You can go back to 1 Corinthians
15 again. We'll be there most of the morning. So today, I'm going to talk once
again about Jesus Christ and what he's done for his people.
because what he has done cannot be overstated, cannot be said
too much. It can't be heard enough. God's
people, whether they have yet to have their eyes opened or
hearts softened, or they've been believers for many years, we
all need to either hear it for the first time or hear it over
and over and over again, who our Lord Jesus is. what he has
accomplished, how he accomplished it, and what it means for his
people. Preparing for this week, I had
obviously like, it's been an interesting week for our family.
Lost my dad. My mom's here for the first time
in like a year and a half, which is awesome. So I reached, people are even
reaching out to me all week, us all week. All kinds of scripture
being sent, prayers. Amazing, first of all. I'd never
lost anybody close to me. I'm almost 50 years old and I've
really never lost anyone very close. One thing on a human level
I've realized is that it's very important to reach out to people
when they lose someone that they love. It's comforting. So thank
you so much to everyone. and I'm going to do a better
job of that in the future, because it's helpful, especially believers. I've been sent so many wonderful
messages and so much good scripture, and I knew I was preaching this
week, so I was reading the scripture and then looking into them, and
I really had no choice on what direction I was going to go.
So much going on this past week and a half, two weeks. So about
a week and a half ago, I'm not gonna talk about my dad the whole
time, but this is gonna preface where we go for this message. So about a week and a half ago,
my dad received every blessing afforded to him through Jesus
Christ, which is just amazing. And that's the most accurate
way we can say or describe the event of a believer passing away
from this world. He received every blessing earned
by our God, our Savior, Jesus Christ, which is every blessing
there is. And I don't just mean You know, the perishable part
of my dad's being finally finished perishing. Because we all have
a part of us that's perishable, as it says in Corinthians. Perishable.
And I don't just mean that in reference to the condition that
my dad was in. He had been, most of you know, he'd been fighting
a pretty nasty illness for about six years. Last few years saw
his body become much less capable than it had been. He grew weaker. A lot. But when I speak of the
perishable part of who we are and part of who my dad was, I'm
not referring to the specific decline due to that disease. I'm speaking to the promised
decline of our bodies, every one of us. Our flesh, which is
cursed to die. It says in 2 Corinthians 4.16,
therefore we do not lose heart, though outwardly we are wasting
away. Yet inwardly, we are being renewed
day by day. Outwardly, we are wasting away. It's a harsh truth. A harsh truth
that our fleshly mind, our natural state, does not believe. Outwardly, we are wasting away.
Every man or woman that has ever been born is marching slowly
towards, sometimes quickly towards, their physical end. That's what
we're doing. Every moment brings it closer. Every day we live is one less
day we have. I'm not trying to be a doomsday
guy, a doomsday preacher, or a downer. But this is an absolute. This is a truth. and it's one
that we have to be aware of. A truth that must be confronted
or looked at. Our nature, our flesh, ignores
death. Our flesh actually refuses to
believe that we will die, especially when we're younger. I mean, you
really, you know you're going to, but you really don't believe
it. And I still have that now. And I imagine as you get older
and closer it becomes more of a reality, but I still think
our fleshly mind will never let us fully grasp the fact that
we are all going to die. It's the only real truth of this
world. It's the only real guarantee
of this world. Our fleshly mind is incredibly
deceitful, very good at fooling us. We know we will die, but
none of us really believes it. And there are moments in life
that remind us of that a little bit more than others. Like this
last week and a half. I had never experienced death
in this way. I hadn't really experienced death
much at all, considering how old I am. But especially not
this up close, right in front of me. To watch someone slowly
die. To actually be there to watch
things slowly change. And I know a lot of you have
been through this. And I'm not, again, I'm not gonna get into
all these details, but it's very pertinent. Death is a huge part of what
we're talking about. Christ defeated death. So what
is that that he defeated? So I'd never experienced it this
close, to watch someone slowly die, to stop drinking water and
stop eating. No longer hungry or thirsty. Body didn't want it anymore.
It's hard to watch. And I'm not sure that we can
actually pray harder than other times. I think prayer is prayer
and it's all made perfect before the Lord. But if I could pray
harder, I'd never prayed harder than for Christ to just take
my dad home over those last few days. But in my little human mind,
my human perspective, I was praying hard. And then it... I've been
waiting for days, and then it came to an end. I'm not trying to be graphic.
I'm not trying to go into a melodramatic story, but I'm giving you a few
details for a few reasons. One, because death is a reality,
one that we must know about. For any of you that have yet
to call the name of Christ as your Savior, death is coming. Don't wait. It says that in the
Bible multiple times, don't wait. You don't know when your life
will end, and it better not end without Christ. Your end in this world is coming.
It's the most guaranteed part of this creation. Everyone dies,
and everyone needs Christ. Secondly, I'm gonna go into some
details because I have heard and even preached countless times
about the moment we get to leave this world behind. Or the idea
of leaving this body and our sin and this cursed world behind. But I've never actually witnessed
the moment until about a week and a half
ago. As much as we can witness it on this side of creation,
I saw that moment. In his last hours, we saw proof
that this life ends. We saw his breathing slow and
get shallower. There'd be long pauses in between
breaths, sometimes up to a minute. And again, I'm not getting detailed
for, I'll tell you why. I know that every moment and
every breath my dad ever took was orchestrated by the perfect
will of God. But there was something there that was so symbolic. Watching his body and his flesh
refuse to give up. Something symbolic there, our
flesh is so desperately clinging to this world. Even in death. We cling to the
things of this world. We cling to our own worth. We
cling to every breath. And every breath was hard at
that point. It's almost like our sinful nature
knows that it's at the end of its existence and is fighting
with everything it has to hold on. I watched the rise and fall of
each heartbeat. A slowdown. One weaker and more spread out
after another. And then it stopped. I'd watched
my dad die. And I can tell you it was not
at all what I expected. It was actually beautiful. It
was absolutely beautiful in that exact moment. I didn't even have
to sit back and contemplate on it to find its beauty. It was
immediately beautiful. Without a thought, and mom can
attest to this, the words just fell out of my mouth, he's gone. It was immediately obvious to
my heart and my soul that this body in front of me was empty. It was a shell immediately. It was so obvious. The kind of understanding that
only comes by the grace of God. There's no worldly aspect of
our minds that can look and see what just happened in front of
us and to think that's beautiful. And to see an empty body immediately
and understand what that means. the kind of comfort that only
comes by the grace of God, the kind of peace that only comes
by the grace of God. Nothing in this world can give
us this kind of comfort, understanding, or peace. In 2 Corinthians 5 verse 8 it
says, We are confident, yes, well pleased, rather to be absent
from the body and to be present with the Lord. I felt like I had just witnessed,
as best as we can, from this side of creation, the moment
a believer got to finally leave this all behind. To be absent from the body and
to be present with the Lord. My dad was gone from this world
and it was obvious, immediately, clear, And I was sitting there
looking at everything he had left behind. A cursed body. Cursed in the
fact that it was perishing and it no longer functioned. But
also cursed in the fact that it was his flesh. His sinful nature was still here. And he was finally free of it. My dad had left behind every
sinful part of his existence. And there it was, laid out right
in front of me. I mean, it was amazing. It was beautiful. It's
the moment we talk about. It's the moment we look for.
And I'm not even talking about the other part, the existence
that he's experiencing now, I can't even begin to describe. It's
far beyond what we can imagine. But what I can understand is
the sin he left behind, the struggle, the conflict, the internal strife,
the physical frailty, the curses of this world are no longer his. Paul writes, what a wretched
man I am who will rescue me from this body of death. Paul wasn't just speaking about
a body of death and the fact that it experiences death. This
is our body of death because it carries with it every curse,
every sin, and every reason that death is deserved for us. It's
part of this flesh. The curse of Adam is in us. And there's a moment, because
of what Christ has done, that we get to leave it behind. And man, that seemed real when
we were sitting there. Every aspect of the curse of
Adam that we live with every day, his spirit was made perfectly
clean of all of it by the blood of Christ. His spirit has been
clean since the beginning of, before creation of the world,
but he was finally free of the rest. All that's left is what
has been cleansed. All that's left is what is white
as snow. It's finally free of the curses
of this world. Free of every sin. Free of every
pain. Free of every conflict. Free. True freedom. He was rescued from his body
of death. Then we ask, well, why and how
is that possible? What a wretched man I am, who
will rescue me from this body of death? Why is anyone delivered
from this world with a spirit cleansed of all sin? Why is anyone delivered from
this world with a perfect righteousness? Why does anyone enter the presence
of God with confidence? Why do the heavens celebrate
upon their arrival? Why is there a perfect place
prepared for them in a perfect eternal presence of God our Father?
Why is anyone deserved of any of these things? There's only
one answer. It's simple, it's plain, and
it's clear. It says, who will rescue me from
this body of death? The very next verse, thanks be
to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord. Why is anyone delivered from
this world with a spirit cleansed of all sin? Because Christ died. All the sins, everything owed
by his people, were paid for by Christ and the shedding of
his blood. And that's enough. Why is anyone delivered from
this world with a perfect righteousness? Because Christ rose again. Our sins died with Christ, and
when he rose again, we were in him. Our eternal righteousness is
as sure as the righteousness of Christ. Can you doubt the
righteousness of Christ? Then you can't doubt the righteousness
of his people, because his righteousness is their righteousness. Our eternal life is as assured
as Christ's eternal life. Because when He rose alive, our
life is in His. So as assured as His eternal
life is, so are those who believe in Him. Why does anyone enter the presence
of God with confidence? Because Christ intercedes for
us. We can approach the throne with
confidence because we are approaching the throne in Christ. This is my son whom I'm well
pleased and in turn he is well pleased with all who are in him. Why do the heavens celebrate
upon their arrival? Because God loves his people
as his own children. and every homecoming honors and
glorifies the Son of God as worthy of all glory and all worship. It is His victory. Why is there a perfect place
prepared for them and a perfect eternal presence of God in our
Father? Because Christ's blood paid for it and He does not fail. Why is anyone deserved to be
loved by God? Because God loves his son and
all who are in him. Go back to 1 Corinthians 15 verse
54. It says, When the perishable
has become clothed in the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality,
then the saying that is written will become true. Death has been
swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and
the power of sin is in the law. But thanks be to God, he gives
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Our nature is perishable. That's an inescapable fact. But the perishable must be clothed
in the imperishable. Not just our mortality must be
covered with immortality. Our mortality, deserving of death,
is clothed in the immortality of Christ, deserving of every
blessing offered by God. For God's people, death has been
swallowed up in victory. Where, oh death, is your sting?
It asks. It says right after that, the
sting of death is sin. Where there is no sin, there
is no sting. Christ has taken all of the sting
out of death. It says the sting of death is
sin. Through Christ, God's people
have no sin. So there is no sting. I mean, we can find that in the
Bible. over and over and over and over and over. I'm just going
to read some of them. Isaiah 53, 5 it says, but he
was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that has brought
us peace was on him. And by his wounds, we are healed. There is no sin for us. So there is no sting in death. In Matthew, Jesus, as the son
of man, did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his
life as a ransom for many. Romans 5, but God demonstrates
his own love for us in this, while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us. Second Corinthians, God made
him who has no sin to be sin for us. so that in him we might
become the righteousness of God. There is no sin for the children
of God. So when it says the sting of
death is sin, there is no sin, there is no sting. And for God's people, there is nothing bad about death. Think about that. It's not that he made it a little
less uncomfortable. There is no sting. There's nothing
about it that is a bad thing for the child of God. You are
leaving behind the worst you will ever experience. This is
the worst it will ever be for God's people. Death is simply ending your connection
to sin and sadness and conflict and pain and moving to the presence of
Christ who made this happen for you. Experiencing the victory that
he won for you. For God's people, death is finally
entering the rest that Christ has earned. Finally experiencing
the peace that comes from him. Finally knowing, truly knowing,
How great He is. Where, O death, is thy victory?
There is no victory for death, not for God's people. Christ
is the victor. He destroyed death. It says again, "'Where, O death,
is your sting? "'The sting of death and the power of sin is
in the law, "'but thanks be to God, He gives us the victory
"'through our Lord Jesus Christ.'" Are you one of God's people? If you are not, run to Christ. Plead for Him to save you. You don't know when death is
coming. You don't know when the end is here. Plead for him to save you, and
he will. He will never say no. All those the Father gives me
will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never turn
away. And if you are one of God's people,
contemplate how blessed you are. You have Christ's victory over
death. There is no sting for you. All thanks to the glory of God,
the Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Someone sent me a quote. Actually,
my mom sent it to me. A quote by Joe. And I'm just going to end with
this because it was very Joe and it's just a beautiful picture.
It says, One day he shall come to you and say, Child of God,
and say to your heart, Peace. Be still. It's time to come home
and leave the storm forever. What wondrous grace from a wondrous
Savior. Our Father, we thank you so much.
We simply cannot thank you enough. We look forward to the day when
we can worship you as you actually deserve, when we can know you
as you truly are. We look forward to the day that
my dad has already experienced, where we get to leave all of
the curse behind. and experience the righteousness
of Christ, both in ourselves and in the
presence of him. We look forward to that day,
Lord. We thank you for what you've done for us. We pray this in
your name, amen.