How to Face Death, Unafraid

Now, the title of this presentation of this sermon is

how to Face Death Unafraid. Now. I understand death is

a difficult topic, and we rarely talk about it about death,

especially our own, because our experience is that it always

happens to someone else. I mean, think about it. Everyone

you've ever known or I've known, either directly, indirectly or tangentially,

who has died did so before you. All you've ever known,

all we've ever known is being alive, all right, So

death feels like an event that belongs to others, not

to us. I'm not trying to diminish death. I'm not

trying to diminish the loss of our loved ones, all right.

We've all lost loved ones father, mother, sister, brother, husband, wife, son,

or or friend or relative. But I want to answer

this question today, what exactly happens to us when we die?

What should we expect? Now, as the title indicates, we

can face death unafraid, and not through bravado or gritting

our teeth, but in a peaceful reassurance on the promises

of God. And as we answer this question of what

happens to us, We're also going to answer another question,

and that is is it possible to communicate with someone

after they die? That is, can we reach out to

someone who's died and communicate with them, or can they

reach back out to us. Now we need to answer

that question as well, because our adversary, the devil, will

deceive and mislead those who do not have a biblical

understanding of death. But those who have a biblical knowledge

of what the Bible says about death need not be

charmed by his false wonders. Now, I'm using the Bible

as the ultimate authority on this subject, because the author

of the Bible is the one who has the answers.

When he speaks of life and death and immortality. He

knows not only because he's the creator of all things,

but because he's the only one who has defeated death.

Jesus says these words, comforting, reassuring words to John the

revelator on the Island of Patmos, Revelation one point seventeen.

Do not be afraid. I am the first and the

last and the living one. And I was dead, and

behold I am alive forevermore. And I have the keys

of death and of Hades. Not to have the keys

of death and of hades means you have power and

authority over them. That's Christ's divine prerogative. We're going to

unpack this how to face death unafraid? How are we

going to break this down? Here's our roadmap. I want

to talk about life first. How does the Bible define life?

Because we need to know and understand life before we

can understand what death is. Then I'm going to cover

the first lie, the very first lie, the one that

Satan is going to be is going to use to

deceive many, and it's right at the beginning in the

opening chapters of Genesis. Then I'm going to move on

to some misused applications of death, misused parables, misused verses

that people will go to and not demonstrate they have

an understanding of what death is all about. And then

I want to tell you a story of someone who

tried to contact the dead and the consequences of it.

And then we're going to talk about God's plan. How

did God plan this all out? And why we can

face death unafraid? So what is life? Let's go to

Genesis two, verse seven, and I should say these should

be NASB. If it's not ASB, it may jump to

new King James. I'm not sure, but you can follow

along with your bibles. Genesis two seven, This is life.

Then the Lord God formed man of the dust of

the ground and breathe into his nostrils the breath of life,

and man became a living being. Right there, that's the

equation for life. Dust plus the breath of life equals

a living being, a soul, a person. That's the equation.

You need two elements. God can take the dust from

the ground, form it, shape it, breathe in his breath

of life. It's not man's breath, It's God's breath, and

man becomes a living being. He becomes a living soul.

I mean, think about this. It's kind of like a

light bulb. A light bulb is an outer enclosure, But

what do you need for it to light up? You

need power? Right, So, just as a light bulb is

an outer enclosure, Man is dust. God breathes into his

breath of life into man. Man becomes a living being.

You need power to light that light bulb bulb. If

you take the power away, you take the light away.

The encasing is still there, and it's the same thing

for man mankind. You take away the breath of life

man goes back to the dust. Notice Genesis two seven.

I should say that word living being on the screen,

living person. That Hebrew word is nefish right, and it

means person or soul, living being. Now, we don't possess souls.

We are souls. That's how the Bible teaches it. We

use it phrase all the time. We say something like, oh,

she's a good old soul. That means we're endeared to her.

She's a good person, right. Or he's a tortured soul

meaning he's in deep anguish about something. Or we go

somewhere and someone says, hey, how was it was the

store crowded? And I might say, oh, not a soul

in sight, meaning there's not a person in sight. So

we don't possess a soul. We are a soul. And

that's when the Bible speaks of a soul. The Bible

is speaking of a person. Now, did you know that

death is creation in reverse? Death is creation reverse. If

you remove the breath of God, you remove the life,

and all you have left is dust. Look at Job

thirty four, verse fourteen. If he should determine to do so,

this is God. If he should determined to do so

if he should gather to himself his spirit and his breath,

all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.

You see the equation. You remove the breath of God,

man returns to dust. Ecclesiastes three, verse nineteen. For the

fate of the sons of men and the fate of

beasts is the same. As one dies, so dies the other. Indeed,

they all have the same breath, And there is no

advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity. All

go to the same place here it is all came

from the dust, and all return to the dust. Now

let's talk about the first lie. The first lie begins

with the conversation in the garden of Eden. Now God

tells Adam the consequences of disobedience. He says, if you

eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil,

you'll die. Satan immediately contradicts that clear command. Look at

Genesis two, verse sixteen. The Lord God commanded the man, saying,

from any tree of the garden you may eat freely.

But from the tree of the knowledge of good and

evil you shall not eat, for in the day that

you eat from it, you will surely die. Very clear now,

Notice the contrast with what the serpent says. In Genesis three,

verse two, the woman said to the serpent, from the

fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat.

But from the fruit of the tree which is in

the middle of the garden, God has said, you shall

not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.

The serpent said to the woman, you surely will not die.

You See the contrast. God says you will surely die,

and the serpent says, you surely will not die. First lie. Now,

Notice what God says to Adam, because he did not

obey pick it up in verse nineteen three nineteen curse

it is the ground. I'm moving on to verse nineteen

by the sweat of your face. You will eat bread

till you what return to the ground, because from it

you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust

you shall return. See Satan says, you will not surely die.

You're going to live on. But notice what God realizes

under the circumstances of what Adam has just done. He

realizes that he could reach out and stretch his hand

and take of the tree of life and live forever.

So God sends angels to guard the way to the

Tree of life. He had to protect it so Adam

and Eve would not eat from the Tree of life

because he did not want sin immortalized for them to

live forever in a sinful state. You see, man is

not immortal, right, man is mortal. Man does not possess

the characteristics of immorality to live on. The idea that

you possess immorality, immorality, the idea how that you possess immortality? Right,

it comes from the serpents. Lie right, you will surely

not die. Right. And many mistakenly believe that man goes

on to live in another state of being, of existence,

of consciousness after death. That is not what the Bible teaches.

And we're going to demonstrate from the Bible that man

returns to the dust. See, there's only one person that

has immortality, and that's Jesus Christ. That's God one Timothy

one seventeen talking of Jesus, Now to the King, eternal, immortal, invisible,

the only God to be honor, glory forever and ever

amen on Timothy six sixteen, The King of Kings and

Lord of Lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells an

unapproachable light whom no man has seen nor can see

to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. Only God

possesses immortality. Okay, so let's talk about this then. What

happens at death if we don't go on in some

state of existence or consciousness, What actually happens at death? Now?

I could spend an hour on this topic in the

Old Testament, but I'm gonna crunch it down to four verses.

Write these down four Verses two and Psalms two in Ecclesiastes.

I'm gonna mix them up right here. I'm gonna start

off with Psalms. Look at Psalms one, forty six, three

and four. Do not trust in princes in mortal man,

in whom there is no salvation, His spirit departs, He

returns to the earth in the very day. His thoughts perish.

That word perish means his thoughts are annihilated. They are

utterly destroyed. They are obliterated. Ecclesiastes nine, verse five and six.

For the living know they will die, But the day

do not know anything, nor have they any longer a

reward for their memory is forgotten. Indeed, their love, their hate,

and their zeal have already perished, and they no longer

have a share in all that is done under the sun.

Death is certain, unconscious, no memory, no emotions, no love,

no hate, no zeal, no share with the living, no

connection with the living. To more scripture Verses Psalms one fifteen,

verse seventeen. Praise of God ceases the dead. Do not

praise the Lord, nor do any who go down into silence.

Last verse Ecclesiastes nine, verse ten. Whenever your hand finds

to do, do it with all your might. For there

is no activity or planning, or knowledge or wisdom in shield.

That's the grave where you are going. No activity, no planning,

no knowledge, no wisdom. All activities and awareness of life cease.

Man does not go into a continued state of existence

at death. Now Jesus will refer to death as a sleep.

This is how he speaks of Lazarus. Let's take a

look at it. John eleven, verse eleven. Then he said, Jesus,

And after that he said to them this he said.

After that he said to them, our friend Lazarus has

fallen asleep. But I go so that I may awaken

him out of his sleep. Now I love how the

disciples respond to Jesus. The disciples said to him, Lord,

if he has fallen asleep, he'll recover, he'll wake up.

Now Jesus has spoken of his death, but they thought

he was speaking of literal sleep. So Jesus said to

them plainly, Lazarus is dead. Now. Jesus then calls him forth.

He says, Lazarus, come forth. Now he's right at the grave,

he's right at the tomb. Jesus doesn't say, Lazarus come

down from heaven. He says, Lazarus come forth, because he's

right at the grave, he's right at the tomb. And

they had already rolled the storm. And who comes forth?

Lazarus comes forth. And then but Jesus, prior to this,

he's talking to Mary, and he asks Mary a question.

Let's go to John eleven, verse twenty five. Jesus said

to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He

who believes in me will live even if he dies,

and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.

Do you believe this? Now? I ask you? Do you

believe this? Because Jesus says it, We can trust in Jesus.

Jesus has the power to give life. Only life is

through Jesus. Now I want to cover some misused verses.

We've established that God's breath plus dust equals life. Man

becomes a living being, a living soul. If you remove

the breath of God, you remove the life, and man

returns to the dust in death. Our thoughts perish, no consciousness,

no memory, no emotions, no love, no zeal, no share

with the living, no connection with the living. Praise of

God ceases, no activity, no planning, no knowledge, no wisdom.

All activities and awareness of life cease because only Christ

has immortal Now many people will take a look at

those scriptures and say, yes, yes, I know all that,

that all makes sense. But despite that, we go straight

to heaven. The body might turn to dust, but we

meet with Christ and there are I'm going to cover

three of the most popular passages in parables where people

will point to and say, no, look, we go straight

to heaven. Let's go through them real quickly. The first

is the thief on the Cross Luke twenty three, verse

forty two. And he was saying, this is the thief

on the cross, one of the thieves. Jesus, remember me

when you come into your kingdom. And he said to

him truly, I say to you, today you will be

with me in paradise. There it is today, you'll be

with me in paradise. Now, at a surface level reading,

this verse seems to apply that sometime later after their death,

later that day, the thief and Jesus would be in paradise.

That's a natural first order reading. However, just take a

look at another passage of scriptures to see the contradiction

in this. Jesus died, buried, rose on the third day.

According to the scriptures of the Gospels, he rises on

the third day, and he has a conversation with Mary.

Notice this in John twenty. I'm just going to read

verse seventeen. Jesus said to her, stop clinging to me,

for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But

go to my brother and say to them, I ascend

to my father and your father, and my God and

your God. You see, Jesus didn't go to paradise right

after he died. He went to the grave. Now he

rose in the third day. Mary interacts with him in

the garden, says Rabonai, teacher starts hugging him. Jesus like,

stop clinging to me. I haven't ascended to the Father. Yet,

so why did Jesus say to the thief, Surely, I

tell you today, you will be with me in paradise.

It's all in the comma. See in the Greek there's

no comma. Because if I if Jesus says, truly, I

say to you, pause, pause, today you'll be with me

in paradise, the natural inclination to say, oh, Jesus saying oh,

later on today, I'm going to be with you in paradise.

But what if he says, truly, I say to you today, pause, pause,

you will be with me in paradise. See, there's no comma.

In the Greek, he's saying, truly, I tell you today,

in this humiliation and suffering that we're both experienced on

the cross, I say to you right now, will be

with me in paradise. It's not saying of when, it's

saying of a certainty, you will be with me in paradise.

That's something we can trust. Now. I know this is

a difficult topic, but I want to go through these

scripture verses because Satan is going to misuse these verses

in end times and is going to deceive many across

the world. The second is Paul talks about being absent

from the body, being present with the Lord. Let's take

a look at that closely. Two Corinthians five, Verses one

through four. For we know that if the earthly tent

which is our house, which is our house, is torn down?

Now for we if we know, let me just pause,

For we know that if the earthly tent, which is

our house, is torn down. He's talking about this earthly tent.

Paul is a tent maker, kind of uses this in

a inappropriate way. Our tent our earthly bodies. Right, if

that's torn down, we have a building from God, a

house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. See

the comparison earthly tent flesh. But we have a house

from God, praise the Lord, not made with hands, made

by God, eternal in the heavens. All right, verse two.

For indeed, in this house he's talking about the present.

We grown longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven.

Do you see the comparison earthly heavenly verse three. In

as much as we having put it on, we will

not be found naked. Oh that's different. Wait, I'm clothed

in by early tent. I can be clothed by heavenly

building not made by hands from God. But he doesn't

want to be found naked. That's a third state there.

And notice what he says. For Indeed, while we are

in this tent, we've grown being burdened, because we do

not want to be unclothed, but to be clothes bathed,

so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.

You see, there's three states. You can be clothed at

your early tent. You'd be clothed that you're heavenly tent,

or you're heavenly building from God. Or you could be

naked and unclothed. And that's what he's talking about. That's death.

He doesn't want to be naked and unclothed. Notice verse six. Therefore,

being always of good courage, and knowing that while we

are at home in the body the flesh, we are

absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not

by sight. We are of good courage, I say, and

prefer notice the language there, and prefer rather to be

absent from the body and be home with the Lord. Therefore,

we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent,

to be pleasing with him. That's what Paula is saying.

He's saying, I would prefer to be in heaven, in

my heavenly body, not in this earthly tent. And I

don't want to be unclothed, because that's death. Now, this

third passage, I want to break this down, and this

is where I'm going to go about. I need to

take about ten minutes on this third passage because it

is it's been misused, it's been misapplied, and we want

to be accurate and precise with the Word of God.

Thank you, and more than any other of the passages

in the Bible, this is the go to and it

supports the idea of the immortality of the soul. All right,

many will point to this particular passage, this particular parable,

and what about what happens after death? This is what happens,

and it's supposed and it's supposed to demolish all discussion

on the topic. See there it is look at the parable,

and it's the parable of the rich man in Lazaruth. Now,

in the interest of time, I'm going to take some

time to break this down. But I'm not going to

read the whole passage. I'm just going to summarize the

story for me. I believe many are very familiar with it,

but I'll summarize. A rich man, dressed in purple and

fine linen, lived in luxury while a poor, sick man

named Lazareth lay at his gait. He longed for the

crumbs from the rich man's table, and the dogs licked

his swords. Now they die, and the angels carry Lazareth

to Abraham's side of comfort, and the rich man went

to Hades torment. Now the rich man begged for Lazareth

to cool his tongue, but Abraham said, your fortunes are reversed.

You had what was good, he had what was bad.

Things are reversed. And oh, by the way, there's a

big fixed chasm that you can't cross, so it's impossible

for him to cool your tongue. Then the rich man

pressed even further. He says, well, send Lazareth to warn

my five brothers to repent and change before they end

up in the same place of torment. And Abraham replies,

they have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen. If

they won't keyed scripture, they won't be persuaded. Even if

someone rises from the dead. That's the parable two scenes.

One scene represents the present life and the second scene

represents the next life. Let's just review a couple of points.

A surface level reading would be this, The souls or

spirits of men are in a state of consciousness after death.

Rewards are given immediately right away. Now hold on to

that thought. Rewards are given immediately right away. The good

go to Abraham's bosom, and the bad go to a

place of torment. Both groups, by the way, are in

this parable, are with an earshot of each other, and

they can talk to each other. They can communicate, even

though there's a great fixed chasm they can't cross over. Now,

I want to reassure you that this patch is not

talking about the state of the dead. It's not talking

about the proximity between Heaven and Hell. It's not a

biography of the rich man in Lazaruth. It's neither history.

It's not a real story. It's not designed to be

understood literally. It is a parable, and this will be

easy to see once we unpack the truth of its meaning.

Now we've already established that the dead know nothing. We've

already seen that there's no activity, no knowledge, there's no planning,

there's no wisdom, there's no life, there's nothing. The dead

do not praise the Lord. They return to the dust.

Mankind returns to the dust when he dies. Now there's contradictions.

Remember the rewards in this particular parable immediately follow death.

But that's a contradiction of what Jesus would say. Jesus

says in Matthew sixteen, verse twenty seven, for the son

of man is going to come in the glory of

his father and with his angels. This is a second coming.

For the son of man is going to come in

the glory of his Father with his angels. Notice this,

and will then repay every man according to his deeds.

So rewards don't happen until the second coming of Christ.

Let's unpack the meaning of this parable. The parable was

directed to the Pharisees. They would not have been surprised

by the idea of an afterlife. They actually believed it.

They believe what many people believe today, there's an afterlife

where the soul is conscious. Right, despite having the same

Old to Testament scriptures that I just read to you,

those four key they had all the other hundreds that

I didn't even go through but they still believe Satan's

first lie, that man continues to live on and is

conscious after death. And Joseph was he would even write

about this, this Jewish historian military leader, known for his

writings on the Antiquities of the Jews, about the Jewish people,

and he portrays the Pharisees as believing in the immortality

of the soul and a system in rewards and punishment

in the after life. Jesus was already speaking to them

already what they believed. They wouldn't have been surprised by

any of that. They would have said, of course after life,

of course rewards. But what it would have shocked them

was what rich man going to torment, poor sick man

going to Abraham's bosom. That would have shocked them. Why

because they believe, if you were rich and you were

well to do, Oh you have the favor of God.

You're righteous? Are we kind of do that today? Don't we?

We discriminate? Ah, doing very well. God must be blessing that. Oh, look,

poor sick something's wrong with them. They must be sinning.

That's the way they thought. That would have shocked them.

Now there's nothing wrong. Oh, let me catch back up.

I'm sorry. Now, consider the context of the previous parable,

and I'll just summarize it for you. It was about

an unjust steward who was squandering his master's wealth. That's

the immediate parable prior to this parable of the rich

man in Lazarus, and Jesus would explain this, and I

say this to my daughters all the time. If you're

faithful and a little, you'll be faithful and much. If

you're not faithful and a little, you won't be faithful

and much. We need to train up our children in

the way that they should go small things. Now I'm

speaking to my children here. You don't know. You can't

come down from your room unless you clean your bedroom.

You have to be faithful. Look at all those things

you have, You've been blessed. Clean that up, Oh Dad,

be faithful in the small This is true for us.

I point the finger at me, Am I faithful with?

Are we faithful with all the Lord has given us?

So that's the point of that parable. So what then

is this parable about the rich man? And lazareuth teaching us? First,

men and women decide their eternal destiny in this life.

There's no probation after death. You can't switch sides once

you die. It's permanent. Second, in the parable, the rich

man neglects the poor man Lazareth, who is at his

gate and longs to be fed, who longs to be

fed even with the crumbs falling from his table. The

rich man did not use his wealth or offer anything

to Lazarus. In all of his wealth. Could he not

even spare an extra meal? Could he not meet the

needs of Lazarus. He was rich, he lived in luxury,

but he walked back and forth day to day, didn't

do anything for him. Now the question is do we

use our resources and talents and gifts that God is

entrusted to us to the benefit of others? Or do

we use it for self indulgence, to satisfy ourselves. Do

we neglect others when we had an opportunity to help them?

I should mention this. It's not a sin to be rich, right,

it's not virtuous to be poor either. Now, how one

manages what they have been entrusted with, that's the key.

Stewardship is the key. But the parable teaches us much more.

You see, it's about it's a prophetic parable about the

Jews themselves. You see, the Jews were spectacularly rich in

the word of God. They were God's chosen people, and

were given the oracles of God, supposed to be a

light to the gentiles. The gentiles would have observed the

behavior and the laws of their God with great awe.

Look at Deuteronomy four, verse six. Surely this great nation

is a wise and understanding people. For what great nation

is there that has a God so near to it

as the Lord our God whenever we call upon him?

Or what great nation is there that has statutes and

judgments as righteous as this law, this whole law which

I am setting before you today. Did the Jews share

the word of God? Did the Jews share the word

of God the bread of life with their surrounding nations. No,

you see, the Gentiles are represented by Lazaruth. They were

poor in the knowledge of God, and they longed to

feed on the crumbs which were falling from the Jewish

table of instruction about righteous living and a connection to

a living God. I should mention real quick. The rich

man was clothed in purple and linen, same colors that

the priests would wear. Purple linen, blue, gold, scarlet material.

Exodus twenty eight five noticed that the rich man looked

to Abraham. You see, the Jews jealously guarded their privileged

status as physical descendants of Abraham. John eight thirty nine.

Jews answered Jesus, and they said this. They answered him

and said, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them,

if you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham,

meaning walk in obedience, have the faith of Abraham. You see,

they placed Abraham above God, and they relied on their

family lineage relationship to Abraham for salvation. They didn't look

to Christ or the forgiveness of their sins. Now, in addition,

the rich man in torment, he wanted to warn his

how many brothers, five brothers to avoid this place of judgment,

and he wants Lazarus to be sent to them. But

Abraham said, they have Moses and the prophets. That's sufficient.

Now he continues to press the matter. He says, well,

but if someone returns back from the dead, they'll repent. Now,

did you know that when Jesus raised Lazarus, not this

Latherus of the story, but Lazarus that we talked about previously.

When he raised Latharus, the chief priests and Pharisees convey

the council on what to do with Jesus, and you

know what they decided, Let's kill him. You see, they

had witnessed Jesus's deity, they had rejected their Messiah, and

even after Jesus was resurrected, they rejected him. I'll just

say something real quick about the five brothers. The five

brothers would represent Judah's brothers. Judah had a total of

eleven brothers twelve in the family, but five of his

brothers actually came directly from the womb of Leah. Also

consider the number of five, and it's the number of

the Torah, the law of God. You see, the Jews

trusted their external observance of the Torah, and not in

a changed heart of inward obedience. Here's the key to

the parable. The death of the rich man represents the

death of the Jewish nation. It was a prophetic fulfillment

of Daniel nine twenty four to twenty seven. The Jews

would reject their Messiah and reap the consequences. Daniel nine

twenty six predicts the destruction of Jerusalem. Then after sixty

two weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing,

and the people of the Prince who is to come

will destroy the city and the sanctuary, and its end

will come with a flood. Even to the end, there

will be war. Desolations are determined. That's why Jesus would

say in Luke thirteen, verse twenty six, in that place

there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you

see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets

in the Kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out.

He would also say in Matthew twenty one, verse forty three.

Therefore I say to you, the Kingdom of God will

be taken away from you, taken away from the Jews,

and given to a people producing the fruit of it.

That's the meaning to that parable. I want to talk

about a story of someone who tries to contact the

dead and the severe consequences of doing so. Look at

the consequences that God lays out. I'm going to look

at a handful of scriptures in Leviticus on how it's detestable,

it's an abomination. God wants nothing to anyone to do

to try to contact anyone from the dead. Notice this,

and then we'll take a look at someone who tries

to contact the dead and reaps the terrible consequences of

it Leviticus twenty verse six. As for the person who

turns to mediums and to spiritists to play the harlot

after them, I will also set in my face against

that person, and will cut him off from among his

people Leviticus twenty twenty twenty twenty seven. Now a man

or a woman who is a medium or a spiritist

shall surely be put to death. That's what means cutting off,

cutting off from my people. Put to death. They shall

be stoned with stones. Their blood guiltiness is upon them.

One more scripture verse to make it very very clear

the consequences of contacting a spiritus or a medium Deuteronomy

eighteen nine through twelve. When you enter the land which

the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn

to imitate the detestable things of those nations. There shall

not be found among you anyone who makes his son

or his daughter passed through the fire, one who uses divination,

one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or

a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a

medium or a spiritus, or one who calls up the dead,

for whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord.

And because of these detestable things, the Lord, your God,

will drive them out before you very severe consequences. Look

at King Saul. King Saul didn't trust in the Lord,

didn't look to the Lord. He went and contacted a spiritus,

a medium. I'm going to review just a handful of

scriptures in the interest of time. For Samuel twenty eight.

I'm going to look at verse seven to eleven. Then

Saul said to his servants, seek for me a woman

who is a medium. Now you're already passed past a life.

Anyone who does this, don't do this. He's now violating

his own policy, even though it was already God's policy

over arching, that I may go to her and inquire

of her. And his servant said to him, behold, there

is a woman who is a medium at endor. Then

the woman said, who shall I bring up for you?

And he said, bring up Samuel for me. Skip over

to verse twelve for Samuel twenty eight. Verse twelve. When

the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice.

And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, why have you

deceived me? For you are Saul. He disguised himself. He

didn't want anyone to know he was the king. The

king said to her, do not be afraid, But what

do you see? And the woman said to Saul, I

see a divine being coming up out of the earth.

Now that word divine being, that's Eloheim in the Hebrew.

I see Eloheim coming up out of the earth. He

said to her, what is his form? And she said,

an old man is coming up, and he's wrapped with

a robe. And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and

he bowed with his face to the ground and did homage. Now,

I want to just say this in that was not Samuel.

That was a fallen angel. That was a demon personating Samuel.

How do we know this? Look at Psalms eighty two,

verse six and seven. The same word divine being Eloheim

is used in this verse. I said you are gods.

As God speaking, I said, you are Eloheim, and all

of you are sons of the most High. Nevertheless, you

will die like men and fall like any one of

the princes. See this is god exercise telling of the

coming judgment of fallen angels. He's saying, you're going to

die like men. Because you rebelled, you followed Lucifer, you

rebelled against the law of God, you rebelled against Heaven.

You will die like men. That's the same word Eloheem

divine beings. So what happens to Saul First Chronicles ten,

verse thirteen. So Saul died for his trespass which he

committed against the Lord, because of the word of the Lord,

which he did not keep, and also because he asked

counsel of a medium making inquiry of it, and did

not inquire of the Lord. Therefore he killed him and

turned the kingdom to David the sons of Jesse. Saul

dies for contacting a medium. You see in End Times,

Satan is going to disguise himself as an angel of light.

All right, Satan and his demons were performed signs and

false wonders. Now people claim that they've seen images of Mary.

I've even had people claim and say they've talked to

their loved ones. Now I can assure you it's not

talking to their loved ones. We've just established from the

whole of scripture that mankind returns to the dust. There's

no activity, there's no thoughts, and in end time. Satan

will use this lack of biblical knowledge in the church

writ large around the globe to deceive many. Matthew twenty

twenty four even says so as to deceive, if possible,

even the elect. In Revelations sixteen, verse fourteen, it says

spirits of demons will perform signs which will go out

to all the kings of the world to gather them

for the great war against God's people. We don't need

to contact mediums or spiritists. They are demons. They will deceive,

they will perform false wonders. The Bible is the source

of our connection with God, the Holy Spirit, other believers.

So what's God's plan, What's God's promises. I'm going to

bring this to a close. Thank you for your time.

John fourteen one through three. Do not let your heart

be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In

my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were

not so, I would have told you, for I go

to prepare a place for you. If I go and

prepare a place for you, I will come again and

receive you to myself. That where I am there you

may also be a Jesus is going to return for

you personally. He's preparing for a place for you right now.

When he returns it his second coming, he will take

you and receive you, and then you'll go to heaven.

One Thessalonians four, verse fourteen. For if we believe that

Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring

with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. I

want to read a few more scripture verses. I'm going

to bring this together first Thessalonians four sixteen through eighteen.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout,

with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet

of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive and remain will be caught

up together with them in the clouds to meet the

Lord in the air. And so we shall always be

with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words.

God will bring you forth. He will call you. You

will hear his voice from the grave. Should you die

from the dust of the ground, you will hear his voice.

One Corinthians fifteen, verse fifty one. Behold, I tell you

a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will

all be changed in a moment, in the twinkle of

an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound,

and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will

be changed. For this perishable must put on imperishable, and

this mortal must put on immortality. And when that happens

One Corinthians, fifteen fifty four, then we'll come about the

saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory,

Oh death, Where is your victory, Oh death, where is

your sting? You know when I made the presentation in

the fellowship, Paul, it was October seventeenth, just a few

weeks ago. And on that same day, October seventeenth, ten

years ago, my father passed away. I remember the Dad

passed away. Now, we had to put him in an

assisted living home due to his Alzheimer's at the time,

and Mom was taking care of him, but she had

to get a hip replacement, and we said, oh, Mom,

you're not going to be able to take care of dad.

Hip replacement, that's recovery. So we put Dad in an

assisted living home. And I remember I went to the

assisted living home and it was well, I didn't know

it at the time, but it was three months before

he had passed. It was like July before the October

that he passed, and I could see his decline, you know,

slower movement, slower walking, slower and speech. And it's always

tough when you see someone that you love and you

look up to your whole life in decline. I remember

he wanted to leave. He didn't like it. I don't

blame him. He said, let's let's get in the car.

We'll go. Let's go. Are you ready to go? I said, Dad, no,

you got to stay here. And I changed the subject.

I said, Dad, why don't we watch a movie. Let's

watch a movie together. He loved old black and white movies.

So I put in a black and white movie. We

started watching it, and he slowly fell asleep in the chair,

not dying, he fell asleep in the chair, and I

felt so bad. I'm like, oh, Lord Jesus, what do

I do. I'm losing Dad. And I just left. I

quietly departed. I didn't want him to I didn't want

to wake him up and say, Dad, I just get

in bed. I just let him sleep there. I knew

they would take care of him, But you know what,

I had a very reassuring thought because I know what

the Bible says about death, and I knew that while

my dad's last thought might be that he was going

under the power of the grave, but knowing what the

Bible says that the dead know nothing, there is no

praising their thoughts, perish no activity, no planning, that his

very next thought, in a split second, is going to

be death. Where is your victory? Death? Where's your sting?

And I know that the clock says Dad died ten

years ago. I know the clock says that from his perspective,

though he is awakening to a resurrected body, he's awakening

to this mortal must put on immortality, this perishable must

put on imperishability. See, Christ is receiving him in one

set from his perspective. Christ is receiving him right now

from his perspective, because the dead know nothing. Now that's reassuring.

And should I die before Christ returns? I actually bought

several plots right next to him. I was at the cemetery,

the funeral director, and you know, of course they're saying, hey, listen,

if you buy now, you'll save money. Maybe that ten

years has paid off. I'm sure the prices have gone up,

but I did, and so if I die, I told

Jamie knows, we don't like to talk about death, but

that's where you want. Put me there, Put me next

to my dad. We'll both come up together, you know.

But death is not the end, all right. In Christ,

we will be made alive forevermore. And the Second Coming

is our great hope. Because if the dead are conscious

in heaven, then what's the meaning of the Second Advent

where death is swallowed up in victory? Why would it

be important to Christians? I mean, the error of this

idea of the conscious state of the dead in heaven

diminishes the truth of the Second Advent, of its importance,

of its glory, because that's when death is completely removed

from the saints. Mortal must put on immortality. Because I

would argue this, that can only create apathy in the church.

Oh he or she died, She's in heaven. He's in heaven.

They're in a better place. What's so important about the

second Coming of Christ? Then it diminishes its importance? And

that's why we need prophecy regarding the second Coming of Christ,

because it prepares us. It's the hope that we want.

The Second Advent is the of Christ, is the great

and momentous event in which death is swallowed up in victy.

And since this is our hope, there's no need to

fear death. As soon as you go to sleep, you

arise and are awakened to the trumpet of God, and

you'll be clothed with immortality and have the right to

the tree of life. I would say this, reject the

lies that are out there that dissort God's truth, that

distort God's truth about death. Refuse spiritualism in all its form.

Trustfully in Jesus, He is the resurrection in the life,

and wait with hope for the day when the trumpet

sounds and the dead in Christ rise. Amen, let's close

in prayer, Father God, I pray that you would move

upon your people, that they would fully commit themselves to

walking after you in obedience in love. That you would

use them and be a light to the gentiles, a

light to their family, a light to their neighborhoods, a

light to their co workers wherever they may be. Lord,

we know you're coming soon. May we get serious about

our life, that we would have a life and vital

connection with You on a daily basis. Lord, we know

that in this life we die and we return to

the dust. But what glorious hope that we have at

the second coming of Christ. May we rest in your

life giving power, in the resurrection power that you will

bring to us, and the immortality that you will bring

to us at your second coming. Lord, we look forward

to that day, and we pray that we would be ready,

and that we would help others be ready in the

hope of your soon return. We pray these things in

Jesus name. Amen.