was telling Peter how he was going to die, because Peter was crucified upside down.

He stretched out his arms and died.

And he's, and the Bible even says, and this he said to show by what kind of death he would glorify God.

Understanding what the Bible says about death enables us to glorify God when it comes time to die, not live with a sense of fear.

Hebrews chapter 2, verse 15 says that Christ, having died, has conquered death, and he has liberated those who lived in bondage to fear all their life.

Hebrews 2:15

You don't have to live in this bondage to fear or this uncertainty, which is why I talk kick off this series talking about what happens when we die.

This is what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 1.

2 Corinthians 5:1

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling.

If indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.

For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened, not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

For he who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

So we are always of good courage.

We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.

Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Let me stop right there.

I don't have time to preach this, but let me just say this.

Sometimes you can read things in the Bible, like people talking about being excited about going to heaven.

He says, We'd rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

And you can feel guilty, like, I don't feel that way.

Look at me.

There's not many days in the week I think, you know what?

I'd like to be in heaven right now.

There's a lot of days I think I'd like to be on a golf course right now.

There's a lot of days I think I look forward to going, like a friend of mine took me to Liberty Kitchen this past week down on San Felipe inside the loop.

Has anybody ever been there?

Shaka Khan.

Let me just tell you, okay?

He says, hey, let me order for you.

And he orders, and this is gonna sound horrible, but it was like a touchdown in my mouth.

I was like, bingo.

He ordered, and they brought out deviled eggs with a fried oyster on top and some bacon jam you put on that.

I went home and told my wife, and she's like, shut your mouth.

And I said, and if you're good, I'll take you.

Yeah.

And so, guess what?

I want to go to heaven when I die, but I also want to go to Liberty Kitchen and eat lunch again.

Amen.

Yeah.

And so here's what I'm saying.

When the Bible says, he says, we'd rather be away from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

Here's why.

Because your faith becomes scythe then.

And so don't beat yourself up unnecessarily like, oh man, I stink because I'm not today kind of going.

You know what some of y'all are looking forward to?

You sorry secular rascals.

You're looking forward to leaving here like your hair's on fire as soon as we're done.

Running home, putting on your sweats.

You know you got them sweats, them night sweats that you don't let anybody see you in.

You go to Walmart at midnight in, okay?

That sweatshirt that's all holy and worn out, you're gonna get that bad boy on.

And if you're a woman with long hair, you're gonna put your hair up like you do, drop that thing down on there, and you're gonna plop on the couch or some queso, and you're gonna watch the cowboys.

Yeah.

I know you Texan fans are kind of like, uh, what's that?

Uh uh.

Cowboys would be a team that wins.

Unlike your team.

But anyway, I digress.

And so, here's the thing.

Shh, hey, hey, hey, your church, stop laughing.

Uh it's not this morbid obsession, but it's this informed perspective that the Bible calls us to.

Let's just read on.

He says, so, because this is true.

Verse 6.

So we are always of good courage.

We know that while we're at home in the body, we're away from the Lord.

For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and home with the Lord, because that's when our faith becomes sight.

So whether we're at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what is done in the body, whether good or evil.

Let me just give you four things that the Bible says, and we'll come back to the text and look at other texts.

Once you have a Bible open so you can see this, never, look at me, I'm being serious here.

Never listen to any preacher tell you something without showing you where it is in the Bible.

Okay?

Be like the Bereans.

They would hear Paul and they'd just take it to the Word, and they'd go, we want to hear you again because you're talking right out of the Bible.

Four things about what happens when we when we die.

Number one, our fate is sealed.

Our fate is sealed.

There's nothing that can be done about the spiritual status of a dead person.

No prayers offered for the dead.

You can't give money to the church and make any kind of difference.

You can't.

I've had people ask me, well, if I got in church and it was good, would that help my grandpa in the afterlife?

And I'm like, no, your grandfather's fate is sealed already.

And and and and here's the thing, I don't want to be the jerk or the hard-hearted guy, but you're not helping people by giving them sentiment at the expense of truth.

Let me say that again.

You're not helping people if you give them sentiment at the expense of truth.

You say, I don't know what you mean.

If you're in 2 Corinthians, go to the left, to the book of Luke.

I want to just show you something about where I get that our fate is sealed.

I didn't just make that up on my own or read it in some book.

I did.

I read it in the Bible.

Uh but but here's the Bible.

The Bible tells a story.

Jesus tells a story in Luke chapter 16.

Luke 16 · chapter mention

I'll start reading verse 22.

He says there was a rich man that lived in purple and fine linen every day.

And there's also a poor man who laid outside at the gate begging for food that fell from the rich man's table.

And they both died.

And the Bible says that the rich man went to hell, not because he was rich, because people don't go to hell because they're rich or poor, Republican or Democrat.

Look at me.

There's one reason people go to hell, because they don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

They don't trust in Christ.

They don't say, Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me, okay?

There's a lot of things that the Bible doesn't talk about or doesn't speak to or prohibit that people live in fear of.

But the one thing the Bible makes clear is the only way to get to heaven is through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

No bones about it, okay?

So they both die.

The rich man goes to hell, not because he was rich, because he didn't know Christ.

He trusted in his stuff more than he trusted in who Jesus was.

The poor man went to heaven, not because he was poor.

By the way, if you have a hard life here on this earth, you don't get a hall pass to heaven.

If you died tragically, you don't get a hall pass to heaven.

You go to heaven because you have a relationship with Christ.

So we'll pick up the story, Luke chapter 16, verse 22.

Luke 16:22

The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side.

The rich man also died and was buried in Hades, in hell, being in torment.

He lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his side.

And he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in the water and cool my tongue, for I'm in anguish in this flame.

But Abraham said, Child, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things.

But now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.

And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.

And he said, Then.

This is the rich man.

And he said, Then.

Then is an acknowledgement of an unchangeable fact.

And what is the unchangeable fact?

The unchangeable fact is what Abraham said.

Between you and us, a great chasm has been fixed.

And no one can go from here to you, and no one can go from where you are to here.

See why?

Because death seals a person's fate.

We've got to stop preying on people's superstitions and trying to scare people and get them to do stuff on the basis of how it might benefit their dead loved ones.

That is not the truth.

Because our fate has been sealed.

He says, then I beg you, Father, to send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them lest they also come to this place of torment.

Our fate is sealed.

That's the first thing that happens when a person dies.

Now, I say this not to be crass, not to be inappropriate, but instead to bring life into perspective, okay?

I said this to our men at breakfast the other day.

I'm 50 years old.

I've got more life behind me than I've got in front of me.

I am probably not gonna live to be a hundred, okay?

I don't know in this jacked-up world I want to be around in 50 years, to be honest with you.

And so I I live with a certain amount of gusto, okay?

I have fantasized about them deviled eggs with that fried oyster on it with that bacon jelly.

And by the way, I didn't know they made bacon, it ain't bacon jelly like sweet.

It was like warm and tart and had bacon in it.

And I just thought, man, I would smear this all over my face like beauty cream if it wouldn't be inappropriate.

But my friend would be sitting there kind of going, I'm sorry, he doesn't get out much.

This is not good.

But I looked on the menu for something that had that on it and ordered that.

Just because I wanted more.

See how I got my way?

More of that.

Why am I telling you that?

I I I want to live life.

Because I don't know.

The Bible says no end's promise tomorrow.

I want to drink deeply from all that God has for me.

I want to love my wife passionately.

I I don't want to just get to be 50 and then 60, and well, you know, hell, my back hurts.

I don't got anything.

Why?

Because I'm gonna die one day and my fate is gonna be sealed.

They're gonna kick dirt on me and go back to the church and eat potato salad.

And I want to get everything I can out of this life while I'm still alive, okay?

That's why I say that, hey, let's begin with the obvious.

See, to suggest that anything else, well, we'll we'll get to that in a minute.

Let me just say, point number one, what happens when we die, our fate is sealed.

Point number two, we go immediately into God's presence.

We go immediately, as a Christian, you go immediately into God's presence.

At death, which is a cessation of life, there's a separation of the soul from the body.

And your spirit goes to heaven and it's in the presence of God immediately.

Now, the people in our church, somebody stopped me this morning, uh uh, and she said her husband died, she goes, it was six years ago, uh that you know that that AC died.

Toby Garner, whatever lays.

I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Doesn't seem like it's been that long.

I've been in the room with people in the church who lost loved ones, lost children, lost wives, lost husbands, in tragic car accidents.

And I've been able to look at them because of the authority of what the Bible says, the truth of the Bible, to look at them and say, you know, here's the only comforting thing you have right now.

So hold on to this.

She's in a better place right now.

And they look at me and they say, sometimes they say, How do you know?

I've been I've been in the emergency room when a person's uh is passed away, and I walk out and somebody said, Now I heard you telling, you know, uh uh that man, because his wife, there's a lady in our church, never smoked, never did anything, died of lung cancer.

Slow, painful death.

I made many trips.

There's not a time I go to Methodist down the med center that I don't walk in there and think, this is where I sat and talked to Judy Privet.

And she looked at me and said, Am I dying, Neil?

And I said, Yes, you are.

It's the prognosis is not good because everyone around her was like, Oh, Jesus is gonna heal you.

Hey, look at me.

Jesus ain't gonna heal everybody.

Sometimes dying is the healing.

And we gotta stop making it sound like, and there's a lot of you know, really spiritual people.

I'm believing God for a miracle.

I'm believing for you to state the obvious.

And so I said, Yeah, you need to get your affairs in order.

And she said, Grab me and she said, Thank you.

Thank you.

Just somebody tell me the truth, because there's some conversations I want to have.

And I said, Absolutely.

But on the day came and she passed, and it was sad, and then three of our elders ran down there, because it was one of our elders' wives at the time.

We ran down there and sat with him, and I looked at him, I said, Your only comfort is the fact that your your your wife is in a better place.

That's not like a cliche that preachers read out of a book.

It's because Paul says right here, look at verse 8 of 2 Corinthians 5.

He said, Yes, we have good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

To be away from the body is to be at home with the Lord.

If you want to do something interesting after the cowboys win, amen?

Uh and whatever team plays after that.

Tonight before you go to bed, go back and read these first eight verses and see how many times Paul uses the word home.

Home, home.

We're at home in the body, we'd rather be at home with the Lord.

And so when a per when we die, when a Christian dies, he goes immediately into God's presence.

Now, why do I keep saying that?

Because I want this to be a great comfort to anyone in this room who's lost a loved one, who is a believer, who is a Christian.

The assurance of the fact that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

That doesn't mean it doesn't sting, that doesn't mean you're not disoriented, you're not confused, that doesn't mean you don't grieve.

But the Bible says this we don't grieve as those without hope.

What is our hope that our loved one, the moment their life ended, they were in the presence of God.

Okay?

Because you say, what do you mean?

Again, when life ceases, there's a separation from the soul of the soul from the body.

Your soul, your spirit goes to be with God.

Your body goes in the ground.

That's what Paul talks about, this tent.

He said, this earthly tent.

If the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God.

I had a lady stop me one time.

I was speaking in a church, and she said, My son is MIA in Vietnam.

They've never found his body.

His buddies believe that he was taken and he lost it.

She goes, What's going to come of my son in the resurrection?

And I said, You know what?

The Bible actually speaks to that.

In Revelation chapter 20, it talks about on that great judgment day that says the sea will give up its dead.

Revelation 20 · chapter mention

And death and Hades will give up their dead.

So people, death, or death, this death holds you in bondage.

So I want you to know you don't have to live in bondage anymore because death's gonna give up his dead.

Your son's body, and she goes, Well, what's if his body's not in good shape?

It's probably not.

But God doesn't need your body to be in good shape.

Why?

Because you're gonna get a glorified body, not a new body, but your body is gonna be the way God intended it to be all along.

I know what you're thinking right now.

You're thinking, is yours gonna have hair?

Who needs that, my man?

Okay.

Now why what do you mean we go immediately into God's presence?

Uh there's a couple verses from the Bible.

Luke 23, 43, Jesus says to the thief on the cross, today you'll be with me in paradise.

Uh Philippians 1.23, Paul says, My desire is to depart and to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.

But here's the one I want you to turn to.

If you're in 2 Corinthians, go to the right, to the book of Hebrews.

Hebrews chapter 12.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

It'll come up on the screen if you don't have a Bible, so you don't feel left out.

Because there's two schools of thought around this.

What happens when you die?

Some people, and I'll I'll get to this in a minute, but some people don't believe what I'm telling you.

I'm just going to be candid and give you full disclosure.

Uh, but here's why I believe that when you die, your spirit goes immediately to be in the presence of God.

This is to uh Hebrews chapter 12, verse 22.

Hebrews 12:22

It says, But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city.

Now, what he's given is a picture of uh of heaven.

And he says, But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels and festival gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Did you hear it?

Let me just read it again.

Look at verse 23.

After he says, You've come, excuse me, uh, you've come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the innumerable angels and festival gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the, what's the next word?

And to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.

Look at me.

This is why I believe that the Bible teaches when a Christian dies, they go immediately into the presence of God.

So that means if you're if you suffered, you lost a loved one to tragedy or anything like that, your greatest comfort is they're not continuing to suffer.

As soon as their life ended, they were in the presence of God.

I believe that's a teaching all through the Bible.

And you say, Oh, uh, okay, why do you tell us that?

Because there's two implications of this truth.

Number one, there's no such thing as purgatory.

Now, let me just stop for just a second and say this.

We don't disrespect other faiths here, other denominations.

We know that uh I have friends all across the board.

I have a Lutheran friend that's kind of like, well, you know, you're not very much of a Baptist, because I've heard you talk before.

I did a funeral the other day, and about 20 people came up to me and said, You're not a Baptist preacher, are you?

You realize when you get to heaven there's not gonna be like a Baptist section over here where we don't drink, we don't play cards, we don't go see movies, and over here's the church of Christ, and it's very quiet, and they have no musical instruments over there.

It's not gonna be that way, right?

Hello?

Some of you are like, watch it now, you're talking about the Baptist.

Matter of fact, I told those people the funeral, I said, listen, I'm a they said, one lady come up to me and she goes, You ain't a Baptist.

I can guarantee you that.

And I said, Well, keep me posted.

I said, actually, I'm a Christian and I worship at a Baptist church.

Not because I think the Baptists have it figured out, I just think that's where I get taught the word.

Well, who's the pastor?

Ah, some bald guy.

That has a love affair with bacon in all its forms.

And she said, Me and my friends were talking during the whole time, and we couldn't figure out what you are.

My wife says the same thing, ma'am.

Well, we're gonna figure it out and get back to you.

Let me know.

I might be a presbo bacterio costal, I don't know.

Why do I say that?

Because what I'm fixing to tell you, I'm not making fun of another religion.

I'm not poking fun, I'm just telling the truth.

Okay?

I don't apologize for that.

And so the implications of this truth, when you learn something from the Bible, there's a reason.

It's like throwing a rock in a pond.

It's gonna the ripples are gonna reach the shore.

And so when the ripples reach the shore, you gotta be prepared for that, okay?

So the implications of this truth, this truth being when a Christian dies, they are immediately in the presence of God.

Their spirit immediately goes into the presence of God.

That means there's no such thing as purgatory.

You say, Well, what do you mean?

Purgatory, some people teach that purgatory is a place where the souls of believers go to be further purified from sin until they're ready to be admitted into heaven.

Some people believe that.

Some people are taught that as small children.

Here's why we don't believe that, because the Bible never mentions purgatory.

But here's another reason.

If there's another place, kind of a holding place, a waiting room where you go and you suffer until your soul is purified, then what you have to say, what you're saying by that is that the death of Jesus, the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was not enough for your sin.

And that's not what the Bible teaches.

The Bible teaches that when Christ died on the cross as payment for my sin, he said himself, it is finished.

Nothing else has to be added to his sacrifice to make it sufficient.

It's sufficient in itself.

Second implication of this truth is that there's no such thing as what's called soul sleep.

I started to tell you a minute ago that, you know, there's two schools of thought for some people.

Some people believe what I believe, and I understand the Bible to teach is that when you die, you're immediately in the presence of God.

Some people believe that when you die, you just go in the grave and it's called soul sleep.

You say, What is soul sleep?

It's this state of unconscious existence.

And the next thing that they're aware of is when Christ returns.

It's like when they die, because the Bible refers to people that are dead as sleeping.

It says, all those who sleep in Christ.

So they act like, hey, they're just sleeping.

They have no sense of time or their awareness of the passage of time, but they're just there.

And when Jesus comes, then they're going to be resurrected, and then it's all going to start for them.

Well, here's why I don't believe this.

Go back to what I said earlier, uh, where Jesus is talking to the thief on the cross.

Can you imagine Jesus looking at him and saying, Today you'll be with me in an unconscious slumber until I come again?

That's comforting.

Or Paul saying in Philippians 1, My desire is to depart and be in this unconscious existence where I have no recollection of anything until one day in the future when I don't know when it's going to be.

It would be hard to impose that over all the passages in the Bible.

Or the passages that we read to start off today in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 8, where Paul clearly says to be absent from the body is to be present with Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:8

If you believe in soul sleep, then you have to believe in a sleeping Jesus.

Because it's the only place you can be with him.

Yet the Bible says of God that he never sleeps and he never slumbers.

The Bible says of Jesus, he's at the right hand of God the Father right now.

So to be in the presence of Jesus, you have to be where he is, correct?

I mean, I'm not an engineer, but I can figure that out.

So that's why I believe what I believe.

Third thing that happens when we die, we'll be conscious of where we are.

We'll be conscious of where we are.

This is Revelation chapter 6.

Revelation 6 · chapter mention

You say, what do you mean?

Because a lot of people ask, well, hey, well, you know, will we, because a lot of people think we're gonna go just to heaven and heaven is set on a cloud somewhere, and just kind of this ethereal.

The Bible says it in anything but.

You say, what do you mean?

This is Revelation chapter 6.

Revelation 6 · chapter mention

This is how I know we'll be conscious of where we are.

I'll start reading verse 9.

He says, when he opened the fifth seal, he says, I saw under the altar the souls of those who have been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.

These are referred to as martyrs.

Now, by the way, martyrs are not what took place in France this past week, okay?

In Paris.

That's not martyrs.

That's that's misdirected zeal, but it's not martyrdom.

He said, How do you know?

He says, He says, I saw the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.

They cried out with a loud voice, O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?

And they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

These are people who died for their faith.

The Bible refers to them as martyrs.

And I don't have time to preach this, but don't miss the fact that these are people that lost their life because of their faith, and they still refer to God as sovereign.

They didn't shake their fist at God and go, we didn't sign up for this.

No.

They lost their life and they said, Oh, sovereign Lord, how long?

Now, what am I telling you?

I'm telling you, we'll be conscious of where we are.

No one's gonna get to heaven and go, is this heaven?

No, it's Iowa.

No.

No.

People are conscious of where we are.

Look back earlier.

You're smart people.

We read in Luke chapter 16, and remember about the rich man Lazarus?

Luke 16 · chapter mention

The rich man looked up and he recognized Lazarus.

You know the question I get asked all the time, hey, are we gonna be like married in heaven?

Depends on if you want to be.

No, that's not the answer.

I don't know.

Some of you, some of you ladies are kind of like, eh, I'm 48 years, I'm good.

And I said, here's the Bible says there'll be no marriage in heaven.

But here's why there'll be no marriage in heaven, and you'll recognize each other, but marriage is the the marriage is a covenant.

I'll tell you, if you come to me for premarital counseling, I'll teach you this.

Marriage is a covenant, it's meant to symbolize the relationship of Christ with his bride, the church.

When you're in heaven, you no longer need that symbol because you're you're living in the reality of what that represented.

You are with your bride, Christ.

But you're gonna recognize each other.

And the life you lived here on this earth is gonna be recognized.

Fourth thing that happens when we die, our bodies will rise at the second coming.

Our bodies will rise at the second coming.

You say, uh, uh, what do you mean?

I referenced this earlier.

Let me kind of close the loop and we'll be done today.

When a Christian dies, their spirit immediately goes into the presence of God.

That is our that is our greatest comfort, okay?

In life and in death.

You're not this, you know, just out there floating around.

Your body goes into the grave.

The Bible teaches when Christ comes back, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 says he's gonna descend with a shout.

1 Thessalonians 4 · chapter mention

Uh and he comes back, the dead in Christ will rise.

And your body, you're gonna get that's when Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 5.

He says, We groan, you know, we want to, we don't want to be unclothed, but we want to be clothed.

What he's saying is, is hey, when we die, we take off this earthly body, all right?

We strike this tent.

But when Christ comes, we're gonna put on our, he says, what is mortal is swallowed up by life.

Remember that in 2 Corinthians 5?

So what is mortal is swallowed up.

So when Christ comes, you your body is resurrected from the grave and it's a glorified body.

It's the eternal body you're gonna have, and your body and your spirit are joined together, and you live forever.

Now, some people are like, okay, so that's great.

I don't want to be up there in heaven forever.

You know how the biggest problem with heaven is teenagers, they have the most underrealized eschatology, and I don't tell them that.

I don't know why I keep speaking at youth camps.

I'm speaking to one next summer.

I tell the guy, I'll be 51 years old.

He goes, Man, my kids love you.

Because you say crazy stuff.

That's called the Bible goofus.

But anyway, I was I was at a youth camp, and a kid, he was just kind of standing there, and I was like, hey, how's your week going?

He goes, Um, I don't think I really believe all this.

I mean, because I mean, it's kind of like you guys talk about it, and like the ultimate thing is we get to go up there and sing forever.

And I said, What'd you say?

He goes, Well, that's all I've heard all I've ever heard it talk about is it's gonna be like this big worship service in heaven where we just sing forever.

I don't know if I want to do that, so going to hell doesn't bother me.

And I just thought, here is an underrealized eschatology.

But I didn't tell him that.

Hey, 15-year-old, your eschatology is a little underdeveloped.

I just said, okay, how do I incarnate, how do I say this in a way, oh okay, here we go.

And I said, So what do you think?

He said, Well, I'm just we're gonna be up there in the clouds somewhere and we're gonna sing forever.

And I think we sing too long at this camp.

I said, Me too.

I wish we just had all preaching.

He goes, Yeah.

Like, absolutely.

He's like, I said, so that's what you think it is.

And you see, and I said, How long have you been to church?

My whole life.

And at that point, I just hang on a second.

Let me get a breath.

Because here's the thing: we're too busy talking about marriage and money and all these little funnel topics, and we don't teach our people what the Bible teaches about things.

So when his friend at school is killed, like those three kids are killed out in Manville in that fiery car crash, the other classmates have nothing to say.

That's it has weight on it.

It's just, eh, well, they're in the clouds and in the sunbeam and in the flowers in the field.

No.

And so I said, so you really, and I said, let me ask you a question.

What if, and just open your mind up to this, what if God set it up to where you live, you die, your spirit goes to heaven, your body goes in the earth, when Christ comes back, you you're resurrected, you get a glorified body, and there is a period of time we spend in heaven.

Let's say maybe it's a thousand years, just for a round number.

And he goes, Okay, I could do a thousand years.

Thank you for your permission.

Uh and so, so it's a thousand years, and we'll call it just for the sake of you and me, the thousand-year reign of Christ.

Yeah, that's awesome.

Wow.

And so we're we're there, and then maybe after that, after God issues out justice and deals with all the wrongs in the world, and and and and maybe, maybe if God could create a new heaven and a new earth, and and after being in heaven for that thousand years, we come and we live on earth for the rest of our life, and not only are we have glorified bodies, but earth is perfect the way God created it to be before sin entered in.

What would that be like?

That'd be awesome if that were true.

Who's your youth minister?

He goes, Why do you want to know?

Because I I want to harm him.

Because here's a 15-year-old kid that thinks that God's plan is just for you when you die to go up to the sky somewhere and just float around and sing.

And so I'm thinking, how do I bring this down to where this cat lives?

And so I said, Hey, I want you to do me a favor.

He goes, Okay, I said, I want you to sing right now.

And he said, You want me to sing?

I said, Yeah, can you sing one of the songs we've been singing this week, like a chorus or something?

Yeah.

I said, So just get at it.

And he started singing, singing about Tiz.

I said, stop, stop, stop.

If I had to stand next to that forever, that would be hell for me.

And God loves me too much to make you, you got to get a glorified body and a glorified voice, okay?

God loves me too much to make me stand next to that.

And he said, Whoa, more McDonald's, I'm not making fun of you.

I'm saying what you believe is too small.

And I said, So here's what I want you to do: go play football, basketball, stuff today, whatever you want to do.

And then before you go to the service tonight, read Revelation 21, where John sees a picture in heaven and he says, I saw a new heaven and a new earth coming down.

So that night at the service, he walked in and he's like, All that stuff you're saying is in there.

I said, Hey, God's smarter than me and you.

And he has a plan for your life beyond this life.

Why do I tell you all of that?

To tell you the same thing.

God's smarter than me and you.

You may just be like, oh my goodness.

Death is not sometimes the issue.

For some of us, let me just be real candid.

The suffering that accompanies the death of people we love is what makes us mad at God.

Be careful that that bitter experience of watching people you love suffer doesn't become like this pair of sunglasses you put on and you wear all the time, and it tense how you look at spiritual things.

My grandmother suffered a horrible death.

And God's still good, and she's in heaven.

I had to tell my family, hey, the moment her life ended, she was in the presence of God.

Well, it's great if you believe that.

Yes, it's great if I believe that.

But the flip side of that coin I said to one of my brothers is it's horrible if you don't.

Because the Bible teaches it's just one or two places.

When people die, they go to heaven or they go to hell.

There's no in between, there's no state or status in between.

It's a very clear reality.

So that's why I kick off this series of questions Christian asks by saying, Hey, what happens when we die?

Because I want you to not live in fear of that, but also I want you to seize the opportunities you have to speak into that.

Okay?

Stand to your feet, I'll speak a blessing over you.

Hold your hands out.

Your God is not just a person, it's not just a being.

He's also a preparable place.

So that where he is, you may be also in life and in death.

You never have to be out of his presence.

If you're ever present, God.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.