Good morning, everyone. Turn
with me in your Bibles, please, to the Psalm, Psalm 116. Psalm 116. Psalm 116, verse one. I love the Lord because he hath
heard my voice and my supplications. Because he hath inclined his
ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. The sorrows of death compassed
me. The pains of hell got hold upon
me. I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of
the Lord, O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is
the Lord, and righteous, yea, our God is merciful. The Lord preserveth the simple.
I was brought low, and he helped me. Return unto thy rest, O my
soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. For thou
hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my
feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in
the land of the living. I believed, therefore have I
spoken. I was greatly afflicted. I said in my haste, all men are
liars. What shall I render unto the
Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation
and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto
the Lord now in the presence of all his people. Precious in
the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord,
truly I am thy servant, I am thy servant, and the son of thine
handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to thee the sacrifice
of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord. I
will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his
people. In the courts of the Lord's house,
in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem, praise ye the Lord. May again
please to Psalm 116. Quite a few familiar verses as
we read through there, but I want to especially center our attention
on verse 15 of Psalm 116. 116, verse 15. Precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of His
saints. Precious. His saints. Death. A lot of things we can see in
just this one verse, but for our part this morning, if you
will allow me, the Lord is directing me to say these things. It is
appointed unto men once to die. All of us who live in this body
of flesh will die. Either we will die a physical
death, before he comes, or we will die a miraculous death when
he calls some up hither. But all of us will die to this
body, in this body. Death means separation. There's a physical death. That's
the separation of the body from the soul. This flesh dies, the
spirit that lives within, the soul that lives within will be
somewhere else. When you read Genesis chapter
five, after every man except one, in Genesis chapter five,
after every man's epithet, it reads, and he died, and he died. There is a spiritual death. The
spiritual death is a separation. It means the separation of sinful
man from God. Isaiah said it this way, your
sins have separated between you and your God that he will not
hear. There is another kind of death
the Bible speaks of, not only a physical and a spiritual, but
the Bible speaks of a second death. And that second death,
according to scripture, according to the book of Revelation chapter
20, that death is separation of the reprobate to the fires
of eternity forever, the lake of fire. How did death come about? God told Adam, when he said,
I put you in this garden, you can have all the fruit, you can
have everything you want in this garden. There's two trees here. And the Lord said of the tree
of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt
not eat, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt
surely die. The serpent beguiled Eve, She
gave her a husband, and they didn't eat, and they died. Adam was 960 years old when his
body finally gave up the ghost. In Adam, all of us die. federal head, rebelled against
God, he sinned against the Lord, and he brought sin upon the human
race. In Adam, all of us die. I'm gonna show you that here
in just a minute. But just after Adam had done this thing and
had hid themselves in the garden, they had sold fig leaves together
to try to hide their nakedness, how do you hide anything from
God? God came in the cool of the days looking for them. Where art thou, Adam? Not that
God didn't know. God wanted him to recognize where
he was. I'm away from God. Totally away
from God. And I'm naked. Who told you he
was naked? Did you eat of the tree? God
knew that. He knew the answer to that. Did
you eat of the tree I told you not to eat of? Well, it was that
wife you gave me. She was the problem. She gave
me to eat, and I ate thereof. Eve, what have you done? Then
the Lord pronounced judgment on Eve, pronounced judgment on
Adam, and pronounced judgment on the serpent. And then the
Lord said to Adam, from dust thou art, and unto dust thou
shalt return. Adam was to die. It's appointed
unto men once to die. We're gonna look at several scriptures
this morning, so bear with me. Let's go first of all to Romans
chapter five. Romans chapter five. In Adam, all die. That's what
the scripture says. That's what we're going to read
here. In Adam, all die. From Romans chapter five, let's
begin in verse 12. Romans 5 and verse 12. Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned,
not only the original sin, but actual sin. We've sinned against
the holy God. We are born sinners. We go astray
from the womb speaking lies. We were shaped in inequity. born in sin. And so he says,
wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death
by sin, so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Now that death, according to
verse 14, reigned from Adam to Moses, and the similitude of
those who've done after the similitude of Adam's transgression, But I want you to notice verse
15. But not as the offense, so also
as the free gift. For if through the offense of
one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by
grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded to many. Though I'm gonna talk about death
this morning, I'm also gonna talk about hope, especially life. and where that life comes from,
only Jesus Christ himself. Since by man came death, by man
came also the resurrection of the dead. There is that original
sin, there is that actual sin. According to Paul, we're all
born dead in trespasses and sins. We all are sinners. We can't
blame all of it on Adam, although Adam is the federal head of the
race. We entered into his same rebellion. We shook our fist at God. We
said we will do whatever we want to do. We'll do whatever works
we want to work. We think we can do better than
what God's grace has to offer. And so we try, and we try, and
we try. For 40 years, I tried. And I'll
tell you something, it'll never work. It'll never work. Only the person, Jesus Christ,
who is our life, who died for us, only he can take care of
this death problem. All are born dead in trespasses
of sin. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God, Paul says. The wages of sin is death. But I like the next phrase, but
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
That's where it comes from. James said it this way, sin when
it is finished bringeth forth death. Ezekiel told us twice
in one chapter the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Ezekiel also said at the inspiration
of the Lord, the Lord speaking, as I live, saith the Lord, I
have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Why will you die? Why will you die? God has provided
a perfect salvation. God has given to us in Jesus
Christ life. Why will you die? I'll tell you
why we die. Unbelief. We just don't believe
God. We just don't believe Him. We'd
rather believe the lie of the man who tells us we have to do
this, that, or the other to be accepted with God. We'd rather
believe the lie that there's some good within every man. We'd rather believe the lie of
the man that wrote the book, I'm okay, you're okay. We'd rather
believe those lies than to believe God. We all live under the shadow
of death. Psalm 23 verse four, yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His saints. I'll fear no evil as I walk through
this shadow of death all my life. As a matter of fact, the Lord
Jesus in his first message or one of his first messages said,
the people which, and he quoted from Isaiah, the people which
sat in darkness saw a great light. To them which sat in the region
and shadow of death, light is sprung up. Listen to this, in
Job 34. The writer says there is no darkness
nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide
themselves. Might as well not even try. You
won't be able to hide from death. However, Isaiah said it this
way. A man shall be in hiding place
from the wind and covert from the tempest as rivers of water
in a dry place as the shadow of a great rock. weary land. I don't have to worry about that
shadow of death. I'm under the shadow of the rock. Are you? I'm under his shadow. I'm not
under that shadow of death because of what Jesus Christ has done
for us. Paul said in Romans, the wrath
of God is revealed against all unrighteousness. The Lord Jesus,
I want you to turn and look with me here. The Lord Jesus said
in John chapter 3, the gospel of John chapter 3. The gospel of John chapter 3
and go down to verse 18. The Lord was talking, our Lord
was talking to Nicodemus when he said in verse 18, he that
believeth on him, the son, is not condemned. But he that believeth
not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation,
that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. And then at the end
of the chapter, John is speaking, John the Baptist, when he says,
verse 36, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,
and he that believeth not the Son of God shall not see light,
but the wrath of God abideth on him. The shadow of death is
over us. We're already condemned. We're
already under the wrath of God. every man, woman, and child,
but precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his
saints. There are so many reasons why,
but let me just give you three. Because the Savior died for those
saints. Secondly, because death is swallowed
up in victory. And thirdly, because those saints
are dead to sin. Let me just give you those three
very quickly. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints because the Savior died for his
saints, his sheep. The Savior died for them. Isaiah
chapter 53, verse nine. This chapter is, of course, about
Jesus Christ himself and the death that he bore for all his
people. In verse 9 it says, and he made
his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death. Because he had done no violence,
neither was any deceit in his mouth. He died. Look at verse
12. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoiled with
the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death. And he was numbered with the
transgressors. And he bared the sin of many and made intercession
for the transgressions. What causes the wrath of God?
The unrighteousness of men. What causes the wrath of God?
The sin of men. And God's wrath is already proclaimed. And all are abiding already. under the condemnation of the
Lord and the wrath of God. But someone, a person, the second
person of the Trinity, God in fleshly form, Jesus Christ our
Lord, came to this earth. He humiliated himself. He left
the glory of God and came and became a man like unto us except
without sin. He had to have that body for
one reason. And that one reason was he was
to be the sacrifice for our sin. He was substituting himself for
his people. And when he died on the cross,
he paid for every sin, past, present, future, whatever sin
you want to talk about, he paid for it all. Every sin is paid
for. Those sheep that were ruined
by the fall, are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. He
satisfied the Father's justice so that the Father could justify
the ungodly. His blood covers us from all
sin. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from all sin. And without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. And so Jesus Christ, on the cross,
His blood was shed. And He took, according to Hebrews
chapter 9, that very blood into the Holy of Holies. And the God
who said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. When he
looks through the blood of his own son at the life of his own
people, he sees nothing wrong, all white. I can prove that scientifically,
but that is the word of God. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be white as snow. Scientifically, you can take
something, for instance, that's red, and you can take a clear
cellophane of the same color of red and look at that red,
and you know what you'll see? You'll see white. You'll see
white. Jesus Christ took care of the
sin problem He died in our place. As we'll see in just a few moments,
he took care of the death problem as well. When he died, we died with him. When he was buried,
we were buried with him. When he rose again, we rose again
with him because he is our spiritual head. As Adam was our federal
head and we lost everything in Adam, Jesus Christ is our spiritual
head, and we gained it all in one person. Not in us, but in
Jesus Christ. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
1. Ephesians chapter 1. A very familiar portion of Scripture,
Ephesians chapter 1, beginning of verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings, in heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. having made known
unto us the mystery of his will, according to the good pleasure
which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in
Christ. both which are in heaven, and
which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him
which worketh all things after the counsel of his will, that
we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in
Christ. in whom also ye also trusted,
after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed
with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance,
unto the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of
his glory. Then turn with me to 2 Timothy,
just a few books over. 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 9. The who here is the
Lord Jesus himself, who hath saved us and called us with an
holy calling, not according to our works. but according to His
own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing
of our Savior Jesus Christ, and notice these words, who hath
abolished death. He abolished it and has brought
life and immortality to light through the gospel. As in Adam
all dies, so in Christ shall all be made alive. We've been
made conformable to his death. We have died with him. He's abolished it. He's abolished
it, which brings us to the second point. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His saints because the Savior died for His
saints. Number two, because death is
swallowed up in victory. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. Back a few pages there. 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. First Corinthians chapter 15,
go toward the end of the chapter. Verse 51. Verse 51. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed. That word sleep
is a word for death. I'll show it to you here in just
a little bit. Our Lord Jesus spoke those words. That word
sleep, for a believer, it's just a sleep. We've just gone to sleep
here, awakened in glory at the feet of our Savior. But notice
what he says here. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and
we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when
this corruption shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory."
Death, where's your sting? Greg, where's your victory? The
sting of death is sin, that's been taken care of. The strength
of sin is law. We're no longer under the law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. There's the victory. There's
the victory. Death is swallowed up in victory. When Christ, who was our life,
shall appear, then shall we appear with Him in glory. No wonder
Paul said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
this body of death? And the very next words he says,
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. There's our deliverance. You'll find no other. You'll
find no other. Do we have a morbid obsession
with death? I've been accused of that. Maybe
you have too when we talk about death and we talk about dying
and we say, you know, things like, I wish the Lord had come
today and I could be with him forever, get rid of this body
and flesh. Lord, would you just take me
home? Take me home so I can be with you. Get away from all these
pains and sufferings that go on in this world. If you'll just
take me home, I know it'll be an answer to every prayer I have.
Do we have a morbid obsession with death? Just a few pages
over, 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse
1. For we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building
of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Who wouldn't want that? Who wouldn't
want that? For in this 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 we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not
for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, and notice
these words, that mortality might be swaddled up of life. Wow. One of these days, death
is going to catch up with all of us. It's appointed unto man
once to die. But those that are archaeus saints,
those that are precious in His sight, that death is going to
be swallowed up in victory, swallowed up in life. We'll be forever
with Him, forever like Him. That'll be the final redemption
according to Paul. That'll be the final victory
when we open our eyes and see our Savior face to face. No wonder the songwriter was
so enthralled when she wrote, face to face with Christ my savior,
face to face. What will it be? Oh, what a grand
homecoming. It will be because precious in
the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Because
death is swallowed up in victory. Paul said it this way, to die
is gain. Now, to stay alive and stay here
may be more needful for somebody else, and it may not be our appointed
time yet, but to die is gain. We gain our Savior face to face
forever. And number three. not only because
the Savior died for His saints, and not only because death is
swallowed up in victory, but I want you to notice this, because
these saints are dead to sin. Turn with me to John chapter
5. The reason the preacher had me
turn to so many passages of scripture and so on is because we don't
want you to just take our word for it. We want you to take his
word for it. And his word is the word that's
important. What I say about it, you can
just wash it off. What he says about it, that's
so. John chapter five, verse 24. Our Lord is speaking when he
says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word,
and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and
hath not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto
life. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. We've passed from death unto
life. And the key word there about
that passing is believing. It's not a matter of doing. Although
some, in some ways, years ago I used to say you had to believe,
you had to believe, you had to believe. But you know what? You
won't believe until God himself gives you the faith to believe.
And then once He gives you the faith to believe, then you can't
stop believing. You'll just keep believing on
forever. You'll just keep trusting Him,
trusting the person, Jesus Christ. Because we are dead to sin, because
of what Jesus Christ has done for me, there is therefore now
no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Who is he
that condemneth you? It is Christ that died. I've already died in him. I am dead
to sin and alive in Jesus Christ. Now let me just illustrate what
I've been saying here this morning, precious, in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. Turn with me to Acts chapter
7. Acts chapter 7. Go down to the end of the chapter.
Acts chapter 7. Stephen, the deacon, has preached
a message. Read the message. What a message
that man preached. And it made the religious leaders
so mad that according to scripture, they gnashed upon him with their
teeth. And the message was about the
blood of Jesus Christ cleansing from all sin. It was about the
Savior coming to this world and being the substitute and sacrifice
that men needed. And he preached the message plainly.
And down in verse 54, These religious leaders, when they heard these
things, they were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him
with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy
Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory
of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. Now you
tell me if that's precious or not. They're angry with him,
and then it goes on, and said, Behold, I see the heavens open,
and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Then they
cried with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon
him with one accord. and cast him out of the city,
and stoned him. And the witnesses laid their
clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they
stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus,
and he's looking right at him, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Now isn't that precious? No wonder
precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. As one was found dying, he kneeled
down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge. And when he had said this, he
fell asleep. He died. He closed his eyes,
felt no more stones, heard no more religious jibber jabber.
When he opened his eyes, there was his Lord, precious, in the
sight of the Lord are the death of his saints. In John 11, Jesus
said to his disciples, or they sent to Jesus, said, he whom
thou lovest is sick. Jesus said to his disciples, later on, he waited a few days,
later on they said, well, aren't we gonna go see him? He said,
well, he's asleep, he sleepeth. In John chapter 11, They thought,
well, if he sleeps, that's a good thing. Jesus knew their heart,
and he said, Lazarus is dead. To the Lord and to his saints,
death is just a sleep. That's all it is. All his own are precious in his
sight because of what he did for them. Martha came and said
to him, well, Lord, if you'd been here, my brother had not
died. Jesus said, I am the resurrection
and the life. No man cometh unto the father
but by me. He that believeth in on me, though
he were dead, Yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never, never, never die. How do I become one of these
saints that are precious in their death? Well, the Lord Jesus said,
come, he came into the world to seek and to save that which
was lost. That which was lost, are you lost? He said, they that
are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick, are you
sick? He came to call, not to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Are you a sinner? Paul said it this way in Romans
chapter five and in the beginning of the chapter, when we were
yet without strength, Christ died for the ungodly. Are you without strength? Are
you ungodly? God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Are you a sinner? And the following
verse tells us that we are saved from wrath through him. I say
to you what Paul said to the Philippian jailer. He was ready to take his life.
Paul sprang in and said, do yourself no harm, everybody's here. And
the Philippian jailer turned around to Paul and Silas and
said, what must I do to be saved? And Paul said, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. You believe on a person,
not your works, not whatever you can do. Not however you can
make yourself feel good, not by works of righteousness which
we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. For by grace are you saved through
faith. That's not of yourselves. It's
a gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. What is
faith then? Faith is agreement with God.
It is God's sovereign right to have mercy upon whom he'll have
mercy and compassion upon whom he'll have compassion. You agree
with God. Man is totally unable, in able
to save himself. We're all under the shadow of
death. Jesus Christ died for ruined sinners. Are you one of
those? Heavenly Father, we thank you
this day for your Word. Lord, take my commentaries out
of it. Press home through the hearing ear that only you can
give the truth that we have found here. Thank you, Lord, that when you
opened our eyes and you opened our ears and the light came in,
We saw the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. It wasn't by anything we did.
Thank you, Lord, that you did it all for your people. And thank you, Lord, that precious
in your sight is the death of your saints. In Jesus' name,
amen.