Can a Sinner Be Saved After Death?
00:00:00.000 | In the last podcast, in episode 178, I asked you, "Can a sinner repent and be saved in
00:00:10.400 | the final moments leading up to their death?"
00:00:13.060 | And here's a related follow-up question that some listeners have asked.
00:00:16.320 | Pastor John, can a sinner repent and be saved after death?
00:00:21.520 | The answer is no.
00:00:25.020 | And there are several passages of Scripture that make me clear about that.
00:00:31.640 | I remember, again, my father preaching, and I can see the kind of squint in his eyes when
00:00:40.320 | he quoted Hebrews 9, which he did numerous times.
00:00:44.840 | He said, "It is appointed to a man once to die, and after that comes judgment."
00:00:55.620 | And he would just say, "When you die, here's what you look forward to, judgment."
00:01:02.060 | Not some kind of intervening space where you get another chance.
00:01:09.740 | But the most clear passage of Scripture is Luke 16 and the story of Lazarus and the rich
00:01:15.100 | man.
00:01:16.660 | People may remember that Lazarus was poor and sat at the door of the rich man.
00:01:21.100 | The rich man walked by him indifferently every day, manifesting that he had no love for him,
00:01:26.340 | no trust in God, and they both die.
00:01:30.740 | And Lazarus, who evidently had been trusting in God, goes to Abraham's bosom and is rewarded
00:01:36.020 | and relieved of all his lifetime of suffering with delights and pleasures in the presence
00:01:42.500 | of God.
00:01:43.500 | And the rich man goes to a place of torment and anguish where he's longing to have just
00:01:49.700 | a drop of water put on his tongue.
00:01:53.060 | And there's this imaginary conversation that Jesus creates between them, and he says, "Can't
00:02:02.380 | you just send Lazarus down here?"
00:02:05.820 | And Jesus says, "No, I can't, because there is a gap."
00:02:13.100 | Verse 26 of Luke 16, "Besides all this, between us and you, a great chasm has been fixed in
00:02:21.180 | order that those who would pass from here to you cannot do it, and no one can cross
00:02:28.420 | from there to us."
00:02:31.140 | So one of the reasons there's no salvation after death is that there's this chasm fixed.
00:02:39.940 | And I think the reason it's fixed is because the Holy Spirit is poured out on this world
00:02:46.060 | to bring people to conviction of sin, and there is no Holy Spirit promised in hell.
00:02:53.700 | And if we push Jesus away and refuse to yield to the work of the gospel in our hearts, in
00:03:01.100 | this world, there'll be no reason to think that our hearts will be softened in the conflicts
00:03:08.660 | or in the torments of hell.
00:03:12.460 | I can think, Tony, of one possible exception to this.
00:03:17.420 | And let me bring it up because it comes up all the time, namely infants who die.
00:03:24.660 | And here I just admit I'm in the area of speculation.
00:03:29.140 | I don't think the Bible says explicitly what I'm about to say, and so people should take
00:03:34.860 | it carefully.
00:03:36.340 | It seems to me that there are pointers in the Bible, like Romans 1, 19-23, and John
00:03:43.460 | 9, 41, that God's desire for public justice to be done and manifested will lead Him not
00:03:54.700 | to bring infants who die into everlasting judgment and condemnation, which raises the
00:04:03.900 | question, "Well, how then will they come to faith in Jesus, who alone is their Savior?"
00:04:10.700 | And so I'm leaving open the possibility that in some way that I do not know and don't want
00:04:16.540 | to speculate too far about, God might be pleased to make that possible for them to come to
00:04:25.340 | faith after death.
00:04:28.220 | But the context for those who have mental frameworks whereby they can construe the evidences
00:04:37.660 | that are available to all human beings, it says in Romans 1, those people who resist
00:04:44.180 | God and suppress the truth that is available to all human beings who have the mental processes
00:04:50.820 | to grasp them, those people will pass into judgment for which there is no second chance.
00:04:58.140 | And so the urgency, hence the urgency of the call to people all over the world to believe,
00:05:04.740 | hence my commitment to world missions, my love for this conference that's coming in
00:05:09.740 | December about the cross and its mobilizing of young people to reach the nations of the
00:05:16.100 | world, the implications of believing that there's no second chance beyond death are
00:05:20.540 | very, very serious and big.
00:05:23.060 | Yes, it certainly is.
00:05:25.060 | Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you for listening to this podcast.
00:05:27.660 | Email your questions to us at askpastorjohn@desiringguy.org.
00:05:31.020 | Visit us online at desiringguy.org to find thousands of books, articles, sermons, and
00:05:34.340 | other resources from John Piper, all free of charge.
00:05:37.340 | I'm your host, Tony Ranke.
00:05:38.340 | Thanks for listening.
00:05:38.940 | [END]
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