Join Charles Stanley as he addresses one of Satan’s most deceitful ploys – the notion of a second chance for salvation after death. Through an in-depth analysis of biblical texts, including the story of the rich man and Lazarus, Dr. Stanley clearly conveys God’s message about life, death, and salvation. This episode is a powerful reminder of the importance of understanding and adhering to the true interpretation of Scripture, paving the way to eternal life through Jesus Christ alone.
Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, April 11th. Have you ever wondered if God offers a chance for salvation after death? Join us today and discover the biblical answer to this important question.
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Jesus said that Satan is a deceiver. He’s a liar. In fact, he said he’s the father of all lies. One of his treacherous but very successful methods of defeating us is to tell us a lie. And what I want to talk about in this message is one of those deceitful things that Satan has been saying a long time. And oftentimes the people who are a little bit maybe worried about the future or about being religious or Christian or whatever it might be. And so one of Satan’s very deceptive tactics is to take the word of God and use the word of God on us. Say, well, but here’s what the Bible says. Of course, it’s his interpretation. And so if he can use God’s word, misinterpret it some fashion to get us, he doesn’t care how much you read it as long as you believe it the way he tells it. One of those lies is this. And that is, after you die, you have a second chance with God. And so the title of this message is simply this. Does God give us a second chance after death? And I want you to turn, if you will, to Hebrews chapter 9. And I want us to read beginning in verse 24. This is about our Lord and what he’s done for us at the cross. And there’s one verse in here I want you to see primarily. But listen to what he says in this 24th verse. “‘For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor was it that he would offer himself often, as the high priest did, entering the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own.’ Otherwise, he would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But now, once at the consummation of the ages, he has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment. So Christ, also having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin to those who eagerly await him. Listen to what he said. He says it’s appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment. So when we think about this whole issue of having a second chance in life, that is, once you die, somehow God gives you a second chance to be saved. And the question is, is that scriptural? It’s certainly one of Satan’s proclamations to deceive people to say, well, you know, after all, everybody’s going to get there. Some are going straight. Some are going to get there eventually. And what you and I have to ask is this, what does the Word of God say about it? I want you to look at the 19th verse of the 16th chapter of Luke. Luke chapter 16, verse 19. And listen carefully to what this passage says. Now, this is not a parable. When Jesus told parables, he didn’t name names. He named this man, called him Lazarus. 19th verse, I’m going to give you time to find it. I want you to read every verse of this, beginning in 19th verse. Here’s what Jesus said. Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. And a poor man named Lazarus laid his gate covered with sores, longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table. Besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom, which was for Jews that would be paradise. And the rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and he saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and coo off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame. But Abraham said, child, remember that during your life you received your good things. Likewise, Lazarus, bad things. But now he’s being comforted here, and you’re in agony. Look at this next verse. This cancels purgatory. And besides all this, between us and you, there is a great chasm, fixed chasm. The word fixed very much, fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us. And he said, now this is the rich man now talking, he says, so then he said, then I beg you, Father, that you send him to my father’s house. I have five brothers in order that he may warn them so that they’ll not come into this place of torment. But Abraham said, they have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. Oh, he’s arguing with God. Listen to this. Oh, but he said, no, Father Abraham. But if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. He said to him, if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead. What was Jesus saying? You die and go to torment? Fixed. He didn’t say for a season. Fixed. There’s this gulf fixed. And what I want you to remember is this. The only bridge that gets you from a sinful, disobedient, rebellious life across, over this chasm of Of torment is the cross of Jesus Christ and the cross of Jesus Christ alone. Only that. The blood of Jesus Christ shed at Calvary paid your sin dead in full. And listen, the cross and the cross alone is the only way we go from a life of sin on this earth to a life of righteousness and pure holiness in heaven. Nothing could be more persuasive than that. There is a great chasm fixed and there’s no coming back. There’s no praying you out of it. And see, if you could pray somebody out, why didn’t he say, tell my brothers, send somebody to tell my brothers to pray for me so that I’ll finally get out of this place. He didn’t say that. Great gulf fixed. So think about this. The passages of scripture used to teach a second chance is There’s no way you can take those verses and prove that. Secondly, there is no proof of a purgatory. Now, I want you to think about this. We read a few moments ago in Hebrews that the Lord Jesus Christ died once and for all, and he sat down once and for all, having given his life, not dying many times like the priests bring in the calves and goats and bulls and so forth. Once for all, he died for our sin. How much of our sin? All of our sin. Past, present, future. When you trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, here’s what happens. When you trust Him as your personal Savior, you are saying, I’m acknowledging and agreeing. that Jesus Christ went to the cross, laid down his life at the cross. God the Father placed all of my sin on him. He took my penalty. His death paid my penalty in full. And therefore, when I receive him, I am free of that penalty. I become a child of God, sealed with the Holy Spirit, and forever and eternally safe in the relationship that I have in him. Well, if that’s true, Why am I going somewhere to suffer? Suffer for what? Here’s what it is. When I think about that, it’s an insult to God. Listen to this. God himself came into this world in the person of Jesus Christ. That is, he humbled himself to come into this world in the person of Jesus Christ, walked among men, ridiculed, criticized, beaten, bloodied up, and crucified. in order to atone for all of our sin. And then we come along and say, well, that’s good, God, but it wasn’t good enough. Because now I’ve got to pay. I’m going to pay. You see, if you have to pay, it’s not grace. Because Paul says if it’s works, it’s not grace. If it’s grace, listen, it’s not works. And to say that I have to go or you have to go and suffer in torment somewhere because of our sins is to say, God, your sacrifice on the cross was good, but it wasn’t adequate and it wasn’t sufficient, so I got to go pay the rest of it. Absolutely, totally erroneous. And you know what that does? It violates the most important doctrine in the whole Word of God, and that is the atoning death of Jesus Christ. No cross, No salvation. What’s this all about? The cross is all about this from Genesis to Revelation. His atoning death of Jesus Christ did what all the sacrifices of sheep, bulls, goats, lambs, you name it. None of that atoned for our sin. It was the death of Christ at Calvary. When he died. Everything past, it applied to. Everybody in the future, it applied to. So to add suffering and punishment even after we have died because the atonement was not sufficient, how does a person even face God saying, you came and died for me, but that wasn’t enough? Or if some denomination or some church preaches, that wasn’t enough, now you must pay for your sin. Totally erroneous. There is no way to prove or to justify such a belief as that. And here’s what happens. It puts people in awful bondage. Do you understand that when you go to the nth degree with that kind of theology, you end up hopeless, helpless, in bondage, in fear, and the worst thing that could happen to you today if you believe in purgatory, the worst thing that could happen to you is to die. Because if you think you’ve had a hard time here, when you look at the scripture about torment, that’s real suffering. And the tragedy is for how long? And for what sins? All of them. How many? I don’t know. There’s not a single verse in the Bible that validates that. Not one. And look at the contradictions to all that. This is why I said you can’t take one verse and interpret it and say, well, you know, after all. But you’ve got to look at all the verses. So let’s look at some verses that absolutely teach you that that is not true. Let’s go to Philippians chapter 1 and listen to what the Apostle Paul says here. And he says almost the same thing in 2 Corinthians. Look at this. Beginning in verse 21, this first chapter. He says, for me to live… is Christ. That is, for me to live Christ in me, that’s for Christ to live here on earth. And to die, he says, is my gain. But if I’m to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me. That is, I’m going to be able to keep serving the Lord. And I do not know, he said, I don’t know what to choose. Now watch this. But I’m hard pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that’s much better, very much better, Yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith. Did Paul say, I’m hard-pressed? You know, I’m just pulled in two directions because the truth is I want to die and then I want to stay here. Why would he want to die? He says, because I want to die now. and depart to be with Christ, not go to purgatory and suffer. And imagine what Paul would have thought if he’d have thought about purgatory. Remember what he said in First Timothy and Second Timothy? He talked about being, listen, an aggressor to destroy the church. He aggressively attacked the church. He killed people. He did everything imaginable. And now he’s going to have to face God with all that? He said, nope. He said, I’m pulled in two directions, but here’s what’s pulling me. I know that if I die, I’m going to be with Christ. And if I stay here, I’m going to be able to serve. He would never have said that if he’d have believed in such a place as purgatory. So what I want you to see is this. That just because somebody tells you something is true, what you have to ask is, what does the Word of God say? And so they give you some scriptures, so you have to say, well, I got those scriptures, now let me see what else does the Word of God say? It’s crystal clear. Crystal clear according to Paul’s teaching. And that is, when you and I die as his children, we go straight to be with the Lord. Some might say, well, okay, let’s turn to the 23rd chapter of Luke. 23rd chapter of Luke, and I want you to notice a passage. We all know what this passage says when you look at it. Jesus is hanging on the cross between two thieves. One of them says, if you’re who you say you are, why don’t you get us down from here? The other one has a whole different attitude. He says, verse 40, the other thief says, rebuking him, do you not even fear God even you are under the same sentence of condemnation? Are we indeed, and we indeed are suffering justly? I mean, what are you saying here? But we’re receiving what we deserve for our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong. And he was saying, Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom. He’s a thief. Listen to what Jesus said. And he said to him, truly, I said, I’m telling you the truth. Truly, I said to you, today, you shall be with me in paradise, in heaven. Today, you’re going to be with me where I’m going in paradise with the Father in heaven. Well, the Scripture says in Hebrews, a long passage, that listen, when he left, he went to the presence of Almighty God. The sacrifice had been made. Atonement was done. The will of God had been done. It’s finished. So when you look at the Scriptures and you see what people say and what they believe and say, all right, I know what you’re saying, but what does God say? Absent from the body, present with the Lord. Here’s the Apostle Paul, God’s servant, saying, you know what? Sometimes I want to die and be with the Lord, and sometimes I want to stay here. But all of these verses say to us that when a person dies, they go to be with the Lord when they’re saved. Persons who are not saved go to torment. But how long? Forever and ever and ever. They have to come before the judgment to determine the nature and the degree of their suffering. But there’s no coming here and back and forth. So now watch this. This whole idea of purgatory, well, you’ve got to have something else that goes along with this, and that’s praying for the dead. Because one of the ways people escape or get out of purgatory is that somebody prays for them. Now, where is that in the Bible? It’s not in there. But I want us to look at this. Because this is exactly what people will say, and this is why people pray for the dead. Let’s go back to the atonement. Here’s what I want you to see. The fact that God came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ, went through all he went through, died on the cross, crucified. And remember, this is the worst part. On the cross, he said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? What was he doing? He was feeling the pressure, the burden, the blunt of the sin of all mankind for all times. And to say that you’re going to die? and suffer for your sins, and that somehow, in some way, somebody is going to be able to pray you out of that. Somehow you’re going to get out. When they’ve prayed long enough, paid long enough, you’ll get out. My friend, listen, I’m not being critical of what other people believe. I’m just saying to you, you don’t have to live in that bondage, because that is not the living Word of God. The grace of God is your assurance that not if you die, but when you die, You’re going to be absent from the body, present with the Lord for all eternity. That’s what Jesus came to make possible for all of us who are his children and all who are willing to believe. Listen to what he said. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Not if they’ve done this, not unless they’ve done that. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Not if you promise this, not if you promise that. Whosoever shall call upon him shall be saved. Why? Because, listen to this carefully, all the work was done in one moment in time on the cross. That was the crucifixion of Jesus that makes it possible for you to have eternal life now. Die in the hands of a loving father. Listen, what did he say here? He said when this poor man died, the angels carried him. Into the presence of the living God. That’s what you have to look forward to. You trust the Lord Jesus Christ. And just believe his word. And that’s my prayer for you. And Father how grateful we are. And I pray for somebody who’s listening. who’s never trusted you as their Savior, that today, now, in these moments, they’ll be willing to say, oh God, forgive me for my sin. I do believe that Jesus died for my sin. I do trust you as my Savior. I do surrender my life to you. And Father, then we know that you’ll grant them the faith to believe that when they obey those simple words. of confession, repentance. They have at that moment the very gift of eternal life. We know that’s your desire. For every single one of us, that’s what you said in your word. And we pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Thank you for listening to Does God Give a Second Chance After Death? If you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
