## Life and Death John 10:10

One of the funniest and most memorable commercials of recent years was one in which an elderly woman and her friends opened their hamburger buns and found them virtually bare. One lady asked the question, ``Where's the beef?'' Her response became a popular catchphrase for the multitudes.

We may not realize it, but most people ask the same question about life. They find themselves sandwiched between birth and death, and, unfortunately, they often find themselves in a sandwich without substance--a sandwich without any meat. Struggling to find identity, to find meaning in life, they ask, ``Where's the beef?''

A father said, "Now, Son, you need to get a good education."

The son replies, "If you say so. But why?"

"To get a good job," the father replied. "But why, Dad?"

"So you can earn a good salary and support yourself and, someday, take care of your family."

"Why?"

"So when you get old you can retire in ease."

"Yeah, I understand retiring and having something extra, but why?"

Frustrated, but still trying, his father answered, "So that when you die, you'll have something to leave behind."

All of the father's replies were reasonable, but none of them answered his son's question: "Is there more to life than what you have, who you know, and what you do?" Many people discover that life is like a touchdown scored after the whistle has blown. They score that touchdown, achieve their victory in life, only to discover that it doesn't count.

That's how Satan wants us to feel. Because he doesn't want us to find meaning and value in life, he is overjoyed when we feel confused, frustrated, and defeated. He works hard to set up imitations of life and is delighted when people are fooled into believing that they are genuine. He has tricked us into accepting an imitation as a substitute for real life. [3] The Word of God reveals the true nature of our enemy.

(John 8:44) "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."

(Rev 12:10) "And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night."

(1 Pet 5:8) "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:"

If money will corrupt, he'll provide money. If power will lead a believer astray, he'll give power. If a new job with a more attractive salary will move God's child away from the Father's will, then Satan will help him get the job. No matter what his method, his goal is simple: to keep the believer from finding the real meaning in life.

Intro: Where's the abundant life?

A. Jesus Christ came to this troubled world in to offer us something wonderful.

(John 10:10) "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."

1. Jesus appeared on the scene as the answer to the questions about the meaning of life.

2. Unfortunately, many people believe they already have life.

3. They think that they have life, because they are healthy, active, alive.

4. But having the physical ability to act isn't the same as having life.

a. It is possible for the hair and fingernails of cadavers to grow and for the corpses to have muscular reactions that cause them to move or jerk.

b. Sometimes there will be a muscular reaction so strong that the whole body will shake and even move the table on which it is lying.

c. These movements don't bother those in the funeral business because they know the person is dead, even if there may be some appearance of life.

5. So it is without the life of Christ.

a. Those who do not know Him have the appearance of life;

b. They have physical presence and mobility, and it appears that they have life.

c. But in reality there is no life because the Spirit of God is absent within them.

B. God knew we would want the answer to this important question.

1. He provides us with an entire book to address the problem: Ecclesiastes.

2. Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes toward the end of his life, and he was looking back and asking, "Who am I?" "Why am I here?" "Where am I going?"

(Eccl 1:14) "I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit."

3. In spite of a life of great prestige, responsibility, and luxury, he described much of the life he had known as empty: 'vanity' !

4. If one who is considered the wisest man to ever live and die on this earth viewed life as empty and meaningless, what about us?

5. Let's not give up too soon, Solomon does come up with the answer, and it applies to each of us no matter what our age or lifestyle.

I. Does pleasure provide purpose?

A. Solomon took the pleasure route first.

(Eccl 2:3) "I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life."

B. Solomon would have been right at home in our society.

1. Like today's joy-seekers, Solomon was looking for thrills.

2. That's the case with too many people.

3. Their lives have a void in them, and they're looking to fill it with things.

4. But things tend to get boring quickly.

a. How about that new car?

b. Even a new home?

c. Things do not satisfy, that is why there is always a bigger, better product that we can't live without!

5. Solomon learned the truth of that from hard experience.

(Eccl 2:10-11) "And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. {11}Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun."

6. The mere accumulation of things will not and cannot provide meaning and purpose in life.

II. What about Wisdom?

(Eccl 2:14) "The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all."

A. Solomon tried another angle: education.

1. Solomon was saying that it's better to be smart than ignorant.

2. Working on that premise, he set out to become well-educated.

3. And he accomplished exactly what he set his sights on because the Bible says he became the wisest man on earth.

B. Not only did he have a vast amount of knowledge, but he also possessed a unique ability to appropriately apply that knowledge to the human situation, which is the true nature of biblical wisdom.

1. Did his education or its application give him a reason for living? No.

2. Because he was wise, he realized that his fate was no better than that of the biggest fool in town.

a. What could happen to a fool could as easily happen to him.

b. His vast knowledge was no protection from life's misfortunes and from death, he decided that education, too, was emptiness.

c. Education can improve the quality of life, but, ultimately, it can't make life worth living.

III. Is the answer in work?

A. Solomon wasn't ready to give up; he decided that work might fill the void in his life.

1. Work might give him a reason to get up in the morning and something to look forward to each day.

2. It might keep him occupied, challenged, and enthusiastic about living.

3. So he turned his attention to his job.

B. No one could possibly have had a better position than Solomon, the king of the great nation of Israel.

1. People came from all over the world to meet and talk with him.

2. His work must have given great purpose to his life. But did it?

(Eccl 2:18-19) "Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me. {19} And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have showed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity."

C. Do we understand Solomon's complaint?

1. He was saying, "I am working to build up Israel, and when I die somebody is going to take my place."

2. He didn't know if it would be someone he would approve of or not.

3. He didn't know if he'd agree with the way he would do things.

4. But what took away his joy was realizing that he is going to get for free what it took Solomon a lifetime to build!

a. Spending my children's inheritance.

b. Being of sound mind and body, I spent every dime I ever made!

5. Solomon concluded that the answer was not to be found in labor.

(Eccl 3:9) "What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?"

IV. An Answer: Eternity in their hearts.

(Eccl 3:11) "He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end."

A. There's the answer to Solomon's search, and ours, for meaning in life.

1. The word 'world' does not mean this earthly world.

2. This Hebrew word means 'everlasting or eternal'

3. God has set eternity into the hearts of mankind.

4. In understanding that, there is purpose in life.

a. Eternity in their heart means He has placed deep in every man's soul a big question mark.

b. There is nothing in 'time' that can provide the answer to that question;

c. However, because of the question mark, people all over the world are looking for a 'god' to answer the question of life.

B. Everyone looks for something to fill that void, for without that, life has no purpose, no meaning.

1. That lack of meaning is what Solomon called "vanity" or "emptiness."

2. Some try to fill the vacuum with immorality, drugs, or alcohol.

3. Some try to fill it with church or civic activities.

4. Others try to fill it with wealth or education.

C. Solutions differ, but the common thread is that all men try to fill the vacuum inside of them.

1. Only God fits, but many people seek to squeeze something else into His space.

2. As a result, no matter what they try, it ultimately turns into meaninglessness.

3. God has set eternity in the hearts of men, and only He can satisfy the heart's desire.

(Eccl 3:12-13) "I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life. {13} And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God."

D. Who owns my life?

1. Many of us have lost sight of the fact that life and its labor are from God.

a. We believe we've earned those things.

b. We get up in the morning and say, "Today, I'm going to do this, this, and this."

c. Then we get irritated, aggravated, and even angry when things interrupt those plans.

d. What we've forgotten is that our lives are not our own.

e. They are God's, and it is His work we are here to do.

f. The plans, the timing, and the assignment are all His.

(James 4:14-16) "Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. {15} For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. {16} But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil."

2. Life is God's gift to us for a time.

a. We often make plans an schedules that must be changed.

b. Recent sign message: "Write your plans in pencil and give God the eraser!"

c. Good advice for all of us.

3. We need to realize that even though life is given to us, life is not due us; it is a gift.

a. "I never asked to be born!"

b. That is true, it was a gift from God.

c. Now, how will we respond to the one who gave us physical life and longs to give us the abundant life as well.

E. Job found the answer.

1. I don't have the answers to the ``why'' questions today.

a. No one else does either unless God answers them in His Word.

b. If He talks about it in His Word, I can give an answer.

c. If He doesn't explain it in His Word, I can only guess.

d. That was Job's situation long before God's Word was recorded for men to read and study.

e. Job could only guess why he was undergoing so many trials and tribulations.

2. Finally he asked God directly to explain why he was being treated so badly.

a. He in essence said, "Why are You doing this to me, God?"

b. I'm righteous; I've always honored You; I've faithfully obeyed You.

c. But what's my reward? My children are dead, my reputation is shot, I can't work, my house is gone, I'm sick as a dog, and most of my friends and even my wife have turned their backs on me.

d. The three friends I have left can't explain what's going on, so I'm asking You. Why do the righteous suffer?

e. "Will you please explain Yourself?''

3. God responded to Job from a whirlwind.

4. Seventy-seven questions to Job to show him that he was not even close to being on an equal plane with God.

5. As He explained these things to Job, He made His troubled but righteous servant know that even when he couldn't understand the why, he could know the Who.

6. God was saying, "If you know Me, Job, that's all you really need to know."

7. Job learned the lesson, began living according to it, and was blessed by God.

(Job 42:10) "And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before."

(Job 42:12a) "So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning:"

F. How to say, "thanks."

1. The gift of life cannot really be enjoyed until it is given and received as a gift.

2. God wants to give us life and to stay in our life.

3. He also wants us to be thankful for the life He gives.

4. We show our thankfulness when we allow Him to control our life.

5. The songwriter put it like this: I don't know about tomorrow…but I know who holds my hand.

Do we want purpose in life? Do we want meaning in place of emptiness? Do we want to make our life count? Then we must put God first. The answer is that simple: God first. Without God, our life is just like the one Solomon described in Ecclesiastes-- vanity and emptiness.

(Eccl 12:13) "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."

The Issue of Death:

The subject of "death" and what follows death is of interest to most people. Yet for so many it is a mystery. They speak of it as the "unknown" and refer to the "uncertainty" of a future life. [20] Praise God the Bible has a hope for every believer. When Christians die they are "Absent from the body, and...present with the Lord." Following that there is the glorious prospect of a new resurrection body.

I. What Does The Bible Teach

(Job 14:14) "If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come."

A. Job's Example

1. Job's question is of great importance, but so many people do not have the answer.

2. It is a question that cannot be answered apart from divine revelation.

3. None of us have gone beyond the veil of death.

(Job 19:25-27) "For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: {26} And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: {27} Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me."

B. Abraham's Example.

1. When God instructed Abraham to offer up his son Isaac upon the altar of sacrifice, he obeyed.

2. He believed that God could raise him up again.

(Heb 11:19) "Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure."

3. While God provided a substitute for Isaac, yet Abraham fully believed in the resurrection of the body from death.

C. Joseph's Example

1. Joseph believed in the future life and the resurrection of his body.

2. Just before he died, he gave instructions concerning his body.

3. Note: Genesis 50:24-26

4. Joseph provided for the preservation of his body because he believed in the resurrection.

5. When he died in faith he "made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones" (Heb. 11:22).

D. David's Example

1. David looked forward to the time when his body would be raised form the grave and transformed into the likeness of the body of his risen Lord:

2. Note: Psalm 17:15

(Psa 17:15) "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness."

E. Moses' and Example

1. Moses died at 120 years of age and his body was buried in the valley in the land of Moab.

2. Fifteen hundred years after we find him in the land of Canaan with Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration.

3. In three of the Gospel accounts we read of this event and always Moses is recognized as being in a state of conscious existence by Peter, James, and John.

4. Cf. Matthew 17:1-3; Mark 9:1-5, and Luke 9:27-33.

F. The Example of Jesus.

1. It is clear that Jesus believed and taught the resurrection of the body from the dead.

2. Note: John 5:28-29

(John 5:28-29) "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, {29} And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."

3. The Sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection and questioned Jesus.

4. Note: Matthew 22:23-32

5. Notice that God did not say, "I WAS the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob" as though they were no longer in existence.

6. God said, "I AM the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" which proves they were alive and would live forever.

G. The Example of the Early Church.

1. The message of the early church centered around the resurrection.

2. The Apostle Paul "preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection." (Acts 17:18).

3. Peter and John "Preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead" and as a result the Sadducees and priests were grieved and cast them into prison (Acts 4).

4. Paul stood before the Jews as a prisoner and declared: "Of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question" (Acts 23:6).

5. In the Bible, as today, there were those who denied the reality of this blessed truth. Cf. 2 Tim. 2:18

6. Most of the false cults of our day deny the reality of the resurrection of the body.

7. They do not understand the reality of death itself.

a. When the believer dies, his spirit goes directly into the presence of his Lord.

1) "Absent from the body: present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8).

2) "To depart and be with Christ is far better" (Phil. 1:23).

b. The body is then put into the grave.

c. It will remain there until the first resurrection which takes place at the rapture of the Church.

d. Note: 1 Thess. 4:16-17

e. This truth is also clearly presented in 1 Corinthians 15:52-57.

II. What Happens at Death.

A. Many people wonder about the dead .

1. What happens to them?

2. Job asked this question.

(Job 14:10) "But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?"

3. It is not sufficient to say that it is a mystery and give no further explanation.

4. Where can we find the answers? Only from the Word of God.

B. Consider Man's Nature

1. There is the outward man or the body or the physical.

2. The spirit and soul constitute the inward man.

3. The spirit is the seat of the intellectual being.

4. The soul is the seat of man's emotional nature.

5. While all men, as created by God, consist of spirit, soul, and body, yet the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has something the natural man does not possess.

6. Being born again, he has been given a new nature which is called spirit and is the characteristic part of the inward man.

C. Death is a separation of the spirit from the body.

1. Note: 2 Corinthians 5:6-9

2. When we die our spirits go to be PRESENT WITH THE LORD. Our bodies go to the grave waiting the bodily resurrection.

3. Paul describes the same truth when he speaks of death as a departure. Cf. (Phil. 1:22-24)

4. At death the soul goes to be with Christ which is far better and the body goes to the grave to await the first resurrection.

III. Where are the dead?

A. There are different places, circumstances, and times that we need to consider in addressing this question.

1. The grave is where the body goes at death.

2. In the past, the abode of the spirits of the departed dead was referred to as 'sheol' in the O.T. and 'hades' in the N.T.

a. Very little is found in the O.T. to describe this place, but the N.T. gives some light on what it was like.

b. There were two compartments or divisions of this place.

c. One for the righteous and the other for the unrighteous. d. Note: Luke 16:19-31

3. A place of torment for the unrighteous and a place of comfort for the righteous separated by a 'great gulf'.

B. Since Christ ascended the location of the righteous spirits has changed.

1. Prior to Christ's resurrection and ascension all of the dead, both saved and lost, descended into hades. cf Lk. 23:43

2. However, when Christ ascended from the grave He brought with Him the spirits of the righteous dead.

"Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?" (Eph 4:8-9)

3. The location of the spirits of the righteous dead is now referred to as paradise or being 'with Christ' and 'present with the Lord'.

4. Where is Christ? He is in heaven.

C. Final thoughts on the location of the dead.

1. There will be an eternal dwelling place for the righteous spirits: the new heaven and the new earth.

2. This will be after the resurrection and glorification of our bodies.

3. The location of the departed spirits of the unrighteous will not change until the Great White Throne judgment where they will be cast into the lake of fire. cf Re. 20:13

IV. Will there be a conscious existence after death?

A. Scriptural insight from Christ, Himself.

1. Again we turn to Luke 16:19-31.

2. Here we find that both the departed spirits of the righteous and unrighteous had a conscious existence.

3. They could see, recognize each other, hear, talk, feel, and remember.

4. One was tormented while the other was comforted, that necessitates a conscious existence.

5. Another passage points to this is the one dealing with the transfiguration.

a. cf Mt. 17:1-3

b. Here we see that Moses was identified and had a conscious existence hundreds of years after his death.

c. Moses had died and was buried according to De. 34:5-6, but nearly 1500 years later we find him living, thinking, and talking with Jesus Christ.

B. Other Scriptural references to eternal consciousness and existence.

1. Note: Hebrews 12:1

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us," (Heb 12:1)

2. This passage is referring to the many heroes of the faith that were discussed in the previous chapter.

3. We find that the faithful dead are not suspended in some other dimension, but are living witnesses to what is going on in this world right now.

4. They are 'far better' than we are in this life.

5. They are in a place of joy and comfort; they are blessed. cf Re. 14:13

C. Will we recognize one another?

1. From the previous passages we have seen that a conscious existence also means that there is a recognizable identity.

a. The rich man knew Abraham and Lazarus.

b. The disciples knew Moses and Elijah.

c. David said of his infant son who died, "He shall not return to me, but I shall go to him." 2 Sam. 12:23

2. We are identified by our physical appearance now, but that changes.

3. When our physical appearance changes, we do not change identities...we remain who we are.

4. In fact, who we are is not determined by our physical appearance, but by our spirit (the real person, the eternal person).

D. What are the dead in Christ doing right now?

1. Enjoying the presence of God.

"Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." (Psa 16:11)

2. They are witnessing what is taking place right now on earth. cf Heb. 12:1

3. They are with Christ. cf Phil. 1:21-24

4. They understand much more about these matters than we do.

"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." (1 Cor 13:12)

I know that I may not have answered all of the questions you may have about this topic. To be honest, there are some things that we must accept by faith not by sight. God in His infinite wisdom chose not to reveal everything about heaven and eternal life . But it will be marvelous!

"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." (1 Cor 2:9)