After Death What?

How many times have you looked at the face of a dead person, laying in their casket and heard the following statements? “He or she sure has suffered and is better off now.” “He or she is at peace, never to suffer anymore.”

My dear friends, these are correct statements, IF the dead person had accepted Christ as their Lord and Saviour and been born again. Paul said of a Christian in 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 “Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” However, If that person died in a lost spiritual condition, their troubles have just begun. The second that soul leaves the body of a lost person, it goes directly to hell to burn forever and ever. “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”(Mark 9:44). “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”(Ps 9:17). Hear the voice of rich man crying out from hell, “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”(Luke 16:22-24).

Possibly someone looked at the face of this rich man, as he was prepared for burial and said how he was at peace, never to suffer anymore. How wrong their statement was. As they were saying beautiful words ever his body, his soul was screaming from the pits of hell. Suffering does not end at death for a lost person. Ten million years in eternity and they are still burning. If you are spiritually lost, and die in that condition, then you too will be doomed to a burning hell.

You don't believe in Hell?

You probably have purchased some sort of insurance--first, theft, car or personal liability--you name it. Insurance is a multibillion dollar business. But have you ever stopped to think that the whole business is built on the one word--MAYBE. I get my car insured. I'm not looking for an accident. I don't expect one. I'm going to try not to have one, but maybe I will, and it would be awfully nice to be covered. Hospitilizations? You don't expect to be sick, you're not planning to be sick, but maybe you will be, and boy, the hospital will take you to the cleaners if you're not ready.

To the person who finds the whole subject of Hell and judgment distasteful, and who refuses to believe it, even if Jesus Christ taught it, I ask the question: What about that little word “maybe”? Maybe there is a Hell.

“Maybe” your car will have a wreck, and because of the little word “maybe” you'll spend hundreds of dollars on car insurance. And yet you'll walk around town without ETERNAL life insurance. You walk the street, cross the highways, in a world of crime and terrorism and potential accidents all over the place, yet you gamble with eternity! You are living one big risk 24 hours a day! It just doesn't make much sense, does it?

If there is no Hell, I've lost nothing; but what a benefit it is just to have the joy of the Lord, to know your sins are forgiven, to go to bed at night and to know that if you don't make it through the night, you'll wake up in Heaven! To have something forever settled. My it's great. That's finished business. Whatever comes my way, "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8).
Jesus taught about the reality of the fact of Hell and spoke about it in a very UNFUNNY manner. He wept over communities going to judgment. He prayed in Gethsemane with strong crying and tears because He knew about all these realities for which He has provided a way of escape.

Christ is often spoken of as "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild," but that label hardly fits with the language we find in Mark chapter nine as He affirms the fact and reality of Hell. We read these strong statements:

And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. Mark 9:43-48

In another passage Christ calls the Scribes and Pharisees a “generation of vipers,” and warns them, "How will you escape the damnation of Hell?" (Matt. 23:33) Those are pretty strong words from the Lord Jesus. He laid it on the line. He told it like it is.

When someone questions the fact and reality of Hell, he's actually questioning the authority of the Bible, and the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The Christian faith is all tied up together, and when it is attacked at one point, it becomes vulnerable at all. It holds together beautifully.
]
Christ is the Son of God, and He stepped into time from eternity, and came into the world from Heaven and died and rose again from the dead, then anything He ever said on any subject is worth hearing and ought to be heeded. And is really to be received without question. So people who have problems with the fact and reality of Hell sometimes do not realize that their real problem is with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and who He is and why He came to the world.

You might ask, what must I do to escape this torment in hell? The answer is the same one that Jesus gave to Nicodemus. “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”(John 3:3).

You are not promised another day on this earth. Tomorrow might be too late. Now is the time to do something about your lost condition. “For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:2

While there is life in your body, won’t you right now humble yourself and call upon Jesus Christ to come into your heart and save your soul? “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”(Rom 10:13) “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” (John 1:12).

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Romans 10:9-10 (KJV)

The decision is yours. Where will your soul be while they are preaching your funeral?