The Best Way To Die

Q: What does the Bible say about dying like the righteous?

The Bible emphasizes the importance of dying in faith and hope, akin to the righteousness granted by God to His people. In Numbers 23:10, Balaam expresses a desire to die the death of the righteous, highlighting a recognition that not all deaths are the same. For the believer, death is not just a physical end but a transition to eternal glory, marked by faith in Christ and the hope of redemption. The death of the righteous is characterized by an assurance of God's grace and mercy, knowing they are accepted by Him through Christ. This acknowledgment is vital for Christians as it encapsulates the essence of our hope and confidence in the promise of eternal life.

Q: How do we know God's sovereignty is true?

God's sovereignty is affirmed throughout Scripture, indicating that His will is supreme over all creation. The sovereignty of God is central to Reformed theology, illustrating that He reigns over every aspect of life, including salvation. Balaam's statement in Numbers 23:8 showcases God's unalterable will; 'How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed?' This highlights that ultimately, God determines the fate of nations and individuals. God's sovereignty assures believers that their salvation and eternal destiny are secure in Him. As seen in Revelation 21:5, God declares, 'Behold, I make all things new,' reaffirming His authoritative control throughout history and beyond. For Christians, understanding God's sovereignty brings peace amidst life's uncertainties.

Q: Why is acknowledging sin important for Christians?

Acknowledging sin is crucial because it leads to repentance and deeper understanding of God's grace and mercy. The acknowledgment of sin is foundational for all Christians, as it is the first step toward realizing one's need for a savior. Balaam's admission in Numbers 23:10 demonstrates an understanding that death comes as a result of sin, emphasizing the need for atonement. Recognizing our sinful state allows believers to fully grasp the depth of God's grace and the righteousness provided through Christ. By understanding the just due of sin, Christians can appreciate the significance of Christ's sacrificial death, which addresses that very sin. This acknowledgment leads to true repentance and a transformed life, living in accordance with God's will.

Q: What does the death of the righteous mean for believers?

The death of the righteous signifies a transition to eternal life in communion with God, free from suffering. In Christian belief, the death of the righteous holds profound implications. As illustrated by Balaam's longing to die such a death in Numbers 23:10, it reflects a desire for a death that is accompanied by hope and assurance in God's grace. For believers, this means dying in faith, with the knowledge that they will be welcomed into God's presence. John 17:24 captures this essence, where Jesus desires that those given to Him will be with Him to behold His glory. It assures believers that their last end is not marked by despair but by the promise of eternal joy and peace as articulated in Revelation 21:2-5, where God wipes away all tears and eliminates pain and death. Therefore, the death of the righteous encapsulates a joyful expectation of eternal life.

Q: Why does the Bible emphasize God's grace in our mortality?

The Bible emphasizes God's grace as assurance that through Christ's sacrifice, believers can face death with hope. God's grace is paramount when discussing mortality, as it provides believers with the hope of eternal life beyond physical death. Balaam's request to die the death of the righteous is a poignant reflection on how God's grace impacts our understanding of life and death. As stated in Scripture, God's mercy is extended to those He has called, reassuring them of His acceptance. This grace is further elaborated in 2 Corinthians 5:8, where Paul expresses his confidence in being 'absent from the body and present with the Lord.' The emphasis on grace in relation to our mortality allows believers to face death without fear, knowing they are forgiven and have a secure eternity. Thus, this concept is vital in encouraging Christians to live lives of faith rooted in God's grace.

Take your Bibles and turn with
me to the book of Numbers. Numbers chapter 23. I'd like to read,
starting in verse 1, and let's read through verses 13. I would
like to look at verse 10, but I want to read
that passage of Scripture. And then afterwards we will ask
our Lord's blessing. Numbers chapter 23, And Balaam
said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me
here seven oxen and seven rams. And Balak did as Balaam had spoken. And Balak and Balaam offered
on every altar a bullock and a ram. And Balaam said unto Balak,
Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go, and peradventure
the Lord will come to meet me. And whatsoever he showeth me,
I will tell thee. And he went to a high place.
And God met Balaam, and he said unto him, I have prepared seven
altars. I have offered upon every altar
a bullock and a ram. And the Lord put a word in Balaam's
mouth and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak. And he returned unto him, and,
lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he and all the princes of Moab. And he took up his parable and
said, Balak, the king of Moab, hath brought me from Aram out
of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me, Jacob.
come defy Israel? How shall I curse whom God hath
not cursed? Or how shall I defy whom the
Lord hath not defied? For from the top of the rocks
I see him, from the hills I behold him. Lo, the people shall dwell
alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations." Who can count
the dust of Jacob in the number of the fourth part of Israel?
let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.'
And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took
thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them
altogether.' And he answered and said, Must I not take heed
to speak that which the Lord hath put in my mouth? And Balak
said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place. From
whence thou mayest see them, thou shalt see but the utmost
part of them, and shalt not see them all. And curse me then from
thence." Let's pray together. Our Father, we are indeed thankful
for the blessed privilege to assemble ourselves together in
the holy name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Father,
I ask You, would You bless the Word this morning? Bless it to
the honor of our Savior. Bless it, we pray, to the good
of Your people, the comfort of Your people. Lord, help us, for
Christ's sake. Amen. Balaam was a false prophet. And the prince of Moab, Balak,
had tried to hire him to curse Israel. That's what Balak wanted
to do. I'm going to hire me a prophet,
and I'm going to get him to curse my enemies. Well, in God's good
pleasure, Balaam, made those altars. And even as
I was reading, and I know you too, I was reading here, he built
those altars. And he got him a bullock and
a ram. And he got this evil king, built
him some altars too. And we're going to sacrifice
unto God. And I looked at that and I thought,
what disrespect. No priest? Well, Balaam said,
Let's build us some altars. I'll go and I'll meet with the
Lord. Possibly the Lord will give me
a word on this thing. So the Lord did give him a word
on it. Balaam went back and the Scripture
says he rehearsed those words. Words of the Lord in Balak's
ears. Balak was mad. He didn't want
to hear what the Lord had to say. He said, well, look, evidently
you're not looking at him from the right angle. Maybe let's
go over here. Let's take a look at him from
this side of the mountain. Maybe then you'll get a little
bit better perspective of what's going on. I know based on what the Word
of God says about Balaam. I know that Balaam was a false
prophet. This is what the Scripture says
concerning Balaam, like false teachers. 2 Peter, I'll read
this to you, 2.15. It says, which have forsaken
the right way and are gone astray following the way of Balaam,
the son of Bosar. who loved the wages of unrighteousness." Balak had gotten him a preacher,
and this preacher, Balaam, false prophet, he continued playing
the game that this old evil king had wanted him to play. He kept
this evil king, kept promising him a reward. You curse the people
of Israel, and I'll make it worth your while. But I'll tell you,
Balaam died a horrible death. Scripture sets forth that Moses,
under the direction of our Lord, in Numbers 31.8, when the Lord
told Moses to go in war against the Midianites and he slew all
the males. The Scripture says, "...and they
slew the kings of Midian beside the rest of them that were slain,
namely Evi, and Recham, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings
of Midian, Balaam also, the son of Beor. They slew with the sword." This was a man that in his own
mind in his own eyes was one that thought he could approach
God. He knew something about sacrifice. He knew something. There was
some religious thoughts, ingenuity. He knew
that there was going to have to be an animal slain. a sacrifice. And this man, arrogantly,
thinking that he could approach God, found out that God Almighty
is not manipulated by man's thoughts and man's wishes and man's desires. But this man, Balaam, he made
a statement that I'm telling you that in itself was a good
request. It was a statement that absolutely
proved to be inconsistent with himself based on what the Scripture
said about him, but a statement nonetheless. And I'm telling
you, every true child of God can really enter into. This is what he said, Numbers
23.10, Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last
end Be like His. I entitled this message, The
Best Way to Die. There's times when the Scriptures
record statements by unbelievers that are obviously something
that they themselves didn't truly have a heart for. But they were
good statements. Good. And every believer can
enter into those statements. It's amazing how much truth can
come out of someone's mouth and their heart be against the Lord
of glory. Caiaphas, the high priest, made
this statement, John 11, 50 and 51. He said, Nor consider that
it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people,
and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of
himself, but being the high priest that year, He prophesied that
Jesus would die for that nation. That's a good statement. It's
expedient. One man. One man died and that
the whole nation perish not. How about the people at the Lord's
trial? Matthew 27, 25. It says when they were having
the Lord there and stood before Pilate and Pilate was trying
to calm their anger And they made this statement right here.
Then answered all the people and they said, His blood be on
us and our children. Boy, what a statement. What a
statement when you consider that His blood be on us as a way of
atonement. And that when the Lord sees the
blood that He will pass over us. Boy, a believer can enter
into that. if they see that right as being
their only hope in Christ. How about this? At His crucifixion,
Matthew 27, 41, 42, likewise, also the chief priest mocking
Him with the scribes and elders said, Well, He saved others.
Himself, He cannot save. That's right. If He's going to
redeem His own, He must die. He must put away our guilt. He
must be the substitute. That's God's Lamb. These statements
that we find in Scripture, made at times by people obviously
that don't know the Lord, but are statements that true believers
can enter into. Balaam spoke some swelling words, but the problem was he never
evidenced any love or consistency toward the God of all grace. He said a good thing. You know,
there's a lot of people that express their desire to die the
death of the righteous, but their life, there's no evidence of
a heart that longs after Christ, to live, to walk after Him by
faith, Yes, somebody said, when you
die, would you prefer to go to heaven? Oh, well, yeah. I'd rather go to heaven than
hell. Well, for everyone truly regenerated by the grace of God,
I'd like to just look at three things concerning what Balaam
said, the evidence of the Scriptures bears out that this man had no
heart for Christ, no heart for God's honor. He was a false prophet. He did what he did because he
wanted the fame and the money. He was in it for himself. Here's
the first thing that I know, and every believer will acknowledge
this truth right here. Three things. Number one, there's
an acknowledgement of the just due of sin. Balaam said this. Start it off, verse 10. He said,
Let me die. Let me die. That was the first
three things that he said concerning his death. Let me die. Believers
die just like everyone dies. All men born in Adam. We know that there's a just due
concerning this life. The average life the Scripture
sets forth concerning a man, woman on this earth is going
to be average, three score and ten. I know that some a little
less, some a little more, but it's appointed unto man to die.
This man right here acknowledges, let me die. He didn't question
the fact that he was going to leave this world. But you know
many actors, though, that they're not going to go the way of all
men. But a believer knows that this
life is but a vapor. We realize that. Sometimes I
get to thinking about the frailty of this life, and I'm thinking
concerning Paul's statement I die daily expecting this may be the
last time that I ever stand in this pulpit. I mean, it could
be, and you know this, it could be, you know, I just never thought
that that would be the last time that we'd all meet together and
be right here. I just didn't think that this would be the
last time we'd hear Marvin preach. We talked about it. I mean, we've
acknowledged it. Let me die. There is absolutely
an acknowledgement of the just due of sin. I'm going to die. Here's the second thing. There's
an appeal for a believer. When a believer says this, there's
an appeal to the distinguishing grace of God. Let me die the death of the righteous. I know that all men are going
to die, but I will tell you this, all men don't die the same way.
The righteous, those made so by the grace of God, Almighty
God who By His mercy and compassion, grace chose to show mercy to
a people everlastingly loved in Him, called them by His grace,
sealed them by His Spirit. Here is the way they die. They
die in faith and hope of eternal life in Christ. Let me die. the death of the righteous, having had the mercy of Almighty
God shown them, having been called out of darkness, having been
given faith to believe the gospel of free grace, they know that
they are what they are by the grace of God. Every believer
has this on his heart. Let me die the death of the righteous. I'm going to die. Lord, have
mercy on this sinner. And here's the third thing. They die bowing to God's power
and will, convinced that the Lord's counsel is surely going
to stand. I know. I know. I'm going to
die. Lord, let me die the death of
the righteous, because what You purposed to do, You're going
to do. My life, my soul is in Your hands. Let my last end be
like His. Oh, I think about that first
word. He says, for a believer. Lord, what a
word of acknowledgment of God's sovereignty led. Lord, You led. Lord, according to Your will,
even the mouth of that false prophet, the Spirit of God governed
that mouth to acknowledge God's sovereignty. Every mouth is going to confess.
Every knee's going to bow. I know right now that men arrogantly
stand. They may not do it outwardly,
but in their heart, they raise their fist in arrogance against
God. And they'll say, I'm not going
to have that sovereignty stuff you're talking about, that electing
stuff, that predestinating stuff. right here, you listen to what
the Spirit of God governed His mouth to say. Look at verse 8.
How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? How shall I defy
whom the Lord hath not defied? Our God reigns. Where is your God, David? He
said, Our God is in the heavens, and He has done whatsoever He
hath pleased. Oh, that my last end be like
his. I'll tell you, the last end of
a man is not when he leaves this earth. I think what Brother Scott told
me, he said, dying. He said, that's the easy part.
That's the easy part. Everybody's going to die. But
then the judgment. appointed unto man once to die,
then the judgment for every man that has trusted in himself. That man is going to stand before
God and shall surely hear the God of all creation say, Depart
from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. Dying is not
the end. Let my last end be like the righteous. Here's the last end for the righteous.
Let me just read. I want to read two scriptures
concerning the last end of the righteous, and I'll be finished.
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 for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world.
What a last end. What an end. And then this last
verse right here, Revelation 21, verses 2 to 5. What a last end. Let my last
end be like his. Revelation 21, verse 2 to 5,
And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from
God out of heaven, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his people,
and God himself shall be with them, and be their God, and God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be
no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there
be any more pain for all the former things who passed away."
And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things
new. And he said unto me, Write, for
these words are true and faithful." Oh, let me die the death of the
righteous and let my last end be like His. May the Lord bless
these words to our hearts. for the honor of our blessed
Savior.

The Best Way To Die

What does the Bible say about dying like the righteous?

How do we know God's sovereignty is true?

Why is acknowledging sin important for Christians?

What does the death of the righteous mean for believers?

Why does the Bible emphasize God's grace in our mortality?

Sermon Transcript

About Marvin Stalnaker

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The Best Way To Die

What does the Bible say about dying like the righteous?

How do we know God's sovereignty is true?

Why is acknowledging sin important for Christians?

What does the death of the righteous mean for believers?

Why does the Bible emphasize God's grace in our mortality?

Sermon Transcript

About Marvin Stalnaker

Comments

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