daily Broadcast
I Will Live Forever!: Overcoming the Fear of Death, Part 2
From the series Be Strong and Courageous
Often, when we visit Christians on their deathbed, we are at a loss for words because we do not know how to soothe their fears about death. In this program, Chip dives back into Psalm 16 and provides some practical help. Learn how to encourage those nearing eternity and help quiet their anxieties. Learn what you can say to offer comfort, hope, and peace to those facing death.

About this series
Be Strong and Courageous
Psalms to Strengthen Your Faith and Conquer Your Fear
The Greek philosopher Sophocles once wrote, “To him who is in fear - everything rustles.” Sadly, that describes our society today—fear seems to dictate our decisions and actions. Chip Ingram dives deep into eight Psalms in this powerful series to help you break free from fear and build a stronger faith. Discover how to conquer anxiety and discouragement, replace cynicism with faith, and choose to focus on God’s love and goodness even in difficult times. Join Chip as he unlocks the timeless wisdom of the Psalms and shows you how to live a life of courage and confidence in Christ.
More from this seriesMessage Transcript
“The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their name upon my lips.” He says, you know, there are people worshipping idols. And he goes, “I don’t go there. I love You and You are my Master, and I want to reach them, but I am not going there. Their idols, the stuff that they do… It’s very much a Romans 12:2 moment where he says: I’m not going to be conformed to this world.
He says: I am going to be transformed by the renewing of my mind that my life, how I actually live would be acceptable and pleasing and I want to experience Your will. And so, he’s kind of working in this journey of his relationship with God, and then he looks within and he does some reflection. And he’s saying, I remember that giant, I remember Saul. Yeah, I had some family issues, I really blew it morally. Man alive, God, that You even still care about me after some of the things I have done. And at this stage of his life, he is reflecting. He said, “Lord, You have assigned my portion and my cup, You have made my lot secure,” and, You have been so good to me. It has been secure. In fact, he goes on, “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Surely, I have delightful inheritance.”
He kind of appraises his life and, like you, I mean, I, believe me, I’ve had big struggles, I have had health issues, been through cancer with my wife, gosh, I have been through financial hardships. If you wanted a good list of difficulties and challenges, not nearly as bad as a lot of people, but if I would turn my attention over here, I can give you a pretty good list. But I will tell you what, when I shifted and say, “Wait a second, what has God given me?” And I start making that list and start thanking God, and blessing God, and listing it… And here’s an amazing thing. You know, we are talking about overcoming the fear of death. Part of what you have to do is you’ve got to remember how good God has been, because it changes your perspective.
So, he does an appraisal of all the good and all the kindness and his perspective is changing about the kind of God He is. And then he just approves and says: You know, sure there’s been ups and downs. But God, thank You. Now, some of you are really young, which is really awesome. So, you don’t know much about your boundary lines. But let me just tell you from one who is a little older, a lot of things that you think are like: This is terrible, I can’t believe it, I didn’t get into this school, I was dating so-and-so and I thought she was going to be the one, or he was going to be the one and we broke off. And then this happened over here.
Let me tell you something, when you get a little bit older, I can look back and see some of the things that I wanted the most that God said no to were literally the greatest gifts that I have ever received. I could not have been more heartbroken in college. A girl I was absolutely convinced that I would marry, we even did the, you know, visited her house and she visits mine and near the end of my college and, you know, then I had this vision for what God is calling me to do and her vision was I need, I need to live in this town for the rest of my life with my aging parents.
And I had to choose between this is God’s calling and this girl that I was deeply head over heels in love with that I dated for a couple years or more. And, I mean, I went through a year of…really? Really? I mean, really? Well, it couldn’t get better than this. Well, how little did I know? And God instead gave me a wife who, what her heart was because of what she had been through and how God had changed her, she actually was praying, Lord, in light of what You have done for me, would You bring me a pastor? I want to be in ministry. I want to serve You. I want to love You. So, You need to bring me a man who is a pastor.
Well, when I met her, I wasn’t going to be a pastor. I was going to be a missionary. Well, guess what, she’s got good prayers. I became a pastor and I’m glad I did. But my point is, the boundary lines, if you’ll trust God, if you’ll not evaluate too quickly about what really is good for you and what’s not – see, this is David reflecting and looking back. And then he just breaks into praise. Look at verse 7. “I will praise the Lord,” notice it’s a choice, “I will praise the Lord who counsels me; even at night, my heart instructs me.”
And he’s saying: You know, God still is instructing, still guiding, still directing, and in the midst of this, I have made a decision that I am going to be a worshipper and I’m going to keep His agenda and our relationship. Notice that word, “always before me.” I’m not going to get distracted, I’m not going to get distracted in some really good things, right? There are some really good things about sports, it can be a big distraction. There are great things about technology, right? But it can be a distraction.
There are great things about ministry. You know what? It can be a distraction. Relationships are really important but it can get to be a distraction. He’s back to that Romans 12:1 moment. I have dedicated myself. I want my relationship with God, I want my relationship with Jesus to be the central focus of my life and everything else will be concentric rings around that. If you’re married, wife and family, work, ministry. And he says, “Because the Lord is ever before me,” notice, “I will not be shaken.”
See, security doesn’t come from money, it doesn’t come from the government, it won’t come from peace in the world for sure. You want real security, David says while you’re living, set the Lord always before you. And because He’s at, notice, my right hand. In other words, the right hand is, this is what I do. This is my power. These are my skills. This is what matters. Because He is at my right hand, I won’t be shaken. I am not doing things on my own.
This is David, in his world as an Old Testament saint saying, “Apart from You, I can’t do anything.” But because of You, I don’t have to be afraid. I won’t be shaken. It doesn’t matter what happens in the culture. I can’t control what is going to happen in my family. I can’t control my health, I can’t control the weather, I can’t control national disasters, and I can’t control wars. But I can control this. Where is my dependency? Who is at my right hand? Who is guiding my life? And when I’m doing that, I will not be shaken.
So, he has looked up in prayer, he has looked around and loves what God has done. Then he looks within, he has appraised his situation, he approves what God has done, he adores and praises God, and now he looks beyond. And he looks beyond with delight. He’s got this picture. What’s life going to be like in the future? And it’s not just the future, he’s thinking, What is life going to be like in the ultimate future, the beyond, the grave? Notice what he says, “Therefore,” response, “my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices.”
By the way, it’s good to do that. It’s good to reflect on who God is, on what He has done, and not just sort of internally go, Mm-hm, yeah, that was nice. But notice your heart rejoices and then notice my tongue rejoices. He actually verbalizes. I don’t know about you, but some of the stories of Jesus, they so fascinate me, because I never opened the Bible growing up. I heard some Bible stories and went to church, but I, you know, never understood. And the one about the ten lepers always has fascinated me.
I have this picture of these, like, ten guys, you know, they’ve got the bells around them, and the skin’s all messed up and probably some of them lost their fingers and, you know, they are complete outcasts and, you know, then if you know the story, Jesus heals ten lepers as they are on their way. And, I mean, Wahh! Look at your face! It’s good! Your fingers came back! [unintelligible] You know, man, they’re going, ah! I mean, they’re high-fiving each other, they’re doing all kind, wow, wow, wow, wow! And one of them goes back to thank Jesus. Now, here’s the deal, I hope I’m not reading too much in. I would bet a boatload of money there were ten people that were very grateful. There were ten people that were going, “This is awesome. I’m so grateful.
This is where I was and this is where I am now. Great, great, great, great, great!” Only one took the time to verbalize to the One who healed him how grateful he was from his heart for what He did. And I find in my life that it is easy to pray and to see God work and have this internal, I feel thankful. Oh, I feel thankful. I’m grateful in my heart. I think it matters to God. Not that He doesn’t know what’s on my heart but I think it matters that we stop and say, “Thank You. We acknowledge it was You. You did it.”
So, I’d just encourage you, David, he helps us. His heart was glad, his tongue rejoices. Joy is one of the evidences of walking with the Lord. And then notice he says after that, “My body also will rest secure.” He’s beginning to look at the future and the long-term future, “Because You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay.”
He knew he would have a resurrection and then he goes on to say, he talks about that eternal life. “You have made known to me the path of life, You will fill me with joy in Your presence with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.” And so, the Old Testament clearly teaches here, Job, other psalms: This isn’t all there is. For us who are New Testament Christians it begins the moment that we receive Christ as our Savior. And as I mentioned, when you do that, you pass from death to life. You have eternal life now. The purpose of His Word, the Christ living in you, by His Spirit, it will affirm and He will affirm this is true. And He will guide you with His Word.
And the whole point of the Church is you don’t have to do this alone. There’s a group of people that you can help and they will help you. And that as you live in this way together, the light will shine into the darkness and people will see love and truth and you make a difference and your focus is outward. Jesus lives in us; we have eternal life. And the things that He did when He walked around like healing people and helping people and teaching God’s truth – we are now His body and that’s the calling. And this crazy thing, the way He works it, when you give your life away, you’ll find it. The greatest joy is when we give our life away and live and serve others.
And so, David is telling us here he has great, great hope. Now, at this point you might say, okay, David’s perspective is he prays, he loves, he reflects, he delights, he’s got this assurance. I’m glad, with very little evidence compared to us, that he’s got the eternal life thing down. But what about me? Could you give me, like, some very practical help? Some of you are probably saying, “Your dad probably asked you to come and have a talk. Part because you’re his son but part, you’re a pastor, right?”
I mean, you know what? If you’ve got as a son who is a mechanic and your car breaks down and you call him or in my case, I’ve got a son who is a physical therapist. When I get injured I go see him. My dad has got a big theological question and it's not only personal but he goes, “I’m afraid to die.” And so, we began to talk about that and I said, “Dad, what are you afraid of?” He goes, “I think it’s, it’s a lot of things. I know Jesus loves me, there’s evidence in my life. I don’t doubt that, but it just seems like a vague, you know, I don’t know what to look forward to. It’s just so unknown.”
And I said, “Well, Dad, what do you think heaven is going to be like?” He said, “I have no idea, but I don’t know, I guess you sing a lot.” You know? He was a Marine, right? Yeah, boy, just can’t wait to sing for a few millennium or so. And I guess I know there’s some worship services, because, you know, I read there in Revelation that they are doing a lot of that, but I have no idea.” And I said, “Dad, I think you’re not afraid to die. I think you don’t have any idea what living is like.”
I said, “Let me give you a picture, Dad, that might help. You know, when a little baby is in the womb, they think that’s all there is, right? And so, actually it’s a pretty sort of scary moment for them is that’s, it’s comfortable and they can hear their mother’s heartbeat and it’s a perfect environment and, gosh, they get all their food, they’ve got an umbilical cord, and then they have this sort of very breakthrough experience that feels like, oh my gosh! What happened? And, you know, we smack them on the rear end and, you know, all of a sudden they’ve got to breathe on their own. And it's a different kind of life.”
And I said, “Dad, what the Bible teaches is that we are not going from life to death. What the Bible actually teaches is that we are going from death to life. This body that we have is going to wear out. Sin came and we are all going to die. We are all terminal.” And so, that’s the picture. There’s probably three kind of metaphors or pictures that talk about death in the New Testament.
And one is that, talks about believers go asleep. You know, they just, they go asleep and then they wake up with the Lord. 1 Thessalonians. He goes, “I don’t want you to be ignorant about those who have fallen asleep.” It’s a technical term for Christians who have died in the Lord. [And] another one, he talks about they go on a journey. The word is used of, like when a ship was ready to sail, and the ship has to sail to a new adventure, a new season, a new life. And the last one is absent from the body is to be, home. You’re leaving death into life. You’re going on an adventure that’s going to be great because of who is there and all that God has planned.
And, Dad, I just want you to know that it’s like falling asleep and waking up.” And then I realized, I said, “Dad, you know, I read a book recently. Someone gave it to me and it’s called Heaven by Randy Alcorn. And he read, like, two hundred and thirty-six books. Everything he could get his hands on about heaven and realized there had been no real teaching specifically on heaven in decades. In fact, he did all the research he could about heaven and then he began to pair it with what God is like and, by the way, I can’t say this for sure, but if x is true and y is true, then it would seem these other things are very, very logical.”
I mean he talks even about pets and life and trees and music and culture and what we might do. And maybe he’s not a hundred percent right. The biblical basis of it is super, super solid. And maybe some of his imagination and projections aren’t exactly right, but here’s what this book did for my father and did for me. When you read this book, heaven goes from sipping iced tea and singing songs and floating on clouds to, “I can’t wait to… I mean, that’s really?” “Yeah.” I mean, when you read this, you’re… “Well, that’s in the Bible.” “What?” “That’s in the Bible.” I got him started on it and then his wife, Evelyn, who is now with him in heaven, she read it to him in those last days. And I had a conversation, phone call, later with my dad. He goes, “Chip, I can’t wait to go.” He goes, “I realized I was afraid, but I was afraid because I was going from a known to an unknown that actually didn’t feel very exciting other than the option was not good.
I do want to be with Jesus.” He said, “I had no idea. I have never thought about heaven like that.” And so, could I encourage you? If you’re afraid to die for whatever reason, why don’t you talk to the Lord about it? Why don’t you open Psalm 16 and why don’t you walk through the kind of prayer, Lord, I’m all Yours. And then why don’t you just kind of pause and maybe, I mean, literally get a sheet of paper out and just try and list all the things God has ever done for you.
It might take a few hours. And say, The God who has done all those things, I wonder what His plan will be when there are no barriers. When there’s a new heaven, and by the way, a new earth that will be a perfect earth and that everything God put in motion in Eden, it will be that on supernatural, spiritual steroids without any sin, any sorrow. And heaven has allowed saints in the past to endure whatever: martyrdom, suffering, difficulty for Christ and the gospel.