Early last week, the Lord took
from us a beloved brother and friend in Christ, Mack Torrance. The Lord took a dear beloved
husband from his beloved wife. He took a father from his beloved
children, a son from his beloved mother, and a friend to so very
many. And while very sad to all who
knew and loved him, a great indescribable loss. God's Word says this about
His death and the death of every believer. In Psalm 116 I read,
Psalm 116 verse 15 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. Another scripture, another word
from God, in the last book of God's Word, Revelation 14, verse
13, says, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Blessed are the dead who die
in the Lord. Now though the Lord feels great
compassion for those who lose their loved one, their death,
the death of those saints, those who die in the Lord, is precious
to Him because they are precious. They are precious to Him and
blessed. They are blessed to die in the
Lord. He says precious in the sight
of the Lord is the death of His saints. What is a saint? short
for sanctified one, one who has been sanctified by the Spirit
of God. I read to you from 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 13. Paul writes to the saints at
this church at Thessalonica. He says, We are bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification. of the Spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto," that is, this salvation, "...he called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ," which our brother is beholding right now, the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is so full of glory right
now. The saints, the sanctified ones
who believe Christ who is the truth. Those in the Lord, blessed
are the dead who die in the Lord. What does that mean to be in
the Lord? In the Lord Jesus Christ. It means to be in His heart,
in His mind, His love, His mercy, His kindness, His grace. It means
to be in His covenant which was ordered in all things and shared
before the world began. They are in Him and He is in
them. Well, our text says precious
in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. Now, as
the years go by, we find ourselves more and more in the business
of burying our dead. I remember one time my father,
I preached for many, many years, 60 years or more, walking from
the grave of a beloved brother or friend and said, I'll be glad
when we all quit dying. As we get older and older, we
find ourselves Concerned less with living and more concerned
about dying because that's what we're headed to. Death is inevitable. Inevitable. It is appointed unto
men once to die. And after that, the judgment. The young die as well as the
old. The rich die as well as the poor. The wise die as well as the unwise. and the unbeliever, they all
die, all die, all leave this place. Ecclesiastes says there
is a time to be born and a time to die. And it says in chapter
8, there is no man that hath power over his spirit to retain
his spirit. They either have the power in
the day of death. There's no discharge in that
war. We're all going to face it. Death
is inevitable, but to the believer, to those in Christ, to those
who die in the Lord, the saints, to the believer, death is acceptable. Acceptable. In my day, our death
is not determined in the counsels of men, but in the purpose of
God. Let me read to you from one of
the oldest books, if not the oldest book in the Bible. It
says, Man's days are determined. The number of his months are
with the Lord. Thou hast appointed his bounds
that he cannot pass. Job said that. And he asked the
question, If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of
my appointed time will I wait till my change come. And then
he said, Thou shalt call. that they determined of the Lord.
Because He said that He kills and He makes alive. He says,
Thou shalt call and I will answer thee. He says, Thou will have
a desire to the work of Thine hand. That means this work of
salvation is saving His saints, bringing them home to glory.
They're precious to Him. Death is acceptable. Acceptable. Paul said in Romans 8, 28, all
believers know that all things work together for good to them
who love God and are called according to His purpose. And he calls
those home that he calls by the Gospel. To the believer, death
is valuable. The psalmist says in our text,
death is precious. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His saints. And blessed are the dead who
die in the Lord. Paul said to live is Christ, that is, to know
Him, to serve Him, to follow Him, but to die is gain. Ecclesiastes
7 says, better is the day of one's death than birth, that
is, to the child of God. Now the world says blessed, or
the rich, the famous, those honored by the world. The world will
take you into the home or a large place, a rich country club perhaps,
where there is laughing and singing and all kinds of luxury, nothing
beyond their reach that this earth cannot give. The world
says, blessed are the rich and the famous and the prosperous
and the well-to-do. They say, this is being blessed.
That's where the world will take you to show you blessing. But
the Lord, The Lord will take you into the room of a dying
believer, the deathbed of a child of God, a believer, a man, a
woman, a young person who knows the Lord, whom the Lord first
knew and loved. A wife sits there holding the
hand of her beloved husband. His life's battles have been
fought and are just about over. Children stand about at the foot
of that bed, tears running down their cheeks and agony in their
heart. In a moment, in a very few moments,
a twinkling of an eye, that man is changed completely. That woman is changed. And if
that person is conscious, or if not, in their heart and in
their mind, they would say this, when I can read my title clear,
to mansions in the sky. I'll bid farewell to every fear,
and God will wipe my weeping eye. There shall I bathe my weary
soul in seas of heavenly rest, and not a wave of trouble roll
across my peaceful breast. And when you see my eye-strings
break, how sweet my moments will roll. A mortal paleness will
be on my cheek, but Glory in my soul. God says, blessed. And you can't write blessed where
God writes cursed. And you can't write cursed where
God says blessed. Death is inevitable. Death is
acceptable to God's people. Even desire. Death is valuable
to God. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His saints. Death is precious because it's
not a penalty. for sin. It's a privilege of
the covenant, a great blessing, a reward, not for something we've
done, but for something Christ has done for His people. To the
unbeliever, death is a penalty. The wages of sin is death. That's what we earn. That's what
all men and women face because of our sin, our rebellion, our
thanklessness, our living a life without any thoughts of God or
care for His Son, unbelief. But to the believer, those who
mourn again, those who know God and know His Son and look for
His Son, death is not a penalty. Christ says death is a penalty
to the unbeliever. You will die in your sins if
you don't know Me. This is indeed a penalty, but
not to the believer. Christ has removed the curse
of that penalty, the wages of sin. In the fullness of time,
Galatians says, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law to redeem them that were under the law, that
they might receive the adoption of sons, redeem them from the
curse. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.
Cursed is he that hangs on a tree." And that's the wages we earn. Christ hung on that cross for
His people and nailed the handwriting of ordinances, the broken law
against them to His cross, taking them out of the way. And there's
no curse for God's people, no condemnation for those in Christ. All of God's people. I'm blessed
in Christ. Isaiah 53 says, He was wounded
for their transgressions, bruised for their iniquities. The chastisement
or whipping of their peace is upon Him, that His stripes are
healed. They had all gone astray, turned every man to his own way,
but the Lord laid on Jesus Christ the iniquity of all of His people.
For the transgression of His people was He stricken, Isaiah
said. 2 Corinthians 5 says, God made him to be sin for His people. He who knew no sin, that day
might be made the righteousness of God in him. So death, He's
removed the curse for them. There's no penalty. There's no
curse. The sting of death is sin, and Christ removed that
curse by His death. Now death is a privilege. Now
His people enter into an inheritance, joint heirs, Jesus Christ. Death is precious because it's
not lost, it's gained. I preached my old dad's funeral.
Who preached his old dad's funeral? And these are the words that
he said about his dad who was a believer, and I say about him,
that he lost a weary, broken body as our Brother Mack, and
he gained a perfect body. He lost a tired, confused mind. He gained a heavenly mind, a
mind of Christ, knowing as he had been known. He lost weakness
and gained strength. He lost loneliness and gained
an eternal family. Never depart. He laid aside faith
and entered into reality, actually looking at the Lord Jesus Christ
in His presence. He lost the cares of this earth
and entered into the rest of glory. Someone once visited a
dying saint in the last hours of his life on earth. And he
said, Sir, how are you? And he replied, Almost well. almost well. Death is precious
because it's God's decree to bring forth life. Except the
corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. That's
what Christ said and that's what He did. He was crucified, died,
buried, but rose again and bringing with Him. And that corn of wheat
fell into the ground and when He arose, He brought His sheaves
with Him. Resurrected to life. His saints. Oh, I pray, I hope and pray that
you will come to know this Lord and die in the Lord. Amen.