Bayside Baptist Church

Narrator: If I were the devil, if I were the Prince of Darkness, I'd want to engulf the whole world in darkness. I'd have a third of its real estate and four-fifths of its population, but I wouldn't be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree: the US. I'd set about however necessary to take over the United States. I'd subvert the churches first. I'd begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: "Do as you please."

To the young, I would whisper that the Bible is a myth. I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what's bad is good and what's good is "square." And the old, I would teach to pray after me: "Our Father, which art in Washington." And then I'd get organized. I'd educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting. I'd threaten TV with dirtier movies and vice-versa. I'd peddle narcotics to whom I could. I'd sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. I'd tranquilize the rest with pills.

If I were the devil, I would soon have families at war with themselves, churches at war with themselves, and nations at war with themselves until each in its turn was consumed. And with promises of higher ratings, I'd have mesmerized media fanning the flames. If I were the devil, I would encourage schools to refine young intellects but neglect to discipline emotions—just let those run wild until before you knew it, you'd have to have drug-sniffing dogs and metal detectors at every schoolhouse door.

Within a decade, I'd have prisons overflowing. I'd have judges promoting pornography. Soon, I could evict God from the courthouse, then from the schoolhouse, and then from the Houses of Congress. In his own churches, I would substitute psychology for religion and deify science. I would lure priests and pastors into misusing boys and girls and church money. If I were the devil, I'd make the symbol of Easter an egg and the symbol of Christmas a bottle.

If I were the devil, I'd take from those who have and give to those who wanted until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious. What'll you bet I couldn't get whole states to promote gambling as the way to get rich? I would caution against extremes and hard work, in patriotism, in moral conduct. I would convince the young that marriage is old-fashioned, that swinging is more fun, and that what you see on TV is the way to be. Of course, I could undress you in public, and I could lure you into bed with diseases for which there is no cure. In other words, if I were the devil, I'd just keep right on doing what he's doing.

Jason King: Heard about a preacher who died and now was waiting in line at the Pearly Gates to stand before Saint Peter to see if he would be able to get in. Before him, right in front of him in line, was a taxi driver. As soon as the taxi driver got to Saint Peter, Peter asked him his name, age, and occupation. He checked in his book, confirmed, and handed him a golden rod and a silk robe.

The preacher kind of expectantly stepped up. Same sort of thing: name, age, and occupation. But Saint Peter handed the preacher a wooden rod and a cotton robe. The preacher looked at it and thought, "All right." Before he walked through the gates, he turned around and he asked Peter, "I just got to know. I got to ask a question. I'm a man of God. I've preached the Word of God to people for years. But this guy in front of me that was a taxicab driver, he got a silk robe and a golden rod. All I got is a piece of wood and a cotton robe." Peter looked at him and he said, "Well, sir, as you've preached the Word of God for years, people have gone to sleep. But the taxicab driver, every time he drove that car, people prayed."

We talk about it all the time, but what really happens when you die? Looking around the room, I'm pretty certain in this assertion that none of you are dead right now. We're all alive. As we gather together, nobody really knows. You're not really able to describe it, and I'm not able to describe it because we don't know by our experience what happens the moment that you die. Maybe you've read a book or some blog post or article, or maybe your mama or grandma told you what they think, or maybe you have an idea of what you'd like for it to be. Do we see Saint Peter when we stand before the Pearly Gates? Are there Pearly Gates that we stand before? Do we go to a holding place that maybe called Purgatory or something else? Or do our souls just go to sleep from the moment that we die until Christ returns? Is there a waiting room for heaven? Do people really go to hell? Does God give people another chance at some point to get it right before their final destination, especially those who have never before heard the gospel?

Several years ago, a guy named George Barna, who you may have heard of—he's popular in the circuit of asking Christians and others in our country information polls—pointed out in a study a few years ago that Americans' willingness to embrace beliefs that are logically contradictory and their preference for blending different faith views together really creates a mess. He said it's an unorthodox religious viewpoint.

For example, he says that among born-again Christians—and he's very clear to say what a born-again Christian is: somebody who believes in Jesus Christ as the only way to know God and to get to heaven, and that you receive forgiveness of sin by professing faith in Christ—he noted that among born-again Christians, 10% believe that people are reincarnated after death, 29% claim in this study that it's possible to communicate with the dead, and 50% of born-again Christians in this study would say that a person can earn salvation or a place in heaven based upon their good works.

He goes on to say many committed born-again Christians believe that people can have multiple options for gaining entry to heaven. They're saying in essence, "Personally, I'm trusting Jesus Christ as my means of gaining God's permanent favor and a place in heaven," but they say somebody else could get to heaven based upon living an exemplary life. Millions of Americans, he said, have redefined grace to mean that God is so eager to save people from hell that He will change His nature and the universal principles revealed in His Word for that person's individual benefit. He said it's astounding how many people develop their faith according to their feelings or cultural assumptions rather than biblical teachings.

That's what we've been talking about over the last few weeks: how these sayings or thoughts or myths, or what I would call "folk theology," spiritual urban legends, make their way into our minds, our hearts, and ultimately our lives. If we're not careful, things that we hear that are passed down or that sound good or maybe that we want to believe, we begin to believe these things, and they begin to form the foundation for how we see the world even if they contradict what's in Scripture. Maybe it sounds good. Maybe it answers some of the questions we have or provides comfort or peace, especially when we're talking about death, and so then we begin to believe it.

But that's really what I want to talk to you about today, because I do think there's some things that we're faced with about believing about death that aren't found in Scripture, and some of what maybe we believe today about death is actually contradictory to what the Scriptures teach us. So I want to answer the question today: What happens when you die? What happens when you die? I want to talk about some myths that you may believe or hear about death.

The first myth that I want to talk about is this: you should fear death. You should fear death. Let me just ask you a question: are you afraid of death? I'm not talking about the word; I'm talking about your own. Are you afraid of death for your loved ones or for people that are close to you? Are you afraid of death? Nobody really knows exactly what happens when you die. We're hesitant to talk about death, to think about death, especially our own or our loved ones, and to face it. Did you know that in some reports as many as 40% of us don't want to talk about our own death at all? We don't plan for funerals. We don't make provisions for people that we leave behind because we don't want to talk about it.

But what is death? Death is the end of your life, of my life on this earth. And yet what we're going to see today is that what happens in this life on this earth has implications for all of eternity. Death is the doorway to eternity for all of us. Second Corinthians chapter five, verse 10 says this, Paul says, "For we must all," not just some of us, not a few of us, not a select number, he says, "we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil," look at this, "we have done in this earthly body." There is a reality of judgment. You will receive, I will receive whatever we deserve when we stand before Christ in judgment.

However, if you are in Jesus Christ—meaning you've believed in Christ as the one who forgives you of your sin, who makes you right with God—the judgment that you receive is that you are covered in the blood of Jesus Christ, in the sacrifice that Jesus Christ, you are covered with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The Scriptures teach that if you are in Christ, even as you face death, you have no need to fear.

Do you remember as Jesus was hanging on the cross, He had a conversation really with the two criminals that were hanging beside Him? There was one that kind of realized what was really taking place. The other one's kind of running his mouth and kind of jumping in with everybody else, but one of them really realized who this was hanging on the cross next to him. He said to Jesus, "Please remember me. Jesus, please remember me when this is all over with." And you remember what Jesus said to him in Luke chapter 23, verse 43? He said, "I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise."

Paradise is another word that's exchanged throughout the Scriptures to speak of heaven. He says, "I assure you that today, not next week, not after you go to Purgatory for a little while, not after you suffer for a little bit longer, not after a waiting period, not after your soul goes to sleep for generations, but today you will be with me in paradise." You see, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, the Bible encourages you and urges you, teaches us that we're not to view our own death with fear.

Paul says in Second Corinthians chapter five, verse eight, he says, "Yes, we are fully confident." We're not fifty-fifty; we're fully confident in this fact: that we would rather be away from these earthly bodies. We'd rather not be in this existence. Why? "For then we will be at home with the Lord." Wayne Grudem, who is a theology professor and has written volumes called Systematic Theology, says it this way. He says, "Once a believer has died, the teaching of Scripture is that though his or her physical body remains on the earth and is buried, at the moment of death, the soul of the believer goes immediately into the presence of God with rejoicing."

So the Scripture teaches that your soul immediately goes into heaven. But listen to me: it's not until Christ returns that you experience the full perfection of body and soul. The Scriptures teach that our bodies will be resurrected to life at the end of time, made perfect to live on the new heavens and the new earth. Please hear me: heaven, what you look forward to for all of eternity, is not floating in the sky. It is a new heavens and new earth that the Scriptures teach that God will reveal after Christ returns, and you and I will be resurrected if you're in Christ to live with God for all eternity. This is what awaits you if you're in Christ. So he says you've got no need to fear.

However, if you haven't bowed your knee and your heart to Jesus, if you haven't received Jesus as the one who forgives you of your sin, makes you right with God, who is your Lord and your Savior, the Scriptures teach you do have good reason to be afraid of death. You see, when unbelievers die, those who have not decided to follow Jesus Christ, who have not received the forgiveness of sin, the Scriptures teach that immediately they go to hell where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Do you know what that means translated into our language today? That there is constant, unending, eternal punishment and torture. I know it's not popular to say that. Don't hate the messenger; you can hate the message if you want to at your own peril. But the reality of it is that for those who are apart from Christ, there's a great need to fear death because immediately it ushers you into an eternity separated from God.

Now, some people say that unbelievers will eventually just be destroyed and cease to exist after a period of suffering. That teaching is called annihilationism, and it's not found in Scripture. That's not what the Scriptures say. Do you remember in Luke chapter 16, there's a story that Jesus tells to give us a vivid picture of what happens when we die? He describes two men that lived very different lives. Lazarus, extremely poor, did without, was literally begging for food. It says the dogs were licking his sores as he was outside the gate of the rich man. The rich man in the story had everything that he wanted. He didn't want anything to do with God; he had it all. But Lazarus, it says, was depending upon God as a way of life. And so they died.

Jesus said that the moment that they died, they were separated by a chasm, by a divide that could not be crossed. The rich man went straight to hell where he was in torment. Lazarus was in heaven, and to further the agony of the rich man, he could actually see Lazarus. He was begging him, "Lazarus, would you just dip your finger in water and give me a drop of the water? The flames are burning. And would you go to my family and would you tell my family and my friends what is true and what is right, and would you urge them to come to faith and to not have this result to their eternity that I'm experiencing?"

But Jesus said as He told the story, He responded and said, "That chasm, that gap cannot be crossed." There's no way to send someone to go and to share this message to warn his family. They had God's Word, and that was enough, and there was nothing that could be done to reverse the final destination of either Lazarus in heaven or the rich man in hell. That aligns with what the rest of Scripture teaches: your choices, my choices in this life determine your destination in eternity. Specifically, the choice of whether to receive and to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, forgiving you of sin, making you right with God—not by your own works or stuff or coming to church, trying to be a good person. No, no, no. The judgment that you receive is simply a reflection of: did you believe and place your faith in Jesus Christ? If that's you, you have no need to fear death. But if you have chosen and are choosing to do things your own way, on your own terms, and you've not bowed your knee in your life to Jesus Christ, the Scriptures teach you have great reason to fear death.

The second myth that I want to talk about with regard to death is this: it's that nobody really knows what happens when you die. And so many of our thoughts and our wanderings or our beliefs about death are sort of like a stew of all of these different things that we've heard and maybe we've become convinced about. But what we really are not certain about with death is what actually happens in that moment. Not just how you're going to die, but what happens in that moment? From both religious and irreligious people, there are a lot of conflicting thoughts about what really happens when you die. For most of us, we've never been there, we've never done that.

And so, let's be honest, in the absence of information, what do good church folks do? We make something up, right? Come on. I mean, come on, I'm not just talking about death; I'm just talking about in general. When we don't know something, what do we do? We make something up. And so we take an understanding or build an understanding of death and what's after death from a lot of different sources. Maybe it's something we've read—a book or article or a blog post. Maybe it's a story that we've heard or accounts of people that we've heard about or they've shared their experience.

But as believers, what I want to say to you is all those things aside, you and I form our understanding of death and what happens after death not on a book about ninety minutes in heaven or hell, or an account of what happened to somebody we know, or what your mama said, or what we saw in a movie, or what feels right to us. As a believer in Jesus Christ, you and I take the lenses of this book and we stand upon it as the foundation of truth for us to understand this life now, what happens when we die, and the life to come.

There are some beliefs that a lot of people hold to or some people hold to when you die that aren't found in Scripture. Unfortunately, for the joke I told earlier, we're not going to stand in line at the Pearly Gates waiting to talk to Saint Peter. As much as I love a good Saint Peter standing at the Pearly Gates joke, it's not going to happen. That's not what the Scriptures teach. I also don't believe we're going to get to heaven with a list of our questions that we demand that God answers about the things we didn't understand in our lives.

You know what I think's going to happen? I think when we step into heaven, all of those things aren't going to matter because we are looking upon the face of God. We're not going to need those answers that we feel like we demand right now. I don't think the Bible teaches soul sleep, which is a teaching or a thought that believers go into a state of unconscious existence and the next moment that you'll be conscious is when Christ returns and raises believers to eternal life. Nowhere does Scripture teach Purgatory, a place where you're further purified or we have to suffer for our sins just a little bit more before you're allowed to enter into heaven. And furthermore, that's where the concept of praying for the dead comes from. What happens in this life determines eternity.

And just as the Scriptures teach, there is a very clear sequence of events that happens after we die. Look at what Hebrews chapter nine, verse 27 says: "And just as each person is destined to die once," and look at this, "and after that comes a holding tank." I say that kind of tongue-in-cheek. I know some of you may have been raised and taught that or you may have heard that before. But look at what the Scriptures actually teach. The Scriptures teach that after you die, then comes judgment. After death follows judgment immediately for all of us. If you're in Christ, your soul is immediately in heaven because you are covered with the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

And you look forward to the day when Christ returns, when your physical body will be reunited with your soul in the resurrection and what Paul describes as these imperishable bodies will be raised to life. Come on somebody, that body ain't going to wear out. It ain't going to get tired. You ain't going to have to wear glasses to read nothing. I'm talking to all my folks over forty today, right? That's not what it's going to be like. It will be imperishable. We will live in the new heavens and the new earth that God will reveal for all of eternity.

But if you're not in Christ, the reality is an eternity of torment and pain and anguish and suffering. Look what Paul said in First Corinthians chapter 15, verse 23. He said, "But there is an order to this resurrection. Christ was raised as the first of the harvest." Right? Christ died and He was raised to life. That's what Paul is saying. And then what he says is when you believe in Jesus Christ, look what happens: "Then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back." There's an expectation that we look forward to the resurrection and we will be raised when Christ comes back. Verse 51 of chapter 15, he continues. He says, "But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed."

So what he's seemingly to say is that some folks will still be alive when Christ returns. Don't know if that'll be tomorrow, don't know if that'll be forty years from now or even further. Don't know. But he says there will be some and they will be transformed. It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die, imperishable. Our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.

What's he saying? He's saying that if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, this is what you look forward to: the resurrection from the dead and these imperishable bodies will be raised to life. That's why when we talk about death as a Christian, while we can have sorrow when we lose a loved one, somebody we care about, somebody in our family or a friend or somebody close to us, whether it be a parent or a child or a spouse, whoever it is—that we're filled with sorrow when we lose someone that we love who was a believer, but we don't mourn as those without hope.

Death is not the end. It's simply the beginning of this incredible, glorious eternity for all who are in Jesus Christ. Do you remember what Paul said in First Thessalonians chapter four? He said, "And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so that you will not grieve like people who have no hope." In other words, Paul's talking to some folks in the church that had lost loved ones, and they were thinking just like we do: "I wonder where they are. I wonder what's going on. Am I going to see them again?"

He says, "We don't want you to grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again," look at this, "we believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died." So what you need to hear in First Thessalonians four is not a flip chart of how the end times happen. That's not Paul's point. Paul's point is to provide comfort and hope and to remind you and me right now, just as he was reminding these believers, that if you're in Christ, when you lose a loved one who is in Christ, you grieve today, but you do not mourn without hope.

Can I also say a word to some of you who lost a loved one who took their own life? Look, nowhere in Scripture does this book say that if someone takes their own life, that it overrules faith and, more importantly, overrules the love of God and sends them to hell. It's in Christ alone that our faith and our confidence is. And so it's not in line with what Scripture teaches to say that if someone in their worst moment of their life makes a tragic mistake, that God takes away a gift that has been given to them. That's not what the Scriptures teach. Do you remember Romans chapter eight? Paul begins that chapter and he says, "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Y'all familiar with that? There is no condemnation. And he continues throughout the rest of this chapter to unfold what that means. And he says at the end of that chapter, he says, "I am convinced that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ. Death nor life," right? And he goes in this long list of ways to remind us that the love of God is greater than anything else.

To say that when someone takes their own life it sends them to hell is folk theology. It's a spiritual urban legend, and it's not true according to this book. So can we just stop believing that and saying that when it comes to that circumstance? Now today, when people die outside of the faith, you'll hear it said that when you die, no matter who it is—if it's a speaker on TV or a funeral of somebody in the public eye—you'll hear the speaker say, regardless of their faith in their life, "When they're gone to a better place." No matter how they've responded to Jesus. But it's simply not true. That's an urban legend. It's folk theology. Doesn't matter how good of a person they were. What matters is whether they were in Christ. Only those in Christ go to heaven, and those who are apart from Christ, their destination is separated from Christ in hell, in eternal torment and suffering. Larry Osborne says this—he's a pastor in San Diego—he says, "Eternal destiny isn't determined by where we wish people would go. It's not determined by where everybody says they went. It's determined by where God puts us, or more precisely, where we put ourselves."

And church, I understand it's not an acceptable reality today. And some of you right now might be bristling on the inside saying, "How dare him say that?" But I want you to hear: you can get mad at the messenger all day long, but it is the message that has been revealed to us. God has revealed a solution to this problem, and His name is Jesus Christ. And it doesn't change this reality just because death takes place or because we feel a certain way. As hard as it may be to accept, that's why it's so important that you and I first and foremost receive the love of God in Jesus Christ by faith, and listen to me, why we must share the hope and love of Jesus Christ to the world that's around us.

The last myth that I want to talk to you about today is this: it's the myth that everybody will have another chance to come to faith when they die. It's the thought that everyone's going to get a second shot even if they've never heard, especially those who have never heard the gospel before. And because of this, really when you think about people's life and faith and eternity, there's really no need to be concerned about all the people who haven't received Christ or have rejected Christ, because somehow, some way, God's going to give them another shot.

But can I remind you of the passage we read earlier that says that God and His judgment is based upon what has happened while we were alive? Wayne Grudem says in his book Systematic Theology, he says, "Scripture never encourages us to think that people will have a second chance to trust in Christ after death." As a matter of fact, the opposite is true. Think about that story I mentioned a minute ago in Luke chapter 16 with the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man is begging for help. He's like, "Please, Lazarus, would you go and spare my family? Tell them if you come and talk to them, man, they'll listen to you and they'll respond." He wants somehow to break through into their life right then to help spare them from what he is experiencing. But let me ask you this: why would he have such a sense of urgency if they were going to get another shot at some point?

You see, what we do in this life matters. Our choices matter. When the Apostle Paul thought about those from his own Jewish background and family who had rejected the faith or opposed Christ, he didn't think, "Well, man, it's okay now because they'll get another chance later on. It's all good." Look at what he says in Romans chapter nine, verse one. He says, "With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness." In other words, "I want you to lean in and listen to what I'm about to say." Paul says, "My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters." He doesn't say, "Man, I'm a little bit uneasy but they're going to get another shot, it'll all be good." No, no, no. He says, "Man, I have unending anguish and bitter sorrow because I recognize what the Scriptures teach about eternity." And here's what he says. He loved them so much, he said, "I would be willing to be forever cursed, to be cut off from Christ if that would save them." He's willing to exchange the grace of God that he has received if it would mean that they would experience the grace of God by faith in Christ. Paul doesn't say, "Hey, it's all good. Man, don't worry about it if they miss it or if they reject it, they'll get another shot. God has a special plan for them outside of Jesus." He didn't say that. No, he says he has unceasing anguish in his heart. Scripture teaches that what happens in this life is what affects eternity. There's no promise or safety net that often we're hoping for. The hope is revealed that believing in Jesus Christ is the answer in this life.

Now, it may be tempting, as a lot of people say today, that everyone deserves a chance to accept Christ and eternal punishment only comes to those who consciously decide to reject Him. And if somebody didn't have the chance or didn't do that in their lifetime, then surely God would make an exception for them. But I want to encourage you to go read Romans chapter one. Very specifically, God says through the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter one that God has revealed Himself in creation as God, and even through the conscience that we have. And instead of us looking naturally and thinking, "Oh my goodness, there must be a creator. What do I need to do to know this creator and be made right with him?" we end up worshipping the creature rather than the creator, and we celebrate it when other people do the same. And so our awareness of God by creation or even by our conscience doesn't save us; it merely lets us know of our need for God. But most of us turn aside from that and we don't find Christ.

That reality of God making an exception, giving a second chance because everybody deserves to have a chance, is not found in Scripture. What's found in Scripture is that there's a judgment for what we've done in our earthly bodies, and it's only through faith in Christ that anyone has hope to be spared from eternal judgment. Now, can God break through the natural and normal processes of life and supernaturally reveal Himself to someone? Absolutely. Time and time again, He does that in the Scriptures. And time and time again today He does that. But nowhere does Scripture teach that He does this for everyone who's not in Christ as a second chance.

I've heard it said before, maybe you've heard this before, but I'm not originally sure who said it, but there are three surprises that you and I will find if you're a believer in Christ when you get to heaven. The first surprise is as you look around heaven, it's going to be, "Oh my goodness, there are some people in here that I did not think that were going to be in here." I mean, come on. The second surprise as you look around is that there's going to be some people you thought would be in there, but they're not. And the greatest surprise as we look around is that we are in there. You see, the reality of it is none of us deserve it, but God has given in His grace the opportunity by faith in Christ to find hope and life.

So you may ask, "Well, what about near-death or even deathbed experiences where seemingly supernatural things happen when people are close to death or even as they die?" Now, in his book "Seeing the Supernatural," Lee Strobel—I've mentioned it a little bit over the last couple of weeks—he set out to investigate some of these claims of near-death and even deathbed experiences. And here's what he said. His conclusion is that what's interesting in nearly a thousand near-death experiences recorded by researchers who have investigated these claims, he said the stories are strikingly similar, even though the religions of people may differ. In other words, they are consistent with what God has revealed in His Word, with the Christian faith, with Jesus, with judgment, and with what Scripture teaches, even though a person may be a Hindu or they may be some other religion or not religious at all, they're all remarkably the same. In these near-death experiences where people may be clinically dead but not irreversibly dead, typically they see an accounting of their life—every thought and word and deed and the ripples of their lives in other people. There's a very clear evaluation of how well they have or haven't loved others. And it often shapes in a near-death experience, Strobel says, their understanding of life and faith after this moment for the rest of their life. Some people even find Jesus through these experiences.

There are also others who have had glimpses of hell, such as one former atheist named Howard Storm, who said he experienced such awful pain and torment in one of these experiences as he was close to death, and he called out to Jesus in the midst of this moment and gave his life to Christ when he recovered. It so changed his life that he resigned his position as a professor and a skeptic about faith and became a pastor pointing people to Jesus. He goes on to say that there's thousands of experiences recorded by competent and trustworthy researchers corroborating that sometimes people have supernatural encounters at death or in the moments leading up to death. He says, "Now, it is possible that some of these are fabricated." You may remember the book a few years ago about the boy who came back from heaven, and it was all just fabricated. It is possible that some of these are induced by dehydration or medication. But according to Dr. Stephen Miller, who has researched thousands of these claims, the data shows that the majority of these accounts seem to be legitimate, trustworthy accounts that indicate exactly what the Scriptures tell us: that there is another world on the other side of death, that there is a real heaven filled with God's presence and peace and light, and there is a real hell filled with darkness, torment, and suffering. In other words, even non-Christian researchers have arrived at the same conclusion the Bible gives us: there is life beyond death. And as a matter of fact, many of the researchers through their study of these near-death and deathbed experiences have come to faith in Jesus Christ through what they've learned.

So can I say to you, look, if you're in Christ, if you have repented of your sin and you've called on the name of Jesus to save you from your sin—you've been forgiven, you've been cleansed, you've been made right with God—and so when you face death, you can do it without fear. But if you're not in Christ, then you're separated from the love of God right now, and if nothing changes throughout all of eternity, and the Scriptures teach that you have great reason for fear.

But can I tell you some good news today? There is one way to solve that problem, and His name is Jesus. And the Bible says that whosoever will call upon the name of Jesus will be saved. Isn't that what Paul said in Romans chapter 10, verse 13? Doesn't matter your story, doesn't matter your circumstance, doesn't matter where you've been, doesn't matter what you've said or what you've done. If you call on the name of the Lord—not just a vocal noise that doesn't mean anything, but if you call on the name of the Lord, "Lord, I need you, would you save me?"—everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And that is why, if you are in Christ, you can face even death, not with fear, but with peace, with hope, with expectation that what God has promised for all of eternity is yours in Christ Jesus. And that's what He invites you to experience today by faith. Let's pray together.