DOCTRINE OF DYING GRACE
GRACE BIBLE CHURCH
ROBERT MCLAUGHLIN BIBLE MINISTRIES
GBIBLE.ORG
PASTOR ROBERT R. MCLAUGHLIN

Point 1. There are seven categories of Death in the Bible.

1. Spiritual death is separation from God in time because of the imputation of Adam's original sin to our genetically-formed old sin nature at birth.

This saves our personal sins for imputation to Christ on the cross.

Adam's original sin has perfect affinity for the old sin nature.

Adam's original sin plus the old sin nature equals spiritual death.

Spiritual death is the penalty of Adam's original sin, Rom 5:12, 6:23, "the wages of sin is [spiritual] death." 1 Cor 15:22; Eph 2:1.

We do nothing for our condemnation.
We are condemned at birth.

Christ died spiritually for us while bearing our sins.

His spiritual death provides our salvation.

His physical death had nothing to do with our salvation.

Physical death is the separation of the soul and spirit (in the case of believers only) from the body.

The spark of life in the soul is recorded physically as the EEG (electro-en-cephalo-gram). Mat 8:22; Rom 8:38 9; 2 Cor 5:1 8; Phil 1:21.

2. The second death is the final judgment of the unbeliever.

When he dies, his soul goes to Hades until the end of time.

Then he is resurrected at the end of the Millennium to be judged by Jesus Christ at the Great White Throne judgment.

He is then cast into the Lake of Fire, which is the second death, Rev 20:12 15; Heb 9:27; Mt 25:41.

Operational death is the failure of spiritual growth resulting in failure to produce divine good.

We should advance in our priesthood and produce as an ambassador.

The more we grow, the more production we have as a result of our growth.

Operational death means zero production; it is the status of the reversionist or cosmic believer. James 2:26, "doctrine without production is dead."

Positional death means we are identified with Christ retroactively in His deaths, burial, and resurrection as part of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Rom 6:3-4.

Prior to our salvation, our old sin nature is our husband.

At the point of our salvation, we are divorced from the old sin nature.

For by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we are identified with Christ's rejection of good and evil in spiritual death, His separation from good and evil in physical death, and His divorce from good and evil in His burial.

At the same time, we are married to Christ as our new husband.

The Holy Spirit is the new marriage counselor.

The Law was the old marriage counselor.

Col 2:1-3 "You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God" means you are divorced from the old sin nature. This is called retroactive positional truth.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit puts us in union with Christ, called current positional truth.

Temporal death is the believer out of fellowship through personal sin. From the moment of our salvation, we also have relationship with God in the filling of the Holy Spirit. When we sin, we are out of fellowship with God and so lose the filling of the Holy Spirit. This is called death in Rom 8:6,13; Eph 5:14; 1 Tim 5:6; James 1:15; and Rev 3:1.

Sexual death is the inability to copulate. Abraham was sexually dead and God revived his sexual apparatus as part of his supergrace blessings, Rom 4:17 21; Heb 11:12.

Point 2. What does the Bible say about physical death?
1. Death is the way to end revolution, Num 16:25 31.

2. Death is a matter of the sovereignty of God based upon His omniscience of all the facts, Ps 68:19 20. Because of His perfect sovereignty, God is able to pick the right time, place, and conditions of your death. God predestined all this in eternity past.

3. Love (personal love between right man and right woman) is stronger than death, SOS 8:6. Love is a motivation and is stronger than any fear of death. This is also true of category one love for God the Father and occupation with Christ.

4. God can and does prolong physical life, Ps 102:19 20, 23 24, 118:18; Prov 14:27. Reversion recovery is a primary reason, so that you will have the opportunity to learn doctrine in order to face death later.
5. According to Jer 9:20 25, the woman must be taught to face the death of loved ones.

6. The sin unto death does not bring glory to God, Isa 38:18.

7. Death cannot be faced when the norms and standards of the right lobe are destroyed by life in the cosmic system, Lam 1:19 20

8. Dying grace is gain, Phil 1:21.

9. God provides dying grace for the believer, Amos 5:8.

10. God delivers the believer from violent death, Job 5:20; Ps 33:19, 56:13, 116:8. Dying grace is the greatest blessing in living.

Point 3. Causes of Physical Death to the Believer.
1. Dying grace.
2. Divine discipline or the sin unto death.
3. Reversionistic superimposition of human volition over divine sovereignty, i.e., suicide.

Point 4. Definition and Description of Dying Grace.

1. Dying grace is defined as the death of the mature believer. It is the experience of physical death under special provision of grace, whereby the believer involved experiences both blessing and happiness while dying.

2. Dying grace can occur regardless of the amount of pain and suffering while dying. There could be maximum pain or a minimum of pain, but in either case there is maximum happiness and soul stimulation.

3. Dying grace is for the mature believer only. Ps 33:18 19, "Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who are occupied with Him, on those who have confidence in His grace, to deliver their souls from death and to keep them alive in depression." Compare 2 Tim 4:6 8, Ps 116:15.

4. Dying grace removes the fear of death, Ps 23:4. According to 1 Cor 15:55, dying grace takes the sting out of death.

5. Dying grace is the great blessing which comes at the termination of one's life. It is still a part of living. Physical death plus doctrine equals the greatest blessing of life.

6. Dying grace is part of the mature believer's supergrace paragraph. It is the link between temporal and eternal supergrace (or escrow) blessings, Rom 5:20; Heb 11:13. It is the bridge which takes the believer from grace to grace.

7. Dying grace is the link between time and eternity, Heb 11:13. The mature believer has the best for time. Dying grace is blessing from God that is better than any other blessing in time. In eternity He has better than the best. If there is nothing worth living for, there is nothing worth dying for.

8. Dying grace is the bridge between the a fortiori blessings of time and eternity, Rom 5:12 17.

a. This a fortiori rationale says that if God provides the greater in time, He cannot withhold the less in eternity. It is easier for God to produce eternal blessing than to produce temporal blessing for the mature believer in time. Dying grace links the two categories of blessing.

b. The believer without blessing in time receives none in eternity.

c. In 2 Tim 4:7 8, Paul was dying. Since he held onto maturity until death, he knew he would be rewarded in eternity.

d. The relationship of blessing in time with blessing in eternity is found in dying grace, Heb 11:13. Dying grace brings all eternal rewards into clear focus.

9. The perception, metabolization, and application of Bible doctrine is the only way to reach and maintain spiritual maturity and to receive dying grace blessings, Phil 3:12 14. You must press on, maintain your momentum, and advance to the objective for the purpose of reward.

10. Job 5:19 24 teaches that the mature believer has no fear of death. He has no fear of anything dangerous.

a. No believer dies until the Lord says it's time to come home. Once God calls a believer home, nothing can keep him here. The living must go on living while the dying are dying. A person in dying grace never hinders others from continuing their living.

b. God is the expert and He decides when is the perfect time for each of us to depart from the earth. God's time is the best time.

11. See also the doctrine of Life and Death, and the doctrine of Physical Death.

Point 5. Exceptions to Dying Grace.

1. The sin unto death, Phil 3:18 19.

2. Transfer to eternity without dying, e.g., Enoch and Elijah, Heb 11:5 6; 2 Kgs 2:1.

3. The Rapture generation, 1 Cor 15:51 57; 1 Thes 4:16 18.

Point 6. What All Believers Have after Death.

1. We have no appointment with judgment, Rom 8:1. Heb 9:27 28 teaches that death is a terror to the unbeliever.

2. We are "face to face with the Lord," 2 Cor 5:8.

3. Rev 21:4 teaches there is no pain, sorrow, or embarrassment beyond the grave, (except for ashamedness at the Judgment Seat of Christ). No human language can describe the fantastic blessings in heaven. To ascribe to heaven what you think is good and enjoyable in life is a heathenistic thought. Heaven is more than what we enjoy in life. We cannot understand heaven, and therefore explanations are given in negative terms. We will have an abundance of doctrine in heaven.

4. We have an eternal inheritance, 1 Pet 1:4 5. We share Christ's inheritance no matter how we fail in time.

5. We have a new home, Jn 14:1 3. We all will have a perfect home in eternity.

6. We have eternal life. Right now we have everlasting life, but after death we have eternal life, 1 Jn 5:11 12.

7. We receive a resurrection body, Jn 11:25; Phil 3:21; 1 Jn 3:1 2; Job 19:25 26.

Point 7. Principles.

1. The capacity for dying results from spiritual capacity righteousness in living. Spiritual capacity righteousness is attained through the three spiritual skills (the filling of the Holy Spirit, metabolization of doctrine, and execution of the protocol plan of God through the use of the ten problem solving devices). Capacity for living becomes capacity for dying. If you have capacity for life, then you will have that capacity for dying.

2. Spiritual capacity righteousness is the basis for grace blessing in living and grace blessing in dying. This is what is meant by Phil 1:21, "For me living--Christ, dying--profit." There is great excitement for the believer in his dying experience.

3. In the divine initiative of grace, our shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, has provided two categories of fantastic blessing on this earth: the blessing related to living and the blessing related to dying. Living grace is related to the function of the spiritual skills, the application of metabolized doctrine to experience, but dying grace is walking through a valley where you live doctrine. You apply doctrine in the living phase; you live doctrine in the dying phase.

4. Every believer has his very own death-shadowed valley. This means that God decides the time, the manner, and the place of our death. The dying and death of every believer is the grace decision, wise decision, loving decision, fair decision of the sovereignty of God.

a. God is perfect; therefore, his timing is perfect in our death. Because of this, God knows the exact right time to transfer the believer from this veil of tears into His presence in heaven, so that no believer can be removed from this life apart from the wise and sovereign decision of a loving God. Until God makes that decision, no instrument of death can remove the believer from this life on earth.
b. Since our death is God's personal decision, it is also God's victory, but He has transferred the victory to us. For every believer, without exception, death is God's victory, which He has given to each one of us. The Lord Jesus Christ not only determines time, manner, and place of our death, but He also accompanies us through our very own valley. God has given to us through the divine initiative of antecedent grace our very own death-shadowed valley, that is, the time, the manner, and the place of our death.

(1) 1 Cor 15:55, 57, "O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?" ...but thanks be to God, who gives to us for our benefit the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

(2) Psa 116:15, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."

(3) Rom 14:8, "For not only if we live, we live for the Lord, but also if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's." Compare Phil 1:21, "For me living [is] Christ, and dying [is] profit."

(4) Ecc 3:1-2, "There is a right time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven-- A time to be born, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted."

(5) Job 1:21, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord."

In 1Th 4:13, 16-18, we are told not to be ignorant about the subject of the death of loved ones, "For we do not want to be ignorant, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest [believers ignorant of doctrine and unbelievers] who have no hope. ...For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words."

5. Principles for the Mourner.

a. Your grief is a private matter between you and the Lord.

b. Your loneliness and sorrow belongs to you. Your fragrance of memories belong to you. Your comfort from the word of God belongs to you. You know that the one you love is in a place of no more sorrow, no more fears, no more pain, no more death. You know that the one you love is there because of God's grace decision.

c. What does not belong to you is bitterness or resentment toward others who do not seem to care.

d. Even in a social moment, when your heart is broken and you are grieving and you find yourself surrounded by people who are laughing and enjoying life, do not resent or hate them, and do not impose on them your sorrow and your grief.

e. We are left behind to honor the Lord with the function of the spiritual skills and to fulfill our destiny through the response to the divine initiative of grace. The response is grace orientation and doctrinal orientation.

f. Occupation with the person of Christ demands that we keep on advancing to the high ground of spiritual maturity. God has left us behind for a very definite purpose, which demands that we execute the protocol plan of God.

g. In this way, we honor the memory of those whom we love and we retain the fragrance of memories until we meet them again in heaven. Rom 14:8, "For not only if we live, we live for the Lord, but also if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord."

6. Life must go on.
a. Life must go on for the living even though there is great sorrow.
b. Only the divine initiative of grace can provide the necessary comfort and strength to carry on. Our comfort and strength must come from the power of the word of God.

c. We have been given the power through metabolized doctrine in the stream of consciousness and the problem solving devices to avoid dishonoring the memory, the death of loved ones, with the arrogant reactions of bitterness, self-pity, irrationality, hatred, resentment, malice, implacability, revenge. All of these are the sins of those who grieve without the comfort of the word of God.

d. We do not forget loved ones who have preceded us though their very own death-shadowed valley into heaven. Even though we are filled with sorrow and tenderness, we have learned that we must continue in life and fulfill God's plan, will, and purpose for our lives.

e. Life must go on; history must continue.

f. The divine purpose which keeps us on this earth must be fulfilled. We have been given extra time to be consistent in the function of the spiritual skills. Dying and death is profitable to those who have preceded us into heaven, so that with our sorrow we never resent the happiness of those who go on with their lives.