Why I Believe - Why I Believe in Life After Death, Part 1

Hi Chip here. I'm jumping in right here before we actually get started to let you know that I'm really excited about our new small group study. It's called why I believe you know one of the most significant problems believers have is not being able to articulate in a winsome and confident way. What we actually believe. I mean, will people ask us about God, the Bible, Jesus creation life after death. Candidly, a lot of us really get stuck, but these are the basics we have a brand-new series is been completely updated. We are so committed to the study that if you will lead a high school or college group will literally give it to you for free and if you'll do it in a group we've cut our cost to the bare minimum to get this to as many people as possible. We've got a lot more information coming to you about this later in the program right now. Let's get started. When you breathe your last breath and close your eyes. One final what happens people are fascinated by that question. Is there life after is it just lifeless nothingness where is there evidence to say once we die we are actually alive somewhere, somehow, in some way will today will look at seven specific evidences like that statement.

Welcome to this Friday edition of Living on the Edge with shipping Living on the Edges of international discipleship ministry featuring the Bible teaching of tripping today. Chip continues in a series why I will message that sure to spark some brief conversation message you want to share with a friend so I'll tell you more about how to balance torture or part one of his message. Why I believe in life after death, a number of years ago I lived in a very unusual town on the coast of California unusual in that it was very New Age, very progressive actually had multiple satanic bookstores and often there would be groups pop up that would be odd to say the least, and one was a group called Goths for short or Gothic and they were dressed in all black and I talked about death and your two it's just from dirt to dust. There is no meaning.

Philosophically there were nihilists there is no meaning to life.

We don't care, and there were a group of young people and they were kind of travel in groups and a young man in our church got with the wrong crowd got involved with them overdosed on drugs and died, and I remember multiple conversations with them. Talking with them about the meaning of life and nothing matters you know you died your dust. That's it. And I'll never forget. I actually did the funeral and watching this wave of young people come in, all dressed in black, some with their painted faces, all in white, very bizarre, and they begin to talk about this young man who is a winsome winsome young guy and they started talking about how special he was and then almost in unbelief.

It was like and he's in a better place. And he's out of his hurting and that addiction will haunt him anymore. What way. Wait a minute. I mean, I did say that I dislike you, what about dirt to dust, and there's no meaning, and here's what I can tell you it's amazing how people can talk about you know what there is nothing when you die, you die Hector.

Now I don't care whether I go to hell or not there's a lot of hell on earth and and yet when someone close to you dies when you're faced with terminal cancer.

I have rarely met anyone that is not asking the question with deep deep sincerity is there life after death. And if there is what happens and that is I would say one of the most if not the most important question that we could ever ask, and so that's what I want to do. I want to suggest that there are seven evidences of life after death.

Now, any single one of these is not gonna be a proof, but all I want you to do is think with me and want you to get this idea that as we look at life and culture and time the preponderance of the evidence is that there is life after we die first, there's nature, the pattern of nature. You know fruit has the seed seeds you plant the seed dies and then it grows there's winter but after the winter there spring was Plato who said I'm not sure what's after death but nature seems to give us a picture of water to be like some kind of life after death the argument if you will, from anthropology if you went from the Himalayas to the Amazon to North America, South America, every culture over time, everywhere, has a sense in a teaching and a history of there's life after death and whether it's the pyramid of the Egyptians or the coin in the mouth of the Greeks. Everyone is preparing for something happens after you die, at least in human history 30 psychology.

This inner innate sense that there's more to life than just now the Bible would put it this way that God has planted eternity in our hearts.

As CS Lewis in his mere Christianity said if you're living in a world and there's a sense that somehow, no matter what you try and get it's not enough.

There's something missing. He said maybe it's because you were made for another world. This sense of this psychological sense that we have that you never can have it all here for this ethics unit. When you think about justice and we all say life is unfair. The argument of ethics is there has to be life after death. Because if this can be justice if this can be right and wrong, good needs to be rewarded and evil needs to be punished and if that doesn't happen in this life.

For there to be genuine ethics has to happen in the next life of very closely related to that in classical philosophy is Immanuel Kant took the concept of ethics and he said if God is good and there is justice there can't be there cannot be justice in a good God without an afterlife.

When he looked at the evil in the world and then one that's kind of interesting is near death experiences. Science, if you will. I did a little research on this and there's been a lot of anecdotal popular books actually millions of books have been sold on these near-death experiences, and yet there was a group in the UK that did actual research they did empirical studies of people that actually had died. There is over 2000 people in 15 hospitals and their heart stopped. They had no brain wave and of those 40% of those that literally were dead and were resuscitated had some awareness or some story in general of recollection after they died approximately a 16% of them experience this euphoric light.

I just love and warmth, 23% experienced either total darkness or a tunnel of darkness and then 2% had what we call the out of body experience that they literally their dad and they felt their body float out and they would watch the doctors they heard jokes.

Sometimes they would even afterwards. Tell the doctors what they were saying and people were shocked. One lady verified story literally said she came out of the room. She continued to float. She went above the hospital and she saw a tennis shoe on the roof. Later she was revived and she told him that story and they went up.

Are you ready tennis you on the roof does approve there's life after death. Well, you know, it proves that when your brain waves stop when your heart stops beating. It doesn't mean that your consciousness is necessarily gone in a course of one of the strongest proofs for me is Jesus in the Bible Jesus was so clear that there is life after death effect you raise people from the dead. He died and rose again. He's the authority on that. So the cumulative evidence of nature, psychology, anthropology, science, ethics, philosophy in the Bible I think is a strong case to say when you look at all those things together. The probability that there is life after death is extraordinarily high and that raises a really really big question what happens what happens when a person dies every culture around the world has some story and in most of the stories there's some level of accountability. There's a balance there is a good place or a bad place called different things in different cultures and here's what I want to do, what does the Bible say is a follower of Christ what happens.

The minute after a person dies and that's what I want to walk you through now. I wish I could say there's this book of the Bible and it says this is what happens after you die and you just read that book but it's literally woven all the way through Scripture and so I'm going to take the lens I'm gonna pull it back him to take all that I understand that it says everywhere in Scripture and I think I can summarize it in for large basic truths and as you do that it'll give us a beginning understanding of what happens after you die. This is what the Bible teaches these four summary statements number one at death every person's soul or spirit enters immediately and consciously into relational aspects of eternal existence.

Let me say that again immediately after a person dies your your immaterial you the real you, not your body enters immediately and consciously into the relational aspects of existence. Your body goes into the gray but your soul, your spirit is in eternity. Now where do I get that.

And where does the Bible teach that it's Jesus paradigm of the afterlife. If you want to know how Jesus and people viewed the afterlife and what happened you listen to what Jesus taught.

Listen to Luke chapter 16, there was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day at his gate, laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham side and then the rich man also died and was buried in Hades where he was tormented and he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side, so he called him father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in the water and cool my tongue because I am in agony in this fire but Abraham replied, son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us there is a great chasm that is fixed so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us. He answered then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my brothers for have five brothers. Let him warn them so they will not come to this place of torment. Abraham replied they have Moses and the prophets let them listen to them.

In other words, the word of God. No father Abraham he said, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent now. Notice how Jesus responds.

If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets. They will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead rather prophetic. Isn't it in fact what he saying is if we don't listen to God's word, we wouldn't be convinced even if we saw some great miraculous things, but the apostle Paul has a very similar paradigm of the afterlife. Second Corinthians chapter 5 he talks about our bodies being attend to in this body is a tent in its temporary and that hears his line when were absent from the body were present with the Lord. All I want you to get is when you die, there's not soul sleep when you die you will immediately and consciously be aware of your new surroundings apostle Paul says the moment I die. I'm at home with the Lord. He would say in Philippians chapter 1, you know, I don't know if I'm going to make it or not he was ready to be executed. He did know. Maybe I'll get delivered. Maybe I won't. And then he said this, it's better for you if I stick around because I can minister more is better for me if I leave, but then he makes this point.

He says to live is Christ to die is gain what he understood was the moment he died he be in the presence of Christ.

Second major overall point in terms of the afterlife. One day everyone will be resurrected and live forever.

I don't know how long I was a follower of Christ, and I don't know how I didn't get this, but I sort of had this picture that yes if you're a follower of Jesus, and you believe in him you get resurrected, but I didn't think about everyone listen to the apostle Paul. He's just presented his testimony and he's being giving a defense in their giving them a hard time.

Now he defends himself in acts 2414 and 15 pieces however admit that I worship the God of my fathers. As a follower of the way which you all call a sect.

I believe everything that agrees with the law on that which is written in the prophets, and I have the same hope in God as these men. Speaking of the Jewish accusers.

Then, get this, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. Everyone gets resurrected. Think of that everyone is going to live forever. Somewhere that sobering isn't it thing about your friends thing about your family, think about your coworkers.

This being a follower of Christ is at this little window where we just kinda do our thing and go to our building and sing our songs and listen to someone like maybe and teach God's word. After we die we have the promise of immediately being in the presence of God and after everyone dies what we know is this. We will all be judged third. Every person will be judged and granted the extended capacity to fulfill in eternity the deepest yearnings and desires of their heart while on earth. Now let me unpack this. It's a really long sentence and I still remember writing it for the first time I remember putting it in notes the first time and having many people tell me you can't put that in your notes is way too long. It's way too complicated will guess what I put my notes listen again carefully. Every person will be judged believer unbeliever.

Every person has been born will be judged and will learn Jesus of the judge, not listen to this and will be granted the extended capacity. In other words, what ever they were experiencing on earth can have an extended capacity. They're going to experience whatever they had on earth and extended capacity in eternity notice to fulfill the deepest yearnings and desires of their heart. The Bible says in Hebrews 9 it's appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment. So were all judged not listen to the judge who is Jesus. John chapter 5 verses 25 to 27. Jesus is speaking.

I tell you the truth, a time is coming and now has come when the dead will hear the voice of the son of God and those who hear will live.

For as the father has life in himself, so he is granted the son to have life in himself, and he is given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and so he's the judge and let me let me roll this out for you in a way that you can understand there are some people that have come to know Jesus and they long to knowing better that they get up in the morning they read God's word and the they talk to them and they want to learn and they want to grow in their learning to love and they just had this passion for Jesus. This desire to love him and knowing when they are judged and God looks at them and he sees all you put your faith in my son. So all of his righteousness is on you and all your sins were placed on him the capacity to have an extended yearning and longing to know God more and more and more will be given to them.

They also probably wanted to develop their gifts and love other people. So in heaven still have an extended capacity to grow and use their gifts and love people and in ways they never dreamed that they could never have on this earth.

By contrast, there are people that there deepest yearning and desire was I'm the boss I want life my way I'm going to stay in control, no one to tell me what to do and God says to them.

This desire to stiff arm me this desire to have your own way and you be your little King of your little world you will have an extended capacity. In other words, you're going to get to enjoy that if you will for ever and ever and ever. Apart from Christ see what I want you to understand is that when you really want to know what you believe. Just ask yourself what do you really love what you really love who you really love and if you're not sure than just kinda open your your day timer.

You know member those old things are your your phone and look for your time goes and then open your checkbook, your 401(k) and then look at your credit cards and look where your money goes and then what what you dream about and where does your energy going what I can tell you is this what ever you love reveals the deepest desires and yearnings of your heart and say I think we live in a day will people have all kind of like oh I think this and I feel this in Eunice so-and-so says that I have this emotion and I think would greatly greatly deceived if you want to know what you love look at your passions, your money, your priority in your time chip we write back with some additional thoughts about what you just heard. But if you're just joining us, you're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram chips message today why I believe in life after death is from his series why I believe the shirt with a friend.

Just tell them to click. Listen now on our website LivingontheEdge.org. The evidence is solid. It's not a matter of opinion.

Life beyond the physical here and now is verifiable but being able to articulate this and other biblical truths in a competent engaging way can be a challenge, which is why chip taught these messages and why we hope you'll get the series for yourself for your kids, your grandkids, your church and your friends are mission is to help you know the truth and then one simply answer the honest questions of people around you to help you do that the group study resources for why I believe are currently discounted, including free resources. If you commit to taking your high school or college group through the series. For more information or to order your copies of why I believe. Just visit us online at http://livingontheedge.org or give us a call at 1-888-333-6003 will now here's chip with a quick thought.

I want to take just a moment to talk directly to those of you that are seeking a way to be more connected to the ministry Living on the Edge where need of partners. He will take a step of faith and make a monthly financial commitment to the ministry that you may be thinking to because we reach millions of people through radio and broadcast and online in ministry resources that we probably don't need the money or that were supported by all these people. The fact is, it's a very small percentage of all the people who listen or do small-group resources that actually give to the ministry.

We depend on and we deeply appreciate those partners who make the decision to walk with us, especially with a monthly commitment doesn't have to be a large amount.

So let me ask you, would you please pray about becoming a monthly partner. Thanks so much in advance for whatever God leads you to do. Thanks to well of Living on the Edge is ministering to not yet become a monthly partner.

Would you prayerfully consider doing that today.

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Thank you for your prayers and your financial support will now here's chip as we close today's program.

I really want to encourage you to join us for the rest of the message the real meat of this message, I mean what really happens to us, the second after we die is in part two. So whether it's on this station or whether it's LivingontheEdge.org or will you listen to it on the chip Ingram ab be sure to not miss part two now with that said unload with a lighter note I said something that a lot of people they kinda tilt their head and I look at them and I realized they don't quite get what I mean when I said we have an extended capacity to love and learn when we get to heaven.

Here's what I mean what the Bible clearly teaches is that if you have skills and if you have talents, those things don't just go away. But in heaven you will have an extended capacity. If you're a musician.

That means you will play music your right new music if you're an author, you will write new things, new poems. If you're an artist, you'll create new art if you're a leader there's going to be roles in leadership and in community in life. If you're a builder, there's gonna be some things to build if you're a scholar you can do research into the infinite mystery of God. I mean there is a whole world. Heaven is not sipping iced tea and floating around on clouds. In fact, I give a fuller picture of some of the things that happen in heaven, and for some of you that this is lighting something up inside. I wrote a book on the real heaven. The Bible actually says it might be a great help to you. Here's what I want you know there is a dynamic fulfilling life that's beyond description. For all those who trust in Christ.

You don't want to miss it will talk more about that in our next broadcast and what really happens after we die. Would you like to take Living on the Edge with you to the gym or on your next run.

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Just download the free chip Ingram map to get our app just search chip Ingram at Google play or the app store today will be with us again on Monday as Chip continues his series why I believe so, then this is Dave thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge