A week ago, I was standing in this pulpit and June was sitting where she
always sits. After the message, like she normally would, she'd
come up to me make a comment, always a good
one. It was sweet to be able to talk
to her. She would tell me how much she
appreciated the message, the preaching of the gospel of God's
free grace. A few of us, like we normally do,
Go out and get a bite to eat. We sat down and laughed and talked. We just had some fellowship together. I'm glad we had that time. But we know not what shall be
on the morrow. That's what James said. But what
is your life? It's a vapor. Boy, I'll tell you, that sure
is a quick word. It's a vapor. The next morning, I got a call And I do know according
to the good pleasure of our God, the One before whom all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. He who continually does according
to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, He who none can stay his hand, or saying to him, What
doest thou? That God, He who is God, the
sovereign ruler of all things, was pleased to summon June Clevenger
home. I know that Monday morning, last
Monday morning, The will of the Lord Jesus Christ
was accomplished. We talk about asking the Lord's
will. Let me tell you, this is what
the precious Lord Jesus Christ said in John 17, 24, 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." Now, here's the thing that I
know. We bow. We must bow. We bow to the good pleasure of
the God of all grace. And in our bowing, these things
weigh heavily. on our heart, what can we do? Psalm 61 says, ìWhen my heart
is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher
than I. Lead me to Him who is strong, When I am tossed about with doubts
and trials, lead me, O Holy Spirit, to the stronghold wherein alone
I am safe." Isaiah 26 verse 3 says, "...thou
wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed upon thee,
because he trusteth in thee." Now listen to me. When we speak
of death, we are saddened. Anyone that
says we are not, is not being truthful. But I will tell you
what the Word of God says about the death of a believer. And right now, while I am standing
here, you that sit every week under me and listen to me know
exactly what I'm meaning when I say this. You're looking at
a weak creature right here. Someone might say, well, it doesn't
appear as though well, take my word for it. And I'm telling
you, when I think of the responsibility of standing before dying creatures
being one of them, we're dying. And I'll tell you this in the
passing of this dear sister right here, one that I love. June Clevenger
was my friend. I'll tell you what the Word of
God says about dying, and in this I've got some Number one, Psalm 116, 15, precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. In God's sight,
June's passing is precious. Precious. One that Almighty God has everlastingly
loved. And I know that God has a people. that He's everlastingly loved.
Jeremiah 31.3, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Before we were ever brought into
being, yeah, everlastingly. The Lord said, Before I formed
you in the belly, I knew you. For one that is chosen to show
mercy and compassion to in Christ, The Scripture says, here I've
got, as I've said before, I've got God's Word on this. I didn't
make this up. This is what Almighty God has
to say, Romans 9.15, For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on
whom I'll have mercy, I'll have compassion on whom I will have
compassion. But one that the Lord Jesus Christ
died specifically for. 10, 15, I laid down my life for the sheep. He died for a specific people. For one that He's given eternal
life to, John 17, to as thou hast given Him power over all
flesh that He should give eternal life to as many as thou hast
given Him. This is what Scripture says.
Precious. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his sins. Precious. Secondly, Revelation 14, verse
13, And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write,
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.
Yea, the spirit that they may rest from their labors. that they may rest from the grief
of beholding the presence of sin in them." Rest from the labor of toil and
heartache. Thirdly, the Scripture says concerning
the death of a believer, Philippians 1.21, for me to live is Christ
and to die is gain. Now you think about this. Think
of the gain of a believer. Last week, she sat about three
quarters of the way back, just about in that area right there.
That's where she always was. And she could only see as well
as faith could see. That's all she could see. Scripture
says we see through a glass darkly. We know in part. We prophesy
in part. And let me tell you what she
gained. Perfect sight. She's alive, really, for the
first time. Now she's alive. What does the Scripture say about
death? For God's people, precious, blessed gain. Isn't that encouraging? This scripture that I read a
few minutes ago, Proverbs 27, 7, the full soul, that is the
soul that is in excess of itself. The full soul loathes a honeycomb. Proverbs 16, 24 gives us some
idea of what the Scripture talks about when it's talking about
a honeycomb. Listen to this. Pleasant words are as a honeycomb,
sweet to the soul, health to the bones. The full soul, one
that sees itself as full, sees itself as needing nothing, One
that sees itself. I'm just fine. I don't need anything
else. I'm doing quite well. I don't need to hear these pleasant
words. Pleasant words of the Gospel
of God's grace to the full soul. The honeycomb. The pleasant words
of truth. They loathe that. It makes me
uneasy to hear that. But to the hungry soul, the hungry soul, one that's been
made to hunger and thirst after righteousness, one that would
give up everything, anything, Nothing takes a precedent over
the hearing of pleasant words. Nothing takes a precedent over
the hearing of the gospel. Nothing. One that's hungry. Hungry. To the hungry soul, every bitter
thing is sweet. Now listen. This is a bitter
thing. The Scripture bears out that
there are some bitter things. Every bitter thing. June's passing. That's a bitter thing. Heavy. That's what bitter means. Heavy.
It's heavy. It's for his wife. My friend. He's hurting and I am too. And
you are too. I know you are. I know you are. And I'm glad you're here. I'm
glad that you came to show her respect. She's a mother. She's a sister.
An aunt. A friend. But these bitter things
are made to be sweet when we look with eyes from above. Romans
8.28. Oh, what a passage, Romans 8,
28. And we know it's not just a matter
of opinion. We know that all things, health,
happiness, sorrow, sickness, death. And we know that all things,
all things, all things, nothing excluded, nothing You mean even
this? Even this. We know that all things
work together, cooperate under God's direction and control.
Almighty God called this dear woman home. God Almighty did
this. No one stays His hand. No one
has the last say. when it comes to God. I'm telling
you, He rules in the army of heaven among the inhabitants
of the earth. Nobody, nobody stays His hand. We know that all things work
together for good, eternal good. Not necessarily this present
comfort. I know that. You say, are you
telling me that there was some good out of this? Absolutely. How do you know? God said it. I say, we don't have to defend
that. All things work together for
good, eternal good, to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. Bitter things. Bitter things
run contrary to our will. If I had to ask anybody in this
room, Would you have chosen this last Monday morning? No. No. No. But the same bitter things
are sweet when viewed in the light of His will. This bitter thing. For every
hungry soul that's been made to know his need of Almighty
God having mercy. Every soul made hungry for God
to do something for him that he can't do for himself. I can't
justify myself before God. He's going to have to justify
me. I don't have the ability, the
will, the power. I can't do that. Bitter things cause us to remember. I said a minute ago, this life
is but a vapor. Don't we realize that again this
morning? Unless the Lord Jesus Christ
comes back and we're alive on this earth when He comes back,
and there will be some. Scripture bears that out. I'm
telling you that everybody in this room is going to die. We're
all going to be right here. And in that day, that will be
a bitter day that day. And in that day, will it be sweet
for you? Right now, and I say this as
thankfully, I'm telling you, though some in this room may
think I'm a little off on this, I envy her. I envy her. I'm still standing here. And
I still have to put up with the inadequacies of myself. I still
have to put up with the presence of sin. I still have to put up
with what I see in myself, Jeff. It just grieves me. my disrespect
before God Almighty, my inability to honor Him as I would desire for her. And I say this thankfully,
thankfully. It's all over. It's all over
for her. Based on the confession of her
faith in the sovereign God that I've been preaching, Right now,
she's in the bosom of Abraham. You say, what does that mean?
I don't know. But I can tell you this, it's
good. It's a good thing. That's a good
thing. To be in the presence of our
Lord. Can you explain all that? No, sir, I cannot. Can you tell
me everything about heaven? No, I cannot. But I can tell
you this, right now, for her, there's no more tears. There
is no more death. There is no more sorrow nor crime. Neither shall there be any more
pain, for the former things are passed away." And that thought
is sweet. I pray that the Lord would bless
our hearts and recognize that when it comes to this point,
and in ourselves, We hurt. But we do know that for every child of God,
one that God has graciously called out of darkness and revealed
to them their need of a substitute, revealed to them that they have
nothing in themselves to boast in, If you've got anything to
boast in, if you've done anything in your mind you think that you've
done to reconcile yourself back to God, if you think that you've
done something to reconcile yourself back to God, no hope. I'm telling you, we're
saved by grace through faith. And that's not of ourselves.
It's a gift of God. I thank the Lord that I can remember
her. pleasantness and thankfulness. And I pray that the Lord would
bless these words for the honor of our precious
Savior and for the good of His people. Amen.