the mother of all transitions (part 4 - what...

THE MOTHER OF ALL TRANSITIONS (PART 4)WHAT WILL CONVINCE YOU?

The Long View of Life versus the Short View of Life

Views of Death:“You can’t know what happens when you die.”

Ecclesiastes 7:2-42 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting,for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.3 Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

Copyright © 2013 Thor Ramsey www.canyonlakechurch.org

http://www.canyonlakechurch.org


James 4:1414 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

Psalm 144:44 Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

Psalm 39:44 “O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!

Before you will even consider the reality that you can know what happens after you die, you first have to be convinced that life is fleeting. We all know we’re going to die. We just don’t believe it. That’s why we’re going to show you this ten-minute film, to remind us that our lives are but a breath... but that we can know what happens when we die.

FILM

Luke 16:1919 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.

James 5:55 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

Luke 16:20-2520 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.

This was a person in need right outside his gate, so the rich man was aware.

22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side.

The fact that he was carried to Abraham’s side makes it clear that rich people can get into heaven. Abraham was very rich. Riches aren’t the issue. But living for riches is the issue. Living for pleasure and riches alone is the short view of life. If these are the things you live for, the Bible word for you is “fool.” Who wants temporal happiness which ends in everlasting misery? That’s a foolish choice. “But I can’t know if this is true?” What’s it going to take to convince you?

Progressive revelation and Abraham’s side: We have a fuller picture of the gospel at this present time than the people at the time of this story. This is the reason for the term “Abraham’s side” for heaven. Abraham is known as the father of all who have faith, because when God told Abraham that all nations would be blessed through his family line, Abraham believed God. He believed in the future Messiah. We believe in the present and coming Messiah, but we are all saved by faith as the Apostle Paul explains.




The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.

Lazarus was rewarded for his faith in God.

Hebrews 11:66 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

He took up his cross and bore it with patience. As John Calvin has worded it in his commentary, “He did not obstinately resist his sufferings, but he endured the burden of the cross laid on him.” Or as Jesus put it...

Luke 9:2323 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Luke 16:26-3126 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the

dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

John 11:41-44; 5341 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

53 So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

They have Moses and the Prophets, the Old Testament is all about Jesus. The story of Moses, a little child who grows up to save the nation of Israel from being enslaved -- that’s the story of the gospel of Jesus who came to set the captives free.

In the book of Ruth, you have a woman who cannot save herself from her life of poverty, but she is graciously redeemed by Boaz and becomes his bride. That is the story of the gospel of Jesus who saves us from our spiritual poverty “according to his riches in glory.”

The book of Daniel, you have a young man who with two friends is thrown into a fire because they would rather trust God than submit to a false religion and God saves them from the fire. That is the story of the




gospel of Jesus whose death satisfied the wrath of God against our sin.

The prophet Isaiah foretells of a suffering servant who was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities;upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

That’s the story of the gospel of Jesus written 500 years before Jesus was even born.




the mother of all transitions (part 4 - what...

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