Sermon Prepared by James McCullen
Email Preach Him with Dr. Jim

The Bible Teaches Christians About Death.
John 11:21-27

Introduction
This Week the State of Missouri's Governor Mel Carnahan was killed in a tragic airplane crash.. You know his son and another man were also killed/ I am sure most if not all of us have prayed for the family and close friends.

As I understand the plane crashed in such a way the bodies were not fully recovered. It seems to add to the grief of death when this happens. I would like to take the words of the Bible and help all of us to better understand death.

William Randolph Hearst according to Life magazine, forbid the mention of death in his presence. However, when yielding voting control of his publications to an attorney, "the man who has arrogantly and brilliantly ruled a 200,000,000 empire acknowledged death although he did not mention it." The statement merely read that Mr. Hearst had become "conscious of the uncertainties of life." Lehman Strauss, We Live Forever, p. 10

I want to affirm the Bible as the foundation. Please follow in you Bible as we look at several scriptures.
 
 

John 5:24
24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

John 11:26-26
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
 

Illustration Topic: Death Sub: Compared to Sleep Index: 2159 Title: Carried to His Room
In a home of which I know, a little boy, the only son, was ill with an incurable disease. Month after month the mother had tenderly nursed him, read to him, and played with him, hoping to keep him from the dreadful finality of the doctor's diagnosis--the little boy was sure to die. But as the weeks went on he gradually began to understand that he would never be like the other boys he saw playing outside his window. Small as he was, he began to understand the meaning of the term death, and he too knew he was to die.

One day his mother had been reading to him the stirring tale of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table, of Lancelot and Elaine the lily maid of Astelot, and about that last glorious battle where so many fair knights met their death.

She closed the book as her little son sat silent for an instant, deeply stirred. Then he asked the question weighing on his childish heart, "Mama, what is it like to die? Mama, does it hurt?" Quick tears sprang to her eyes and she fled to the kitchen, supposedly to tend to something on the stove. She knew it was a question with deep significance. She knew it must be answered satisfactorily. So she leaned for an instant against the smooth surface and breathed a hurried prayer that the Lord would keep her from breaking down before the boy and that she would be able to tell him the answer; the Lord did tell her. Immediately she knew how to explain it to him.

"Kenneth," she said to her son, "do you remember when you were a tiny boy how you used to play so hard all day that when night came you were too tired even to undress and you'd tumble into your mother's bed and fall asleep. That was not your bed, it was not where you belonged. You would only stay there a little while. Much to your surprise you would wake up and find yourself in your own bed in your own room. You were there because someone had loved you and taken care of you. Your father had come with big strong arms and carried you away.

"Kenneth, darling, death is just like that. We just wake up some morning to find ourselves in the other room. Our room where we belong, because the Lord Jesus loved us and died for us." The lad's shining face looking up into hers told her that the point had gone home and there would be no more fear, only love and trust in his little heart as he went to meet the Father in heaven. He never questioned again. Several weeks later he fell asleep just as she had said and Father's big, strong arms carried him to his own room.    Peter Marshall --James S. Hewett, Illustrations pp. 139-140.
 

Application

Governor Carnahan and His Son Followed In The Teachings Of Jesus

Your Christian Loved One who died, really passed out of the dying into the living.
 
 

James 2:26
26 For just as the body without {the} spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. (NAS)
 

Application

Governor Carnahan and His Son Followed In The Teachings Of Jesus and their spirit left their bodies.

The spirit of your Christian loved one has gone to be with the Lord.
 
 

Acts 7:55-59
55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; 56 and he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." 57 But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears, and they rushed upon him with one impulse.    58 And when they had driven him out of the city, they {began} stoning {him,} and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And they went on stoning Stephen as he called upon {the Lord} and said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" (NAS)

2 Cor 5:6-9 6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord-- 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight-- 8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 9 Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. (NAS)

Application

As a result of their faith in Christ the spirit of Governor Carnahan and His Son went to be with the Lord. The spirit of your Christian Loved one has gone to be with the Lord.

The Bible Teaches When A Christian Dies There Will Be A Bodily Resurrection.

John 2:19-21 19 Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." 20 The Jews therefore said, "It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?" 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. (NAS)
 

Illustration Hope Needs a Foundation
A little over a month before he died, the famous atheist Jean-Paul Sartre declared that he so strongly resisted feelings of despair that he would say to himself, "I know I shall die in hope." Then in profound sadness, he would add, "But hope needs a foundation." Our Daily Bread, April 17, 1995
 
 

Matt 17:3-4 3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. 4 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah." (NAS)

Luke 16:24-26
24 "And he cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue; for I am in agony in this flame.' 25 "But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 'And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, in order that those who wish to come over from here to you may not be able, and {that} none may cross over from there to us.' (NAS)

1 Cor 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known. NAS
 
 

A.    A Place With God's Presence. Rev 21:3
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, (NAS)
 

B.    A Place Without Tears. Rev 21:4
4 and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be {any} death; there shall no longer be {any} mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."   (NAS)

C.    A Place Without Death. Rev 21:4
4 and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be {any} death; there shall no longer be {any} mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."   (NAS)

Illustration
Professional golfer Paul Azinger was diagnosed with cancer at age 33. He had just won a PGA championship and had ten tournament victories to his credit.

He wrote, "A genuine feeling of fear came over me. I could die from cancer. Then another reality hit me even harder. I'm going to die eventually anyway, whether from cancer or something else. It's just a question of when. Everything I had accomplished in golf became meaningless to me. All I wanted to do was live." Then he remembered something that Larry Moody, who teaches a Bible study on the tour, had said to him. "Zinger, we're not in the land of the living going to the land of the dying. We're in the land of the dying trying to get to the land of the living." Robert Russell, "Resurrection Promises," Preaching Today,
 

D.    A Place Without Disease. Rev 22:3
3 And there shall no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His bond-servants shall serve Him; (NAS)
 

E.    A Place Without Night. Rev 22:5
5 And there shall no longer be {any} night; and they shall not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall illumine them; and they shall reign forever and ever. (NAS)

Death Allows Us To Pass Into Heaven.
 

A Christian's Spirit At Death leaves the Body
 

Their Spirit Goes Directly To Heaven.
 

There Will Be A Bodily Resurrection.
 

Their Loved Ones will know Them In Heaven.
 

At Death Christians Go To A Special Place.