James Merritt - There's More to Come
Gertrude Stein, you may have not have heard of her. Maybe some of you do if you like to read. She was one of the most popular American novelists in the 20th century. In 1946, she was riding in a car in a city right outside of Paris, and she got really, really ill. So she was taken to an American hospital, and she was diagnosed with stomach cancer. The surgeon operated on what proved to be an inoperable tumor. As a matter of fact, she never came out of surgery. She died in surgery. But that afternoon, as she was lying in bed, waiting on the surgeon, they didn't know at the time, but she offered what would turn out to be the last words she would ever speak on this earth.
And it was in the form of two questions, and both of them really baffled the two friends that were in the room with her. They were lying there, and all of a sudden she just kind of perked up and said, "What is the answer"? Well, when she said, that everybody was silent for a moment, and then they kind of laughed. And then she asked a second question. She said, "Well, in that case, what is the question"? She said, "What is the answer"? And then, "What is the question"?
Now, none of her friends knew exactly what she meant, but I'd like to venture a guess. I think I know what Ms. Stein may have been talking about. I think she may well have been searching for an answer to a question that actually is as old as civilization, because there's probably never ever been a human being on this planet that's lived a decent length of time that hasn't asked this question at one time or another. I've asked it. I guarantee you most of you either have asked it or you will ask it. As a matter of fact, this question is found in what Bible scholars believe is the oldest book in the Bible.
The first book in the Bible is Genesis. That's not the oldest book. According to biblical scholars, the oldest book in the Bible is the book of Job. And thousands of years ago, people were asking this question: If someone dies, will they live again? And that really should be asked, really, when? 'Cause it's not an if. It's a matter of when. And it is one of the greatest philosophical questions of all time. As a matter of fact, I think Gertrude Stein would probably put it this way: Is death a period at the end of life's sentence, or is it just a comma? Something really interesting about human beings, of all the creatures on this planet, of all the animals, all the humans, all the birds, all the fish, all the insects, all the microbes on this planet, we are the only group of people, the only group of beings that are aware of their own mortality.
We're the only ones that know one day, we're going to die. You know, your golden retriever may know how to shake hands on command. He has no idea you're gonna bury him in the backyard. He has no clue about that, right? But yet, we do. And we not only know that one day we will die, it's not only natural, it's inevitable that we'd ask the question, well, so is death the end? Is death the beginning of the end or just the end of the beginning? Because it doesn't take you long to figure out, even as a child, that human beings have something in common with every street we travel, every book we read, every movie we watch, and that is all of them have an ending. Every street has an ending, every book has an ending, every movie has an ending, every human being has an ending.
Just as surely you experience a beginning on your birth day, you're going to experience an ending on your death day. Now, we don't know when that's going to happen. We don't know exactly how that's going to happen. Some of us aren't even sure why it's going to happen. We just know it is going to happen. We finally understand. You can work out, you can eat healthy, you can get check-ups, you can take medicine, but your heart only has so many beats. And one day, it will beat no more. Your lungs only have so many breaths, and then they will breathe no more. And someday you're going to reach the end of the journey, and you're gonna cross over from this life to whatever comes next.
So however you wanna put it, you're gonna bite the dust, you're gonna buy the farm, you're gonna kick the bucket, you're gonna push up daisies, you're gonna give up ghosts, you're gonna join the ages, you're gonna take a dirt nap. It doesn't matter how you put it. One of these days, you're going to die. So it's a natural thing just to say, "Okay, well, is there more to come, or is this it"? Now, if you are an atheist, you give a easy answer to that question, right? If you're an atheist, the answer to that question for you is, nope. You say death is just extermination. Death is just annihilation. As a matter of fact, believe it or not, there are even some people who don't want to have life after death. They don't want it to be anything else.
Antony Flew was the most celebrated atheist of the 20th century, and even though at the end of his life, he finally came to believe in God, not Jesus, but in God, he rejected the idea of any kind of afterlife. As a matter of fact, this is really sad. Here's what he said, "I wanna be dead when I'm dead, and that's an end to it. I don't want an unending life. I don't want anything without end". Not everybody's like that. As a matter of fact, there are those Eastern and New Age religions, they hold to this pantheistic view that you just kind of go through this endless cycle of reincarnation till you finally break the cycle. And maybe you come back as something else, or you become one with a, you know, some supernatural force.
In fact, I was reading other day about a father and his son. They were playing in the front yard, and the son saw this squirrel had been run over in the street. So he said, "Dad," he said, "Well, what happened to that squirrel"? And so the dad thought, well, this will be a good opportunity to talk to my son about safety and, you know, about watching out for cars. He said, "Well, son, let me just tell you," he said, "Now, that's what happens when you play in the street if you're not careful". And the little boy's eyes got real big. He said, "Really, that's what happens"? He said, "That's what happens". So the next day, he and his little buddy of his was, you know, next door, they were talking. And he said, "Hey, Johnny, guess what I found out yesterday". He said, "I don't know, what"? He said, "I know what happens to you after you die". He said, "Really"? He said, "What"? He said, "You turn into a squirrel".
Now, there are people who believe you kind of just come back as something, you know, one thing after another. Well, we're in a series that we're calling I Doubt It. And we're dealing with some of the most prominent doubts that people have about God and about life and about death. And there are a multitude of people. And by the way, they're growing. There's a huge number of people who doubt there's life after death. And I wanna dispel that doubt today because I believe there is more to come. I believe there is more to your existence than just this earthly life. And I'll tell you why I believe it. I believe primarily for two reasons.
Number one, because I believe it because Jesus believed it. And number two, I believe it because the Bible teaches it. So if you're watching right now, maybe on television, you're online, you're around the world, you're in this room, and you're those people who say, "I'm not sure there's life after death," I would just say one thing to you. If I am right, if I am correct, you will find out one second after you die. As a matter of fact, you may find out before you die that there's life after death. There's a guy that called into work one day, and he told his boss, he called earlier that morning, he said, "Boss, I'm sorry, I can't come into work today". He said, "Well, what happened"? He said, "Well, I've gotta go to my grandmother's funeral". And he said, "Oh, man, I'm so sorry to hear that". He said, "Sure, you know, take all the time you need".
Well, the next morning he came into his work, and his boss saw him come in, and he called him into his office. And he said, "Hey, I just got a question for you". Said, "Well, what is it"? He said, "Do you believe in life after death"? And the man said, "Well, yes, sir, I do". He said, "Man, that makes me feel so much better". He said, "Well, wow, what are you talking about"? He said, "Well, you know, yesterday after you called me to come into work, 'cause you told me you were attending your grandmother's funeral, she stopped by to see you," so. Sometimes before you die, you say, "Well, maybe there is life after death".
Now, my central point is very simple today. There is more after life than this life. I believe that with all of my heart. There's more to this life after this life. There's more to come because death is both an end and a beginning. So we're gonna look at two primary people today in God's Word. We're gonna look at what a man named Paul said about this. We're gonna look at what Jesus said about this. So I'm gonna invite you right now to turn to a book called 2 Corinthians. It's right after 1 Corinthians, chapter five. And I wanna say the first thing, something we already know, but let me just go ahead and state the obvious, and that is that death terminates physical life. That's the first thing you need to understand about death. Death terminates physical life.
Now, Paul is writing to a bunch of believers in a city called Corinth. If you ever get to go to Greece with me, we go to Corinth. A beautiful, beautiful, you can see the ruins there. And Paul says something about the human body that applies to every human body, whether that body's a Christian body or a non-Christian body, it doesn't matter. Here's what Paul said. 2 Corinthians 5:1, "For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands".
Now, if you go back to the literal Greek language, here's the way that verse literally reads. We know that if the earthly house of the tent that we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God. So I was reading this the other day when I was working on this sermon, and I thought, it's so interesting that Paul describes our body as a house. I thought that's the kind of, you know, kind of, I don't know, it's interesting. Like, right now. I'm looking at a bunch of houses. I'm looking at some big houses. I'm looking at some small houses. I'm looking at some very beautiful houses. I'm looking at some that could use a fresh coat of paint. But I'm looking at houses.
Maybe your house is in, you know, maybe you need some repairs, but here's the important thing, okay? Paul identifies our body with a house, but he also goes to make something very plain. Don't identify you with your house. There's a difference between you and your house. Your body is not you. Your body's just the house that you live in. In fact, let me get technical for just a moment. People don't get sick. Bodies get sick. People don't get sick. You can't get sick, you. Your body can get sick. You don't get sick. A house is not you. It's just like the house I live in. I live in the house. You live in the house. My house is not me. I live in my house, I sleep in my house, I eat my house, I work in my house, do a lot of things in my house, but my house is not me.
So likewise, this body is not you, it's just your house. Now, anybody that's ever owned a house knows something. It doesn't matter how big the house is, how nice the house is, it doesn't know what the house is built on. Your house is going to decay over time. Houses grow old. Things begin to fall apart. Paint peels, foundations crack, wood rots. Now, yes, you can slap a you coat of paint on that house when it begins to show its age, but that will only buy you a little time because no house is forever. I'm have moved close to where I grew up as a boy, and I see a lot of places where there used to be a house, but the house is gone. There's no more house.
In fact, there are places that I go by sometimes, and I thought that house will always be there, but the house is no longer there. One of the restaurants that Teresa and I go to eat at sometimes is right across the street where my grandmother used to live. I used to spend a lot of nights with my grandmother. She was right across from the school from my high school where I went to high school. That house is no longer there. And the truth is, you may get to live in this old body that God calls house for a time. And while you're in this body, there's a lot of things you can do with this house. You can repaint it, you can refinish it, you can refurbish it, you can repair it. But eventually, this house is going to decay.
Let me tell you why it's going to decay, because God has built decay into everybody's house, that this old house was never ever meant to last forever. And you say, "Well, why did God do that"? Because God never intended for us to settle down in this house. God never intended for any of us to think, "Okay, this house is where I'm going to live forever," because this house is never meant to be our final home, why? Jesus is going to tell us, "Because I got a far better house for you. I got a nicer house. I got a house that I'm gonna put you in one day. It will never, ever grow old". Well, just like a house, we grow older, and things begin to fall apart, and we start to creak and crack and wear down and wear out, and you've got aches and pains.
And let me just say something as you get older, you know, Adrian Rogers said this one time, I thought, "That is so true". Adrian said, as you get older, here's how you know you're getting older: Every day, you'll find a pain somewhere. Can you relate to that, right? I mean, I can, right? I mean, you know, couple weeks, my back's been kind of tender. I mean, I've been kind of dealing with a tender, not hurt, but tender back. And you know, it just is. As you get older, you just begin to wear down.
So let me give you some good news, by the way. If you're one of those people that, you know, you just a complainer and you're a whiner and you always, you know, there's some people, everyone asks them how they're doing, they'll give you an organ recital, okay? You just wanna know, right? But if you're one of those people and you just always are complaining and whining about how bad you feel and, you know, how painful things might be, let me give you at least a little good news. You're just being biblical.
You say, "What do you mean"? Well, listen to what Paul says in verse two. "Meanwhile we groan". He said, look, meanwhile we gripe, we complain, we talk about where we hurt because we long, "To be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling". So as you grow older, you're gonna find it more difficult not to complain about this old house because this old house is going to hurt, and it's going to die. And the reason very simple, you, we're gonna talk about this in a moment, you are gonna last forever. Your body is not. You are permanent. Your body is temporary. Your house is not you. Listen, it doesn't matter how well that body, when when you bury somebody, you watch this.
When you bury somebody, it doesn't matter how well that body's embalmed. It doesn't matter if you put it in an airtight waterproof casket. Give enough time, go open that casket up at a period of time, open that casket up. I mean, I'm telling you, you can do everything you can to preserve that body, but give it enough time, go open up that casket, and you know what you're going to find? Dust. You'll find dust. In fact, the wisest man whoever lived said this. He said, "All go to the same place; All come from dust, and to dust all return".
So I understand the story about a little boy that came running downstairs one night, was scared to death. His mom said, "What's wrong"? He said, "Mom," he said, "You know, we went to church yesterday, and the pastor said that all of our bodies come from dust". He said, "Is that right"? She said, "Well, yes, Son. That's right". He said, "Well, didn't he say one day that, you know, you come from dust, and one day your body goes back to dust"? She said, "That's right". He said, "Mom, you gotta come upstairs quick". She said, "Why"? "I want you to look under my bed. Somebody's going or coming".
Now, we come from dust, we're going back to dust 'cause our house is made of dust. Why? Because death terminates physical life. It doesn't matter. One day you can burn your body, or you can bury your body, you can cremate it, or you could put it under. It doesn't matter. It's going to go to dust. It's going to disappear because God is trying to tell us every day, you're gonna come to the end of the highway called life, and one day, you're gonna take the exit ramp called death, and you have to take it. Your life is going to end. That forces us back to the question, well, wait a minute, then, is there life after death? Is there more to the end than just the end, or is the end really the end?
Well, now, at this point, we only have two choices. We have speculation, or we have revelation. Say, okay, what do you mean? If God has not revealed to us about what happens after death, if God hasn't told us, then all we can do is guess. You know, I'm reading a book right now about people who have what's called NDEs. You know what NDE is? Near death experience. I'm reading a book right now. It's fascinating. And it's about these people who claim to have died, and then they talk about what they have seen, and you know, then they come back to Earth. And I don't have time to go into it, but you know, suffice to say I've learned two things as I read this book.
Number one, not every experience lines up, right? Some people see a bright light. Some people see darkness. Some people are happy about what they saw, some people are not. So, you know, that's the first thing I notice. The second thing I've kind of realized is don't hang your hat on somebody's experience. Now, I do believe there are experiences that I've read in this book that line up what the Bible teaches. And it's interesting that the vast majority of these people are believers in Jesus. But the point I'm simply making is if there's no revelation, then we just don't know, we're just guessing. But the other alternative is revelation. Because if there is a God and if that God gives us life, and if that God controls our death, and if that God has spoken to us, guess what?
Then the one who created both death and life can talk to us about life after death. And that's exactly what He does, 'cause here's what we're gonna learn now from the one that gave us life to begin with. And that is not only does death terminate physical life, death translates to spiritual life. It translates to spiritual life. So let's just take a moment. I want you to imagine, if you can, I'm not trying to be morbid, but I want you to imagine you have come to that exact moment when you are gonna leave this house.
So we're at that exact moment. All breathing stops, no brainwave activity, no sight, no hearing, no speech, and the body is completely dead, what happens? Well, at that moment, the body stays on planet Earth. Why? Because the body had died. But what about the person inside the body? Because remember, the person inside the body is not the same thing as the body outside the body, the person outside the body. Those are two different things. So let me put it to you this way. If somebody could invent a spiritual x-ray machine, not where you could see through walls or trees or rocks, where you could really see through you, if somebody could invent that machine, if you looked in a mirror, you'd see two things. You would see your body on the outside, but you would see the real you on the inside.
So the question I'm asking is, I'm not asking the question, what happens to the body after it dies? I know what happens to the body. I'm asking the question, what happens to the you inside of the body? Well, again, we don't have to wonder 'cause Jesus tells us. In fact, Jesus said something very interesting, because one of his best friends, in fact, I mean, a guy that was like a brother to him, his name was Lazarus, Lazarus had died. And I don't have time to go into the story, but Jesus actually purposely made sure Lazarus was dead before he took off and went to see the family. Lazarus has died. Matter of fact, Lazarus has been dead four days.
And so he's got two sisters, Martha and Mary, and Jesus is talking to Martha. And they're talking about dying, and Martha's, first of all, she's upset with Jesus 'cause He didn't show up when He should have. And she doesn't understand why she let His best friend die, that's a whole 'nother story. But Jesus is talking to her about this whole matter about life after death. She's convinced Lazarus is dead, and he's not coming back. And so Jesus makes one of the greatest statements about life after death you find anywhere in the Bible. Here's what he says in John 11. "Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.'" Martha said to her, said, "'I know he'll rise again in the resurrection at the last day.'"
Jews did not believe in an immediate resurrection. They did believe that one day, everybody would be raised in the dead. We'll talk about that in some sermons down the road. He says, oh, and I know he'll be raised at the last day. "Jesus said to her, 'I'm the resurrection and the life.'" And then he makes this statement. He said, "'The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.'" Wait a minute. Time out, what? Yeah, the one who believes in me will live, even if they die. That sound like a contradiction. Wait a minute, let me get this straight. Am I gonna die or not? Well, yeah, you're gonna die, but you're gonna live. No, you just said I'm gonna die. No, you're gonna live after you die.
So Jesus says, okay, the one who believes in me will live, even if they die. And then He goes on to say, "'And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?'" You know what Martha said? "Believe it? I don't even understand it. I am so confused. I mean, help me. When I die, do I die, Jesus"? "Well, yes and no". What does that mean? Well, every orthodox who believed that there would be a resurrect at end of time, but here's the point that really got Martha. Jesus wasn't talking about the end of time. He wasn't even talking about tomorrow. He was talking about today. He was talking about right now. He's talking about right then. He said, "Martha, listen to me. I know you think he's dead. He's about to come back right now". And she just could not wrap her mind about, what in the world do you mean? Jesus said, "I'm the resurrection".
Now, let me stop right there, see how well you're listening. There's only one time you need a resurrection, and that's after you're what? Dead, right? Jesus says, "Look, I'm the resurrection". Only dead people need a resurrection. So Jesus has already let her know right now, hey, there is life after death. As a matter of fact, going back to the wisest man who ever lived, Solomon, he wrote these words. "And the dust returns to the ground it came from," that's the house, "but the spirit returns to God who gave it," that's you. There's the house, and there's the you that lives in the house.
So when you look at what Jesus said to Martha, you gotta say, "Okay, I get it now, I understand. You're actually talking about two kinds of death". Because when Jesus says to Martha, "I'm the resurrection of life, the one who believes in me will live, even though they die," that was Jesus talking about physical death. He was talking about that time when there's a separation of the soul from the body. That's the termination of life. But then He says in verse 26, "And whoever lives by believing in me will never die".
He's not talking about physical death there. He's talking about spiritual death. He's not talking about the separation of the soul from the body. He's talking about the separation of the soul from God. And what he was saying was, "Martha, here's what you need to understand. Lazarus didn't die. His house died, his body died, but your brother didn't die. And everyone who believes in me, yeah, the old house may fall apart, and the old house may collapse, and the old house may cease to exist, and the old house may never have any more life, but you will still live".
And the point is, all of us, if you don't believe anything else I say, if God's Word is true, if Jesus told the truth, if Paul told the truth, I don't care who you are, I don't care what you believe, you can be an atheist, you can be an agnostic, you can be a Buddhist, you can be a Hindu, you can be a Muslim, you can be a Christian, you can be a Democrat, you can be a Republican, you can be a liberal, you can be conservative, I don't care what you are, after you die, you're gonna live somewhere forever. You're gonna live somewhere forever. See, we live in two worlds. We live in a world that we can see, but we live in a world that we can't see. We live in a world that is temporary, but there's another world that is permanent.
And the Bible says, we're gonna talk about this later, for those of us who are believers, we're gonna receive a brand new body that will live forever. And the truth is, with few exceptions, we all want there to be life after death. In fact, it's amazing when you go back and study history, it's amazing how you just can't kill this idea that human beings have, and I believe they were born with it, there's got to be more than this. I've had the privilege traveling the world, and I have actually seen paintings on cavern walls of ancient cave dwellers who depicted their desire to live again after this life.
I'm going to Egypt here in a few weeks, and some of you are going with me. I've been to Egypt several times. The pyramids are fascinating. You know what the pyramids are? They were the burial tombs of the pharaohs. And it's so fascinating because in these burial tombs, some of these pharaohs, they were buried with weapons, they were buried with utensils to eat. Some of them even made sure they had a servant buried beside them because they believed there was life beyond this life. Native Americans believe they would live again in what they call the happy hunting grounds. It's like a fire you can't put out. People are just born with this belief. There's got to be more.
Well, here's the good news. That desire is not just a false hope. It's not just a dream. It's not just a figment of our imagination. Yes, death does terminate physical life. It does. But death also translates to spiritual life. Yes, one day, this body right here is going to go to dust. But the spirit that God put in this body is going back to the one that made it, going back to the one that created it, going back to the one that gave it to us. And that leads to the most important thing we need to know about life after death. Yes, death does terminate physical life. And for all of us, death does translate to spiritual life. We're all going to spend eternity somewhere. But here's the last thing. Death can celebrate eternal life. Death can celebrate eternal life.
Now, I wanna go back to something that Paul said in Corinthians in chapter five. He's talking about when a Christian dies. And by the way, another series coming up, we're gonna explore this a lot more. But here's what Paul says, 2 Corinthians 5:8, "We are confident, I say, and we prefer," notice what he says, "to be away from the body and at home with the Lord".
Now, what Paul said, to make it as simple, so 5-year-old kid can understand what I'm saying, is Paul says, I am confident, as a matter of fact, here's what I really want, I'm ready to move out of this house. I'm ready to leave this house. I'm tired of repainting it. I'm tired of refurbishing it. I'm tired of refixing it. I'm tired of refinishing it. I'm tired of this old house. I'm ready to move out, and I want to go be with the Lord. Now, we can draw a critical truth from that. By the way, this is about believers and unbelievers. Here's make it real simple. So you are a believer, you draw your last breath, well, you go into the presence of God. That's what Paul said. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
Now, if you're an unbeliever and you die, you will be forever out of the presence of the Lord. So it's real simple. You're gonna spend eternity one way or the other. You'll spend eternity in the presence of God, or you'll spend eternity outside of the presence of God. As a matter of fact, Jesus didn't even come up with this idea, and neither did Paul. 600 years before Jesus was raised from the dead, the prophet Daniel was talking about another resurrection. Here's what he said, "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the Earth," why? Why do they sleep in the dust of the Earth? 'Cause dust goes to dust. "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the Earth will awake," now, watch this, "some to everlasting life," in the presence of God, some to everlasting contempt outside of the presence of God.
So everybody's going to spend eternity somewhere, and your spirit will be separated from your physical body at the moment you die. And then at that moment, when your spirit is separated from the body, then your eternal destiny will be very clear. Your spirit will either go into the presence of God, or your spirit will go away from the presence of God. If you have surrendered to the resurrected Lord, guess what? You'll be resurrected to live with Him forever. But if you deny the resurrected Lord, you'll be resurrected by eternity without Him. As a matter of fact, you know what the Bible calls this? The Bible calls this the second death.
Revelation 20:6 says this, "Blessed and holy of those who share in the first resurrection". Then he says something, "The second death has no power over them". You say, whoa, whoa, whoa, timeout. Wait a minute. How many deaths are there? Well, there's always at least one, if Jesus doesn't come back first. We've already talked, there's physical death, right? Separation of the soul from the body. But then there's a second death. What do you mean? You ready for this? If you believe in Jesus, there's life after death. But if you don't, there's death after death. Oh, what? Oh, yeah. If you believe in Jesus, there's life after death. One death, that's it. But if you don't believe in Jesus, there is death after death.
See, physical death separates eternal life for people who believe in Jesus. For those of us who believe in Jesus, it's life after death. Those of who don't, it is death after death. And by the way, there is a second death that is far worse than the first death. Because listen, it's nothing, it's peanuts for the spirit to be separated from the body. People have done it for thousands and thousands of years. But it's another thing altogether to wake up and realize, for the first time in your life, your spirit is separated from God.
Now, if you're a believer, that ought to tell you something. If anybody on this planet should have no reason to fear death, it ought to be a follower of Jesus. Why would you fear death? Tell me why. Jesus already said to you, "Hey, I'm the resurrection and the life. You believe in me, you will live, even if you die. If you believe in me, you will never die". Paul said, "Hey, if you die, that's okay. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord".
So let me just kind of help you with this. If you're a follower of Jesus, here's the good news. You know what death is? You know what death is, is just moving day. That's all it is. By the way, you won't need a U-Haul, won't need a U-Haul. It'll be kind of like moving from Gainesville, Florida, to Athens, Georgia. Hey, Richard, how you doing, bud? Good to see you back there, my man. It's just moving day. You're moving out of a temporary physical body into your permanent eternal home. One home is with Him in Heaven. The other's completely separate from Him. So make it real easy, if you're like me and you believe Jesus and you believe Paul and you believe Daniel and you believe Solomon, and that's just to name a few, yes, there is more to this life than this life. There is life after death, not just physical life, there is eternal life, life unlike you could ever experience on this Earth or anywhere else.
And by the way, Jesus said, "I've come that you might have life and have it more abundant". just listen to me, think about this. If you really know Jesus, this has to be true of you, even with all of our problems and all of our pains and all of our trials, all of our troubles, all of our tribulations. If you really know Jesus, you ought to be able to say to me right now, and I can say this to you, I'm living an abundant life. I really am. I'm living an abundant life. I go to bed every night knowing if I live, I belong to the Lord. If I die, I belong to the Lord. If I live, I got a day, the day to preach the gospel. If I die, I've got to go to the one that gave me the gospel to preach. So I mean, heads, I win, tails, I win, doesn't matter. I live the abundant life.
You say, "You know what, Pastor? That's my experience. I fall more in love with Jesus every day. I'm living the abundant life. The joy of the Lord is my strength. I am so full of Jesus, I am so full of glory". If that's really what you're experiencing on this Earth, what do you think you're gonna experience when you leave this Earth? Because you know what Jesus, I believe, may be saying to every one of us the moment we die? You ain't seen nothing yet. You don't even know what is about to come.
So let me tell you this last story. I love marriage stories. You know, as you guys know, I've been married 47 years, and the more I know about people been married a long time, the sweeter my marriage gets and the better it gets. One of the great love stories of all time, if you know much about them, was George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush. President Bush adored Barbara, and she adored him. They'd been married for 30 years, and he had to be away during Christmas. He was actually in China because he was serving as the chief of the US liaison in China. And there were some things going on, so he was required to be in China. And it was during Christmas. He was almost 50 years old, been married almost 30 years. He was so lonely, he missed her so much, and he wrote her this note. She said it was the sweetest note she ever got from him in all the years of their marriage.
Here's what he wrote, "I don't know what I wanna be when I grow up, except I know one thing for positive sure, you better be with me". I don't know what I wanna be when I grow up, except I know one thing for sure, for positive sure, you better be with me. I don't know when I'm going to die. I don't know where I'm going to die. I don't know how I'm going to die. But I'll tell you this, I have made sure Jesus will be with me. Jesus will take me by the hand as I close my eyes and I draw my last breath and I look into this valley of the shadow of death, Jesus will say to me, "Fear no evil, for I'm with you. My rod and my staff, they'll comfort you. And by the way, James, I have a perfect record. I haven't lost anybody".
There is more to come if you know the one who gave us life to begin with. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, I don't know who needed to hear this message today. I don't know whether they're watching online. I don't know if one day they'll be in South Africa or Jerusalem or London or Paris, but Lord, this is my prayer. I pray right now that there are people who are hearing this message and have heard it and even in this room who need to make the greatest decision they will ever make in this life. And that is before they die, to make sure it is the only time they will die, to make sure that their death is the only death they will ever experience, that they will never experience the second death.
With heads bowed, with eyes closed, and those of you're watching right now, I have a question for you. How many times are you going to die? Because if you don't know Jesus, you're gonna die twice. You're gonna die physically, you're gonna die spiritually. How many times you gonna die? How do you know how many times? That's easy. How many times you've been born? You've been born once, you're gonna die twice. You've been born twice. You're gonna die once. What do you mean? You been born physically? Yes. Have you been born again spiritually? That's the determining factor.
And if today you would like to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, Jesus came, He lived, He died, He was raised from the dead so that you would never have to experience death more than one time, if even that, if He comes back first. You may be on a hospital bed right now, and your doctor's already told you you're about to die. What about you? So if you're in this room or you're listening right now and you'd say, "I want to know, I know there's more after this, and I want to go, I wanna know where I'm going before I die, when I die," then why don't you just tell Jesus? Why don't you just say:
Lord Jesus, I believe you're the resurrection and the life. And I believe if I believe in you, I will never die. So today, Lord Jesus, I ask you to come into my heart. I ask you to save me. I ask you to forgive me of all of my sins. I confess you as my Lord. I trust you as my Savior. I thank you for hearing my prayer. I thank you for giving me eternal life and saving me today.