Well, it's good to see everybody
this morning and I thank the Lord for this precious time that
we have to be together. Life is short. Life is fleeting. I pray that God be pleased to
have mercy and speak to us today. Oh, how we need to hear. Turn with me. I'm gonna try to
preach for a few minutes out of Revelation chapter 14 in just
a moment, but I got up, woke up this morning, and out of Ezekiel 33, if you want
to turn there, Ezekiel 33, I'm gonna read verses 7 to 11. And
I had this passage of scripture on my mind. I kept musing over it, and I
thought, I've got to read this. Ezekiel chapter 33, verse 7 to
11. So thou, O son of man, I have
set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore thou
shalt hear the word at my mouth and warn them from me." I read
that again this morning and I thought, you know, here's a responsibility
that's been given to a preacher. Somebody that is in themself
nobody. And almighty God has set forth
a command. A command to speak to those that
hear him. Verse eight says, when I say
unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die. If thou
dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man
shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine
hand. I've told you before, I don't
know the depth of that, Neal. I don't know the depth of that,
but I can tell you that I don't want to ignore it. Verse 9, Nevertheless,
if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, if he do
not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou
hast delivered thy soul. Therefore, O thou son of man,
speak to the house of Israel. Thus he speaks, saying, If our
transgressions If our sins be upon us and we pine away in them,
how should we then live? Saying to them, as I live, saith
the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but
that the wicked should turn from his way to live and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil
ways, or why will you die? Old House of Israel. I want to heed that warning.
I want to hear what the Lord has to say concerning these precious
things. Now I'm going to try to preach
for just a few minutes out of Revelation chapter 14. You may
want to turn there and I'm going to look at one verse
of scripture. Revelation 14, verse 13. The Spirit of God moved to say
this, and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write,
blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth,
yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and
their works do follow them. John was moved to write these
words. He was endowed by the Spirit
of God to write these words. These are the words of Almighty
God. These are not the words of a
mere man. He said, I heard a voice. He was endowed to hear a voice,
a voice from heaven. Now that's a miracle of God's
grace. Heard people say, well, the Lord
spoke and I heard him say, I thought, well, I've never heard the physical
voice of God. I've heard in my heart, the impression
of my heart, his words, because the scripture says, my sheep
hear my voice. John said, I heard a voice from
heaven saying unto me, write, you write this down. Write it
down, and it may be rehearsed over and over and over again. Write, blessed are the dead,
which die in the Lord, from henceforth, yea, saith the Spirit, that they
may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them. John said, God moved upon me
and told me to write this down. And I'm so thankful that he did.
I'm thankful that I can read what God has to say. He sent
this word. John had heard a voice from heaven. A voice from heaven that can
only be heard if the great shepherd gives ears to hear. Now these
are, this is a marvelous thing. These are mysterious things.
People talk about the scriptures as if it's something that they
could just easily grasp hold of receive, and I'm telling you,
the voice of God that must be heard in the heart. I can't explain this, but these
things are so, and it's only by the grace of God, that if
anybody hears, heartfully, anything from the Lord, and this voice
from heaven gave us a specific command unto John. Here's the
absolute truth that God does speak. Listen, I know, I know what man
by nature thinks. This is all just, you know, fairy
tales and just like, oh my. Lord, help me. Help me to hear
what you have to say. John heard God's voice. He said, I heard a voice. I heard
a speech. I heard an utterance speaking
to me. He said, write. You commit this
to writing. This book right here, somebody
said, that's just a book that somebody wrote down. My friend, there's a day coming. And this
book right here is going to be opened. And the Spirit of God
has said the book's going to be opened, and the book, the
book of Christ himself, and all of us are going to stand before
God. We're going to answer. We're
going to hear. I know how we all think. You're
looking at one of the most frail people you know. I've told you
before, I've lately seen that I'm not tough, I'm not tough,
I'm not bad, I'm not mean, I'm a frail creature of the dust. John was to make a record, a
truthful record concerning God's people and to give them some
comfort and some peace, those that know in heart that they're
gonna leave this world. I think every funeral that we
attend, there's a message being set forth. We're dying, we're
dying creatures. We're going to leave this world
and we're gonna meet God and stand before him and the scripture
sets forth concerning this absolute truth. John said, I heard something
about it. I heard a voice. It said to me,
blessed. Blessed. Blessed are the dead
which die in the Lord. Blessed. Now, you know, it's
not all who die that are blessed. There was a rich man And he fared
sumptuously every day. That's what scripture says. And
he had somebody in his community named Lazarus. And Lazarus was
a man that he was sick. Dogs licked his wounds. All Lazarus ever did was just
look to try to get some crumbs that fell from the rich man's
table. That's what he ate. That's what he got. And Lazarus
died. And the rich man died. And Lazarus,
the scripture says, was taken into the bosom of Abraham by
the angels. Brought into the very presence
of God. And that rich man had fared sumptuously every day.
Died too. You know what happened to him?
He lifted up his eyes out of hell. Lifted up his eyes and he said,
I'm in trouble. I'm in bad trouble. I never knew
it was going to be like this. Oh, brethren, my heart this morning
is heavy. I don't know if you can tell,
but it's heavy. It's heavy. This world is fleeting,
fleeting. We're going to leave. We're going
to leave. John, Paul, I'm sorry, said in
2 Corinthians 5, 1, we know that if our earthly house of this
tabernacle were dissolved, you know what that means? That means
that we're gonna die. We're gonna leave. We've all
been to funerals. We're gonna leave this world.
But if this earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved,
We have a building of God and house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens. Death is something that by nature
we don't want to talk about. It's mysterious. It's something
that just man would rather ignore. You know, it's not a natural
thing. that men would love to die. That's not natural. By nature,
we dread dying, the thought of dying. Because man was not created
to die. He fell in the garden. God made
man upright. And man rebelled against God. And now in Adam, that's the one
in whom we're all born, Adam, all die. We're gonna leave this
world. So to consider dying is a thing
that man by nature would rather ignore. Don't talk to me, preacher,
about that. Tell me about we all love each
other and everything's good, brethren. We're dying creatures. You're older now than you've
ever been. This is as old as you've ever been, right here.
And we're not going to get any younger. But we are going to
get older. And one day, unless the Lord
returns to receive His people unto Himself, we're all going
to go the way of all men. We're going to leave this world.
And they're going to put us in a casket and everybody's gonna
parade by. Everybody, it's an amazing thing
to me, everybody that's ever died, everybody. This is what
I always hear, they're in a better place. Well, I don't know if
they are or not. If they died without hope in
Christ, no, they're not in a better place, I can tell you that right
now. They're in a place of torment. I say, you don't have to be so
honest about it, Marvin. Well, I'm gonna tell you something.
You're looking at a man that knows maybe a little, I told
you this before, maybe a little bit more about this. After I
got a report of what I went through here just 90 days ago, I'm telling
you, I never knew what happened. I got to report what happened
later, but I'm telling you, they told me, they told me, this is
where you were. And I think but for the grace
of God, I'd have never seen you again. I'm thankful that I am.
I'm thankful I can be here with you. I'm telling you, as a reality,
there's a reality coming. Man by nature, though he hates
this, there's a blessing that's set forth in this thing of dying. It's a blessing that's nothing
short of a miracle. Blessed. That word means happy,
happy. Happy are the dead which die
in the Lord. Now how in the world How in the
world could there be any happiness in dying? Well, dying in the
Lord, those that die in the Lord die in union with Him, joined
with Him. They die being chosen in Him. The Scripture says before the
foundation of the world, sanctified, set apart to be saints called
by God's Spirit. And by the grace of God, they're
sacred, pure, those that are in the Lord, blameless before
God. How? Because their guilt has
been put away by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paid atonement,
a covering has been made for them by that precious blood. and they've been robed in the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mysterious, wonderfully mysterious
things. Those that die in the Lord, die
in the faith, they believe God. They hear this record. This is
a record. This is what I'm doing. I'm not telling you something
I made up. I'm telling you, I'd have never, I'd have never been
able to make this up. These are marvelously wonderful
things that are revealed by God. He died in the Lord, in the faith
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith of what? That he exists. Everybody believes that Jesus
Christ exists. Everyone believes that. before
I ever knew anything concerning the reality of salvation, true
salvation. I believe, somebody say, you
believe that there's a Jesus Christ? Yeah, I believe it. I
believe there's an Abraham Lincoln, and I believe that there's a
George Washington. Yeah, I believe it. No, I'm gonna tell you something. Those that believe in Christ,
they believe that Christ knew them before the foundation of
the world. Loved them before the foundation of the world.
Died for them. Bore their guilt before God for
them. They believe in Him. They don't
believe in self. I've always believed in myself.
I believe I can handle it. I don't believe I can handle
it anymore. They die abiding in Him. Abiding in Christ. Bearing fruit of Christ. John, I'll read this for you.
John chapter 15. Listen to the words of the Lord. John 15, four and five. Abide
in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except
it abide in the vine. No more can ye except ye abide
in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches,
he that abideth in me In him the same bringeth forth much
fruit. For without me you can do nothing. Nothing. This fruit that's being
spoken of, what is that? What's that fruit? Well, Galatians
5, 22, 25. I'm sorry, 22, 23. Galatians
chapter 5, listen to this. The fruit of the Spirit, that
which is produced by the Spirit of God Himself. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against
such there is no law. Those that die in the faith of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's His fruit, love. God is love. Man by nature lusts. God is love. God is love. Love for God. Love for God's people. Love for his scriptures. Love
for that mercy that's been shown to needy sinners. and joy. This is a fruit of God's
spirit, joy. What do you mean? Gladness in
the Lord. I was glad when they said to
me, let's go to the house of the Lord. I can remember a time in my life
when I thought I was glad when they said to me, let's go to
the house of the Lord. I don't want to go. I'm just
being honest with you. Might say, well, I've always
loved to go to the house of the Lord. No, you haven't. Not until
the Lord gave you a heart, no. I didn't say you wasn't glad
to go to church to be seen at church and stuff like that and
have people pat you on the back. Now, I'm not saying that, but
I'm saying I was glad when they say, let's go to the house of
the Lord. I wanna hear what God has to say. I want to hear what
God has to say about me. I want to hear what God has to
say about Himself. I was glad when the fruit of
the Spirit, love, joy, peace. Peace. Peace with God. Established before God's law
by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Long-suffering. What is that? forbearance, patience
in the Lord. How many times have we heard
old brother Scott say, who's running this show? I look around
and I'm thinking, I think if I could have my way, this is
the way that I would order the things that's going on in this
world today. I don't think the things going
on in this world today is the way it ought to be. The things
that's going on in this world today is the way God Almighty
ordered it to be. all things after the counsel
of His own will. Lord, give me a heart to bow
to that. Give me a heart to love it, to
say it's the Lord. Let Him do what seemeth Him good. Long-suffering, long-suffering
toward His people, all for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ.
kindness, meekness, gentleness, quietness, temperance, what is
that? Self-control. Against such there
is no law. What does that mean? That means
concerning this fruit, there's nothing that can condemn it.
Against such there's no law. There's no condemnation to that
which God Almighty has done. All these things that we've read
about, these fruit of God's Spirit, they're perfectly agreeable.
Almighty God. Oh, beloved, we struggle in this
world. I struggle just like you do.
There's not a believer that's living that doesn't struggle
with this flesh. against the things that he sees
in himself. I don't like what I see in me.
I don't. I don't. Paul the apostle, he
talked about that battle that was going on. He saw it. It was just, I'm the one that
butts head with me. I'm the one that wars against
me, every believer. is in a continual spiritual battle,
and it's real. It's real. It's a battle, and
it's gonna be there till we leave this world. Oh, blessed, happy are the dead
which die in the Lord. We're gonna die. I've already
established that. But happy are those that die
in the Lord. Scripture says from henceforth,
When they die, from henceforth, from the time they die, from
then on, it'll never end. Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord from henceforth, that they may rest from their
labors. You ever get tired? Just tired,
just tired. Just tired of the toil and the
commotion, trouble of body and soul. Some of you that has expressed
to me, we, you know, I used to, I told you, I used to talk about
all the old preachers. Well, I'm there. I am it. I'm,
I am. He said, you just look and you
see this battle, a spiritual war, a battle that's going on. And these troubles, torments,
tribulations that we have, blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord, that they may rest. You ever come in from a hard
day at work and you're just so tired, just tired, If I can just
close my eyes, give me 15 minutes. 15 minutes, that's all I ask. You give me 15 minutes, I'll
take all I can get. But oh, I'm telling you, just
to close my eyes for just a few minutes and just rest, but for
my soul. Me to be able to rest, that they
may rest from the trouble, trial, tribulations, struggles of this
world and Satan's temptation. The moment they take their last
breath, those that died in the Lord are free. I think about all of our brethren
that's died here and gone home to be with the Lord. Don't you
envy them? I do, too. Somebody said, I don't
know, Marvin. I'm gonna tell you something.
You ever get tired, spiritually tired? And I know some of you
here, you're like me. You got trials and troubles and
just the thought. Now this is something I never
thought before. The joy of anticipating leaving this world. Now, some
of you know what I'm talking about. At one time, I would have
never said that. No, I want to live forever. Well,
you're not going to, I can tell you that. But for those that
know Christ and see the struggles and trials and tribulation of
his heart, I'm telling you something, blessed, blessed, blessed, happy,
happy, happy. Those that die in the Lord, that
they may rest. Rest, rest. Oh, the body of this
death shall no more distress him. There won't be any more
sorrow, no more tears because of sin that so easily besets
them. What does that mean? The sin
that just tries us, troubles us, tempts us, moves us. Those that die in the Lord, they
rest. And their works do follow them. Not the works that are produced
by us, works of the flesh. Titus chapter three, verse five
says, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the spirit. But the works that follow us. I looked at that and I kept going
over it and over it and over it. do all that I could, asking
the Lord, give me some light on this right there. Their works
do follow them. Their works do follow them, that's
what it says. Works that are wrought in us by God's Spirit. Works that are
here said to be ours. God's given us love for each
other. You think we of ourselves came
up with that love? You think we came up with that
patience and that long-suffering and gentleness, meekness, kindness?
You think that was of our ability? Beloved, God's done something
for us. If we possess any of that, when
the woman had the issue of blood, was healed of her plague, It's
what Mark 5, 34 says. When she was healed of her plague,
issue of blood. What did the Lord say about her
healing? I'll read it for you. Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace, be whole of thy
plague. Faith in Christ was given unto
this woman. The Lord gave her faith to believe. The Lord gave her faith to believe.
But you know what the Lord said? Thy faith. Thy faith. That faith in him was said to
be by the Lord. Your faith. It was a gift of
God. gift of the Lord, given unto
her, her faith likewise, the blessed which die in the Lord. Now listen to this. Their works, their works do follow them. You know, in yourself, in your
thoughts, would you like to Just present before the Lord the best
that you could ever do of yourself. I wouldn't. I'd hate for the
Lord to take the best that I could do and say, Lord, I want you
to judge my eternal soul on the best that I could do, best I've
ever done. I'm telling you, I'm not going to make it. Faithful is he that calleth you
who will also do it. All that's ever been produced
that's good is of the Lord. And the Lord has given his people
faith to believe and said, your faith has made thee whole. And their works Their works,
that labor of love, that work of faith, patience of hope in
Christ Jesus, their work do follow them. Now, that's one I had to
go over again, Neil, and read again. Their works do follow
them. This is what I looked at Mr. Strong's letter Bible and joined to him, joined to him. as a disciple. Their works do
follow them. They accompany them. Beloved, this is what God has
to say about a believer dying. Blessed, blessed, blessed are
they that die in the Lord. Blessed are those that leave
this world dying in Christ. This is what I want to say. Lord,
teach me more about that. Lord, teach me because of myself,
I can't, I can't perceive the depth of that, Lord, but I believe
what you say. Lord, I don't have any hope outside
of you. I have no hope, no hope. I'm not gonna be good enough.
I'm not gonna do enough of myself. But Lord, save me, have mercy
on me. For Christ's sake, I ask these
things.