KHÔNG BIẾT NƠI SẼ ĐẾN

Kinh thánh: Giăng 12: 29-36

Câu gốc: Giăng 12: 36 phần A – Các ngươi đang có sự sáng, hãy tin sự sáng, hầu cho trở nên con cái của sự sáng.

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DO NOT KNOW WHERE WILL BE

Bible: John 12: 29-36

Main verse: John 12: 36 part A – While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.

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– From the time of birth, humans are always in constant fear of something. There is a long list of fears that we don’t have time to count. But death is what humans fear the most.

– If we pay attention to human fears, we will see that many of them would never come, or just came to some and not to others. For example, like air accident or attacking by shark.

– But death is what happens to all mankind, except Enoch and Elijah who were took up to heaven by God without facing death.

GENESIS 5: 24 – Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

SÁNG THẾ KÝ 5: 24 – Hê-nóc đồng đi cùng Đức Chúa Trời, rồi mất biệt, bởi vì Đức Chúa Trời tiếp người đi.

2KINGS 2: 11 – Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

2CÁC VUA 2: 11 – Hai người cứ vừa đi vừa nói với nhau, kìa, có một cái xe lửa và ngựa lửa phân rẽ hai người; Ê-li lên trời trong một cơn gió lốc.

– As with other fears, humans always want to avoid death, or exactly, prolong their lives as much as possible. But mankind did not know how to deal with death properly.

– In the ancient times those who had power or money tried to find a sufficient way to prolong their lives, but all had failed. In the modern time, with the advance of technology, scientists and billionaires around the world also tried to find ways that made them live longer. Until now nobody succeed in that quest.

– It’s one of many reasons that religions were created. They were the products of mankind in their attempt to deal with death. With religions, mankind try to explain the world beyond death in order to soothe their anxiety about its evitable.

– But none of men had been returned from death, except Jesus, so the way mankind explained the afterworld were very contradicting to each others. If we studied all religious explanations of the world after death, we would see how absurd they were.

– For examples, for the religions of Western cultures like the Greek, Roman or Viking, the afterworld bear the images of their land and their ways of life on earth. And their gods were old white men wearing the costumes of their times.

– In the same way, the religions of Eastern cultures like Chinese, Japanese, Indians or Vietnamese, the afterworld bear the images of what men saw on earth, like palaces, temples and their gods were old Asian kings with wives and they wore the same costumes like human ones on earth.

– And their explanations about the life after death are very vague. For example, Vietnamese people believe that if a person did good deed on earth then after death he would be disappeared into thin air, or in other words, cease to exit in any form. But on the contrary, their living descendants are still worshipping them, burning incense for them, offering them food and drink as they were still alive after praying for them to be faded away into oblivion.

– They even have more devotion to those who were counted as saints, or good spirits and believe they are still be somewhere on earth. That’s one of many contradictions of Eastern religions.

– But other people believe differently that if a person did good deed on earth then after death he would be reborn into this world of sadness, melancholy and sufferings. So, with this kind of belief, a person should live a good life in order to be suffered again and again forever.

– With those kinds of belief, they have shown that humans did not know anything about where they would go after death, therefore their explanations were full of contradictions and one thing that we should pay attention to is they kept referring to be back into this world for either those who were good or bad.

– Psychologically speaking, human religions are like those who are going to travel. Most of them referred to go back to the places that they knew, because of their anxiety of being lost at places that not well known to them.

= Likewise, because death happens only once to humans, and nobody has risen from death except the Lord Jesus Christ, so humans do not know where to go after death and they have always kept referring to go back to this world again and again in their religious beliefs.

– That is the way humans tried to explain the afterlife in order to deal with death, that’s why mankind continues their lives with the anxiety of death and its inevitable.

– But thankfully Jesus had come and He gave us the perfect answer about this life on earth and the life we would have after death.

– The Lord Jesus is God Who took human form when coming to this world so that sinners could see Him and listen directly to the life He offered to whoever believed in Him and live according to His instructions in the Bible.

– With His word, God lets us know that we were created after His glorious image but because of human’ sins that we have been separated from God until we reconcile with Him through Jesus Christ and His death on the cross.

EPHESIANS 2: 16 – And that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

Ê-PHÊ-SÔ 2: 16 – Vì bởi thập tự giá Ngài đã làm cho sự thù nghịch tiêu diệt, nên nhờ thập tự giá đó Ngài khiến cả hai hiệp thành một thể, mà làm hòa thuận với Đức Chúa Trời.

– Because Jesus was God Who took human form, so He knew exactly where humans will be after death. God is the Light of the universe so He knows everything, but humans cannot, especially when people do not believe in His word:

JOHN 12: 35 – Then Jesus said to them: A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.

GIĂNG 12: 35 – Đức Chúa Jêsus bèn đáp rằng: Sự sáng còn ở giữa các ngươi ít lâu; hãy đi trong khi các ngươi còn có sự sáng, e rằng sự tối tăm đến thình lình cùng các ngươi chăng. Kẻ đi trong nơi tối tăm thì chẳng biết mình đi đâu.

– Because Jesus was the Light and so His words that recorded in the Bible. Therefore whoever believes in Him and His words will know where to go after death. But those who do not believe are still in the darkness and do not know where they would be after this life.

– Therefore when we believed in God, death is not scary like before but it is just a door that we need to cross over in order to meet God and entering into His heavenly kingdom.

– God also lets us know that after this life there are only two places for mankind to be: One is in heaven with God to be happy for eternity and one is in hell to be suffered forever.

MATTHEW 25: 34 & 41 – Then the King will say to those on His right hand: Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world… Then He will also say to those on the left hand: Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his followers.

MA-THI-Ơ 25: 34 & 41 – Bấy giờ, vua sẽ phán cùng những kẻ ở bên hữu rằng: Hỡi các ngươi được Cha ta ban phước, hãy đến mà nhận lấy nước thiên đàng đã sắm sẵn cho các ngươi từ khi dựng nên trời đất… Kế đó, Ngài sẽ phán cùng những người ở bên tả rằng: Hỡi kẻ bị rủa, hãy lui ra khỏi ta; đi vào lửa đời đời đã sắm sẵn cho ma quỉ và những quỉ sứ nó.

– We have already known that there is no justice in this world. There have been a lot of criminals and bad people escaping justice or being subjected to it partially. Many of them instead prospered in their crimes and died peacefully in their beds while their victims suffered immensely and did not received any compensation in this life. That’s why we believe that there must be justice after death, because God is Just.

HEBREWS 9: 27 – And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.

HÊ-BƠ-RƠ 9: 27 – Theo như đã định cho loài người phải chết một lần, rồi chịu phán xét,

– Because His judgment is eternal, so the punishment is forever, too. That’s why there is only one place for sinners to go. It is the place of hell. Therefore, in order to be able avoiding that horrendous place, we must believe in God and live according to His instructions in the Bible. Those standards are applied and suited to everyone in every culture.

– More than two thousand years ago, Jesus had come and called out people to believe in Him so that they could be confident in knowing where they would go after death. Tonight is also the chance for you to come to Jesus and believe in Him so that from now on you can become sons and daughters of the Light and can eliminate the anxiety of death by knowing exactly where you will go after passing from this life.

JOHN 12: 36 part A – While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.

GIĂNG 12: 36 phần A – Các ngươi đang có sự sáng, hãy tin sự sáng, hầu cho trở nên con cái của sự sáng.

– Death will come sooner or later for everyone, no exception. So we should prepare for it today in order to enjoy the rest of our lives on earth, confidently knowing where we will go and the place we will be for eternity.

– May God bless us who believed in Him and help us to keep our faith steady and firmly on the Lord Jesus Christ until we see Him coming back to earth and bring us into that heavenly peaceful place to be joyously with Him forever. Amen.