I want you to turn with me to
the second book of Timothy. I'll begin reading here at the tenth verse. or the ninth verse. It says, Who hath saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began, but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death,
and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Whereunto I am appointed a preacher,
and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles, for the which
cause I also suffer many things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed,
for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. the form of sound words, which
thou hast heard of me in faith and love, which is in Christ
Jesus." There has been some thought on my part in regard to dying. And I suspect that most everyone
here, under the sound of my voice this morning, has at one time
or the other, or even at this present time, give some consideration of death. and what death is. I know that I'm coming to the end of my life
here on earth. looking for sympathy or help
or anything like that, but it's just a common thing when you
have been here the biggest part of the hundred years that you're
going to die. And there's lots of interpretations,
I guess. concerning death, what it means
and what it does not mean. But I think that in this first chapter of the book of
2 Timothy, the apostle says something here that makes me wonder about
it. In the tenth verse, it says,
But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus
Christ, who hath abolished death. Now, I don't know exactly what that
means, abolished death, but it sounds to me like that he done
away with death. If that's not so, well then why
is it here? Who hath abolished death and hath brought life and Immortality
to light through the gospel. Now, there's a, I believe anyhow,
a three-fold sense of death here in the Bible. There is a natural
death, and there is a spiritual death, and there is an eternal
death. And I suspect that all of you,
and certainly including me, have given some consideration to death
in that the Lord Jesus said that He has abolished death. And I say that there is a three-fold
sense of death There is a natural death, a spiritual death, and
an eternal death. Now, that which is natural respects
the operation or separation of the
soul and the body. The body without the spirit is
dead. Spiritual death means that the
soul is unquickened by the Spirit of God. So, the Bible says, And you hath
he quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sins. And I read to you that he hath
abolished death. And eternal death certainly implies
the everlasting separation both of the soul and the body. Now, there is no death for God's
children, and that's what I'm most interested in. No death for God's children. There is a vast number here this morning. Maybe everyone here, I don't
know. is interested in what happens
when you breathe your last breath, when you die. Well, there's no death really
for God's children. I think death is the wrong word
to use for the going away or the departure of a child of God
out of the world into the immediate presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. To be rid of this indwelling
sin, we are full of sin inwardly and outwardly. We cannot in any
way, shape, form, or manner rid ourselves of this terrible thing
called sin. So, I believe then that death
is the wrong word to use for the departure of a child
of God out of this world into the immediate presence of the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself. To be rid of this indwelling
sin, we sin about every time we take a breath. And to be rid of it, to be rid
of it, it's almost a thing that's indescribable. Sin that has overtaken
us and overcome us. And to get rid of it is something
else. To be rid of indwelling sin is
to be done with the vanities and the foolishness of this world
and have our minds and our souls given unto Him who loved us and gave
Himself for us. Now, I said there's no death
for God's children. I said to be rid of indwelling
sins is to be done with the foolishness and vanities of this world. To discard or do away with a
worn out body and see and forever dwell with the Son of God. When a man dies and he dies in
Him, he's got a good hope of seeing
Him and being with Him. To be rid of this indwelling
sin is to be done with the foolishness and the vanities of this world. To disregard a worn out body and to see and forever
dwell with the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for
us. Our Savior has said that He has
abolished death. Abolished death. That will not
be death as we understand death to be. That will be an unending
and glorious eternal life, to be with Him forever and forever. So I know that most of you here this morning
is interested in the word death. You may have one interpretation
for it, Someone has another interpretation for it. But there's no better
interpretation for death than to understand that when you die,
when you die, when death comes upon you and you take your last
breath, And you're going out into eternity. You've fallen
into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave
Himself for us. So, I know that I myself, weak
as I am, and dumb as I am, yet I know in my heart that death
is not a word that bothers me. For I know soon I shall depart
from your presence, and not see your smiling faces, but I'll
be gone to a better place. I'll be gone to be with Him who
loved me. and give Himself for me. That's
what death is to me. And I never thought much about
death until I got to be about 80 years old. Then I got to thinking
about what is this thing called death. It may be despair for
those who do not know Him. But for those that know Him,
death will be opening up the heavens to God Himself, and to
worship and praise forever the God who put my name in the book of
life. before the world ever was. Death has no dominion over us. Paul said that God had abolished
death. Done away with it for the believer. You're not jumping off into something
that you're afraid of or something that you don't know anything
about. When a man dies in Christ, he
immediately goes into the area and the region of God's departed
souls. And there we shall dwell forevermore
in the heavens. Go to heaven when you die. You
will if you know who He is. If God in His mercy has shown
you and made you to know this inward sin that you're full of. And you've come to see and know
that the Lord Jesus Christ was made sin for you. That you might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. My hope is built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. My death is
no more than a vapor that will sweep over my soul and take me
beyond the beyonds to be with Him who loved me and gave Himself
for me, the Lord Jesus Christ. Death is not the word for those
who believe in Christ. We're just going on to be with
Him forever and forever. Well, I'm like that fellow in the movies. That's about all I've got to
say about that. Thank you, Marvin, for letting
me have these few minutes.