Do You Fear Death?

Dan Jarms and Mark Frankian discuss the importance of being ready for death, referencing Hebrews 9:27 and the concept of judgment. They define death and the second death as separation. Mark points to the significance of faith in Christ for eternal life, contrasting it with the "second death" in Revelation 20. They address the uncertainty of those unsure of their eternity, urging them to trust in Jesus, and caution against relying on good deeds or religion for salvation. Finally, they encourage believers to live faithfully, preparing for death by focusing on Christ and serving Him daily.

• Automated Transcription

• 0:00
  Today on faith matters, we are continuing our series on death, and I have Mark Frankian In the studio with me today, and we're going to be asking this real important question, are you ready to die? I'm
  
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  Dan Jarms, and you're listening to faith matters a podcast to help update you on matters of faith, Bible Church, as well as equip you in matters of the Christian faith.
  
  0:37
  Well as we continue our series on death and preparing for death. Last time, we looked at what happens to grandma when she dies. This time, we really need to look at personally being ready. Am I ready to die? And it's a it's an important matter. I have in the studio with me, Mark Frank, and Hey, Mark morning. Dan, you know, Mark, we're asking the question, Am I ready to die. Why is that important? Well,
  
  1:02
  Hebrews 927, is pretty clear, in as much as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment. There is a judgment.
  
  1:13
  Yeah, there, there is a judgment. So let's just talk about what death is. First we we are told in the Bible where death came from, because Adam and Eve sinned, they were promised that they would die. They didn't die right away. So that means death has some different meanings besides just physically dying. So one of the things that we see is that death is a separation from God. What else do we see? Mark,
  
  1:47
  yeah, there is related things pain at the end of good things in this life, but ultimately, physical death. Yeah, physical death comes next. If
  
  1:58
  we think of death as separation. First, there's the separation from God. So there's a relational breach, there's the end of good things, there's the soul departing from the body. And there's a scene where Rachel is dying, leaving Benjamin, and it says, as her soul was departing from her body, she cried out to the Lord in anguish. So the soul's departure. So then there's one other part of death that comes with the judgment mark. What's the like when we think of the judgment? What's the final end of that? That makes us really a serious conversation.
  
  2:39
  Yeah, what we do now and where we place our faith affects our eternity. So we face Christ at our judgment, and if we have trusted him, repented of sin and trusted him for salvation and eternity, then we have one eternal destiny, and if we haven't, we have another, yeah,
  
  2:58
  yeah, and that's actually called the second death, so so that there's going to be a a finality in a judgment before the white throne in Revelation chapter 20, and all those who are not in Christ are separated out into the lake of fire. And that's called the second death. So three big parts about death for us as we think about a separation from God right now, a separation of soul from the body, and eventually, a separation from all things good in the lake of fire and the final judgment. So that makes death a really important topic to talk about. So if you're, if you're dealing with that mark, one of the questions that you've had to answer, you go to a family's funeral, you've had to do memorial services, and you have believers and unbelievers in front of you. You're asking the question, are you ready to die? Talk us through what you're how you think about that, I
  
  4:04
  think being ready to die isn't necessarily wanting to end our lives here and now, but I think it's being ready to take the next step and be in eternity free from the presence of sin and and and in the presence of the Lord and all good things eternally, but it's a matter of how we think desire live now impacts our eternity and and what happens after our physical death. So
  
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  there's three people we want to talk to you right now. Mark first, let's talk to the person who is uncertain about where they will spend eternity, with God or not with God. What do we want to say? What does the Bible say to those who are uncertain?
  
  4:55
  Yeah, Jesus spoke a lot about that coming judgment. Uh and the eternal punishment, torment, anguish, flame, are some of the words used that he used of the eternal death, and that's what we all face if we have not repented of our sin, our rebellion, and turned to the Lord in humility and faith. So that's the first issue, the biggest issue in all these separations. Yes, distance, separation from God now matters, but in eternity, it'll be even worse and a harsher reality. Yeah,
  
  5:38
  so the if you're out there and you're in that uncertain where your eternity lies. The thing we would say is, if you're uncertain, you you need to first look to Christ as the one who has come to save you. So you're very, very familiar verses in our culture, like John 316 that God sent His only Son so that whoever believes in Him might not perish but have everlasting life. And that is a promise of a life that is with God, apart from judgment, or as First Thessalonians, 110 talks about putting our hope in Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. So the first thing that I would say to you, if you're listening and you're unsure, is, who is Jesus Christ to you, is is he God in flesh, who died for your sin, who rose and on the third day, rose on the third day, and now is ascended in heaven, ready to return? Is this? Is this the person that you trust? Do you understand that you're a sinner who needs him? And we would urge you, everybody in the world is a sinner who needs Jesus Christ to forgive their sin and his work. So that's the first place to steer you to. If you have faith and trust in Him, then the answer is affirmative, like your death isn't something to fear. Death is something to look to Christ that there is life after death. So that's that's key mark. What do you do with the person who thinks they're going to heaven, but their reliance is in something else than Jesus.
  
  7:24
  The first thing I would ask is, why are you relying on that? What? What is your confidence in that? Where do you lose your authority? Where do you get that from?
  
  7:33
  Yeah, so if you were to ask me the question, I'm thinking of funerals like we're gonna go to a couple this month for dear saints at our church, we're going to see people, and we might ask, Where are you going to spend eternity? And let you know you're asking me the question, well, I'm going to I'm going to be in heaven, and I'm going to play a lot of
  
  7:55
  golf. Yeah, we've seen that in our family recently. I think I would say, where do you get that what? Where do you find that information? What is your confidence in? I know some people who say that kind of thing, who who do go to church, or do claim Christ as as their Savior. So I would, I would proceed along those lines and Yeah, and just kind of question that I think it reminds me of Luke 16, where Jesus tells a parable of a rich man and poor Lazarus, where the rich man they both die, rich man to torment and Lazarus to Abraham's bosom and comfort. And Rich man says, let me go back and and tell my family about what they need to do to repent. And even uses the word repent there. And Abraham says, No, let him. Let him believe Moses and the prophets. Let them believe scripture. It's it's there in Scripture. That's our authority for this kind of thing. None of us have been there, but they would not believe people coming back from the dead over scripture. So we need to believe scripture on that,
  
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  yeah, so Scriptures where we have to find the information, because that's God's revelation. And many people are going to answer that question of, I do some good things. I'm a generally good person. And you know, there's really two ways that we have dealt with God in our in our souls, since our rebellion. One is, one is to break God's laws, and the second is to be religious. So being religious, following rules, following religious patterns, going to church, doing religious activities. Many people think that that is a means that will appease God, and God will be happy with them on judgment day. But really there's a fundamental unbelief in that that religion is actually God. God prescribes us to respond. Him in a certain way. We might call that religion, but religion, to prove our merit is is going to be faulty, and it fundamentally makes God into a mean ogre who has to be appeased, instead of making him a Savior who wants us to have a relationship with him. So I think those are key, key questions. Your question mark of what's your confidence in is a real key one. You know, our culture really influences us in this you and I have talked about the power of culture in in especially you think of going to a memorial service, and everybody's talking about their departed loved one, doing their favorite hobby in heaven, or enjoying their favorite things. Or, as my mother used to say, you know, I imagine my loved ones are looking down on me from heaven, because you would imagine these, these nice things for the nice people in your life. What's, what's the warning about the cultural expectations?
  
  11:00
  I think they affect us, whether we think so or not so. For one, I think that's a big lesson of First Corinthians, is that the culture impacts us, even as believers, whether we think it does or not, and probably to a greater extent than we think so. Eternal comfort, eternal paradise, is not just a better version of our lives now, or doing our favorite hobbies with our closest people. It may be some of that, but that's not not the focal point of that. So I think it impacts us. It impacts what we think is good on a horizontal level. If we think we're good people, that may be enough to for our religion to merit and eternal comfort, but those are cultural things for some of us, and that's just not, not authoritative. That's not the judge.
  
  11:52
  Yeah, so we have to come back to, what does scripture say? How does it inform us? We all have an innate sense of justice. Everybody does. You're going to hear of somebody who stole something from somebody else, and you're going to say that was wrong. God is a just judge, and he is the one who will decide on judgment day those who will enter his kingdom and not and the only way sinners can enter the kingdom is to have their sins forgiven through Christ. He is the just and the justifier of many. The third person we want to talk to is the person that has placed their trust in Christ, but they're a little apprehensive about death, since death is a separation. It is, it is not something that we have to enjoy. Matter of fact, it's something, in some ways, we can dread. I was talking to a couple dear saints. What do you fear as one of our saints is going to be with Jesus pretty soon? And the answer was, well, I fear being apart from my spouse, like that's that's right and good. Let's talk about some comfort about death. What are some things that are comforting for the believer and in shaping their lives? Many
  
  13:13
  have said in the past, many believers, and I think it's entirely scriptural, that preparing for death is really what enables us to live for the Lord. So in particular, dying to self again, Jesus' words for the one who dies picks up his cross daily and dies to himself, he may lose his life, his physical life, but he gains his eternal life in that so Romans, eight, another one, the mind set on sin is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, those realities for us here and now, to a greater or lesser degree, by the grace of God that we can we can continue daily, moment by moment, working on dying to self, turning from sin and temptation, turning to The Lord and trust, building faith and love in him, the same Lord who has brought us and really all of history through his perfect plan, brings us here to this day and and in our time, if Jesus doesn't come back, will bring us to the point of death and all that's in his hand, and we can trust him for the next part as well. Yeah,
  
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  there are some motivations about seeing Christ and coming into a judgment. Believers face a judgment too. It's a judgment of rewards, often called the judgment seat of Christ. So we are, we are evaluated by what we have done by faith in Christ to serve Him, and that's rewarded in heaven. Our punishment is taken on the cross so we don't have fear and death and and that's that's real encouraging. The apostle Paul could say, For me to live is Christ and to die is gain, because I'm going to be with the Lord. There are some. Motivations that go back to the Old Testament, recognizing that we're going to stand before God and have our lives evaluated, talk us through those mark, some of those things that help us, I guess we'd say faith. Be faithful right now. Faithfulness
  
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  built on a hard attitude of loving and trusting the Lord and wanting to please Him, knowing nothing we do is perfect or sin free, but we can still grow in hating sin more and loving him more, so that we have an increased faithfulness in our stemming from our hearts, in how we behave, how we treat each other, how we treat loved ones at home, how we relate to those in the church, how we relate to our neighbors, co workers, others around us, but and we're not afraid of the pain or ultimately even physical death that might come from those things. We're not really here in that situation here, but there are others, believers around the world, who who face that by just by living Christianly faithfully, that would put them in a position of facing death. Yeah,
  
  16:06
  when I think about myself preparing for death, and I think we've thought about it a little bit for a long time, but more recently, as I have been reading great sermons about believers going to be with Jesus or the second coming. What happens there is, there is a sense where I recognize that every day is an allotted day, that I will one day stand before God, and I want to present him a faithful day. So I've been using the analogy I used it in a sermon not too long ago of potting up plants to put in the in the greenhouse so that they could go out in the garden at due time. And every day is like that. And there are lots of references to that. What are some of them that you can think of? Mark,
  
  16:59
  yeah, I think a couple I would mention. One is the very end of Ecclesiastes, which is a great book on this very topic of just how not pretending that we don't face death should affect our lives. So the message is not really that life under the sun has no meaning. That's really not the message of Ecclesiastes. The message is when we live this life on Earth, under the sun, in light of God and who he is and who he wants us to be by His grace, then that changes how we think and how we live. So that's the end of the the end of the book Ecclesiastes. 12. Verses, 13. The end of the matter, all that has been heard, Fear God and keep His commandments. Because this is the end of the matter for all mankind, for God will bring every work to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it's good or evil. So if we are trusting the Lord and living for him under the son, then that gives meaning and joy, even in the little things in this life, not knowing what He has planned with all those little things put together. But we know who he is, and we can trust him for it.
  
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  My friend Paul Reese, this summer, I heard him say it this way, when we were in Scotland. He said, out of Ecclesiastes, life is a vapor that's the meaningless, the vapor. It's a it's a mist or a puff of smoke. He said that it's not, it's not meaningless. It's just short. And because it's short, it's really precious. It's really precious. The time we have is short and precious, so we want to use it for the glory of God and Ecclesiastes. Knowing that we're all going to die shortly is like, enjoy the wife of your youth, for this is what God has given you in your brief or vain life, your your puff of life this. Enjoy her enjoy life. Serve the Lord. Be wise. Pursue those things, recognizing that you have a short time here and that helps you live circumspectly in the world, enjoying the good things that God has, avoiding sin that displeases Him, seeking to honor and obey Him. You have other go to verses that help you think about that. Yeah,
  
  19:22
  one that's helped a lot recently, over the last year or so, is in Second Timothy, where Paul says, In Second Timothy, 46 I am already being poured out as a drink offering in the time of my departure has come right before that. The very verse before that in Second Timothy, 45 he's exhorting Timothy to live the life that the Lord wants him to live in this way we're talking about, and fulfill his ministry. So throughout, on a daily basis, as you say, We're facing death. We're not ignoring it, we're living the night of it, where it helps us prioritize what we're doing here and why on a daily and weekly basis. Basis, and even to the end, where Paul can encourage others to do the same and fulfill their ministry.
  
  20:06
  Yeah, so the thought of death makes us want to be faithful to the Lord and how we're gifted and called, not saying that going into vocational ministry is how everybody does that. But wherever God calls you you want to be faithful in it, one of the passages that has stood out to me in Luke 12. Luke 12 has a series of situations in which death is close and judgment is close. We're going to be judged for what we speak. We're going to be judged for who we affirm publicly if we affirm Christ or if we don't affirm Christ, but Luke 1235 really has impacted me in the last couple of years, because it's the parable of the master of the house returning from a wedding feast, and it Luke opens that parable by saying, stand ready for action. Stand ready for action as if the master is going to come home any moment. So the picture of this parable is God. Christ has come. He set his people to work. We are to be faithful stewards, and we don't know when he's going to return. When he returns, if we are faithful, He Himself will dress himself to serve us and to help us, which is a glorious reality, if we and it's just generally humankind as not faithful, then there's going to be a judgment, and I want to be ready for the master to return. I can't wait to see his face. I can't wait to be in His presence. I can't wait for the absence of sin if, if you're listening. We want you to be ready to die. We don't want you to fear death. We want you to be faithful in your work and at different ages, that might look like different things. You know we're we're setting our potted plants in the nursery to be planted out. Some of you are young moms and the labor with little ones. Some of you are young dads. Work and care for kids at home. That might be the truth, truth for moms too. All of those things will be there on Judgment Day and and those will be something that will bring joy to you, Joy to the Lord, to affirm and will rejoice, since we encourage you to be ready for death by just daily, faithful living. Mark. Any other thoughts for us?
  
  22:36
  Yeah, I think along those lines, I think preparing to die is living for the Lord. I think others, believers in the past, have said that. J packer, I think of Spurgeon, Martin Lloyd Jones. Others, the way to prepare for death is to live for the Lord. And if we're pretending we're not dying, we don't like to talk about it here or in western civilization, if we put it off, we don't think about it, we don't prepare for it. That's that keeps us from living the way we should live. And I think Romans eight is a great example of that. God foreknew predestined us to glory, who is against us? If God is for us. He will accomplish His will, and by denying self and looking to him for all we need is preparing us for death by living for Him. Here,
  
  23:33
  finally, to close off, one of the most practical ways that I like to prepare for death is recounting the character of God, the work of God. And I love to go through the Gospels or any historical part of Scripture, seeing what God has done, to the point that I think one day I will see him who has done that. And that's a glorious thing. So I would fear death like the dear older saints who don't want to leave their spouses. I would fear death for that reason, but I welcome death for the sight of Christ, and now is the time to be faithful and serve Him. We want you to be ready. So if you're listening to this, we want you to be ready. Do you fear death as a believer, we would hope the answer would be no. If you are not sure where that is, we would urge you to plunge into the Gospels and read and believe what is written there. If you are wondering what your confidence should be, that's what that's where it is. Thanks for joining us.

Dan Jarms

Dr. Dan Jarms is lead pastor at Faith Bible Church in Spokane Washington, as well as associate dean at The Master's Seminary in Spokane. He has been married for over 30 years to Linda, and has three adult children. He earned his B.A. in English at the Master’s College, B.Ed. at Eastern Washington University, M.Div and D.Min in Expository Preaching at The Master’s Seminary. His other interests include NCAA basketball, woodworking, and art.

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Mark Frankian

Mark is the Ministry Operations Director at Faith Bible Church. He and his wife Nanette have four grown daughters. They love spending time outdoors, reading, and playing disc golf with their daughters when they get the chance.

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