I want to just say a few words
dealing with the death of a believer. You know, when I preach a funeral,
it's not always easy. But when you have the assurance
of the comfort of knowing a person who died in the Lord, it's a
blessed time. Blessed are those who die in
the Lord, the scripture says. And certainly that would apply
to our sister Sue Parker. When Debbie and I first moved
with our two boys to Albany, Maurice and Sue were two of the
first people we met, and they really helped make our transition
from the Commonwealth of Kentucky to the state of Georgia. Some
might say, well, you know, that can't be easy. But it was. We love the people here. And
Sue and Maurice had us over to their home, especially when they
lived out in Lake Blackshear. We had some good times with them.
I always knew Sue to be a serious, genuine person. She wasn't one
to play religion. She was no hypocrite. And so what I would like to do
is to speak on her death as the death of a true believer. In
this psalm, it says in verse four, yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death. And you know, when most people
think of death, they really have a limited view. Because most
of us think about physical death. But if we know the scriptures,
and especially if we know the Lord Jesus Christ, and what he
accomplished in his death for his people, his sheep, We see
that death has many facets. I once read a book called The
Death of Death in the Death of Christ. It's a great book. But what we see here is if you
look at verse one of Psalm 23, it says, the Lord is my shepherd
and I shall not want. And what that means is if Christ
is your shepherd, You do not lack anything that God requires
and that you need for salvation. You shall not want. And one thing
you need to understand is that, and Sue would want you to know
this, now especially her loved ones, if you don't know it already,
the things that God blesses His people, His sheep with, now and
forever, are not things that you've earned or that you even
deserve. But they are products of God's
free and sovereign grace, like Brother Jim read or spoke. His free and sovereign grace
in and by the glorious person and the finished work of Christ.
And I know this about Sue. The last thing she'd want me
to do is stand up here and sit up here and brag about her. But
she'd want me to brag on Christ. Paul, the apostle, wrote in Galatians
6.14, he said, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that word glory means to
boast. So I'm going to brag this morning, but I'm not going to
brag about me or about Sue or about anybody. I'm going to brag
about Christ. I want to glorify him. Well,
let me give you these things quickly. When we talk about death,
we see that it has many facets. So let me tell you about the
kinds of death that the scripture tells us about. When he says,
yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
and we all do. And how we end up on the other
side is a matter of God's grace and God's work. But first of
all, there's physical death. Now, this is what Sue has experienced
and what we're all headed to. Hebrews 9 and verse 27, it says,
as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment. Now, who appoints that time of
death? God does, not the devil. Somebody says, well, death is
the work of the devil. Death is the just consequence
of sin, for the wages of sin is death. we know the gift of
God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, but if you don't
know the Lord, if you're not one of his sheep for whom he
died, then what's it all about? When he says in John chapter
10, he says, I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. And so this is an issue of death,
physical death, the consequences of sin. But here's another facet
of death. There's a legal death. Now, legal
death, this is a legal sentence of condemnation pronounced by
a just God, the judge of all, to whom sin is imputed or charged
or accounted and reckoned. The Bible says in Jude in verse
four, there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of
old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men turning the grace
of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God
and our Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Romans three
in verse 19, now we know that what thing soever the law saith,
it saith to them who are under the law, that means condemned
by the law. that every mouth might be stopped
and all the world may become guilty, subject to God's judgment
before God, therefore by deeds of law shall no flesh be justified. You know what it is to be justified?
Number one, it's to be forgiven of all of our sin. Now, follow
this now, don't leave it there. To be forgiven of all our sin,
past, present, future. All our sin on a just ground.
And what is the only just ground of forgiveness? It's not your
tears of repentance. Now, we ought to be crying over
our sin. We ought to show sorrow, but
that's not the just ground of forgiveness. The just ground
of forgiveness is the blood of Jesus Christ. And Sue knew that. And to be justified is to be
declared righteous in God's sight, but not based on your works or
my works. It's based upon the righteousness
of Christ revealed in the gospel, that righteousness which has
been imputed, charged, accounted to His sheep. As their sins were
charged to Him, His righteousness has been charged to them. That's
all grace. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It's God that justifies. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died, yea, rather is risen again, seated at the right hand
of the Father ever living to make intercession for His people.
And then there's spiritual death. This is another facet. Spiritual
death is because we fell in Adam and were born dead in trespasses
and sins. Romans chapter three and verse
10 says, as it is written, there's none righteous, no, not one.
There's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. They're all gone out of the way. They are together become
unprofitable. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. Well, what's the answer to that? You must be born
again from above. And that new birth, that new
life, that new heart comes from Christ. You can't work your way
into it. You can't even decide your way
into it, because if left to yourself, what does the Bible say? 1 Corinthians
2.14, the natural man. This is how we are born naturally.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
neither can he know them. They're spiritually discerned.
That's why Christ told Nicodemus, you must be born again or you
can't see the kingdom of God. You don't have spiritual sight.
And that's what we need to have. And then lastly, there's eternal
death. John chapter five and verse 28. Marvel not at this
for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the grave
shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done
good under the resurrection of life and they that have done
evil under the resurrection of damnation. Well is that telling
me that I'm going to make it to heaven based upon my doing?
No. What is it to do good? It's to
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. as your only Savior, your Lord,
your righteousness, your hope of forgiveness, all of that. So he says, the Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. I shall not lack anything that
God has for his people. And Christ says, I am the good
shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. So in
giving his life for his sheep, the Lord Jesus Christ saved all
of his sheep from all facets of sin. He saved his people. He saved Sue Parker from physical
death. What do you mean by that? Sue's body, as she exists now,
is not even where she lives. That body, I know in her latter
years, you know, she had a stroke and she fell and broke her hip
and then she got pneumonia. That's over. That's over. No more tears, no more sorrow. What did Paul write in Romans
8 and verse 10? If Christ be in you, the body
is dead, this physical body is dead because of sin, but the
Spirit is life because of righteousness. He wrote, O death, where is thy
sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law.
But if Christ died for my sins, and I cannot be charged with
my sin, the sting of death is removed. And he says, but thanks
be to God, which giveth us that death, that life, the spirit,
and all of that. For as in Adam all die, as in
Christ shall all be made alive. The sting of death is sin, the
strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God, which giveth
us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ saved us from
legal death. Condemnation. Second Corinthians
521 says, for God hath made him, Christ, to be sin for us. How
was he made to be sin? He didn't become a sinner. He
wasn't corrupted or contaminated with our sin. He was the perfect,
spotless Lamb of God dying on that cross. for sins of his people
that were laid on him, charged to him, imputed to him. And so
it says, for he hath made him to be sin for us, Christ who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him. Think about that. If God has
brought you to faith in Christ, given you that gift, you are
righteous in his sight. based on a righteousness that
you and I had nothing to do with making it. David described it in Romans
four and verse six as Paul quoted from David in Psalm 32. He said,
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputed the righteousness
without works. And he said, and Paul wrote over
in verse one, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ. So he saved us from legal death.
He saved us from spiritual death. You must be born again. Look
at that Psalm. He says, he maketh me to lie
down in green pastures. Literally, that's pastures of
tender grass. That's his word. He leadeth me
beside the still waters. That's peace. God reconciled
to his people. His people reconciled to him.
He restoreth my soul. He makes my dead soul come alive
by his work. leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
for his namesake." I have a righteousness, a perfect righteousness that
cannot be contaminated or taken away, it's the righteousness
of God, it's his righteousness and I walk in his path looking
unto Jesus the author and finisher of my faith. That's what Sue
did and by the grace of God. Verse eight, four, for yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil, for thou art with me, and thy rod and thy staff, they
comfort me. His rod and his staff is his
word. Do you gain comfort from the word of God? Not from the
word of people now. They're not always gonna give
you comfort. And if they do, it's usually false comfort. The
word of God, thy rod and thy staff. Verse five, thou preparest
a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. I tell people
all the time that salvation is no potluck dinner. Don't bring
your own dish. He's already prepared it. It's
all prepared. It's all done. The gospel is
not do and live. The gospel is live and do. And
that's what it is. The gospel is a finished work. Christ said on the cross, it
is finished. And that's the Sabbath that we
spiritually enter when God brings us to faith in Christ. Resting
in him. Thou anointest my head with oil.
That's the spirit. My cup runneth over. More than
what we can imagine. So he saved us from spiritual
death, and then he saves us from eternal death. Look at verse
six. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. And my friends, I know there
are all kinds of religions, all kinds of denominations, but I'm
gonna tell you right now, if you believe the word of God,
if one, and I know people say, oh, you believe that one's saved
always. If God saved you, if he saves, that's a done deal. And people say, well, then I
can go out and live like I want to. Well, how do you wanna live? What's your problem? See, not only does He save us
by His grace, He keeps us by His grace. What did Paul say?
I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able
to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day. And
what have I committed unto Him? What did Sue commit herself to?
Christ. It's all committed to Him. And
along with that, He gives us a new heart, a new mind, a new
affection, a new will, a new conscience. that gives us a desire
to follow him, not to be saved, but because we already are. And
we have the assurance. He said, my sheep hear my voice. They come to me. No one can pluck
them out of my hand. My father's hand. He said, I
and my father are one. He said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose. Anybody know the next word? Nothing. But raise it up again at the
last day. That's what grace is all about. And grace reigns in
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Let me close with this. Christ
is the good shepherd who gave his life for the sheep, and he
arose again the third day, showing that the ground of our salvation,
the ground of our justification, was completely finished by him. For by one offering, he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified, those whom God hath
set apart. But Christ is also the chief
shepherd, First Peter 5.4 says, when the chief shepherd shall
appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
And when we speak of the crowns that we have, they're not crowns
that we earned. They're crowns that God has given
us freely, unconditionally. And then Christ is the Great
Shepherd, Hebrews 13, 20. Now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of
the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
the covenant of grace, make you perfect, that's complete, in
every good work to do His will, working in you that which is
well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory
forever and ever. Amen. But the death of a believer,
like Sue Parker, teaches other believers the value of the gospel
truth, as it stands in Christ, the glory of his person, the
power of his finished and successful work for his sheep. And so, in
closing, I want to read a passage of scripture from 2 Timothy chapter
1, beginning at verse 8, where the apostle wrote to a young
preacher named Timothy. And he said, be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner.
Paul was in jail at that time for preaching the gospel. But
be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God. Now listen to this. Who hath
saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us his sheep, believers, which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. Wow. That ought to make you perk
up. But now is made manifest, made
known, by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath
abolished death, in every facet of it, for Sue and for all of
his sheep. and hath brought life and immortality
to life through the gospel. May the Lord bless us in his
word.