Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to Paul's second epistle to the
Corinthians, to Corinthians chapter two and verse 16, the first part. You've got one of our free Bibles,
it's page 1073. 1073. 2 Corinthians chapter 2
and verse 16. To the one we are the saver of death unto death,
and to the other the saver of life unto life. I want to put the word into context
if we read from verse 14. Now thanks be unto God which
always causeth us to triumph in Christ and maketh manifest
the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are that is the ministers
of the gospel, the apostles, we are unto God a sweet savour
of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish. To the
one we are the savour of death unto death and to the other the
savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these
things? For we are not as many which
corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God,
in the sight of God, speak we in Christ. And the word particularly
then upon our spirit, that in the first part of verse 16. The Apostle is preaching and
speaking of his preaching to the Corinthians. When Paul preached, some were
saved and some were lost. Yet he tells us here that in
both, we are unto God a sweet saviour. of Christ. And I would notice that it is
not unto men but unto God. As Christ is set forth, as Christ
is lifted up, as Christ is preached, it is a sweet savour unto God. God is pleased to hear. his dear son being lifted up
and extolled and preached. Even if some are not saved, he
is still, Christ is a sweet saver in those that are saved and those
that perish. The truth is lifted up You have
in verse 17, the apostle saying, we're not as many which corrupt
the word of God. No, he is bringing sincerely
in the sight of God, he's speaking in Christ, he is setting Christ
up. And really, if we in the ministry
are to glorify God, we must not corrupt the word, Sincerely,
honestly set forth Christ, the only name given among men, whereby
we must be saved. And in that way, God is glorified. In that way, he is glorified
in all that hear the word, whether saved or lost. When Noah came
forth of the ark, then he offered a sacrifice. And the Lord smelled
a sweet savour. Was it just the savour of the
burnt offering? We know that there is a sweet
savour if we have a roast cooking in the oven, then there is a
sweet savour. But the sweet savour that God
smelled was His beloved Son set forth in time, the offering. made by fire, blood, offering,
the same offering as what Abel offered, a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain. And it is the same way in the
preaching as well. But whereas that is towards God,
when it comes towards men, then with some it is a savour of death,
and others a saver of life. In the words of our text, to
the one we are the saver of death unto death and the other, to
the other the saver of life unto life. And so I want to look specifically
this evening, thinking of the words to some life and others
death? To think of this question as
well, that what are ministers to you? Because though the apostle
is speaking about what he is preaching, he is preaching Christ,
yet in all of this context, With him being a faithful minister
of Christ, he is all the time speaking about what they are. He says in verse 14, manifest
the saviour of his knowledge by us in every place. And then in verse 15, for we
are the ministers. Not just the word that is preached,
not just the gospel, but the ministers, we are unto God a
sweet savour of Christ. Verse 16, now text, to the one
we are, the ministers are, the savour of death unto death, to
the other the savour of life unto life. And then in verse 17, for we
are not as many. So a lot of the emphasis is on
the ministers. We mentioned this morning the
words of our Lord, he that receiveth you receiveth me, he that receiveth
me receiveth him that sent me. And there is that link between
them. And so I want to then look this
evening at two main headings. Thinking of this word to some
life and others death, I want to look firstly in the Old Testament
scriptures where you see this picture, this truth. And then
secondly, for us to consider today, Firstly, the Old Testament scriptures. We've already mentioned Noah
and coming forth of the flood. Well, Peter, when he writes to
the scattered tribes, he says this concerning the flood in
his first epistle in chapter three. He speaks of those that,
in verse 19, that Noah he went also preached unto these spirits
in prison, which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering
of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing
wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He preached Christ. He set forth
Christ. But when the flood came upon
the earth, there was found just those eight souls that were saved. And Peter says they were saved
by water. But you might say, but the water
also destroyed the whole world. But the water bore up the ark,
and it bore it over the mountains. And when you think of the fountains
of the great deep opened up, we've had recently in various
parts of the world earthquakes, or where there's been tsunamis,
where there's been great movements of the plates underneath the
sea, and the effect that that has. But in the depth of the
sea, ships that even have the tsunami waves passing over them
that do great damage when they get to the shore, they hardly
feel the tsunami waves. The actual water is, as it were,
cushioning. It is rising those boats above
all of the commotion that is underneath. And so, In the Lord
destroying the world before the flood and the world at the flood,
he actually used that same water in different ways. For Noah and
those within the ark, those that were safe in that ark, they were
born up, they were safe, But those that were outside of the
ark, they were destroyed. And we find one event in history,
and we have the preaching beforehand that Noah did. And as it were,
seemingly very few believed or took warning of it. We know that
some died the year of the flood, and yet, Here God makes us sovereign. It is a sovereign difference
and a dividing from one event. Then we have the passage that
we read in Exodus. A wonderful miracle where the
Lord opened up the Red Sea. And the Lord made that Red Sea
a way As we read in another place, for the ransom to pass over. Children of Israel were ransomed
out of Egypt. They were set free by the payment
of a price. The Passover was the type of
our Lord being crucified. The Paschal Lamb's blood was
shed. The blood put on the doorposts
and the lintels, and the promise of the Lord, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. And there the Egyptians that
had not the sheltering the blood, they perished, and the children
of Israel, the firstborn, they were kept alive. So they're ransomed
out of Egypt, but then they come to the Red Sea. And that passage
was made life to the children of Israel and death to the Egyptians. The children of Israel went But
we read in Hebrews the account, and we're told it is by faith
that they went through. By faith, in verse 29 in 11th
of Hebrews, by faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry
land, which the Egyptians are saying or trying to do, were
drowned. And so there is made the great
difference. God's blessing on one, God's
curse on the other. The Egyptians saying God is fighting
for the children of Israel. They could see God was on their
side. And this sovereign hand of the
Lord in one event, in one place, and he's making this sovereign
difference, a savour of life to one and death
to the other, one passage. Then we have the account where
the children of Israel Under Jehoram, they joined with Jehoshaphat
to go against Moab. Moab had rebelled against Israel. Israel wanted Judah's help to
go with them. Jehoshaphat, wrongly really,
he joined himself with wicked Israel, and they went by the
wilderness of Edom. And as they went round to attack
Moab, then they suffered thirst in the wilderness. There was
no water for them to drink. And Jehoram, he immediately blames
God. Men are like that. They seek
direction. They seek help of the Lord. But
when things go wrong, it is always God's fault. Or rather, oftentimes,
they don't seek the Lord's direction. They don't seek his guidance.
But when things go wrong, then they are the first to blame the
Lord. And so Jehoram was that, and
yet Jehoshaphat said, is there not here a prophet of the Lord? And they said, here is Elisha. And so Elisha came, and he said
most solemn words of Jehoram, king of Israel. He said that if it was not for
Jehoshaphat, He wouldn't even look toward him. Jehoram was
a wicked king, but because of the good king Jehoshaphat, Elisha
was going to speak on behalf of the Lord to them. He's a beautiful
type in one way. We're wicked like the king of
Israel, but when we have the presence of the Lord and when
we plead his name, then God is favorable to us because of him. Tis he instead of me is seen
when I approach to God. How we as sinners need the Lord,
that we obtain favour in the sight of God. But the Lord gave
in this instance then direction to, in that valley, make this
valley full of ditches. So they dug a whole lot of ditches
through the valley, and in the morning there came water, and
it filled all of those ditches, so they had water to drink. So it was life to Israel and
to Judah. But the Moabites, when they looked,
and they looked toward the wilderness, they saw the sun shining on the
water, and they saw it as blood, and they said, it is blood, the
kings have fought against each other, they are dead, Moab to
the spoil. And so they dropped all of their
guard and they went to spoil what they thought was a dead
enemy. And so Israel and Judah rose up and they overcame the
Moabites. So in that one action of digging
the ditches and the Lord providing the water, That same water viewed
by the Moabites was death. Viewed by the Israelites it was
life because they could drink of that water. So again we have
this same situation and yet to one it is life, the other it
is death. We have this again twice in the
book of Daniel. We have it when Nebuchadnezzar
raised up the image and commanded everyone to bow down when they
heard the music. If they didn't, they'd be thrown
into a burning fiery furnace. Three Hebrew children, they could
not do that. They testified to the king. that
they would not bow down and that the king had said and who is
that God that shall deliver you out of my hand that they testified
and they said that God was able to deliver them but if not be
it no known and he will deliver us out of thine hand they could
view that he could deliver from the fiery furnace, and he most
certainly would deliver out of his hand, because if their lives
were taken in the furnace, they'd be out of reach of Nebuchadnezzar. The Lord said, fear not them
which kill the body, and after that, there is nothing more that
they can do. Fear him that hath power after
he hath killed to cast both body and soul into hell. And so the Hebrew children testified
that he would deliver them out of his hand. And so the king,
in his great rage, he caused that the fire was to be heated
a seventh hotter than it was. And when the men then that were
to cast them into the furnace, they cast these three Hebrew
children into the fire, It slew, that fire slew the men that cast
them in. It was so hot, and as they came
near enough to throw the Hebrew children into the fire, it killed
them. But then the king looked, and
he saw four men loose walking in the midst of the fire. And
he said, did not we cast three men in? But I see four men loose. The form of the fourth is like
unto the Son of God. And he called the men forth,
they came forth, and there was no smell of fire on them, no
hurt at all, only their bonds were loosed. What a sovereign
difference, one fire. To some that cast them in it
was death. to those that were cast in, those
that served the Lord, those that obeyed Him. The Lord in that
instance, He caused to be liberty and life. And an instance when
the Lord drew near and was with them in that fire. Heimreiter
says, I am with thee, Israel, passing through the fire. And the Lord sovereignly showed
that difference. showed what his children were
that believed in him and trusted in him. And then later on with
Daniel and the lion's den. Daniel again refused to cease
to pray. He still prayed in spite of knowing
that if any called upon any god except the king during those
30 days, they would be cast into the den of lions. And Daniel
was cast into the den of lions. But the Lord sent his angel and
shut the lions' mouths and they did him no harm or no hurt in
that den whatsoever. And then in the morning, King
Darius, he came. He cried with a lamentable cry
to Daniel, is the God whom thou servest continually able to deliver
thee from the lions? Daniel, what a sweet savour that
voice must have been to Darius, that God has sent his angel and
shut the lions' mouths that they do me no hurt. But then the king commanded that
those that had accused Daniel, that they should be cast into
the den. And the lions had the mastery
of them and broke all their bones to pieces before they even came
to the bottom of the den. One den, one pride of lions,
but a very different effect. Life to Daniel, but death to
those of his accusers, the means of bringing him out of the curse,
as it were, of the sentence, and a means of destroying his
enemies and accusers. These illustrations are throughout
the Old Testament, so we have very clearly shown the same teaching
that is in here. We have ministers and the gospel
that is proclaimed and these two things wrought in the same
instance, in the same place. So I want to look then, secondly,
at the message for us today to consider. And there's three points
under this heading. Firstly, the context, the ministers
of the gospel here. As we said at the beginning,
it is really an emphasis on the ministers rather than the message. It is given, as it were, or the
apostle emphasizes here, here he is speaking, Not of those
that are not truly the ministers of the gospel, but those who
truly preach the word. What a solemn thing he says in
verse 17. We are not as many which corrupt
the word of God. Even in the early church of God,
even while the apostles were preaching, many corrupted the
word of God. It's the same today, isn't it?
Many corrupt the word of God. And often feel this with evangelizing
and speaking to in the children at school or wherever we send
forth the word or wherever we teach. In a lot of ways it's
not teaching upon a clean slate as it were. Many
people have ideas of religion. Many people have things that
they think This is what the Lord Jesus did or said. And they think this is the way
of salvation. And as well as telling the truth
is also unminding or getting rid of those errors and those
wrong thoughts and those wrong ideas. The apostle had to contend
with exactly the same as what we have today. We might think,
well, We've got harder times or more difficult times than
they did. No. In every generation and every
time, the Lord's people, the Lord's servants, have had the
same difficulties, the same trials and same challenges. But the
apostle's emphasis here is, as a true minister of God, he lifts
up Christ. He preaches Christ only. that
there is none other name given among men whereby we must be
saved. He is setting forth Christ's
gospel, he says in verse 12 of this chapter. Furthermore, when
I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened
unto me of the Lord. That is what he was doing, preaching
Christ's gospel, the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ,
that he is God's provision for a lost sinner, for one that has
nothing to pay, one that is pleading for mercy, one that the law of
God condemns, The law was given that the offence might abound. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Sin is a transgression of the
law of God. And by the deeds of the law shall
no man living be justified or accounted without guilt. He cannot
obtain salvation that way. Only through the Lord Jesus Christ
only through faith and trust in what He has done, what He
has accomplished for us. There are many things in our
lives where we may not have any ability to do something ourselves. We're used to that. Our lives
are very complicated, aren't they? Many of us, perhaps, we
wouldn't know if our car went wrong how to fix it. I have the
ability to do so. Or if our computer goes wrong,
we wouldn't know what to do. Or if something else goes wrong,
we don't know how to fix it. But very often, we know where
to go. And yes, we might have to pay
for it to be fixed. But we're relying on someone
else to fix it. And we might look at what they're
doing and when they're doing it. But unless we have skills
in that or ability in that, we've got to trust that they know what
they're doing. And they can actually fix it
and do it. I remember when I first came
over in this land, and it was fixing my father-in-law's washing
machine, and there was bits all over the floor. It was all pulled
apart. And he really wondered whether
I knew what I was doing, whether the thing would ever be put back
together again and ever work again. But, of course, I had
training in engineering. I could do that. But he had a
trust that I actually could not only pull it apart, but put it
back together again and make it work again. And with the things
of God, with our Lord Jesus Christ, is not something we pay for,
is not something that we merit, but it is something that He has
done and that we must trust solely for Him to complete and to do
in every aspect of it. We trust Him to begin a work
in us And really in that, we don't do the trusting, we trust,
we look on our loved ones, we look on those we preach to, and
our hope is, our prayer is, that the Lord will begin a work. He
which hath begun a good work in you. And where he has done
that, he will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. He won't
do half the work. What would we think of a tradesman,
and we got them to do some work and they only did half of it,
and they didn't finish it. Well, we would not limit the
Lord in that respect. Where the Lord begins, where
he brings conviction, where he brings life into the soul, where
he makes that soul to be hungering and thirsting after righteousness,
want to walk in right ways, want to think right things, want to
walk in an upright way, in holiness and godliness, wants to be close
to the Lord in prayer, wants to delight in his word and in
his people and in his ways, but all the time they feel they can't,
they fail, their poor prayers, their poor following, their besetting
sins. They're not what they would be,
and they feel to be a nutter failure, but it can be said they
are hungering and thirsting after righteousness. They haven't attained
unto righteousness. They have none of their own,
but the blessing is on those that hunger and thirst after
it. And in Jeremiah, we have that
beautiful word, this is the Name wherewith he shall be called
the Lord our righteousness, that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And then
in a later chapter, this is the name wherewith she, that is the
Church of God, shall be called the Lord our righteousness. That
is really a surname for the people of God. It joins them with the
Lord Jesus Christ. And our trust is not in deeds
that we have done, but in what the Lord has done and especially
in that sacrifice that he made to put away sin, the blood shed
at Calvary, that we trust that that has indeed paid the debt
completely and that has taken away the wrath of God. What if we had a debt at say
a hardware store or something like that and we couldn't pay
And we had the manager phone up very angry and say, look,
you owe all of this. You must pay. You must pay. And
he said, I haven't got the money. I can't pay for this. And he's very angry. He says, you take us to court
or bring us to prison. And then we have a kind friend.
So don't you worry about that. I'll go. And I'll put your debt
on my account. And I'll pay it. I'll settle
that. And he comes to you and he says,
I've done that. I've settled that account. And you're walking
down the street and you see a manager coming before you. Are you going
to trust what your friend's done? Or do you think he's still angry
with me? But that manager smiles. He says, thank you. That debt
is settled. It's all done. The wrath is taken
away, the anger is taken away. The difference that it would
make to really trust and believe that what our friend said he
had done, he had done. And we read, the Lord hath given
assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the tomb,
raised him from the dead, the empty tomb. It shows that that
sacrifice is what is termed in John a propitiation for our sins,
a wrath-ending sacrifice. Paul says in the opening verses
of Romans 8, there is therefore now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit. And so when the ministers of
the gospel set forth this gospel and set forth Christ alone, not
of works which we have done, lest any man should boast. By grace and grace alone, through
mercy and mercy alone, and a work of God that takes a sinner and
brings him to love the things of God, love the word of God,
love the people of God, Love the servants of the Lord for
the word they bring, for the gospel that is entrusted to them
and the message that they set forth. And that then will have
a dividing effect. And this was seen right through
the apostles as they went preaching in various places. They always
preached the same message and the same word. And often with
their congregation, their congregations, they all heard that same word.
But we have in our text, to the one we are, or the ministers,
are the saver of death unto death, and to the other, the saver of
life unto life. What a joining together there
is, a saver of death. You think of someone hearing
and especially the preaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. In our natural flesh, we'd love
to hear lots of anecdotes or exhortations to do this or that
because it thinks it can do this or that in their own strength.
Lots of things that tickle the ear or be amusing. But to hear Christ preached and
exalted and lifted up and extolled, the natural man receiveth not
the things of God, neither can he know them. They are spiritually
discerned. And it is what will test our
true state of our soul, is how we view and respond to Christ
being set before us and lifted up. Isaiah says that he is a
root out of dry ground, there's no form nor comeliness that we
should desire him. And that is the state by nature. And someone hearing Christ set
forth in the gospel day, by nature hears, when they hear them like
that, They think, well, this is a hard service. This is a
hard sermon. It is so uninteresting to me. I don't relish it. I don't find
any interest in this. I'd rather have something different
and something more exciting to listen to than having Christ
always set forth And so to them it is death, but the solemn thing
here, he says it's death unto death, to remain like that, to
remain under the word. As lifeless, disinterested, and
no beauty in Christ, ends into eternal death. There's death
at the end of it. But to the other, the savour
of life unto life. To the other, here in Christ,
there is hope. There's a ray of hope. There
is life. There's something their soul
is drawn to, leaps out after, and that they love to hear of
Christ. It gives them that hope and ray
of light, and it gives them an answer to a broken law and hope
for their soul. A righteousness that they do
not have. A debt paid that they cannot
pay. And to them it is a sermon and
a message that they like to hear and want to hear. I think it
was ladies years ago in Scotland, they had a new minister and he
didn't preach Christ. And so they left him a little
message, a little note, and it was the words of the Greeks.
Sir, we would see Jesus. And the minister took the hint,
and he sought then to lift up Christ and to show forth the
Lord Jesus Christ. So then they left him another
note, and that note said, then were the disciples glad when
they saw the Lord. And there was another minister.
And he preached. And this older minister in the
congregation, at the end, perhaps unwisely, the younger one said,
well, how did I get on? And the older minister said,
not at all. Not a good sermon at all. Why is it the younger
one? You didn't preach Christ. Oh, yes, but he wasn't in the
text. Or that in the evening, I was
going to get round to preaching Christ then. No, says the old
minister, he must be in every service, and in every message,
and in every passage. All centers in Christ, our Lord
to those two in the way to Ohaius, in all the scriptures, the things
concerning himself. And so again, the words of our
text, to the other, the saver of life. It doesn't just stop
there, it says unto life. Do you want a token of eternal
life? A token of being in heaven when
we die? What kind of preaching do we
like? What do we feed upon? The Lord
said, except ye eat the flesh and blood, my flesh and blood
ye have no life in you. not literally, spiritually, to
feeding upon Christ's sufferings and death. That is our life. He instead of us is seen. Let thy hand be upon the man
at thy right hand, the Son of Man, whom thou madest strong
for thyself. Christ is lifted up. So for us today, The ministers of the gospel,
what are they to us? Do we delight to hear their message? To listen to what they have to
say as they lift up a precious Christ? Or would we rather something
different? Would we rather one of those
that Paul speaks of in verse 17, for we are not as many which
corrupt the word of God? Would we rather have a corrupt
word of God, that our old flesh, our natural man, would love and
get along well with, that doesn't touch us, doesn't ruffle our
lives and find us out as sinners, or make us to be a people that
only need mercy and grace and have nothing? The hymn writer
says, nothing. In my hand I bring, simply to
thy cross I cling. So that's the first thing to
consider very specifically through the word of our text. To the
one we are the saver of death unto death, and to the other
the saver of life unto life. The second thing to consider
is the Lord's use of providences, those things that happen in our
lives. When our Lord told the parable
of the sower, and that is as recorded in Matthew 13, Then
he interprets that there's four types of hearers. The seed was
all the same, but there's four types of hearers. And when the
word was heard, then there was things that happened in their
lives. And we're told the fire shall
try every man's work what it is. It tries how we've heard
the word of God. And so we read this interpretation. He that receiveth the seed into
stony places, the same as he that heareth the word, and anon
immediately with joy receiveth it, yet hath he not root in himself,
but dureth for a while. For when tribulation or persecution
ariseth because of the word by and by, He is offended. So in Providence, when tribulation,
persecution come, he is offended with it. He gives up his religion,
his word, his belief, his faith. Then also, verse 22, he also
that receives seed among the thorns, is he that heareth the
word and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches
choke the word. and he becometh unfruitful. Then we have the good ground
hearer that heard the word, understood it, and bore fruit. But we find
that those things came, those providences, and they were the
means of some turning completely away from their faith. And yet,
Peter says that If need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold
temptations. The fire shall try every man's
work of what sort it is, every man that hears the word, every
man that professes to believe, the tests and fire of things
that happen in our lives, happen in our providence, and some of
those things will be a sabre of death unto death. and the
others, it will be a savour of life unto life. You know, Paul, he says when
writing to the Romans, we know that all things work together
for good, to them that love God, to them that are the called,
according to his purpose. And providences working together
with the word, and they work to strengthen faith and to make
the promise sweet. And the Lord says, come, come
unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden. I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. I am meek and lowly in heart. Ye shall find rest unto your
souls. But we read of those that when
they have the trials and when they have the burdens, instead
of fleeing to Christ, instead of working together for good,
They say, oh, if this is what happens of being a Christian,
I'm not being a Christian. If this is the path of the Lord's
people, I'm not going to walk in that path. And they go back. They walk no more with him. And we have the illustration
in the Book of Ruth. Here we have Elimelech and Naomi,
and they're two Boys go down into Moab because of the famine
in Bethlehem. And there, Elimelech dies. The two boys die. But they'd
married, so it leaves two widows. Well, three widows, because here's
Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth. But how does that bereavement
work? And how does that bitter path,
as Naomi said, walked in, work? Well, for Orpah, she could go
back. to her own people and her own gods, but for Ruth, she loved
Naomi in the midst of afflictions and trials, and claimed to her
that same situation. It was, as it were, a savour
of death to one, a savour of life to the other. It divided
the psalmist in Psalm 119 He says, it is good for me that
I was afflicted. Before I was afflicted I went
astray, but now have I kept thy word. There are many that the
path of afflictions are rising by and by they are offended and
it works for death for them. There are many that have been
members or been in our churches that are not now because of things
happened in Providence that they've been offended at and that they've
walked back and gone back and walked no more with the Lord.
There are others that have been walking in pleasure and in the
ways of this world and the Lord has brought illness and sickness
and trials and yet the Lord has used those very things to draw
them to Him. To call upon him in the day of
trouble, I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me. Chosen
in the furnace of affliction. That very same thing. One it
is a means of death and the other is a means of life. And so in Providence we see this
division as well. The exact same thing. working
differently. Why? Because of the sovereignty
of God. With the preaching, as many as
were ordained unto life believed, and in the providences it is
the working together for good to them that love God, to them
that are the called according to his purpose. Well the last
thing to consider is death itself. the end. Paul says to the Corinthians
in his first letter at the end of that, when he's speaking about
the resurrection, and countering those that said that there was
no resurrection of the dead, he said, if in this life only
we have hope in Christ with all men, most miserable, their hope
is beyond the grain. is not just in this life. Paul
says that, absent from the body present with the Lord, for me
to live is Christ, to die is gain. For the Lord's dear people,
they fall on sleep as it were, the body is laid in the grave,
the soul returns to God that gave it, Immediately to heaven,
as God said to the dying thief, this day shalt thou be with me
in paradise. And there in paradise, no more
sin, no more death, no more sorrow, no more sighing, a complete victory
and certainly complete after the resurrection when body is
raised again and united with the soul, spotless, incorruptible
and undefiled. But what a difference in death. In Psalm 73, the psalmist is
so perplexed because it seems that those that are the wicked,
they prosper in this world. And even in death, they have
no fear and no bands in their death. Whereas God's dear children,
they have troubles and afflictions in this life. And even in death,
sometimes they are really troubled. But then the psalmist said, could
not understand until he went into the house of God, then understood
he their end. And he saw beyond death, saw
what was the other side of the grave, and that God had set them
in slippery places. What a solemn difference. The
one event, death. And one, it is death, unto death,
because that person dies, but not dies once, but then goes
to the judgment, and then after that, the final death, the banishment
into hell forever and ever, the second death, the scripture says. But for the other it is life,
it is loosed, it is the day of redemption. The Lord says when
the signs of the last day are coming, when the signs of Christ
coming, Men shall be crying upon the hills and the rocks to hide
them from him that sitteth on the throne. But he says to his
people, when ye see these things come to pass, look up, for your
redemption draweth nigh. Very big difference. God's people,
it is life, eternal life. Heaven is before them. To those
that are not, death, eternal death is before them. May we have those things in our
lives that we do discern there is a difference as to how it
affects us and affects others. That we do not view the things
that the world views in the same way and we are able to see the
Lord in control and the Lord governing over He holds his dear people, he'll
keep them safe, he'll bring them safely to glory, and he'll make
all things work together for good. And he leaves these sweet
tokens along the way as to how they view his servants as they
lift him up, how they view his providences, the bitter ones,
the sweet ones. And they see these things, if
it is his will, then it's sweet, then it's precious. Where are we, dear friends, this
evening? To the one, we are the saver
of death unto death, and to the other, the saver of life unto
life. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.