Every living person is concerned about the question of “what happens to me when I die.” Are you concerned? You should be. Everyone dies. This is an indisputable scientific fact.
Case Number One: Mark 12:18-27 (Red text highlights the words of Jesus Christ)
Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves his wife behind, but leaves no children, that man must take the wife and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and when he died, he left no children. The second took her and died, leaving no children, and the third likewise. The seven had her and left no children. Last of all, the woman died too. In the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”
Jesus answered them, “Do you not err, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. Now concerning the dead rising, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You therefore do greatly err.”
Case Number Two: Luke 16:19-31
“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. There was also a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores, who had been placed at his gate, desiring to be fed the crumbs falling from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
“It came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s presence. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham from a distance and Lazarus in his presence. So he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. For I am tormented in this flame.’
“But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things. But now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf, so that those who would pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’
“He said, ‘Then I pray you, father, to send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, to testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’
“Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets. Let them hear them.’
“He said, ‘No, father Abraham. But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
“He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”
Case Number 3: 2 Samuel 12:13-23
Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Nathan said to David, “Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.”
Then Nathan went to his house. The Lord struck the child that the wife of Uriah had born for David, and he became sick. David entreated God on behalf of the child. He fasted for a period, and he would go in and lie throughout the night on the ground. The elders of his house stood beside him to rouse him from the ground, but he was not willing, nor would he consume food with them.
The child died on the seventh day, and the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child had died. They said, “When the child was alive, we would speak to him, but he would not acknowledge our voices. Now how can we say to him, ‘The child is dead’? He may do harm.”
When David noticed that his servants were whispering to one another, he perceived that the child was dead. So he asked his servants, “Is the child dead?”
They said, “He is dead.”
So David arose from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his garments. Then he entered the house of the Lord and worshipped. He then went in to his own house. When he asked, they set down food for him and ate.
His servants said to him, “What is this thing you have done? You fasted and wept for the sake of the living child, but when the child died, you arose and ate food.”
He explained, “As long as the child was alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me, so that the child may live.’ But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Am I able to bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
The dust returns to the earth where it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Ecclesiastes 12:7
Pause and Think
You have a conscience, the sense of what is right or wrong in one’s acts, thoughts, or motives. This is true regardless of your relationship with the Living God, as I wrote in a recent Bible study. Your conscience bears witness to the reality of sin and judgment. Your conflicting thoughts excuse unholy behaviors and thoughts [Romans 2:12-16]. Yes, I am speaking to you. And to me.
Why does anyone sin? To sin is natural. As it is written, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.“
Perhaps you regularly do good works. You cast out demons and recite the rosary. You contribute finances to your local church and even pray in tongues. Yet, these are not tickets to Heaven.
What must you and I do to be saved? Saved from what? Saved from Hell, where the fire never goes out, and the maggots never die.
He then led them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you and your household will be saved.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his household. In that hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds. And immediately he and his entire household were baptized.
In the context of the above scripture, to believe means to think to be true. It also means to be persuaded of. It means crediting and placing confidence in. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, G4100: to think to be true. It also means to be persuaded of. It means to credit and place confidence in. It is used in the NT for the conviction and trust to which a man is impelled by a certain inner and higher prerogative and law of soul.
When you are born, adults assume the responsibility of training and educating you to live a successful daily life. When you are born again, mature Christian leaders assume the role of educating you. They guide you to live a successful life as a disciple of Jesus Christ. In fact, mature leaders are explicitly commanded to disciple new believers in Jesus Christ.
What it means to be saved
A big question: From what are you to be saved? As stated in Matthew 25:46, you will be saved from eternal punishment and for eternal life.
The Apostle Paul explained the Gospel to the Corinthian Church. “Now, brothers, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which you have received, and in which you stand. Through it you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached to you, unless you have believed in vain.
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: how Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and was seen by Cephas, and then by the twelve.“
Baptism is not symbolic.
It is essential for a successful life. Baptism benefits yourself and your fellow believers in Jesus Christ.
One example of salvation independent of baptism is Jesus’ assurance to one of the two men crucified alongside Himself. Jesus assured the condemned man he would be in the presence of the Lord in heaven that same day. Luke 23:43 records this: Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
Do you not know that we who were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with Him in the likeness of His death, so shall we also be united with Him in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him, so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we should no longer be slaves to sin. For the one who has died is freed from sin.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death has no further dominion over Him. For the death He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life He lives, He lives to God.
Likewise, you also consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Baptism does not save you. The chief advantage of baptism is you become dead to sin. Think of the prophylactic gloves that prevent the transfer of germs between patients and medical personnel. A secondary benefit: Public baptism demonstrates to fellow believers your choice to become a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Those mature Christians who disciple (to teach; train) new believers are commanded to baptize new believers, as per Matthew 28:19.
Your Invitation
If you are not near a Bible-believing, Gospel-preaching local church, I invite you to Lakepointe Church. There are six English-language locations in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. English-language services are also available online.
For Spanish-language services: Lakepointe en Español es una iglesia que se reúne en diferentes sedes en el área de DFW y en México. Hay dos sedes en el área metropolitana Dallas/Fort Worth: Campus Rockwall y Campus North Dallas. El tercero ubicado en Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, México — Amor Viviente.
Soli Deo Gloria
John White
Rockwall, Texas
John N. White 