What Happens When a Christian Dies?
Series: The Other Side of Death
2 Corinthians 5:1-11
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - Feb. 21, 2010
*Let’s talk about Heaven. Billy Sunday once said, “If we could get a real appreciation of what heaven is, we would all be so homesick for heaven the devil wouldn't have a friend left on earth.” (1)
*Now, it is impossible for us to fully understand Heaven. As the Bible says in 1 Cor 2:9, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God’s Word does tell us a lot about that wonderful place. God’s Word pulls back the curtain and let’s us look over to the other side of death. What happens when a Christian dies?
1. First: You will have instant admission into Heaven. (2 Cor 5:1-8)
*There is no doubt about it in vs. 1. -- Paul says: “We know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
*Christians, our admission into Heaven is so sure in vs. 4 that Paul says we groan for our mortality to be “swallowed up by life.” And in v. 8, “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”
*As Jack Van Impe explained: “Nearly 2,000 years ago, Christ came down from heaven's glory to shed His precious blood for the world. He knew no sin, but became sin for us (2 Cor 5:21). Through this substitutionary death, dying for you and me, all who receive this Christ can have the past, present and future stains of sin immediately forgiven, forgotten, obliterated, and liquidated, -- because the blood of Jesus Christ (God's) Son cleanses us from ALL sin. (1John 1:7) (2)
*Years ago, Rosalind Goforth was a well-known missionary in China. Along with her husband Jonathan, she had a wonderful ministry, but for years, Rosalind often felt oppressed by a burden of sin. She felt guilty and dirty, with a sense of spiritual failure.
*Finally one night, she settled at her desk with her Bible and concordance. Rosalind was determined to find out God’s attitude toward the failures, the faults and the sins of his children. At the top of the page she wrote: “What God does with our sins.” Then she searched God’s Word and made a list of 17 truths. Listen to a few of them:
-In Isaiah 53:6, God lays our sins on his Son, Jesus Christ.
-In Psalm 103:12 God takes our sins away as far as East is from West.
-In Eph 1:6-7, we are “accepted in the Beloved.” And “in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
-And in 1 John 1:7, the blood of God’s Son Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. (3)
*Christian, as soon as you die, you will have instant admission into Heaven, because you are “accepted in the Beloved” and your sins have been cleansed by the blood of God’s Son Jesus Christ!
*When Melba Biggs passed away last summer, I got to sit down and talk with her sister Gloria Wink. One of the things that gave great comfort to Gloria was something special that happened to her friend, Mickey.
*Mickey was a cancer patient, and had recently been at the doctor’s for chemo. For some reason, there was a 4-year-old girl in the office that day, and she asked Mickey, “Are you fixin to die?”
-Mickey answered, “I don’t know. It’s up to God.” -- Then the little girl replied, “Well, you will just jump out of your skin, and jump into God’s arms.”
*That little girl’s description was based on a sure Biblical truth: For a Christian to be “absent from the body is “to be present with the Lord.” Christian, when you die, you will have instant admission into Heaven.
2. And you will have infinitely greater awareness. (1 Cor 13:12)
*Some people ask, “Will I know my family and friends in Heaven?” Some people wonder, “Will I even know myself?” -- The consistent answer in God’s Word is “yes.” You will know your family. -- You will know yourself.
*Some of the verses we looked at last week help us to see this truth.
-In 1 Cor 13:12, Paul compared our life now to life in Heaven and said: “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”
-In Matt 22:31-32, Jesus proved the resurrection with these words: “Concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” Surely Abraham, Isaac and Jacob know who they are.
*The most tragic part of the Christmas story was the slaughter of the babies in Bethlehem, when Herod was trying to kill the infant Jesus. In Jeremiah 31:15, God prophesied that this terrible crime would happen:
15. Thus says the Lord: “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”
*But in the next two verses, God went on to make a wonderful promise to those grieving mothers:
16. Thus says the Lord: “Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded,” says the Lord, “And they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
17. There is hope in your future,” says the Lord, “That your children shall come back to their own border.”
*The only way this prophecy could be fulfilled is if those mothers know their children in Heaven. -- And they do!
*Some people have gotten close enough to the edge of death that they have seen the other side. -- And then have come back to tell us about it. One of those people was a sweet lady in our church. Her name was Cubie Biggs.
*Miss Cubie was pronounced clinically dead in the hospital. And when she was revived, she told about getting to the very edge of heaven before being sent back.
-Mrs. Cubie later said, “You know, I always thought that it would be my mother who came to greet me when I got to heaven. But it was my daddy. I could see him reaching his arms out to me.”
*Mrs. Cubie is with her daddy today, and she knows him better than ever. Christian, when you die, you will have infinitely greater awareness.
3. And you will give an account of your life to Jesus Christ. (2 Cor 5:8-11)
*God’s Word makes this very clear in at least 3 places, and one place is the Scripture we read this morning. Listen again to 2 Cor 5:8-11:
8. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
9. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.
10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
11. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well-known to God, and I also trust are well-known in your consciences.
*“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” Paul is not talking about lost people. He is talking about saved people.
*Please understand that this is not a judgment of our sins. Christians, we have already seen that all of our sins are washed away by the saving blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus paid it all. He paid the full price for our sins when He died on the cross.
-In John 3:18, “He who believes in Him is not condemned.”
-And in John 3:36, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life.”
*Vs. 10 is not talking about God’s judgment of our sins. This judgment is about our service to the Lord: “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
*You see, Eph 2:8-10 tells Christians:
8. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9. not of works, lest anyone should boast.
10. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
*What are these good works? Well, it’s not just church work, though it would include all of your faithful, love-inspired service for the Lord in church. But these good works should go beyond the church to reveal the love and goodness of God where we live, work and play. And “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
*Our appearance before the Judgment Seat of Christ will take place in Heaven, after the Rapture and before Christ returns to rule on the earth. It will be a time of reward. The rewards are beyond our comprehension, but the Bible speaks of crowns that we can receive.
-For example, in 1 Thess 2:19, The Crown of Rejoicing: “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?”
-And in 2 Timothy 4:8, The Crown of Righteousness: Here Paul said, “Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
*The Judgment Seat of Christ will be a time of reward, but it will also be a time of regret. This is a hard truth, but we see it in 1 Cor 3:11-15. Here Paul talks to Christians about building their lives on the foundation of faith in Jesus Christ. So in starting in vs. 11, he said:
11. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
13. each one's work will become manifest; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is.
*This fire is not the eternal fire of hell, but a temporary fire in Heaven.
14. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.
15. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
*Jack Van Impe called his lesson on this passage “The Victor's Triumph and the Backslider's Tears.” That’s because vs. 15 says: “If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss.”
-Yes, he “will be saved, yet so as through fire,” but “he will suffer loss.”
-“Suffer loss” means just what it says, to “receive damage, injury or loss.”
*Leonard Ravenhill explained it something like this: Suppose my whole Christian life is worth $10,000 and I invest most of it in wood, maybe some rich mahogany. Most of my life work is made out of wood. It's very nice, but when the fire goes through it, what do you have? All you have is ashes, maybe up to your ankles, and that's all there is left.
*But suppose I invest most of my $10,000 in hay or straw. Does that sound foolish? Well, people do it every day. Why? Because if you put $10,000 into hay or straw, it looks like you are getting a lot for your money.
*Leonard said, “You could probably buy half the straw in Texas for $10,000, but boy you're going to have a mess when the fire gets to it. Instead of ashes to your ankles, it’ll be ashes up to your nose, maybe. But that's what some lives are going to be like: wood, hay, stubble -- then ashes.
*Now let's look at a few people who made much wiser investments. There's a man over here who has $10,000, and he invests it in gold. (He won't get much at $1,000 an ounce, will he?) The next man invests $10,000 in silver, and another man invests the same amount in costly stones.
*Each of the men had the same amount of life to spend, but very different results. Our whole life, from the very moment we receive Christ, is going to be tested by fire. We must be very careful to make wise investments, or all that will be left is ashes. (4)
*This is why 1 John 2:28 tells Christians, “Now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.” Christian, when you die, you will give an account of your life to Jesus Christ.
4. And you will ache for the final victory. (Revelation 6:9-11)
*We often assume that Heaven is a place of nothing but joy. It will be one day, but not yet. In Rev 6:9-11, God lets us see some people in Heaven:
9. When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.
10. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
11. And a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.
*Now of course these people were happy to be in Heaven, but do they sound happy in vs. 10? -- No, they are crying out for justice: They cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” They were longing for God’s final victory over the devil, and so will we.
*Also think about it this way: Is God happy in Heaven right now? Well, yes and no. In Luke 15:7 Jesus said there is more “joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.”
*But at the same time, God is angry against sin. The Book of Revelation alone speaks of God’s wrath 12 times. -- For example, listen to Rev 6:15-17:
15. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains,
16. and said to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!
17. For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?''
*Remember that old saying about the family? “If Mama’s not happy, ain’t nobody happy!” If God Himself, the One we love the most, is upset, then won’t we be upset too? We would have to be.
*Right now in Heaven they are getting ready for battle. And we will be part of His army. Christian, when you die, you will ache for the final victory.
5. And you will advance to perfection. (1 John 3:1-2)
*We’re not there yet. -- But we are going to a perfect place. In Rev 21 the Apostle John began to describe it this way:
1. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
2. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.
4. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.''
*Steve Malone called Heaven the “Place of no-mores,” And he explained it this way: “When I was in the Navy many times it was the ‘no-mores’ and the hope of the ‘no-mores’ that kept me going. When I was on a 3 month patrol, I called the last week of patrol the ‘no-mores.’
-No more Mondays at sea.
-No more Mondays away from family.
-No more Mondays not seeing the sun.
-In fact my entire last year in the Navy was a year of ‘no-mores!’
*When you and I get to heaven there is going to be some awesome ‘no-mores.’
-And these ‘no-mores’ should really inspire us. They should rally us, keep us going and give us a living hope” -- No more hunger, thirst, scorching heat, tears, death, crying, pain, bad guys, sin.
*We are going to a perfect place. -- And we will be perfect people.
-In Romans 7 in the Living Bible, Paul said:
15. I don't understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I can't. I do what I don't want to--what I hate.
16. I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience proves that I agree with these laws I am breaking.
19. When I want to do good, I don't; and when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway.
24. Oh, what a terrible predicament I'm in! Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature?
25. Thank God! It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set me free.
*Do you ever feel like Paul?
-Yes, I know that I’m saved by the grace of God and the cross of Jesus Christ.
-But I still fall short, and I get tired of that -- Don’t you? (5)
*One day the struggle will be over! -- We are going to a perfect place, and we will be perfect people! As we see in 1 John 3:1-2:
1. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
2. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM, for we shall see Him as He is.
*We shall be like Jesus!
-This promise is sure. -- There is no reason to doubt it.
-We will be like Him! -- Perfect in every way.
*Not that we will be gods. -- But we will be like God. We will be like Jesus.
-It’s hard to see right now, isn’t it? -- We can’t see it.
-But it’s coming for all who know Jesus.
*Ray Stedman told the story of an artist who was painting a picture he felt would be his masterpiece. He was working away in his studio, painting the background color, when a friend came in.
*The artist stepped back and said, "Oh, look at it! It's my masterpiece. What do you think of it?"
-The friend said, "Well, it doesn't look like much to me.”
-And the artist said, “Oh, I forget. You're seeing it as it is, but I see it as it will be!” (6)
*We can’t see it yet, but Christian, God sees the masterpiece He is making out of your life. -- And one day you will see it too.
*Unless the Lord comes back first, one day we are all going to die.
-What happens next? -- Well, if you are a Christian:
-You will have instant admission into Heaven.
-You will have infinitely greater awareness.
-You will ache for the final victory.
-You will advance to perfection.
-And you will give an account of your life to Jesus Christ.
*Christian: now is the time to start investing your life the right way! Build a life filled with good works based on the love of God, and the firm foundation of your faith in Jesus Christ.
*And if you have never trusted in the Lord, please open your heart to Jesus today.
-He loves you.
-He died on the cross for you.
-He rose from the dead.
-And He is the only one who can give you everlasting life in Heaven.
1. “The Best of Billy Sunday,” Ed. John R. Rice (Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1965), p. 342. (Found in ChristianGlobe.com sermon “Heaven: The Home of a Godly Family” by James Merritt - John 14:1-4)
2. “The Judgment Seat of Christ” by Dr. Jack Van Impe
3. Adapted from Robert J. Morgan, Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 2000
4. Adapted from “The Judgment Seat of Christ” by Leonard Ravenhill
5. Adapted from - SermonCentral.com sermon “Top Ten Reasons Why Heaven Is Going to Be a Blast” by Steve Malone - Hebrews 11:13-16
6. “What Shall We Be” by Ray Stedman - 1 John 3:2-3 - 01/29/67
