Reality Of Death

I normally try to weave the Bible and the stories of the deceased into a eulogy.

• God’s words of instruction to us

• God’s Standards borne out in Jesus (John 14.6)

• God’s Commands

“What would I want to say to an audience who was looking at the reality of death?”

Hebrews 9:27-28

27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

I. Death Is Inevitable

A. The Only Exception – The Return of Jesus 1 Thessalonians 4:17

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

B. Have You Ever Thought That YOU Were the Exception to God’s Words?

1. God didn’t mean what he said.

2. God will make an exception for me.

3. [Laws of nature prove there are no exceptions – gravity, etc.

C. We Tend to Ignore the Unpleasant – “If I ignore it, it will just go away.”

1. Death is unpleasant and unknown to us – ignore it

a. It’ll just go away – Truth, it won’t (Enoch; Elijah vs. Moses @ Mt. of Transfiguration)

b. It’s a long way off – Truth it’s not James 4:14b For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

2. Death Doesn’t Have to be Unpleasant

a. A Hope for the Follower of Jesus

b. The Process may not be pleasant but it is our ticket home – Jesus/Us

Hebrews 9:24 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

c. [Sue dealt with a horrific disease; she died; but today she is healed in the presence of God

II. Death Is Not Always Immediate

A. There is an Uncertainty Regarding Death –

1. How are YOU going to Die? Maybe you know, maybe not. . .

2. Ways to go:

Dying in sleep – Long disease – Unexpected illness – Unexpected accident/Violence

But It IS Coming!

B. We Tend to Take Life for Granted

1. In Youth – “Shake off” injuries – but they catch up to us – Football players’ knees

2. Health issues – abuse bodies with drugs; alcohol; tobacco – we pay the price

C. Physical Death Didn’t Come Immediately to Adam and Eve, but It Came!

1. Spiritual separation from God DID come immediately (a death)

2. Reminds me of Ecclesiastes 8:11 Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil.

III. Live in the Interim

A. Life is Brief – Psalm 90:10 The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.

B. This Life is a Period Between within Eternity – Ecclesiastes 12:7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

C. What Do We Do in the Interim? – Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

1. Live with Memory in Mind

a. We want to be remembered – we give pictures and gifts to be remembered.

b. Irony – We will eventually be forgotten

A dilemma – We will be forgotten (Ecclesiastes 2.16-17)

16 For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! 17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

a. People may and will forget us

b. People we have touched will remember us while they live

c. God never forgets us. Precious (costly) in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints (Psalm 116.15).

In the Interim, Live Remembering –

a. Events from our past shape us for today.

b. God wants us to remember Him – Ecclesiastes 12.1; Luke 22.19;

c. God wants us to remember his words – Luke 24.8; Romans 1.16

d. God wants us to remember his works –the LORD is gracious and merciful. Psalm 111.4