Death

Introduction

A man had been reading the morning paper about some fatal accidents. A friend asked, "If you could choose, would you rather be killed in a collision or in an explosion?" "A collision," he replied. "If you're in a collision, there you are. But if you're in an explosion, where are you?" But whether a collision or an explosion, man was created in the image of God. He became "a living soul," and wasn't meant for death.

I. Mark The Definition

The Bible speaks of three kinds of death. First, there's physical death; second, there's spiritual death; and third, there's eternal death.

Physical death is the separation of the spirit and soul from the body. It's the cessation of natural life on earth.

Spiritual death is the separation of the spirit and soul from God. This was the first kind of death that man experienced. He died spiritually before he died physically. If you haven't been born again, you're living in this state. You are "dead in sins." You're unable to understand the Scriptures or undertake spiritual things. You're as powerless to redeem yourself from sin as a corpse is able to rescue itself from death.

Eternal death is the separation of the spirit and soul from God, forever. It's sometimes called "the second death." By the second death, or eternal death is meant "the lake of fire," or eternal punishment. This is seen in Revelation 21:8, "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

Physical death ends your opportunity to be saved. That's why 2 Corinthians 6:2 urges, "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." And the Bible offers no hope of salvation after death. On the contrary, it teaches the tragedy of dying in sin. Hebrews 9:27 states, "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." And Hebrews 10:31 warns, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

A Christian doctor visited his patient in the hospital. After making a careful examination, he told him he had only an hour or two to live. "Then," he sobbed, "I've missed it." "Missed what?" asked the doctor. "Salvation," cried the man. And he died.

II. Mark The Details

First, the Cause. It doesn't seem right that those whom we love should die; and it isn't. God didn't create man to die. He created him to live and to have fellowship with Himself. But sin brought death. For God said to Adam in Genesis 2:17, "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." The literal rendering of "thou shalt surely die," is "dying thou shalt die." This means that Adam's sin brought spiritual death immediately, the separation of his spirit and soul from God. It's in consequence of this sin that we are born separated from God. Adam's sin brought physical death, even though he lived for a long time after he had sinned. For God said to him in Genesis 3:19, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." It's in consequence of Adam's sin that we die. It's written in Romans 5:12, "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." The Bible plainly declares that sin entered the world by Adam and that the penalty for his sin was death.

Second, the Certainty. Everybody enters life by the door of birth and exits by the door of death. Death is inescapable. There's no denying it or defying it. Civilization is no barrier to it and crudeness can't barricade it. Brilliancy can't stop it and barbarism can't stem it. There's no escape and no exception. It can't be bribed or bought off. Every time you see a bier or a burial, a casket or a cemetery you're reminded that you have a date with death. Every time you have a headache or a heartache you realize that you're under the curse and consequences of sin, which is death. And the Bible testifies that die you must. Psalm 49:10 says, "Wise men die; likewise, the fool." Hebrews 9:27 says, "And as it is appointed unto men once to die."

Third, the Course. No one knows the day or way of his death. Your heart may stop, your lungs may collapse, your body may burn, your car may crash, your plane may explode, your ship may sink, or you may be murdered. The wise man said, "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die... there is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death....for man also knoweth not his time" -Ecclesiastes 3:1,2; 8:8, 9:12. For each of us, whether we know it or not, the hour arrives when God says to us: "This night thy soul shall be required of thee" -Luke 12:20. After the battle of Bull Run, an officer asked Stonewall Jackson, who had received a painful wound in the battle, "General, how is it that you can keep so cool and appear so utterly insensible to danger in such a storm of shell and bullets as rained about you when your hand was hit?" "Captain," he answered, "my religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time of my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready no matter when it may overtake me." After a pause, he added, "That's the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave."

III. Mark The Design

The Bible declares that man is a direct creation of God. Genesis 1:27 says, "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them." The Bible also declares that man is composed of body, soul and spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 states, "I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Your body was made form the earth. This was the first part of man that was formed. Genesis 2:7 says, "And 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." Your body is the "house of clay" in which you live. It's sustained by that which grows out of the earth, and at death it returns to the earth. For the Bible says, "For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" - Genesis 3:19. It's tragic but true, that many stuff their bodies but starve their souls. They major on the temporal but ignore the eternal. They put everything on that which will rot in the grave and abandon that which will live forever.

Your souls is the seat of your affections and appetites, your passions and pleasures. Plants,   animals and man have bodies. Only animals and man have a soul; and only man has a spirit. But there's a difference between the souls of man and the souls of animals. The animal's soul is connected with the body, and died. But man's soul is connected with his spirit, and never dies. For man was made "a living soul." And the soul is the sphere of activity where Satan operates making his appeal for your affections. Your soul, that is, your affections and desires, are never directed Godward until you've been born again. When the Spirit of God illuminates your soul and spirit with divine light and life, then you'll yield your affections and faculties to God.

Your spirit is the seat of your intelligence. The soul is the seat of your emotional nature. The spirit and soul are never separated. The spirit of man is the private office of man where the work of regeneration takes place. All men have body, soul and spirit. But a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has received a new nature. This new nature is also called "spirit." It's written in I Corinthians 2:11-12, "For what man knoweth the things of a man, except the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God."

There are three levels in life: the physical or animal; the mental or "social;" and the spiritual or divine. My dog and I have things in common on the physical level. My dog enjoys my food, my water and my carpet. But she can't enjoy my sermons or my songs. She's a dog and I'm a human. It's only by the spirit of man that we understand the things of man. By the same token, it's only by the Spirit of God that we understand the things of God. Many people admit they can't understand the reading go the Bible or enjoy the preaching of the Bible. That's because their human spirit hasn't been transformed and taught by the divine Spirit. It's only as your human spirit is regenerated by the Holy Spirit that you'll love the word and will of God.

IV. Mark The Durability

Look at the apartness. At death the soul and the spirit of the believer go to heaven, but the soul and spirit of the unbeliever go to hell. The bodies of the believer and the unbeliever go to the grave. When our Lord returns with the souls and spirits of the believers, He will call forth their bodies from the graves. They'll be changed, and caught up to be with the Lord forever. But the bodies of the unsaved dead will not be raised for another thousand years. Paul describes the rapture of the saved in I Thessalonians 4:16-17, "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, await the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

Look at the blessedness. The state of the believer in heaven is much better than this present life in the body. Paul said in Philippians 1:23, "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better." O the thrill of being where there's no danger or despair, no fear or failure, no pain or problems, no sin or sorrow, no worry or wicked one.

Look at the consciousness. The Bible proves that the righteous dead are in a definite state of consciousness, even though they are without the body. Paul declared in II Corinthians 5:1 and 8, "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens... We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." It's true that our Lord spoke of death as sleeping, but it's the body that sleeps, not the soul and the spirit. In Revelation 6:9-11 you read of them thinking and talking, perceiving and petitioning. The Living Bible presents it clearly like this:  "And when He broke open the fifth seal, I saw an altar, and underneath it all the souls of those who had been martyred for preaching the Word of God and for being faithful in their witnessing. They called loudly to the Lord and said, 'O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before You judge the people of the earth for what they've done to us? When will You avenge our blood against those living on the earth?" White robes were given to each of them, and they were told to rest a little longer until their other brothers, fellow servants of Jesus, had been martyred on the earth and joined them."

The apostle Paul gives us a beautiful picture of the death of the believer in I Thessalonians 4:14. He wrote, "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." The expression "them also who sleep in Jesus" might be better translated "them also who have been put to sleep by Jesus." Just as a mother takes her sick and tired child, quietly soothing him to sleep, so the Lord Jesus puts His precious people to sleep. By and by, when He returns from heaven, He will raise up their sleeping bodies. Then the redeemed personalities will resume their personal union with their resurrected bodies. And the bodies of living believers will be changed in a moment. Aren't you glad you're a believer!

What about the unbeliever? While their bodies are in the grave, their souls and spirits aren't sleeping, they're suffering. Cried the unbeliever according to our Lord in Luke 18:24, "For I am tormented in this flame." Their souls and spirits aren't reposing, they're remembering.

Remembering what? All their sins and shortcomings. In the story our Lord told of the unbeliever in hell, Abraham said to him in Luke 16:25, "Son, remember, their souls and spirits aren't slumbering." They're sighing. For what? Water. Our Lord told of the unbeliever in hell who said to Abraham in Luke 16:24, "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." Their souls and spirits aren't dozing. They're dreading. Dreading what? Dreading hell for others. The unbeliever in hell, according to our Lord in Luke 16:27- 28, prayed, "Send him (Lazarus) to my father's house (For I have five brethren), that he may testify unto them, lest they also are answered in hell. For it's a site of agony, not a state of annihilation.

Eternal death is not the extinction of being, but of well-being; not the end of life but of hope.

V. Mark The Decision

You're on your way to eternity. Which will it be for you-the bliss of heaven or the blight of hell; the happiness of heaven or the horrors of hell; the satisfaction of heaven or the sufferings of hell; the wonders of heaven or the woes of hell?

Bear in mind that there's no chance to be saved after death. Ecclesiastes 11:3 states, "In the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be." As you die, so you'll be forever, saved or lost; in heaven or in hell.

Our Lord recorded the words of Abraham and the unbeliever in hell in the 16th chapter of Luke. Abraham said to the unbeliever, "Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that they who would pass from here to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from there." There's no exit sign in hell. Once in, always in. After death you won't have another chance to be saved.

Conclusion

Since death is certain and life is uncertain, shouldn't you call upon the name of the Lord now? There was a criminal. He was dying for his sin, and he was on his way to hell. But he didn't want to go there. He wanted to go to heaven. So he called upon the name of the Lord, saying, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into Thy kingdom." The Lord Jesus answered kindly and quickly, "Today shalt thou be with Me in glory"-Luke 23:42-43. One moment in grief, the next day in glory. One moment on earth, the next in heaven.

You will call upon the name of the Lord right now, won't you! Romans 10:13 promises, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."