The Truth About Death

i would encourage you to open your bible to the passage i read earlier in luke chapter 12. as i go before the lord and seek his will and plan for sermons i don't necessarily know in the planning what one week after another might bring but he does and the lord knew that this passage was for this day in his purposes lessons about death from jesus i don't think in my lifetime i've heard the word deadly as many times as i've heard it in the last five months this is the only time in my lifetime that you get a daily score no sports scores but you get the death score every day and i will admit we all must that life is a terminal illness for all of us every year 60 million people die in the world three million every year die in our own country they all will live forever either in heaven or hell the difference is their relationship with the lord jesus christ is he their savior or is he their judge the popular perception of the lord jesus is that he is a figure who is to be defined by love and peace certainly that is true that is true for those who believe in him for those who repent from their sins and acknowledge him as lord and savior there will be eternal love and peace and joy but that's not the full picture what about those who reject him this is the most important message the world will ever hear and the church is the proclamation center for this message of salvation in verse 51 of luke 12. jesus asks a question to the crowd it's a large crowd you go to the beginning of chapter 12 and verse 1 it says so many thousands of people literally the word there means ten thousand tens of thousands of people were listening to him he says to them in verse 51 do you suppose that i came to grant peace on the earth that what you think after all that's what the jews would think isaiah called him the prince of peace zacharias the priest who was the father of john the baptist said that when the messiah came he would lead us into the way of peace jesus said to his followers in the upper room the night of his betrayal the night before his death my peace i leave with you he actually declared that he was going to bring to the world a spiritual kingdom of peace romans 14 and one day an actual earthly kingdom of peace it's all true god is a god of love christ the expression of that love god so loved the world that he gave his son to purchase our salvation jesus loved his own who were in the world to the max he is the source of love and he is the source of peace but that's not the full story back to verse 51 do you suppose that i came to grant peace on earth i tell you no but rather division strong word by the way in greek it means a hostile separation not just a simple division but a hostile separation in fact in matthew 10 34 matthew says he called it a sword a machira which was a weapon carried by a soldier and what is the nature of this division verse 52 five members in one household will be divided three against two and two against three they will be divided father against son son against father mother against daughter daughter against mother mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law and it'll be hostile our lord goes immediately to the place with the most intimate enduring unbreakable strong bonds and says i came to create hostility where there is naturally love affection and intimacy he came to be a divider jesus is a divider he divides the whole world as i said a moment ago the lord is speaking through this entire section starting in chapter 12 verse 1 to massive crowds and he has told them a lot of things he's told them to [Music] turn away from the dominating false religious teachers that are leading them to hell he's told them to fear god he's told them to confess him as lord and messiah he's told them to entrust their lives to the holy spirit of god he's told them to reject material things and the seduction of the world he's telling them to come to him for salvation and he gives these calls with a great sense of urgency if you look back to verse 40 of chapter 12 he said you to be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour that you do not expect judgment is looming on the horizon he describes that judgment in verse 49 with these words i have come to cast fire upon the earth john the baptist who basically introduced jesus as his forerunner said the same thing in his ministry back in luke 3. john said verse 16 as for me i baptize you with water but one is coming who is mightier than i and i'm not fit to untie the thong of his sandals he will baptize you with the holy spirit and fire his winnowing fork is in his hand to thoroughly clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn and he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire that was the message of the forerunner of jesus he's coming to bring fire to cast fire on the earth in john 3 john 9 39 rather he said for judgment i came into the world for judgment i came into the world in the fifth chapter of john verse 22 it says for not even the father judges anyone but he has given all judgment to the son so that all will honor the son even as they honor the father he who does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent him truly truly i say to you he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and doesn't come into judgment but is passed out of death into life the difference between judgment and life is what you do with jesus christ he will either be your savior or your final judge there's an amazing statement in verse 49 jesus says i have come to cast fire upon the earth and how i wish it were already kindled that might shock you because most people's idea of jesus is that he's some kind of a sentimental loving peaceful person and nothing more but here he says i wish the fire had already started he wishes it were time to light the final fire of judgment it's an amazing comment jesus longs for the judgment he wants the judgment to come if this seems alien to your understanding of god then you don't understand that god as a god of justice and holiness and righteousness and wrath and vengeance it might seem strange to unbelievers that this is about as far away from their perception of jesus as it could be and yet his holiness longs for judgment why to bring an end to sin and sinners because they have invaded his presence and his holy universe has fallen and it's generation after generation of sin and sinners and he longs to see it all end for jesus there was a desire for holiness full righteousness absolute purity that will be the reality in eternal heaven we would be shocked if jesus didn't have that desire how much sin can a holy god tolerate how many generations go by then he has to deal with blasphemy against him he should wish that the fire had already started and an end to sin had already come but look at the next verse but verse 50 i have a baptism to undergo another credible statement i have a baptism to undergo what's he talking about he's not talking about anything that involves water the verb means an immersion i have to be plunged into the depths what is this talking about it's talking about his experience of divine judgment in isaiah 53 that incredible chapter that looks at the cross familiar words to all of us come starting in verse 4. surely our griefs he himself bore our sorrows he carried yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken smitten of god and afflicted but he was pierced through for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities the chastening for our well-being fell on him and by his scourging we are healed all of us like sheep have gone astray each of us has turned to his own way but the lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him he was the lamb led to slaughter he was the one says isaiah killed for the transgression of his people to whom the stroke was due his baptism was to bear in his body the wrath of god for the sins of his people he became sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of god in him [Music] he became a curse for us to bear our punishment on the cross jesus suffered the full fury of god for all the sins of all the people who would ever believe through all of human history and he absorbed all that wrath in three hours of darkness that was the baptism he had to undergo and because of it verse 50 he said how distressed i am until it's accomplished you think gethsemane is the only place where he was sorrowful you think gethsemane was the only place where he agonized over the reality that he was going to face the wrath of god and bear the punishment for sin he lived in a perpetual kind of gethsemane because he knew what was coming it distressed him that word is translated in other places in the new testament seized him or to grip with fear that's why when he finally got to gethsemane and the hours before he had to suffer the wrath of god he said father if it's possible let this cup pass from me from the time that he was conscious of who he was in the world he anticipated his sin bearing the profound agony always rested deep in his heart even here before he ever faces the death that awaits him he feels that pain how distressed i am until it is accomplished tell us stay until the divine purpose is complete until he can say in john 19 30 it is finished so this is the first thing i want you to know about death this is a lesson from jesus he must die for sinners he must die for sinners and he did die for sinners you're familiar with these words but hear them again john 3 16 for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life for god did not send the son into the world to judge the world not the first time but that the world might be saved through him he who believes in him is not judged he who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of god this is the judgment that the light has come into the world and men loved the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil for everyone who does evil hates the light does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed but he who practices the truth comes to the light so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in god christ came to be the divider between those who are in the light and those who are in the darkness those who have been forgiven and those who have not revelation chapter one gives a magnificent picture of christ in verse five who read this jesus christ the faithful witness the firstborn the prototypes the premier one from the dead the ruler of the kings of the earth to him who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood and he has made us to be a kingdom priests to his god and father to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever amen behold he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him even those who pierced him and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him so it is to be a men amen came the first time to love us and release us from our sins by his blood he comes the second time to establish his authority and to judge in verse 18 of revelation 1 he says i'm the living one i was dead behold i'm alive forevermore and i have the keys of death and hades he's the only one who can open up hades he's the key holder and rescue the sinner and usher him into heaven he is the divider this is the most important truth the world will ever know this is the most important truth for every single human being salvation from sin and death and judgment is provided by faith in jesus christ alone there's only one source for that message in the world that is the church of christ we are the most essential of all things having said that our lord then confronts the typical indifference and complacency the typical trivial superficial thinking that never gets to anything eternally significant and you'll find that in verse 54. he was also saying to the crowds when you see a cloud rising in the west immediately you say a shower is coming and so it turns out and when you see a south wind blowing you say it'll be a hot day and it turns out that way you hypocrites you know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky but why do you not analyze this present kairos not clock time not even calendar time epochs you're really basically able to tell the weather if you see a cloud or if you feel the wind in other words you have certain earthly perceptions mundane you spend all your time analyzing what is mundane what is passing but you don't know what time it is in redemptive history and exactly what time is it the lord was in galilee in nazareth back in luke 4. and he went into the synagogue where he had grown up and in verse 17 of luke 4 he opened the book of isaiah and found the place where it was written this is isaiah 61 the spirit of the lord is upon me because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind to free those who are oppressed all that comes from isaiah 61 he sent me to preach the gospel the good news of salvation to those who realize they're spiritually bankrupt who realize their captives to sin who realize they're blind to spiritual reality and who are under the oppression of the devil he came to preach to them the good news and then in verse 19 language comes that is so important to proclaim the favorable year of the lord jewish people to whom jesus was speaking should have known a lot more than the weather they should have known they were in that long-awaited favorable year of the lord when the lord was going to shower them with the greatest favor he could ever give them the arrival of their own messiah how foolish were they the messiah had come he'd proven who he was by miracles and words the day of salvation had arrived the savior was there in their midst and they pretend to be religious old testament scholars the leaders of the ignorant and all they can do is analyze superficial things earthly things temporal things mark chapter 6 it says he marveled at their unbelief he banished illness from the land of israel he raised the dead healed the sick day after day after day the words that came out of his mouth no one had ever heard they admitted it we never heard a man speak like this man his character was on display they should have known because the messiah would be born in bethlehem and that's where he was born and all the prophecies of what the messiah would be like were very evident in him they could tell the weather they didn't know what time it was spiritually that's still the case god is a god of compassion and mercy and here we are two thousand years later and it's still the favorable year of the lord it is there's still time his grace is extended to us that's why as soon as paul makes the great confession of second corinthians 5 21 that god made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of god in him paul goes on to say immediately at the acceptable time i listen to you and on the day of salvation i helped you behold now is the acceptable time behold now is the day of salvation folks you are living in the day of salvation since jesus arrived to this very day it is still the favorable year of the lord the creator the redeemer has come to be savior and lord bringing forgiveness eternal life he is the way the truth and the life there's no salvation in any other than him this is the season of grace by the way that luke 4 passage that i read to you borrowed from isaiah 61 left another part of isaiah 61. it is the favorable year of the lord wrote isaiah and the day of the vengeance of our god isaiah was saying that when messiah comes there will be a favorable day and then there will be a day of vengeance we're still in the favorable day so the first lesson about death from jesus is he came he died to provide this favorable day of salvation still open the doors of heaven are still open the narrow gate is still open the vengeance of our god has not yet fallen in light of that reality of his own death the lord gives us three vivid illustrations look at verse 57. here's the first one and we're going to learn three lessons why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right for while you are going with your opponent to appear before the magistrate on your way there make an effort to settle with him so that he may not drag you before the judge and the judge turn you over to the officer and the officer throw you into prison i say to you you will not get out of there until you've paid the very last cent here's the first lesson you are headed for judgment you're going to be before the judge you would do well to settle before you get there that's the lesson why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right why don't you look at what is really righteous what is most necessary is that you deal with the matter of what is right back in the beginning of chapter 12 our lord started this sermon by saying in verse 2 there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known accordingly whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops i say to you my friends do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more they can do [Music] but i will warn you to fear the one who after he has killed has authority to cast into hell yes i tell you fear him fear the eternal judge fear the eternal god you have violated his law and his holiness you better take a look at the issue of righteousness it's appointed unto men says hebrews 9 wants to die and after that the judgment you're headed for the judge human history is not going to end in some kind of environmental disaster hairspray is not going to bring it down human history will end when the judge says it's time for final court make an effort to settle with him before you get there this is still the favorable day of the lord you will face judgment and it will be too late then but you can settle now and you settle by embracing the provision he has made for forgiveness the person and work of the lord jesus christ or else he will end up paying forever for your own sins and never being any better than when you arrived in hell your perpetual and eternal evil will make the punishment equally perpetual and eternal there's a second lesson the second lesson comes in chapter 13 verses 1 to 5. the lesson is this don't think because you've survived in life that you've earned favor with god now on the same occasion there were some present listening to him who reported to him about the galileans whose blood pilate had mixed with their sacrifices pilate was roman procurator he was the fifth roman procurator he was in jerusalem from about 2680 to 36 a.d including of course the ministry and death of our lord there's a lot of amazing and interesting history about pilate this is an incident we don't really have a record about but apparently some galileans came down to the temple from galilee jewish people and they were offering their sacrifices very likely a passover because that's when people came and brought their own sacrifices and for some reason pilate went into the place where they were offering their sacrifices with his soldiers and slaughtered them slaughtered those galileans and mixed their blood with the blood of the sacrifices i mean it's a horrific thing these are worshiping people these are devout people they're at the passover they're doing exactly what the old testament prescribed for them to do and while they're doing the thing that they should be doing a calamity occurs and they are literally sliced to death well there was a kind of common jewish notion that if something like that happened to you any kind of calamity that may have happened to you or even an illness meant that you were one of the bad people do you remember those worthless friends of job trying to explain why job was having so much trouble in eliphaz in chapter 4 verse 7 articulates this this notion whoever perished being innocent people die because because god kills them because they're bad people eliphaz says you know when were the upright ever destroyed job the reason you're going through so much suffering and all of this that's happening to you is because you're bad bill dad another useless friend a few chapters later says to job lo god will not reject a man of integrity and he will not support an evil doer job you've got to be clear the reason you're having all these problems is you're just a bad man you're an evil man this was their counsel they they were relentless in chapter 22 [Music] verse 4 eliphaz says is it because of your reverence that he reproves you that's sarcasm you think you're suffering because you're so reverent is it because of your reverence that he enters into judgment against you is not your wickedness great and your iniquities without end for you have taken pledges of your brothers without cause and stripped men naked and to the weary you have given no water to drink and from the hungry you have withheld bread but the earth belongs to the mighty man and the honorable man dwells in it you you have sent widows away empty and the strength of the orphans has been crushed therefore snares surround you and sudden death terrifies you you know job we don't know you very well you're a bad man you must have done all these things that's why you're suffering this is their theology shows up in the ninth chapter of john when there's a man born blind and what do the leaders say to jesus who sinned this man or his parents you may think that you're not one of those bad people you're alive you're here you're composed and well-dressed and flourishing well the question then comes from these people in verse 2. [Music] and jesus said to them do you suppose that these galileans were greater sinners than all other galileans because they suffered this fate and why did i say the question came from them because jesus read their minds are you supposing are you thinking i know what you're thinking you're thinking that those galileans were greater sinners than all the other galileans who didn't get sliced to death or remember this in verse 4 do you suppose that those 18 on whom the tower in siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in jerusalem i know how you think you think that you're good because you've escaped calamity we don't know anything about the killing of the galileans while they were offering sacrifices but we do know a little bit about what happened with regard to the 18 on whom the tower in siloam fell and killed them shalom is an area of jerusalem where the south and east walls of the lower city met there was a pool there fed by the gihon spring outside the wall through an underground tunnel that had been built by king hezekiah pilot built an aqueduct in the area and either the tower was part of the collapse or the scaffolding for the tower and when it collapsed 18 people were killed just standing there so now you go from worshiping people being killed must have been hypocrites they must have been really bad we just didn't know how bad they were to 18 people just standing around maybe they were workers they're not religious they're just there so the headlines of the jerusalem gazette would say 18 people were crushed under the scaffolding that fell from the aqueduct near siloam so what do you think do you suppose they were worse than everybody who didn't get crushed that's the typical understanding of human beings i'm doing fine i'm a good person look at jesus answer verse 3 i tell you no but unless you repent you will all likewise perish verse 5 i tell you no [Music] unless you repent you will all likewise perish you're not alive because you're any better you're not alive because you're a good person no it's an emphatic in the greek just because no calamity has overtaken you means nothing the true calamity will overtake you if you don't repent the issue is not how you die or from what you die as if god measured out certain calamitous deaths by grading people on their wretchedness you will die and if you die without repenting you will perish that's that's a lesson on death isn't it you are headed for judgment you're going to meet the judge you better settle before you get there what's going on in your life may seem like blessing because things are okay others have died but not you that doesn't mean anything it's not when you die or how you die it's whether you repent even the old testament saints would say to god why do the unrighteous prosper and why do the righteous sometimes suffer because the things that happen in this life aren't ultimate you better repent repent of your sin repent of your unbelief and come to christ there's a third lesson that our lord teaches at the end of the call to repentance he begins telling them a parable of a shall an illustration a story a man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard and he came looking for fruit on it and didn't find any and he said to the vineyard keeper behold for three years i have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any cut it down why does it even use up the ground and he answered and said to him let it alone sir for this year too until i dig around it and put in fertilizer and if it bears fruit next year fine but if not cut it down here's the third lesson you're living on borrowed time you're living on borrowed time this is the favorable year of the lord the most universal gift of god's common grace is time time to repent time to believe god is patient god is patient you're living in the time of his patience i can't resist psalm 103 one of my very favorite psalms just to look at a couple of portions of it bless the lord o my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name bless the lord o my soul and forget none of his benefits who pardons all your iniquities who heals all your diseases who redeems your life from the pit who crowns you with loving kindness and compassion who satisfies your years with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle the lord performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed he made known his ways to moses his acts to the sons of israel the lord is compassionate and gracious slow to anger and abounding in loving-kindness he will not always strive with us nor will he keep his anger forever he has not dealt with us according to our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities for as high as the heavens are above the earth so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him and as far as the east is from the west so far as he removed our transgressions from us just as a father has compassion on his children so the lord has compassion on those who fear him god is compassionate merciful gracious patient but what does the story tell you well the singular tree the fig tree speaks of a solitary reality it could be israel as involved here i'm sure they are but beyond that it speaks to every person when god comes to look for fruit evidence of salvation the fruit of righteousness and finds none it might be time to say cut it down why does it even use up the ground and then someone comes and intervenes let it alone sir for this year until i dig around it and put in fertilizer and if it bears fruit next year fine if not cut it down this indicates to us that god can be appealed to on the basis of his compassion to delay judgment you're living on borrowed time every human being is living on borrowed time you don't know when that time is up i remember 9 11. happened on a tuesday and a few days later i was on cnn with larry king and he said to me what is the lesson of 9 11. i said that the lesson of 9 11 is you don't know when you're going to die the lesson that's the lesson you better settle the account before you face the judge you will die and you're not in charge of your death and you don't know how far you've already gone you may have used up your symbolically speaking three years and you may be in year four the final year and if you don't repent you're cut down in judgment i think i've never heard as i said at the beginning so many people talking about death on such a superficial level when you talk about death you're talking about eternity you're talking about eternal hell or eternal heaven is the church necessary in a time like this is the gospel necessary in a time like this do we not need to be who the church is in the world and stand up and declare the truth of the gospel that rescues men from final and eternal judgment there's never been a time [Music] when the world didn't need the message of the true church i have to say true church i hate to think of that but there's so many false forms of the church let them shut down this is the day of salvation and we will proclaim the glorious gospel that saves let's pray our father we know that you have made us for such a time as this we think back about the hymns that we sung [Music] which were written out of horrendous times of suffering and death and the saints were always together to sing your praise and proclaim your gospel as people all around them were dying we're thankful that this is not such a severe time it's not a war where millions dies it's not a plague where millions die but millions are dying 60 million this year and you've told us to go into all the world and preach the gospel and you've said whoever believes will receive eternal life but how will they believe unless they have a preacher because faith comes by hearing the word of christ so may the church stand up may the church rise up and be the church proclaim the glorious gospel of jesus christ in this favorable epic of redemptive history and lord would you graciously extend that borrowed time a little bit to gather more into your glorious kingdom we thank you that you have called us to be your voice in the world we pray lord that you will give us joy as we serve you give us fruit fruitfulness in the lives of others and may we be experiencing in our own lives that confidence that belongs to those who are christ that greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world and that we have been made for just such a time as this to proclaim your gospel with love and compassion in this time where grace is still being extended save sinners lord for your glory we pray everyone said amen you

Channel: Grace to You

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Keywords: John MacArthur, Bible, Preaching, Christianity, Expository, Exposition, Sermon, Jesus, Christ, Grace to You, covid 19, Pandemic

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Length: 50min 15sec (3015 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 05 2020