Good morning. For our scripture
reading, would you please turn to the book of Luke, Luke 17. And we're going to read verses
11 to 19, a very familiar passage. And what the Lord showed us in
the first hour, I'm just so thrilled. That was so good. Anyway, verse 11. And it came to pass as he went
to Jerusalem that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain
village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood
afar off. For the sake of time, if you
read Leviticus 13, The law is clear as to the requirements
for a leper, what they said, what they wore, and where they
had to live. And they lifted up their voices
and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. They heard of Jesus'
name, spread fame all abroad. They knew that he was able to
heal. And when he saw them, he said unto them, go show yourselves
unto the priests. And it came to pass. Now that's
very important because what the Lord Jesus Christ had to do when
he came, he had to fulfill all scripture perfectly. And so he did everything according
to what the law demanded. And it came to pass that as they
went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw
that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified
God and fell down on his face and at his feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan." This
is a description of every born-again mercy-beggar sinner. The Samaritans
were the Afskars, the half-breeds considered to be heathens, and
they had a condition that was a condition unto death. Doesn't
that describe us? If you be in Christ, that's exactly
what describes us. Now look here, verse 17, And
Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? But where are
the nine? They are not found that return
to give glory to God, save this stranger." Now, if you would
just think with me for a second, can you imagine being that one
Samaritan bowed down, and no telling what his bubble thoughts
were, but if he was thinking what the Lord asked him, he said,
Lord, I don't know where those nine fellows went. Perhaps they
went back to the law, which most likely they were. Scripture,
most likely they were Jews. But that one Samaritan would
say, Lord, I don't know where they went, but I do know this.
I know who my Lord is, and I know who is able and has the power
by His grace to call me and to save me, not only heal me of
this disease, but heal me whole. And He gave glory. And this is
the posture of every believer. We're bowing. From the time we're
called to the time we're laid in the grave, we're bound, always,
and this is our stance. The Lord knew where the nine
went, but it was for this American that he said that, in order for
the next verse. And he said unto him, Arise,
go thy way, thy faith has made thee whole. This precious faith,
as we heard in the first hour, is nothing more than the faithfulness
and perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ, His righteousness,
that is able to make us whole. Scripture says that in Him, in
the Beloved, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
and we are complete in Him. Let's pray. Lord, like those lepers, we are crying
out to you this morning that as you pass by this certain
place this morning, this church that you have purposed, we know,
Lord, that whatever you purpose is sure to happen. we ask that
you would call us out by your grace. Lord, if you don't, you know
we will run back to the law. No doubt about that, Lord. Would you again remind us this
morning, as we have already heard, that all the hope of our salvation,
all the hope of our justification, sanctification, glorification,
is in you. And Lord, if you are pleased,
to enable for us to believe that this morning. Lord, we will be
able to bow and to give you all the glory. We pray that you would
be pleased to do that this morning. Lord, you have given our pastor
the message that we're about to hear. So Lord, we trust that
you would enable us to make us whole through the preaching of
your gospel. Lord, enable us to hear. Lord, enable us to see. Lord, enable us to believe. That we could give you all the
glory. For truly, this is what this is all about. It's to your
glory. For we ask it in Christ's name.
Amen. I've titled this message this
morning, No Bans in Death. No Bans in Death. My text is to be found in Psalm
73, if you would like to turn with me there. Psalm 73. We're going to look at this Psalm.
And then we're going to look at Isaiah 28 and conclude the
message in Hebrews chapter 2. And my hope is that the Lord
will set us free from our feelings of fear by causing us to know
the truth. There's a difference between
facts and feelings. The scripture says if you know
the truth, the truth will set you free. I heard a brother say
recently, I can't remember the last time I felt guilty. Well,
what he meant was, I'm not guilty. Truth is, I feel guilty all the
time. I mean, I just can't, I can't
shed the feelings of guilt. the feelings of fear until the
Lord enables me to believe the facts. And the only power that
there is over our feelings is the facts. There are some who
have, as David tells us in Psalm 73, no bans in death. They have no fear of death. You
hear men say, well, I guess I'm going to hell. Oh, the believer's
soul shudders when they hear somebody talk like that. Or you
hear someone say, well, they know they're better off now than
they were before. They're not suffering anymore.
Well, maybe they've jumped out of the frying pan into the literal
fire. The facts of death and the reality
of hell and heaven are pressed heavily on the souls of God's
people. They understand the gravity of
this thing. They have a concern for their
souls and they have some understanding of the brevity and the vanity
of this life and of this world and they know that there is a
God with whom they must do. Psalm 73 verse 1 Truly, God is good to Israel. Oh, and He is good. I know the
thoughts that I have for you, not thoughts of evil, but thoughts
of good. He doesn't do anything for us
that's not good. He works all things together
for good for them that love God and those that are called according
to His purpose. Why? Because He is good. Why callest
thou me good? There's nothing good but God.
Oh, I've got such goodness for Israel. And that's the fact. That's the truth. Even to such
that are of a clean heart. A pure heart. How am I going
to have a clean heart before God? Well, we looked at that
in the previous hour, didn't we? The only hope that my heart
can be sinless in the presence of God is to have a new nature
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That verse you just quoted,
that He is the fullness of the Godhead bodily and we are complete
in Him. If the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't
justify me before God, if He doesn't present Himself on my
behalf, if He's not all my righteousness before God, I have no hope of
standing before God. But those that have a clean heart,
those who trust Christ, those who are looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ as the only hope of their salvation, Those who are no longer
under the schoolmaster of the law, but are under the grace
of God in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's good
to them. He's good to them. Now David
says in verse two, but, but that's that verse one's a fact. It's
a fact. It's just an absolute, eternal,
God-spoken, irrefutable fact that God is good to Israel. I
love what Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 when he was speaking
to the church at Corinth. He concludes his letter by saying,
Farewell now brethren. We don't use that word much. But do you understand the meaning
of that verse, of that word? Farewell. It's kind of like the
word goodbye. The word goodbye is a conjunction
of God be with you. We use them very loosely, don't
we, just to say see you later, farewell, see you later. No,
he wasn't saying that. He was saying farewell, brethren.
Farewell. You know the truth is, that spiritually
we fare well the best when we're faring ill in every other area
of our lives? When you're faring well physically,
bills are paid, kids are all well, everything's going hunky-dory,
you know, we're just right on track, everything's fine. You
become at ease in Zion and spiritually you fare ill. God uses our faring ill. Count it all joy my brethren
when you fall into divers trials and temptations knowing that
the trying of your faith worketh patience, and patience, when
it is complete, makes you perfect and entire, lacking in nothing."
Why? Because you're trusting Christ
when you fare ill, you are faring well. When you fare the illest is when
you're faring the wellest. Just mark it down. Isn't that
true? Truly God is good to Israel,
even to such that have a clean heart. Those who are found not
having their own righteousness, but found in the Lord Jesus Christ
as all their righteousness before God. Those who are justified
by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, justified by His blood,
justified by grace. But as for me, now was David
a part of Israel? The scripture says that he had
the heart of God. The scripture says this is a
man after my own heart. This is the sweet psalmist of
Israel. This is the king. This is a saved man speaking. And he says, but as for me, my
feelings, What, the turmoil that I was
going through? My feet were almost gone, my
steps had well nigh slipped. Why? Because he was faring well
physically. Oh, he had everything he wanted.
Everything. Didn't have to go to war. command to any servant he wanted
to do whatever, he said, my feet had almost slipped. For I was
envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Now David's not talking about
their physical prosperity. No one was as prosperous as he
was physically, monetarily. Here's what he was talking about,
look at verse 4. For there are no bands in their
death, but their strength is firm. There's no fetters about death
with them. They make statements like, oh,
they're better off now, there's no more suffering. You ask people,
are you afraid to die? You know what they'll tell you?
I'm not afraid to die. Hell's reserved for the not-for-people
like me. I'm not afraid to die. They have no bands in their death.
They know nothing about having to divert their eyes away from
the pictures of loved ones who have deceased in their home,
not because of the memory of their life, but because of the
reality of their current condition. You know anything about that?
You just can't think about your parents. Why? Because you understand the
bands that there are in death and they don't understand them.
They have no concern for their soul. They think that everything's
fine. I'm okay. You're okay. We're
all going to be in heaven in the end. They know nothing of
the civil war that goes on inside the two natures of a believer.
They know nothing of it. There's no bands in their death. There's no fetters in their death.
There's no restraints. They don't wake up every day
with their spirit warring against their flesh and their flesh warring
against their spirit. They know nothing about what
it means to loathe themselves. Michael brought a great message
about the fact that God has forgotten our sins and I don't understand
what that means. But, you know, the conviction
of sin is real for the believer. And what makes it so horrible
is when we realize what we've sinned against. Who we've sinned
against. David said, against thee and
thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. We sin
against love. We sin against grace. We sin
against God's mercy. There's no bans in their death.
They don't know anything about that. As for me, they don't see
the vanity of this world. They go about their daily lives
indulging themselves in the world, putting down roots in this world,
building up houses in this world, and hoping that all they've got
is in this world. They know nothing about the cold
wind of unbelief chilling the soul to the bone. There's no
bands in their death. They know nothing about that. They know nothing about the fear
that causes the child of God to lose sleep over the lost condition
of their children and grandchildren. They know nothing about it. There's
no bands in their death. They just go about their lives
as if everything's fine. David said, I can't live that
way. I wish I could. I wish I could
be free from these things. Look what he goes on to say.
They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued
like other men. They don't understand the spiritual
plague that I live with every day. As for me, therefore pride
can pass at them about as a chain. Violence covers them as a garment. They do violence against Christ. They have no compassion and no love. for Christ or know
anything of the love of Christ, their eyes stand out with fatness
they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt. They speak wickedly concerning
oppression. They speak loftily. They speak
against the gospel. They speak against the Lord Jesus
Christ and they think nothing of it. They think nothing of
it. They set their mouths against
the heavens and their tongue walketh through the earth. Oh,
they're so full of pride and self-righteousness. They know
nothing of the broken spirit, of a broken heart before God. Therefore his people return hither,
and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. And they say,
how does God know? And is there knowledge in the
Most High? I'm not afraid of God. I've paid my dues. I've checked off the boxes. I've
done my part. I'm okay. Barely I have cleansed my heart
in vain, David says. I go through these spiritual
struggles in vain when I look at the wicked. What David is
saying is, I wish my life could be as easy as theirs. I wish
I didn't have to go through these spiritual conflicts. I wish I wasn't a contradiction
to myself. I wish I could just live my life
in this world without ever thinking about death and dying and life
eternal and hell and judgment. I wish I could just... I mean
I'd be such a... Ignorance is bliss! If I could
just be ignorant of the things of God, I could be bliss like
them. Behold, these are the ungodly.
Verse 12, who prosper in the world, they increase in riches. And again, he's talking about
the riches of their own self-righteousness. Verily, David said in verse 13,
I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency. And all the day long have I been
plagued and chastened every morning. verse 15 says if I say I will
speak thus behold I should offend against the generation of thy
children now what David saying in verse 15 is if I confess to
men what I'm really thinking I'll be a stumbling block to
them If I bear the fears of my inner
thoughts and soul to men, I fear that if they hear me say these
things, particularly the young children, will be offended by
it. Do you ever fear that way? I've got feelings and thoughts
and doubts and questions that I just can't express to men. This is the inward battle that
I have. Verse 16, when I thought to know
this, it was too painful for me. Verse 17, until, oh don't
miss verse 17, until I went into the sanctuary of God, until I
heard the gospel, until I met with God's people and I heard
the facts about what God has done in Christ to deliver me
of my sin and secure me a place in glory. until I was reminded
again about the vanity of this world and the brevity of it and
given hope that the Lord Jesus Christ has secured for me in
His righteousness a place in glory and delivered me eternally
from the judgment of God. Until I heard those things, when I heard them, Then I no
longer envied them, for then I knew their end." Then I knew their end. Then I
knew that the trials and the troubles both spiritually and
physically in this life cannot be compared to the glory that
shall be revealed in me. Then I knew that this is as bad
as it's ever going to be. Then I knew that it's worth it. It's worth it. And for them,
the judgment of God is beyond my comprehension, not something
I want to think about. Surely, verse 18, thou did set
them in slippery places, thou casted them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation
as in a moment they are utterly consumed with terrors? Now I don't know if you've had
this experience. I've had it a few times. I told someone,
I told a dear sister recently who sat at the bed of a loved
one and held their hand as they took their dying breath that
I wish every child of God could have that experience. I wish
every child of God could have that experience. We have so insulated
ourselves from death. We've sterilized it. We've sent
it off to the hospitals and to the nursing homes and to the
and to the morgues, and we don't encounter death like previous
generations did. But it's a truth, it's a reality,
it's a fact that we need to be reminded of and confronted with. And I've seen men I believe that
though they had no fear of death prior to the moment of their
death, I've had men look in my eyes with utter terror, gripping
their soul, looking at me like, why didn't you tell me? As if
God had opened up the door to hell and given them in the last
seconds of their life a look into where they were headed.
There was no bands in their death before that moment. This is the reality of it. This
is the truth of it. What are we going to do? We're
dying. I'm a dying man preaching to
dying men. We're all dying. I told our folks last Wednesday
night, I said, too much preaching goes on trying to help people
to learn how to live the Christian life. It's hard to live the Christian
life if you're not a Christian. What you need and what I need
is not tricks and tools on how to be a better person, but we
need to know how to be saved. Because when that day of truth
happens, it's the only thing that's going to matter. It's
the only thing that's going to matter for you and for me. And
all this stuff is just that. It's just stuff. Oh, that God would give us the
hope of salvation in our souls. How many days do we have left? How many? The world goes through
life with no bands in their death. They act like this is all there
is. But not for the child of God. We know the reality of it. We
know the truth of it. This is real. We're not playing
games here. We're not playing church. We're talking about the destiny
of your soul. Eternity. Oh, I'm so much more concerned
about that than anything else. God put the weight of that on
us. You say, well, not everybody
is so glib about spiritual things. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
28. In a sense, Psalm 73 describes
the irreligious. The irreligious. And Isaiah 28
describes the religious. They have some knowledge of a
supreme being, though it be an idol that they fashioned in their
own imagination. They know that life is coming
to an end and they you know, want to get things in order.
So what do they do? Verse 9 of Isaiah 28, Whom shall
he teach knowledge, and whom shall he make to understand doctrine,
the gospel? Who's God going to teach the
gospel to? They shall all be taught of God. Who's He going to teach it to?
Them that are weaned from milk and drawn from the breast. Those
that are growing in grace. That's what I want you and I
to do right now, to be weaned from the milk and drawn from
the breast. I want us to understand the end of the story, the gravity
of this thing we're talking about. For precept must be upon precept,
precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a
little, there a little. Little by little, as the Lord
grows us in His grace, He takes us to His Word, and He causes
us to see that this is a revelation. The Bible is not a rule book
for Christian living. The Bible is a revelation of
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the volume of
the book it is written of me. This book tells us about the
Savior. And the sinner is rejoicing in the message of the Savior.
The Lord told those religious Pharisees, you search the scriptures
because you think in them you have eternal life, but these
are they which testify of me. And precept upon precept, line
upon line, here a little, there a little, we learn a little bit
more about the Lord Jesus Christ. The glass becomes a little clearer.
We see more and more of our hope and our destiny in Him. and with stammering lips and
another tongue will he speak to this people." That's what
he's doing with gospel preachers. Anybody that's stood to preach
the gospel understands what that verse means. Stammering lips
and another tongue. To whom he said that this is
the rest wherewith he may cause the weary to rest and this is
the refreshing So the gospel preacher stands and preaches,
precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a
little, from the word of God about our hope in Christ. The one who satisfied the demands
of the law. The one who presented himself
before God on our behalf. The sin bearer, the substitute,
the surety for sinners. Oh, what a place of rest. What
a place of hope. What a person he is, yet they
would not believe. What did they do? What did the
religious do? Well, look at the next verse. But the word of the Lord unto
them was nothing more than precept upon precept. precept upon precept, line upon
line, line upon line, here little and there little, that they might
go and fall backwards and be broken and snared and taken."
In other words, they took the Bible and they missed the message
of the Bible, which is the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and they made a God out of the Bible. The Bible is not an end
in itself. This is a means to an end. The end is the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. But they couldn't see it. They
couldn't see it. They made a rule book for Christian
living out of the Word of God. Wherefore, now here's what God
says to them, wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful
men that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. These are the
false prophets that are leading people to this conclusion because
you have said we have made a covenant with death. We made a covenant
with death. We have no bans in our death.
It's not just the irreligious that have no bans in their death,
it's the religious. who will be quick to say, I'm
not afraid to die, I made a decision, I accepted Jesus, I gave my heart
to God, I'm okay. Because you have said, we have
made a covenant with death. If you make a covenant with death,
you can be sure that that covenant's going to be disannulled. The
only covenant that will stand before God is the eternal covenant
of grace that God Almighty established before time began. When he placed
a people in Christ before the foundation of the world, that's
the covenant that saves. A covenant that you make, in
other words, any covenant that you made a contribution to, what
does God say about that covenant? And with hell, are we at agreement? Hell's not going to take us.
When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall
not come unto us. For we have made lies our refuge,
and under falsehoods have we hid ourselves. Therefore, thus
saith the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone,
a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth
shall not make haste. Who's that? That's Christ. He's
that sure stone. He's the foundation stone. He's
the tried stone. He was tried by God. He was tried
by the law, and he made the law honorable. He succeeded in saving
His people and those that trust Him and not their covenant. David said, God has made with
me an everlasting covenant. God made the covenant and that
covenant was ordered in all things and that covenant is sure. This
is all my salvation. This is all my desire. the covenant
that finds its hope in the foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Judgment also will I lay to the
line, and righteousness to the plummet, and the hail shall sweep
away the refuge of lies, and water shall overflow the hiding
place, and your covenant with death shall be disannulled. Now that God says, you made a
covenant with death, Maybe you weren't like the people of Psalm
73. Maybe you were more religious. Maybe you thought about the things
of your soul and thought about the things of God and set out
to make things right for yourself. So you established a covenant
and you applied some of the principles of the Bible into your life and
you've become faithful to the church and religious and you're
hoping in those things. God says your covenant with death
is going to be disannulled. And your agreement with hell
shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it. So what's the hope? What's the hope? Hebrews chapter
2. Have you ever gotten a string Anybody that's fished with a
baitcaster knows what a bird's nest is, and if it gets so bad,
you just end up taking your knife and cutting the string out. I
mean, you just sit there and work on that thing, trying to
get it untangled. You ever gotten a rope or a piece of thread or
a string so tangled, so knotted up, you worked and you worked
and you worked, you took tweezers, you used your teeth, you did
everything you could to untangle that rope, to unloose it, and
you finally gave up, just had to cut it? Hebrews chapter 2 verse 13 and again I will put
my trust in him and again behold I and the children which God
hath given me The Lord Jesus Christ put all His trust in the
Father, and all His children put all their trust in Him. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, As for me, my feet had almost
slipped. Why? Because I'm a man of flesh
and blood. I've got an old nature. I live
in this world. I've got fears and trials and
troubles that go against me all the time. He also himself Speaking of the
Lord Jesus Christ, likewise took part of the same. He was made in the likeness of
sinful flesh. He was born of a woman under
the law to redeem those who were cursed by the law. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the incarnate God, God with us. He became a man,
why? To untangle the mess that we
made of things. He could not take his sovereign
omnipotence and the sword of his justice and cut the string. He couldn't do it. He had to
untie it. He had to untangle it. Look what
he says. That through death he might destroy, destroy. You see that word destroy? It
means to untie. It means to unloose. Destroy
him that had power over death, that is the devil. Let me ask
you a question. How real is the devil in your
experience? In your feelings? In your sin? Doesn't seem like he's destroyed,
is it? Does it? Seems like he's pretty
powerful still, doesn't it? And that sins what's going to
drive you to Christ. But he didn't come to deliver
us from all the trials and temptations of the devil. He came to unloose
and untangle the mess that we made of things. That's what he
did when he destroyed him that had power of death, that is the
devil, and deliver them who through fear of death, the unbeliever
has no bans in death. The religious man of Isaiah chapter
28 says, I've made a covenant with death, I'm not worried about
dying. But now here he's talking about the believer, the elect
child of God who has some understanding of the gravity of death and eternal
life and eternal judgment. And He came, the Lord Jesus Christ
came, to unloose, to untie the mess that we made of things. Those who live their whole lives
and deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. When Satan cast the cords of
sin around man's heart, he tangled us in a web of deceit
that was impossible for us to free ourselves from. He tangled
and tightened the knot so that it could not be cut by omnipotent
power. It had to be untangled. It had
to be entirely, by divine wisdom, unloosed. The work of Satan had to be undone. Disobedience had to be repaired
by obedience. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one that obeyed the law of God. And in doing so, he unloosed
the knot. Sin had to be atoned for by sacrifice. The only perfect sacrifice that
God's pleased with is the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and in dying on Calvary's cross, he untied the knot. He loosed
those who, in fear of death, he delivered them from the bondage
of death. Death had to be destroyed. Only the One who is Himself eternal
life could destroy death by Himself on Calvary's cross. The broken law had to be kept.
It had to be honored. Only the Lord Jesus Christ made
the law honorable. The lies of deceit had to be
spoken. He's the only one in whose lips
there is no guile and who is himself the truth. Feelings come and feelings go. Feelings are deceiving. They're deceiving. My hope, your
hope, is in the Son of God and the Word of God, in which there
is no deceiving. We're going to be like David.
If you're a child of God, you're going to live in a world where
people, they don't understand what you're going through. They
don't understand your sobriety about death. They just take it, you know,
just living one day at a time. Just gonna get all I can get
out of this world. No bans in death. For them, there's no bans in
their feeling. there's a horrible band in the
reality of it. For us, there's bands in our
feelings, but there's no band in the truth of it. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we thank you for the hope of eternal life. in the Lord Jesus
Christ. We pray that you would enable
us to find our rest and all of our satisfaction in him. We thank
you for this bread and wine and for what it reminds us of in
his sinless body and sacrificial death. how his body is our meat
indeed and his blood is our drink indeed and we pray that as we
partake of this table that you would confirm to our hearts his
successful work of redemption. For it's in his name we ask it.
Amen. I ask the men if they'll come
please and distribute the bread and the wine. We're going to
sing number 352 from the heart back to him. No, you can just
remain seated. Bye.