Death Is Certain...but God - Part B

God did pay the price to free everyone.

God will redeem my soul. So you can't buy your way out of death, you can't buy your way into heaven, but Jesus by His death makes your death temporary and with that gives you a ticket to heaven. You can't get out of death. There's only one way to escape death and that is to believe in the Lord of life.

We are all guilty of spending our time, energy, and resources on frivolous things. But today on Connect with Skip Heizig, Skip gives you a refreshing and hopeful look on how dealing with death can help you live a fuller, more satisfying life today. But before we begin, here's a great resource that will help you know God more intimately so you can experience a richer relationship with Him. Does God exist? And if He does, is it possible to know Him? Your answer to those two questions shapes how you see the world.

Skip Heizig once wrestled with those very questions himself. You know, I've been teaching the Bible for over three decades. Before I became a Christian and when I was new to the faith, I studied science and philosophy alongside the Bible. As I studied, I grew confident that God does exist and yes, we can know Him. In Biography of God, the brand new book by Skip Heizig, you'll learn to remove the limits you may have placed on your idea of who God is. Everything changes when you acknowledge and believe that God is who He says He is. Biography of God is our way to thank you when you give $35 or more today to help expand this Bible teaching outreach to more people.

Request your copy when you give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. Okay, we're in Psalm 49 today as we get into the teaching with Skip Heizig. Did you know that death is mentioned 394 times? 394 times.

You can't escape. It's mentioned that many times in Scripture. One of the most famous, you all know this, if you're as old as I am, you remember a song by the birds that was based on Ecclesiastes 3. To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die. A time to be born.

I won't, I'll spare you, but it comes to my mind. I think of that. Those who are born will all die. Now those are realities that are happening simultaneously.

We know this to be true. 4.3 people are born into our world every second. Two people die every second. So more than twice are being born onto the earth than are leaving the earth. What that means is every hour 6,316 people die. In the next hour, over 6,000 people will die on earth. All of that to say the simple reality of the Psalm, death is a part of life. Death is a part of life.

And I'll get very graphic. One day your home will be six feet under some plot of ground, as will mine be. So you can stay healthy until then.

You can run, you can take vitamins, you can pump iron, you can count your calories, you can stretch your face past your earlobes. But you're going to lose. One day you will keep an appointment with death.

A Washington DC undertaker signs all of his correspondence, eventually yours. Now verse seven, none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him. Go down to verse 11.

We didn't finish that up. Their thought, that is these secular minded unbelievers who have no thought for God. Their thought is that their homes, houses will last forever. Their dwelling places to all generations. They call their lands after their own names. Isn't it funny how towns have names of people who started them as settlers years ago. The name still sticks. But even us, we who I was going to say own, are making payments on properties. Our names written on the title.

They call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless, man though in honor does not remain. He is like the beasts that perish. This is the way of those who are foolish and of their posterity who approve their sayings. So not even the wealthiest person with access to the world's best healthcare can escape death. People who tend to rely on wealth or status or what they have in their family bank, to rely on that, it's an exercise in futility. Why? Because he says, you can't redeem yourself.

You can't redeem anyone else. All the money in the world can't buy life. And it always amazes me and I've noticed this is a trend.

I've noticed this in every generation. That the wealthiest people on earth get to a point where they have so much stuff and then one day it dawns on them, I'm going to die. And then they thought, well, I have a lot of money. Maybe I don't have to die. Maybe I could invest in something that figures out a way to beat death.

I kid you not. It's usually a mental disease of the very, very wealthy. And I was reading an article that cited an article in the New Yorker magazine. The article was entitled, The God Pill, Silicon Valley's Quest for Eternal Life. And the article talked about Google's co-founder. You know what Google is, everybody. Google something, research engine. Google's co-founder, Sergey Brin, along with wealthy entertainers, musicians, movie stars, along with Nobel prize winning scientists are collaborating in the launch of medicine's grand challenge in health and longevity, distributing $25 million to, as one doctor put it, end aging forever.

Good luck. But this anti-aging research campaign by the co-founder of Google, he was speaking to a group of people and with a straight face, he said this, and I quote, no, I'm not actually planning to die. Close quote. Now I got about to believe that one day Sergey is going to be very disappointed. As he finds out, he too has an appointment with death. It is appointed to every man wants to die. And after this, the judgment that's, that's the point is one of the points of Psalm 49, that every kind of carbon based life will perish.

Be it man or be it beast. What does that mean to us? Simply, we should be aware of it and we should be ready for it. Because once you cross the threshold of what we call death and your body stops and begins to decay, your soul lives on.

The question is where, and that ought to bother some people to answer that question. I always loved that story that Paul Harvey used to tell when he was on the radio. He told so many good stories, but he told the story about a man who was driving his car, lost control, went into a ditch and hit a sign, a pole. And it was a gas station sign off of a freeway. He was rendered unconscious. So he slumped over his wheel, unconscious. He had hit a gas station sign. As I mentioned, he's unconscious, didn't see this happen, but it was a shit, he's unconscious, didn't see this happen, but it was a shell gas station. And the S fell off upon impact. So when he wakes up and he looks up, he sees the sign, hell open 24 hours.

What is he thinking? Life is unstable, death is universal. A third major truth of this psalm is the best, and that is redemption is possible.

Back down to verse 14, where we started a moment ago. Like sheep, they are laid in the grave. Death shall feed on them. It's irony really because sheep graze, but here it says death will feed on them. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, and their beauty shall be consumed in the grave.

No matter how good you look, you won't look good for long. Their beauty shall be consumed in the grave far from their dwelling, but God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for he shall receive me. Here's one of those great but God sentences in the scripture, one of the best statements ever, one of the most faith-filled declarations ever to be found in scripture. But God will redeem my soul from the grave.

I want you to compare something. Look at verse seven. I noticed this after reading this several times.

It took a while. Verse seven, none of them can by any means redeem his brother, verse 15, but God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave. You get the message? You can't redeem anybody. You can't redeem yourself. The word redeem means to set free by paying a price. That's the language of redemption. You set a slave free by coughing up money, and you buy that freedom for the slave.

Usually you own him to yourself, but you have purchased his freedom, and you can't let him go. So the thought is you can't pay a price to free anyone. God did pay the price to free everyone. God will redeem them.

God will redeem my soul. So you can't buy your way out of death. You can't buy your way into heaven, but Jesus by his death makes your death temporary, and with that gives you a ticket to heaven. You can't get out of death.

There's only one way to escape death, and that is to believe in the Lord of life. There was a lawyer one time who was on his deathbed, and he said to his wife, honey, bring me a bible. She was shocked because he never read the bible, never really cared much about biblical things. So she found a bible, blew the dust off of it, gave it to him.

He started looking at it. She came into the room sometime later, and he was just engrossed, pouring over the scripture, turning the pages, page after page, and she finally said, what are you doing? And he said, I'm looking for loopholes.

There are none. The only loophole to death is to have a relationship with the one who holds the keys of life and death. That is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 15. Let's just drill down a little deeper into that.

That's worth unpacking. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for he shall redeem me. I know this is poetic and lyrical, but it's also highly theological. It expresses faith in God for personal redemption and for eventual resurrection.

So let's break it up into three different phrases. The first phrase is, but God will redeem my soul. In other words, God will provide payment for my soul. That's what redeem means. He'll provide payment for my soul.

For us, when did that happen? At the cross. At the cross, payment was made, all of our sins laid on Jesus, the payment of blood, a perfect life, a sinless life, and an atoning death, payment was made on the cross. So he will redeem my soul. God will provide payment for my soul. Second phrase, second phrase, he'll redeem me from the power of the grave. So the thought there is God's redemption includes giving me power over death. And then look at that last phrase, for he shall receive me. To me, that indicates that God plans to resurrect me at some point after death. He'll receive me.

Remember what Jesus said to his disciples? I'm going to prepare a place for you. And if I go, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be with me. You'll be received. You'll be in his presence. Same thought in Psalm 73, David writes, you will guide me with your counsel and afterward receive me into glory. Now some translations, because receive means you'll just take me with you, or you'll just bring me, take me, invite me. They just translate this, for he will take me. Not he will receive me, but he will take me.

Now that got my attention. I'm going to jog your memory because back in Genesis chapter five, there's this guy named Enoch. And there's a short little verse for Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him.

It's an odd rendering. It almost sounds like a guy who's walking around one day on this earth and then he's not. And God just took him from earth to heaven.

Turns out it's exactly what it means. Because the commentary on that is found in the New Testament book of Hebrews chapter 11, where the author says by faith Enoch was taken away, listen, so that he did not see death. And he was not found because God had taken him. All of these verses that I've mentioned, speak about being in God's presence physically, not just spiritually, not just yeah, my spirit sort of floats and yeah, your spirit will be with God. But at some point in the future, your physical body that decays in a grave will be raised from that grave.

You will be transformed. And in actuality, in physicality, you will be in the physical, actual, literal presence of God. That's why Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you.

Heaven is a real place. In the Old Testament, Job is one of the best scriptures ever in the Bible, ever, ever, ever, Job 19. Job was a person who lived during the patriarchal period. So that's one of the oldest texts ever. Job said this, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he shall stand at last upon the earth. And after my skin is destroyed, this I know that in my flesh, I will see God. I will behold Him with my eyes, my eyes and not another. So here's Job, centuries before a Redeemer came, centuries before the gospel was ever articulated. And he believes in physical resurrection. You know, sometimes somebody will say, well, I can't be there Tuesday, but I'm with you in spirit.

What do they mean by that? I'm thinking good thoughts about you. I'm not going to be thinking good thoughts about you.

I'm not with you there physically. But while you're doing that, I'm over here and I'm, I'm thinking of you. You're in my heart, you're in my mind.

I'm with you in spirit. But you will physically, at some point in the future, be resurrected to new life. What that means is, to shorten it up, death is not the final word. Jesus is the final word, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will never die. Even experiencing physical death, it's like this momentary beep and it ushers you somewhere else. So life is unstable. Death is universal. Redemption is possible.

Now we want to bring this to a conclusion, which brings a fourth and kind of a final undergirding bottom line reality. And that is, confidence is conditional. Verse 16 begins the conclusion, do not be afraid when one becomes rich. Now it implies someone other than you, your neighbor.

Somebody is getting a lot more than you're getting, thus more powerful. Don't be afraid when somebody becomes rich. When the glory of his house is increased, for when he dies, he shall carry nothing away. His glory shall not descend after him. Though while he lives, he blesses himself, for men will praise you when you do well for yourself. He shall go to the generation of his fathers.

They shall never see light. A man who is in honor, yet does not understand, is like the beasts that perish. That's the conclusion of this worship song. And the conclusion is simple.

It's an obvious conclusion. Don't be jealous of people who have a lot, because people who have a lot, when they die, they leave a lot. Like the millionaire who died and somebody said, how much did he leave? And somebody said, every cent.

Every cent. You can't take any of it with you. I've always been fascinated at Egyptian mentality burying their pharaohs. You know, they buried them in gold sarcophagi with ornate furniture and jewels and all of the accoutrements of this life in a tomb because they actually believed that they're going to enjoy them in the afterlife.

Again, a great disappointment. Job put it this way, naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I will depart. That's what Paul was thinking when he wrote to Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 7, for we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it. I don't know if you've ever noticed, but on the back of a dollar bill, on the right hand side of the reverse or the backside of a dollar bill is an eagle shows the wings of an eagle. Did you know that's biblical? Did you know that's prophetic? But listen how this is Proverbs 23, do not overwork to be rich because of your own understanding cease for riches certainly make themselves wings and they fly away like an eagle. They fly away like an eagle toward heaven. There was a man who said, you know, people say money talks. The only thing that's ever said to me is bye. So I just find it fascinating that the back of every dollar has this eagle. It's like, see ya.

You don't hold on to it long. Now verse 20, the last verse gives a call for us to understand something. A man who is in honor yet does not understand is like the beast that perish.

What does he want us to understand? Simple, trusting anyone or anything other than God is foolish. Trusting wealth, trusting materialism, trusting a person, trusting an institution, trusting anything other than God is foolish. You say, well, those are strong words, foolish.

Well, it's actually used in the Psalm in verse 13. Now this is the way of those who are foolish. Remember Jesus told a story about a wealthy entrepreneur. He made so much money and he was very successful and he went on a building spree, but he suddenly died. So this guy had all this stuff and he goes, I don't know what I'm gonna do with all my stuff.

I guess I'll just build bigger warehouses to store my stuff cause I got so much stuff. So he did that and he said, now I'm at a place in life where I can say to my soul, soul, take your ease, eat, drink, and be married. Problem is he died suddenly. Jesus said, God said to him, you fool, this night your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those things be by which you have provided? And when you understand that, the temporary nature of life, the certainty of death, the spiritual reality of everlasting life. When you understand that, it gives you a confidence because you have stability and that stability breeds real confidence and confidence is conditional. Not everybody has it. The believer has it.

Why? Because death isn't the end of the road. It's the bend of the road. It's just a bend in the road. It's a portal. It's leading you somewhere else. It's a doorway to life.

It's just a little blip on the radar screen. One author said it this way, only on this side of the curtain is death our enemy. Just beyond the curtain, the monster turns out to be our friend.

The label death is still on the bottle, but the contents are eternal life. Death is our friend because it reminds us that heaven is near. How near? It's as near as a heartbeat, as near as an auto accident, as near as a stray bullet, as near as a plane crash. If our eyes could see the spiritual world, we might find that we are already at its gates.

And I think it's actually safe to say that. In a room of a group this size, some of us are at the gates. Some of us won't be here in a year.

We don't know when our appointment to die is, but we'll not be late for it whenever that is. And it could be that we're at the gates. So let me take all that we have said and boil it down to an irreducible minimum.

I like to do that. And let me put it to you this way. If there is no hereafter, then nothing matters. It's why many philosophers turn into fatalists.

Doesn't matter. Because if you just sort of live biologically and consciously, but then afterwards you cease to exist, then there's no purpose to life and nothing at all matters. So if there is no hereafter, then nothing matters. But if there is a hereafter, then nothing else matters. And that becomes the central issue and focus that we need to address and we need to do it here and now on this earth.

To think clearly and soberly about life, death, judgment, eternity. That wraps up Skip Heiseck's message from the series, But God. Right now, here's Skip to tell you how your support helps keep these messages coming your way and connects more people to the good news of Jesus. God long ago planned his son coming to earth to die on a cross for our sins.

He planned to bring you into his family. That's incredible news. And we want to share with more friends all around the world. And you can be a part of that work. Through your gift today, you not only keep these teachings on the air, but you'll help connect so many people to the love of God and the riches of his word. Here's how you can give a gift right now. Visit connectwithskip.com slash donate to give your gift today. That's connectwithskip.com slash donate or call 800-922-1888.

Again, that's 800-922-1888. Coming up tomorrow, Skip Heiseck shares about how the future is well known to God and why you can rest in his plan. Now, why is it that people have been so obsessed about knowing their future? And I've noticed this for years. Among virtually every group of people, they want to know what the future is going to hold. Why is that?

And I say all people, I mean, even Christian people. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast all burdens on his word. Make a connection. Connection. Connect with Skip Heiseck is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.