Voice of the Nazarene 10-27-24

Voice of the Nazarene 10-27-24

Transcript

Pastor Ray LaSalle: 0:00

Coming to you from North Central Ohio. We share with you the voice of the Nazarene. A week by week, venture into the Word of God sponsored by the Bucyrus, Ohio Church of the Nazarene. We join our Pastor Reverend Ray LaSalle and the voice of the Nazarene. And then one of the great questions that people have. And I've been asked it, What about death? What does the Bible teach about death? And I would like to open the Word of God to First Samuel, chapter 20, in the third verse, David makes a striking statement. He said, there is but a step between me and death. A step. Incidentally, there's only a step between you and death. A heartbeat, a few breaths away, few mental waves in your brain from death. It's only a step between me and death. There's a man that was very deeply depressed, and his wife finally took him to the doctor, and when the doctor began to analyze him, he realized just how severely depressed and how chronic his situation was. And he told the man, just go out in the waiting room and tell your wife to come in. I just want to speak to her for a moment. It really puzzled the man, and he went out and said, The doctor wants to see you. And she went in and he said, Your husband's severely depressed. This thing could be fatal. He's in bad shape. And she said, Doctor, do you have any recommendations? He said, Well, yes, I do. He said, I'd recommend, first of all, that when he gets up in the morning, you'd fix him a delicious breakfast. Have toast being buttered, and have his coffee brewing, and you can sense and smell it throughout the house. Let there be the sound of sizzling of bacon in the cast iron skillet. Have eggs frying. Maybe cut up some potatoes and have them turning yellow gold in the grease, maybe add some ham, and after he's had a delicious breakfast and is dressed, send him off to work with a lingering kiss. I lost some of you. That donuts not going to cut it. And when he gets home, meet him at the door, beautifully attired and immediately remove his shoes and run his bath water. And when he comes out of the bath, well, have his supper on the table, spend some time visiting, pull back his covers on the bed and have a wonderful evening for him, and the next day, begin it all over again. She stormed out of the doctor's office to the waiting room. Said, come on. Her husband followed her out, and he said, What did the doctor say? That doctor said you're going to die. And the reality is we all are going to die. Scriptures tell us in Hebrews 9:27, I believe it is. It's appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. And there in Romans, it states, The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. A little earlier on, in chapter five of Romans, it said by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Now ladies and gentlemen, may I say all of us, every one of us in the house, are going to die? Could I attempt to answer several questions about this thing called death? Now, I'm not smart enough to teach anything but the Bible, but I'm too smart to teach anything but the Bible. It's God's word, and really, that's all that matters. Let me just throw some questions at you. Number one, what does the Bible teach about reincarnation? That's the rebirth from one body into another body. We die and we are born into another body of some kind or another. You say, Why would you even address that? Because 25% of Americans believe in reincarnation. Are you aware of that? The Buddhist teach reincarnation. The Hindu teach reincarnation. Some of them say the reason for homosexuality is because people say that when I was in a former lifetime and I'm rebirthed, I was of another sex at that time. The Bible teaches resurrection. It says nothing about reincarnation. 42 times in the New Testament, it teaches about the resurrection, but zero times about reincarnation. And what refutes reincarnation more than any other verse is that Hebrews 9:27, and it is appointed unto men once to die. You don't die and die again and die and die again and die and die again. Shirley MacLaine, she said that in her former life she was a water buffalo. Well, here's what I know, supported unto men wants to die in reincarnation is not true. What about soul sleep? Well, what is soul sleep? Soul sleep says that when a man dies, his body goes back to the dust to the ground, and his soul will lie in an unconscious state until the return of Christ. What the Bible teaches well, in Luke chapter 16, verses 19 through 31 the rich man died, the beggar died. He was named Lazarus, and it mentions father Abraham. All three of them were conscience. All three of them were talking. None of them were doing any soul sleeping over in First Samuel, chapter 28, verse 13, Samuel was dead, and King Saul was in a jam. And I don't have time to elaborate on it, but he wanted to talk to his former preacher, and somehow they in that passage, it seems to imply that he was resurrected for a moment, and he answered Saul. He appeared as an old man under that old prophet, he wasn't soul sleeping, and the Bible doesn't teach soul sleep. What about purgatory? Our Catholic friends and our Greek Orthodox friends teach that there's a purgatory place called purgatory, that when a person dies, and they're simply saying that most people aren't bad enough for hell, but they're not good enough for heaven, and so they need to go to another place called purgatory. By the way, Can I just throw this in? Nobody's good enough for heaven anyway, so quit working so hard doing that. You're not impressing anybody. You're just depressing yourself, and you're depressing me. We're not good enough on our own. It takes the imputed righteousness of Christ. That's what I'm getting in on. I don't know about you, but they're saying there needs to be this place called purgatory. But Christianity doesn't say, like the rest of the religions of the world, you gotta do, do, do. It says, done, paid in full. It is finished, paid for by the blood of the Lamb of Jesus Christ. Purgatory means to purge. The teaching is that when a person dies, there's things in their life that need to be purged by the prayers of their loved ones. Now, I'm not trying to offend anybody. It's kind of a historic, traditional teaching, but actually, there's no biblical basis for it, and we live out of this book, not by a lot of other books. And the Bible said it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried, and in hell he lift up his eyes being in torment and seeth of the Lazarus in Abraham's bosom. Now, I don't mean anything wrong, but I just want to tell you something. It's either heaven or it's hell. There's no intermediate there's no second chance. That's why I preached here these 30 some years trying to tell you that eternity is too long to be wrong. You better get it right, and if you remember what Jesus said to the rich man, in thy lifetime, remember that in thy lifetime, your chances of getting right is what you go after here will determine your hereafter. Right now. If you're going to seek God, you better do it now. Now is the accepted time, and we're running out of time, Folk. This is a traditional transitional time, and some of us will be gone soon. Well, what does the Bible teach about cremation? An old business man, he was on his death bed, and he called his friend in and he said, You know, I'm going to die. He said, Yes. He said, Would you make me a promise when I die that you'll have my body cremated? He said, Yes, I will. He said, What do you want me to do with the Ashes? He said, I'd like for you to put them in a envelope. I want you to send it to the IRS. You know the IRS, the T,H, E, I, R, S, it spells, theirs. Send it to the IRS and said, and write on it simply, there it is., you have everything now. In 1980 only 5% less than 5% of people were cremated. Today, more than 50% are being cremated. Did you realize that over in Japan, that land is so valuable that to bury a body is illegal? 98% of those in Japan are cremated. Now here's what I understand. The Bible never condemns cremation. It matters not if a body is burned or if an animal tears it apart, when Jesus comes back, he knows the location. He can pull it off. He did in the first place. He made man out of the dust of the ground and made woman out of a rib, and she'd been ribbing him ever since. Didn't mean to get off on that. And he knows where you're at. Now, I believe there are some biblical reasons for burying the body. Why would you say that? Well, I do know that Abraham was buried. The Bible said Sarah was buried, and we know John the Baptist was buried, and Ananias and Sapphira were buried. Stephen was buried. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 34 verse five and six, that God buried Moses. What do you mean? God just took the body of Old Mo and buried it somewhere. Men have been looking for it ever since and can't find it. I tell you what, when God bears you, he does a good job. I know some of you are really King Jamers, and I'm just so old I didn't know anything about any new translation, so I quote from it, but it's just a translation, Don't get mad at me. There are more ancient translations than King James. And did you know that in the original Greek, there are no sentences, there's no verses, it just flows on and on and on. There's no chapters. It just flows on. There's no break. They put them into this chapter and then into these verses and the more ancient manuscripts. When it said that God buried that rich man, it said the rich man died and was buried in hell, end of sentence, I'm talking about the original manuscripts. And then it said, he lift up his eyes, being a torment. I'll tell you one thing, you play with God, and God will bury you so deep, nobody will ever find you either. I didn't mean to get off on that, moving along while you're shouting happy. But incidentally, you know what the word cemetery means. It means a sleeping place. Sleeping place. Boy, the older I get, the more I need sleep. Sometimes my arm just goes to sleep doesn't even ask me about it. I wake up and my legs still asleep. Some of you, right now, your brain's asleep, I can tell. You just look like you're zoned out. Well, here's what the Bible said in First Corinthians, 15. Behold, I show you a mystery. We should all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed. Did you know that Jesus was buried? You think that people who are cremated will be in heaven? Yes, here's a fifth question. You don't mind me putting my own questions down and answering them, Do you? Do you? Do some people have a glimpse of heaven before they die? Now I heard about what man that had surgery, and they put him in his room to recover. And when he returned to consciousness, he opened his eyes, it was dark in the room and about that time the door opened, a little bit of shaft of light came in, and a nurse came walking in, and he looked over, and the curtains were closed, and he said, Who closed the curtain? She said, I did. They're burning a building down across the street, and I didn't want you to wake up and think the surgery was unsuccessful. Do some people catch a glimpse of heaven before they die? Yes, they do. I've been pastoring now here for going on 32 years. I pastored elsewhere. I was 23 years an Evangelist. I have stood in the room of people leaving this world and about to transition into the world to come. And I've had them when they died without God and what they saw would scare you senseless. And I've had them die in the arms of Jesus and look up and say, I see Mama, I see grandmama, I see my babies. It's a beautiful place I want to go, but it's not enough. What I've seen and what I've heard, what is the Bible teach? That's the main issue. The Book of Acts, chapter seven, verse 55 but talking about Stephen, but he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right. He saw into heaven, didn't he? And said, Behold, I see heavens open and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. Sure, people have died, and in their dying moments, caught a glimpse inside the glory world. Here's another question. How can you enjoy heaven if your loved ones don't make it? How can a wife experience any enjoyment when she looks around the streets of glory and her husband's not there? How can a husband enjoy heaven and his wife doesn't make it? How can our children go to heaven and look around and their parents are not there? Well, I believe that God will purge our minds of the memories of our lost loved ones. Now it's not enough for what I think. Okay, so let's go back to Scripture again. Isaiah, 65 verse 17, for behold I create new heaven and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered, nor even come into mind. I don't know if you ever saw that scripture, but you need to see it, that one in heaven will not remember that lost loved one that didn't make it. Incidentally, could I just hang around this for a moment? Pastor, do our loved ones in heaven are they able to look in on the good things that are happening down here? Maybe they prayed for their son or an unsaved daughter or a grandkid and died and never got to see him come to Christ? Will they know about it? Well, all I can tell you, Luke, chapter 15, verse 10, says that there's rejoicing in the very presence of the angels of God over every sinner that repenteth down here. They must be able to see the good things that are happening. Apparently, the people of heaven know the good things. Here's the seventh thing I'm getting on dangerous territory. Can a person commit suicide and go to heaven? There's seven people in the Bible that committed suicide. Now I know the Bible teaches about an unpardonable sin that doesn't happen to be suicide, am I on thin ice? I believe that God can forgive sin. I believe that God judges us on our faculties. Over in James four, verse 17, to him that knoweth to do good, doeth it not to him it is sin. I've had friends of mine, especially as I stand here, I think of two preachers that I thought were exceptional. Both of them were high on medication, and their medications were being changed, and somehow, in the midst of all the changing of the chemistry their brain with the medication they shot themselves, I believe that this is what I believe. I believe that God will judge us only on where we were at mentally during those kinds of times. I don't have the answer for everybody. Okay, here's another one. How old will I be in heaven? Some of you are really worried about how old you are now. No, you're not. You're worried about how old I am. I know. How old would I be? Well, I've tried to be Biblically sound on everything else, but I'll be real honest with you, this is going to require some speculation. Adam and Eve were there were at an optimal age when they were created. They were at an age when they could be child bearing. I believe they were the sharpest. I believe they were strongest, physically at the age that they were created. I don't even know if Adam had a belly button, since he wasn't born. A lot of things I don't know. You don't know either. You can't even say amen. And Jesus, when he went to the cross was around the age of 33 they crucified Him, and He resurrected, and the people that saw him knew who he was, and so he must have been around that age of 33 I'm just thinking, is that okay to think? You don't have to Hang Your Brain on a nail when you walk in. So I told you to require speculation, didn't I, this part of the sermon? Hello wall, Anybody home? So I guess men will be about 33 and of course, women would be 29 and the pastor has absolutely no proof of what he's just said. Here's the ninth thing, can homosexuals go to heaven? Well, I honest to God, I don't think that's a real good question. Because when you begin to talk about that, you're talking about sexual sins, and the Bible gives a whole list. I don't want to pull out one. So and let me just stop and say this much. Everybody's welcome here at BNC. Hello, I don't care what your background, how messed up, Now, if you come with the gun to shoot me, I didn't mean you, but I mean everybody else. Did you know that? I don't know if I'm supposed to tell this, but there's a security team here. They're good, but back in the early days, when they got that thing started, they had me to come up here, and they had these guns and shot something that really stung you bad. I couldn't make it, and he stood in for me, and they had this intruder come in and they're going through this resume or whatever, and before they could get him out of here, they'd done shot him five times. I thought, I'm staying out of here if they come with guns, our own team will kill me. Well, I know that the ministry is really beaten up on that one group of people. I know that the church has made them a little whipping post, and sometimes we've had around the church teens sleeping with one another and you don't hear much about that, do you? And maybe some men and women in the church who've had improper relationships concerning their marriage vows, and nobody's saying very much about that, and somehow we equate that is, well, somehow, maybe it's okay. But I want to show you a scripture, and this is what the Bible says. And I'd rather talk about what the Bible says than single out any one direction. Here's what the Bible says. It's first, Corinthians, six, nine. Don't you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the kingdom of God, by the way, Pastor we want to know where you stand. You don't need to know where I stand. You need to know where God stands. Okay? It says, Don't fool yourselves those who indulge in sexual sin are who worship idols or commit adultery or are male prostitutes or practice homosexuality. You say, Pastor, that's a corrupt bunch. Boy, that's a bad group innit. Then look at who he puts with them. He hadn't stopped yet. He goes on, he says, in Verse 10, or are thieves and greedy people. So he puts greedy people along with the male prostitutes and the homosexuals or drunkards or abusive or cheating people. If you owe somebody money, you don't pay them, you don't intend to pay them, he puts you right in the same arena with the rest of the sexual sins, because you cheat people. Now the Bible moves on to say none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. But wait, verse 11, some of you were once like that. Hey, did you know that your church is made up of a messed up bunch? I mean, if you went into everybody's past and what they have done, they're a messed up bunch. We're not just talking about here, we're talking about everywhere. That guy sitting next to you, all dressed up and looked so good you didn't know how bad he was. And that woman that looks like she's a member of the pink lemonade society, if you'd only know the thoughts that's going through her brain, you wouldn't want to get near that gal. He said, such were some of you, it'd make a sailor blush, if we knew what everybody was thinking. And this is what all of this was. This is what we was. But wait, but you were cleansed and made holy and were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. So, can those with sexual sins go to heaven? Yes, but I want to tell you, Jesus wants you to be washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. He wants you made clean. He wants you filled with His Spirit. He wants anybody in all of their sexual activities to come clean and come out of that kind of a lifestyle and to live for him. Then you can go to heaven. So don't single out just one group. Everybody in sexual sins need to get straightened out, and you greedy people too. Now, what happens when a Christian dies? There's a cemetery over in Indiana. I'm a Hoosier boy, or who's through whichever, and there's a tombstone. I haven't seen it, but they tell me, this is what it says, Pause stranger, when you pass me by as you are now, so once was I, as I am now, so will you be. So prepare for death to follow me. And the guy didn't like it, and he pulled out an ink marker, and he wrote under that, he wrote these words, to follow you I'm not content until I know which way you went. What happens when a person dies? Can I just tell you this much I've been there, and if they were a Christian, don't think it's strange if you're in the room and suddenly you sense the presence of angels. According to Luke chapter 16, it was angels that came and escorted the very soul of Lazarus into the glory world. The Bible says in Second

Corinthians, 5: 27:14

8, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, and when they take their last breath here, they'll take their first breath in heaven. And all the trials and all of the battles of life will be passed because their soul and spirit take a mold now in a temporary body. So where's my loved ones right now? Well, first of all, they're with Jesus, according to Scripture. And secondly, I would say, in a temporary body, how do you get that pastor? Well, go back to the Bible. Matthew, chapter 17, verse three, and Jesus had taken his disciples, said, I want to take you on a teaching mission, and I want to, I want you to learn some things, Peter. James, John, go with me, and he takes him to the Mount of Transfiguration. And the Bible said that he was transfigured before them, and he was standing there in a glorified body. And the scripture says, And there appeared unto them, Moses and Elijah talking with them. They certainly saw Moses and Elijah in a body of some sort, and recognized who they were. What are they symbolized to us? Well, Jesus is coming back and over in First Thessalonians, chapter four, verse 16, when Jesus comes back, Moses and Elijah symbolizes this to us, For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of an archangel, and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Now Moses was the only one of the two that had died, the other one went to heaven in a whirlwind. And so there's the Moses. You see him, the dead in Christ shall rise first, and then we, which are alive and remain, that's the Elijah's, Okay? Shall be called up together with them in the clouds and meet the Lord in the air. And so, shall we ever be with the Lord. So what's going to happen when Jesus comes back? Those old cemeteries are going to release the dead in them, and suddenly the ground will step to one side, and resurrected bodies shall begin to rise and come forth. That's why, when you read about that little word coffin in the Bible, the actual meaning of it is only listed one time. It means a Hope Chest and there's going to be a wedding and the bride's been saving their very best and putting it in the Hope Chest. So when the bridegroom comes, they open the Hope Chest. And the Bridegroom of the sky is Jesus Christ. And the Hope Chest are going to be open, and they're going to meet the Lord and those glorified bodies will be reconnected with soul and spirit, and forever shall we be with the Lord. But I want to close with this. I just feel checked if I don't. What happens when an unbeliever dies? The Bible tells us, Luke, 16:22, it came to pass that the beggar died was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried, and in hell he lifted up his eyes big in torment seen Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. Listen, the rich man did not go to hell because he was rich, but because he was lost, he lifts up his eyes there in hell, and he sees Lazarus in Abraham's bosom. I don't know if you've ever seen this before, but it appears as though throughout eternity, those in Hell will be able to look into heaven and see what they missed. Boy that'd make hell an awful place, wouldn't it? I missed the streets of gold. I missed the river of life. I missed my spouse. I missed the preacher that tried to teach me and I fought him. I miss the church crowd, and I never lived right. And you say, well, you ought to say this, this is not very popular preaching. I know it's not. You lessen your crowd. Well, we're just like the preacher that half his crowd got up and walked out. He just dismissed the other guy and told him to go home too. I think if he preached the truth, I think there's enough people that want the truth, that truth ought to be preached. And I care enough about people I don't want them to miss heaven. Okay, I believe the rich man knew unequivocally why he went to hell, and I think I can prove it. I want you to look at what the Bible says there. In verse 28 he said, I have five brothers that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham said unto him, They have Moses and the prophets let them hear them. And he said, nay, father, Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. He knew why he was in hell. He'd never repented. Billy Graham lived to be 99 somebody asked him, what's the greatest surprise that you've had about life? And his answer was, it's brevity. You know what life is? Little bit of a vapor. It appeareth for a little bit, and then it's gone. And my little baby brother only got six months. Some people get six years. Some get 60, but if you live to be 80 or 90, it's just a little bit, then it's gone. And I'm simply saying, If you don't know where you're at with God, this morning, there's not a better time to get right with the Lord than in a service like this. John Wesley used to take them into a room, and he had believers gather around him, and they would talk with him, and they'd pray. Somebody in the early years of the 13 colonies did something they had never done before in England. They put rows of wood up front and called it an altar, invited people to come down and pray. I'm going to be real honest with you, I can't say one method is better than another method, I believe you could get right with God, right where you're seated, if you'd want to open your heart and say, God, I'm sorry for my life, and I've left you out, and I want to include you. And somebody said, Well, if you, if you miss heaven, you missed it all. No, oh, you go to hell. You don't miss it all. You've got a future, and it's not a good one. And I just want to simply say, I'm a pastor that cares. I love you. I don't want a soul in the house to miss it, or anybody watching us by telecast or live stream. If you're not right with God, you need to get right with Him. If you're not ashamed to step out and come and kneel and for people to gather around you to pray, it'd be a wonderful thing. I think they can help you. But if you want to just bow your head right now, as we close and music begins to play, and need you, and you don't need me, but I need you. If you take me, say, God, I I give you my life, whatever is left of it. I want to live with you. I don't want to be lost. I believe angels would gather around and I believe that Jesus would kiss away every sin. I'm dumb enough to believe that we need to repent the guy in hell knew why he was there. He said, if somebody had warned my brothers, maybe they'd repent. I just tried to warn you. Are you going to repent? If you haven't, you need to. Thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene. Visit us every Sunday at 9am with BNC's Pastor Ray LaSalle, for more information regarding BNC, visit Bucyrus nazarene.org.