Introduction: Are you afraid to die?_________

All of life comes to us as a series of unknowns. For the first nine months everything goes rather blissfully, but then…. Whamo! You were shoved and pushed and got all bent out of shape (literally) and then you popped out into the world of the great unknown. You try to get a grip on this new place and all of its new shapes and sounds and then some big guy slaps you on the rear and you squall out in protest. That seems to make everyone in the room happy and thus begins the adventure called life.

In fact, that is a microcosm of life… constantly being pushed to face new things, being forced or forcing ourselves to conquer the unknown until it is no longer the unknown. Our willingness and ability to conquer the unknown, more or less, defines what our experiences in life will or will not be.

Some people get very good at tackling anything and everything and consequently they tend to experience many things in life. But looming on everybody’s horizon, and in the back of their minds, is an unknown that we know we cannot conquer. When it comes we will all face something that we have absolutely no control over. That unknown is death!

The very toughest people, who are seemingly fearless in the face of danger in this life, are often reduced to quivering fear over the prospects of the next life. Why? Because the second you stop breathing you will enter a world that you have absolutely no control over.

While there are many views about death and dying in this world, the reality is that only one of those will actually be true when you cross from the present into eternity.

Our pluralistic world teaches us that it’s OK for anybody to believe whatever they want and nobody’s view is more right then anybody else’s. We all kind of know down deep that it won’t really matter what you “believed” about truth in this life… When you cross over into eternity you won’t face what you “perceived” truth to be in this life… We will all surely face the reality of what the Truth actually is in the next life !

With that as introduction: if you are sitting here today and you are a Believer, your view about death, and the life hereafter should be radically different than somebody who is sitting in this room who is not a believer…Why?

(Hebrews 2:14-15) Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-- that is, the devil-- and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. (NIV)

One of the missions of Jesus…. was to free us from the fear of death! He would remove satans power over us by ripping the weapon of fear away from him. He, himself, would take on death…go completely through the process of dying just like we all someday will…. then He would defeat the very chains of death itself by rising from the dead!

A) The Resurrection fulfills Jesus prediction that this would be His final sign to the world :

B) The resurrection is proof of the possibility of our own final resurrection. This is the door on which Christianity swings.

(1 Corinthians 15:3-17) For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born….. But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. (NIV)

C) Facing Unbelief: Mankind is still divided into two camps…those who believe he came out and those who believe he stayed in!

1) Those who believe he came out believe they have been buried with him and raised to new life as well ….

2) Those who do not believe are forever caught in “Pilate’s web.”

Post your guard! Secure your stone! Make a seal! If he ever escapes from the tomb you will have to deal with all that He is and all that He said.

This is where we see many around us living today:

Some say they believe Jesus rose from the dead but inherent in that belief is the life giving power it provides. If Jesus’ life changing power is lacking…

A) Who dies? Only two kinds of people die, only two roads are before us, only two destinations exist on the other side!

1) Death robs us of the power of choice. One moment after we die we will no longer be able to choose a vocation, a mate, a ice cream selection. Neither will we have the choice on where we will spend eternity…because eternity, for us, will already have begun!

2) In fact, even now, when you still have the power of choice; one of the choices you do not have is whether or not you will live eternally. A thousand years from now you will be more alive than you are today, more aware of your surroundings, more focused on what really mattered in life, and nothing you do today will change that fact.

1) We said that Jesus’ resurrection changed death from a period to a comma! All of those people who are desperately trying to make Jesus death into a period will completely lose out in the end.

And here’s why: They picture this sandal wearing carpenter from the middle East who was killed by Jewish religious leaders and the Romans, and now the wild-eyed “religious right” along with a few other million people throughout history claim that this single man didn’t stay dead in the grave but rose, and started a new religion that all are invited to join.

That’s not quite the current picture the Bible gives us of this risen carpenter from Nazareth:

(Revelation 1:12-16) I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lamp-stands, and among the lamp-stands was someone "like a son of man," dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest…..( The carpenters got himself a gold sash) …His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. (NIV)

Whoopsy Daisy! It seemed something has changed…. “The sun in all it’s brilliance”?

One pound of heat energy will melt twenty million tons of rock into molten lava… The sun radiates four million tons of heat energy per second!

No wonder John fell at his feet as though dead… but Jesus placed his right hand on him and said:

(Revelation 1:17-18) When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. (NIV)

The concept of having the keys to something is, and always has been a metaphor for authority. In the case of Jesus; his capturing the keys of death and hell means he, now, is the only one with the keys! He and he alone has the power to use the keys….or not use them!

(Revelation 3:7) "To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of Him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open. (NIV)

As we pass from this life, to the next, there is one person, only, who determines which door is open to us. It’s not St. Peter standing at the Pearly Gates.

Everybody answers to the Keeper of the Keys!

The door to Eternal life opens at His command.

Trust me, this is no fun to talk about….but this is the serious reality that every one of us have to face. Sooner or later it will be our turn to stand at the door. Our present choices mean absolutely everything to our future outcome.

The sad reality are that there are entire religions, entire blocks of humanity who do not believe this carpenter from Galilee is who he claimed to be, yet not one of them will leave this life without meeting him face to face and giving an account for what they did with his claims and whether or not they accepted his gift of salvation.

The pluralistic thinking that has risen in our nation that says there are many paths to God and all people will one day enjoy the bliss of a loving God are absolutely dead wrong!

There is not one thing in the Bible to suggest that that is true. In fact, all of Scripture points directly at the one who said:

(John 14:6) Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (NIV)

There are some who ignore what Jesus said is clearly required to enter eternal life who expect to be ushered in anyway and Jesus himself made it very clear that that was not going to be the case:

(Matthew 7:22-23) Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' (NIV)

Mind you those who do not believe and do not enter heaven will still spend all of eternity bowing to the Keeper of the Keys just like those who do believe,… it will, unfortunately be too late:

(Philippians 2:9-11) Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (NIV)

A) Jesus death and resurrection is the one fact that gives meaning to this life . If Jesus has gone before us in death, then defeated death and the grave, and we embrace his eternal gift as our own, then we need not fear leaving this life behind…in fact…leaving can seem desirable to staying here.

1) If we thought we were going to stay dead forever, we would be inclined to hold on to this life to the bitter end…

2) If this life is just the first step in a “blessed after-life”, then there is more on the other side pulling us than there is here.

3) We are simply walking a pathway that our Savior already walked ahead of us!

a) We will actually gain by death! It is our graduation to eternal life.

b) We have a message of hope to offer the rest of the world!

Unless of course you have never accepted his free gift of salvation……