My God, my heaven, my all My
God, my heaven, my all May I but safely reach my home My God,
my heaven, my all There shall I bathe my weary soul in seas
of heavenly rest, And not a wave of trouble roll across my peaceful
breast. Across my peaceful breast. Across my peaceful breast. Redeem the time. Scripture says, redeem the time
by the truth. Pay whatever the cost. Pearl a great price. Sell all
that you have to get it. You've heard it said before that,
well, the scripture says, whatever your hand finds to do, do it
with all your might. And have you heard it paraphrased
that whatever you're doing, do it. with all the gusto you have. You're going to work, work hard,
get something out of it. You're going to play, play hard,
enjoy it. Some of us went out to eat last
night. You're going to go out to eat,
get everything they offer you. Spend all your money. Get the
dessert. Get coffee. You know, to worship. Give it all you got. Why not
get something out of it? We have so few opportunities
to do this, you know? The world takes up the vast majority
of our time. And what I'm talking about is
a trivial thing, mostly. And what we're doing, well, religion has all these
little moral stories and antidotes and things and little sermonettes
that they give people to tell them how to live, how to live this life. But really
what we're doing here is preparing people to die. fraternity. This is just not
lasting. It's not going to last very long.
A wise preacher. Wise preacher years ago said
this, he said, I preach. I preach as one who may never
preach again. My last message. I wish I could
do that every time, but. Nevertheless he said that I preach
is one who may never preach again this may be the last he said
I preach as a dying man. He did. A dying man to dying
man. Preaching to people persons.
Some of which may not be back the next. When we say that preaching. and
the hearing of the gospel and what we're doing here is a matter
of life and death it really is it really is. He that hath the son hath life
he that hath not the son hath not life. It really is a matter
of life and death it is true. It is true it's not just rhetoric
it's true And if God said that every word
would accomplish something, that it never returns void, then my
word will not return void. It accomplishes something. That
something is being accomplished. Somebody is hearing something.
Somebody is prophesying. Maybe the seed is being sown.
Maybe, for the first time, light is being given ears to hear,
eyes to see. Is this important? I'll tell you why it's so important.
I'll tell you why it is a matter of life and death. Man, I hope
you can just listen to me. Like I was saying, give it all
you've got. How about it? Browse yourself. Huh? There's something hanging over
everybody in here's head. I tell you why it is a matter
of life or death. Because there's something hanging
over everyone in here's head. There's something that tempers
everything in this life. There's something which we all
cannot escape. I mean all of us. Every person
in this room is going to be faced with something imminent. It's
called death. We've seen it from the young
to the old. And yet it's something that everybody
avoids talking about. No one wants to talk about. Makes people uncomfortable when
you deal with it. Nearly everyone avoids talking
about it, doesn't like to think about it, and therefore never
thinks about it. But then it happens. Always, nearly always, suddenly,
unexpectedly, traumatically, irrevocably, death. all around us. We can't be like cattle. And
one of which is taken out of the field to slaughter and the
other might look up and they might not. And then one day perhaps if we're
given time If we're given time we're faced with it if we have
a death bed so to speak we'll be faced with. And we'll have to deal with every
human being we'll have to deal with let's face it. I think we'll
have to face it there's no getting around it's here. It's pressing
matter isn't it. Look at. Our text, look at verses
25 and 26, says, Now he, Christ, must reign, till he hath put
all enemies under his feet. And the last enemy that shall
be destroyed is death. The last enemy. In verse 22,
it says, In Adam all die. And Adam all die, unless the
Lord Jesus Christ comes back today. And that's why Paul said,
I'll show you a mystery so all of us won't sleep. He's not just
talking to the people back then. He's talking to us now, writing
to us now. Perhaps when the Lord went well,
when the Lord comes, God's people aren't going to literally be
put in a grave. They're not going to die. They're
just going to be changed. Unless the Lord comes today or
tomorrow in the next several years though. Every person in
this room is going to die in Adam all die young people. The youngest person in here listen
to me now this one Jonathan. My best friend fifteen years
old I found him dead. Carried his dead body out of
the basement where he asphyxiated. Dead. Boy, that had a profound
effect on me. Fifteen-year-old. Fifteen-year-olds
don't die. Yes, they do. Dead. In Adam, all die. All die. Every person in this
room is going to die. And breathe your last breath,
our last breath. We're going to say, if we have
time, we're going to say goodbye. We're going to say goodbye. Farewell
to everybody. And everything, everything, we're
going to give up everything. And everyone is gone forever. Is this important? This is something absolutely. My pastor preached a message
years ago entitled, Let's Talk About Dying. That's what this is all about. This is preparation for that. It happens in Adam, all die. I wish the Holy Spirit would
impress that on every person in this room. You know, in Adam,
all die. Every son of Adam will die. It says in verse twenty-three,
look at this, every man in his own order. In other words, God
has it in order. Every person dies in order. There's
somebody just now died somewhere, exactly the person God That's
the order which you get somebody else just then. It's so much
that every second. Somewhere in the exact order. That God almighty place there
the end of their life. Look at job fourteen with job
fourteen this is not. Superstition, this is not fatalism,
this is God's Word. Job 14, right before the book
of Psalms, you find the book of Job. Everything by the predetermined
order of God Almighty, in exact order. He has a book called the
book of life. A book of life. Every human being
that's ever lived is in it. Everything about them. Order.
That's right. Their birth, what they're like,
everything in their lives, the day of their death, the instrument,
the man. Look at it, Job 14 verses 1 through
5. Man that is born of woman is
a few days, few days. Henry, you're seventy-some years
old. It seems like days, doesn't it? It really does. It seems
like just days, doesn't it? Now, somebody fifteen. Twelve
years old. Thanks I got seventy years wow
a long time no. Things like days that. It really
does ask him. And he'll tell you that he feels
like he ought to still be eighteen years old. Yes he will. And you can understand where
the years have gone. Few days. And full of trouble.
Full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower
and is cut down. He flees as a shadow that continueth
not. Shadow. How long does a shadow
last? Not long. And does God open his eyes on such a one?
Does God even think on such a one? Bring into judgment with him?
Even consider? Read on. Who can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean? That's our terrible problem. Unclean. Seeing his days, verse
five, man's days are determined. You see that? The number of his
months are with God. God has appointed his bounds.
He cannot pass them. He cannot pass them. The means
of our death, everyone in here, every person in here, the means
of your death is appointed by God. Whether it be disease, a
car wreck, Whatever is appointed by God no accidents there are
no accidents. God work at all. That's what
this book. And the moment of it is determined
by God go back to our text. Now to most human beings. I hope you're still with me.
To most human beings, death is an enemy. To most human beings, death is
an enemy. An enemy to everything they hold
dear. An enemy that's come to take
away everything they love, everything they hold dear. Like a thief,
our Lord says. a dreaded, hateful foe that cannot
be defeated and will someday be faced to their destruction. And what makes death such a fearful
enemy to everybody, to most people, is it's so unknown. Like a thief,
don't know when he's coming. Dark, always in the dark, seemingly. And it happens. This fear fills
people with fear. Fear of death, fear of dying,
the enemy. Why do we have to die? Why do
we die? Why do we die? Why do things
die? I remember a young child one time seeing
a dead animal for the first time and saying, why? Why did it have
to die? Go with me to Romans chapter
5, okay? Romans chapter 5. Hold that,
in Adam all die. Hold that 1 Corinthians 15, Romans
chapter 5. God's Word says this in Romans
chapter five here what God's Word says about death verse twelve. Wherefore as by one man sin entered
into the world. This thing called sin entered
into the world. There was no sin when God first
created man on this earth there was no sin. Had there never been
sin, he would never have died. But sin entered the world. And
so, death by sin. I still don't understand. Death
passed upon, it says, all men for to all have sin. Here's the
reason. And even animals. Even the creation,
everything has to die. Even animals have to die. There's a point in time even
for animals to die. Everything dies. I was watching
a couple of young bucks in my yard this morning looking out
the window. There were two young, strong,
young bucks with racks on their heads out there just enjoying
themselves, eating. Seemingly not care. I thought. Before I leave this house I might
hear a gunshot. I don't know. It's not if it's
when. Right and Adam all that why why
Well, death is God's decree, because he said the soul that
sinneth must surely die. God says, I kill. I kill. God is holy. God is just. God will punish
sin. Sinners have to die. God is holy. He cannot. Bear the guilt. Got it. So. In Adam all that. I go back to our text. All right. Is it clear to everybody in here?
We got to die. I didn't spend much time, but
is it clear to you why? At least you understand, we understand
our heads that What word says that God says, I'm holy, I will
punish sin, all have sinned, all have to die. Death is the
wages of sin. All right, now look at our text
again. First Corinthians fifteen, verse twenty-two says, Even so,
however, at the same time in Christ shall all be made alive. Most everyone in here was kind
of uncomfortable for the first last 15 minutes. But in Christ shall all be made alive. That
is, all those in Christ be made alive. I hadn't seen, ear hadn't
heard, neither have entered in the heart of a man or a woman
or anybody really entered into their hearts and minds what that
means. A life. Our Lord said life more
abundant. Eternal life. We tried to get
into that Wednesday night, didn't we? I think just for just a brief
moment, for a few minutes, some of us got a hold of what it just
might be like. And I saw a bunch of smiles.
and a bunch of joy and we all went out of here joyful. Yeah. In Christ, though, in Christ
shall all be made alive. Now, all die in Adam. Everybody who's a son of Adam
will die. Even so, everyone that's in Christ,
that is a son of God, everyone that's in Christ will be made
alive. That doesn't mean every human
being. It means everyone in Christ, all in Christ, all in Adam died. Every son of Adam died. All in
Christ made alive. You see what that's saying? Everybody's
not in Christ. There's some people outside of
Christ. Some of the scriptures said you were without God, without
Christ. There's some in this room without
Christ, not in Christ. What does it mean to be in Christ?
Scripture says a lot about this, doesn't it, John? You read Ephesians
1 and 2 and Colossians 1 and just over and over it keeps saying,
in him, in him, in him, in him. In Christ. What does that mean? Now I'll just give you one verse.
Of God, how does a person get in Christ? Well, right now there's
a baby in Jennifer Holland's belly. How'd they get that? The father
said. But really, he didn't even decide.
God did. God's the author of life. There
is no life created by God. And God Almighty, before the
world began, chose a people. and put them in Christ of God. Have you been chosen? And put
in Christ. As long as Jennifer lives, that
baby gets everything from her. That's a good description of
salvation of God. Are you in Christ? Who I've got. Here's describes
what Christ is and what we believe and what we know. About who I've got is made under
us wisdom we would know God, but by through Christ. Wisdom
righteousness we would know anything about righteousness would know
we needed one would know we didn't have one wouldn't care unless
God. So Christ our right. Wisdom right
the sanctification we would know that we're our sense of separation.
That we're. By nature children of wrath even
as others have that God set us apart. We wouldn't know, wouldn't
care, except in Christ. And redemption. We wouldn't know
that we sold ourselves out to sin. We were on the auction block
until we heard the story of Hosea. Our Hosea, our Christ, coming
to redeem us, wouldn't we? In Christ. In Christ. How do
you know a person's in Christ? How do you know a person's in
Christ? Faith, hope, and love. Watch out. How do you know a
person's in Christ? Faith, hope, and love. They believe
Christ. They have faith in Christ. I
don't mean they just believe He existed. They have faith in
Christ. Their belief, their trust, their
confidence is in the Lord Jesus Christ. They need Him, and all
of their hope of hope, all of their hope of eternal life, of
after this life, after this death that they have going to live
on with Christ is in Christ. And love. Faith, hope and love,
they they love Christ, they love the gospel. How do you know somebody's
in Christ? How do you know somebody's in love? How do you know somebody's
really married? How do you know they love that
person? Faith, hope and love. And for
every believer, everyone who's in Christ, he said, Christ said,
who cannot lie, he said, he that liveth and believeth in me shall
never die. No death. The last enemy shall be destroyed. Death. Christ
said, he that liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" That's
what the Lord said. He was saying that to Mary and Martha, who
were so distraught over their brother having died unexpectedly
at a young age. And they missed him terribly.
And our Lord said, He that liveth and believeth in me shall never
die. Do you believe this? Oh, but Master, if you'd been
here, he wouldn't have died. Martha, I am the resurrection and the
life. May God bring this home to our
understanding this morning. Now, I've got to deal with these
verses. I've got to deal with them faithfully.
In verse 24, it says, Then comes the end. The end is coming. I know everybody lives like there
is no end, but there's coming an end. Everything has an end,
and this world has one. It's coming to an end, and that's
when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God. When Christ
has delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when
Christ shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. When I first started this message,
I had so many pages about this. the kingdoms of darkness, the
rulers of the darkness, and Satan, and what all happened back then.
I tore up about four pages full of messages. I tore it up. We don't have the time, nor do
we have the capacity. But there are kingdoms. There's
a ruler of the darkness of this world, prince of the power of
the air. I know men call that foolishness and mythology and
superstition, religious superstition. It's so. That's what God said.
That's what Jesus Christ said. There is an enemy. a foe, and
his name is Satan. He said, I beheld Lucifer, I
beheld Satan cast as lightning to the earth. Went down into
the earth, and he's here in this earth, and he's the ruler of
the kingdom of darkness. And it's no coincidence, and
no mere It's an irony that everything, every movie, every book, everything
has a kingdom of light and a kingdom of darkness and has a good spirit
and a bad spirit. It's no coincidence. It's because
it's written right here. It's true. And some are subjects
to this evil kingdom and some are subjects to the good kingdom. And this evil kingdom will be
brought down and destroyed, what it says right there, by
one mightier, by the King of kings and Lord of lords. This
is not fairytale. The truth is stranger than fiction. He must rule. He must reign. Christ must reign. That's what
this book says from start to finish. There's a king reigning,
ruling. He must reign. Till he hath put
all enemies under his feet. All enemies. Now read on. Verse 27. He hath put all things
under his feet. That is, God hath put all things
under Christ's feet. But when he says all things are
put under him, it's excluding God the Father. Christ was subject,
you know, to God. Verse twenty-eight, when all
things shall be subdued unto him, that is, the kingdom delivered
to God, the kingdom completely inhabited. You see, the son came
down here to find every single subject that God wrote and put
in the kingdom This kingdom, he completes it. He completes the role. He has
the names written on his breastplate, all of his hands. He comes, he
saves them, he redeems everyone of them. And he's going to deliver
them someday to the father of the kingdom, complete, secured
by Christ, the children which you've given them. And in all
principalities and powers, Satan, the demons, the rulers of the
darkness of this world will be destroyed completely and under
his feet. And then it says that the son
himself, verse 28, will be subject unto him that put all things
under him. That is God, that God may be all in all. What that means is, now God is
spirit, that God became flesh. And we're going to see God. But
no man can see God. Oh, yes, we're going to see God. We're going to see Christ sitting
on the throne, yet that's God. We're going to worship him as
God, not Jesus. God, my Lord and my God. God
is all, all and in all. Now look at verse 29. He says, now, why are they baptized,
people baptized, for the dead if it's not so? If there's no
resurrection, why are they baptized for the dead? We go through this
thing of baptism. We have this pool that we call
a Baptist church. All kind of people have been
in this pool. and other baptismal pools and baptized. What is that? What does it mean? Well, what
we're showing, we're talking about the Lord Jesus Christ,
we're confessing him in believers baptism and someone confesses,
I believe Christ, I trust Christ. Christ is my hope. Christ is
my salvation. Christ is my all. I believe,
cry, I believe the record that God's given concerning his son.
And I want to confess him before the world. And this is how you
do it. And I believe that as Christ lived, he lived for me.
But then you take that person and put them under the water,
don't you? The baptism needs to be overwhelmed, put under. As Christ was buried, so I was
buried. I was crucified with Christ.
And my sins were laid on him. He was my substitute. And when
he died and was buried, see, the soul that sinneth must die. And when Christ died, I died
in my substance. My sins were laid on Him. He
died for me. He was buried. But when we baptize
people, do we put them under and leave them there? Is there anybody still in there
that's gone in there? raised. As Christ rose from the grave,
that's what this is all about. Christ rose from the grave, I
rise, I live. I'm quickened together with Christ,
resurrected with Christ. I'm seated right now with Him.
See, I wasn't there when that happened to Him, when He died, but I died. I was
killed by God. I was killed. I was punished. My sins were punished. And then
Christ rose and sits at the right hand. Well, I'm not there. Oh,
yes, I am. Well, Paul says, if the dead
rise not. This is a ridiculous thing to
do. He's not saying, like, Catholic
doctrine, some of these others do, that you're baptized for
the dead, that you do things for those that have already died,
like indulgences paid and so forth. Now, he's talking about
if Christ is just dead and never raised, what's this all about?
What's the sense in there? See that? Read on. And he says
in verse thirty, why do we stand in jeopardy every hour? Why are
our lives in danger? I protest, he said. I protest
all this talk. I protest. I object. Like a lawyer,
object. I object. Away with that. That's not right. I rejoice. You rejoice. I protest by your
rejoicing. And some of you in here are rejoicing
in what's being said. Some of you. Faces are lighting
up. Some of you have a real, genuine interest in this. Life
responds to life. I see it. And I protest against
all such talk that there's no resurrection of the dead. I protest. Look there. Somebody's rejoicing
in it. Somebody believes it. And he goes on to say, I fought
with beasts over this. And if the dead don't rise, well,
let's just eat and drink. We're just like dogs. Why not
be like an animal? And most people are. Most people
are. They don't believe in it. and
resurrection, so they live like animals. All they think about
is food, drink, and sex. That's it. Animals. Well, man's a higher creature
than that. Man has a soul that goes on to
God. Well, all right, I've got to
hurry. I've got to quit. So he says
down in verse thirty Three, don't be deceived. Don't listen to
modern talk, evil communications. That's what he's saying. Corrupt
good manners. Don't listen to what psychologists
and sociologists and scientists and all that are telling you.
Don't listen to them. Don't watch the news. Don't believe
anything and everything you see and hear. Don't do it. Believe
everything you hear right here, but not everything out there.
They're ignorant fools. Human beings are ignorant fools.
They're going to live this life like that and gone. Then what? They're going to invest everything
they've got in a moment, in a breath. Boy, that's foolish, isn't it?
That's foolish. There's something else out there.
They go on. They go on. So he says, wake
up, verse 34. Wake up, literally. I see people in here this morning
that are literally asleep to this message of life and death.
Wake up to righteousness. We've got to have a righteousness.
And sin not be unbelief. Some don't have the knowledge
of God, as some in here right now don't have this knowledge
of God, which to know Him is to have eternal life. And some
don't have it. Some don't have it. Some are
going to die like a dog. I speak this to your shame. You
see how he says that? All right, but now go down to
verse 54. All the way down to verse 54. Down to verse 54. I told you
Wednesday night we looked at this change that takes place
on every believer. It said, now when this corruptible
shall have put on incorruption, they're going to put this body
in the grave and it's going to rot. Yours is. You've got to get it in the ground
real quick or it will start stinking. Matter of fact, it starts corrupting,
Jenny said, about 20 years old. Well, when this mortal, that
is, it has an end. mortal shall have put on immortality
no end. Then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written in Isaiah 25, death is swallowed
up in victory." Death is swallowed up in victory. Well, who got the victory over
death? Why does it say that death is swallowed up in victory? Who
got the victory over death? To a believer, death is not an
enemy. Listen to me now. To a believer,
our death is not going to be the end of everything we hold
dear. To a believer, it's not going to be the end at all. To
a believer, death is not an enemy, a dreaded, fearful enemy, unknown
enemy that we don't want to ever face. To a believer, it's not
the enemy. It's our eternal friend. To a
believer, the Lord Jesus Christ changed it. He said, it's not
death. He said, you'll never die. It's not death. The Lord
called it something that we all look forward to. Sleep. The older you get, the harder
it is to get real good sleep in. I'm learning that brother
here. I've been waking up in the middle
of the night for no reason. I didn't used to have that problem.
Teenager shirt on. If you didn't wake teenagers
up, I guess they'd just sleep on through the rest of the day,
wouldn't they? 20 hours, 24. Wake him up. Is he alive? He's sleeping. But our Lord called it sleep. It's not an enemy. I don't ever
dread going to sleep at night. I used to when I was a teenager.
That's the funny thing about it. They don't want to go to
sleep, but then when they do, you can't wake them up. But I don't look, I don't dread
it, do you? I look forward to it every night.
I really do. And when it doesn't come, then
I'm troubled, lay there with all my troubles on my mind, you
know, I can't get to sleep. And I always, that verse comes
to my mind, he giveth his beloved sleep. And I pray, Lord, give
me some sleep. I need sleep. Well, he calls death sleep. Nancy,
that's what he calls it, sleep. They said, Lazarus died. No,
no, no, no, no. He's not dead. He was dead. When he didn't know
me, when he didn't know anything about the resurrection, he was
dead, but now he's not. I quickened him. Yeah, but his
body's not living. Oh, he's sleeping. Not the enemy at all. Not an enemy at all. He says
Christ, he said in 2 Timothy, Christ abolished death. Abolished death. and have brought
life and immortality to light to understand through the gospel.
We wouldn't understand any of this. We wouldn't understand
any of this except through the gospel. Now listen to me very
carefully. Listen to me. The most ridiculous and foolish
notions out there in the world about what it... As many people
as there are, there are as many ideas of what's out there. You
know that? Just ask somebody. People all
have their opinion. Well, that's what I think. What
do you think? What do you think? That's what I think. I think. Who knows? Nobody's ever been there and
come back. Or have they? Yeah. One did. One. Jesus Christ. Came back. Well, you know, there's so many
ridiculous notions, the Hindus, from the Hindus to the so-called
Christians, whoever they may be. They're ridiculous notions. The Hindus believe that you're
reincarnated. Now, you might come back, depending
on how you live. Now, they're really zealous about
this. So you live real hard or you'll come back as a mosquito. If you live better than that,
you'll be a bird or a dog or a horse. If you really live good,
you'll be an eagle. Come back as something. That's
foolish. Well, so-called Christian Catholics
believe there's a purgatory. They believe there's a purgatory.
Where did they get that? They don't get it from this book.
They believe there's a place out there where there's all these
spirits floating around that have lived bad lives. And how do you get them out of
that? How are they going to get into heaven? If you pay money. Here, right now. If you start
paying me, the priests. I ain't no priest. But if you
pay some fellow enough money, You cut his time short in purgatory. Ain't that ridiculous? Where'd
they get that? It's ridiculous. People have
the most ridiculous, foolish notions. Well, down to the average fundamental
Baptist, though, says, now, if you keep the commandment, if
you don't drink, don't smoke, don't cuss, don't chew, and don't
run around with women that do, You'll go to heaven. That's ridiculous. Surely God's
higher than that. Surely. Yes, he is. Well, how
do we know? Christ told us. This book tells
us. Very plainly. The gospel of Christ
hath brought it all to light, made it clear. Made it clear. How do we get there? One way. You can't do it. You can't climb
Mount Sinai. You can't get to heaven. But
I did. You've got to face this thing,
death. And God is holy. And He will punish sin. You've
got to be punished for it. No getting around it. How are
you going to pay for it? Lord, I can. I can. You need me? Yes, I do. Okay. Here it is. Freely given. By grace, you say. 100%. 100% by grace. That's in
Christ Jesus. And He's coming back to get all
those that He paid that price. Yes. And death is not the end,
but it's the victory. And it says here, look at this.
Death is swallowed up in victory. And verse 55 says, this is what
we're all going to shout. Every one of us, when it happens,
we're going to shout with Hosea. He's the one that said this.
Oh, death, where is thy sting? You know, every one of us, every
believer, when we lie down and go to sleep and wake up with
the Lord himself, we're going to say, that didn't hurt. That's right. Oh, death, where
is thy sting? People dread it. Oh, it's awful. You're going to say, it's like
falling asleep. You wake up refreshed. Oh, death,
where is thy sting? I didn't feel a thing. It's the end. It's the end. Oh,
it's the end. We're going to say no. Where is thy victory,
O grave? I'm not in the grave. Look at
me where I am. The end. It's just beginning. Can you get a hold of this just
a little bit? Huh? O grave, you don't have me at
all. The grave doesn't have me at
all. Christ does. I'm with Him. That's what we're
all going to shout. Every one of us is going to shout
in glory. Where is thy sting, death? Oh, grave, you don't have
me. Christ has me. I'm in Christ
forever. What was I worried about? You see, he says the sting of
death is sin. The strength of sin is the law. Do you understand what that means?
Do you understand what you read there? The sting of death is
sin. This is why people don't want
to face it. Most people don't want to face
it. This is why they don't want to face it, because there's this
sting of sin hanging over their head, whether they acknowledge
it or not. This is why everybody makes some kind of peace with
God, so to speak, on their deathbed. I mean, a felon can have lived
almost every death row criminal gets religion. Every one of them
try to make penance, try to, you know, do something good to
atone. But why? A man's got this thing
in his heart and his mind. He can't get his guilt and all
that. He can't get rid of it. I've
got to do something to atone. I'm going out of here. And maybe
God is God. And I've got to face Him. And
surely evil's going to be punished. So I've got to be good. Everybody
thinks that. And people even think that every
sin's got to be atoned for. Well, it does. And I'm not just
picking on Catholics today, but this is a good illustration.
When somebody dies and they didn't repent of that last sin, you
know what that is when a priest comes in and gives last rites?
How many persons would be dead there? What is last rites? What that priest is doing is
confessing something that that person didn't confess. A sin
that they didn't confess before they died, and he's giving them
last rites, hoping that he'll confess every... Let me tell you something. Jesus
Christ performed last rites for every one of his people on Calvary's
tree. That's what he did. That's what
he was doing. Performing last rites. Paying for every sin,
even those we don't know about. Paying every last one of them. Now, here's what I'm trying to
tell you. Here's what the sting of death is saying. This is the
reason people fear it, and the strength of sin is the law. That
is, the law written on the heart just aggravates, I'm guilty,
I'm guilty. Creates worry and anxiety and
fear of facing God, of going out into the unknown. There's only one thing. one thing
that will make a person die in peace, I mean real peace, without
worry, without fear. The Scripture says, mark the
perfect man, the perfect man. The end of that man, when he
comes to death, when he comes to leave this place, the end
of that person is peace, perfect peace. How? Why? Where? Where
does he get it? In Christ. in Christ. Paul said, I know, Job said,
I'm going to die, but I know my Redeemer liveth. There's only one thing that will
give peace at that time, so that you can lay down and fall asleep,
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. peace of conscience, peace of
mind. Brother Todd and I, they thought
he was going to die. He was right on the deathbed. Thought. Brain was swelling with
fluid. And he told me later on, he said
briefly he had some real fear. But then he said this verse of
Scripture came to his mind. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man. He said it
like somebody spoke it out loud to him. Blessed is the man unto
whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. And he began to think about Christ,
bearing his sin, all of it. He said, you know, I had perfect
peace, ready to die, ready to go. This is how Paul could say, I'm
ready to depart, be with the Lord, because I know, I'm persuaded
that he's able. And so he says, thanks be unto
God, believer, thanks be to God who gives us the victory. Death is not an enemy. Don't
worry about it. It's common. But it's not death
to you. No. Oh, he that believeth never
die. It's not going to be death at
all. We've seen believers die. We've marked the peace that God
has given them, haven't we? It's going to be the same with
you. Little faith, big faith. It's the same. In Christ is what
matters. And we got the victory. How? Through Christ. Through Christ.
And therefore, my beloved, I told you I was going to deal with
all of you. Beloved, be steadfast. Don't let anybody move you. Don't
be moved away from the gospel. It's your only hope. This thing,
you're going to lose everything here. That's right. But if you
have Christ, you have everything. Don't be moved away from your
only real hope. Don't be moved. Be steadfast,
unmovable, always abounding, interested, active in the work
of the Lord. Come back again next time we
meet here. Why? Because this is life and
death. If you're still here, come back, and we'll keep preparing
for it. Right? If I'm still here, We'll
talk about the same thing. And you know your labor is not
in vain in the Lord. I started this whole thing out,
or Paul did, by saying, he said, if Christ didn't rise from the
grave, this is useless. That's what
we're doing here. Steve, you've got to go to work
in a little while. Man, you've just blown several hours. You could have been doing something. It's not in vain. This is not
in vain. This is the only thing that's not in vain. You know
that? It's the only thing that's not.
in vain. We work all our lives to accumulate
things and to lose them. Boy, Christ's work is not
in vain. You're not going to lose one
of His people. Okay. It was too important to leave
any verse out. I had to deal with it, every
one of them. All right. Brother Gabe, if you'll
come up and lead us just in a couple of verses, please. uh... you