Pathway to Victory

Speaker 1

Hey podcast listeners, thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's Word through the most effective media available, like this podcast.

To support Pathway to Victory, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes.

Now here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 2

Hi, this is Robert Jeffress, and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day.

Speaker 3

This Bible teaching program on today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 2

Listen to me. There are 1850 verses in the New Testament that record the words of Jesus Christ.

13% of those words have to do with the subject of hell.

But you know it's dishonest to say, well, I believe what Jesus said about heaven, but I just can't accept his teaching on hell.

Speaker 1

Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. It doesn't matter whether you're righteous or unrighteous, a believer or an unbeliever, a good person or a bad person; every one of us will eventually face death.

So when that day does come, what happens next? Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress explores the biblical and extra-biblical evidence for life after death.

Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Speaker 3

Dr. Jeffress David, we've adopted a favorite statement at Pathway to Victory that reflects our passion and respect for God's Word. You'll often hear me say that our mission at Pathway to Victory is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's Word. Now, that statement clearly implies that we have absolute confidence in the authority and confidence of the Bible. It also implies that we know without a doubt that our Christian faith stands apart as superior to every other expression of religious belief.

But not everyone shares our convictions, and frankly, most Christians would have a difficult time clearly defending their choice. To help you, I'd like to send you two resources. First, I've written a practical booklet called *How Can I Know Christianity Is the Right Religion?* While there's still time, I'd be happy to send you a copy without cost or obligation when you request it from ptv.org.

Second, I've written a comprehensive book that complements this teaching series as well. The book is titled *How Can I? Answers to Life's Seven Most Important Questions.* This is perfectly suited for the new believer, maybe a son or daughter, or anyone who's wrestling with deep questions about their Christian faith.

When you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, you're invited to request your copy. My book includes an answer to the question we're addressing today, and it may be the most important question: How can I know I'm going to heaven when I die?

Speaker 2

Author Saul Bellow describes us human beings as a group of birds flying in formation over the surface of the water. Occasionally, one of the birds plunges into the waters below. The other birds never notice. They just keep on flying. Did you know that every day 5,000 Americans die? And yet we don't tend to notice it. We keep on living, keep on working as if nothing hasn't happened. Why? Because to stop and think about the inevitability of death is something that is too painful for most people to consider.

And yet every now and then, something happens to us that pierces that suspension of disbelief. We construct for ourselves the idea that somehow we're going to escape death. And usually, it's another death—somebody close to us. Job experienced that. Remember, he was enjoying his wealth, his work, his family—well, most of his family—when one day he got the news that his ten children had been killed in a freak windstorm. Job cried out with the question that is really the essential question for all of us: If a man dies, will he live again? That's a profound question. If a man dies, will he live again? If my mate dies, will I see him or her again? If my child dies, will I see them again? If, when I shut my eyes for the very last time here on earth, will I awaken into some great future? Or do I slip into nothingness? If we die, shall we live again?

What you believe about life after death should certainly shape how you live your life right now. I mean, think about it. If this life is all that there is, then the philosophy "eat, drink, and be merry" makes a lot of sense. Grab all the gusto you can get, as the beer commercial I heard used to say. I don't know. But a lot of people live their lives that way because they believe this is all there is. But think about it. If there is an existence that transcends the grave, that goes on for eternity, doesn't it make sense that I ought to discover what that existence is? And doesn't it make sense that I would conform my beliefs and behavior in this life to ensure my well-being in the next life?

And that's why today we're going to begin looking at another one of the great foundational questions of life: How can I know I'm going to heaven when I die? First of all, let's talk about the fact and question: Is there such a thing as life after death? Is there such a thing as life after death? Well, it's easy to say, "Of course there is." How do you know? Because the Bible says so. Job said, "For even I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he shall take his stand upon the earth. And even after my skin is destroyed by worms, yet from my flesh I will see God." Or Jesus said in John 11, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live again."

But the question is, is there any evidence outside of the Bible that there's such a thing as life after death? That's like asking, "How can I know there is a God?" There's not enough evidence to prove there is a God, but the evidence certainly points that way. And the same is true about life after death. We can't prove there's life after death, but there are some fingerprints, if you will, that point us in that direction. I want to mention four pieces of evidence for life after death.

First of all, near-death experiences. You've probably heard about people who supposedly died or nearly died and saw a glimpse of what awaits us on the other side of the grave and came back to tell about it. The seminal book on that topic was Raymond Moody's book *Life After Life* in 1975, in which he recorded a number of those instances. When Raymond Moody wrote his book, eight million people claimed to have NDEs, near-death experiences, and even more so today. But are they real? I have to say I'm a little skeptical. Even though some of those books are Christian books—*90 Minutes in Heaven* or *Heaven is For Real*—I'm skeptical of near-death experiences. One reason is just the terminology "near death." I mean, death is kind of like pregnancy. Either you are or you aren't. There's not a near pregnancy. It's one way or the other. It seems like death is that way too.

And look at what the scripture says in Hebrews 9:27: "It's appointed unto every one of us once to die, and then the judgment." Now, there were a few exceptions in the Bible for that. Take Lazarus. Remember, he died. He was in the tomb for three days. His sisters called for Jesus to come, and on the fourth day, he raised Lazarus from the dead. But then Lazarus died again later. He had to go through it twice. So for Lazarus, there were two death experiences. Or consider Paul in 2 Corinthians 12. He says he either died—he's not sure—if he died or whether his soul simply departed from him. But he went to heaven and he saw things God told him not to tell anyone about. That was kind of like a near-death experience, wasn't it?

Here's the difference between Lazarus and Paul and what you see today: When Lazarus and Paul came back, they didn't write best-selling books to tell about their experiences. They kept it to themselves. So what are we to make of these near-death experiences? I don't think we can ignore them, given the number of them. I think at the very least what we can say is it is possible that consciousness can extend beyond cessation of heart and brain activity for some period of time. We don't know if it's a second, five seconds, or ten seconds. Who knows how long that can happen? But there is something that transcends the physical life that we have here on earth.

A second piece of evidence for life after death is the transcendence of the mind. Professor Peter Kreeft says that every time we move our hands, we prove that there's something more than the physical. There's something beyond the muscles and the bones and the internal systems that allow us to move our hand. There's something called the will that initiates all of it. And if it's true, by the way, has anybody ever seen a will or measured it like a brain? You can't see or measure the will. But there's a reality to it. If it is something that's beyond the physical, then why should we think that our will or our consciousness would end with physical death?

The transcendence of the mind. The third evidence for life after death are dirty jokes and death. Now I guarantee you've never heard this before, but I got this from C.S. Lewis. He said that when you think about it, almost all dirty jokes have to do with two natural acts: reproduction and excretion. Most filthy jokes have to do with one or the other. Now think about it. Every other animal in the world performs those functions, excretion and reproduction. But they don't blush when they do it. They don't tell a dirty joke about it when they do. It's natural. But for some reason, we're uncomfortable with that. One reason may be because of the dissonance between our bodies, our physical bodies, and our spirits.

We're uncomfortable with our physical being because we are basically spiritual people. That distance has also manifested itself in how we deal with death. When it strikes somebody close to us, think about the rituals we have surrounding death. You know, everything in nature dies, from grass to grasshoppers. The natural world accepts it, but we accept it as not natural. And so we try to avoid it with certain rituals or deny its reality. Look at what we do with a corpse. If we don't burn up the corpse, then we dress it up and put makeup on it and put it in a nice dress or a nice suit and buy an expensive casket for it—all to help us deal with something we're uncomfortable with. You know, Solomon explained the reason we're uncomfortable with death in Ecclesiastes 3:11. He said, "God has set eternity in our hearts." We are more than just physical beings.

A fourth piece of evidence for life after death is the empty tomb of Jesus Christ. Now you're saying, "Pastor, you're contradicting yourself. That's circular reasoning. How can we say that's proof when it's just the Bible that says it's true?" Well, there is biblical evidence certainly for the resurrection of Jesus, but there's also historical evidence for the empty tomb. And the historical evidence is simply this: In 2000 years, the body of Jesus has not yet been discovered. The tomb is still empty after 2,000 years. That's especially significant when you consider three historical facts about Jesus and the empty tomb.

Number one, Jesus is almost universally accepted as a historical being. Nobody of any consequence doubts that somebody named Jesus actually lived and taught. Secondly, his followers have claimed for 2000 years that he was raised from the dead. In fact, they were willing to die for that fact. They said it was the signal proof that he was the Son of God. And third, Jesus' detractors from the very beginning have denied the claim of a resurrection and have continued to try to extinguish Christianity. Now, since the resurrection is so central to the Christian faith, why is it that his enemies did everything they could to prevent it?

Well, the fact they did remember what happened on the Saturday after the crucifixion? On Friday, the religious leaders went to Pontius Pilate and said, "Give us a guard so that we can secure the tomb, lest his disciples come and steal the body. If they do that and say he has risen from the dead, if they do that, if they steal the body, the last deception will be worse than the first." They were scared to death of that body disappearing. And you can know that as soon as they started claiming there was a resurrection, there was a manhunt like there had never been before by the Romans and the Jews to find the body of Jesus. Had they found it, they could have stopped Christianity at its inception. All they would have had to have done when Peter preached his great sermon at Pentecost on the southern steps of Jerusalem. While he was preaching about the resurrection, the Romans and the Jewish leaders could have produced the body of Jesus and said, "Here it is. He has not risen from the dead as he had promised." And that would have been the end of it. You and I wouldn't be Christians today.

But the fact is, Christianity has not been extinguished. It has grown and grown and spread like wildfire throughout this world to people of every race, every background, and every economic status in life. There is no explanation for that except the resurrection. You know, the truth is, there is a Latin phrase I was thinking about: *habeas corpus*. It means "you have the body." And in the legal world, there is a writ of habeas corpus, which is a demand to produce the body. It's related to a prisoner being held unlawfully. Somebody, a judge, can order a writ of habeas corpus, meaning it's time to produce the body, produce the prisoner, so we can determine if he's being held legally or illegally.

You know, I think it's time for us Christians to issue a writ of habeas corpus to unbelievers, especially the critics of Christianity. For too long, millions of people have been held as prisoners of unbelievable belief in Jesus because they have fallen for the lie that the resurrection is a myth. If it is a myth, it's time for the critics of Christianity to produce the body of Christ. Put up or shut up. And if you can't produce it, then be quiet, because the evidence points toward the resurrection of Jesus. I think that is one of the strongest pieces of evidence for the resurrection. We have an empty tomb, and if Jesus was able to conquer death, then others are able to conquer death as well. That's what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15: "As in Adam all die, so in Christ, all shall be made alive."

No, we can't prove life after death, but there is strong evidence for it. But what then does the Bible teach us about the nature of life after death and the inevitability of life after death? Well, the Bible teaches us several things. Let's talk for a moment about the inevitability of death and the possibility of heaven or hell. You know, one thing that is readily available to all of us without a Bible is the fact that we are going to die. You understand that, don't you? Nobody gets out of this world alive. One wag said it this way: "The statistics on death are very impressive. One out of every one dies." We know that. We see it around us. And nobody gets exempt from death. There is a certain democracy of death.

And by the way, that troubled Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes, in chapter nine, verses two and three. He said, "It's the same for all. There is one fate for the righteous and for the wicked, for the good and the clean, for the unclean, for the man who offers a sacrifice, and for the one who does not sacrifice. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one fate for all men." Solomon said, "That's not right. It's not right that a righteous man would have the same fate as the unrighteous or the clean as the unclean. It's not right." Well, God tells us there is one fate for everybody. There's one fate. But there are two destinies. There are two possible destinies.

And this is most clearly seen in a famous story Jesus told in Luke 16. Now, we don't know if this was a parable or an actual story. Since Jesus used a real name, it's very probably a true story. It's about two men who lived. In fact, they lived two very different kinds of lives. One was a wealthy man who enjoyed wonderful food and beautiful clothing and a luxurious life. The other man was a poor man who didn't just exist day to day; he had to exist hour by hour. His food was dependent upon the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. Two men with two very different lives, and yet they suffered the same fate. Jesus said they both died. But Jesus' story doesn't stop at the cemetery. It goes beyond what happened after they died.

Verse 22: "Now, the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom." That's simply an Old Testament expression for where God is in heaven. He went to Abraham's bosom. But the rich man died and was buried. Now, the poor man died and went to heaven not because he was poor. There's nothing righteous about being poor necessarily. There are unrighteous poor people, and there are righteous poor people. But the reason Lazarus went to heaven, to Abraham's bosom, was because of his name. It gives you a clue: God is my helper is what Lazarus actually means. He had depended upon God. And so Jesus says he went to Abraham's bosom. The rich man died and was buried.

Now look at verse 23: "And in Hades, the rich man lifted up his eyes being in torment." What is Hades? It's where unbelievers go immediately when they die. It's not soul sleep; it's not a waiting station. It's a place of horrific suffering. But it's not the final destination for unbelievers. Eventually, they end up in the lake of fire for their eternal damnation. But this man went to Hades and he lifted up his eyes being in torment. Two men, one fate—death—two different destinies.

What does this teach us about the reality of hell? Listen to me. There are 1,850 verses in the New Testament that record the words of Jesus Christ. Thirteen percent of those words have to do with the subject of hell. Thirteen percent of Jesus' teaching was about hell. In fact, Jesus talked more about hell than he did about heaven. Why? Because it is such a horrendous place. He wants us to escape it. But you know, it's dishonest to say, "Well, I believe what Jesus said about heaven, but I just can't accept his teaching on hell." You can't pick and choose which of Jesus' teachings you want to receive and believe. He taught more about hell than he did about heaven.

So what did Jesus tell us about hell here in Luke 16 and in other passages? Write these four facts down about hell. First of all, Jesus said hell is an actual location. Some people like to believe, "Well, when we die, we all go to the same realm, the same destination. It's just our perception. For unbelievers, it seems like hell. For believers, it seems like heaven." No, the Bible says these are two very different destinations. In Matthew 25, verse 46, Jesus said, "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." It would be illogical to say that unbelievers go to a state of mind; they just think it's hell. But believers, the righteous, go to eternal life, an actual location called heaven. No, you can't have half the people going into a state of mind and others going to an actual location. No, hell is an actual location, Jesus taught.

Speaker 3

There are three more alarming facts about hell that I need to share with you, so please be sure to join us again tomorrow. Too many churches avoid teaching about hell because it's unsavory. But the realities of this godless destination are critically important to understand.

After all, the glory of Heaven shines even brighter when held in contrast to the darkest details about hell. This message is part of my teaching series called *How Can I Know?* in which we're addressing seven relevant questions, including the one we discussed today.

And I've written a bestselling book.

Speaker 2

For you as well.

Speaker 3

It's titled "How Can I Know?" and it’s yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. You might have older children in your household who are working on their college degree, or perhaps grandchildren who've begun to second guess the relevance of their Christian heritage.

Let me assure you, our students who are sitting under the teaching of agnostic professors are bombarded with attacks on their faith. Our young people deserve to have credible answers to these seven common questions. When you give a generous gift today, be sure to request my book "How Can I Know?"

Perhaps you've heard David mention that Pathway to Victory is looking to add 300 more Pathway Partners to our family of supporters. A Pathway Partner is someone who agrees to give a gift every month, providing Pathway to Victory the strength and stability to teach the truth about heaven and hell.

Would you be willing to become a Pathway Partner today? Here's David with all the details.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. You can become a Pathway Partner by following the easy steps online at ptv.org now. As Dr. Jeffress said, this month we're aiming to sign up some 300 new pathway partners, and we need your help to reach that goal. When you give your first monthly gift or when you give a one-time generous gift in support of Pathway to Victory, you're invited to request the best-selling book *How Can I Know* by Dr. Robert Jeffress.

And when you give an especially generous gift of $75 or more, we'll also include the complete *How Can I Know?* Teaching series on audio and video discs. This recently updated series is perfect for listening in the car or maybe watching with a small group Bible study or Sunday school class. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org now. If you'd prefer to write, here's that mailing address: P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. One more time, that's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222.

I'm David J. Mullins inviting you to join us again next time when Dr. Jeffress continues to answer the question, "How can I know I'm going to heaven when I die?" right here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.

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