Death is ever present with us. We are reminded of it every day. Especially during this current pandemic. There tens of thousands of our fellow citizens and hundreds of thousands of people worldwide who have died of it. Extraordinary efforts have been taken to mitigate it, but to no avail. It isn't unusual to be frightened of the prospect of death. The Bible speaks of the fear of death in Hebrews 2:5. In this episode, Arnie and Fred discuss why men die, what happens when we die, the resurrection, why people fear death, why Christians shouldn't be afraid of dying and finally God's Plan of Salvation for mankind. Take about 30 minutes to listen in on our discussion. You will notice that there is a transcription of the episode provided.
Death is ever present with us. We are reminded of it every day. Especially during this current pandemic. There tens of thousands of our fellow citizens and hundreds of thousands of people worldwide who have died of it. Extraordinary efforts have been taken to mitigate it, but to no avail. It isn't unusual to be frightened of the prospect of death. The Bible speaks of the fear of death in Hebrews 2:5. In this episode, Arnie and Fred discuss why men die, what happens when we die, the resurrection, why people fear death, why Christians shouldn't be afraid of dying and finally God's Plan of Salvation for mankind. Take about 30 minutes to listen in on our discussion. You will notice that there is a transcription of the episode provided.
Unknown Speaker 0:00
Fred This is a presentation of the Woodland church of Christ meeting at 3370 Broad Street in Sumter, South Carolina. We meet for worship on Sunday at 10:30am, 5:30pm. We meet for bible study at 9:30am on Sunday, at 7pm on Wednesday. If you have questions or comments on this lesson you may email them to Fred Gosnell at fgosnell@ftc-i.net or to Arnie Granke at agranke440718@twc.com
Unknown Speaker 0:33
Arnie Good afternoon. This is Arnie Granke and Fred Gosnell. We're with Woodland church of Christ in Sumter, South Carolina. And this is What Does The Bible Say? Human death is ever present and we're all very conscious of it, especially in such times as these, when disease like the Coronavirus everyday claim the lives of people in our nation or State, community, our neighbors and friends, at our workplace, our schools, our churches and organizations, our loved ones. While all sorts of methods have been tried to mitigate it, all have been powerless to prevent it. As Fred and I are recording this, 10s of thousands of our fellow Americans, I think the number is over 95,000 right now, over 95,000, over 95,000 right now, and hundreds of thousands of people worldwide have died. It's not unusual for people to be frightened by the prospect of death, being so near. In fact, Hebrews two and verse 15 speaks of them as, "them who through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage". Fear of death, perhaps if we, perhaps it would put our minds at ease, to offer some Bible answers for some of our questions and, and also for you to listen again to our conversation about What Happens After Death, which we posted April 12 of this year, on our podcast site. That site is www.buzzsprout.com/578671. We'll mention that URL again in in a few minutes. And in case you didn't get it, Fred, what's the first question that we have?
Unknown Speaker 2:37
Fred Well, the first question, of course, so we asked, well, Why Do Men Die? And of course, the Bible says something about that. Matter of fact, in Romans 5:12, the Bible says that death is a consequence of sin. Paul writes, he says, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned. And it wasn't a, and also James says, But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin and sin, when it's finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err my beloved brethren. He tells us how that occurs. And the consequences were well known even from the beginning, before the first sin. In Genesis two, we have there. Moses writes, he says, And the Lord God commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden, thou mayest freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And then again in Genesis three, two and three, there he says, And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it lest ye die. So they knew exactly what the consequences were.
Unknown Speaker 4:02
Arnie And part of that problem is that that God cannot condone evil. And they had known what the consequences were He had told them that, He had told them that that they would surely die and and condoning evil is absolutely inconsistent with God's righteous and holy character. Paul writes to the Corinthians in Second Corinthians chapter six and beginning in verse 14. Here's a sort of a parallel situation to that. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols for ye or the temple of God, The Living God as God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, I will be their God and they shall be my people. So after sinning, a man had to leave God's paradise, and that meant he had to leave the life sustaining tree that was there. Genesis chapter three and verse 22, after that incident had had occurred, the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil. And I'm just going to pause here and say this. I don't think that, that God is saying that in a serious way. I think he's saying that as sarcasm because the serpent said, well, you'll become as Gods knowing good and evil. So I think God is sarcastically responding to to that. And now lest he put forth his hand to take also the tree of life and eat and live forever. Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubims with a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of of life. So then, they were subject to death. And of course, we are as well as their descendants because we don't have access to the tree of life here on Earth, either,
Unknown Speaker 6:39
Fred Yeah. So, so what happens when we die? Of course, we had a lesson on this some time back. But Ecclesiastes 12 verse seven says that ones spirit is separated from the body and there, the Solomon writes, he says, Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Of course, once the body is dead, then man has no ability to commit sin anymore. So that solves that problem. So the body returns to its natural state, which was dust and all the material elements that are in in that are turned to dust if he stays in the grave long enough. Then Genesis two verse seven, there, The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. And then in Genesis 3:19, there it says, God told, told Adam, he says, In the spir.., sweat of thy face, shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the ground; for out of it, wast thou taken for dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return. So So once the spirit leaves the body, of course, the writer said in Ecclesiastes 12 seven, that the spirit returns to God who gave it. God makes disposition of the spirit and God sends them to the the place that is referred to as Hades, and there they await the resurrection in separate places. There's there's two places there as illustrated by Lazarus and the rich man that Jesus talked about in Luke 16. And beginning in verse 22, Jesus says, It came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades, he lifted up his eyes being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this between us and you, there is a great gulf fixed so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. So they were alive. Even though the body was in the grave. The spirit was still alive and they knew what was going on. The rich man knew he had some brothers and he knew what he had done. So people are not annihilated once they die, the spirit continues on.
Unknown Speaker 9:22
Arnie Yeah the only thing that dies is is the body itself and the death that occurs when when the spirit leaves the body. So they're not only not annihilated as some as some people think. But they're also not unconscious. It was very obvious Abraham was conscious. He was speaking. The the rich man was very conscious of the situation. So they're, they're not unconscious after this life is over. Now, we promised you a little while ago that we would give you the podcast site again. And so if you grab your pencil, here it is, again, it's www.buzzsprout, all one word, buzzsprout.com/578671. And we encourage you to listen again to that conversation that we had on April the 12th. of this year about What Happens After Death. So people ask, Well, you know, they've heard of the resurrection. What about the resurrection? Where does that come into, into this picture and and what should we know about that? And I would say that one of the best explanations, I think, and shortest of everything is associated with the resurrection is in First Thessalonians chapter four, beginning in in verse 13. And apparently, that was a question that that really bothered some of these disciples in Thessalonica. And they must have asked Paul about that and he said, But I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with them. For this, we say unto you by the word of the Lord. We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede them that are asleep. For the Lord Himself, shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So shall we ever be with the Lord. And then he concludes by saying, Wherefore comfort one another with these, with these words. I think another good passage we won't take the time to read it now because it's 58 verses long. Is is the 15th chapter of First Corinthians where, which is Paul's treatise on the resurrection Is a very thorough look at the resurrection and I would I would recommend that, that our listeners look at that. And it during, after this resurrection and and in connection with that is the the situation that each person will be judged for what he did in this life. And the judge is is Christ. And after Jesus had healed the man at the pool of Bethesda told him to take up his bed and walk. He speaks in John five beginning in verse 26. about, about the judgment. He said, For as the Father has life in himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Marvel not at this for the hour is coming in the which, all that are in the grave shall hear his voice, and shall come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. I can of mine own self do nothing as I hear, I judge and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father which has hath sent Me. Mention of those that are in the graves, obviously that's talking about the bodies. And those that are that are in the grave are going to be raised up, will be rejoined with the with their spirit and it's then that the whole man will be, will face the Lord in judgment. Looks like Fred that you may be open to Matthew 25 there.
Unknown Speaker 14:29
Fred Yes there Jesus talks about what's going to happen there. And he begins in verse 25. He says, When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory. And before Him shall be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats, and He shall set the sheep on the right hand, but the goats on the left, then shall the king sayeth unto them on His right hand come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me ye cursed unto everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels, and these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous unto life eternal. Now notice that the punishment is just as long as the eternal life is. So it's everlasting punishment, and the righteous go into life eternal.
Unknown Speaker 15:26
Arnie I'm not sure if you mentioned those passages, Fred, Fred was just reading from verses 31 to 34. And then and then skipped part of the conversation with the righteous and dropped down to verse 41, and then skipped part of the conversation with the unrighteous and and went to the their final destiny in verse 46.
Unknown Speaker 15:47
Fred That was, thank you for that. So, so So what, So why are people so frightened about dying? Of course, initially, you might say, Well, probably people are frightened of the unknown. And but there's a passage in Ecclesiastes three verse 11, that it's not in our notes here, but here's what it says. And this is the New King James Version. It says, He has made everything beautiful in his time. Also, he hath put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to the end. So we are conscious, because God made us so, of eternity. There's people, inherent, in, innately know that there's more to life than just what they see. So our conscience is there to tell us what's right and what's wrong. And first the,, "and we inherently know that". Well, that's right God, God made us that way. And in Romans 2:14 through 16, there Paul writes and says, For the Gentiles, which have not the law, knew by nature, the things contained in the law, these having not the law are a law unto themselves; which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts, the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. So, we know innately from our conscience, that when we disobey God, we deserve punishment. And we're going to face judgment. And of course, that judgment, that's a terrifying thing later in other places, the Bible says it's a it's a terrible thing to fall into the hands of Living God. So so people, people know that because God put that sense of eternity and put that conscience in us. So that we know what when we do right and when when we do wrong,
Unknown Speaker 17:49
Arnie Well, and and it's not only the issue of having done wrong, but also if we've rejected the gospel. We also have rejected the salvation that God's offered to us. And we've rejected the hope that it provides. Paul was writing to the Colossians in Colossians chapter one verse 21. Beginning and he said, And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. But He doesn't stop there. The sentence continues with the biggest word in the English dictionary. two letters long If, If so, He'll present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight, If ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature, which is under heaven, whereof I Paul am made a minister. And, and I would just say this about, about that statement there, every creature under heaven. A lot of people say well, that's, that's over the the then known world. Well, I think God knows what the world is. And I think he knows where all the continents are and where all the people are, He put them there. So he doesn't say, people in the then known world. It's, it's his people, worldwide, everyone that that has, at one point had heard the gospel, and that was before the end of the first century, maybe around AD60, AD65. Somewhere in there. We don't, we don't have a date with it. So don't reject the gospel. Don't dare reject the hope that's associated with it. Obey the gospel while you have the opportunity, and then you don't have to worry about death.
Unknown Speaker 20:03
Fred That's right. And of course, What Does The Bible Say about that? If the Bible says it went worldwide, it did in the first century. So So, course Paul's talking about Christians here those who were not to be moved away from the hope of the gospel. So why should Christians not be afraid of dying? Well, faithful Christians who believe and have obeyed the gospel, we know our sins have been taken away. In Titus three three through seven there, Paul writes, is, For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So those who obey the gospel, they become Christians by the grace of God. And through Jesus's sacrifice on the cross, His shed blood, our past sins are forgiven and we are to now live a new life,
Unknown Speaker 21:18
Arnie I think or something we can add to that as well. And that's, said as Christians, we know that God is a loving Father who cares for us and that Christ has a home that's waiting for us. And and I'm thinking in terms of John chapter 14, Jesus was with his disciples what we speak of as the Last Supper it was just before they were to go out and and go to get to the garden of Gethsemanee where Judas would betray Jesus and and things would be in motion, leading to the cross. So in John 14 and and verse 21. Jesus is speaking with his apostles and probably some other disciples that may have been there as well. And he said, He that hath My commandments and keepeth them. Well, that was the disciples. He that hath My commandments and keepeth them. He it is the loveth me. And he that loveth me, shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and, and will manifest Myself to him. Judas, not Iscariot, saith unto Him, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love Me, he will keep My words, and My Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. He that loveth Me not keepeth not My sayings, and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Fathers which sent Me. So so here as, as, as Christians, we know that Christ has prepared a place for us. In fact in John three let me, let me take us there if I, if I may, John chapter three is where Nichodemus comes to Jesus by night. And and in the course of the conversation, Jesus says to Nichodemus, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And a lot of times people think that that passage is telling us that the only thing God requires of us to do is to believe in Him for one second, and then everything's clear you, you're bound for heaven, the tickets been punched in and you're on, you're on your way. Notice the word believeth in the King James Version there. The eth on the end of that word is a Greek tense. It's called the present tense but, but it's a tense that actually is an ongoing thing. It's not believe now and then you're okay. This is you keep on believing, that can be translated literally. That way. Whosoever keeps on believing in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent, not His Son unto the world, into the world to condemn the world. But that the world through him might be saved. A little bit later on. John is telling what appears to be some things that thatJohn the Baptist had had said. And he said, down, in verse 36, He that believeth on the Son, there's that -eth- again, he that keeps believing on the Son, hath everlasting life. And he that disobeyeth that's disobeying all the way to the end, disobeyeth the Son, shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him, I think the King James Version actually has the word. believeth not there. And and if you want to look that up, you'll find that, that the word that's used there actually doesn't have to do so much with faith as it has to do with with executing that faith, obeying the Lord. So, if we as Christians believe and then act as God has commanded us, based on that faith, then we have nothing to worry about as far as our eternal future is looking.
Unknown Speaker 25:36
Fred Yes, exactly. So So believing what Jesus taught, then we understand what to expect. And of course, that takes the fear out of dying. Jesus said in John 14, one through six, He says, Now, Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God believe also in Me. In my Father's house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also and whither I go, ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto Him, Lord, we know not whither that goest and how can we know the way? Jesus saith, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. You can count on what Jesus says. And if we learn what he says and do what he says, We don't have to fear anything in this life.
Unknown Speaker 26:25
Arnie And you know, what if we don't count on what Jesus said, that's a question about faith. And yes, it is. So, so though, the last question that we have that relates to this, since we're talking about becoming a Christian, and there by not being afraid of dying, the last question is, how do I become a Christian? How do I obey the gospel? And the New Testament sets forth God's plan of salvation. I would start with Romans chapter 10, where Paul is is writing. he said, But what saith it, he's speaking about the Old Testament there. But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart; that is, the word of faith which we preach. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man, believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Those are two things right there, believing and confessing that faith that you have in Christ.
Unknown Speaker 27:47
Yes and in Acts 2, Peter was asked the question, What shall we do? And Peter said that repentance and baptism is required. He said in Acts 2:38 and 39. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what must we do? And Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. So repentance and faith, faith, rep.. repentance and baptism. In this case, Peter says, they were required to do.
Unknown Speaker 28:31
Arnie There were disciples, of course, in in the province of Asia, which is now Western Turkey, in in the first century, and Jesus had John say in the book Revelation, which was a series of letters and revelations to those seven churches, and Revelation chapter two and verse 10. He's writing to the church at Smyrna, which was suffering a lot. They were persecuted, Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you in prison, that you may be tried you shall have tribulation 10 days. Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. If you're a Christian, you don't have to worry about death. All of that has been taken care of by the Lord. You'll be welcomed home when you leave this life. We thank you for listening. We hope that these questions and answers will be helpful to you. And be sure to check out our, our podcast and we hope that you'll listen to us again next Lord's Day.