10/28/07 – 43LAW - “The Rich Man and Lazarus and What Happens to Us at Death“ –  Part 1
Victory Ministries International presents:
Awesome Truths and Amazing Facts
Treasures of awesome truths from God’s Word
and facts that affect you!

Hello!  This is Richard Vaughn

Today’s message is “The Rich Man and Lazarus and What Happens to Us at Death” Part 1

Before we begin, let us seek God’s guidance, “Heavenly Father, as we begin this most important subject regarding the real truth about the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus and the state of the dead, I pray that You bless those listening today with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, so that we may understand how Satan has deceived the Christian world into believing that this parable somehow teaches what happens to us when we die. We pray for wisdom, knowledge and understanding so that we may live in the center of Your revealed will, as we ask in Jesus Name, Amen.”

Right now, I continue to keep my pledge, to cry aloud and spare not, to lift up my voice like a trumpet and to show God’s people where they are transgressing God’s law.

Week after week Awesome Truths and Amazing Facts has been exposing many of the deceptions that Satan holds Christendom captive with and on the parable of the “Rich Man and Lazarus,” it is no exception. Pastors teach and many believe that based on this parable we either go straight to heaven or straight to hell. Well nothing is farther from the truth as that is a huge lie, and the reason is because all through the Bible we are taught that when you die, you are dead and have no conscious thought, nor will you ever know another thing until one of the two resurrections spoken of by Jesus in John 5:28, 29. Jesus said, “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”  

Every one who has ever lived comes up in one resurrection or the other; the saved in the first when Jesus comes for the second time, or the second resurrection of the lost one thousand years later. Look, the Holy Spirit does not contradict itself, so the Bible does not contradict itself. When you’re dead you’re dead. You’re not in heaven praising Jesus and singing with the angels, as some like to comfort others, but the Bible makes it clear and we will study this subject over the next few weeks as to what really happens to you when you die. You might invite your pastors to listen as they need to know the real truth.

Today I am going to expose this deception that Jesus said would be prevalent in the last days and sure enough almost all Sunday-keeping churches have been spreading this lie of Satan. In Gen. 3:1, when Eve was asked by the serpent, “hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” She replied in verse 3, “But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”  

In verse 4, “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.” Well friends since the fall of our first parents, man is a mortal being. Adam and Eve had conditional immortality based on their obedience to the simple test in Gen. 3:2,3. However, since the fall, Adam and every saved person since, with the exception of Enoch, Elijah, Moses, and those specially resurrected with Jesus, will not have a conscious state of immortality until the first resurrection. 

1 Corinthians 15:51-53. Listen carefully, “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not 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 be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”  

Many today are taught that the soul goes straight to heaven or hell at death. What does the Bible say? Let’s first understand what the soul is. Gen. 2:7 “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Notice God did not put a soul into the man, He breathed into His nostrils the breath (spirit) of life and He became a living soul. Remove the breath (spirit) from man and He ceases to be a living soul. He dies. Ecclesiastes 12:7 “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” 
What is the “spirit” that returns to God at death? James 2:26 “For as the body without the spirit is dead…” The word spirit in this verse is from the Greek word “pneuma” which means breath, a current of air. And in Job 27:3 it reads, “All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils.” The word spirit in this verse is from the Hebrew word “ruwach” which means breath, exhalation, air. The spirit that returns to God is the breath of life. Nowhere in the entire Bible does the “spirit” have any life, wisdom or feeling after a person dies. 

So what is a soul? A soul is a living being and according to Gen. 2:7 we read a minute ago, is always a combination of two things: body plus breath. Do souls die? Ezekiel 18:20 “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Animals with bodies plus breath are souls. Revelation 16:3 “…every living soul died in the sea.” Man is mortal and is subject to death. Job 4:17 “Shall mortal man be more just than God?” Only God is immortal. 1 Timothy 6:15, 16 “…the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality…” Only the saved righteous will be given immortality. When? At the resurrection when Jesus’ comes for the second time. Let’s read 1 Corinthians 15: 51-53 again. “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, (in other words there will be some righteous living when Jesus comes) We shall not 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 be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”  

The concept of an undying, disembodied, immortal soul goes against the Bible, which teaches souls are subject to death.

Let me illustrate with a bulb, electric current, and light. The bulb will represent the body, electric current will represent the breath, and light will represent the soul. When the switch is turned on, current (breath) enters the bulb (body) and there is light (soul). Turn off the switch, which removes the current, and there is no light. Where did the light go? It just ceased to exist, just as the body without breath ceases to exist. It is a dead soul.

Do good people go to heaven at death? Acts 2:29,34 “…the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.” “For David is not ascended into the heaven.” Now David was a man after the Lord’s own heart, and he is still in his grave awaiting the resurrection. Every person that has ever lived and died, except for Enoch, Elijah, Moses and those especially resurrected at Jesus’ resurrection, are in their graves awaiting the first or the second resurrection. 

So at death, the body returns to the dust (the grave) and the spirit (the breath of life) returns to God who gave it. The idea of an immortal soul was the first lie told to the human race by Satan. But it is indeed strange how Christians have perpetuated this lie for so many centuries, which came into Christianity from Paganism. Common sense should tell us that if all the departed souls were in heaven, what would be the purpose of Jesus to come back to resurrect them? What would be the purpose of a Judgment? And please don’t say that we have to come back and get in the grave so we can come out with a body. There are NO disembodied souls floating around in heaven. 

It’s time to expose this lie in the light of scriptures, and I’ll do it with a series of questions. 

Question #1: How much does one know or comprehend at death? 
Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6 says, “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.” 

And in Psalm 115:17 “The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.” So you see, the dearly departed are not in heaven singing in the choir and praising Jesus. God says the dead know absolutely nothing. They were mortals who died and have no conscious state. But if they are among the redeemed, they will come up in the resurrection, as we read in 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, and then put on immortality. On resurrection day they can begin again, praising Jesus for eternity. You can say, “Well Pastor Vaughn, it’s comforting to tell people at the funeral that so and so is in heaven now.” In other words you want to comfort people with a lie? Revelation 21:8 says all liars will be thrown into the lake which burns with fire and brimstone. It’s time we get serious about our relationship to a Holy and Just God.

Question #2: But can’t the dead communicate with the living and aren’t they aware of what the living are doing? The answer is in Job 14:12, 21. “So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.” “His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.” So you see the dead have no awareness, not even of graveside visits or what is going on in a living relative’s life. 

Ecclesiastes 9:6 “Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.” Friend, when you pray, you talk to God. But when you read the Bible you read the mind of God and He talks to you. You may say that this does not fit with what I have been taught or feel, therefore I cannot accept it. The Bible is like a two-edged sword and the truth cuts. We need to accept the truth from His Word, or we must throw out the Bibles. God never meant His Word to be cafeteria style, choosing what pleases us. The fact is the dead have no conscious thoughts. Psalm 146:4. “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.”  That’s clear, no that’s crystal clear.

Jesus Himself called death “SLEEP”. John 11:11-14. “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.” 
 
Well time is up for this week. Next week we will continue our study of “The Rich Man and Lazarus and What Happens to Us at Death“ –  Part 2
If you would like to worship with seventh day Sabbath-keepers, come to the Victory Everlasting Gospel Church at our new location at the Hampton Inn Conference suite in South Hill, VA at the exit 12 interchange of Interstate 85. We meet at 9:30 am each Saturday the Lord’s Day and will be meeting there until out new building has been completed. Look, if you have been listening to these broadcasts for any length of time, you know Saturday is God’s Sabbath and He’s calling you to start keeping it holy. Why not begin this week?
Until next week, Jesus said in John 5:39, “Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me”. Even so, come Lord Jesus.