Last week, I preached on the
subject of hell, which was a very difficult subject to preach on. And I used to think that my subject
for today was another one of those difficult subjects, but
I don't believe that anymore. I speak of the subject of death. Teresa and I, along with our
children, moved to Madisonville to attend this church the week
between Christmas 1989 and New Year 1990. Just a couple weeks
later on January the 14th, I turned 34 years old. It seems like only
yesterday in some respects. At the same time, my new pastor
at that time, Maurice Montgomery, who was 17 years older than me,
ripe old age of 51, had been diagnosed with a brain tumor
on his pituitary gland and was scheduled for surgery that same
week. Many of you here this morning
attended church here then. And as you know, the Lord graciously
spared Maurice from death on that occasion. I heard Maurice
many times after his surgery talked candidly about death. You know, death is a real thing.
It's appointed unto men once to die, and after this, the judgment.
All of us are going to die. Maurice spoke often of his lack
of fear toward death and how he longed to depart this life
and this world to be with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And I don't think I've ever told
you or anyone else this, but his talk of such things disturbed
me a great deal. Do you know why? Because sadly,
and I do mean sadly, to my shame, I did not feel the same way. I was not ready to depart. I
was only 34 years old. I had young children I wanted
to see grow up. I had a new business. I had a
30-year mortgage. I had some living yet to do,
so I thought. But now I see that I was just
inexperienced and ignorant. Yes, ignorant of the things that
really matter in this life. Being ignorant and inexperienced
in spiritual things, the things that have eternal consequence,
I thought were only for those who were older and more vulnerable
than me. But you know, death is no respecter
of persons. I think back on my high school
years and the years immediately following, and there are many
of my friends who didn't see the age of 17 or 18 or 20 or
21. Death is no respecter of persons. It comes for those of all ages.
Now in Philippians chapter one, you don't have to turn there,
but verse 21, the apostle Paul said this, he wrote this. He
said, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. There's very
few messages that I preach that I don't somewhere in the course
of that message, quote that verse. But I've been giving it a lot
of thought lately. For me to live, in order for
me to have life eternal, it's Christ. And to die, to leave
this life, to leave this world is gain. And then Paul said this,
he said, for I'm in a straight betwixt two. First, having a
desire to depart and to be with Christ. He said, which is far
better. To be with Christ is far better.
And then secondly, Paul said, nevertheless, to abide in the
flesh is more needful for you. And what Paul is saying here
is that he's hard pressed between two thoughts, to live and to
labor in the ministry or to die and be with Christ. Paul said,
for me to live, to labor and to preach would be better for
you. But there's one thing that's for certain. to die and be with
Christ would be far better for me. And you know what, friends? To those of you that know and
trust Christ, it is. It's far better for you too. 31 years ago, I hadn't truly
experienced the spiritual maturity that the Apostle Paul and my
pastor had. And now I understand that no
man, no woman, no sinner for that matter, can see to die is
gain until they have first seen and experienced that to live
is Christ. But when you see that to live
is Christ, that Christ is our life, then you'll see by God's
grace that to die is gain. Now I'm 65 years old. It's hard
to believe I'm 14 years older now than Brother Montgomery was
when I moved here. And now I too can say I'm ready
to depart. I see that it is far better to
be with Christ. This world has lost its savor
to me. Many of you know what I'm talking
about. There's just nothing here that excites us much anymore,
isn't there? That's the Lord weaning us from
this world and the things of it. That's the Lord teaching
us and showing us the things that are really important. And
now I see to die is gain. It really is. To be absent from
the body is to be present with the Lord. Isn't that a wonderful
thought? When I leave this body of death,
as Paul called it, I'll be with Christ. That's far better. Far,
far better. Now, if you're a believer, if
you are, by God's grace, one who now rests in trust in Christ,
regardless of your age, you can be assured that to die is gain. And to the rest of you, I ask
two questions. When you hear the word death,
when you hear that word, what enters your mind? When you see
someone dying, what fills your heart? Now, the answer to those
questions depends a great deal on who it is that's dying. The
death of the believer and the death of an unbeliever are two
totally different experiences. I've lived long enough now and
I've preached long enough to where I have conducted many a
funeral service. And I've been in many a funeral
service. And I have seen many men and
women die. I've seen them on their deathbed.
And those who trust in Christ, they're not downtrodden. They're
upbeat. And they realize that to die
is gain and to be absent from this body is to be present with
the Lord. The death of an unbeliever is
quite a different thing. You know, there are just no words
of hope, no words of assurance, no words of comfort or encouragement
for one who's dying without Christ. There's just not. The gospel
gives no hope or assurance or confidence in the physical death
of the faithless. Those who are without Christ
are strangers from the covenants of promise. and they have no
hope and are without God in this world. Ephesians 2.12. What hope
is there to give them? I remember seeing a sign, an
advertisement, a church slogan, whatever you want to call it,
that read, we are a church that has something for everyone. Well, I must confess to you this
morning that we're not. We're not. I don't have something
for everyone this morning. I have great hope, confidence,
and encouragement for one who believes, one who trusts Christ. I had a young couple stopped
by the church in Texas shortly after Teresa and I moved there,
that asked me that question that's probably been asked to every
pastor many, many times. They said, what do you have here
for the children at your church? And I told them, oh, we have
something that most churches don't have. And that just perked
up their interest. And they asked what it was. And
I answered, we have the gospel. We have the truth. We teach the
children that come here the gospel of Christ. We give them the same
words of comfort and hope and encouragement that we give the
adults. We offer no entertainment. We
don't offer any church field trip. We don't have any ball
teams. I went to church one time for
two years because I wanted to be on the ball team. We teach
our children about Christ and Him crucified. Why? Because the
sinner that has the Son of God has life. And those that don't
have Christ have not life. Well, it's a matter of life and
death. It's a matter of urgency. We
can't start too early in teaching our children. about the Lord
Jesus. The scripture says, wherefore
is by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin. And
so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. And
we see from God's word that none of us are excluded in that. All of us are born in sin. Because
of our sin, death has passed upon all of us. Sin has brought
about physical death to us all, and sin has brought about spiritual
death to many. Every man and woman is going
to die physically, and multitudes, though, are going to die that
second death that we spoke about last week. But some, the scripture
says few, God will give eternal life. Isn't that amazing? He should send us all to hell.
None of us are deserving of His mercy and grace. It would cease
to be mercy and grace if we were. But God has been pleased to show
mercy, to have mercy upon some. And I sure want to be in that
number. Physical death is the separation of the soul and the
spirit from the body. But spiritual death, the second
death, is the separation of the spirit and the soul from God. Be sure you understand the difference
between the two. All of us will die physically.
Many will also die spiritually because broad is the way that
leads to destruction. And there are many that find
it. There are many that are traveling that road right now. Some in
church this morning, some standing and preaching. Few there will
be that find that narrow way that leads unto life, which is,
by the way, Christ. He's that narrow way. He said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no man comes to
the Father but by me. That's narrow, narrow. But those who God is pleased
to show mercy on know that to live is Christ and to die is
gain. It really, really is. Oh, I wish
I could convince you of that, but I can't. Only God can. Why
do some believers fear that which is spiritually profitable for
them? Death is gain, a promotion. It's
a departure unto better things. Paul didn't tell Timothy that
the time of his death was at hand. You know what he told Timothy?
He said, the time of my departure is at hand. Henceforth, there
is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me
only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. Physical death is necessary.
Now hear me. It's necessary for us to depart
and receive that crown of righteousness that the Lord will give all that
love His appearing. Do you love the thought of His
appearing as we talked about in the first time? while He appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. I'm so thankful that
He'll be coming again. But that's not the case with
everyone. It won't be a time of rejoicing for many. The wise
man Solomon said this, The day of death is better, far better
than the day of one's birth. Ecclesiastes 7.1. The day of
death is better than the day of one's birth. You know, when
a child is born, folks celebrate the child's arrival. Everybody's
just happy, you know, buying gifts and just rejoicing. But I wonder if we would celebrate
their birth if we knew their end would be without Christ.
Would we rejoice in their birth if we knew that they would in
the end go out to meet this holy and righteous judge without a
substitute? Oh, that they were wise, that
they understood this, that they would consider their latter end,
Deuteronomy 32, 29. It would be wise for us to consider
our latter end. Job knew something about this.
He said, for I know that my Redeemer liveth and that He shall stand
at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin, worms
destroy this body. He's talking about physical death.
He said, yet in my flesh shall I see God. One day, this corruptible
is gonna put on incorruption and this mortal is gonna put
on immortality. And when I see Christ, I'm gonna
be just like Him, just like Him. I shall see him as he is, without
sin, perfect and holy. And when this corrupt body puts
on incorruption and this mortal body puts on immortality, then
it will be brought to pass the same that is written, death is
swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is thy sting?
Oh, grave, where is thy victory? Well, the sting of death is sin.
The strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God that God
gives us the victory. Where and how? Through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Well, what do you mean, Brother
David? Well, it was Christ who fulfilled the law in our room
and stand. God had every eye, crossed every
tee. He kept God's law with perfect
obedience. We can't keep the first law.
It was Christ who put away sin by the sacrifice of himself,
put away, gone forever as though it never existed. And in death,
because of Christ's finished work, everything, I mean everything
is barred. Far better. We may not know what
tomorrow holds, but we know who holds tomorrow. And we know that
He's working all things together for the good of them that love
God, to them who are be called according to His purpose. Do
you love God? Do you see that He's called you
by His mercy and His grace? Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
4. 2 Corinthians 4. I want you to look first at verse
17. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 17. Here we see two things that I
believe will help us a great deal if we heed God's Word in
the preaching of Paul here. He says in verse 17, for our
light affliction, which is but for a moment worketh for us a
far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. So the first
thing we see here is that all our suffering in this life is
but a light affliction. People say, Preacher, our affliction
seems so heavy. Do we dare make light of one's
suffering? No, not at all. I have a dear
friend suffering a great deal right now, as I told you about
earlier. But compared to the sufferings
of Christ, They're light. Compared to the glory that we
shall receive, they're light. They're working for us. What
is? These light afflictions. That
which the flesh calls heavy, that which the mind believes
is burdensome, that which we feel to be grievous. Faith perceives
them to be light. Faith recognizes them as but
for a moment. They're working for us a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Far better, far better. When we compare these afflictions
and how short they are with the glory that shall be ours in eternity,
they become less and less important. It really does. Paul said, for
I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed
in us. Romans 8, 18. Now look at verse
18. While we look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal. So the second thing we see is
that we don't look to things that are seen. We walk by faith,
not by sight. Our suffering in this life, these
light afflictions, these things that are seen and felt, they're
only temporary. I know they're real when we're
going through them. I know that they hurt. I know
there's suffering involved, but they're temporary. These things
are not worthy to be compared with the eternal glory that will
be ours in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm telling you, it's going to
be far, far better. We look to the things that are
not seen. We look to the things that are
eternal. We look to the things that are forever. Temporary are
the things that we see. Eternal are the things that we
don't see. Now I want you to look at chapter 5 here, the very
next verse. Chapter 5, verse 1. Here Paul
says, for we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle
were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens. Now this body is not our home. Has God shown you that? This
body is not our home. Now I reside on Simmental Street,
but you know, that's not my home. It's a temporary residence. Someone
lived in that house before we did, and someone will live there
after Teresa and I are gone. And if that home burns down,
we'll find another place to live and move there. This body is
not us. Can I say it that way? This body's
not us. No, it's a temporary dwelling
place. That's what Paul is saying here.
It's an earthly house that came from the earth. And when it's
dissolved, it'll return to the dust which it came. The psalmist
said, Lord, you take away their bread, they die and return to
their dust. Psalm 104 29. When Adam sinned
in the garden, the Lord told him, in the sweat of thy face
shalt thou eat or earn bread till thou return unto the ground.
For out of it was thou taken, for dust thou art, and into dust
shalt thou return. Now this may shock you, but man
doesn't have a soul Man doesn't have a soul. Friends, man is
a soul. Man is a soul who dwells in an
earthly house, a temporary house, a tent. When my soul, the real
me, leaves this house, this tent of flesh, it becomes empty with
no life within. We've all seen a corpse. No life
within, cold dead. No life within because the real
person has left that tent and they're present with the Lord,
which is far, far better. Again, verse one, for we know
that if this tabernacle were dissolved, and let me tell you,
it will be. We, the children of God, have a building of God,
a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. This
earthly house, this tabernacle, and as you know, that word tabernacle
means tent, is temporary and it's not going to stand long.
This life is but a vapor that appears for a little time. It's
a vapor that vanishes away quickly. The scripture talks about grass,
grass that withers. Flourishes one day, it withers
the next. Life is but a flower that what? Fadeth away. Isaiah
called this life a shepherd's tent. You know, the sheep. of
the shepherd were constantly on the move grazing and feeding.
So a shepherd's tent had to be put up quickly and had to be
easily taken down to move where the sheep were. What a picture
of these earthly tents in which we dwell. They're here for a
moment and then gone. What is your life? It's even
a vapor. It's a grass. It's a flower.
It's a shepherd's tent. Child of God, rejoice when your
shepherd's tent is dissolved. When it's destroyed, when it
comes to naught, you have a building of God. A building not made with
hands, Not man's hands, a building prepared for you by God Himself. One that is permanent. One that
is forever eternal in the heavens. So first, let's don't look to
the temporary. Let's look to the eternal. Let's
look to the permanent. You know, this body decays as
soon as the soul leaves it. Have you ever noticed a house
that's not lived in? You can usually tell just by
driving by it. It quickly becomes run down,
it decays, it decomposes. That's what happens when no one
lives there. Grass is not mowed, the landscaping
is not taken care of, the house is not painted. It just falls
to pieces. Look at verse 2. For in this,
in this what? This earthly house, this shepherd's
tent, we've grown. earnestly desiring to be clothed
upon with our house which is from heaven. This body is wearing
out. This house needs repair. This
house is beginning to leak. It's beginning to crack. The
foundation is weakened and we desire to be clothed upon with
our house which is from heaven. We've grown to be moved into
that permanent home that God has built for us. Oh, the believer
groans under the burdens of this life. The believer groans because
of the corruption of sin that remains in them. And there's
no doubt that Paul groaned when he said, Oh, wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Friends,
there's only one who can. And Paul tells us who it is.
He wrote, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. You see,
it's in and it's by and it's through the Lord Jesus Christ
that to live is Christ and to die is gain. It really is. It's in and by and through the
Lord Jesus that to be absent from this body is to be present
with the Lord. And do you know what? It's far
better. The believer longs and desires
to be free from all sin and to be like Christ. Like Job, I abhor
myself. I do. The believer longs and
desires to be free from all sin and to be like their Savior.
The believer desires to put on immortality and in corruption,
being perfectly conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus in
His perfect righteousness. When we see Him, we shall be
like Him, 1 John 3, 2. And dear believer, now we are
the sons of God. Look at verse three. If so be
that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. Now we shall
enter into the presence of the Lord clothed in Christ's perfect
righteousness, naked of any righteousness of our own. You know, I'm thinking
about those in the ark. Those eight people in the ark,
out of all those that lived on earth at that time, eight people
entered into the presence of the Lord, clothed in Christ's
righteousness. That ark was their shelter. It
was their cover. It was their safety. That ark
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Those that are found in Him are
safe from God's wrath. We need to get in to live as
Christ and to die as Cain. This building of God, this house
not made with hands, this refuge eternal in the heavens is none
other than Christ. He's our refuge, shelter, covering,
and resting place. Look at verse four. For we that
are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened. Not for that
we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be
swallowed up with life. While still in this tent of flesh,
we do groan. Why? because we're burdened with
this body of flesh and the sin that so easily besets us. We've
grown because we desire to be with Christ and to be like Christ. It's not that we desire to cease
to live in this world under God's sovereign providence and watch
care, but that we desire to live in glory and in holiness and
in perfect righteousness. There's death within us, there's
death all around us, and we long to be rid of it. Look at verse
five, now, he that hath wrought, and that word wrought means prepared,
he that hath prepared this eternal dwelling place for the selfsame
thing is God who also hath given unto us the earnest of His Spirit. Now it's our Lord, sovereign
Lord, who has chosen and called and redeemed us to this immortality. And we can be sure of our inheritance
because God's purpose is unchangeable. What God says is so, you can
count on it. God has promised to populate
the new heaven and the new earth with a people just like Christ.
He gave his son to put away their sin, redeem them and provide
them a perfect righteousness. It's got to be perfect to be
accepted. God has given Us, His Holy Spirit, is a pledge of that
promise. In Ephesians chapter 1, Paul
said, speaking of Christ, in whom, after you believed, you
were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest. You know what earnest is. It's
a down payment. It's a pledge. But you were sealed
with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance,
until the redemption of the purchased possession. Well, what does that
mean? Well, it means that we've been
bought with a price. It means that we've been purchased
with Christ's blood, redeemed from sin, redeemed from Satan
and the law when God purchased us, when Christ purchased us
with the shedding of His own blood. It means that on resurrection
morning, which is called the day of redemption, there'll be
full redemption for the weakness, corruption, mortality of this
body of sin and death in which we live. and deliverance from
all sorrows and afflictions both inward and outward. That's going
to be far better. No more reproach and persecution
of men. No more reproach from a tempting
devil. No more reproach from an unbelieving
heart. No more doubts and fears. Only
full redemption and deliverance from death in the grave. And
it be unto the praise of His glory. Now let me show you one
more thing that should cause you and I to desire to depart
this life and to be with Christ, which is far better. Look at
verse six. Therefore, we are always confident. The believers always be confident. Knowing that whilst we are at
home in the body in this earthly tent, we are absent from the
Lord. When we are confident of something,
we know that it's so, aren't we? What are we always confident
of? While in this body, we're absent
from the Lord Jesus. But when we die, when we leave
this body, we're confident that we'll be with Christ. And you
know what that is? You can say it far better. Verse
seven, for we walk by faith and not by sight. We don't look at
those temporary things. We look at those permanent, eternal
things. We walk by faith, not by sight.
We look to the eternal things that cannot be seen. And what
happens when we do? Look at verse eight. We are confident,
I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to
be present with the Lord. Now listen, we don't unwillingly
submit to debt. We willingly submit to it. That's
what Paul's saying here. We're confident. We know. We willing rather to be absent
that we might be present. We're willing to be absent from
the body so that we'll be present with the Lord, but that's not
all. Verse nine, wherefore we labor, we endeavor, we strive
that whether present in the body or absent from the body, we may
be accepted of Him. Now listen, we don't endeavor
and we don't strive to accept Christ. That's the message of
modern day religion. Let go, let God, you know, give
Jesus your heart. Let God have his way. Really? Modern day religion tells sinners
that God's made salvation possible and then they begin to apply
pressure to men and women to accept Jesus and the salvation
that's made possible. Salvation has never been about
us accepting Jesus. Never, never been about that.
Matter of fact, you and I don't have the ability or the willingness
to accept Him. So there's no hope there. We
don't endeavor and strive to accept Christ. We endeavor and
strive to be accepted of Him. Big difference. So I leave you
with the words of the Apostle Paul found in Ephesians chapter
1. Will you turn there with me and
I'll finish. Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians
1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings, all eternal blessings, all permanent blessings, not
temporary ones, blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. According as He had chosen us
and Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love." God chose us in
Christ before the foundation of the world, and the reason
was that we might be holy and without blame before Him in love. having predestinated us, having
predetermined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. It sounds
to me like salvations of the Lord. Verse 6, to the praise
of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved. Now, who's that beloved? Well,
verse seven tells us, in whom, in Christ, we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of His grace. And you know what that tells
me? It tells me that to live is Christ. The salvation's of
the Lord. There's no salvation in any other.
And that tells me that if I have Christ, if He's my salvation,
then to die is gain. Far better. Far better. To be with Christ is far better. May God be pleased to make that
real to your heart and mine for His glory, our good, and for
Christ's sake. I'm ready to depart. Why? Because I'll be with Christ,
which is far better.