Revelation chapter 14. Our subject is the forgotten
beatitude. I gave you sort of an introduction
to this this morning. And I'd like for us to work on
this a little more in detail in the message this evening. In Revelation chapter 14 verse
13, John says, and I heard a voice from heaven. Revelation 14 verse
13, I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write. And you'll remember this morning,
I said there were a dozen occasions in the book of the Revelation
where the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ Jesus, spoke
to this man and said, write this. And he said, write this. I'm
so glad this is written. It's written for us. You see,
the things that God has written, they're for us. They're for His
people. They're for His redeemed ones. Write this, John. 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. They don't go ahead of them.
Your works don't open the door into heaven for you. Your works
they'll follow after you as evidence, as evidence that God has wrought a work of
grace in your soul. As evidence that you're one of
the redeemed of the Lord Jesus. Their works do follow them. These that are said to be blessed
are those who die in the Lord. We're in the Lord by everlasting
union. God gave us to Christ Jesus in
covenant mercy. We're in Him. We're in Him. We've been united to God the
Son forever. O blessed everlasting union of
God the Son and all of God's chosen people. We're in the Lord
Jesus. We're in Christ. We're in the
Lord. In Him by everlasting union. We're in Him by redeeming grace. We're in Him by the gathering
grace of the Spirit of God. We're in Him by the union of
faith. And I said this morning what
a monumental difference there is between those who die in the
Lord and those that die in their sins. And I left you this morning
with this thought. I asked you to give some thought
to this. Will you die in the Lord? Will you die in your sins? That we must die, that's a fact. Unless the Lord comes pretty
soon. We're going to die. Don't figure
on escaping death. Only been a couple of men who
have missed it. And I doubt that you're going
to be an Enoch or an Elijah. For the rest of us, we've got
to go the way of all flesh. For it is appointed unto men
once to die. You must die. Oh, to die in the
Lord. Do you remember what Balaam said? Oh, Balaam. You know, Balak. He hired
him as a prophet. He said, I want you to prophesy
against Israel. And this is what Balaam said,
Oh, to die at the death of the righteous. That's what he said.
I want to die at the death of the righteous. But you know what?
He didn't. He didn't. There's no indication
in the scriptures that he died at the death of the righteous.
And I say to you and I say to me, this is indeed my heart's
desire, I want to die the death of the righteous. And those only
die the death of the righteous who are in the righteous one. The Lord Jesus. We've got to
be washed in His sin atoning blood. We've got to be robed
in His righteousness. We've got to have the garments
of God's great salvation. Blessed are those who die in
the Lord. In the Lord. As you read through
the books especially of the Apostle Paul. And even our brother read
to us for just a little bit from Ephesians chapter 1. To begin
the service, you notice how often that the beloved Apostle Paul,
he writes of being in Christ, in Him, blessed in Him, chosen
in Him, redeemed by Him. We're in union with the Son of
God. Blessed are those that die in
the Lord, united to Jesus Christ, because He is our life. He is
our life. He's already died. He's died. He's died the death that God's
justice demanded. That justice that said the soul
that sinneth shall die. He has died that death. And those
who are in Him by covenant grace, by redeeming mercy, by the union
of the Spirit of God, by saving faith, those who die in the Lord,
we don't really die. We just fall asleep. That's what the body does. The
body falls asleep in Jesus. Look over at 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Notice
how the apostle speaks. Notice his language in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4. He's speaking of those who have
fallen asleep in the Lord Jesus. And understand this, it isn't
the soul that falls asleep, it's the body. It's the body. But he says this, And there was
lots of misunderstanding, lots of wrong knowledge about the
coming of the Lord Jesus. And the Spirit of God leads the
Apostle Paul to straighten these saints of God out on some things
regarding the second coming of the Lord Jesus. And he says this
in chapter 4 and verse 13 of 1 Thessalonians, But I would
not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which
are asleep. that ye sorrow not even as others
which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus."
Don't miss that. This is not a promise of God
to everybody whose body sleeps. For you see, the bodies of all
who die, they're asleep. And they will abide in that sleep
until the Lord Jesus comes and wakes them up. Everybody is going
to be awakened from the dead. All the bodies of those who have
died, all the way back to Abel, they are all going to be raised
again and everybody will be once again, it will be joined with
the soul. But not everybody has died in
the Lord. And so it says here, those which
sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto
you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain
unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent, or we shall not
go before them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trump of God. And the dead, watch it, in Christ. The dead in Christ. That is the dead in the Lord. The dead in Jesus. The dead in
Christ shall rise first. And then we which are alive,
somebody is going to be alive when the Lord comes back. It
might be us. There will be some saints of
God who will be alive and they remain to the day of the Lord. They will be caught up together,
raptured up together, that's what it means. Caught up together
with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall
we be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another
with these words." So, this blessing, it's not a blessing to everybody
who dies, just a blessing to those that die in the Lord. In the Lord. And notice back
in our text, if you would, and I drew attention to this this
morning, but I'd like to reemphasize it a little bit more this evening.
And it says here in Revelation 14, 13, Blessed are they which
die in the Lord from henceforth. Now we're not to understand by
that that those who died before this weren't blessed. That's
not what it's saying. This word henceforth means from
that point on. That is from the moment of death. from the moment of death. If
you are in the Lord, anybody who has been in the Lord, even
all the way back to Abel. When Abel died, he was from henceforth
blessed. He entered into a state of blessedness. When a child of God breathes
their last breath here, and God calls them home to glory, They
all from that very moment and forevermore, they immediately
enter into a never-ending existence of bliss and joy. It happens right at the moment
of death. That's what the emphasis is.
There is no delay. They enter into bliss immediately. Immediately. That means this
idea of purgatory, that's contrary to the Word of God. Because if
you die and you've got to go to purgatory, where your sins
are purged, you haven't entered into a state of bliss. This has indeed doused all the
fires of purgatory. This one verse right here puts
out the fire. Because when we die in the Lord, we're forever blessed. We're
blessed. Listen, all of our sins, they
were purged in the blood of the Lord Jesus. They've already been
put away. We read in Hebrews chapter 1
and verse 3. who being in the brightness of
His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding
all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself
purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty
on high." We have no indebtedness. We have no filthiness. We've
all been purged, washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And at the moment of death, Those
who die in the Lord, immediately we go to be with Him. That means
there is no such thing as the sleeping of the soul. There is
no soul sleeping. When you die, your body indeed
goes into a state of sleep. The body has got to be put away.
It's like Abraham said about Sarah, I must bury my dead out
of my sight. But the soul, it never loses
consciousness. The soul doesn't go to sleep.
The Lord said to the believing thief, today you'll be with me
in paradise. He didn't say after your soul
has slept a while. He didn't say after you go to
purgatory for a while and the people contribute enough and
pray enough for you, and then you'll finally get out of purgatory.
He said, today, today, you'll be with me in paradise. This
is also an antidote to the false doctrine held by some landmarkers
that say that if you died and you hadn't been a member of a
the right church, you'll enter into a state of darkness. But
you'll be outside the city of Jerusalem looking in on those
who are in the light. This does away with that as well. I tell you, it's amazing how
the Word of God sure will clear up a lot of stuff, won't it? It sets things right for us. Yes, the bodies of God's people,
those that die in the Lord, they go to sleep. And there they reside
until the Lord comes back. Maybe they've been dead for years
and years and years. There's nothing left of them.
Maybe fish have consumed them. Those that have died at sea,
been buried at sea. Those that have died in great
explosions. We may not even be able to attract
their whatever remains of them. But God knows where the remains
are. Because you see, He not only
redeemed our souls, He redeemed our bodies. And He's going to
have us. He's going to have us a glorious
church. Glorious in spirit. Glorious
in body. Those that die in the Lord. Now watch this. He says, blessed are those, blessed
are the dead which die in the Lord. What is this blessedness? What is this blessedness? Can
I give you four things? Number one, those that die in
the Lord are blessed. in that immediately they enter
into the presence, all the glorious, wonderful presence of the Son
of God. That's blessed. That's to be
in a state of blessedness. Now those who die in the Lord
immediately go to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought to
ask this question, where is the Lord Jesus Christ? That make
sense? If we are going to be with Him,
then the question that ought to be asked and answered is this,
well, where is He? Where is He? Well, He has ascended back to
heaven. You can read at your leisure in Acts chapter 1 verses
9 through 11. This is after His death, after
His resurrection, He ascended before His disciples. The angel
said to the disciples who were gazing up into heaven, wondering
if they would ever, ever see Him again. And there the Savior,
He held His arms out and He blessed them and He ascended. He defied
the law of gravity. He can do that because He made
the law. And He lifted up into the heavens. The angel said,
ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This
same Jesus. Not another. Not an angel. Not an archangel. Not some Old
Testament prophet. But this same Jesus. He's coming
again. Just like you've seen Him go
up into heaven. Where has He gone? He's gone
up into heaven. He's gone up into heaven. In
Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3 again, which I quoted at a while ago,
it says, He's at the right hand of the majesty, or He's at the
hand of the majesty of God, in a glorified body. And that's
what we're going to have someday. A glorified body. In that body
He ate, Didn't He? He ate. And in that body He even
went through a wall. That is a miraculous body. It's
going to be a majestic body. It's a glorified body. And we're
going to be with Him. Where He is. Where He is. He's in heaven. Look at 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter
5. Now as to this glorified body,
we are not going to get that immediately now. We don't get
that to the resurrection. That comes at the resurrection.
But that doesn't mean that those who die in the Lord, it doesn't
mean that they're just spirits just kind of floating around
somewhere with no body. They've got a body. But it's
not the body that's going in the ground. It's not that body. It's another body, a spiritual
body that God has prepared. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse
1. For we know that, 2 Corinthians
5 and 1, for we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle,
and that's all it is, is just a tabernacle for your soul. That's
what the body is. Sometimes we'll say something
like this, you know, I have a soul. I beg your pardon? You are a
soul and you have a body. That's the accurate way to say
it. You are a spirit. In other words, you are a soul.
And that soul is inside this tabernacle. That's the real you. The real you. But you know, all
we can see of the real you is your body. So we love you body
and soul. Body and soul. But he says, if
this is dissolved, and it's going to be dissolved, We have a building of God and
a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in
this, in this body we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed
upon with our house which is from heaven. If so be that being
clothed, we shall not be found naked. For in this tabernacle
we groan." Boy, he used that word groan again. We groan. being burdened. Not for that
we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be
swallowed up of life. Now watch at verse 5. Now he
that hath wrought us for the self same thing is God. In other words, God's done this
work for us. Isn't it God who's done the work?
Isn't it salvation of the Lord? Isn't He the one who chose us
in grace? Isn't He the one who redeemed us by the blood of the
Lord Jesus? Isn't He the one who sent the
Spirit of God to work in us, to will and to do of His good
pleasure? Isn't it the Lord who gave us life in Christ Jesus? Isn't it the Lord who gave us
the gift of repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ? It's God who's wrought this within
us. It's the work of God, salvation
of the Lord, who also has given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. What's the earnest? It's a down
payment on future glory. That's what the Spirit of God
is. That's a guarantee we're going to get it all. He's given
us His Spirit. The Spirit of God, He's the promise
of the Father. And He was given on the basis
of the successful death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Since He redeemed
us. Therefore, look at verse 6, therefore
we are always confident. Knowing that, while we are at
a home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. Now, we are not
absent from the Lord in the sense that He is not with us by His
Spirit, because in that sense He said, I will never leave you
and I will never forsake you. But we are not in His immediate
presence. Right now we are at a home in
the body. Whereas the Lord Jesus, we've
already established that, He's in heaven, in a glorified body. So while we're at home in the
body, while our spirits are at home in this body, we're not
with the Lord. We're not with the Lord. Verse
7, parenthesis, For we walk by faith, not by sight, in parentheses. He says, verse 8, we are confident. I say and willing rather to be
absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. And that
word present is exactly the same as that which is translated in
verse 6 as at home. And I just wrote that in my Bible.
Right now I'm at home in the body. One of these days I'm going
to be at home with the Lord. I'll be at home. Wherefore we labor that whether
present or absent, we may be accepted of Him. We're going to be with Him. That's the blessing of those
who die in the Lord. We're going to be with Him. We're
going to be with Him. And the Lord says this. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? You just answer in your heart.
I'm not asking you for raising of hands or anything like that.
But do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, I hope you do. Because if any man loved not
the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. That's what Scripture
says. Let him be damned when Christ
comes. Our Lord Jesus said to Simon, he said, Simon son of
Jonas, do you love me? Yes, Lord, I love you. Feed my
sheep. Simon son of Jonas, do you love me? Do you love me for
who I am? Prophet, priest, and king. Do
you love me as the Lord of glory? Do you love me as the only sacrifice
for sin? Do you love me as your substitute?
Do you love me as your Lord? Do you love me? Yeah, Lord, I
love you. Feed my sheep. Simon, he asked him a third time,
son of Jonas, do you love me? Lord, you know all things. I hadn't acted like I loved you
because I denied you three times. And I've embarrassed myself and
I've brought reproach upon your church. But you know all things. You know I love you. Feed my
lambs," is what he said. If you love him, then you love
him more than father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife. And if you love him, I know what
your great desire is, to be with him. To be with him. Of course, Nancy is retired,
and so when I go somewhere, she can go with me. Somebody asked
me when I went to Almonte to preach this funeral, They said,
is Nancy going with you? And I said, yes, she's going
with me. Where I go, she goes, if she can possibly go. But when
she was still teaching, lots of times I'd go preach somewhere,
come down here and preach, go other places and preach, and
she couldn't go with me. Do you know what I did? I called
her because I missed her. I called her, I love you. How'd
your day go? Sometimes call three or four
times. How'd your day go? Because you see, when you love
somebody, you want to be with them. You want to be with them. And if you love the Lord Jesus
Christ, here's the great desire of your heart. I want to be with
Him. I don't look forward to going
through that door of death. That's just, that's the sticky
part, isn't it? That's the part that gets us.
I mean, if we could just take a step and we'd be there and
say, well, that'd be okay, but oh, it's that door of death.
Well, this ought to take away the crippling fear of death. Because those who die in the
Lord are with the Lord where He is. Just like that. Just like that. We love Him. We love Him. You know, in the book of 1 Corinthians
chapter 13, it talks about now body, faith, hope, and charity.
Faith, hope, and love. When we see Him, faith will be
exchanged for sight. Won't need faith anymore. Be
right there with Him. Faith and hope. What is hope?
We have a good hope through grace. What is hope? Confident expectation
of future happiness and glory based on the faithfulness of
God's own word. That's what a good hope is. But
you know what? Someday hope is going to be exchanged
for reality. Reality. Oh, but love. You'll always have that. Except
when you see him you love him fully Your love won't grow cold
anymore You remember what the Lord wrote in the book of the
Revelation earlier when he wrote to the church at Ephesus He said
I got something against you You left your first love Your love is cooled off And that
happens to us, doesn't it? Our love cools off. Aren't you
thankful? His love toward us doesn't ever
cool off. It's always a flame, a roaring
flame. He's loved us with an everlasting
love, but we weep over our love. And we love Him because He first
loved us. We do love Him, but our love
isn't worth talking about. That's the reason I have great
difficulties singing that song, Oh, How I Love Jesus. I need
to write some new words to it, Oh, How Jesus Loves Me. Oh, How
He Loves Me. But one of these days, when we're
with the Lord, we'll love Him like He ought to be loved. We'll
love Him with a perfect love. What is this blessedness of dying
in the Lord? It's to go to be with the Lord
Jesus. It's to be with Him. Stephen died. Go back to Acts
chapter 6. Acts chapter 6. Make it Acts chapter 7. Stephen
died. But before he died, you know,
These men gnashed on him with their teeth like a pack of hungry
wolves. Look at Acts 7.55, but he, Stephen
being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly. Where
did he look up to? Up to heaven. Oh, somewhere in
God's vast universe. There's heaven. I know there's the first heaven
and there's the second heaven, but oh, there's the third heaven
somewhere out yonder, wherever Christ is, because His presence
makes it to be heaven. Scripture says, He looked up
steadfastly into heaven. He saw the glory of God and Jesus
standing on the right hand of God. And He said, Behold, I see
the heavens opened. I see the Son of Man standing
on the right hand of God." They cried out with a loud voice.
They stopped their ears and ran upon Him with one accord. They
cast Him out of the city and stoned Him. And the witnesses
laid down their clothes at a young man's feet whose name was Saul.
They stoned Stephen as he called upon God saying, Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit. And he kneeled down He died with
a loud voice, Lord lay not this sin to their charge. When he
said this, he fell asleep and he went to be with the Lord Jesus
that he saw. He went to be with Him. You see, let me give you this
reference. Look at John chapter 17. I used this verse yesterday.
in the funeral that I conducted up in Almonte. When a believer
dies, the Lord Jesus is getting his great desire. He's getting
his will. As you read through John chapter
17, and this is the Lord's prayer, He makes several petitions. And
in that regard, He prayed like we do. Thy will. Thy will. For instance, look
at verse number 9. He said, I pray for them. John 17, 9. I pray not for the
world, but for them which Thou hast given Me, for they are Thine,
and all Mine are Thine, Thine are Mine, I am glorified in them.
He prayed for God's will. He prayed for God's people. He
petitioned the Father. But he gets down to verse 24,
and now he's not petitioning anymore, but he's exercising
his sovereign divine decree, his will. Nobody else ever prayed
like this. You can't pray like this. Well,
the way we pray is, Father, not my will, but Thy will be done.
But listen to how he prayed, Father, I will. I decree, I ordain,
I predestinate that they also whom thou hast given me be with
me where I am. That they may behold my glory
which thou hast given me for thou lovest me before the foundation
of the world. And when a child of God dies,
goes home to glory, dies in the Lord, it's because the Lord Jesus
prays this prayer right here. Father, I will that so and so
be with me where I am that they may behold my glory. And it happens. It happens. When our dear sister Betty Shepard,
when she I fell asleep in Jesus a few weeks ago. The Son of God
said, Father, I will that this one be with me where I am that
she might behold my glory. And I tell you what, it happened.
It happened. And one of these days, and I
don't know what means it will be, The circumstances will be of
my death or your death. We have no control over those
things. And I know people say, well,
you know, he died much too young or, you know, his life was cut
short. Nobody's life is cut short. You
live a full life. It's like having a full glass
of water but a little glass and a big glass. And those that die
young, they got a little glass. It's filled full. That's all
the life God gave. And some people, I saw a guy
on television today, watching a little bit of the golf tournament
this afternoon, he's 104 years old. I'd say his glass is just about
full. But it ain't full yet. But God's
determined our bounds that we can't pass. But when he says, I will that
they be with me. It happens. It happens. To those of us who've lost loved
ones, people who are dear to our heart, this is a most comforting
thought. Those who dine in the Lord are
with the Lord. They're with the Lord. And I
would like to be to you a Barnabas. Remember we talked about Barnabas
a couple of weeks ago? His name was Joseph. And you
know what the Apostle said? We've got another name for you.
We're going to call you Barnabas. Because you're a son of consolation. You're a consoler. I'd like to
be a Barnabas. To comfort God's people. To comfort
those who had precious loved ones who died in the Lord. And
here's our comfort. Those who die in the Lord are
with the Lord. They're with the Lord. And I
must go quickly. Here's number two. Those who
die in the Lord are blessed in that their spirit is immediately
free from every effect of sin. You see, death means the perfecting
of the soul. This thing of sin. It's not in
your skin. It's not in your blood. It's
not in your cells. It's in you and it's in me. It's
part and parcel of us. You can't touch it. You can't
cut it out of you. Somebody say, well, it's in the
blood. Well, if you've got blood transfusion, I guess you get
somebody else's sin. No, it's not in the blood. It's
not in the blood. It is really a very intangible
thing. But nevertheless, very real. Very real. When we die, then we lay sin
aside. And we realize that purpose of
God for the spirit, we are predestinated to be in the image of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The old writers used to say that
then we'll take on His moral likeness. And I guess it's okay
for lack of better words. We don't know what words to use.
But I know this. My soul, my spirit, I know I'm
justified in Christ Jesus. There's no question about that.
We're justified from old eternity. We're justified by His blood. We receive this justification
by faith. I'll never be any more justified
than I am right now, even a million years from now in eternity, if
they count eternity by years, which they don't. But I'll never
be any more justified. But my spirit is not perfect.
Neither is yours. Go to Hebrews chapter 12. I'll tell you one of these days,
and we're going to get rid of this sin business, but it's not
going to be until you die. And until then, it's going to
be a struggle. All you've got to do is read
Romans chapter 11. There is a war. There is a warfare. And those
who are the people of God, we know about the reality of the
warfare. The new man and the old man. I don't care if you
call it the new nature and the old nature. But if you want to
use scriptural language, it's the new man and the old man.
It's the life and the death. It's the struggle within. And
we all know about it. Read Romans chapter 7. But when we die, Here's what
happens. Hebrews chapter 12. Look down at verse 22. Hebrews 12.22. But year come
unto Mount Zion, unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the General
Assembly, and Church of the Firstborn, which are written in heaven,
names written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and to God the Judge
of all, and to the spirits of just men, made perfect. They are already justified, but
God be made perfect. And when we die, we come to this
great company of saints. The justified spirits who made
perfect. Who made perfect. The soul's
got to be made perfect. Now, the body's got to be made
perfect too. And unless you're one of those
that happens to be alive when the Lord Jesus comes back, In
which case, you'll get this perfection all at once, body and soul. But for the rest of us, it kind
of comes in two installments. There is the perfection of the
spirit or the soul at death. There is the perfection of the
body. That happens at the resurrection. The resurrection. But I'll tell
you, the blessedness of death will be rid of sin. Oh, to be
rid of sin. That's our whole problem. That's
the problem. It's sin. I know sin's been paid
for. It's been purged away by the
blood of the Lord Jesus. And we're not charged with sin. There is no condemnation. We
quoted Romans chapter 8 and verse 1 this morning. But in our experience,
we know the reality of sin, don't we? Oh, we know it very well. good that I would do, don't do
it. The bad that I don't want to
do, that's what I do. Well, what in the world's going
on? Well, you've got a real war going on inside of you. That's
the problem. But at death, the war ends. That's good news. The war ends. Let me give you something else.
I've got to go quickly. Those who die in the Lord are
blessed that not only are they now with the Lord, and not only
are they now free from every effect of sin, but they've joined
a multitude of blood-washed saints who are with the Lord in glory.
Now, it's a fact. We're chosen individually. Individually, God chose us. He
didn't just chose, well, I'll take this big group over here.
No, He wrote our names down in the Lamb's Book of Life. This
is a personal salvation. It's a very personal salvation. We've been redeemed by the blood
of the Lord Jesus. He calls us one by one. We're born into the Kingdom of
God one by one. We die one by one. But God's
great design in heaven is a vast group of people who've been predestinated
to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Look again at
that passage in 1 Thessalonians. And I want to show you a key
word here. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. You see, God has committed Himself
to the salvation of a vast group of people. Again, 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4, and I'd like to read these verses again. And I'll
emphasize a particular word. He says, but I, verse 13, I wouldn't
have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that ye saw or not, even as others who have no hope. For if we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep
in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you
by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain
under the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which
are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with
the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then
we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together.
Together. Not individually. Well, there
goes one, there goes another one, there goes... No, all together. With them in the clouds to meet
the Lord in the air. And so shall we be, so shall
we ever be with the Lord. So shall we ever be with the
Lord. Together. Look at chapter 5 of 1 Thessalonians. Look at verses 9 and 10. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who
died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live
together with Him. This is God's purpose, that all
of the blood-washed saints, those chosen in grace, washed in the
blood of the Lord Jesus, brought by the Spirit of God to embrace
the lovely, glorious Son of God. It's God's will that we someday
be together. I love the togetherness of God's
people. It says in Ephesians chapter
2, Even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together
with Christ. Together. In Ephesians 2 it says, In whom
all the building fitly framed, together Revelation, John sees a vast
multitude of people. He said it's the city of God. Our brother read to us from Romans
chapter 8. Earlier he says, If children
then heirs, heirs of God, and join heirs with Christ, if so
be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. I love the word together. Today,
there seems to be so many divisions
and fissures and fractions, factions and fractures. Some people just seem they can't
get along together. They can't play well with others.
Divisions. I sure will be glad when we're
together. Because I'll guarantee in glory
there won't be any divisions there. We'll all be together. You remember how it used to be
years ago. Get together. Praise the Lord. preach the gospel and then this
happens and that happens and this split and that split and
this division, this fissure and somebody, I can't get along with
you, I don't like you anymore. That's awful. What an awful testimony
to the world. I knew them sovereign grace people
didn't have anything. Look at them. Well, I'll tell
you what, us sovereign grace people, we're still just sinners.
I can tell you that. And we have different personalities.
We rub one another the wrong way sometimes. And I'm sorry
if I've offended somebody by my actions or by my attitude. Not by my doctrine now. If my
doctrine offends you, you just have to be offended. But if I'm
the offense, I'm truly sorry. I look forward to the day of
togetherness. Don't you? Togetherness. When we all get to heaven, we'll
all be together. Together. And then I'll give you this.
Those who die in the Lord, number four, are blessed for they've
entered into everlasting rest from their labors. That's what
it says here in our text. He says they've entered, look
back at the text one more time, and I know I've gone too long,
but he says, verse 13, write, blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit that they
may rest from their labors. Doesn't that put you in mind
of Matthew chapter 11, 28, 29, 30? Come unto me all you that
labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. He says, take
my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in
the heart and you shall find rest for your souls. Rest. One day we're going to enter
into rest. The rest we won't be laboring against sin anymore. We won't be fighting this battle
anymore. It's a fighting. It's a battle. It's a struggle. But we're not
going to be fighting at all. This battle is not going to last
long. Listen, the war has been won. We're just fighting our
own little individual battles. The day is going to come when
we're going to enter into rest. Rest from the cares and the troubles
of this life. Rest from the attacks of the
evil one. Rest from his fiery darts. Rest
from the evil and the wickedness of this rotten world. I get weary
with all the turmoil, all the upheaval in the nations and in
our nation. Rest from the divisions. Rest
from hearing false doctrine. We are never going to hear false
doctrine. You'll never hear a gospel that's wrong. You'll glory in
the only gospel, and that's all you'll ever hear forever. That's
rest, won't it be? That'd be rest for the soul.
Won't be anybody preaching something contrary to the gospel of God's
free grace. The preacher will be the Lord.
Oh, that'll be rest. That'll be rest. Rest from the
wrestling. Rest from the warring. Rest. Well, I've got to give you this
last reference. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. So, to kind of sum up everything,
those who die in the Lord are blessed. They're blessed because
they've entered into the very bodily presence of the Lord Jesus. They're blessed because their
spirits are now perfect, free from every effect of sin. They're
blessed because they're together with all the redeemed ones, those
justified ones whose spirits are perfected, they're worshiping
the Savior together, and they're blessed for they've entered into
everlasting rest from their labors. And I give you this word. May
God the Holy Spirit teach us as the people of God to view
death differently than from the world
views it. Death for God's children is a
messenger from the Lord who carries this message. The Master says
it's time to come home. I know the thought of dying is
somewhat frightening, but it ought not be. It ought not be. Let me show you this passage.
1 Corinthians chapter 3. You know about the divisions
in the church at Corinth. Now look down at verse 21. He says, Therefore let no man
glory in men. Oh, so-and-so is my favorite
preacher. Oh, but I'd rather hear so-and-so. I saved under his ministry. Listen,
don't glory in men. Don't glory in men. He says,
for all are yours. Every preacher of the gospel
is yours. Because we all tell them the same story. Watch it,
verse 22. Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas,
they're yours. And the world is yours. And life
is yours. And so is death. So is death. That's yours too. Or things present
or things to come, all are yours. And you're Christ's. And Christ
is God. See, death is even for your benefit.
It's going to be good for you. And wouldn't that shock the nurse
or the doctor that comes in and says, well, Mrs. Bird, I hate to tell you, Mr. Bird is dying If Nancy then said,
well, that'd be good for him. But it will be. It will be. Because it's death that sends
me to be with the Savior. It's death that sends you where
sin cannot enter. It's death that sends you to
meet all those who've gone before. And it's death that will usher
you into a land where you will rest from your labors. And it's
death that will take you to the one that you've been longing
to see. You've been longing to be with
Him. You've sung about Him. You've heard about Him. You've
read about Him. You've preached about Him. And
one day, we'll see Him. And he'll say, welcome home. That's beautiful, isn't it? Welcome
home. Well, let's sing.