Blessed Are Those That Die In The Lord

Q: What does the Bible say about dying in the Lord?

The Bible teaches that those who die in the Lord are blessed and rest from their labors (Revelation 14:13). The Scripture, particularly in Revelation 14:13, states, 'Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.' This underscores the profound truth that for those who are united with Christ, death is not an end but a transition to a greater existence where they are at rest from their labors. These individuals are recognized as blessed by God, as they have been redeemed and sanctified through the work of Jesus Christ. Their eternal state is marked by fellowship with the Father and the Son, as they behold God's glory.

Q: Who are the people that die in the Lord?

They are those the Father has given to the Son, indicating a sovereign choice in salvation (John 17:24). The people who are described as dying in the Lord are specifically those whom the Father has given to Jesus Christ. This doctrine emphasizes the sovereign grace of God in electing individuals for salvation before the foundation of the world. As stated in John 17:24, Jesus expresses His desire for those the Father has given Him to be with Him, highlighting their unique relationship and security in Christ. These individuals have been called, regenerated, and justified by faith, ensuring their eternal placement with the Lord.

Q: Why is it important to be in Christ?

Being in Christ guarantees salvation and eternal life, as one is united with Him in His death and resurrection (Ephesians 2:5). To be in Christ is of paramount importance in the Christian faith because it signifies one's acceptance of God's grace and the transformative power of the Gospel. According to Ephesians 2:5, those who are in Christ have been made alive together with Him, emphasizing the new birth and regeneration. This union with Christ assures believers of their salvation and the hope of eternal life. It is not by human effort but through the divine will of God that one is placed in Christ, securing their standing before the Father and positioning them for a future with Him in glory.

Q: How do we know salvation is by grace?

Salvation is a gift from God, not based on human works, as articulated in Ephesians 2:8-9. The central tenet of salvation being by grace is articulated in Ephesians 2:8-9, which states that it is by grace we have been saved through faith, and this is not of ourselves; it is the gift of God. This highlights that salvation is not achieved through human effort or merit, but is entirely an act of divine grace. The gift of eternal life is free to the believer, highlighting God's unmerited favor towards those He has chosen. This sovereign grace assures believers that their salvation is secure and that they are not subject to earning or losing what has been freely given.

Q: What does it mean to be quickened in Christ?

Being quickened in Christ means being spiritually made alive after being dead in sin, as shown in Ephesians 2:1. To be quickened in Christ refers to the spiritual awakening and regeneration that takes place when an individual comes to faith in Jesus. Ephesians 2:1 states, 'And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and in sins.' This transformation indicates that prior to Christ, individuals are spiritually dead and unable to respond to God. However, through God's grace, they are made alive in Him, enabling them to respond to the Gospel and embrace their relationship with the Lord. This new life signifies a complete change in status before God, from death to life, establishing the foundation for a personal relationship with Him.

I want to read a passage to you
here from the fourteenth chapter of the book of Revelation. Fourteenth chapter of the book
of Revelation. And the thirteenth verse. and says, ìI heard a voice from
heaven saying unto me,î thatís John, ìheard this voice
from heaven.î And this is what the voice said, ìRight and blessed are the dead, which die in the Lord. From henceforth, yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their
labors, and their works do follow them. Blessed are the dead that die
in the Lord. Over in the book of Romans, chapter 16,
this expression, in the Lord, is mentioned several You remember
now, I said that the writer wrote down, on authority from a voice
from heaven, said, Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. Only those that die in the Lord
are blessed. not those that merely profess to be, but those
that are in Him. Paul uses this expression over
and over and over in the Lord. In that sixteenth chapter of
the book of Romans, he says, I commend unto you Phoebe,
our sister, which is a servant at the church, which is at centuria,
that ye receive her in the Lord. And then he goes on down in verse
7, and he said, Salute, Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen. Evidently, they were physically
related to Paul, he called him his kinsman, and my fellow prisoners
who are of note among the apostles, that is, they are known by the
apostles, now listen to this, who also were in Christ before
me, which tells me that there was
a time when Paul was not in Christ, this great and blessed apostle
and preacher used of God mightily, more so than any other man that
ever lived. There was a time when he was
not in Christ. And I'll just read real quick. how he describes himself. In chapter 2 of the book of Ephesians, I am trying to emphasize that
expression, ìIn the Lord.î Those that die, blessed are those that
die in the Lord. ìIn the Lord.î A common expression
used throughout the Bible. Those that are in the Lord. ìIn
the Lord Jesus Christ.î And I've read here where there was a time
that Paul acknowledges himself that there were others. Salute
them, greet them, bless them, help them, do for them the best
you can. They were in Christ before I
was. Now, before Paul was in Christ,
this is the way he was. Before you were in Christ, this
is the way you are, or were. And if you are not in Christ
this morning, this is the way you are. This is the way God
views you. He doesn't view all people as being in Christ. You are in Christ because God
put you in Christ. You didn't put yourself in Christ.
God put you in Christ. Now listen to this. It says,
And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and in
sin. Now, that's the first thing I
want to call your attention to. There was a time when Paul was
not in Christ. He was dead in trespasses and
in sins. Something had to take place.
He had to be quickened. He had to be regenerated. He
had to be born from above. He had to be made a new creation. It says, And you hath he quickened,
who were dead in trespasses and in sins. Where in time past you
walked according to the course of this world. You walked, it
is no different from anybody else. Your desires were in the
world. According to the prince of the
power of the air, the devil himself, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, this is describing you and me
prior to us being in Christ as well as the Apostle Paul. It
says, "...among whom also we all had our conversation in times
past, in the lusts of our flesh, the desires of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh, and of the mind, and were by nature
by nature born this way, the children of wrath, even as others. We weren't born physically into
the kingdom of God, but God, who is rich in mercy, for His
great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in
sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace are you
saved. Paul said that there was a time that he was not in Christ. But
he is in Christ now. And if he is in Christ, he lives
in Christ, and he dies in Christ, and will forevermore be where
Christ is. That is what I want to talk about
here this morning. Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord, in the Lord, in the Lord Jesus Christ. All right? If you will turn then one more
time to John chapter 17, John chapter 17. and the 24th verse. Listen to what it says. Now,
this is our Lord Jesus Christ praying. He says, Father, I will that they also whom Thou
hast given me." Look at it real seriously. 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,
there are three things that I want you to consider here this morning
about those that die in the Lord, about those that die in the Lord
Jesus Christ. The first question is this. Who
are they which die in the Lord? Who are they? Well, he answers the question
here as to who they are. Father, I will that they also
whom thou hast given me. They are those that the Father
hath given the Son. Those that die in the Lord. They're
not in the Lord Jesus Christ by accident. They're in the Lord
Jesus Christ on purpose. Salvation is not by accident. Salvation is by grace, which
was in, well, he speaks to Titus in one place, and Titus says,
the grace, that was given me in Christ before the world began. Who are these people? Well, they are those that the
Father hath given the Lord Jesus Christ. Look over here in the
third verse or the second verse of this seventeenth chapter. said, Thou hast given him power
over all flesh, given the Lord Jesus Christ power over all flesh. He has all power in heaven and
all power in earth, our Lord Jesus. So He has given him power
over all flesh. And, not and that, He has giving
Him power over all flesh, that He, that is the Lord Jesus Christ,
should give, should give, not a pay, not as a reward, or not
on the account of anything that they do, but He should give,
should give. Give it! It's a free gift. The wages, the wages of sin is
death. The reward of sin is death. But the gift, the gift, the gift
of eternal life, it's a free gift. The gift, the
gift of God is eternal life. Now listen, that He should give,
the Lord Jesus Christ should give eternal life as Many as
thou hast given him." Who are these people that die in the
Lord? They are those that God hath
given to the Son. He came to redeem them. That's
what He came for. He didn't come to make this world
a better place in which to live. He didn't come to put down all
tyrants. do away with all evil and sickness
and all of that. He didn't come to do that. He came to accomplish redemption
in the stead, in the room, and the place of His people that
die in Him. And He said, Blessed are they
that die in the Lord, and rest from their labors, and their
works do follow. Who are they? Two as many as
thou hast given him. They are identified here in this
seventeenth chapter of the book of John in several different
ways. First, they are those whom the
Father gave to the Lord Jesus Christ. One more verse I want
to read to you in light of that. In Ephesians chapter 1, Ephesians
chapter 1, verse 3, listen to this now,
Paul says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us, does not indicate, suggest, in
any sense of the word here, that he's talking to everybody who's
a member of Adam's fallen race. But he's saying here that the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has blessed a particular
people. He says, us, have blessed us. Who are the us? They are the
saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful were at,
in Christ Jesus. Blessed are they that die in
the Lord. Now listen to this, Blessed be
the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, verse 4,
according according as He, that's God the Father, hath chosen us
in Him, in Christ Jesus. Those, Jesus said, those that
thou gavest Me, who are they? They are those that believe in
Him. They are those that have been
quickened by the Spirit of God. regenerated from that dead spiritual
state and given life. That's who they are. They have life. They've come
to know Him, whom to know is life eternal. In this prayer,
in the seventeenth chapter of the book of John, our Lord mentions
that His people were given to Him. about five, four, five,
or six times in this chapter he mentions that the people that
he came for, he came for a people to do what? To call out a people
for his name. He did not come to save every
human being on the face of the earth at any given time. He didn't
come to save mankind universally. He came to call out a people
for His name. Who are those people? They are
those that the Father gave the Lord Jesus Christ before time
ever was. God chose them. God sanctified
them. Set them apart. And in time,
God's Holy Spirit made application to their souls the gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ. He called them. They responded
to this irresistible call. And as many as He foreknew, He
did predestinate those that thou gavest me out of this
world. One verse I want to read to you
here from the book of Acts, chapter 15. Chapter 15 and verse 14. Verse 11 says, But we believe,
that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be
saved, even as they. Then all the multitude kept silence
and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles
and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. And after
they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, Listen unto me." He didn't just say, listen. He
said, hearken unto me. Pay attention. I've got something
to say to you. Listen to me. Simon, he said,
hath declared, that's Peter, how God at first did visit the
Gentiles to do what? To take out of them a people
for His name. That's what God's doing now. He's calling out a people for
His name. He's not calling out every member
of Adam's fallen race. He's calling out some people
that He gave to the Lord Jesus Christ before time ever was. And furthermore, He's going to
save every one of them. Not one of them is going to be
lost. They're all going to come to Him. Listen to me now. They're
all going to come to Him. You say, well, there might be
some that don't want to come. He'll make them willing to come.
Listen now, all the Father giveth to me shall come to me. You know what it says? All the
Father giveth to me. When did He give them to you?
Those that were chosen in Him before time ever was. He came
to redeem them. All the Father giveth to me will
come to me. and him that cometh to me, I
will in no circumstance, I will in no wise cast him out. I'm calling out a people for
my name." Well, that's the truth, so help
me God. That's the truth. Taking out of them a people for
his name, a people out of this world. Who are they? Chosen by the Father. God chosen. And He gives them
to the Lord Jesus Christ as their surety. You know what a surety
is? Christ is our surety. He is the
surety of the covenant that was made in eternity. A surety in the language of the law means
that one that is responsible for the liabilities and the debts
of another person. Our Lord Jesus Christ is our
surety. He is responsible for our debts
and our liabilities. And when He came, He came as
a man. He didn't come as an angel. He
came as a man. He's the God-man. He's God manifest
in the flesh. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit, one in three, three in one. The second
person of the Trinity is, This is my beloved Son in whom I am
well pleased. Hear ye Him. He came. What did He come for? He came
to accomplish atonement for the people that God gave Him before
time ever was. He's their surety. He's going
to stand in their stead. He's going to live the life they
didn't live. Well, you know and I know that the first and great
commandment is, Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart and
all thy soul, all thy strength. That's the first and great commandment. We've never loved God with all
of our heart and all of our strength and all of our soul. Never have. We ought to, but we haven't. But He did. He did as my surety,
say, as my surety. He's responsible for my death. and my liabilities, and I'm a
debtor unto God because I have not loved God like He ought to
be loved with all of my heart and all of my soul. I haven't
done it. I'm guilty! I'm guilty. Our Lord Jesus Christ came representatively. He didn't come to be defeated. He came to conquer. He came to
accomplish something. He came to achieve something. He's not trying to do anything
and can't do it. He's God, manifest in the flesh. As much God as if He's never
man, and as much man as if He's never God. He's the God-man,
man and God in one person. And that God-man is the surety
of the covenant. He's responsible. He's responsible
unto God for me. And He's going to pay all my
debts. Every debt I owe, He's going to pay for. Did He not
honor the law? Did He not take God's holy law,
the blessed holy law, and He kept He said He didn't come to
destroy the law, but He came to fulfill the law on whose behalf. He's the surest act for poor
sinners. He came to do that in their stead
and place and room. It says He honored the law, magnified
the law, kept every jot, every jot and every tittle, every eye
in the crossing of every teeth of that law. kept it as my substitute,
as my Savior. He had to keep it. And He bore
my deaths, my sins, my sins, indescribable, awful, awful,
terrible, terrible sins, laid on Him. God rolled among the
Lord Jesus Christ and the wrath of God fell on Him as my substitute. And He satisfied the inflexible
wrath and justice of Almighty God in my stead and place and
room. My surety. He's my surety. Remember that
word, surety. My Savior. He shall save His
people from their sins. Don't say now to me, well, He
didn't say He's going to save them. How else could He save
them if He didn't save them in their sins? Save them from the penalty. Do
their sins. Saved them. Listen, verse 6 here in that
17th chapter of the book of John, this is what it says. It says,
"...I have manifested thy name unto the men," and that includes
women and children. "...I have made known." Thy name unto the men." Well,
where did these men come from? "...which Thou gavest me out
of the world. Thine they were, and Thou gavest
them me, and they have kept Thy word." Verse 19, "...and for their sake." Verse 16 says, They are not of
the world, even as I am not of the world. And then he completes
his thought in verse 19, and he says, And for their sakes
I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through
the truth. What he is saying here is this,
taken out of people for his name, They are chosen by the Father
and given to the Lord Jesus Christ as their surety in the covenant
of grace. And he tells us then that Christ
sanctified Himself. He sanctified Himself. That does
not mean here, sanctification as some people teach sanctification,
that you are sanctified and holy and without sin in yourself. Now, you are sanctified and holy
without sin in the Lord Jesus Christ, but not in yourself.
Else why did He say, if any man sin? If any man sin, we have an Advocate
with the Father, even Jesus Christ the Righteous. Now listen, it
says that Christ sanctified Himself for their sake. It says, For
their sake I sanctify myself. Now, I'll tell you what that
means. It means that He set Himself apart to their suffering and
their death in their place. That's what it means. Look over
here in 1 Peter. I believe 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter
3, verse 18. Listen to what it says. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins. The just, that's Christ. For
the unjust, that's you and I. That's the people. That's the
people that God gave the Son. Paul said that they had their
conversation. Just like everybody else, this
is what we once were. They're unjust. They don't deserve the least
mercy from the hand of God. Don't deserve anything from God
except hell's fire. That's what we deserve. That's
the wages that we've earned. That's where we ought to be.
As a matter of fact, every one of us here this morning ought
to be in hell already. That's what we deserve. But we're
not getting what we deserve. It's the grace of God that He
set His affections upon us before time ever was. That's grace. That's favor. Holy favor. God's got some people out. That's
the reason why we preach the gospel to every creature. We
don't know who they are. If I knew, if someone had marked
them for me, a checkmark on their back. Then I'd go around every
day looking for checkmarks, and then I'd corner that fellow,
and I'd tell him. I'd tell him. But I don't know
who the called are. That's the reason he said, Go
ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature, whosoever believeth in him shall be saved. All men
don't believe. Only the us. Only those. that's been quickened by the
Spirit. They don't believe in order to be born again. They
believe because they are born again. They believe because they've
been quickened. They've got life. They're dead
in trespasses and in sins. You see what I'm talking about?
Ah, listen, He set Himself apart and His sufferings and death
in their place. And it says, Herefore, Christ
also hath once suffered for sins. Oh, if He suffered for my sins,
I'll never have to suffer for them. Did He suffer for my sins? He said that He came into this
world to save sinners. Paul said, I'm the chief of sinners. The just for the unjust. Well,
what will He do? That He might bring us to God.
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. Regeneration. Who are they? They are those for whom our Lord
Jesus Christ prays. Listen to what he says. Verse 15, look at that. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, that is, his sheep. You have called
them unto yourself, and they are in Christ. But I don't pray
that you take them out of this world, but thou shouldest keep them
from evil. Verse 14, I have given them thy
word, and because they have thy word, The world hath hated them,
because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, O
Lord, but keep them from evil. Keep them, Father. Who are they? They are those for whom Christ
gives eternal life to. That's who they are. Listen here. Verse 3. And this is eternal
life, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou sent." These identifying marks identifies
who these people are that die in the Lord. I'm interested in
the first word. It said, Are they that die in
the Lord? I'm interested in that word,
blessed, aren't you? I'm interested in that expression,
in the Lord. Sure as two and two is four,
those that are in the Lord are blessed by God. They're blessed
by God. They might know Thee. He gives
eternal life. What is eternal life? That they
might know the true and the living God. Not the God of your mama
and your papa, not the God of this generation, but the God
of the Bible, the true and the living God, a sovereign God who
worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. No man
can say unto God, What doest thou? No man can put up force
and prohibit God. He's on the throne. He rules
and reigns. He manages and governs the affairs
of His people. God, there's not one particle
of dust that you see in the air that's beyond His control. He
controls everything. He's on the throne. Ah, listen,
you might know Him. Now listen to me one more time. Only one way by which any man,
any woman, any girl may know God, and that is through His
Son. Now listen to me. Matthew 11,
verse 27. Listen to what it says. At least I thought that is where
it was at. Where does that add to it? Pat,
about honoring the Son. He that honoreth the Father honoreth
the Son. Where's that at? I thought it
was in the 11th chapter, but I made a mistake. Verse 27 of the 11th chapter.
Yeah, right there it is. Thank you. All things are delivered
unto me of my Father. And no man knoweth the Son. Listen
to me now. No man knoweth the Son but the
Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son. And he," that's the Son, "...to
whomsoever the Son will reveal him." So you cannot know God
without knowing the Son. You can't honor God if you don't
honor the Son. There is no way in which any
man can know God only by and through his Son. It says that those that die on
the Lord, that they received His Word. What is that? I think
I read that to you in verse 8 of this seventeenth chapter. For
I have given unto them thy words which thou gavest me, and they
They, who are the they. And thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. Now he says, I have given unto
them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them.
They received the Word. How many people have I preached
to in forty-two years? How many of them? have went from
this place never received the Word. They never did. But those that the Father gave
the Son, those that the Holy Spirit quickened and brought
to the Son, those received the Word. They received it. They
believed it. And they stood upon it. You can't
shake them. See? He prays for them too. Look at
verse 9. I pray for them. The Lord Jesus Christ is saying
this now. This is His high priestly prayer.
This is what He said. He said, I pray for them. Those that are in Christ. Those
that have received His Word. He said, I pray for them. Look
at the next three or four words. I pray not for the world. I don't
pray for the world. There's a difference between
the us and the world. The world's going to hell as
fast as they can go, but the us, the us, they're blessed. They're in Him, and they're going
to die in Him. And they're going to rest from
their labors, and their work's going to follow. I pray not for the world, but
for them which Thou hast given Me." Listen to what he says,
"...for they are Thine." They belong to You, God the Father.
He said, "...and all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine, and
I am glorified in them." Are they going to be kept? Is God going to let us destroy
ourselves? Are we going to be saved by the
grace of God and then lose the salvation that we said we enjoyed? Are we going to be saved today
and then a week from now be lost? No. Listen to what He said. He
said, I pray for them. I pray for them. They received
Thy Word. I pray for them, those that You
have given Me. And now He said, and now I am
no more in the world. He's gone. He's not here. He's
not preaching out here on the public streets. He's not at the
pool of Siloam anymore looking for people. He's gone. He's on God's right hand. What's
he doing? He ever lives to make intercession
for whom? For us, for those that are in
the world. Now listen. He said, while I
was in the world, While I was here, I'm not there, I'm going
away. While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I
have kept. None of them is lost, save the
son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. The only
one who was lost was Judas, and he was the devil from the beginning.
He never was a sheep. He always was a goat. He never
was in him. He never was in him. He made
a profession, but his profession was not grounded and founded
and built upon the rock. Christ Jesus received His Word. What about John 10, verse 27? My sheep hear my voice. They hear it. That is, they received
it, Bob. They received it. Listen to what
it says in First chapter of the book of John. Listen to this
verse in connection with what I've been saying. Now listen
to this. John chapter 1. John chapter 1. It says, He was
in the world, and the world was made by Him, but the world knew
Him not. They didn't know Him. They didn't know Him. And I remember
me telling you about the Methodist preacher that had a sign on his
church that said, you may... In other words, he's indicating
that Watch out now and live right and do that, which is good advice
and it's all applicable to all of us. But it says, your neighbor,
the only chance that he has of ever seeing a Christian might
be you, so live like Christ so people can see Christ in you.
And I said, they couldn't see Christ in Christ. When He came,
they couldn't see Him. They didn't see Him then. Listen
to what it says. It says He was in the world and
the world was made by Him and the world didn't know it. What
else does it say? It said He came unto His own.
He came unto the Jewish people. And what happened? They received
Him not. But, but, oh, it's a but. But
as many as received Him. See what I'm talking about? There's some, the us, There are
those that the Father gave the Son, now they are going to receive
Him. They are going to gladly receive
His Word. Now listen, as many as received
Him, to them gave He power or authority or right or privilege
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.
Now they were born from above, weren't they? Born again. And
that's all the Hollywood stars and the celebrities talk about.
Well, I'm a born-again Christian. You've heard of me. I'm born-again.
Are you? Yes, I'm born-again. How'd you
born-again yourself? Oh, I can take you back. And
I did this and I did that. Now listen, which were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, or of the will
of man, but that's born of God, a sovereign act of God. He's
calling out a people for His name. That's what He's doing.
He's not trying to save everybody in this world. He's going to
save His people. That's what He sent the Lord
Jesus Christ to do, is to save His people. My sheep hear my voice, and they
follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they'll never
perish. They're kept by the power of
God. Who are they? Who are they? Those that received Him, those
that love Him, those that serve Him, those that follow Him. That's
who they are. All right, where are they? He
prayed that where He was, there they might be. You remember the
thief on the cross? He said, Lord, remember me when
thou comest into thy kingdom. And our Lord said, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Where are these that die in the
Lord? They are with Him. These, blessed
are they that die in the Lord. Where are they at? They are with
Him. What do they do? They sleep in
Jesus! That's what they do. Paul talks
about those that sleep in Jesus. Let me tell you this, and I'll
quit here. Is anyone afraid of sleep? Anyone
detest sleeping? I don't. I don't sleep good. I don't sleep good. I don't sleep
like I'd like to sleep. I like to be like Glenn Shreve.
Glenn must have an awful good conscience. He had nothing to
worry about because he can just sit down in any type chair and
he's gone. He's out of this world. Sleep
for the longest of time and get up and go to bed and sleep all
night and get up at 8.30. Glenn ain't afraid of sleep. I got two grandsons, Ben and
Mitchell. They ain't either. They can sleep. You ought not to be afraid of
sleep. Death, death is but a door that opens and leads us into
the King of Kings. That's what death is. That's
what sleeping in Jesus is, is the door. The day of graduation,
we go in. The presence of the King of Kings,
the Lord of Lords, and the only potentate. Ah, my soul. Well, wish I could say more. I will give you one more verse
here. Over in the book of Hebrews. Book of Hebrews, yes. Hebrews,
Hebrews. Chapter 4. I'll say this. Who are they? The dying of the Lord. They're
those that received the Son of God. They own Him. They own Him. Trust Him only. He's their rock,
their high tower, their hiding place. That's who they are. Now, where are they? The dying of the Lord. Well,
they're with Him. Why are they so blessed? He said
that they might behold my glory. He said that they might at one
time, when this thing's all over with and winds up, that they
could behold my glory. Well, we just see. We see His
glory. We see the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ dimly, like a man looking in a dark glass,
dimly. But we'll see Him as He is. We'll
see Him as He is. All right, over here in Hebrews
chapter 4, let me read this and then I'll quit. Let us labor
therefore to enter into that rest. What's he talking about,
entering into that rest? Well, he's talking about there
is a rest for the people of God. See, he says, verse 3, For we
which have believed do enter into rest. We which have believed, it's
always that. We which have believed have entered
into rest." All right, now he goes down here in verse 4, and
he's speaking in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise.
God did rest the seventh day from all His works. After He
completed creation and all that was to be made was made, He rested. He promised labor. He rested.
He didn't do it. There wasn't nothing more to
do. He made the sun, the moon, the stars, the sand, the sand
of the sea, the water. He made everything that was made.
He made. And when everything was made,
He couldn't make any more because it was already made. And so He
rested. The work was done. The work of
creation. When our Lord Jesus Christ said, God took him at his right hand,
and there he sits. There he sits because the work
is done. He finished the work. No more work for him. But listen
to this. God did rest the seventh day from all his works. Verse
9, There remaineth therefore rest for the people of God. For
he that is entered unto his rest, he that is entered into his rest,
he rested. the work was accomplished. We
enter into the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
for he that entered into his rest, he also hath seized from
his own works, as God did from his. Now listen, let us labor
therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man should fall
after the same example of unbelief. Now, this is my rendering of this eleventh verse. Let us labor not to labor. Let us labor not to labor. That's
hard to do. Labor not to labor. Why? Because the majority of the religious
people in this world at any given time are trying to work their
way to heaven. Now let's labor to get away from
that. See what I'm talking about? Let's
labor. Let's put all these dead works
behind us and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, our prophet,
our priest, our Lord, our only potentate, our King of kings,
our Lord of lords. Let's trust in Him and Him alone. He only, David said, is my rock
and my salvation. He only, not He plus me. Not
He plus what I do. Not He plus what I don't do.
It's He only. His name shall be called Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. He's the surety. He stands responsible for their
liabilities and their debts. I hope you understand what I'm
talking about. This man will be his.

Blessed Are Those That Die In The Lord

What does the Bible say about dying in the Lord?

Who are the people that die in the Lord?

Why is it important to be in Christ?

How do we know salvation is by grace?

What does it mean to be quickened in Christ?

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Blessed Are Those That Die In The Lord

What does the Bible say about dying in the Lord?

Who are the people that die in the Lord?

Why is it important to be in Christ?

How do we know salvation is by grace?

What does it mean to be quickened in Christ?

Sermon Transcript

About Scott Richardson

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