SECOND CHANCES
1. Two years ago (2003), someone authored what I consider to be an unusual book.
2. This volume talks about unwanted dogs who have received a “second chance” at life.
3. One of the dogs described by the author is known as “Popsicle.”
4. Popsicle was found in an abandoned freezer during a drug raid.
5. The owner (a drug dealer) had used this dog as “bait” when training other dogs to fight.
6. When authorities found him, Popsicle was half frozen and bathed in blood.
7. Now he works with the U.S. customs service to help detect drugs.
8. He got a second chance at life.
IN MANY WAYS OUR NATION IS A COUNTRY OF SECOND CHANCES, AND IT IS OFTEN THE CASE THAT GETTING A SECOND CHANCE IS A GOOD THING.
a) Sometimes second chances can be one chance too many.
b) An example of this is in the spiritual realm.
c) People can be so accustomed to the idea of second chances they bring the concept into religion.
2) A lot of religious people believe in some kind of second chance salvation.
3) Last week we considered the doctrine called purgatory.
4) Purgatory is an illustration of second chance salvation.
5) Catholicism teaches second chance salvation but they are not the only ones.
a) Many other well known religious groups have a similar view.
b) With the warmer weather, people are starting to ride their bicycles.
c) Around town or in the place where you live, you may see 2 young men riding bikes.
d) If they are dressed in black and white, they are probably Mormons.
6) Mormons believe in second chance salvation.
7) Their doctrine might be referred to as “proxy baptism.”
a) That is, Mormons believe a living person may be baptized to help a dead person.
b) In Catholicism, second chance salvation is based upon money
c) With Mormonism, the process involves getting wet.
d) Many know that Mormons have done a lot of work with genealogies. There is a reason for that.
e) Mormons want their ancestors to be saved, so they carefully trace the family lineage.
f) When they figure out who their ancestors are, they are baptized for them (on their behalf).
8) A true example of what I am describing involves a woman named Johannes Valentine Frey.
9) Johannes was born in 1783 and died in 1833.
10) Though she died in 1833, there is a record that says she was baptized into Christ in 1945.
a) More than 100 years after this woman left the earth, it is said she was baptized into Christ.
b) How could that have happened? It was done by proxy. A relative did it on her behalf.
11) If the doctrine of proxy baptism were true, it would certainly comfort many people.
12) It would also be a convenient way to save members of our families.
13) I really wish this teaching were true, but it is not.
a) 2 Cor. 5:10 says we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
b) When Paul wrote these words he was very specific.
c) In 2 Cor. 5:10 he said what will happen at that time.
d) We will be judged based upon what “we” (individually) have done.
e) Paul denied the idea that others can help us; salvation is personal.
f) This is why Paul told the Philippians to “work out their own salvation,” Phil. 2:12.
g) Each man gives account of God to himself (Rom. 14:12).
h) Jesus said we must believe or be lost, Jn. 8:24; no one can believe or us.
i) We individually confess Christ and are baptized into Him (Acts 2:38).
14) Since all these other passages disagree with proxy baptism, why do the Mormons believe it?
15) They believe in it because of what Paul said in 1 Cor. 15:29.
a) Here is what this passage says – READ .
b) This passage says nothing about saving deceased relatives.
c) It simply refers to baptism for the dead.
d) Furthermore, Mormon material says that baptism for the dead really doesn’t work.
e) Mormons have what they believe are other God given books.
f) If you ever look at the book of Mormon, one of their extra books, you might be surprised.
g) Stamped right on the front of many copies are the words, “another testament of Jesus Christ.”
h) We object to this because Paul spoke of “other gospels” in Gal. 1.
i) In this “other testament” we find a rather fascinating statement.
j) Alma 34:32-35 says there is no chance of salvation after death.
k) Here are some of the key excerpts from this passage:
l) “For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God.”
16) Here is the entirety of verse 35: “For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked.”
a) A beginning point to refute proxy baptism is the Mormon’s own literature, Alma 34:25.
b) We can also refute this doctrine from the Bible.
c) At least 40 explanations have been given for the “baptism for the dead” in 1 Cor. 15.
d) Some sources suggest the number of interpretations exceeds 200.
e) Such a difficult text is hardly the place to build an entire doctrine of second chance salvation.
f) An examination of the pronouns suggests false teachers were baptizing people to benefit the dead.
g) If this is correct, baptism of the dead is associated with error and wrongdoing.
17) If the Mormons do not come knocking on our door, the Jehovah’s Witnesses might.
18) This group also believes in a second chance salvation.
a) There are some strange doctrines in religious, but this one is really way out there.
b) We have previously stated what the Jehovah Witnesses publicly teach.
c) That is, wicked people die and they perish.
d) This the idea of “annihilation.” Unsaved people have a fate just like animals.
e) One would think that if a person in vanquished, they are forever gone.
19) The Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe that, though they are slow to admit this information.
20) This group looks forward to a time when this earth will be renovated.
21) War, poverty, disease, problems with the government, all difficulties will vanish.
22) Animals such as lions and bears will frolic with the earth’s population.
a) Guess who will enjoy paradise on earth?
b) Not only the Jehovah Witnesses who make it through “Armageddon,” but the dead!
c) The Jehovah Witnesses teach that there will be a resurrection.
d) Here is a quote from them (p. 165, You can Live Forever):
e) “No funeral parlors, graveyards or tombstones will remain to spoil the beauty of the paradise earth.”
f) They teach the unrighteous will be raised, see the beautiful earth and get a second chance at salvation.
g) It is hard for me to understand how anyone cannot see the difficulty posed with this belief system.
h) This belief say man dies and is nothing but this “nothingness” is raised to have a 2d chance.
i) This view is a logical contradiction but it shows us the length groups go to believe in a 2d chance.
23) Another widely held believe is reincarnation.
24) More and more people are being influenced by Eastern religions.
25) Hinduism and Buddhism are very popular.
26) Both these groups (and others) believe there is another chance at life.
27) Sometimes this belief says a person dies and their soul enters into an animal.
28) About everyone here has heard someone talk about “karma.”
a) Karma is a word that describes “the burden of sin we carry from one life to another.”
b) If someone has “bad karma,” they must suffer till they have paid the price for their sins.
c) Instead of a “second chance,” a person might simply continue and continue.
AS CHRISTIANS WE MUST OBJECT TO AND STRENOUSLY REJECT ANY IDEA OF A SECOND CHANCE SALVATION AFTER DEATH BECAUSE THIS BELIEF IS CONTRARY TO THE SCRIPTURES.
a) We do not know who wrote the book of Hebrews.
b) We can however, be thankful this book has been preserved for us.
c) Heb. 9:27 says man dies and after death “comes the judgment.”
d) A person’s fate is sealed after death.
e) This means proxy baptism cannot help them.
f) There will be no paradise on earth for someone to get a second chance.
g) Reincarnation is not true.
h) Jesus made a similar point in Mk. 16:16 – “he that disbelieveth shall be condemned.”
i) This is not a conditional condemnation; if we do not make things right in this life we are lost.
2) This is why Jesus was able to make these points in Jn. 8:21 and 24 – READ.
a) Let’s also not exclude what the Romans were told in Rom. 6:23 – QUOTE.
b) If being unforgiven does not truly mean death (we have a second chance), Rom. 6:23 is not true.
c) If there were a second chance at death a perfect illustration would have been the rich man and Lazarus.
d) Jesus said this man was “rich.”
e) His money went to someone but no one tried to pay his way out of suffering.
f) Jewish people had various “washings” but we Jesus said nothing about someone being baptized for him.
g) We know the rich man had “brothers” who had not yet died but no help came from them.
h) This man died and Lk. 16 pictures for his state and fate being sealed.
i) He realized there was no second chance. All hope was gone.
3) Returning to other New Testament books, 2 Cor. 6:2.
4) When writing this letter the apostle said “now is the day of salvation.”
5) We can only ask why the emphasis is on “now” if more chances follow us after death.
6) All people get only one shot at salvation at this is during our life.
7) Many desperately want to believe in a second chance so various doctrines have been created.
8) We and all we know get only one opportunity and that opportunity is called “life.”
9) Our chance at salvation is now; have we taken it?