The certainty
of DEATH and
JUDGMENT
Death Rate:
8 deaths / 1,000 population
53.4 million people die each year
146,357 people die each day
6098 people die each hour
102 people die each minute
almost 2 people die each second 1
Every day over 146,357 people will take their final breath and slip into eternity, either into heaven or into hell. Although most of their lives may never have made headlines, the reality of death happens every day.
1 wholesomewords.org/ missions/ greatc.html
THE CERTAINTY OF DEATH
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return. (Gen 3:19)
Why, you do not even know what will happen
tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. (James 4:14)
Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back into the same box. (Italian Proverb)
THE CERTAINTY OF DEATH
Inscribed on a tombstone in a cemetery in England were the words:
“REMEMBER MAN, AS YOU WALK BY
AS YOU ARE NOW, SO ONCE WAS I,
AS I AM NOW, SO SHALL YOU BE,
REMEMBER THIS AND FOLLOW ME.”
To which someone replied by
writing on the tombstone:
“TO FOLLOW YOU
I’LL NOT CONSENT,
UNTIL I KNOW
WHICH WAY YOU WENT.” 1
1 www.churchchrist.net
THE CERTAINTY OF DEATH
Heb 9:27 Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.
John 5:28-29 Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out - those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.
CERTAINTY OF JUDGMENT
Rev 20:11-15 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they
had done as recorded
in the books … each
person was judged
according to what he
had done… If anyone’s
name was not found
written in the book of
life, he was thrown
into the lake of fire.
CERTAINTY OF JUDGMENT
People make all sorts of preparation when they go on a journey, but many fail to prepare for the greatest and final journey we are all destined to take.
Matt 22:11-13 But when the
king came in to see the guests,
he noticed a man there who was
not wearing wedding clothes.
‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you
get in here without wedding
clothes?’ The man was speech-
less. Then the king told the
attendants, ‘Tie him hand and
foot, and throw him outside, into
the darkness, where there will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
ARE YOU PREPARED?
Jesus spoke of a PREPARED PLACE for a PREPARED PEOPLE:
John 14:1-2 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
But Jesus also spoke of a PREPARED PLACE for an UNPREPARED PEOPLE:
Matt 25:41 Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’
Cesare Borgia was the illegitimate son of the notorious Pope Alexander VI and his mistress. He is believed by some to have murdered his brother Giovanni. He was feared by his own father and murdered those who stood in his way.
His dying words were: “I have taken care of everything in the course of my life, only not for death, and now I have to die completely unprepared.” 1
1 www.thewordteaches.com
Cesare Borgia (1476-1507)
ARE YOU PREPARED?
Thomas Hobbes, the political philosopher and skeptic who saw of human existence as self-interested cooperation and was one
of the main philosophers
who founded ‘materialism’.
His deathbed words were:
“If I had the whole
world, I would give
anything to live one day.
I shall be glad to find a
hole to creep out of the
world at. I am about to
take a fearful leap in
the dark!” 1
1 www.evolution-facts.org
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
ARE YOU PREPARED?
Death is not something for the child of God to fear:
Hebrews 2:14-15 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
NOT SOMETHING FOR THE CHILD OF GOD TO FEAR
A child of God doesn’t have to fear death – because they don’t have to fear God’s judgment:
1 John 4:16-18 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
1 Cor 15:56 The sting of death is sin…
NOT SOMETHING FOR THE CHILD OF GOD TO FEAR
ONE STROKE FOR EVERY YEAR
The famous American evangelist D.L. Moody related how in his childhood, death was a terrible enemy to him. “Up in that little New England village where I came from, it was the custom to toll out the bell whenever any one died, and to toll one stroke for every year. Sometimes they would toll out 70 strokes for a man of 70, or 40 strokes for a man of 40. I used to think when they died at 70, and sometimes at 80, well, that is a good ways off. But sometimes it would be a child at my age, and then it used to be very solemn. Sometimes I could not bear to sleep in a room alone. Death used to trouble me, but, thanks to God, it don’t trouble me now.” 1
1 Source: www.wholesomewords.org/ biography/ biomoody.html
THE DEATH OF THE GODLY
D.L. Moody, said, “Some day you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody of East Northfield, is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now; I shall have gone
up higher, that is all, out of this old
clay tenement into a house that is
immortal - a body that death
cannot touch, that sin cannot
taint; a body fashioned like unto
His glorious body. I was born of
the flesh in 1837. I was born of
the Spirit in 1856. That which is
born of the flesh may die. That
which is born of the Spirit
will live forever.” 1
1 Source: www.wholesomewords.org
THE DEATH OF THE GODLY
Eyewitnesses recorded of Moody’s death:
God was magnified again in his marvelous triumph over death, but what we call death had absolutely no terrors for him. He calmly looked death in the face and said, “Earth is receding. Heaven is opening. God is calling me. Is this death? It isn’t bad at all. It is sweet. No pain. No valley. I have been within the gates! It is beautiful. It is glorious. Do not call me back. God is calling me.” 1
For four hours Mr. Moody faced death without a tremor. Nay, he rejoiced in it and welcomed it… Later he said, “This is glorious. This is my coronation day, I have long looked forward to it.” 2
1 “The life & work of Dwight Lyman Moody” by the J. Wilbur Chapman
2 Source: www.archive.org/ stream/ lessonsfromlifed
THE DEATH OF THE GODLY
King David wrote these beautiful words in his Shepherd’s Psalm that have been a comfort to many a Christian as death approached, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” (Psalm 23:4)
The famous London preacher Charles Spurgeon said, “There is an essential difference between the decease of the godly and the death of the ungodly. Death comes to the ungodly man as a penal infliction, but to the righteous as a summons to his Father’s palace. To the sinner it is an execution, to the saint an undressing from his sins and infirmities. Death to the wicked is the King of terrors. Death to the saint is the end of terrors, the commencement of glory.” 1
1 spurgeon.org
THE DEATH OF THE GODLY
The apostle Paul said of death:
For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
(Phil 1:21)
Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? (1 Cor 15:54-55)
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (2 Tim 4:6-8)
THE DEATH OF THE GODLY
A tent is just a temporary living place – not a home!
2 Pet 1:13-14 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.
2 Cor 5:1-4 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
OUR BODY IS A ‘TENT’
God doesn’t view death as we see it:
Ps 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
Isa 57:1-2 The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.
The apostle Paul wrote, “We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” (2 Cor 5:8)
WHY DO SOME GOOD PEOPLE DIE YOUNG?
The Bible speaks of death for the child of God as:
Falling asleep in Christ
Resting from our labour
Absent from the body - present with the Lord
Something precious to God
WHY DO SOME GOOD PEOPLE DIE YOUNG?
John 3:3 In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
IS EVERYONE
A CHILD
OF GOD?
I never knew:
Rom 1:18-20 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
COMMON PITFALLS
I’ve lived a good life
Eph 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
I have my own religion:
John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
I believe in God:
James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
COMMON PITFALLS
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Rom 10:13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Rom 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Acts 2:38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.”
HOW ARE WE SAVED?
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”
(John 3:36)
LIFE OR DEATH: YOUR CHOICE