of the Lord Jesus. And then I
want you to go to chapter number 14. Revelation chapter number
14. I just got back last night from
going up to Michigan where we drove up Friday and yesterday
I preached a funeral of a lady who is very dear to me and to
Nancy and to the congregation. God was pleased to take her home
to glory and we bow to His will. She'll be greatly missed by the
congregation, greatly missed by her family. Four weeks ago, or several weeks
ago, Brother Gary Shepard's wife, Betty, passed away. I preached
her funeral. And the subject of death has
been on my heart and on my mind. As we left, we left Friday about
6 a.m., and we were north of Lucasville. And I got a phone
call from a dear friend in Michigan, and he was very broken hearted. They had been awaiting the birth
of their first great grandbaby. And the great grandbaby's name
was Cecilia. And he said, Brother Jim, he said the Lord was pleased
to bring into this world our first great grandchild. And 60
minutes later, he took her out of this world. She died. And I'm broken hearted for them. Death. It's so real. It's such an intruder. And to our lives, he comes uninvited,
unexpected a lot of times. That which was supposed to be
a great time of joy, no indication of any difficulty in the pregnancy. But shortly after birth, little
Cecilia had difficulty breathing. death. And as I made preparation for
the message for yesterday, I thought about this passage
of scripture but I didn't preach from it. This wasn't the scripture
I preached from. But I decided actually this past
week, that this is where I would go today. Not only this morning,
but this evening as well. I want to read you one verse,
verse 13, Revelation chapter 14. John says this, Revelation 14
verse 13, And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, What am I to write, Lord? Write this, blessed are the dead
which die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest. Rest. rest from their labors,
and their works do follow them. Blessed are the dead. Here's
my subject, the forgotten beatitude. The forgotten beatitude. But as we begin this message,
I want you to go to the last book of the Old Testament. And
the last chapter of the last book of the Old Testament, chapter
4 of the book of Malachi. So now you know the subject and
you know where we're going. And I'll tell you this, we'll
have an introduction to that passage in Revelation right now. Then I'm really going to get
into the meat of it this evening. Let's go back here into the book
of Malachi chapter 4. This is what Malachi, as he quotes
the Lord saying, Malachi 4, and look at verse 5, verses 5 and
6. Behold, God says, I will send you Elijah the prophet,
for the great and dreadful day of the Lord." That word dreadful
means astonishing, even glorious, marvelous, astounding. And verse 6 says, He shall turn
the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children
to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." Now by Elijah is meant John the
Baptist, we know that, who was the forerunner of the Savior. But John also in many ways, he
is a picture of every messenger that God sends. because we are
sent to set forth the Lord Jesus Christ. Before the Redeemer comes
to you, before He is revealed to you, you've got to hear about
Him. You've got to find out about
Him. And just like John the Baptist, he came to the people in his
day, he said, the Lord is here. He said to a couple of his disciples
one day, he said, The Lamb of God that taketh away the sin
of the world. There He is. There He is. And
then they followed the Lord Jesus. Even so, God sent forth His preachers. Of every age, God has not left
Himself without a witness. God's servants go forth with
this message of look to the Lamb of God. Look to God's own Son. Before Christ comes to you, you've
got to be made acquainted with Him. And as you hear the Word
of the Lord, faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of the Lord.
As you hear God's preachers, as you hear God's Gospel, the
good news of redemption in, through, and by the Lord Jesus Christ,
it's then that Christ comes. But the Word of God here says
that when you hear one of the Lord's preachers of the Gospel, he says, and this is the gist
of verse number six, if your hearts are not turned away from
error to truth, from self-righteousness to the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ, If your hearts are not turned away from deliverance
from iniquity by legal obedience, that is by works unto salvation
altogether by grace, you'll be smitten by the curse of God. I want you to notice. Notice
the last word of the Old Testament. What is the last word of the
Old Testament. It is the word curse. Which means to invoke or to bring
about great bitterness, great injury, great devastation. And as I thought about this,
and I thought about in the beginning of the Word of God, the beginning
of the book of Genesis. You don't read very far into
the book of Genesis before you get to the word curse. And that word is used after man
had committed rebellion against God. So the Lord said to the serpent,
He said, you're cursed above all, the beast of the field.
I pronounce a curse upon you." And God said to Adam, there in
chapter 3 of Genesis, He said, Because thou hast hearkened unto
the voice of thy wife, and eaten of the tree of which I commanded
thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, God said, Cursed is
the ground, for thy sake it is cursed. He said, In sorrow thou
shalt eat of it all the days of thy life. So there is curse
mentioned at the beginning of the Old Testament. Here's the
word curse, the very last word of the Old Testament. I think this has some great importance
for us. It has something to say to us
today. It's only fitting. It is really only fitting that
the very last word of the Old Testament be the word curse.
Because in the Old Testament, there is revealed the Old Covenant. And if I could summarize the
Old Covenant, it was just this. Obey God, be blessed. Disobey God, be cursed. Be cursed. Obey God and live. Disobey God, you die. You die. Those are the terms
of the old covenant. Actually, if you read the book
of Malachi, four chapters, here is what you will find. You will
find God curses people in every chapter, all four chapters. God talks about being cursed,
being cursed. Look at Galatians chapter 3. The book of Galatians chapter
3. Let me begin at verse 10. Galatians
chapter 3 and verse 10. This is for those of you who
believe that you can be justified, you can be saved, that all of
your sins can be put away by something that you do. By a work, a deed that you perform. If you believe God will save
you on that basis, you need to hear the Word of God now. Oh
God, enable us to listen to your Word. Put it in our hearts, Lord. You endeavor to be a good person? You say, I'm trying to do the
best I can. Well, you ought to try to be
a good person. I mean, as far as we call goodness,
if there's some things in your life you need to straighten up,
you need to straighten them up. If there's some habits that are
bad, you do need to stop them. There's no question about that.
If there's some right things you need to begin to do, then
you ought to begin to do them. But understand this, they have
no bearing on salvation now. I got nothing to do with your
relationship with God. None whatsoever. But if you seek
acceptance with God, if you seek to go to heaven by your works,
by any contribution on your part, you really need to listen to
this verse of Scripture now. You really do. Here it is, Galatians
3 verse 10. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse. Well, I think my good deeds,
I hope my good deeds will outweigh my bad deeds when I stand before
God. You are under the curse. You
are under the curse of God. Well, why is that, preacher?
For it is written, now look at the word, well what is written,
cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things, not just most
things, but all things, all things, within and without, all things
that are written in the book of the law to do them, to do
them. If you seek acceptance by God,
acceptance before the Lord, if you seek to be justified by something
you do, here is what is involved. You must be altogether perfect,
inwardly and outwardly. And you can't just start right
now, as if you could. But you can't just start right
now. This had to start at birth. Impossible. That's why the Scripture
says in Romans chapter 3, By the deeds of the law there shall
no flesh be justified in God's sight. It just can't be done. In fact, look at verse 11. But that
no man is justified by the law, In the sight of God, it is evident. Where is it evident? In the Scriptures. And I'll tell you somewhere else
it's evident. It's evident in the heart. It's been touched
by the Spirit of grace to show our exceeding sinfulness. It's
evident. Isn't it evident to you? It's
evident from God's Word that He has taken and put it deep
within us, and now it's evident to us. Oh Lord, You've given
me a glimpse of myself. You've given me a glimpse of
my awful depravity and sinfulness. I know I cannot be justified
in Your sight by my own deeds. It's evident to me. Is it evident
to you? It's evident. I have the witness of God's Word,
and I have the witness of the Spirit who bears witness within
me of God's Word. Impossible. For by grace are
you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God. Now listen,
not of works. Not of works. Oh, but I'm trying
to live by the law. I'm trying to do what's right.
I'm trying to be a good citizen. I'm trying to be a good neighbor.
That's all just fine. But it's got nothing to do with
salvation. You see, your best deeds in God's
sight are filthy rags. That's the very best that you
can do. That's why the Bible says, there's
not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. Verse 11 again, but that no man
is justified by the law and the sight of God, it is evident.
For the just, the justified, they live by faith. Well, what is this faith? Who
is this faith in? Is it just, well, I've got faith,
preacher! Real faith is God-given faith. That passage in Ephesians chapter
2, for by grace you are saved through faith, and that and all
of yourself, it's a gift of God. These justified ones live by
faith. Well, who does this faith look
to? Who does this faith feed on? Who does this faith draw
from? Who does this faith lean on? Verse 13, first word, Christ. Not self. Christ. That's the one. Faith looks to
Christ. Now watch this. hath redeemed us," verse 13,
"...from the curse of the law." Isn't that wonderful? There's
no curse for God's people. There's no judgment for God's
people. Romans 8, 1, "...there is therefore
now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." No judgment. No curse. Why not? Christ hath redeemed us. He bought
us. with His own blood to satisfy
justice, to satisfy offended broken law. He has redeemed us
from the curse of the law. How did He do that? Oh my! He did it by being made a curse
for us. He took the curse. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. Verse 14, in order that the blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ,
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Salvation is in this Lord Jesus
Christ. But if you seek acceptance with
God, and I wish I could just speak to you individually, just
one-on-one, just kind of go... If I could walk around the building,
just get with each one of you, I'd say to each one of you, by
the deeds of the law now, shall no flesh be justified. You just
can't be saved that way. That's not the way of justification.
That's not the way of acceptance before God. And if you seek acceptance
before God on the basis of something you do, then you can just write
this word down, you are under the curse. That means death for you. That's
what it means. That means death. It's the last
word of the Old Covenant. It's only fitting, isn't it?
It's only fitting that the Spirit of God in His infinite wisdom
had Malachi to write the last word of the Old Covenant. If
you seek to be justified by the Old Covenant, by the deeds of
the law, then you can just write this word down, curse. Curse. So one of the first words of
the Old Testament and the very last word of the Old Testament
is the word curse. However, just about the very first word
found in the New Testament is the very opposite of cursed.
It's blessed. And you read it to us. Go back
to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. Whereas one of the first main
words in the Old Testament is the word curse, and the last
word of the Old Testament is the word curse, because that's
all the Old Covenant can do. It can only reward perfection
with life, with blessing. It rewards disobedience with
the curse. That's all it can do. But in
the New Covenant, The covenant of grace. The covenant that God
made with His dear Son. That everlasting covenant. Oh,
it is based upon grace. It's based upon the faithfulness
of God. It's based upon the doing and
the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. And for us, this means blessing. That's what it means. Blessing. Matthew chapter 5, our brother
read to us the Beatitudes. And they begin in the third verse
of chapter 5, blessed. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Now the word blessed is a very complex word. It's a very complex
word. It has several shades of meaning,
the word blessed does. It means to be happy. It means to be well off. It means one to be envied. It means delighted. And it means
one who is highly favored of God. And the word blessed also
means one who is out of the reach of evil. Isn't that wonderful? Out of the reach of evil. Evil
can't get you. You see, you're either under
a curse or under the blessing of God. And if you're under the
blessing of God, then that means you're truly happy. You're well
off. You're one to be envied. You're
one who ought to be filled with delight. Because you're highly
favored of God and you're set out of the reach of evil. No
evil can come to those who are the Lord's people. In fact, He
makes all things work together for good. For good. You are out of the reach of evil.
Evil can't touch you. Oh, the evil one, he can throw
fiery darts of temptation toward you. But no evil shall come to
the people of God. No curse shall come to the people
of God. And here's something else that's
interesting about this word blessed. I said that in the Old Testament,
one of the first main words of the Old Testament is the word
curse or cursed. And the last word of the Old
Testament is the word curse. Whereas in the New Testament,
in the New Covenant, the covenant of grace, here's one of the first
real primary words is blessed. It's also one of the last primary
words of the New Testament. For in the book of the Revelation,
chapter 22, you don't have to turn to this, I'll read it to
you, in 22.14, Blessed are they that do His commandments, that
they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through
the gates into the city. What are these commandments that
we obey? the evangelical commandments
of repentance toward God, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You're
blessed. Listen, if you've been brought
to believe Christ, I mean to rest your soul's safety in Him
alone, and you look to His blood, you look to His faithfulness,
you look to His righteousness, You have no other hope. You're like the hymn writer who
said, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. If He's all of your hope, you're
blessed. You're blessed. You're well off. So I don't have much in this
world. You have the riches of His grace. What are you talking
about? Don't bad mouth God. Don't bad
mouth God's providence. He's given you everything in
His dear Son. You're the richest of the rich.
You're the wealthiest of the wealthy. You have all things
in Jesus Christ. Life and death and everything
is yours through Him. Every preacher of the gospel
is yours. That's what it says in 1 Corinthians
chapter 3. And life is yours and even death
is yours. Because death, you see, is just
that messenger come from God to chase us home to the Lord. That's all death is. Death just
says, it's time to go. You're checking out of here.
You're going home. You're going home to be with
the Father. Home to be with the elder brother. Home to be with
the rest of the redeemed family of God. You're going home. We
ought not have this The crippling fear of death, those of us who
are the people of God. It's a blessing! It's a blessing!
It's not a curse! Oh, He died. But if He died,
watch it now, in the Lord. You see, that's the key to understanding
that passage in Revelation 14, 13. As I will bring out tonight. Everybody is not blessed in death.
Well, she suffered so much in life and now her suffering is
over. Well, I hope so. But I'll tell you this, if she
didn't die in the Lord, you know what the opposite of that is?
She died in her sins. You know what the Lord Jesus
said? If you die in your sins, Where I am, you cannot come. And all of us when we die, we
are either going to die in the Lord... What a blessing. Blessed are those who die in
the Lord. Or cursed are those who die in
their sins. Because the Savior said, you're
not coming where I am. Because nothing filthy shall
enter into the kingdom of God. Nothing that is defiled shall
enter into the presence of the King. And those who are unrighteous,
those who are unjust, let them be unjust and unrighteous still
forever. Blessed. You're either blessed
or you're cursed. Look here in Matthew chapter
5. And I know that we're all somewhat
familiar with the Beatitudes. And I'm just going to basically
read these, make a comment or two, and then go to that forgotten
Beatitude. But a Beatitude is a statement
of blessing. And I know a lot of times, you
know, the Lord on the Sermon on the Mount, He gave forth the
Beatitudes. Well, what are the Beatitudes?
Statements of blessing. Statements of blessing. Literally
a state of utmost bliss. If you can find yourself in these
statements, you are in a state of utmost bliss. That's what
it means. Each one begins with the word
blessed, as we've defined it, highly honored, highly favored,
free from evil, one to be envied, happy. The first one is blessed
to the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed
are those who have been made to see their spiritual poverty
before God, their pitiful condition before the Lord as bankrupt beggars. What do you say, your daddy?
You say, we're mercy beggars. We're mercy beggars. That's us. That's the people of God. Those
who are blessed are mercy beggars. Mercy beggars. Blessed are the
poor in spirit. Those are blessed who've been
made to see. You've got nothing to offer to
God. You're the poorest of the poor
in yourself. I know we're all by nature like
the lay Odysseans who said we're rich and increased with goods.
We have need of nothing! And the Lord said, but you don't
know. You're wretched and poor and
blind and naked. You've got nothing. Blessed are
you if God has brought you to see you have nothing to offer
to the Lord. Because that's when you'll come
empty-handed to Him. As our dear departed brother
Top Lady said, nothing in my hands I bring. Oh, but I tell
you, I pray, preacher, wait, you're bringing something now.
Oh, but Lord, you know I've gone to church all my life. Oh, you're
bringing something now. Better get rid of all that. Nothing
in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Naked I come
to thee. I'm helpless. I look to Thee
for rest. Foul, I to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior. Wash me, Savior. Or I die. That's a mercy-beggar. That's a mercy-beggar. And here's
the promise of God. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
There is the Kingdom of God already. You've already got the Kingdom
of God. You're already in the Kingdom of God. Your understanding
of your spiritual bankruptcy is evidence of that. Number two, he says in verse
four, blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
This applies to those who are broken hearted over sin. I'm such an evil person. And I don't
even know the... As the fellow said, I'm just
commenced to begin and get started understanding the evil of my
own heart and the evil of my own sin. But I'm broken hearted over it,
I tell you that. And I mourn over my guilt. Well, what is the comfort that
I give to those? What is the comfort that God
gives to those who weep and mourn over their sin? They shall be
comforted. Well, what is this comfort? Just
this. And you know that he was manifested
to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Isn't that comforting? Isn't that comforting? Oh, here's
the comfort. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, it goes on cleansing us from all sin. Boy, that's comforting. Brought to weep over your sin,
and then the Lord, after He lances that wound open, then He pours
in the oil and the wine of the Gospel, He says, I freely and
fully all forgive. Blessed are those that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. Oh, the comfort is that one has
come into this world to put away our sins by the sacrifice of
Himself. Hebrews chapter 10, chapter 9
says, Once in the end of the world hath He appeared to take
away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Here's our comfort.
Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.
Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. That's the comfort. Number three.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. You
know what meekness is? A gentle and submissive spirit
to the Lord. Naturally, we're not submissive.
We're the opposite. Rebellious. That's us. Rebellious children. That's what
the Lord said in Isaiah chapter 1 verse 2. He says, Hear, O heavens,
and give ear, O earth. Be witnesses, be witnesses that
this is the truth, O heavens and O earth. For the Lord has
spoken. He said, I've nourished and brought
up children. They've rebelled against me.
Rebelled, transgressed God's law, revolted against Him, but
here's a glorious beatitude, a statement of bliss, Blessed
are those who have been brought to bow before the Lord, who have
been humbled before Him in worship and in praise, who no longer
kick against the pricks. That's like Saul of Tarsus did. They no longer kick against God's
way of salvation by grace alone through Christ alone. You're
through with your rebellion against God's way of saving sinners. Lord, I submit. I bow to Your
way. Because your way is the only
way. It's a narrow way, and few there be that find it, but it's
a way that leads all the way home to God. It's the way. Christ
is the way. He said, I'm the way, the truth,
and the life. Blessed, blessed are the meek,
but they shall inherit the earth. Inherit the earth. That word
earth, if you look it up, it means inherit the land or the
country. There is a blessed, glorious
land to which we're going. A wonderful country, it's the
new heaven and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
That's ours. Number four, he says, blessed
are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they
shall be filled. Not hunger and thirst after the
riches and the honors and the joys of this world, with hunger
and thirst after the justifying righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ, imputed freely by God and received by God-given faith. We are unrighteous. There is
an unrighteous, no not one. That is what the Scripture says
in Romans chapter 3. And yet righteous is what we
have got to be. Because the Scripture says in
Psalm 11 verse 7, For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness. It
says, His countenance doth behold the upright. He beholds His righteous
people with approval, with joy, and with acceptance. How can
that be? For He hath made Him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. And then He says, Blessed are
the merciful. They shall obtain mercy. I tell
you, if God showed pity to you, you're going to show pity to
others. And if you've been forgiven, you can forgive. And I know we
can't forget. We want to forget. We try to
forget. So our forgiveness is not perfect. But if you've been forgiven,
if God has showed you mercy, you're going to be a merciful
person. You've just got to be. You've just got to be. And thankfully
there will be new fresh supplies of mercy that come to us from
the throne of grace. Then blessed are the pure in
heart for they shall see God. You know what pure means? Free
from corruption. Not pure outwardly. That's the
way the Pharisees appeared to be. But within they were filled
with dead men's bones. We're talking about pure in the
heart. in heart. That's how God has made us. We're
made the purity of God within through the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus. We're going to see God someday.
Scripture says without holiness no man shall see the Lord. He's
given us holiness. For God has made Christ to be
unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption,
that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. And then, blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God. Why would peacemakers
be called the children of God? Because he is the peacemaker.
He is the peacemaker. God is a maker of peace. Four
times the Lord is said to be the God of peace. Romans 15.33,
Romans 16.20, Philippians 4.19, and Hebrews 13.20. God is a God
of peace. It's the Lord who convened the
council of peace. Zechariah chapter 6 and verse
13. And we know that it's written
of our Savior having made peace by the blood of His cross. He
made our peace and He is our peace. And those who are the
Lord's children, We seek to be peacemakers. We're not trying
to cause trouble, stir up conflict. Well, I tell you, people that
do that, that's bad. That's bad. God's people, God
has put within us a love for peace, love for the peace that
we have with the Lord. And He has put within our hearts
a desire for peace with one another. Be at peace with one another.
It's God's will. It's His directive to us. Be
at peace with one another. But so and so has wronged me.
Well, forget it. Forget it. Maybe you deserved
it and maybe you didn't, but just get over it. Stop trying
to be a martyr. You know, be a peacemaker. Try to get along. Isn't it sad
that some of the people of God just can't seem to get along?
That grieves my heart. Love the same gospel and folks
won't speak to you? What kind of Christianity is
it? What kind of example do we set before the world? What kind
of example do I set before the world? I hope they see me as
a peacemaker. I'm not going to try to get along
with false religion. That's not what I'm saying at
all. I'm not going to compromise to get along with those who don't
love the gospel. But I'm talking about under the
umbrella of those who believe free and sovereign grace. They
may have some little minor differences on things, but if you love the
gospel of grace, hey, I'm for you. I'm for you. And I may not
see eye to eye with you on every single thing in the Scriptures,
and you're welcome to be wrong. You're welcome to be wrong. But
if you love the sovereign Christ, if you're washed in the blood
and you're robed in His righteousness, oh, I love you. And I'm for you. I'm for you. Blessed are the peacemakers,
they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which
are persecuted for righteousness sake. Not persecuted because
you are hard to get along with. Not persecuted because you are
ornery. Persecuted for righteousness
sake. You are persecuted because you
believe justification by the imputed righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And people bad mouth you on account
you believe that? You are blessed. You are blessed.
They blessed a lot of others. They cursed a lot of others for
that. They despised a lot of others
for that. They persecuted a lot of other
people for that. So if you are persecuted because
you believe in righteousness, that is all right. You are in
good company. You are in good company. Blessed
are ye when men shall revile you, persecute you, and say all
manner of evil against you, and it better be falsely. For my sake, for Christ's sake,
rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven,
because they persecuted the prophets before you. But go back over
there real quick and let me just give you a few final thoughts,
and then we'll go back to this more in its fullness this evening. Go back to Revelation chapter
14. Here's the forgotten beatitude.
And there are other beatitudes in the Scriptures, but we tend
to forget this one. John says in verse 13, I heard
a voice from heaven saying unto me, write. Write. You know, as you read through
the book of Revelation, the apostle John is distinctly told to write
something a dozen times. You can look it up. In the book
of the Revelation, twelve times God says, now John, write this
down. Now you write this down. Those
are things that are just magnificent things. Heavy things. Vital things. Now write it down. And he says to John, write this
down. Write this down for my people.
My people in this world who are troubled. My people in this world
who are persecuted. Write this down, John. He got out his quill, dipped
it in that ink and said, what do you want me to write? You
write this, blessed are the dead, to be envied are the dead, happy
are the dead, to be free from evil are the dead, which die
in the Lord from henceforth. Now don't let that word, henceforth,
throw you. Because that word, henceforth,
doesn't mean, okay, from that, whenever this is, when John wrote
it, about when, some people think this is about the future. No.
Here's what he's saying. Blessed are those who die in
the Lord from henceforth. In other words, from the moment
of your death, from then on, you're blessed. We're blessed
in this world. But boy, are we going to enter
into the blessing of God. I hath not seen nor heard, neither
has it entered into the heart of man, the things that God has
prepared for them that love Him. You just can't imagine how wonderful
it's going to be in glory, in the presence of the Savior, I
talked to the congregation yesterday. About a hundred people came to
the funeral. And I said of the one who had
died, I said, she fell asleep in Jesus. And she has been with
the Lord Jesus ever since. Because you see, death, here's
what it is for the child of God. Absent from the body and immediately
in the presence of the Lord forever. You're talking about blessed.
You're talking about joyful. We sing the song sometimes face
to face with Christ my Savior. That's her experience right now.
And all of those who have died in the Lord, in the Lord. You see, it doesn't just say
blessed are the dead. It's not a general pronouncement
of blessedness upon everyone who dies. Many people die like the rich
man of Luke chapter 16, and in that story, Lazarus, he was blessed. He was an heir of grace and glory.
He was an object of God's sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. He was
one of those sinners for whom the Lord Jesus came and died
for him. And angels of God came and took
him into Abraham's bosom, took him into glory. And I tell you,
one of these days, we are going to die. Everybody is, unless
the Lord comes back pretty soon. Maybe the family will be called
in. Can you see them struggling to breathe? Maybe me, perhaps. And the nurse touches my carotid
artery. I wonder what happened to Jim.
Oh, Jim went to be with the Lord. He is absent from the body and
present with the Lord. The body just fell asleep. And
we are going to put it in a bed. called the ground. And we're
going to cover it up with covers called the sod. And there my
body's going to sleep. But not my soul. Because blessed
are the dead who die in the Lord. I'm in the Lord. I've been in
the Lord since before the world began. I'm in Him by covenant
grace, by covenant purpose. I'm in Him for He redeemed me.
I'm in Him because the Spirit of God has brought me to believe
Christ Jesus, Christ in you, the hope of glory. I'm going
to die in the Lord. Now I've got something to ask
you. What about you? Are you going to die in the Lord?
I'm not trying to get you Stir it up. I'm not going to give
an altar call or anything like that, but we need to think seriously
about this now. Because you're going to die in
your sins or in the Lord. And you need to leave here today
thinking about that. Oh God, am I going to die in
my sins or am I going to die in the Lord? And may the Spirit
of God, may He impress upon you the wonders of God's grace in
Christ Jesus and bring you to this blessed Savior, join you
to Him and Him to you. You're blessed. Blessed. This is a forgotten beatitude. Boy, we ought to hang on to this
one. Because unless the Lord comes
back, we sure enough are going to experience this. It's death
business. But it's only a blessing for
those who die in the Lord. Well, let's sing up.