Be Strong and Courageous  - I Will Live Forever!: Overcoming the Fear of Death, Part 1

Can I tell you a secret? There are lots of Christians that love God, that know they are born again, and they're facing death. And are you ready? They're afraid to die. This message is going to help you, really help some other people.

You don't want to miss it. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We are a discipleship driven ministry on a mission to encourage Christians everywhere to live like Christians. If you were to ask a hundred people, what's your biggest fear?

The overwhelming majority would probably say dying. So today Chip picks up in our series, Be Strong and Courageous, by looking at why so many people are terrified of death and the hopeful message that Jesus and the Gospel provide. But before Chip gets going, if this is your first time listening to our program or you want to learn more about Living on the Edge, visit LivingOnTheEdge.org. You'll find resources on tons of topics and countless programs to enjoy.

Or if you prefer, the Chip Ingram app is also a great way to get plugged in with our ministry. Well, if you're ready, go to Psalm chapter 16 in your Bible as we settle in for Chip's talk, I Will Live Forever. I'll never forget a conversation I had with my father. It was shortly before he died. He was 84 years old. He was very athletic.

I mean, at 70 he did a hundred mile bike ride and at 72 and 3 he was playing softball with 30 year olds. It was so tragic because he had a rare disease that started with his feet and moved up where he got to the point where he couldn't use his body. And he was very, very frail. He knew he was going to die. And he said, Chip, I really want to talk to you.

Can you come? I said, well, sure, Dad, absolutely. And you need a little context for my father to get this conversation. A self-made man, 16 and a half, went into World War II. He was a.50 caliber machine gunner. He was a big, strong, strapping guy, very athletic. So his mom signed for him to go into the war. And so he was in Guam, Iwo Jima. I've got his purple heart here while he was in Iwo Jima.

Rarely talked about it. And they had dug a big ditch and people were coming over the hill and he said it was just horrendous. It was like cutting grass. I killed so many people.

Lived with very overwhelming guilt, became a pretty functioning alcoholic until it got to where it was really unmanageable. But he was very damaged. And after he came out of the war, he was that guy that everyone told me when things were happening, don't mess with Reb.

That's what he went by. He'll knock you out. And I was afraid of my dad. I mean, he was a really strong, not violent toward us or anything, but sort of the John Wayne kind of man. And the alcohol got to a point where it was just ruining his life, our family. I'll never forget, I was a senior in high school. And it got where he'd drink right after he was a schoolteacher from three till dinnertime. Then he missed dinner. And then it was 11 o'clock at night and just had lots of issues that never got resolved.

As I look back, I remember my mom holding up a bottle of beer and said, you can have this or me and the kids, but you need to choose. And you got 48 hours. And so without any help, no rehab, no anything. He's a Marine.

He chose, stopped drinking, went through a lot of withdrawal of different things. But I want you to get that picture of this. I can handle it.

I can do it. And he did. And in fact, he'd stopped drinking for two weeks. He said, you know, I smoke three and a half packs a day and I'm a science teacher.

Probably not a good example. I think I'll quit that, too. So he did. As a moment of mild humor, all I can tell you is when he quit both, I wanted to give him a beer.

He was so irritable and mean for a while, but I didn't. A great thing happened in his mid 50s. He saw the change in my life and my sister's life. And I'll never forget, I came back from my first year of college.

I trusted Christ right after high school. And he said, I do not know what you have, Chip, but I want it. And I said, well, Dad, I'm not sure what you mean. He goes, there's a piece about your life. And I have sought that.

How do you get that? And I would love to tell you the longer story at another time. Trusted Christ, of course, on his own, in the bedroom. And then he grew. He got in the Bible. He started serving. His life dramatically changed.

And so now we're back. He's 84 years old. He's still having nightmares, even after being a follower of Christ. What he experienced in Guam and Iwo Jima especially, every other guy in his unit was killed.

And so he lived with the guilt of that, along with the injury that he got. And here's what he says. Chip, I know Jesus loves me.

I know God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shouldn't perish, but has everlasting life. And I'm afraid to die. What do I do? I'm really afraid to die. I'm a Christian. I shouldn't be afraid to die. Why am I afraid to die? And that started a really serious conversation.

And I'll come back at the end of this talk and tell you what helped him the most, because I think it can help you. But as I've done reading, I've heard from the experts that two of the most common fears of all people, fear of death and the other is fear of public speaking. Not to put those in the same category, but that's just what the experts say.

And here's what I know, too. My father was probably a lot more honest than most Christians. When we look at the behavior of Christians and sometimes the lack of risk and I mean, all the supplements and all the anti-aging, you would think the number one goal of all of life is whatever you do, don't die. And yet it's a terminal disease. So far, there's 100 percent of the people that have lived with a couple of exceptions that God took home.

We're going to die. And it can be like a shadow in the back of your mind. And you can intellectually, oh, I've trusted Jesus. I know Jesus.

This is what he's done. I believe in him. And that can be very real and yet still have a fear of death. And so I want to give you a declaration.

I want to talk and help you and help me to be bold and courageous. And we're going to look at Psalm 16, because in Psalm 16, David gives us, I mean, the greatest evidence and the greatest perspective about how to face death, how to look at death. I mean, David came close to death multiple times and he reminds us that we can declare with absolute confidence. If you've received Christ, if you're a follower of Jesus, you can say, I will live forever.

It's true. You can overcome the fear of death. My observation is people get older and older.

It actually gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And my years as a pastor tells me there's a lot of people that are getting older and older and older, that they don't say anything because, I mean, talk about politically incorrect in a church, especially if you served and you love God for 10 or 20 or 30 or 40 years and say, I'm afraid to die. I mean, who are you going to tell that to? But what I know, there's a lot of people that love Jesus, that are truly born again.

And for a number of reasons, they're afraid to die. And Psalm 16 is going to be just an incredible help to you. It's been an incredible help to me.

It was a great help to my father. And in Psalm 16, David, he didn't have the proof of the resurrection, but he had a conviction from God. In fact, it was so powerful that God speaks through David in this Psalm. And when Peter in Acts chapter 2, when he's making the case for the resurrection and that Jesus was truly God, and that he rose from the dead, Peter reaches back into Psalm 16 and he pulls out a verse and he says, see, God promised he wouldn't let his body see decay. It's messianic. It's prophecy. And that was the proof.

And David believed that no matter what happened to him, that he would in fact be resurrected, that there was life after death, that he would be face to face with Yahweh, his God and his King. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We'll return you to Chip's message in just a minute. But let me quickly share with you, God has called us to do incredible ministry work all around the world. And when you regularly give to Living on the Edge, you're a part of what we do.

So consider becoming a monthly partner today, then visit livingonthedge.org. We appreciate your generous support. Well, with that, here's Chip. So what he does in Psalm 16 is very much like Jesus said in John chapter 5, where he says, I want you to look above. I want you to look around. I want you to look within. And then I want you to look beyond. And before I go on, could I clear something up? I think a lot of Christians, well-meaning Christians, think that eternal life begins the day after you die and you're with Jesus. Right? Eternal life.

Because it sounds like a long time. You know, I love Jesus. He's forgiven my sins.

I believe in him. So when I die, then I get eternal life. Can I tell you that is absolutely theologically completely incorrect. Eternal life is a quality of life. It's the presence of Jesus. It's the very life of Christ that lives in you.

And so it begins the moment you trust him and it goes on forever and ever and ever and ever. If you're a follower of Jesus, you will live forever. And notice what he said when he was teaching in John 5, 24. He says, truly, truly, when he wanted to make a point, he would repeat something or the old version is verily, verily.

I mean, in other words, get this down. I say to you, he that hears my word and believes on him who sent me, notice the verb, has eternal life. What are the implications? And does not come into judgment. But notice the tense of the verb has passed out of death into life.

When you repented of your sin and you received the free gift of God in Christ, he says you have eternal life. The spirit entered your life, sealed you. He deposited spiritual gifts. You presently have an inheritance.

You have all the power that you need and you can know this for sure. Let me read one other passage from the same author. In 1 John, he was speaking to a group of people that were struggling. And he wanted them to understand that, you know, when you have a genuine relationship with Jesus, the whole theme of 1 John is what you've experienced in your new life with Jesus plays out in your relationship horizontally with others. And then he wanted them to know that you don't have to guess, I hope someday, I hope some way, I'll make it to heaven. In 1 John, chapter 5, verses 11 through 13, he says, this is the record. These are the facts or this is the witness.

And here it is. That God has given us eternal life and this life is in his son. So he says, first of all, it's a gift. It's in his son and God has given us his son. Then verse 12, it's very simple. He who has the son has life. He who does not have the son does not have life. He doesn't say he who goes to church, doesn't say he who's a moral person, doesn't say he who's sincere and tries hard. It says he who has the son has life.

He who doesn't have the son does not have life. Then notice verse 13, these things I've written to you who believe you've put your faith in Christ in the name of the Son of God in order that you may know that you have eternal life. Eternal life isn't something you have to guess about. Christ died in our place on the cross. His death paid once and for all for the sins of all people of all time. In that moment as he hung on the cross, the just wrath of God took your sin, my sin and sins of all people and he became our sin bearer. And the word is atonement. He covered our sin. So God has forgiven.

So the gospel is good news is that God loves you despite your sin and if you'll turn, he'll guide and direct you and he'll give you his word. He'll put you in a community of believers and he wants to use your life like you can never dream. That's eternal life. When we die, we just move from experiencing that in a fleshly body to what? A new world and what we know is there's going to be a new heaven and a new earth and we get new bodies. To be absent from the body, the Bible says, is to be at home with the Lord.

So let's walk through perspective. David's going to look. First place he looks, he looks above and he prays. He says in Psalm 16, keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge. I said to the Lord, you are my Lord.

Apart from you, I have no good thing. It's interesting in this one little verse, he uses three different words for God where he says, keep me safe, O God. It's just L. It's the most common word for God in all the Old Testament. When he goes on and says, I said to the Lord, all capitals, that's Yahweh. That's God's personal name. That's a picture of God as creator, as sovereign, the one who shapes the world and all that there is. And then he goes on to say, you are my Lord, Adonai.

And the inference of Adonai has to do a lot with who's your master? Who do you report to? Who are you responsible to?

Who do you take orders from? He says, I take refuge in God, this personal God, and you are my master. Or in the words of Paul, for those of us that are followers of Christ, we would say it like this, Romans chapter 12, verse 1. Therefore, in view of God's great mercy and forgiveness, offer your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is your spiritual service of worship. And what he's basically saying is, I'm all yours and I'm all in.

And apart from you, I have no good. You are my life. And he prays first about, keep me safe, because there's danger. And then second, it's a prayer of dedication. And he says, in a world with chaos, in a world with struggle, in a world with danger, in a world of uncertainty, Lord first, would you keep me safe?

And then second, I want you to know, I'm all yours. And so after he looks above and prays, he looks around and he loves. Notice his perspective because of this position, this intimacy with his God, his master and his creator. He says, as for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.

And he's saying, God, you know, even in the midst of a fallen world, you have given me these incredible relationships. Think about you. Think about the people that God has brought in your life. Certainly family, but I'm talking about people who walk with God, people who've discipled you, people that you do life with, people that you've laughed with, people that you've wept with, people that have encouraged you. Just, you know, multiple people just come to my mind and I think, what a delight, what a joy. And what is it that holds us together?

It's our common bond in Jesus Christ. Just recently, I had the privilege of going to Korea where about 5,000 or so leaders from all around the world, 200 and some countries, and we gathered and we worshiped together and we prayed and we heard messages from God's word. And they had a hallway that, I mean, it was a huge hallway, 5,000 people, right? And then they put us in one room, if you can believe, 5,000 people around tables and then they mixed us up. And so I'm with a guy from India over here and Africa over here and a woman from Siberia.

She was a nurse from Siberia. And I never met any of them. And I mean, within two or three days, we were talking and sharing and praying.

Do you realize how rare that is? And then I had a conversation with a guy from South Africa I had never met. He was just over there drinking coffee and he saw what I was reading and he said something.

And pretty soon, I remember thinking, because I was praying, God, what do you want me here for? I mean, do I need to learn something? Well, good, I want to learn that. And do you want to use me?

Am I supposed to encourage someone? I was sort of asking that. And then at night, I would kind of write down in my journal what I thought. And when I got to the guy from South Africa, he was this huge guy in rugby or something. And, you know, what he'd done for the Lord was exciting. And I remember writing in my journal, Lord, I have no idea, I have no idea why I met that guy.

But I'll tell you what, sure was fun, I liked him. And it's kind of like this, the saints in the land, the glorious ones, in whom is all my delight. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. And you've been listening to part one of Chip's message, I Will Live Forever, Overcoming the Fear of Death, from our series, Be Strong and Courageous.

Chip will be back shortly to share some helpful application for us to think about. Life is full of intense challenges that can shake our faith and leave us feeling lost. So how can we spiritually ground ourselves and persevere no matter what comes our way? Well, through this new study in the book of Psalms, Chip digs into eight core chapters that will help us overcome the most harmful emotions and feelings we'll face. Don't miss How to Handle Cynicism, Discouragement, Injustice, Fear, and More. To catch up on this entire series, listen through the Chip Ingram map or at livingontheedge.org. Well, Chip's still with me in studio, and Chip, you know, all throughout this series, you're identifying the prevalent fears Christians are dealing with and revealing how to fight back.

Take a minute, if you would, and talk about a resource that we have that helps believers call out these emotions and circumstances they're struggling with and bring them to God. Well, Dave, you really hit the nail on the head. There is something to getting our fears and our anxieties and negative emotions out of our head. If you don't get them out of your head, they just start doing laps, right? I mean, they just keep going round and round, and the picture I have is, you know, sometimes there's bacteria, and it's hidden, and it's causing a problem.

And if you take that bacteria and you put it into the sunlight, it literally evaporates. There's something about getting them out in the open where you can look at them objectively. And sometimes that's talking with another person.

That can be a very good way to do it. But especially as you're starting your day or as you can't sleep at night, one of the greatest tools that I think we've produced is a prayer journal. I do this two to three or four times a week, and sometimes when I'm struggling, I do it every day. But I don't use a journal like I've got to record all my days. What I want to do with a journal is say, what's going on inside of me? You know, I often start it with I feel, and then dot, dot, dot. You know, I feel happy about, or I feel concerned about, or I feel anxious about, or I feel very afraid that this might happen, and I write that out in my journal. And then what is very helpful for me is right underneath that, then I make a tiny little box, and then I put a dash, and I turn that fear into a prayer request.

Lord, I'm very concerned about one of my grandchildren, and I put that little box. Father, I right now commit that to you. I ask you to direct my path to know what you want me to do with regard to dot, dot, dot. Let me encourage you. Don't let those negative emotions and fears and concerns and anxieties keep doing laps inside your brain. Write them down.

Get them out. And then the joy is being able to look back and see God's faithfulness at what you were so concerned about just a month ago, and what it really does is build your faith. I highly recommend using a journal to help you grow. To learn more about our prayer journals, visit LivingOnTheEdge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. These beautiful, compact notebooks have plenty of space for your prayers and personal journaling, along with scripture verses, hymn lyrics, and quotes to encourage you. If you want a more intentional, enriching time with God, this tool will help. For more details about our prayer journals, visit LivingOnTheEdge.org or call 888-333-6003.

Atlas Nurse Tap, special offers. Well, here again is Chip to share some application for what we heard today. Thanks so much, Dave. There are certain psalms that when I start feeling discouraged, I just go to. And in Psalm 16, we get this fantastic picture of David, despite his struggles, despite his failures, his things that he's done terribly wrong, he kind of has this rear-view mirror experience, and he looks backward, and then he starts plugging in all the benefits, all the beauty, all the grace, all the love, all the people. And what I want to say to you today is by the time he gets to the end, what he realizes is that he's going to be with the Father forever.

I mean, this is one of the clearest Old Testament teachings on the resurrection that there is in all of the Bible. And so I've got two applications for you. Number one is get a sheet of paper out, especially if you're a bit discouraged, and just start writing the names of people that have blessed you, the names of anything good that's ever happened in your life. You will fill a page faster than you can believe, and your emotions and your perspective will change radically. Because for every ten great things that happen to us, one or two bad ones, that's where our mind goes, and we start looking at life that way. The second thing is, some of you are saying, Chip, you have no idea what I've been through. Well, here's what I can tell you as a follower of Christ, and I don't minimize any of your pain, you are going to be with Jesus. And this thing called time is very, very, very short, and eternity is very, very, very long. And so the word I have for you is, the anchor of your life and your hope is eternal life and heaven that's real. If you do not know with all your heart that if you would die at this moment, that you would spend eternity with Jesus knowing His death and resurrection has paid for your sin, and He offered you eternal life if you would turn from your sin and put your faith in Him, I plead with you right now. Get alone with God. Tell Him you're sorry for where you've sinned.

Ask Him to forgive you. Put your trust in Christ and Christ alone and His resurrection. Do that today, and then tell the greatest Christian that you know, I prayed a prayer.

I need some help. I want to have eternal life, and I want it with Jesus. Go to our website or give us a call, and we can give you some help.

Thanks, Chip. Well, if you prayed to receive Christ, we do have a free resource we'd like to put in your hands that was created specifically for new believers. This tool will help you understand what it means to trust in Jesus and what to do next. Request this free resource by calling 888-333-6003, or visiting LivingOnTheEdge.org, then clicking the New Believers button. That's LivingOnTheEdge.org, or call 888-333-6003. Let us help you get started in your faith journey. We'll listen to next time as Chip picks up in his series, Be Strong and Courageous. Until then, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge.