We love you and appreciate you. Turn over to 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. I want to thank Paul and Mindy for their hospitality.
They had such a good time, and the friendship the Lord has given
us over the years is so precious. Those are one of the precious
things in this life, is the friendships the fellowship that we have in
the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to protect that. I don't
know how we need to protect that. It's just there's nothing like
it to have a friend in the Lord. And thank you ladies for the
food I'm about to eat. It's always been good. And John
and Irene, You opened up your home and your hearts. You know,
that's one of the evidence of faith. It's hospitality. It's when you open up your home
and you invite the Lord's people in. You may have to level up
your home now, with all of those that were there yesterday. You
may have to level it up again. But I am thankful, and I'm glad
to be here. This congregation is precious
to me. I've preached here a lot of times
over the years. And I'm thankful that the Lord
has allowed me, allowed me, entrusted me with
the gospel. And 40 years has now gone by.
And I am more amazed at the grace of God than when I began. Grace
is amazing. It is amazing. And I'm so thankful. After 40 years, I'm still here. I still believe. I'm still preaching
the same message. In fact, The big part of this
message this morning, the outline, I preached at Am's funeral back in the 80s. I think he passed
away somewhere in the 80s. Same message, hasn't changed.
I can bring it today, and if I live another 20 years, I can
bring it again. Because the message doesn't change. And the reason the message does
not change is because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today,
and forever. So I never have to be concerned
about changing the message. Because the one I'm preaching
never changes. He never changes. Now the title of the message
is A New Look at Death. A New Look at Death. Paul preached in Thessalonica
for about three weeks, and then he ran out of town. He ran out of town. But during
those three weeks, God raised up a church, a people. He sent Paul there because he
had an elect people there in Thessalonica. And Paul got the
priest for three weeks and ran off with the Lord. I tell you
what, the Lord didn't leave. You know, preachers and pastors
will come and go. They'll come a time that the
Lord will replace Paul. And down in Spring Lake, I'll
step down and another one will step in, the Lord willing. But
the Lord doesn't leave. He doesn't leave. You know, when Paul left that
church, I mean, it just stirred up everything in town. It was
a mess. But the Lord is able to take
care of his church. I've learned that. I've learned
this. The Lord died for her. He's going
to take care of her. He's going to take care of, he's
going to use us, and then in a while he's going to remove
us, and then he'll bring his other men along, and servants,
and the work will continue, where he purposed it for it to continue. So he raised up this church,
and the gospel went forth in power there in Thessalonica.
Several believed, and the evidence of it was they forsook their
idols, They became followers of Paul and of the Lord, he says
in verse 6 of chapter 1. They believed so strongly. They
believed the gospel so strongly that they became examples. They
became examples themselves for others to follow. You know, it's
one thing to be an example if you're among unbelievers. If
you're among unbelievers at work and you walk as an example as
a believer, but to me it's another level. When you become an example
to the believers, when you become an example for them to follow,
now that's an example. And they became examples, Paul
said, for others to follow. In fact, they believed in Christ.
They believed the gospel so strongly. They believed his substitutionary
death and resurrection and his return so strongly that they
expected him to return any time. Most everyone sitting here is
expecting to die. We ought to expect him to return
and we might die, but we ought to be looking for him to return.
That ought to be my expectation. My expectation ought to be looking
for my Lord. Not an event to happen, but for
a person to show up. For the Lord Jesus Christ to
come and get me. Not the event, but the person.
That's what the Lord said about Lazarus and Martha. He said he'll rise in the resurrection. And they said, we know he'll
rise. I'm trying to think of how he
said it. That he'll live again. And Martha said, I know he'll
rise in the resurrection. And the Lord said, I'm the resurrection.
I'm the resurrection. Don't look for the event to happen,
look for the person. The Lord Jesus Christ. The resurrection
is the person. It's the Lord. It's the Lord. But they look for Him to return,
I mean, at any time. At any time. So during this time,
Paul had left and he was concerned about them. They were on his
heart. And he sent Timothy to check on them, and Timothy brought
back good report. He brought back how they were,
they were, they were grown in faith and love, and they loved
Paul and had good remembrance of him. But there was some problems. There was a trouble. Some of
them had passed away. And the ones who were living,
they were troubled. They were troubled because they
thought that Those who had passed were going to miss the Lord's
return. That when He returned, that they would miss Him. They
were confused. They didn't have what you have.
We have the Bible. We have the written Word of God.
They didn't have the full Word of God like we have it. We have
an advantage. We have a real advantage that
the Lord has given. We have the complete Word of
God in our laps, in our homes, preached to us every week. We
need to take advantage of it, take advantage of it. There's
something we need to understand here, though, concerning these
Thessalonians. Most of them here were Greeks,
and they were raised up under that Greek philosophy. And I
want to read you just a few of some of their philosophers and
what they taught about this matter of dying and death. One of them
said this, hopes are among the living, the dead are without
hope. Well, I agree this, the dead,
those who are dead without Christ are without hope. But now those
who die in the Lord are not without hope, they die in hope. They
die in hope. Here's another one that wrote
this, he says, sons may set and rise again, but we, when once
our brief light goes down, must sleep an endless night." This
is what they were raised on. Here's another one. No one awakes
and arises who has once been overtaken by the chilling end
of life. That's what they were dealing
with. This is how they thought. These were just babes in Christ. And some of the believers had
died, and they were confused. They were confused. And so what
Paul does here, he removes this confusion, and the way he removes
it is by the Word of the Lord. If you and I are going to have
light, we're going to have it from the Word of God. I'm not
going to have it from a philosopher. I'm not going to have it from
our educational system. I'm going to have it by the Holy
Spirit taking the Word of God and giving me and you an understanding. That's where light comes from.
True light. True understanding. And so Paul
enlightened them and us on what happens when a believer dies. Now, he's talking here to believers
now. He's not talking to unbelievers. This is not to unbelievers. Unbelievers, yeah, they have
no hope. They die without hope. In fact,
let me turn over to Psalm 49. Let me read something to you
out of Psalm 49. And then I'll get back to the
believer. In Psalm 49, Listen, listen to
this. Here's the end of the unbeliever. In verse 6, they that trust in
their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches,
none of them can by any means redeem his brother nor give to
God a ransom for him, for the redemption of their soul is precious
and it ceases forever, that he should still live forever and
not seek corruption. Nobody can purchase or have enough
money to buy life. And by redemption, it's not for
sale. It's not for sale. We are redeemed
by the blood of Christ. If we are redeemed, we are redeemed
by the blood of Christ, and we live because He lives. He's our
life. Our life is hidden in Christ
and God. For He saith that wise men die, likewise the fool, and
the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.
Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue forever
and their dwelling places to all generations. They call their
lands after their own names. Nevertheless, man being in honor,
he abides not. He's like the beasts that perish. That's the end of the unbeliever.
But that's not the end of the believer. Rather, we have a good
day coming. We have something much, much
better coming. Now Paul says this in verse 13,
But I would not have you to be ignorant that it is uninformed,
brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not,
even as others which have no hope, that you do not excessively
sorrow, like some of them were doing. Most, I know this, most
are ignorant as to what death is and what happens when we die. The world, the unbeliever doesn't
want to talk about it. But I tell you what, it's comforting
to the believer. As I grow older, I find it more
comforting. I find it more comforting to
talk about the end of life than any other part of it. The end
of it. But most are ignorant as to what
it is and what happens, and it's only in God's Word that we can
have real light on this subject. And we know that we all must
die. You know, there's a statistic that I read here some time ago,
and it's amazing how accurate it is. It said one out of every
one person dies. It's amazing how accurate that
stat is. One out of every one dies. We all must die. It's appointed
unto men what's to die. And after this, the judgment.
You know, I don't find a message on dying to be morbid. I don't find that. I don't find
that no more. I find it a reason to rejoice. I do, I find it a reason to rejoice. We know that men and women of
all ranks, I just read that to you, They must die. The rich,
the poor, the young, and the old. Spurgeon said, the young
may die, but the old must. The old must. But the believer
now, those of you who believe the gospel, you believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, you and I are going to die in hope. We're going
to die with expectation. With full expectation. I want you to notice here how
Paul addresses the death of a believer. And remember, he's under the
leadership of the Holy Spirit here. He says, them which sleep,
them which sleep in Jesus. Just like when our Lord spoke
of Lazarus, he said, our friend Lazarus is asleep. And you know,
when someone's asleep, you think what? You think they're doing
what? They're doing well. Don't you? If someone's been
sick and they sleep, you say, don't wake them up. Let them
rest. Let them rest. They're doing
well. They're doing well. He's asleep. Theirs is not a death. And that's
why he's telling the Thessalonians. That's why he's telling us. It's
a sleep. The believer will never, now
listen, the believer will never taste death. I know this. I realize this. I will never
taste death. The Lord Jesus Christ tasted
death for me. He took death out of death. He
took it out. I will never die. Boy, I tell
you what, when you realize that you will never die, you'll start
living. You'll actually start living. Our Lord said this in John 11,
when he was speaking to Martha, he said, I'm the resurrection
and the life. He didn't believe in me, though
we were dead, yet shall he live. And now listen, and whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. I am not going to
die. I'm going to change places. Death
is nothing more than a door. It's literally nothing more than
a door. It's like going from this room
to outside. For the believer, it's like being
let out of prison. Does this life not seem like
a prison? You're locked in a sinful body.
You live in a sinful world. You're surrounded by a bunch
of ungodly, God-hating people. This is where we live. And to
die is to be let loose, is to be set free from these things.
Is to be set free, finally, finally and fully set free. Set free. Let me give you a few things
that I know about this. When the believer falls asleep,
falls asleep in the Lord Jesus Christ, That body of corruption
that we carry around, it goes back to the dust. It
goes back to the dust. Aren't you glad this body of
corruption doesn't go with us? It goes back to the dust. And
the spirit goes back to God who gave it. That union that's between
the body and the soul is severed. Listen, one thing I know about
dying here also is that every earthly relationship is dissolved. Even the one I have with this
body is dissolved. But the good news is this, the
union that I have with the Lord Jesus Christ is never dissolved. Never dissolved. Listen to what
Paul says in Romans 8, 38 and 39. For I am persuaded that neither
death, as the first one he mentions, neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. There's nothing that can separate
us from Him. Can't separate us from His love. Can't separate us from His body.
We are members of the body of Christ and we always will be.
Always will be. And we know that to be absent
from the body is to be present with the Lord. When our Lord was hanging on
the cross and that thief was hanging there beside of Him,
He looked to that one thief and He said, Shalt thou be with me
in paradise. Paul said, We are confident,
I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to
be present with the Lord. There is no saint, there is no
child of God laying in a graveyard anywhere. Nowhere. They are with the Lord. They
are fully alive. Fully alive. He's not the God
of the dead. He's the God of the living. He's
fully alive. And we know this. We know that
by the Word of God, that when we die, when we lay this body
down and we go to be with the Lord, it says in 2 Corinthians
5.1, we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were
dissolved, and sooner or later it will be, it's dissolved. It goes back to the dust. We
live in this body right now for a while, but it's going to be
dissolved. But we have a building of God, a house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens. That's what's waiting for us.
That's what's waiting for us. And then we know that to die
is pure gain. The world, the unbelievers, sees
this thing of dying and death as pure loss. And to them, it
is. If you die outside of Christ,
it is a hundred percent loss. But to those who believe, to
the believer, it's all gain. And the word gain here is a business
term. It's profit. It's a hundred percent
profit. It's what it is. It's all game. 100% profit. For me to live is
Christ. It's my life. Now, Christ is
my life. He's not part of my life. He is my life. He's the reason I breathe. He's
the reason I get up in the morning. He's the reason I go to work.
He's the reason for my existence. I have no reason for existing
apart from Jesus Christ. I like to think of it like John
the Baptist. John the Baptist only had one purpose in life,
and that was to point to the Lamb of God. And when this time
and purpose was done, the Lord removed him. I only have one
reason for existing. Jesus Christ. All things were
made by Him and for Him. Nothing was made for me. It was
made for Him. And in Him, I have all things.
Apart from Him, I have nothing. I have nothing. Now, let's look at some ways
that it's gained. The believer is fully delivered from sin. Now, if you know what
sin is, that'll make you happy. To be fully delivered from sin. From the very presence of it.
That very thing that causes you shame, humiliation, pain. You know, whatever pain I have
is from sin. That's where it comes from. Sin. Every pain in this life is sin. Sin is caused. In some way or other, there's
sin in it. The reason we die. The reason
we die is because of sin. Right? You know, when you take the obituaries,
and they'll say, so-and-so died. He died of cancer, he died of
a heart attack, or he died of this, or he died of that. But
the real reason? is sin. It takes sin away, and
we die no more. It's sin. And we're fully delivered
from sin, and then we are fully delivered from ever doubting
our standing before God. John Newton said, "'Tis a point
I long to know, and oft it gives me anxious thought. Am I his,
or am I not?" You reckon he thinks like that now? You reckon that
thought ever crosses his mind now? No. No. Never a doubt. No. Fully delivered from ever doubting
our Lord. I just feel like we ought to
be so impressed with this that never doubt. God who cannot lie,
to never doubt Him again, and to never doubt my standing in
Him, never doubt salvation, my salvation, never doubt my salvation
in Him. Whew, that's worth a lot. Then
the believer is delivered from, listen, all temptation. You never
know what corner is going to come around. You never know when
you're going to be tempted. You never know when that's coming. But one day that will never happen
again. It will never happen again. Those who are with the Lord are
not tempted. They are not tempted. They are
able to worship Him in spirit and in truth without one sinful
thought. Just like now, you have to rest
your mind and keep coming back and listening, don't you? I know
I sat there. Your mind starts wandering, you've
got to rush your mind, come back, and it starts slipping away again.
You know, it's a chore. It can be. But then to be delivered from
all of that. And then to be delivered from all enemies. You know, there's
no enemies in glory. Everybody there is your best
friend. Everyone there is your best friend. No slander, no persecution,
no unkind word. Then the believer is delivered
from all suffering. Health will not fail. Health will not fail. Aging stops. That's the only thing that stops
aging. I wish I quit growing older.
There's only one way. There's only one way for that
to stop. And for the believer, the sooner the better. The sooner
the better. The mind will be brilliant. I'll
finally have a mind like I ought to have a mind. I'll have the
mind of Christ. That's a brilliant mind. That's a brilliant mind. And the believer will be delivered
from death. Death. It's over with. Everybody here knows sooner or
later, if the Lord doesn't come back, sooner or later, you have
to die. Well, that's gone. That's gone. It will never happen again. Never
be faced with it again. Never deal with it again. It's
gone. It's gone. And Paul says here in verse 14,
For if we believe, there's the key. He's talking to believers. He's writing to believers. If
we believe that Jesus died and rose again, that we believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, He is the substitute. He's the substitute. His blood
is the blood of atonement. His righteousness is our righteousness. His death is our death. I die,
I've already died. He tasted my death. He tasted
the wrath of God in my place. You and I will never have to
taste that. As soon as we close our eyes,
we'll wake up in such glorious bliss. We can't comprehend what's
coming. They believe, for if we believe, and he included himself, he said
we, that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which
sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. I want to ask you a
question. Could they be in better company? Could they be safer? When I think of that, I think
they couldn't be in better company than God. And they couldn't be
safer. And when He comes, He's going
to bring them with Him. You know, it says when He comes,
He'll bring all of them with Him, all His saints with Him.
They are never separated. He'll never be separated from
His people, ever, ever, ever again. My God, my God, why stop
forsaking me?" He was separated. But the believer will never be
separated. Where he goes, they go. Where
he is, they are. That's good news. I can't give
you any better news than that. And they're with Him, it says,
they're with Him. When He comes, they're with Him.
They're not laying in a graveyard, they're with Him. Even as we
speak, even as I speak right now, they're with the Lord, alive
and well. Alive and well. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord. I have this on the authority
of God. This is not what Paul thinks. This is not our religion. He said, this is by the Word
of the Lord. I have this by the commandment
of God. That those who have already gone,
they're already with the Lord. They're already there. You know,
the Thessalonians were thinking that the Lord returns and they're
going to miss Him. No, they're with Him. They're
with Him. They're with the Lord. And I
say this by the authority of God, that we which are alive
and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them
which are asleep will not go before them. They're with Him.
And when He comes, those bodies, those corruptible bodies that
were laid in the grave, that were dissolved, the Lord is going
to bring out a perfect body. Someday this body will be perfect. I mean, it's going to be. I can't.
I've never had a perfect body. I don't know by experience what
perfection is. I know how to spell it, but I
don't know what it is. I've never known anything about
perfection. My faith is not perfect. I wish
I wish I believe God more than I do, don't you? I wish I loved
God more than I love him. Someday I will. And I will in
a perfect body, just like His. And yet, we want to hang on to
this. We struggle to hang on to this mess. Oh, the scripture Cody read,
set your affection on things above. Let these things go. Let these
things go. Set your affection on things
above where your Lord sits, at God's right hand. Set your heart
on that. That's where we're headed. Here's
where I am. There's where I'm going. A new heaven, a new earth, a
new body. He said, behold, I'll make all
things new. He's not into renovation. We are. We like to renovate old
houses and old things and, you know, restore them. And God's
not doing that. He said, I'll make all things
new. He's going to get rid of all
the old. Old things. Well, the Lord Himself shall
descend from heaven with a shout. Well, the first time our Lord
came, it was barely noticed, wasn't it? And He was born in a barn. and
laid him in a stable. And here come a few shepherds,
and here come a few wise men. And for the most part, he was
hated, despised, and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. That was his reception by the
human race. His own people turned thumbs
down on him, and the Gentile world turned thumbs down on him.
Nobody wanted him. They despised him. He didn't
lift up his voice in the street. He didn't cry and lift up his
voice in the street. But when he comes back, he's
coming back with the shout of a king. The king's coming. He's not going to whisper. He's
not going to try to sneak into town. When he comes back, he's
coming back with a shout. And everybody's going to see,
that man is God. That is the King of Kings and
Lord of Lords. And you know what? All those
who pass on right now are going to be right there with Him. They're going to be right there with
Him. He's going to come with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel. You know, you know with somebody
great, arrives, the announcement is made. You know, when they
do the state of the address in the house, the man steps forward
and says, the president, you know, he speaks out loud, the
president, the archangel is going to, the
archangel is going to announce his coming. And he's going to
come with a shout. The Lord's going to come with
a shout. With the voice of the archangel
and with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ shall
rise first. All those graves are going to
open up. And they're going to rise first. Then we which are
alive and remain shall be caught up together with them In the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And here comes the best
part. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. All this is over. Faith is given way to sight.
And wherever. We shall ever be with the Lord. He's going to come and call us
and take us to Himself, and we're never going to be separated from
Him again. Now he says, wherefore comfort one another with these
words. Brethren, I find comfort in these words. Listen, if I cannot comfort you
with the Word of God, I don't have anything for you. I have
nothing to comfort you with. Absolutely nothing to comfort
you with. But to you who believe, you find
comfort in these words. Listen, even when you sorrow,
even when the Lord takes one of the loved ones here, even
when He does that, you still find comfort in the midst of
sorrow. You find it. You find some real
rest and real peace in the midst of sorrow. You find it. I'll
tell you why, because this is real to you. This is real to
you. Jesus Christ is real to you. Life and forgiveness is real
to you. This is not Greek mythology.
What Paul was telling those Thessalonians is not Greek mythology. It's
truth. It's truth. And so shall we ever be with
the Lord. I can't give any better news
than that. It doesn't get any better. OK, Paul. So much has been said worth remembering. Certainly, God's Word. These men have been preaching
God's Word line upon line. And then some comments along
with God's Word. Brother John said, That death
is not an event, or the coming of Christ is not an event, it's
a person. It's a person. He said, speaking about death is not morbid,
but it's a cause for rejoicing. Some of you nod your heads. He said, if you realize you never
die, you'll start living. He said, in another message,
set your affection on things above because I'm going to be
there soon. Remember that? Good statement. What a fitting,
I thought, what a fitting message here near the end of this meeting. Because someone in here, maybe
more than one, will probably not be here next year. And I
know what you're thinking, it's old people. My mother-in-law was diagnosed
with cancer, severe liver cancer when she was 52 years old. And
everybody was waiting for her to pass away. Seven people from
the church died before she did. Unexpected. Seven people. So, and this is not a mortal
thing. It's vital. It's vital. So young people don't want to
scare them. Well, young people die too, don't
they? Unexpectedly. We don't know who
it's going to be. This is why this message of Christ,
He that hath the Son hath life. That's what you were preaching,
wasn't it? It's good that a child, a young
person, bear the yoke in their youth that way. It doesn't matter
what happens. They have Christ. They really
have it all. It's life. They have nothing
to worry about. Can't wait for the next one.
Preparing us. That was good, John. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank the Lord for that. Thank
the Lord for you. A faithful man. We're going to
sing number 222. 222. We're going to sing this
one, Robert. I love it too much. 222. Let's
stand as we sing. 222.