You’ve Died - now what?

Most people want saving. Almost nobody wants hell, if it’s real. 

But calling Jesus Lord is a completely different decision, because now you have to change, follow Him, and learn to fall in love with Him. 

Tim shares about a relative he dearly loves who says plainly, “I just don’t have the faith to believe such a story.” Smart. Successful. Wise. And to them, the cross is foolishness. 

If you can’t save yourself, and you’re not sure you want to admit that, this episode is for you.

Check out our YouTube Channel “You Finishing Well” and our website: www.youfinishingwell.com 

All you have to do is go to our website and sign up for updates - all free. 

Stay strong, pure, and like Christ - Thanks for taking the journey with me! 

Transcript

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Hey everybody, and welcome back to my podcast. This is Tim Owen with you finishing well. And today I want to ask a very, very important question. I say that all the time, but today it is the most important question of your entire life. That's right. When you're a teenager, when you're a young adult, or if you're a 90-year-old person, this is the most important question in your life. Do you truly believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior and die to save your soul? Most important question. Let's talk about it. So before you dismiss this, and or if you think, well, I'm already a believer, well, hold on, I got a question for you too. But if you're a person that has never believed this, are you one of those who just says, I just don't have the faith, man? Or you may just think it's kind of silly. You may think it's ignorant. How can you people believe such a thing? But if you're a professing believer, the question that I would ask for you is, did you actually change? Is there something in your life, or more than one thing, that you just can't turn over to God? It could be your weight, it could be depression, it could be anger, it could be a lack of forgiveness, it could be an addiction of some kind. Well, why haven't you been able to overcome that? You know, I heard a guy say one time as a great preacher, Church of 1122 out of Jacksonville, Joby says, you know, the biggest problem with life or any problem of life is it's a gospel problem. And what he means by that is we really haven't turned it over to God, because if God can speak the universe into existence, whatever you and I deal with, that's easy. I mean, it's just easy peasy for him. So here's here's the here's the deal. The death of Jesus on the cross saves you for eternity. That's what I want to talk about. So I want you to sit with that just for a second. The death of Jesus Christ on a cross saves you and me for eternity. So what does that sound like to you? Now, if you're a believer, you're like, hey, I believe that. But some of you like, man, that is just hard to believe. And for those of you who did confess it in your life, did it really, I mean, did it really change your life? For the most part, has the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, I mean, just cause some routine religious habits. You go to church, you sing some songs, you might read your Bible occasionally. Most of you don't even read your Bible. I'm not trying to sound judgmental, but you don't. Or you might have some devotional book, you might do a little journaling. Many of you don't even do that. And the question is, does it drive all of your decisions? Is he the love of your life? Do you love God for what he does for you, or do you love God Himself? Do you love what being a believer does for you? Or do you really love Jesus Christ Himself because He loved you when you didn't love Him? He died for you when you didn't even know you needed saving. I mean, how did the profession of Jesus Christ really change your life for you believers? And I think the believers are some of the professing believers are in the deepest trouble. Now, people who know they don't believe in Jesus and they don't want to follow him, that it's just all religious and psychobabble. I mean, I actually have more hope in some of those than the overconfident professing believers that really may not be saved. Because did it really transform you and me into a new creature? Do we think different, act different, live differently? Do we desire things differently? I mean, that's the real truth for a believer. You know, the Apostle Paul, here's the verse that I read today. I read the Bible cover to cover, and as I do, I've done it for 28 years. Topics come up and they just move me to share them with you. I don't do this to get popular, I don't do this to get paid, uh, I don't do this for any kind of special blessing from God. It changes me. And if it changes me, I I want to share it with you. So here's the verse. It comes from 1 Corinthians 1, 18, 19. The teaching about the cross is foolishness to those who are being lost. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. It is a it's written in the scriptures, I, that means God, I will cause the wise to lose their wisdom. I will make the wise unable to understand. I mean, it's the smarty pants that think they know everything. They just uh they don't believe, they don't have the faith. And I'm not being critical of those. I used to be one of those people. I'm telling you, I was. You know, the people of Corinth, when you read in the Bible and it's 1 Corinthians, what does that mean? That he's writing it to the people in the city of Corinth, and it was very much like the USA. These people were wise, they were intelligent, they were well read, they were well off, and the story about a baby born of a virgin, I mean, that that's a stretch, man. So I do have some sympathy for those who like, man, I just I just can't I just can't get it. I can't grasp it, can't believe it, don't have the faith for it. And and I I love this old relative of mine, and they they were just very honest with me. They said, Tim, I just don't have the faith to believe such a story. And that is so heartbreaking to me because that person, like you and I, are going to die. And our bodies die, but we don't. The soul continues to live. And when your body dies, you and I are going somewhere. And the question is, where are we going? And the crazy thing about this relative of mine, they are a very smart person. They owned a business, very wise. But to them, the Jesus story honestly is just foolishness. It just is, just like just like Paul wrote in the Bible. So here's what I've noticed. Some people, they do want to be saved. I mean, who wants to go to hell if it really is real? But calling Jesus Lord, man, that is completely different. So when you call Jesus Lord, and by the way, something is always going to lord over your life. It's going to be food or addiction or sex or pornography or an infidelity, a lust problem, uh some anger or lack of forgiveness or depression or whatever. Something is going to, if football, anything can lord over your life. It just can. But the but when you call Jesus Christ Lord, that is a completely game changer. So I want to talk to the person that really says, man, you know, this would be a beautiful thing if I believed it, but I just can't. And there's a couple of types, yeah, I'm sure there's more, of people who just don't believe. There are those that are sort of cocky and like, you know, this is ridiculous, you guys are ignorant, and I don't know how in the world you guys can believe that. But then there are other people that just say, I wished I had the faith to believe this. I mean, um, and and and to kind of to the smart Alex, I might even add this, it's even a little bit offensive to you because most people do believe that they can save themselves, or they just don't believe this is real. I mean, but I want to ask you something. What if you're wrong? What if I mean, have you ever vetted it? I mean, really vetted it? Have you ever really done the due diligence? Have you ever looked at the evidence? One of the biggest volume evidence books out there is Josh McDowell, Evidence Demands a Verdict. He was an atheist who was determined to prove and show enough evidence that this is all a bunch of craziness. And what happened is he discovered there was so much evidence that Jesus, the creation, the design, if there's design, there's a designer. And he wrote the book and became a believer, and he wrote the book that it's evidence that demands a verdict. Have you ever vetted it? I mean, I'm so it's it's a challenge kind of, because why would you let eternity hang in the balance of some uh something that somebody experienced in a um you know near-death experience or what you know just your heart tells you? I mean, the heart's wicked above all things, the Bible says, who can know it? I mean, self-deception can't be determined on your own. It takes an outside source. So we we as you and I, by the way, I was one of these people at one time. I I just felt like I could save myself and to let God come in and give me, quote, the desire. I mean, I can desire my own stuff, I thought to myself. And to love Jesus and the Holy Spirit, God gives us that desire. So our prayer really should be: Lord, let me listen to your voice and give me the desire for something that I really don't desire. Here's the truth: I did not climb up to God. He actually came down and rescued me. I'm just speaking for Tim Owen, and Tim's stupidity, my foolishness, my sin, and frankly, I was a very insecure guy at the time. But God has released me of just all kinds of crazy stuff. That could be a podcast in and of itself, but it's just true. Paul said in 1 Corinthians, again, he's writing to those people in Corinth, uh, chapter 1, verse 25, even the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom. So you need to learn and do the homework. And he also went on to say, and the weaknesses of God is stronger than human strength. And some of you out there are fighting something you've never been able to overcome. You know what it is. It's either a lust, it's either anger, it's either food, it's either an addiction, it's either something that you just can't overcome. Maybe it's depression, maybe it's, you know, wanting to self-harm yourself, and you just can't overcome it. And then the reason why you can't is you just have never really given it to God. You gotta pray, Lord, take me away from this, take the desire for it away, but then you have to act on it, and you've been trying to pull your bootstraps up and you can't do it. But the power to act on it doesn't come from yourself, it comes from the Holy Spirit once you follow Jesus Christ. And if you are not following Christ, you do not possess that power. You just don't. You know, you're going to make an individual decision. The beauty of all of this is it's completely up to you. You decide your eternity. But let me tell you something. You had better not get it wrong because you are going to die. Just your body is. Your soul is going to continue to live. And the moment that you die, the second after you take your last breath and that heart stops beating, you are going somewhere. And don't you want to get that right? I mean, it's a costly, permanent, eternal error if you get it wrong. You know, Proverbs in the Bible, written by Solomon, the smartest guy in the world, uh, he said that trust the Lord with all of your heart and do not depend on your own understanding. So are you depending on your or somebody other, some other humans, understanding? Have you really done the homework? And do you really believe that proverb? And if you do, how does it actually show up if you're a believer in your life? Show up in my life too. I put I put myself under the so same examination. So the final question is the same one that I opened with. Do you really believe? And if you are a believer, do you live like Jesus Christ? I mean, just to say you're a believer, sing some songs, go to church, you know, have a little quiet time, read from a devotional, does your entire life look like a follower of Jesus? Because Jesus said, only the true believers that do what I say, those are the true believers. I mean, it's life's truly biggest question. So all I'm gonna ask you to do today is something real simple. I want you to draw a line. I want you to write the word start and then go vet it. Go do the homework, do the due diligence, check it out for yourself because your eternal life depends on that. Did you know that almost 7,000 people die unexpectedly in the United States every single day? Google it if you don't believe me. And you could be one of those people and you think you have time, but you really may not. So I just hope you'll vet this, I hope you'll evaluate it, and just do it. Because if you don't, you could die, I'm gonna say it just plainly, and go to hell. And let me tell you, if that's offensive to you, listen, I'm trying to tell you something that someone told me, probably not as bluntly, I'm gonna be honest. But man, your your eternity, it hangs in the balance. So let me pray for us. If you'll and always stay for my prayer, okay, because I think that's the most important part. Heavenly Father, right now, the person listening to my voice, I would just pray, I don't know who they are, but would you just look down at them and while you're looking at me, and just kind of connect my voice to their soul and give them the possibility of believing this. Help them understand, give them desire to do the homework and vet this. Their eternal life depends on it. And for those who have claimed that Jesus is their Lord and Savior, I ask that you just ask all of us, is he really Lord? I mean, are you just got a ticket to heaven, or is your life, are you really a new creature? Do you desire different things? Is your schedule and your time and your money and your effort, does it look like a believer? How different do I look to those who don't believe? So I just ask God that you give us all the desire for you. And I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, my good people, I hope you will do the homework because your eternal life depends on it. Love you guys, and I'll talk to you later.