Thank you, Scott. Let's go to
Psalm 17. Our subject tonight is the happiest
day, the happiest day. For the sinner who believes on
the Lord Jesus Christ, trust that he alone is their only righteousness. The happiest day of their life is the day they close their eyes
in death and open their eyes perfectly conformed to our Redeemer. David says in verse 15, as for
me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied
when I awake with thy likeness. Brethren, just imagine leaving
this body of death and this veil of tears and immediately awaking to behold
the face of Christ our righteousness. Just think about that. Beholding His face in righteousness with His likeness. I know that it will be certainly
better than anything we can imagine. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2.9,
as it's written, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered
into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them
that love him. But God hath revealed them to
us by his spirit. He has taught us some things
in his scripture to expect in that day, for the Spirit searcheth
all things, yea, the deep things of God. All who depart this life
trust in Christ as our righteousness and Him alone. They enter into
what the scripture calls the glorious liberty of the sons
of God. By His grace, He's brought us
into liberty now through faith in Christ, but that's called
the glorious liberty of the sons of God. The spirit of a believer,
that believer who's been born of God and created anew in Christ's
righteousness, the spirit of that believer made meet by the
righteousness of Christ alone apart from his work, immediately
when he closes his eyes, he enters into God's presence, into the
presence of the Lord Jesus. The scripture declares that those
that have departed shall remain in glory with our Lord until
he returns again. and then they'll come with him.
They'll come with him. And it says that their bodies
will be raised from the grave incorruptible. And then those
that remain who are alive when he returns, our bodies shall
be changed and made incorruptible and we shall be arise with them
and caught up to glory with them, and then all Christ redeemed
will be in glory together. But I want to focus now just
for a minute on what happens when one of God's saints closes
their eyes in death. When they close their eyes in
death, immediately they awake. They awake, and they awake with
Christ. For one that's been born of the
Spirit, resting in Christ by faith, Scripture says to be absent
from the body is to be present with the Lord. The Lord Jesus
said, I'm the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in
me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die. are made to live by his spirit
being regenerated, just like we just sang, he leads us all
the way. And when that appointed hour comes and we close our eyes
in death, he that lives and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, though
our bodies go back to the grave, our bodies die because the life
goes out, but the spirit goes to be with him immediately. We
don't die. God's child does not die, he shall never die. Our
bodies die because they're of Adam. Adam disobeyed God in the garden
as a head of all who would be born of him, and when he died,
sin entered, and death by sin. Anybody that doesn't believe
we're sinners, the reason that we die is because we're sin. We became guilty by Adam's disobedience,
and we became born with a sin nature by Adam's corruption,
by his corrupt seed. So our bodies will die. They
will go back to the dust. They will return to the dust
from which God made them. But those that Christ represented,
His chosen, by His obedience, our Lord Jesus Christ made His
people the righteousness of God in Him. Where there's righteousness,
there's no death. Where there's righteousness,
there's no sin. There's no condemnation before the law. There's righteousness. The law testifies and says, yes,
they must rise. And our Lord Jesus Christ came
here and he took the sin of his people and bore our sin on the
cross and bore the judgment we deserved on the cross and die
the death that justice demanded of all his people on the cross
so that their death is accomplished. It's accomplished. Justice is
satisfied. There's no condemnation. And
the Spirit of God comes and gives us life and makes us live. He that liveth and believeth
on me, Christ said, shall never die. He makes us live spiritually. A new spirit that wasn't there,
he puts in his people and makes us believe on him and we're gonna
live forever with him. Therefore, whosoever liveth by
the spirit of God and believeth on Christ shall never die. Romans
6 says that sin and death has no more dominion over Christ.
And so sin and death has no more dominion over us. Spurgeon used
to say, if a man's head's above water, he can't drown. Our head
is at God's right hand. Sin and death has no more dominion
over him, so sin and death has no more dominion over us. And
therefore, for every believer born of the Spirit of God, we've
got some new babies in this congregation. Just as precious as it was the
first time you held that newborn baby in your arms, Scripture
says, 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. Why can our physical death be
precious in their sight? Because that death of judgment
took place at Calvary. And Christ made us righteous.
He arose and we arose in Him. That's why Paul said, for me
to live is Christ and to die is gain. Great gain. The Lord told that thief hanging
on that cross. He just regenerated him. He just created in him a new
heart. He just gave him faith in Christ.
He had his feet and his hands nailed to the cross. He had done
nothing to make himself righteous or holy. That ought to tell us
Christ alone is the righteousness and holiness of his people. Because
Christ said to him, today you'll be with me in paradise. Today. The departed saints are not in
that imaginary place that the papacy calls purgatory. They're
not floating around on clouds. There's not something else to
be done. Their bodies are in the grave, but they're not sleeping
in the grave. God's departed saints are with
him in spirit immediately. Well, what about our bodies?
We go to 1 Corinthians 15. Here's what I was just talking
about just a minute ago. Our bodies are going to be made
incorruptible as well. 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 51 says,
Behold, I show you a mystery. We, and he's speaking here of
his people, we shall not all sleep. And he's speaking there
about our bodies being in the grave. We shall not all sleep,
but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead, those whose bodies are in the grave, shall be raised
incorruptible. And we, that is those who are
alive, shall be changed. Our bodies have to be changed
too. Nothing corruptible can inherit heaven. That's new heaven
and new earth made by Christ's righteousness, so nothing corruptible
can enter in. This corruptible must put on
incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when
this corruption shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass
the saying that's written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thou staying?
O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin's the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He satisfied the
law. He paid the wages of sin, which
is death, and he conquered death for his people. He gave his people
the victory. And when he's raised our bodies,
our spirit will go with him immediately. But then when he returns, All
his saints will come with him and their bodies will be raised
first incorruptible and then those that remain, their bodies
will be changed and made incorruptible and will be caught up in the
glory with him. And then will be the final victory. The final
victory. Now, I want to enter into the
joy. I want to speak a little bit
about this joy of our departed brethren who are right now in
the presence of our Redeemer. They're satisfied. They're satisfied. We may weep, but they're satisfied. We may sorrow at their departing,
but they're satisfied. They're not weeping. They're
satisfied. Verse 15, Psalm 17, 15, he said, as for me, I will behold thy
face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake
with thy likeness. What satisfies your heart right
now as believers? When you hear Christ speak and
you see him glorified in the gospel, the thing that satisfies
our heart right now is beholding him by faith. Because God, who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Christ Jesus. And we behold Him by faith
right now. We have a foretaste of that satisfaction,
that peace that passes understanding in our heart, when He really
speaks and really makes it effectual in your heart, and you behold
Him by faith. And we see through a glass darkly. Just imagine
Just imagine the satisfaction of our brethren who behold his
face, face to face, and behold him in righteousness, not by
faith, not by hope, by faith realized, by hope realized, beholding
him face to face. Job said, whom I shall see for
myself, my eyes shall behold and not another. Beloved, John said, now are we
the sons of God? What a blessed comfort that is. We are the sons of God right
now. And it doesn't appear what we shall be. We don't enter into
the fullness of what this will be. But we know that when he
shall appear, we shall be like him. Why? For we shall see him
as he is. Now we see through a glass darkly,
but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall
know even also as I'm known. Our departed brethren know him
in every way. You just think about that. You
enter into glory and you see him face to face and you know
him perfectly. We look into the scriptures and
we see pictures and types in the scriptures. And that day
we're going to know Him in these scriptures as perfectly as He
can be known. We're going to realize we just
had the ABCs. We just scratched the surface.
Every word of this book is concerning Him. We're going to know Him
that fully. in all of providence. Right now,
I was talking to somebody the other night, and we look in these
scriptures and we see how he worked in people's lives. You
look at Job, for instance. Job was the richest man there
was. And then he's made to be the poorest man there was. And
then he's raised up and his accusers come to him for him to intercede
for them. And he's blessed with more than
he had in the beginning. Is that not a beautiful picture
of Christ? And if we could see it right now, the things the
Lord's working in our lives, we could see pictures of Christ
in it. But we can't really because we're so in it, you know, and
so close to it. But in that day, when we know
Him as He knows us, He's going to show us how He was working
all things together for our good. exactly according to his purpose,
and how glorifying it was to him, and how good it was for
us. Not just in our lives, but how he did that from the beginning,
and all the time he was working it, just for today, whenever
we went through what we went through today. Everything's being
worked together for his people. You know, scripture says, in
Christ, he had all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Well,
we're going to know Him with a complete wisdom and knowledge
from Him. Just imagine that. It'll be the satisfaction of
beholding His face in righteousness. We won't have any sin. No sin. No unbelief to mar this site. No distraction of time and of
worry that we have now. Can you imagine what it'd be
like to not have time? To never know anything about
time again. What a constraint time puts on
us. To be eternal and never think
about time again. To be experiencing what it is
to be righteous. To be righteous. Perfect, perfect communion with
Him. Perfect communion with Him. He said He'll say to us, enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord. Enter in thou to the joy of thy
Lord. What's that? It's our Lord. The joy of our Lord is our Lord.
That's the joy. That saint that died and they
closed their eyes, and he opened up their eyes and entered into
the joy of the Lord. He's our rest. Christ is our
rest. Imagine the happiness of perfect
rest in glory with Christ. He said in Revelation 14, 13,
Happy 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. All who die in faith enter Christ's
perfect rest. Rest from toil and labor, rest
from strife, rest from all the cares of this life, rest from
all the fears of this life. gone, every bit of it gone. Rest from all the sorrows of
our bodies. Rest from the sorrows of our
sins and our shortcomings that we hate. Rest from that. Rest from the
presence of sin. You know, when scripture speaks
of us being sin, as far as our nature, it's a noun. Rest from
the presence of sin. Rest from what we are. That's rest, the rest that Christ
is to his people. I'm fully convinced of this,
that we don't realize the pressure that sin puts upon us constantly
in this world, because we're so accustomed to it, it's all
we know. There'll be a release from the
pressure of sin, just the burden of sin, when you close your eyes
in this life and open them in His presence. When I was an infant,
I had this terrible fluid on my ears all the time, and it
was just constant, just pressure. I don't much remember it, but
my parents talk about it, because I just cried and cried and cried
and cried and cried and cried and kept them where they could
sleep. And they would take me to the doctor, and as soon as
that doctor would drain that fluid off my ears, they said
I'd just start laughing and just joy, because it just took the
pain away. Just imagine being released from
this body of death and from the sin and cares of this world into
Christ's presence. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who should deliver me from the
body of this death, carrying around this heavy, burdensome
body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Our departed brethren, look at
Revelation 5. Our departed brethren, they're
singing and they're worshiping Christ perfectly with a host
of angels. and all the other departed brethren.
Look at Revelation 5 and look at verse 11. He says, I beheld and I heard
the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts
and the elders and the number of them was ten thousands times
ten thousand and thousands of thousands. Man, what a chorus
that'll be. And they're singing with a loud
voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and
riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. Right now, we sing to everything
but the Lord, usually. He says, singing to the Lord.
In that day, we're going to be singing unto the Lord perfectly. Perfectly. They are serving our
Redeemer day and night. Look over at Revelation 7 and
look at verse 14. It says there in the last part,
it says they have come out of great tribulation. That is what
this whole world, this whole life is. They have come through
it. They have passed beyond it. Done with it forever. They've
washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore
they before the throne of God and serve him day and night in
his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne
should dwell among them. The Lord be among us. And look,
and they shall hunger no more. How much of our life is taken
up with worrying about what we're going to eat? Planning for the next meal. They're
not going to hunger. They're not going to thirst anymore. Neither shall the sun light on
them, nor any heat. For the lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto
living fountains of waters. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes." Look there at Revelation 21. He saw that new heaven and new
earth. Verse 3, I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold,
the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them,
and they will be His people, and God Himself shall be with
them and be their God. Walking with God. God walking
with us. God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. There will be no more death.
no more death, there'll be no more sorrow, neither crying,
neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are
passed away. We see our dear loved ones and
their bodies broken and they're suffering and they depart and
we say, well, they passed away. No, all of that passed away from
them. They entered into glory. All
the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the
throne said, Behold, I make all things new. He did it all. He
did it all. He said unto me, Write, these
words are true and faithful. He said unto me, It's done. I
am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. And he's the author
and finisher of our faith. He created this world for this
purpose, right here, to bring his people here. He said, I'll
give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water
of life freely, and he that overcometh shall inherit all things. And I will be his God, and he
shall be my son. Now let me wrap this up. We've
been speaking here about God's saints who die in faith. found
in Christ's righteousness, like Paul said, I want to be found
in His righteousness, not having a righteousness of my own, not
trusting in anything I've done. I want His righteousness only. But to those who depart without
Christ, those who try to come before God with their deeds and
what they've done to appear before Him, they'll enter into an eternal
second death. He says here in Revelation 21.8,
but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers
and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall
have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone,
which is the second death. That's the description of every
sinner outside of Christ. That's a description of you and
me. if we weren't found in Christ. You take your place there, that's
us if we're not in Christ. The sinner with his best works
outside of Christ, that's the description. The wise man said
it's better to go to the house of mourning because the living
are led to his heart. If a loved one departs that we
know, that we're close to, we should lay that to heart. Anybody
who has a loved one that depart, they should lay it to heart because
it's appointed unto men once to die and after this to judgment.
All are coming into God's presence and it's only through faith that
we're going to be found in Christ's righteousness alone. only by
believing on Him. So, if you're unbelieving, seek
Christ now. Seek Him now. Call on Him now. Believe on Him while He's near.
He said in Ecclesiastes 12, 1, Remember now, thy Creator, in
the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the
years draw nigh, when thou shouldst say, I have no pleasure in them.
For man spends his whole life, accomplishes everything he set
out to accomplish, and accumulates whatever honors and glory and
riches or whatever. What shall it profit a man if
he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? What shall a man
give in exchange for his soul? What's a man willing to trade
his soul for? Whosoever therefore shall be
ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation,
of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes
in the glory of his Father with his holy angel. Here's what I'm
saying to the unbelievers. Get under the preaching of the
gospel of Christ and get in his word. Get under the preaching
with his people and get in his word. And seek him now like your
life depends on it, because it does. It does. And if you can seek Him, He already
sought you from eternity. If you can believe on Him, it's
because the Spirit of God entered in and called you and gave you
faith to believe on Him. You worry about walking in the
light He's given you. Get where He is and hear Him
and seek Him while He may be found. And for those who believe
Him, For you and I who believe him, those that might cry or
weep over a departed saint, that's okay. It's okay to mourn. Don't be ashamed to mourn for
your loved ones. Abraham mourned for Sarah, Joseph
mourned for Jacob, all Israel mourned for Aaron and Moses. But think of the joy that that
departed saint has entered into. Think on that. Think on these
things that we've been speaking about. Think of that joy that
a departed saint is entered into. And those tears are turned to
tears of joy. They'll be tears of joy. And cast thy burden upon the
Lord and he'll sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous
to be moved. Cast the burden on Him. He'll sustain thee. Every trial,
every trouble, cast it on Him. He will sustain. That's the purpose.
To bring us to Him. Cast it on Him. So as He sustains
you, He shows you a little more. All your strength is Him. All
your righteousness is Him. All your holiness is Him. All
your comfort is Him. All your wisdom and direction
and being, it's all of him. And as he sustains you, he won't
suffer any that he's made righteous to be moved. Not moved away from
him, not moved out of his sovereign will. He'll keep you stayed on
him. and keep running the race, looking
to Christ alone. As Paul said, I haven't obtained
yet, but I'm pressing toward the mark of that high calling
of God. We, through the Spirit, wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. I'm waiting for Him. My citizenship's in heaven, and
I'm just looking to Him. And in the time that it takes
a vapor to vanish, He'll come to you and he'll say,
talking to you believer, he'll say, now you enter into the joy
of your Lord just that quick. It'll be that quick, this life
will be done. And that'll be the happiest day
of our life. And that day won't ever end. I pray that'll be a comfort to
the Lord's people. Father, we thank you for your
word. Thank You that You've left nothing
in the hands of Your people, that You've provided perfect
righteousness for us in Your Son. Thankful Lord, You've appointed
the very hour when You're going to take us
out of this side of the river and take us into that celestial
city and we'll enter into that glory and rest and rejoicing
and true worship Lord, we thank you for our brethren
that you've taken there with you. Pray, Lord, that you will comfort
your people and that you'll give us, that are here remaining,
give us hearts to run this race looking to you. Lord, make us continually, continually depend
upon you for everything. If we are weary now, and these trials
of this life weary us, how are we going to cross that Jordan? Lord, keep us and teach us that
it's only by your strength, right now and forever. Don't let us
trust anything in ourselves. Don't let us trust our wisdom
or our works. And Lord, don't let us be cast
down because of our sin. Keep us from it. Turn us from
it. Grant us repentance to hate it
for your sake. Make us love righteousness and
hate iniquity. Lord, don't let us trust ourselves
for anything. Keep us looking to you. And we
ask you use these words, Lord, to increase our faith and help
your people. We thank you, Father, what a
great, glorious, majestic, almighty God we have. You do everything
right. You do everything well. Thank you, Lord, for our Redeemer.
It's in his great, precious, glorious name that we pray. Thank
you for these things. Amen.