I came to the study today and thought and asked and sought
the Lord's direction for this evening. It became this afternoon, and
I was still looking and asking, seeking. And I truly desired to have the Lord's direction, to know
what would He have me to say. This is a very Precious, precious evening. This is an evening unlike any
Wednesday that this church has ever had. I looked at Isaiah 40, verse
1. I decided not to preach out of
that. That's the one that says, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.
And I thought to myself, I thought, That's a wonderful passage. God's
people need some comfort. I looked in the Gospels. I remember something that Mr. Spurgeon
said one time. He said for God's preachers,
he said, Don't ever become overly anxious. If the Lord has not
given a message and you think that the time is running out,
wait on the Lord. Wait. Don't try to just pull
something out of the air. I felt as though that this Scripture,
Psalm 116, verse 15, if you'd like to turn there, Psalm 116, verse 15. To my recollection,
if I have, I just don't recall it. I've never preached out of
this passage, quoted it, never preached out of it. Psalm 116, verse 15, precious
in the sight of the Lord. is the death of his saints. precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His saints. Let's
pray together. Our Father, how thankful we are
that we can come this evening and assemble ourselves in Your
presence totally by and in the Lord Jesus Christ. how we thank You for this time.
What a wonderful, blessed time it is to be able to come and
hear that which You have to say. Would You bless Your Word, our
heart, for Christ's sake? Amen. What we know about Almighty God
we know by His revelation. Now that's all we know. That which He is pleased to set
forth in the Scriptures. We make much of the Scriptures.
Now here's what the Scriptures set forth, that the Lord has a people that He has set apart,
the saints, the sanctified, set apart for holy use. They are set apart by the Father,
set apart in the Lord Jesus Christ, set apart by His blood, called with a holy calling. and
have principles of godliness imparted. They are made for takers
of a heavenly calling. Now these saints, they live lives
that are consistent with the Scriptures. They walk like believers
walk. And you know the amazing thing
about it? is that their walk, the consistency of their walk
to themselves, they don't see themselves as consistent. They
are to others what they see of themselves as frailty, inconsistencies,
strugglings, failings, stumblings. And that's the consistency. It's
because they know that in themselves there's no good thing. Now these saints, they die just
like everybody else. They die. Humanly speaking, Their
body is going to go back to the dust just like everybody else's
does. But they don't die in the same
way before Almighty God. The Scripture reveals concerning
the Lord Himself that in His sight that the death of His saints
is precious. I looked it up. I wanted to know
what precious really meant. Valuable, prized, rare, costly,
splendid, honorable. They die an honorable death. Honorable in the sight of the
Lord. is the death of His saints. Whenever
they die, they are removed out of this
world and they are brought right into
glory. Now this is a reality. It is a great loss. I told you
I heard Brother Henry Mahan say that one time. He said, humanly
speaking, the greatest loss that this world ever suffers is when
God removes an aged, taught believer. Look at the years of learning. You think of all
that which was taught. Think how God revealed, showed this life, these Scriptures. Isn't it a precious thing to
be able to talk to a believer? One, that God's taught some things.
And listen to what the Lord's taught them. What we learn. What we glean. God Almighty takes
them out of this world and joins them to that heavenly throng,
never, never again to be separated. It's precious in His sight because
it's a triumph of the work of redemption. There it is. The world looks at it and says,
well, that's the end. No, not for a believer. Death is the means to life. Death is not the end. Death for a believer, according
to this scripture, is valuable in the sight of the Lord. We know that there has never
been a time that Almighty God did not love
His own. Jeremiah 31, 3, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Before there was time, eternally,
Almighty God set His affection upon those that He everlastingly
chose to set His affection on. And their birth and their life
and their death is a precious thing. You think about how Almighty
God in the fullness of time would cause a child to be brought. I'm talking about a child that
David said, I was conceived in sin. Came forth from my mother's
womb speaking lies. And he grows up in sin and rebellion. And who would know that there
would be one that Almighty God had set His affection on and
loved? That particular one. And then,
when it pleased God, that's what Paul said, when it pleased God,
who separated me from my mother's womb, called me by His grace. to reveal Christ in me and to show unto that set-apart
One, that saint, that sanctified One and reveal to Him, put Him
unto the gospel and teach Him, I've always loved you. I've redeemed
you. Called you by my grace. Kept
you. And then to realize that Almighty
God, everlastingly loving that one, has ordered every event
in that sanctified one's life and brought him to where he is,
even to the bed of his death. And then when everyone else is
all perplexed wondering what's going to happen.
Where do we go from here? We read a scripture like this,
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. That moment in which that beloved
sinner takes his last breath, Almighty
God ushers him right into His presence. And to realize that
all of the things that we've ever talked about, read about,
preached about, at that moment becomes vitally living. In a moment, we leave this world in the bare
presence of Him and to realize at that moment where you are. He who has ruled and overruled
everything for His honor and the good of
His saints. He who said, I'll never leave
you. I'll never forsake you. and to realize in less than a
heartbeat, this is real. It's eternally, forever, wonderfully
so. But of all the preciousness of
the death that's ever taken place, how precious was the death of
Him who made himself no reputation, who took upon himself a form, sinful flesh but without
sin, made like unto his brethren that he might redeem them. Hey,
you talk about a precious death. How precious was the death of
our blessed Lord Jesus. came into this world knowing
what it was going to take. Absolute obedience to God's law,
the fulfillment of that law, the honor of that law. The Father
would be glorified, set His face like a flint when He knew that
His hour had come. He went to that cross. He laid
down His life. And that which He accomplished, His death, is what makes the
death of God's sheep precious. Because Almighty God receives
them unto Himself in absolute holiness, robed in the righteousness
of Him who loved him and gave himself for him. Our precious friend right now, I miss him and you
do too. But I will tell you this, we all know that he right now beholds by
absolute sight, that which you and I can only behold by faith. And to realize the glory that
has been received unto our blessed Savior, it is precious in His sight. The Father who everlastingly
loved His people The Father who gave unto His
Son all that He chose to redeem. How wonderful it is to know that
right now, tonight is a time of celebration for us. I said I wasn't going to do this.
He's well. He's well. He's eternally well. And for that I am truly thankful.
I say this to the glory and honor of Him who loved us and gave
Himself for us. And just a few more setting suns
and we'll be with Him. around the throne of our precious
Savior, looking unto Him who is worthy to take that book,
the book of man's redemption, who is worthy to be honored and
glorified and praised. Thanks be unto God. who gives
us the victory. How thankful I am that Almighty
God would give me the privilege just to know Him who is our life. He is our hope. He is our peace. He is our comfort. He is our
salvation. And all that He has ever done
for us, He has done in absolute mercy. I'll have mercy, compassion. You talk about the mercy of Almighty
God. I thought about the words of
our Lord to that thief that was dying. The Lord gave him a heart to
believe. What a miracle. I mean, this man lived a rebel. He'd been a rebel all his life. He's being executed. And boy,
you think, I don't know if you've got any
hope, man. You're a thief and you're being executed. And to think, don't ever despair. Don't ever despair. The words of our Lord are the
same words that will echo in the ears of every saint, every
sanctified one, every one set apart. In the moment when this
world looks upon it and says, well, it doesn't look good, It
doesn't, things are really looking bad. No, they're looking better
and better. You know, well, I don't know how things are going. I'll
tell you how they're going. They're going well. And to hear
those words in that day and to have a heart that believes it
today, you'll be with me in paradise.
And to leave this world, That's joy. That's victory. And
I'm going to tell you something. All that have ever departed this
world and died in the faith, Almighty God has given them the
victory in Christ. This is real. This is real. We're not just playing church.
I mean, this is where you see the reality of our profession
right here. Do you rejoice in the Lord in
all things? He said, give thanks. This is
the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. I thank the Lord
that He took our friend and brother. We envy Him, don't we? We do. Well, all flesh struggles
against that, doesn't it? But you think about this. It's
all over. I've got his notes over there
that he read. I'm not going to go get it. I
might read it at the funeral, maybe. But I read all those things
he said that heaven will be like. No more sickness, no more trouble,
no more sorrow. I was looking over his I was
looking over his notes. I thought, that's right. That's
what the Lord's done for us. No more sorrow. No more tears.
He'll wipe them all away. Victory in Jesus. Let's sing
that, Gary. Can we sing that? Victory in
Jesus. I know you had another one. I'm sorry. Let's stand together.