Are you scared of death?

 

It is quite unnerving to see a grown-man sobbing uncontrollably.

This is what I saw as I went to visit a gentleman in hospital who had been told that he had only days to live. He was in constant tears because he was scared about what would happen to him when he died.

Facing death without any assurance in salvation is dangerous and terrifying.

And yet so many people are in this very situation, numb to the reality of their coming judgement by Jesus as they will meet him at their death.

When I met with this man in hospital, I asked him if he believed that Jesus was the Lord of the universe, and if he had asked Jesus to forgive him. The man nodded his head and said, “yes.”

But he was crying because he didn’t think that believing this was enough to gain salvation from Jesus.

I then turned to one of my favourite parts of the Bible, where the two criminals being crucified with Jesus were in conversation with him, in Luke 23.

One of the criminals rejected Jesus, but the other simply asked Jesus to “remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus’ response was “truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

There was nothing that the criminal who followed Jesus could do except tell Jesus that he trusted in him as his Lord, and to simply surrender himself to Jesus’ rule.

And it brought an immediate and significant result: forgiveness, forever.

And with this, I told my friend on his deathbed that if he also had said these things to Jesus, then the assurance Jesus gave to that criminal was already his to enjoy.

And then the man stopped crying, and he never sobbed again. He enjoyed certainty for eternity.

What about you? Are you scared of dying? Why don’t you come to Jesus right now and enjoy true peace and comfort?