Saint's Never Die

by
Dr Graham Maxwell
Ontario 1986

Unless that title be misunderstood, let me quickly read what Jesus said in John
8 and John 11 in the modern translation in the Good News Bible. And you know that there is even good news about dying as you know.

In John 8.51 I am telling you the truth Jesus said, Whoever obeys my teaching will never die. They said to him now we know for sure that you have a demon that you are possessed. Our father Abraham died, and you claim that whoever obeys your teaching will never die, and the prophets died. You do not claim to be greater than Abraham do you? Who do you think you are?

And it was to Martha at Lazarus funeral that Jesus gave this answer. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, whoever trusts in me, whoever has faith in me, they all are the same word exactly - will live even though he dies.

And whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Martha do you believe this? Jesus even had to explain what he meant to his disciples. A little earlier he had said to them, Lazarus is asleep. Good, they said. That means he's going to get better.

No he said, Actually -Lazarus has died. But I'm going to awaken him out of sleep. Indicating clearly that Jesus regards the first death (which comes to us all) as just a sleep until the resurrection. Now the other death from which there is no resurrection is found in Revelation and is called the 2nd death.

We often call the sleep death - the first death I think we ought to call our imagination to find out what this really means. When a saint dies, he iscompletely unaware of the any time until the resurrection. The first resurrection of Revelation 20. This is one period when the saint will sleep without even having a dream.

I didn't spend much time in bed last night but dreamed a lot. It seemed like a looong night. Have you ever gone to bed when you've hardly put your head on the pillow then the alarm goes off? I was just getting comfortable.

It will be that kind of a sleep. They are unaware of any passage of time, it could have been many, many years. Think of how long its been for Abraham and he doesn't know it. He went to bed one night and he wakes up in the resurrection after the best sleep he's ever had.And this was all so real to Paul that he could write what he did to the believers in Phillipi.  In chapter 1.21-44.

For what is life? To me it is
Christ. Death then will bring more.
But if I continue to live then I can do more work,
I don't know then which I should choose.
I am pulled in two directions. I
want very much to live this life and be with Christ
which is a much better thing.
But for your sake it is a much
 better thing that I remain alive.

As you know, many of our Christians use this passage to mean, Paul believed in the eternal soul, naturally  immortal and never could die.  But if Paul held that belief, why did he have so much to say about the resurrection? I mean, if the soul is already up there, enjoying heavenly bliss, enjoying the food without any stomach, music without any ears, communing with God without any brain or nervous system - WHY would you come back to pick up a body? On resurrection day. I met a friend who was studying in Chicago when I was studying there, who I have great admiration. He was also working on his Phd on new Testatment.

He was member of the evangelical and reformed church. He went on to becomepresident of the Evangelicaland Reformed Seminary in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Then he became president of his church and one of the officers of the world council of churches.

I never knew a better man,
though he didn't always agree
with me on all theological
points.

But if I wanted to pick someone whom I'd feel comfortable to live next door to in the hereafter, he'd be one of them. That's the kind ofperson he was. But one of the things we didn't agree on was on the nature of man, whether the soul was mortal or immortal. But he was always so gentlemanly about it.

Sometime ago, I saw him, he's died now - He said, well any  knew theological ideas since I  last saw you? Yes! I've just written a book on Paul and I have to admit to you there is no immortal soul in the writings of Paul. But I still want to believe it!

Because the soul, the person seems to be of such value - surely this can't be the end of it all. And of course he's absolutely right. Its NOT the end of it all! Paul knew that when that Roman sword severed his head from his body, the nextmoment of consciousness he'd be with the Lord on resurrection morning. It was not the end at all when he was beheaded. He'd only lived a brief time on this planet. He'll be introduced to the rest of eternity by thatsword and the resurrection that follows, the next moment of consciousness.


And Paul had to remind the
early Christians about this
when they were getting
discouraged that so many of
their fellow believers were
dying, before the second
coming, because they had
understood the words of Christ
and Paul that the Lord was
going to come in that
generation right then.
And that generation was dying
and they were becoming very
depressed.

And so to the believers in
Thessolinica, he wrote these
words. We often quote.
1Thess 4 beginning with verse
13.

I want you not to remain in
ignorance brothers, about
those who sleep in death. See
there it is - those who SLEEP
IN DEATH. You should not
grieve like the rest of men who
have no hope.

It doesn't say we shouldn't grieve. It just says 'we  shouldn't grieve like the rest of men who have no hope'. We believe that Jesus died and rose again. And so it will be for those who died as Christians. God will bring them to life in  Jesus.

So this is the Lord's word, we
who are left alive shall not
precede those who have died -
because of the Lord's
command, the trumpet call,
the Lord will descend from
heaven, first the Christian
dead will rise, then we who are
left alive will join them caught
up in clouds to join them in
the air, so shall we ever be
with the Lord.
Console one another with
these words. Now that is so
good, I want to read it in yet
another translation.

In the good news bible again -
Ah brothers, we want you to
know the truth about those
who have died. So you will not
be sad as are those who have
no hope.

One will be sad, its always sad
to see a loved one died, I'm
sure you've all gone through
that experience. But its
different being sad with a
hope.

But he said do not be sad as
are people who have not hope.
We believe Jesus died and rose
again. But we believe the Lord
will take with Jesus those who
have died believing in him.

What we are teaching you now
is the Lord's teaching. We who
are alive on the day the Lord
comes, will not go ahead of
those who have died. There
will be the shout of command,
the arch angel's voice, the
sound of God's trumpet and
the Lord himself will come
down from heaven.

Those who have died believing
or trusting - will rise to life
first. Then we who are living at
that time will gathered up
along with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air.
And so we will always be with
the Lord. And so encourage
one another with these words.

As you know God, isn't that
the gracious thing you would
expect him to do?

All these believers in the nearness of the end, who have died before his coming, are they going to be at a disadvantage? So they lost out. Who will rise first? All those saints that believed in the coming. They will rise first! Then the rest of us. Isn't that the way the Lord would do it to make it up to them?

I'm sure many of you have
hear of RA Anderson preach.
In his heyday, there never was
such a voice. He could fill the
big theaters in London,
England.

There were many balconies - without a microphone.  Extraordinary. How he could preach on the second coming. He lived till his 90's and he  said to Mrs Anderson, I believe I'll still will be alive to see the Lord come.

But he's asleep. And I couldn't  help mention this at his funeral. See, according to this   verse, he will rise first. You know what will be happening?The Lord will be coming.  And I'm sure he'll be saying, to his wife, I told you I'd be alive  to see the Lord come! Right as  always, you see.

And all these saints will be
alive to see the Lord come.
My mother, died 21 years ago,
after struggling with
Parkinson's for almost ten
years.

And you know what that does
to one. There wasn't much of
mother left. And I remember
the morning, my father rang
all six of his children to say
that mother had died. But we
had very mixed feelings, when
we heard that news.
It was always sad of course
when someone you've loved all
your life dies.

But seeing mother in that
condition, made us look
forward to the day when she
would rise again.
And the next moment of
consciousness after mother fell
asleep - the very moment she
fell asleep - the next moment
of consciousness - she'd be in
perfect health again, the way I
always remembered her before.

She'd be looking around for
the rest of the family - all six of
us. And I thought many times
how sad it'd be not be there for
mother to find all six of us.
My dad died one year later - 20
years ago.

After preaching on the signs of
the times for and the nearness
of the end for actually 55
years. But he didn't live to see
the Lord come. We were with
him when he died.

And we thought the very next
moment of consciousness - my
father will be rising in the
resurrection and he too might
be saying to my mother - I told
you I'd be alive to see the Lord
come.

Then he'd start looking for the
six of us.

And my father was a very
organised person - and he'd be
expecting all 6 of us to be
there, woe betide us if we
aren't I can hear my father
remarks.

But surely the most awesome
experience on that day will be
to come face to face with God,
the one we call our heavenly
Father. What will that be like?
Do you expect to be afraid?
We've all sinned and come
short of God's ideal for us as
Paul said I Romans. And so
the disciples asked Jesus
about this one day in John 15
and their spokesman was
Phillip. He said, show us the
Father.

And Jesus said, have I been
with you such a long time
Phillip and you don't know
me? Phillip said, were not
asking about you. We worship
you as the son of God. And
were surprised how
comfortable we can be with
such a divine person. But
Jesus we want to know is
about the Father.
Jesus, could the Father be like
you?

And Jesus said, if you have
seen me, you've seen the
Father. If you trust me, you
can trust the father. The father
is just as understanding and
approachable as you've found
me to be.

Then he added those stunning
words - that's why I say to "If
you've seen me - you've seen
the Father".

There's a Psalms that Moses
wrote. He wrote one of the
psalms you know.

To illustrate how one may
honestly cry one's feelings to
our friendly God. He inspired
this Psalm and keep it in the
record. It's the 77th psalm and
I believed that God has kept it
there to illustrate how we may
cry to our Friend in times of
trouble.

IT BEGINS:
I cry aloud to God, I cry aloud
and He hears me. In times of
trouble, I pray to the Lord. All
night long I lift my hands in
prayer.
And I cannot find comfort.
When I think of God I sigh and
meditate. I feel
discouraged. He keeps me
awake all night, ever gone
through that?

I'm so worried that I cannot
speak. I think of days gone by.
I remember years of long ago.
I
spend the night in deep
thought. I meditate. And this
is what I ask myself. Will the
Lord always reject us? Will
whenever again be pleased
with us? Has he stopped loving
us? Does his promise no
longer stand? Has God
forgotten to be merciful? Has
anger taken the place of his
compassion?

Then I said, What hurts me
most is this. God is no longer
powerful. That's' the first half
of the psalm, God inspired it
an put it in the record. But
that's only the first half. Does
he resolve these feelings? He
tries again.

I will remember your great
deeds Lord. I will recall the
wonders you did in the past. I
will think about all that you
have done. I will mediate on
your mightly acts.

You might notice that the
sudden changes, he's no
longer thinking about his
difficulties, he's thinking about
what God has done in every
single line. Everything You do
oh God, is holy.

No God is as great as You. You
are the God who works
miracles. You showed your
might among the nations. By
your power you saved your
people. The descendants of
Jacob and Joseph. When the
waters saw you, oh God, they
were afraid.

The depths of the sea
trembled. The clouds poured
down rain. Thunder crashed
from the sky. And lightning
flashed from all directions and
lit up the world. The world
trembled and shook.
You walked through the
waves. You crossed the deep
Sea. (the Red Sea maybe). But
your footprints could not be
seen. You led your people like
a shepherd. With Moses and
Aaron in charge.

And the Psalm ends abruptly
there, because I think he's
fallen asleep.
See, he stopped thinking about
his own troubles, even when
he meditated and thought
about the past, under those
circumstances he felt worse
and worse.

He finally
concluded, my grief is at the
right hand of the Most high.
He didn't quit there, he began
to think more specifically,
about the history, about what
God has done in the past. And
when he finally got to the
Exodus and Egypt, that
greatest of all events you
know, celebrated by the
passover, God set his people
free.

When he finally remembered
that, his troubles were over.
Now he had be
gun to think of
God.

Some of you may know Pr
Russ Rhodes, he was pastor at
Azure Hills for awhile and
lastly at Palm Springs. He was
a little younger than I.
He was one of my students, a
wonderful student and he was
dying of cancer in Loma Linda,
University Hospital.


He asked me if I would tell the
story of his life, which was a
very remarkable one and
preach the sermon for his
funeral. It was an honour to do
so.

Just before he died, he said to
me, You know Graham, I'm
not afraid to die. And you
know the reason why. We both
have the same picture of God.
Which made it much easier to
conduct the funeral, I can
assure you. At best our lives
on this earth are very brief.
It would do well to follow the
advice of Moses in yet another
psalm.

He wrote another - Psalms 92.
And verse 12, that old friend of
God wrote:
Teach us to number our days,
that we may apply our hearts
to wisdom.

Teach us how short our life is
so that we may become wise.
And surely the greatest
wisdom we can ever acquire is
to know God. And thus to be
come one of his trusting and
trusted friends - and to
become one of those is to
become a REAL SAINT. And
the good news is- Saints Never
Die.

Our loving Father in heaven,
were grateful that you've led
us through the years to have
confidence in the scriptures.
All 66 books.

And the consistent picture we
find there of yourself and your
way of governing the universe,
of leading the family and most
of all of your way of handling
this problem of rebellion and
distrust.

Among your own children. And
this helps us understand why
so many unpleasant, difficult
and destructive things happen
to the members of your family
living on this planet, which
resulted even in death.

And it was never your plan
that any of your children
should die. We thank you for
you long patient.

We know that someday you
will have a group of people on
this planet, who love, admire
and trust you for your wise
and gracious ways.

People who are willing to listen
to you, follow your advice,
follow your commands,
because they have become
your trusted and trusting
friends.

And we love the picture that
for these people, there really is
no such thing as death, they
just sleep awhile. Then they
awaken the next moment of
consciousness, in the presence
of you, their heavenly Friend,
of whom we have no need to be
afraid. How good is this news.
But may we aspire to be
among this group. A real
trusting and trusting friend,
real saints. These people who
never really die. In Jesus
name. amen