A Glimpse Behind The Curtain – Part 2 of 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Some people who've been near death and came back reported a strange, inviting light beckoning them to cross through the door.

But is that light what it seems to be? We need to know, since one day we too will pass beyond this life and then face what lies on the other side. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, as you teach about one minute after you die, you're giving us a glimpse behind the curtain. And a lot of people assume that what's back there is good, based on reports of near death experiences. Yeah Dave, you can't trust a near death experience. I'm not interested in someone who is near death.

I am interested in someone who actually died and rose again. And of course I'm talking about Jesus Christ, who spoke with authority about these matters, because indeed he can tell us what it's like on the other side. And for all those people whom you described who believe that it's going to be good, well, for believers it will be very good. But for unbelievers, very bad. That's why this series of messages is so incredibly important.

I can't emphasize that too strongly. And as I mentioned in the last broadcast, all your friends invite them to listen, because after all, our eternal destiny is the most important issue that we need to face. For a gift of any amount, we're making available a book I've written entitled One Minute After You Die.

Go to RTWOffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. It's okay to be deceived about many things, but don't be deceived about your eternal soul. Rodney Clapp in an article in Christianity Today said some fantastic things. He said that these near death experiences tell us no more about death than someone who has been near Denver but not in the city. Some people have a near Denver experience, some people have a near death experience. Neither of them is authoritative.

And I agree. They are bereft of certitude, he says. You know, I don't want to care too much about what happens in a near death experience. I want to know what happens to me when I die, not what happens when I'm only near death. I want to take the words of somebody who is qualified to tell me what lies on the other side.

I want to take the words of somebody who is not just near death but who was totally dead, somebody whose body began to disintegrate, somebody whose body turned stone cold and then was put in a tomb for three days and then was resurrected. Now there's somebody who can be believed. I think books like this are nothing but an absolute insult to Jesus Christ, closer to the light.

Of course I have no objection to him interviewing them and even writing them up, but why act as if Jesus who died and who rose again has nothing to say on the subject? And we have to believe and rely upon the bits and pieces of human experience. Now all that is supposed to be an introduction to my message today. Aren't you glad you came? That's the intro, folks. If you think that you're getting out here without your money's worth, think again.

Relax. Let's turn to Genesis chapter two and three for just a moment. Just a couple of thoughts about death and clearly I'm going to have to finish this message next week.

I had no idea that the intro was going to be this long. But just a couple of things. First of all, I want you to know that there are two faces to death, two faces. For example, on the one hand, death is a judgment for sin. What does it say in Genesis chapter two, verse 16? And the Lord God commanded the man saying, from any tree of the garden you may freely eat, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for that in the day that you eat from it, you shall surely die. What is God saying?

He's saying that your death is a judgment for your sin. And later on, Adam and Eve eight, and they began to die. Physically, they were still alive.

The trees in the garden were still green. The sky was still above them and they were aware of their surroundings. But physically their body began to disintegrate and spiritually they were cut off from God just like you were to take a light bulb and disconnected from its socket. They died. Separated from God and physical death is the separation of the soul and body and spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God. And that's why death is such a horrendous experience.

It is the final earthly judgment on sin. That's what death is. And that's why it's our enemy. That's why it is unnatural to us. And that's why none of us seems to be very comfortable with it.

That's the negative side. But there's also grace in death. There's judgment, but there's also grace. Notice at the end of Genesis chapter three, after Adam and Eve have been judged and we need to skip all that it says in verse 22, then the Lord God said, behold, the man has become like one of us knowing good and evil. Now lest he stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat forever. Therefore the Lord has sent him out from the garden to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So he drove the man out at the east of the Garden of Eden. He stationed the cherry of them. These are angels and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard, to guard the tree of life.

Why? Because the Lord says, lest he eat of the tree of life. Last part of verse 22 and live forever. What a terrible thing. Could you imagine what would happen here? Adam and Eve. Now they've sinned. Their bodies begin the process of disintegration. They are dead spiritually and they begin to die physically. And now suddenly they eat the tree of life and they live forever. They live forever as sinners. They live forever alienated from God. They live forever in their sinful state.

What a tragedy that would be. And so what God says is I want to make sure that they do not eat from the tree of life because I want them to be able to die. Death is grace.

Death means that we can finally be exempt from the pressures and the pulls and the heartaches and the pains of this world and eventually it becomes the passageway into everlasting and eternal bliss. It is part of God's total package of redemption for mankind. And that's why Paul can say in 2 Corinthians, all things are yours, he says, whether life or death, they are yours. People read that passage and they say it doesn't make sense. In what sense is death the possession of the Christian?

Paul says you've got it mastered. It's yours. It belongs to you. And it is a lovely exit. When it's time to go and when you have lived your life, thankfully you don't have to live your life forever here on earth.

Not even I would want to live forever and I'm still in good health. Now in the Old Testament what you find is that the Bible does not have a whole lot to say about where dead people go. Sixty-four times the word sheol is used and scholars debate as to whether this means that there is a compartment in the earth and whether there are two compartments for the righteous and for the wicked and indeed we know that that indeed is the case as we can see from the New Testament. But the Old Testament is rather unclear. All that it talks about is the fact that someday the righteous are going to be resurrected and the unrighteous are going to also be resurrected. It says in Daniel that there's a resurrection to righteousness and there's a resurrection to everlasting shame and contempt and Job said I know that my Redeemer lives and that he shall stand in the latter day upon this earth and though after my skin worms shall destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God even though some translations say apart from my flesh I will see God.

Either way the point is Job is saying that I know after I die it's not the end I shall still see God. Well the Old Testament is unclear, does not have a lot of details, but suddenly when we get to the New Testament it is as if God pulls the curtain back and he shows us what lies on the other side with incredible clarity and that's why I don't understand why authors like this don't look at somebody who knew what he was talking about and who could speak with authority. Take your Bible and turn to Luke 16 for just a moment.

Luke 16. You know the discussion with the Pharisees had to do with money. Most people don't know why this parable was told because it wasn't really told just to tell us what lies on the other side though it does tell us what lies on the other side but the Pharisees were lovers of money and they hated it when Jesus talked about money. You know it's interesting that from time to time here as pastor I need to talk about money. I talk about the need for more giving and for the need for generosity and every once in a while I get a phone call or a letter and people say you shouldn't talk so much about money. Well I know that we're not in the business of running ministry here for money.

I can assure you that. But on the other hand why is it that we're so sensitive about this topic? I hope it's not because we're lovers of it. Notice it says in verse 14 of Luke 16. Now the Pharisees who were lovers of money were listening to these things and they were scoffing at him because Jesus was talking about money and he said to them you are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men but God knows your hearts for that which is highly esteemed among men. What is highly esteemed among men? Money. You kill for it. You lie for it. You steal for it. You finagle for it. You manipulate for it.

You lie on your application for it. Money. Money. Money. Highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.

Ouch. In order to illustrate how the way in which you live in this world may not have any bearing on the way in which you live in eternity Jesus tells a story and it's not a parable because he doesn't name people in parables and furthermore it does not have the same context as other stories do. It says verse 19 now there was a certain rich man and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, gaily living in splendor every day. I wish I had time to explain all those words but Jesus is saying this guy's really living. I mean he's really got it. And there was a certain poor man named Lazarus who was laid at his gate covered with sores.

You know one of these bag people that you see whom you think are just nothing but a pain. That's the kind of a man he was. And longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man's table besides even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. Now it came about that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels. Notice perhaps before he died he even had a vision of angels. I expect to see angels when I die because the Bible says that the angels carried him to Abraham's bosom and the rich man also died and was buried.

You know why Jesus adds that? He doesn't say that Lazarus was buried though maybe he was but I think Jesus wants us to understand that there was a big funeral. A big funeral. Some time ago I heard about a man who was walking next to a funeral home and he saw that beautiful, beautiful Cadillac, that hearse and then behind it a whole series of Cadillacs and he saw them all and he said now that's living. That's living. And you can just imagine this man's funeral.

I mean that's living. He was buried and think of all the nice things that were said about him at the funeral. Oh people stood up and talked about his generosity and his kindness and what a lovely man he really was if you knew him. You know that sometimes you go to funerals and you hear things said and then you say to yourself I must be in the wrong funeral parlor. And all these lovely things are being said and sometimes I hear of the death of a senator or the death of some famous person whom I suspect had never received Jesus Christ as a savior and all the lovely things that are said and I think of this passage of scripture.

I tell you the truth. I think of this passage of scripture almost inevitably when I hear about the death of some person who was great who perhaps was not a believer because notice what's happening in the spirit world. And in Hades he lifted up his eyes being in torment and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom and he cried out and said father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue for I am in agony in this flame. He gets to talk to Abraham.

We're talking about you know Abraham in the Old Testament the one to whom the covenants were given. But Abraham said child remember that during your life you received good things and likewise Lazarus bad things but now he is being comforted and you are in agony. What a turn of events.

What a turn of events. Lazarus homeless a burden to society sleeping on the streets with some wild dogs that come to lick his sores. He dies and people say good riddance he's out of the way.

This man great funeral rich money. He's tormented in a flame. Verse 26 and besides all this between us and you there is a great chasm fixed in order that those who wish to come over from here to you may not be able and none may cross from over there to us.

I need to stop here. You have to understand that when the New Testament uses the word Hades, Hades is not hell. Hades is not hell. Hades is a temporary place that eventually is thrown into hell. Revelation chapter 20 after the final judgment but Hades is not yet hell. Nobody who dies today as an unbeliever is yet in hell. They are in Hades. Hades is not hell. Hades is not purgatory. Purgatory is an entirely different concept. It came about through tradition because of a wrong understanding of justification by faith. The idea was that nobody who dies is righteous enough to go directly into heaven so they need to be purged over a long period of time to have all of the evil burned out of them and then eventually they get out of purgatory even if it's tens of thousands of years. That is not found of course in the Bible needless to say but it was invented to cover the fact that so many people were dying who had no assurance that they were ready to enter into heaven yet. They did not understand that justification by faith means that one can have an immediate access into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ because God declares us righteous. Hades is not hell.

Hades is not purgatory but it is a place of torment. Now what can I say in these concluding moments? I want you to know that as you read this passage of Scripture are you not impressed with the full consciousness with which both sets of individuals are presented?

Can you imagine an unsaved person suddenly saying you know I'd like to contribute to missions? He said verse 27 I beg you father that you send him to my father's house. That is he hopes that Lazarus would be sent to his father's house for I have five brothers that they may be warned unless they also come to this place of torment. I want you to notice that that in Hades the full consciousness of his memory, his feelings, his family associations, his concerns, his physical need for water, all that is alive and well on the other side. But here's the tragedy of tragedies, the tragedy of tragedies for him and for millions like him there is no way out.

There is no way out. Revelation 20 after the final judgment and everybody stands before God it says Hades, Hades was thrown into the lake of fire and that's where hell is and that goes on forever and ever and ever and ever. Let's contrast this with the man by the name of Lazarus. Lazarus of course is comforted. He's in Abraham's bosom.

I take that to mean heaven. He is in paradise. He is with God. He is with his friends. He's having fellowship with one of the famous patriarchs of all time Abraham and he is being comforted.

He's being comforted. What a stark contrast. What an incredible contrast between destinies.

I need to say it. You've already caught it of course but notice that they instantly are there. There are some people who believe in soul sleep that after you die you sleep for a while and then in the final resurrection there's a judgment and then you are annihilated if you go to hell and then you live forever in heaven and that's the belief. But there is instant consciousness.

There is no such thing as soul sleep. Oh if only our eyes could be opened we would be absolutely astounded at the other side. Why didn't Bishop Pike who was a theologian read this passage of scripture and get his act together and believe it rather than believing his son whom he thought he was speaking to saying dad just do the best you can and you're okay here on the other side and we don't talk about Jesus much on the other side. Here's somebody who's speaking with some authority.

The Son of God is speaking with authority. Many years ago Mayor Washington died here in the city of Chicago and it was big news, big news. I remember when the politicians attended his funeral and when so many nice things were said and by the way I'm not opposed to saying nice things after people die. I'm not even opposed to saying nice things while they're alive. I'm actually a very nice guy. I hope that when I go there'll be people who'll be able to think of something nice to say.

I really do. But one of the things that astounded me was that everybody who stood up and spoke talked about him being in heaven and what he's going to be doing in heaven. You know will he be organizing precincts up there some people suggested. Other people suggested how close he's going to be to God. Well you know it's not my place to judge whether he went to heaven or not.

That is known but to God and my intention of mentioning this issue has nothing to do with where his destiny is. The thing that was surprising to me and the thing that struck me was that everybody was so incredibly sure that he was in heaven that they never even thought it necessary to give a reason as to why he might be there. Nobody gave a reason except of course that he was mayor of Chicago. And I suppose that being mayor of Chicago does not qualify one to enter into the pearly gates who then can be saved. Could you imagine going to one of these politicians and saying could you please tell me since you consider yourself a Christian would you give me a biblical answer as to why you think he's there. They'd have thought it was impertinent.

It was disgraceful, distasteful. Who couldn't possibly question that a mayor of Chicago goes to heaven directly. He doesn't even have to pass go. He doesn't have to pay two hundred dollars.

I mean it is direct. My dear friends I want you to know today it doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter how much money you have. It doesn't matter how far you are in the ladder, how righteous you are, how you have conned the people around you. If you have never personally put faith in Jesus Christ and transferred all of your trust to him alone for your salvation when you die you will be in Hades and from there comes hell.

That's it. And that doesn't come because a child has had a near death experience and we debate whether it's valid. That comes from the son of God who says I have the keys of death and Hades. That's who it comes from. I didn't make it up.

I didn't make it up. That's why I read it to you. And so the question is where would you go if you died before we get a chance to sing the song I've selected.

That's the question. And are you ready? Would you hurry to Christ? Would you say Lord Jesus I want to believe on your right this moment because apart from you I'm lost, sinner, hypocrite that I am. My friend this is Pastor Lutzer. I appeal to your heart. If you are unsure as to whether or not you have accepted Christ as Savior through repentance and faith would you do that right now. Your eternal soul is at stake.

I can't make it any clearer. And speaking about this series of messages I've emphasized before it is important for you to invite your friends to listen. Perhaps there are people that you have been praying for and you want to give them an opportunity of hearing the gospel. Have them tune in to this series of messages entitled One Minute After You Die. And for a gift of any amount we're making a book available that I've written by that title.

Here's what you can do. Go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Our eternal destiny is determined by what we do with Jesus. He's the only one who can, figuratively speaking, take us by the hand and lead us all the way to the Father.

Go to rtwoffer.com, pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. Remember the title of the book One Minute After You Die. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. Running to Win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. Next time, the terrible future that lies ahead for those who do not know Christ. Don't miss The Descent Into Gloom. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.