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Weimar University

Don Mackintosh

Dealing with Death

It's a rare treat to be able to speak here in the church.

I think I've only had 7 messages so far this semester.

But what a rich time it's been with many different folks.

But we're actually working our way through a series, whether you believe it or not, on the, well, let me just set it up for you, for some of you who are just newly here.

And it's a series on what is the faith that was once delivered to the saints?

And what was that faith, those beliefs that were once for all?

In other words, the faith, the beliefs that were delivered once, but not just for that time period, but for all time.

What were the beliefs that were delivered to the saints to be taken care of, watched over?

And the answer to the question actually comes in the very next chapter of the Bible, that being Revelation chapter 1.

Now Jude was the brother of Jesus, and all the New Testament books were chosen as a result of an apostle, someone who knew Jesus, but 1 that had touched, tasted, handled, along with Jesus, we're told in 1 John 1.

The last apostle, of course, was John, and he helped oversee what came together as the books of the New Testament.

This was not done based on a nominating committee process.

This was done based on eyewitnesses that helped select the New Testament.

So this Jude and his brother John would have been involved in that, and they would have known exactly what Jesus wanted us to know.

And in Revelation chapter 1, It goes through 8 truths right in this order.

First of all, the scriptures, you should be living your life by the scriptures.

The major message of the Bible is that we're saved by grace through faith.

We've had messages on the scriptures and salvation.

Then verse 7, that Jesus is coming again, very important message.

And then the Lord's Day, the Sabbath Day, verse 8 through 10.

And then the sanctuary, a complete system of truth connected and harmonious.

And then today, we're looking at what happens to people when they die.

Again, these messages were given before there was a Catholic, before there was a Muslim, before there was any kind of Protestant, before there was Seventh-day Adventist, before there was a Mormon.

So these were the faith, the things that were once delivered to the saints for all time, and our job is to know them and then to enter into them.

We don't have to have some extra biblical thought.

We have to just understand the thoughts of God and enter into them.

The question is not what does my church believe?

The question is what does the Bible teach?

And once we know what the Bible teaches, then we know who is actually following it and who is called out by that.

And the word called out means the church.

So today then, dealing with death and deceptions concerning death.

Father in heaven, Lord today, we don't take it lightly that we're listening to your word because your word and your thoughts are higher than our thoughts.

We don't understand, but we do need to stand under.

And so we ask that you would bless us in that end.

So in our scripture, which was read to us by Hadassah or Esther, he had in his right hand 7 stars and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword and his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.

But he laid his right hand on me, saying to me, Do not be afraid.

And I have the keys of Hades and of death." So as we look at that, I just would say this in a preliminary fashion.

Perhaps 1 of the greatest reasons people have rejected Christianity is because of the way Some have misused what the Bible says about death.

This is 1 of the reasons a lot of people are not Christians.

And there are several ways that error is being taught.

I'm not going to have time to go through looking up every text, but just by way of reminder, you probably have studied some of these things, some of you have not, and you have not, and you have other questions, you'd like more information, please come to me and I'll get you whatever you need.

1 of the distorted thoughts is that death is just of the body, but not of the soul, which it is claimed is immortal.

And there are a number of texts that I put up there that you can take a picture if you want to look them up.

Ezekiel 18, 4, and it should be verse 20, not 10.

So Ezekiel Chapter 18, verse 4, and then verse 20.

And then Jesus himself said, don't fear someone that can just kill the body, but also the soul.

So both the Old Testament and the New Testament are directly in opposition to a very common teaching within the church.

And we have to decide whether or not we go by the Bible or what some church or group says.

Number 2, the souls of those whose bodies have died, it is claimed, continue to communicate with those who are living, either with God or with other people.

Now there may be some texts that people say, well what about this?

And if you have a question about those, see me about them.

But the clear preponderance of Scripture, the living know that they shall die, Ecclesiastes 9, 5, but the dead know nothing, again repeated in verse 10.

And in Job, when you go to your house and when you die, you don't go back to your house, and you Don't talk to your relatives, it says in Job.

Psalm 6, verse 5, you don't go to heaven, you're not praising God.

There's no 1, the majority, vast majority are not in heaven, they're not praising God.

Number 3, the third distorted thing, those who have died have already received their reward.

Some, for some it's purgatory, a place of torment that they can escape if they're helped by the prayers and penance or payments or the money of their friends.

And Greek philosophy came into the church, and this is what the Greeks taught.

They thought that death was just a transition.

Don't worry about it, just go ahead, kill yourself, go ahead, die.

This is not a biblical teaching in any stretch of the imagination.

So the church essentially in this sense stole the keys.

And our text it says that Jesus has the keys of death and Hades, but they said, no, no, no, no, no, we do.

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Dealing with Death

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