Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to Isaiah 57. Isaiah 57. I was reading this chapter, I
was reading this passage of Scripture, Isaiah 57, a few days ago. And when I read it, it so blessed
my heart I wanted to Look at it again. And this morning I
plan to preach both messages out of Isaiah 57. I want to preach
the first message out of Isaiah 57 verses 1 and 2. And I want
to preach on the subject of when a believer dies. When a believer
dies. You know, the Scripture bears
out what I'm about to say. And it bears it out right here. I heard Brother Henry say, the
greatest loss that this world suffers is when an aged and taught
believer is taken home. When God removes one that he
has taught through years of hearing the Scriptures, learning, through
the trials of this life, learning, seeing the suffering of this
life. And then, when it pleases the
Lord, it takes that believer home. This world suffers great
loss. I want to consider that for just
a few minutes. Isaiah 57, verses 1 and 2. perisheth, and no man layeth
it to heart. And merciful men are taken away,
none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to
come. He shall enter into peace, and
they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in His uprightness. The righteous perisheth. Now, I tell you the first thing
I know for a fact, that there are some that are in this world
that are righteous. They're holy. They're holy people. They're not righteous in themselves,
and they don't claim to be. They don't claim that title as
something that they've attained by the works of the flesh, by
their own obedience. They're justified, and again,
When I use words, I pray that I remember, explain them again.
I need to hear it again. They're justified. What does
that mean? It means that the law looks at them and the law
of God says, no charge. No charge. I find nothing against them chargeable. Justified. Now there's two natures
in a believer. And one of them is the same nature
with which we were born. It is that old carnal nature.
It has not changed. That which is flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit. And they don't mix. We're not half and half. I got
to thinking about this This morning, over in Jude, I think, I think
it's Jude 1.24, I pray so, I was thinking about that new man that
sinneth not. Okay, you guys look at this right
here. Let me tell you what I'm looking for. I'm looking for
holy faith. Holy faith. Twenty? Thank you. That's it. But ye, beloved, building
up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. I believe God. I believe I believe
God. And I look at myself and what
I see concerning my faith. Lord, I believe. Help me. Help
my unbelief. But according to the Scriptures, faith from above is holy faith,
precious faith, That's amazing to me. God Almighty
would give a man faith to believe. And God Himself, based upon the
imputed righteousness of Christ, declares His people to be righteous. The righteous perisheth. Now, I know this. They don't
perish eternally. under the wrath of God, because
there's never been any wrath. We're not appointed under wrath. We have not been appointed under
wrath. The wrath of God has never been
upon God's people. So I know they don't perish eternally
under God's wrath, but they do physically die. The righteous
Perishing. They die. They die just like
every other man. It's a passing from this life
to the next. It's just a passage. It's just a door. It's a way. We're going to have
to get from here to there. And we're not going to go any
other way except by dying. We're going to die. It's appointed
unto man once to die. Now here's the attitude of the
world against the righteous that perisheth. No man layeth it to
heart. This is what it means. Every
man, every woman, those outside of Christ, they just don't care. They just don't care. It never ceases to amaze me. Somebody of worldly prominence
dies. They'll put that all over the
news. It's just such a big hoopla. It's probably the most ungodly,
rebellious heathen, you know, just like all of us by nature.
And I mean they'll go on and on and on and days and days and
days and they'll just have, you know, eulogies and on and on.
And Scott Richards is going to die. And the world doesn't even care. Those like Brother Scott, this
world is not even worthy of them. They don't even care. The righteous
perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart." In fact, I'll tell
you this, it can truthfully be said concerning the world's attitude
against those that are righteous, that the Lord removes. They're
glad. They rejoice in it. When the
two witnesses, In Revelation 11, now these two witnesses,
we considered this when we went through Revelation 13 years ago,
12, 13 years ago. These two witnesses represent
the totality of the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ through
the preachers at God's sins. Two witnesses, in the mouth of
two to three witnesses, these two witnesses are representative
of gospel preachers. And these two witnesses, when
they were killed in their dead bodies, lying in the street there,
the Scripture reveals the attitude that the world had toward these
two witnesses. This is what it says, Revelation
11, And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over
them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another, because
these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
There is nothing that is more repulsive to a religionist, to
one that is righteous in himself. There's nothing that he despises
more than the hearing of the gospel. That gospel of God's
grace that first reveals him to be a wretched, impotent, spiritually
impotent sinner. He hates that. Don't you tell
me that. Don't you tell me that God has
the right to choose one and pass by another. Don't you tell me.
Don't you tell me I don't have a free will. I'm glad you're
dead. In fact, I wish all of you would
die. You mark this down. Those that know not the Lord,
steeped, ingrained, in false man-centered, God-hating, rebellious
religion. They hate God's preachers. They
hate them. They hate them. If you die, I'd
be glad. If I never have to look at you
again, I'll be so glad. I'll be glad when you're gone.
Scripture says, the righteous perisheth, no man layeth it to
heart. And merciful men, Margin says, men of kindness, men of
goodness, godliness, merciful men are taken away, none considering
that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. Now again,
God's faithful servants, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, they
die in the world by and large, don't even care. They don't care
that the grace that has been imparted to God's people, they
have a new nature. They have a new attitude, they
have a new love. And the Lord taught them something.
He taught them something of God's Word, God's grace. And when God
takes that away, those that were here, and while
they were here, they prayed for one another. They loved one another. They encouraged one another.
They prayed for those in leadership. Tried to be a help and a comfort. Prayed for their families. Prayed
for their spouses. Especially prayed for those that
didn't know the Lord. They were praying for the lost
and praying. God took them out. And now they're not here anymore. Not
praying. And the world never considers
that those to whom the Lord has shown mercy Compassion has been,
by the grace of God, taken out of this world into the very presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ for their eternal good. Now this
is the time when a believer dies that the will of the Lord Jesus
for that departed saint is truly seen. A believer dies. We that are left can say this.
This is the Lord's will done here. Father, I will that they
also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they
may behold my glory which thou hast given me for thou lovest
me before the foundation of the world. The Lord has mercifully taken
them away from that which is evil. That's what he said. The
world For these merciful men are taken away, none considering
that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come." Who can
tell what evil the righteous have been delivered from when
the Lord took them away? What did the Lord deliver them
from? I don't know. But He does. I don't know what
a day is going to bring. I don't know what's going to
happen. But the Lord does. He who orders all things. Remember when God took Lot out
of Sodom. Why did He take Lot? The angels
told Lot, you know He told Lot, we've got to get you out of here. God's not going to rain judgment
on this city until you're gone. You've got to go. We've got to
get you out. And those angels took Lot, his
wife, his two daughters, out of Sodom. And God poured out
wrath upon Sodom and Gomorrah and all those cities of the plain.
They said, Lord, we're not going to pour it out until you're gone. This world never considers the
mercy of God and God's removal of the righteous out of this
world that they might be delivered from an evil that God's going
to perform. I don't know what He's going
to perform, but I can bear this out. Listen to this. There was
a king named Josiah. He was a young king recorded
in 2 Kings. You want to read 2 Kings 22.
And Josiah, he did that which was right in the sight of the
Lord. What does that mean? He believed God. He believed
God. You read one that says he did
that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. He didn't believe
God. He was a young king, about eight
years old when he started. A long time he believed God.
And he was just in a time that was just evil, evil, evil. And listen what the Lord sent
a messenger to tell Josiah, what the Lord was going to do to Josiah,
to the king. 2 Kings 22.20, Behold therefore,
now this is God's message to Josiah, his faithful servant. I will gather thee unto thy fathers. What he's telling him, he said,
Josiah, I'm going to take you home. You're going to die, Josiah. I will gather thee unto thy fathers,
and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace. And thine eyes shall not see
all the evil which I will bring upon this place." Josiah, I'm
going to pour wrath upon this place, but you're mine. Faithful servant,
made righteous by the imputed righteousness of Christ. You
mean even back in 2 Kings? God saves His people always the
same way, by grace, through faith in Christ. And I'm going to take
you home, Josiah, and you're not going to see what I'm going
to do to this place. We are back in Isaiah 57 concerning the death
of the righteous. Verse 2, He shall enter into
peace. They shall rest in their beds,
each one walking in his uprightness. He shall enter into peace. The Lord reveals, now you listen,
you that know Him, let me tell you something, I know that there's
a nature in us, men were created to not die, and we don't, there's
a There's an uneasiness about dying.
Now, we're just like that. Somebody said, well, I don't
fear death. Well, we'll see. But I'm telling you, the only
thing we've got concerning dying is what God has to say. He said He shall enter into peace. God's people are going to enter.
into heaven, into His presence, peacefully. The righteous, they
have in this life right now, they've got a comfort, they've
got some peace in their heart, knowing that by faith they are
at peace with God totally. having had their debt before
God's law paid by the blood of Christ, they believe that there
is no answerable guilt for them. There's no condemnation for them
to be in Christ Jesus. They know this. They believe
that God the Son has paid the debt and finished it, and they
believe that His righteousness robes them. They believe that. And they settle down. They settle
down. They have peace in the Lord Jesus. And they have peace that as they
walk through this life, in the midst of all these trials, they're
convinced the Lord has sent this. It's good that I've been afflicted,
that I might learn of thy statutes, that I might learn of your ways,
your will, your direction, your purpose. It's good. It's good. I needed this. I needed
this. It's what I needed. And the Scripture reveals as
they go out of this world, they're going to leave with peace in
their heart. You that have watched a believer
die, that's an amazing sight, isn't it? If you've ever watched
a believer die, that's an amazing thing. I marvel at it, I marvel at it,
to watch a believer die. The Scripture says that they're
going to enter, into peace, and they're going to rest in their
beds. It's talking about the bed of
the grave. I can tell you right now, it's
talking about... What's going to happen is this
body is going to go back to the ground. Now you know that. This
is dust. That's dust. And God has taken this dust right
here and He's breathed life into it. Now that's what dust that
God's breathed on looks like. It's dust. And let me tell you,
when the Lord removes the spirit, takes the spirit out of the soul
of a believer and it goes back to be with the Lord, this body
is going to go back to the ground. It's going to lie on the ground
and those that sleep in the Lord, They're going to rest, the scripture
says, they're going to rest in their beds, and each one, this
is how they're going to die, each one walking, walking in
his uprightness. Not in his own, but it means
they're going to be walking before God. They're going to be walking
before the Lord, in the presence of the Lord. They're going to
be walking in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
this is how the Scripture reveals that they're going to die. They're
going to die believing God. They're going to believe God.
Dying in the faith. This is how they're going to
die. Now listen, as we approach death, let this Scripture be
a comfort to us. We know we're going to die. We
know that we're going to die, but I'm telling you, based upon
the authority of this Word, this is what the Lord says. The righteous
are going to die. No man is going to care of this
world. They're not going to care. They're not going to lay it to
heart that they died. In fact, they're glad that they're
gone. But for those that die in the
face, they're going to die in peace. The Lord will receive
them unto themselves. When they die, this is what they're
going to see. They're going to see Christ.
We're going to see Him as He is. And we're going to be like Him.
Now, that's all I know. That's all I can explain. What
are we going to see? We're going to see Him. And the
scripture says that we're going to ever be with Him. We're going to be with the Lord.
Think of the departed saints that we know of that have died
in the faith. Now you think of God's people
that you know that have died in the faith. They're at peace. They're with
the Lord. They're looking upon Him. Job said with these eyes right
here, Now they're going to be made new, I can tell you that. But Job said with these eyes,
I'm going to see God. I'm going to see God. We'll be like Him. Those that
have departed and just a very few more rising sons, if that,
we'll be with them and be with Him forever. Come unto me all
ye that labor, heavy laden, I will give you rest. May the Lord bless
these words to our heart, for Christ's sake.