I am writing this to let you know that your consciousness does not end when your body succumbs to death. Your consciousness lives on. Death is just like closing your eyes in sleep at night and waking up in the morning. You may have slept for eight hours, but to your consciousness, it seems like it has only been an instant since you fell asleep. When you close your eyes in death, in seemingly an instant you will awake in a different place than the place where your body ceased to function in death. You will awake either in Heaven or Hell.
The place in which you regain consciousness after the death of your body depends on what you did in your body before it died. Many, if not most people, have this intrinsic idea that their good deeds versus their bad deeds make that determination; if the good outweighs the bad, then Heaven; if not, then Hell. Unfortunately, that is incorrect.
Yes, the good works you do in this life do have something to do with what happened after death, but not what you might think. Here is where I must bring in the Bible. The Bible is a reliable digest of the writings of several men over 4 millennia. History proves it to be true due to fulfilled prophecy and archaeological discoveries that prove the accuracy of the Bible. This post is not about proving the reliability of the Bible. In this post we will assume its accuracy and truthfulness. Please go here for a brief review of the reliability of the Bible: “Is the Bible Reliable?“
Assuming the Bible is true, which we will do in this post, and since it is true, we must believe what it says about death. Here are some quotes:
Heb 9:27, And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
In other words, each of us is destined to die and after we die we will by judged for what we did in this life and that judgment will determine where we will reside after we die.
Rev 20:12, And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
The judgement we will receive is based on the works we do in this life. But wait, that is not the “rest of the story.” Many, if not most people think if their good works outweigh their bad works, then they will be allowed into Heaven. Let us see what the Bible says about our works.
Psalm 14:3 They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.
Psalm 53:3 Every one of them has turned aside; They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.
Rom 3:10 As it is written, “There is none righteous, no, not one:
Rom 3:12 They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.”
The Bible says that none of our works are good. No matter how good our works seem to other people, to God, our works are not good; another name for those not good works is sin. So that does away with the idea that if our good works outweigh the bad, we are safe and we go to heaven. With no good works to show Yahweh God, we are doomed. Is there any way to be safe, or saved, and get into Heaven?
In Romans 4:1 The Bible states that Abraham was the father of the Israelites and asks the question, what has Abraham discovered? In Romans 4:2 it further states that if Abraham was justified (or saved) by his works he would have something to brag about, but he was not saved by his works for none of our works are good, not even Abraham’s.
Rom 4:3 For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
Abraham believed God when God told him to leave his safe, comfortable home in Haran and go into the wild, uncharted land of Canaan. And God assured him the He, God would bless Abraham and his family, that He, God, would give Abraham and his descendants all the land of Canaan for an inheritance, and He, God, would make Abraham the father of many peoples.
Abraham believed God and packed up his family and his servants and his flocks, and left his comfortable home to sojourn in the wild, untamed land of Canaan. Because of his faith in God, God took His Own righteousness and credited it to Abraham. Though Abraham had no good works of his own, he was now righteous in God’s eyes because God saw His Own righteousness when he looked at Abraham.
Abraham was justified, that is, found not guilty of his old works that were not good, and he now was righteous (that is without bad works, which is sin) before God Almighty because he had trusted the God would do for him what He, God said He would do. Abraham put his faith in God and was made righteous. Because God credited Abraham with righteousness, from that point on, Abraham could do good works that were acceptable to God.
God did not make Abraham righteous because of any works Abraham did, God only made Abraham righteous because Abraham had faith in God. Abraham was saved by his faith in God and not by any of his works.
The bible goes on to say that because Abraham did not doubt God, but believed God:
Rom 4:22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
Imputed means the same thing as credited. God imputed God’s Own righteousness to Abraham because for Abraham’s faith in God.
Rom 4:23 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him,
Rom 4:24 but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,
The same thing applies to us. If we believe that Jesus was the Son of God and that He, Jesus was innocent but was executed on a Roman cross and died and that three days later God raised up Jesus from the dead, then God will impute His righteousness to us. Then we are able to do good works that are acceptable to God.
How does this process take place? The Bible says, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:9). First believe in your heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead, in other words, believe that God made Jesus alive again after he died. Then with your mouth confess that Jesus is your Lord, in other words, that you give Jesus full control over your life, then you will be saved and the righteousness of God through Christ will be credited to you and you will be saved from death and Hell. Then, after you die, you will live in heaven with God the Father for eternity. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
When you are saved, your name will be written in the Book of Life:
Rev 20:11-12 & 15 And I saw a great white throne and the One sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from His presence, but they found no place to hide. 12, I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. 15 And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.
The lake of fire is the second death, Rev 20:14.
Do you wish to be saved? Then, right this moment, believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and confess to Him out loud that He is Lord of your life and you will be saved.
It does not end there. Since you have made Jesus Lord of your life, you must obey Him. Just as Jesus Himself was baptized, you also should be baptized. For that, Find a Bible believing church and confess before them that you are saved and that Jesus is Lord of your life and seek baptism from that church.
The Bible also tells us believers that we should attend church regularly and not forsake doing so:
Heb 10:25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of His return is drawing near.
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Do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior? He is going to return to the world soon. Are you ready? When He does if you do not know Him as your Savior, you will join all those who do not know Him in “Outer Darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Mat 22:13-14).
May 7, 2018
Bro. Mark
