0:00

Paul says to depart and be

0:02

with Christ is not just a

0:04

difference between the good and the

0:06

better,

0:07

it's the difference between the good and

0:10

the far better. Not just

0:12

better, far better. I mean

0:14

it's a quantum leap of goodness for

0:17

the Christian to die

0:19

because we go immediately to

0:21

be with Christ.

0:28

The Apostle Paul provides Christians with

0:31

a helpful perspective that goes directly

0:33

against the thinking of the world. For

0:35

Paul, to live is Christ

0:38

and to die is gain. It's

0:40

not the worldly idea that to live is good

0:43

and to die is bad. And

0:45

as R.C. Sproul just reminded us, Paul

0:47

would go on to say that to be with

0:49

Christ is far better. This

0:52

is the Thursday edition of Renewing Your Mind

0:55

and all week we've been building a biblical

0:57

view of grief, death and eternity.

1:00

Well for the next two days we've handpicked

1:02

messages from R.C. Sproul's Overview

1:05

of Theology series because these

1:07

messages deal specifically with these important

1:09

topics. Well today he considers

1:11

the words of Paul to help us understand

1:14

what happens when we die and where

1:16

do we go.

1:20

We come now to the segment

1:22

or subdivision of theology

1:24

that we call eschatology.

1:31

And eschatology is so

1:33

called because the word derives

1:37

from the Greek word

1:40

eschaton which refers

1:43

to the so called last

1:46

things or the future

1:48

things, those things that

1:51

are left remaining about

1:54

our hope of redemption.

1:57

And so we're going to start our

1:59

study. of eschatology today

2:02

by considering a little bit about

2:06

the big enemy that we

2:08

face as human beings,

2:11

the single greatest problem that

2:14

we encounter as mortals,

2:17

and that is that

2:18

we are mortal.

2:20

That is that we at some

2:23

point

2:24

have to deal with

2:26

death. Death is

2:28

the final enemy we are told

2:32

that we have to deal with.

2:35

And the question that everybody asks

2:37

is the question that was first asked by

2:40

Job in the ancient

2:42

world, if a man dies,

2:46

will he live again? Or

2:50

to put it another way, is there

2:52

life after death, or

2:56

what happens to us when

2:58

this mortal body goes

3:02

through the transition

3:04

that we call death?

3:06

I mean, that

3:09

is always on everybody's

3:11

mind. It may be tucked

3:13

back in a far corner of the mind,

3:16

but we are aware of

3:19

our mortality, and

3:22

that specter, that enemy

3:24

of death standing out there facing

3:28

us

3:29

always tends to take a little

3:31

of the joy away from our present

3:33

experiences and

3:36

always seems to be

3:38

threatening us with something

3:41

bad.

3:42

And the question is, has that enemy

3:46

finally once and for all been

3:49

defeated, and what does

3:51

death mean for the Christian?

3:54

Well, let's begin our brief

3:58

examination of this question. by

4:00

looking at some things that the

4:02

Apostle Paul says in

4:04

his letter to the Romans. In chapter 5

4:07

of Romans, beginning at verse 12,

4:09

Paul says this,

4:11

"'Therefore, just

4:13

as through one man sin

4:17

entered the world," he's referring, of course,

4:19

to Adam, and death

4:22

through sin, and thus

4:25

death spread to all men

4:28

because all sinned. For

4:31

until the law sin was in the

4:33

world,

4:34

but sin is not imputed when

4:37

there is no law. Nevertheless,

4:41

death reigned from Adam

4:43

to Moses.'" Now, this is significant. Paul

4:45

is giving an important theological

4:48

point here.

4:49

He's saying, was there sin

4:53

before Moses, before

4:56

the law was given? And Paul

4:58

said, yes, there was sin before

5:01

the law was given through Moses. How

5:04

do we know that? What's

5:06

Paul's argument? He said, we

5:08

know that there was law in the world

5:11

before Moses came

5:13

because there was something else

5:16

in the world. And what was it?

5:18

Death. He said, because

5:21

without the law

5:24

there is no sin, because sin

5:26

by definition is a transgression

5:29

of the law,

5:30

and without sin there can

5:32

be no

5:34

death. And since there

5:36

was death, that proves there

5:38

had to be sin, and if there was

5:41

sin, that proves there had to be law.

5:43

And he's talking about that law

5:45

that God had revealed inwardly to

5:48

human beings from the very

5:50

beginning. But Paul is saying that

5:53

this problem, this enemy,

5:55

this death came

5:57

into the world as a direct

6:00

result of sin. Now

6:03

at that point the Christian is placed on a

6:05

collision course with secular

6:07

thinking in our day, which sees

6:09

death as simply part of

6:11

the natural order of things,

6:14

whereas the Christian sees death as

6:17

part of the natural

6:19

fallen order of

6:21

things,

6:22

but was not the original

6:26

state of man,

6:27

that death came

6:29

as God's judgment

6:31

on sin.

6:33

And at the beginning all sin

6:36

was a capital offense, the soul

6:38

that sins shall die. And

6:41

He said to Adam and Eve, the day

6:43

that you eat of it

6:44

you shall surely die.

6:47

Now when God was

6:49

saying that, He was not threatening

6:51

Adam and Eve simply

6:53

with spiritual death. Well

6:56

obviously the day they transgressed

6:59

the law of God in the garden,

7:02

they died spiritually. They

7:05

did not die physically. And

7:08

so one asked the question, well what did

7:10

He mean when He said, the day that you eat of

7:12

it you shall surely die. Well what He meant was

7:15

the day that you eat of that

7:17

you're done. You're going to die, not

7:19

just in your soul, not just

7:21

in your spirit, but you're going to die, you're

7:23

going to have Thanatos, you're

7:25

going to undergo what we call

7:28

biological death. That

7:30

was the warning. That was the penalty,

7:33

that Adam and Eve did not die

7:35

physically the day that they sinned. It

7:37

was not because God was a liar, but

7:41

because God always, when

7:43

He gives warnings for the consequences

7:45

of sin, reserves to Himself

7:48

the right

7:49

to grant mercy or

7:51

to be gracious. And what

7:54

He did was He granted Adam

7:56

and Eve the grace to live

7:58

for the Lord. for some time

8:01

in this world before

8:04

He would exact the

8:06

penalty for their sin, which was death.

8:10

Every human being in this world

8:13

is a sinner, and every

8:15

human being in this world has

8:18

been sentenced to death.

8:20

And every human being in this world

8:23

is on death row.

8:25

That's where we are as human

8:27

beings. We're waiting for

8:30

the hammer to fall, for the

8:32

sentence to be carried out. However,

8:36

from the Christian perspective, death

8:39

is no longer seen simply

8:43

as the punishment or the penalty

8:46

for sin, because

8:48

the penalty for sin has been

8:50

paid by Christ. Now

8:55

death has a whole different significance.

8:58

Now death is a moment

9:01

of transition

9:03

from this world to

9:06

the next.

9:07

Now let's take a look at what Paul says

9:09

later on to the Philippians.

9:12

Chapter 1 of Paul's letter

9:15

to the Philippians in the nineteenth verse.

9:18

Here's what he says,

9:19

"'For I know that this will turn out for

9:22

my deliverance through your prayer

9:24

and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus

9:26

Christ,

9:27

according to my earnest

9:29

expectation

9:31

and hope,

9:33

that in nothing I shall be ashamed.

9:36

But with all boldness, as always,

9:39

so now also Christ will be

9:41

magnified in my body, whether

9:44

by life

9:46

or by death. For

9:48

to me to live

9:51

is Christ, and to die

9:55

is gain. But

9:57

if I live on the flesh, this will mean

9:59

for you.' fruit from my labor. Yet

10:03

what I shall choose I cannot tell, for

10:06

I am hard-pressed between the two.

10:10

Having a desire to depart and be with

10:12

Christ, which is far better,

10:15

nevertheless to remain in the flesh

10:18

is more needful for

10:21

you." Now here Paul

10:23

makes some very important

10:26

value judgments about

10:28

death.

10:29

And if there's anything that we

10:31

read in the New Testament

10:34

that our faith staggers

10:37

at, it's this statement

10:39

that Paul gives here. Because

10:42

even though we say we believe

10:44

and we celebrate Easter and

10:47

we rejoice in

10:49

Christ's victory over the grave, we're

10:51

still afraid of death. Now

10:54

I have to say in all honesty to

10:56

you,

10:57

to the best of my knowledge,

11:00

I don't think I'm afraid of death. But

11:04

also to the best of my knowledge,

11:08

I'm very much afraid of dying. In

11:11

other words, it's not what happens

11:13

when I breathe my last breath

11:15

that has me afraid. It's

11:17

the process that I may have

11:20

to go through because there's no guarantee

11:22

that Christians aren't going to have to go through a lot

11:24

of pain and a lot of anguish on

11:27

the way out. The only guarantee

11:29

we have is the presence of God

11:31

with us

11:32

in the midst of it.

11:34

And also the guarantee we have of

11:36

where we go when our eyelids

11:39

close in death.

11:40

And what Paul says

11:42

is this, for me

11:44

to live is Christ, to

11:47

die is gain. The

11:50

apostles turned the world upside down and

11:54

the chief world

11:56

turner upside down was

11:59

Paul. Apart

12:02

from Jesus, I can think

12:04

of no more extraordinary

12:07

life that was lived by any Christian

12:10

since Christ than the life of

12:12

the Apostle Paul. I

12:15

mean, when we look at what he

12:17

accomplished in his life, what

12:19

he endured in his life, what

12:21

he suffered in his life, it's

12:23

just absolutely astonishing

12:26

what this man did.

12:29

And yet, you

12:31

couldn't have a Paul unless

12:34

you had a man who

12:36

was this passionately convinced

12:38

of the truth of his eternal

12:40

life than Paul was.

12:43

Paul didn't care whether he died the next

12:46

minute. He risked his life

12:48

and limb every minute because

12:50

he said, as long as I'm alive, it's Christ.

12:53

I'm serving Christ. And

12:55

if I die, it only

12:59

gets better. It's

13:01

gain for me to

13:03

live is Christ, and to die

13:06

is gain. Whenever

13:11

we see somebody who's undergone

13:14

the death of a family member or

13:17

a loved one, we send

13:19

them cards of condolences and

13:22

we say, we're sorry about

13:25

your great loss. And

13:28

when somebody dies, it is a loss

13:31

for us. There's no question about it. But if

13:33

they're a Christian, it is not a loss for

13:36

them. It

13:38

is a gain.

13:40

It's on the

13:41

positive side of the

13:43

ledger. Now, Paul reinforces

13:47

this in this same context

13:49

here where he says a couple of verses

13:51

later,

13:52

I am hard pressed between the

13:54

two, hard pressed between

13:57

the two, having a desire to depart

14:00

and be with Christ,

14:02

or to stay in the flesh,

14:05

which is more needful for you." So he has

14:07

this dilemma. He said, I look at my

14:09

ministry, I look at the churches

14:11

out there, and I know that

14:14

I have a job to do to

14:16

help you grow into the fullness.

14:19

I don't want to be taken out of this battle. I

14:21

want to be able to continue

14:23

to minister to you and see you home.

14:26

I have a great desire to continue

14:29

this earthly ministry, and

14:33

I think it's necessary for you that

14:35

I stay around for a while, is what he's saying.

14:39

And so I'm going to fix here. I'm going to straight

14:41

between two things. I'm going to reel on

14:43

the horns of a dilemma. He said, on

14:46

the one hand, I really want to stay with

14:48

you

14:49

and help you. On the other hand,

14:53

my heart's in heaven. On

14:55

the other hand, I can't wait

14:57

to go home because

15:00

I left some words out when I read it this

15:02

time. I'm going to straight between

15:04

two things, to depart and be

15:07

with Christ, which is far

15:11

better. Now,

15:16

we have a tendency to look at the difference

15:18

between life and death as the difference

15:20

between good and bad.

15:22

That's not how the apostle looked at it.

15:25

He looked at the difference between

15:28

life and death as

15:30

the difference between the good and the

15:33

better. He

15:34

said, living is good. I

15:38

mean, there's a lot of pain in life. This place

15:40

is a veil of tears. And I can understand

15:42

sometimes when some people are reduced

15:44

to such a level of suffering and pain that they

15:47

really want to die.

15:48

But most of us,

15:50

despite the aches and the pains,

15:53

the heartbreaks, the disappointments, the

15:55

frustrations that assault us every

15:57

day in this life,

15:59

All those things put

16:02

aside, we

16:03

still want to live. I

16:06

mean, we want to live. There is a

16:09

joy of living,

16:10

a sense in which we hold

16:13

on tenaciously to life, because even

16:15

with all the pains and the frustrations and

16:17

the disappoint, life

16:19

is a wonderful thing.

16:22

It's an incredible thing. Just think about

16:24

it, what it means

16:27

to be alive. What

16:29

it means to be a living, breathing

16:32

human being. Paul

16:35

says, for me to live in

16:37

Christ, and it's good

16:39

if I stay here. Not

16:41

bad. But to

16:43

depart and be with Christ

16:46

is not just a difference

16:48

between the good and the

16:51

better.

16:53

It's the difference between the good

16:56

and the far better. Not

17:00

just better, far

17:02

better. I mean, it's

17:04

a quantum leap of goodness

17:07

for the Christian to

17:09

die, because

17:12

we go immediately to

17:14

be with Christ. That's

17:18

not just an empty hope, but

17:21

that's a hope that has been verified

17:23

by Christ's own resurrection

17:27

in real history, which

17:30

Paul saw with his

17:32

own eyes. Now, maybe the reason

17:34

we're not as bold, as courageous,

17:37

and as effective as the Apostle Paul is

17:39

that we haven't seen with our own eyes

17:42

what he saw with his own eyes. There wasn't

17:44

any doubts in Paul's mind about

17:46

whether he was headed for heaven, or

17:48

whether there was a resurrected Christ.

17:53

He knew that. And

17:55

he said, I'll risk anything in this world, because

17:58

it doesn't matter what happens to this boss. because

18:00

I'm going home. Now the

18:03

first question we face in eschatology with

18:05

respect to death is what happens to us

18:07

when we die? Because

18:10

the Bible teaches that there is

18:12

death, and

18:14

the Bible also teaches that there is a final

18:17

resurrection. In the Apostles' Creed

18:20

we say,

18:21

resurrectionis carnus,

18:25

resurrectionis, because I'm testing my Latin

18:27

students here. I believe

18:30

in the resurrection of

18:32

the body.

18:34

And when we say that we believe in the resurrection

18:36

of the body, we are not saying that we

18:39

believe in the resurrection of

18:41

Jesus' body. Of course we believe in

18:43

that,

18:44

but the reference to the phrase, the resurrection

18:47

of the body, in the Apostles'

18:49

Creed refers to our faith

18:52

in the resurrection of our bodies.

18:55

We believe that though our bodies undergo

18:58

this thing that we call thanatos, or

19:00

death, that that body which

19:03

may be destroyed by a bomb, burned

19:06

up in a fire, or

19:08

buried in a hole in the ground, that

19:12

someday those bones are going to rise

19:14

again, that just as Christ

19:16

came out of the tomb

19:19

with the same body He went

19:22

into the tomb with,

19:24

though He came out with that same body,

19:26

that same body had been dramatically

19:29

altered, it had been glorified,

19:32

it had been changed from mortal to

19:35

immortal, and so on.

19:37

So in 1 Corinthians 15 the Apostle

19:39

says

19:40

that just as Christ

19:43

came with a new body,

19:45

He came as the firstfruits

19:47

of those who were raised from the dead, that

19:50

we also will be raised

19:53

by our bodies. And he says, you know, by

19:55

what body will they come out? I don't know.

19:57

I don't know if I'm going to have gray hair in heaven.

19:59

I don't know if I'm going to be overweight in heaven. I

20:02

hope not, and I don't know what I'm

20:04

going to look like, and I don't know what you're going to look like,

20:06

but I know that there's going to be recognition,

20:09

and I know that it's not going

20:11

to be just a

20:13

wandering spirit or ghostly

20:15

soul running around. We

20:17

are going to have recognizable

20:21

bodies, because that's

20:23

the final promise. So

20:26

the best state in the

20:28

future is

20:30

the glorified body. Living

20:38

in the body now, here on earth,

20:40

is good. The best

20:43

is the glorified body in our

20:45

final estate. The

20:47

much better is what we say

20:50

is what takes place in

20:52

what we call in theology the intermediate

20:55

state. The

20:58

intermediate state is that state

21:00

of existence in which we find ourselves

21:02

between the time of our death and

21:04

the time of the final resurrection of

21:07

the body.

21:08

And presumably when I

21:10

die,

21:11

my body goes in the grave.

21:14

My soul goes directly

21:17

to heaven

21:18

to be immediately in the presence

21:21

of Jesus Christ, which is far

21:23

better than the existence

21:25

that I have in this world. But I will be

21:27

a soul without a body. The

21:30

best of all possible situations

21:33

will occur even later in

21:36

the consummation of the kingdom of Christ

21:38

when my

21:40

soul will take upon itself

21:42

another body

21:43

that is imperishable

21:47

and glorified. The

21:50

point here is this doesn't mean,

21:52

as some heretics have taught,

21:55

that when we die,

21:57

we enter into what's called soul sleep.

22:00

where you're in a state of suspended animation

22:03

and personal unconsciousness

22:06

and unaware of the passing of time,

22:09

and you stay in that state until the great

22:11

resurrection. But in the meantime,

22:13

you are separated from Christ in

22:16

a very real sense. You may not be aware of it,

22:18

but you are, where

22:20

the biblical view is a

22:22

view that teaches the unbroken

22:26

continuity of

22:29

personal existence, of

22:31

personal conscious existence.

22:34

So the second you die, you may

22:36

be unconscious when you die. The

22:39

second you die, you're awake, because

22:41

you will now

22:43

be

22:44

in a state of

22:46

personal conscious

22:49

existence in the presence

22:52

of Christ, and in the presence of

22:54

God, which is a magnificent

22:58

thing to anticipate.

23:01

And so I'm fixing to

23:03

live forever. I

23:05

don't plan to ever die. I

23:08

plan to go through a biological,

23:11

physiological transition where

23:14

this body wears out as

23:16

it is currently wearing out.

23:19

You know, my wife was saying to me yesterday,

23:21

she said, I feel like I'm 40 years old. I

23:23

said, that's because it's in your mind. It's

23:27

because your inner person,

23:31

that self that lives in this

23:33

outward body

23:35

is still alert and aware.

23:37

You know, you're not really conscious

23:40

of how much

23:41

you have aged physically.

23:45

And where do you really live? You really

23:47

live inside yourself,

23:50

in your mind, in your spirit, in

23:52

your soul.

23:53

That personal continuity of consciousness

23:57

continues only

23:59

in a much greater way. greater state because

24:02

it's in the immediate presence of Christ.

24:05

So Paul's dilemma

24:08

was answered with the victory

24:12

of his death, where

24:14

he could go home and receive

24:17

and experience the gain of

24:20

being with Christ.

24:29

That was R.C. Sproul, and you're

24:31

listening to Renewing Your Mind. It

24:34

was December of 2017 when Dr.

24:36

Sproul went home to be with the Lord, and

24:38

like he just said of Paul, went and

24:40

experienced the gain of being

24:42

with Christ. I'm so thankful

24:45

that we have Dr. Sproul's teaching, like

24:47

in the message you heard today, because

24:49

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Death and the Christian. So please give generously

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at renewingyourmind.org or by calling

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us at 800-435-4343. Thank

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you for being a theological lifeline for

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so many.

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I used to think heaven was a place

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in the clouds with lots of harps and angels,

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but that's not how the Bible describes it. Tomorrow,

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R.C. Sproul concludes this week's study explaining

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what we know about heaven. That's Friday

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here on Renewing Your Mind.