And this morning, as we begin
week seven. I believe will be our final week
for this series. At any time, so we'll probably
do that in the near future as I take a break from first on
and the holiness series that I'll begin in this coming week.
But if you have taboo topics, some of you have given me some.
If you have some that maybe you thought, well, we really don't
know how to deal with this or this is something I think would
be good for the church. Shoot me an email. Let me know and
I'll pray about those and consider them. And because not all the
time do I know all of the hot topics that are out there in
the world today. It's going to be a different
message. It's going to be a message from a different perspective.
I've changed my perspective several times over the weeks preparing
for this, and it's not something that a lot of us want to talk
about. When you consider death, we consider that that is a topic
that we really want to keep on the backside of our minds, far
away from our present talk, from our present thoughts, certainly
from our present plans. But friends, the one thing about
death is it is at hand and it is coming when we least expect
it. In my short time on this earth
and my short time in ministry, I've ministered to a lot of people
who were dying, and it never is easy. It's never, as you would
say, something you look forward to, the death of someone. that
interestingly enough, no matter how long someone has lived, they
may seem to be ready for death until it comes knocking. Because
we were not created to die. Death has come into the world
because of sin. God created us in his wisdom
to live forever, and that is why we fight to live. That is
why life is so precious to us. And so as I begin this message
today, I have a lot of quotes that I've thought of this week,
and I thought, will I ever remember how to say that? So I've written
them down, and so I will read. And if you have your notes today,
you'll notice there is a song. I'm going to have Stuart come
up in a minute and sing. I want you to listen, and if
you can hear, you can read. Be alive, be full of joy. We are here today that you may
be full of joy. And friends, I will just tell
you that that is the reason as a people every week, is so that
we may experience the fullness of the joy of Christ. We are
here that we would have the joy supremely in Christ, ultimately
in Him. As joy leaks around us and into
each other, not adding to, but sharing in the complete, sufficient
joy of Christ alone as our awesome, complete, holy, righteous, sufficient,
enough treasure. And friends, if we are coming
and gathering as the body of the Lord Jesus Christ for any
other reason than coming to be complete and celebrate through
joy and in joy and for the joy of the Lord, we have come for
the wrong reason. And though we may preach about
death this morning, we still must focus on the joy that I
believe even comes in death. And so I'll ask the question,
are you dead this morning? Are you dead? Of course. The
rational mind goes, that's just an absurd question. However,
I know a lot of people who are walking dead. I know a lot of
people who are living in this life with blood flowing through
their bodies and air in their lungs, but they are dead, walking,
living, dead. Death is in the world. But friends,
those in Christ have overcome the world. Those in Christ, because
Christ is the victor over death, have life. Now, this will be
something that I'll come back to toward the end of this message.
But consider it. Consider death for a moment.
And consider your preparation for death. Are you ready? Some of us may say, yes, I'm
ready. Some of us may even say, I really don't have much to live
for. Some of us may be scared to death of death. The friends
I will suggest to you this morning is that the believer. Death is a friend. Death is joy. And there are many types of death,
I won't get into all of that today, but listen to the words
of John in his first epistle, we'll get here sometime. Everyone
who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. And everyone who loves the Father
loves whoever has been born of Him. Here's a test for you. If you're really alive this morning,
if you are alive this morning, this will be the song of your
heart. Let me read that line again.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ. Has been born of God. And everyone who loves the father
loves whoever has been born of him. So do you believe this morning? Not just with your mind, and
you know that it's true. But have you trusted with all
of your heart, mind, soul, and strength in the sufficiency of
Christ? And you have no other answer.
And if you trust in Christ like that, you have been born of God. And friends, being born is not
something that you choose to do. Infants in the womb. Although it may seem that way,
do not punch their own time clock when it's time to be born. They
do not decide in the cosmos of outer space that now is the time
to be conceived and then enter a womb at their choosing. Friends, Christians are not born
of their own will or choice either. And this, I believe, is one of
the biggest tragedies of the American church, is that we want
life so much that we're willing to get the works and the actions
that look alive by degrading the gospel of Jesus Christ and
teaching people that they can be alive if they just live. Now
you may be confused this morning. What are you talking about? What
is this being alive if you just live? Friends, I'm talking about
the real death of eternal damnation. And if we talk about death, why
is death so feared today? Because people are fearful of
coming to an end. Because they do not comprehend
or fathom that life could be over. It is not our design. But if you are alive, you will
love the Father. You will know the Father. You will trust in
Christ. And you will love whoever is born of the Father. The body
of Christ, if you do not love others, it's a very good chance
that you're dead. So by this, this is not my opinion. This is God's fact. By this, by the fact that you
believe and you've been born of God and you love the Father
and you love those who love the Father, by this we know that
we love the children of God when we love God and obey His commandments. If we truly say we love God,
if we truly say we love others, then we love His commandments. We love His law. We love His
holiness. Friends, I will beg you to read
1 John this week. Because we are going to hit the
ground with such ferocity next Sunday. And I don't know how
long of a journey 1 John will take us, but it will take us
some time. And I pray that you would seriously consider your
place in holiness and righteousness. Being a Christian has nothing
to do with being a church institution. and having stuff and having a
place to come and doing cool things has nothing to do with
what we call ministry. Being the body of Christ has
everything to do with the exaltation of Christ and the exaltation
of the Word of God and growing in grace and knowing Christ to
such an extent that nothing else in this world makes any difference
or could add to any flavor of joy that you might experience.
Nothing. And so we must be full of joy
today. We must be full of love today. We must be full of passion for
the Word of God today. We must love holiness, and we
must hate sin, and we must hate flesh, and we must pray for God
to kill the flesh that sins against us. We must pray that God would
destroy the man and the woman that is so vehemently opposed
to holiness. We must praise that the Holy
Spirit of God would, by His supernatural power, overpower the will of
every man, woman, and child in this world, and that He would
save them, not of themselves, but in spite of themselves, so
that they may find eternal life, so that they could live starting
now. I come that you may have life,
and you may have it to the fullest, Jesus said. It's not about this
world. We live as dead men. and dead
women, even in church. Where's the power of God? We're
not asking for the power of God. We're not trusting in the Holy
Spirit. And in Baptist circles, we don't
want to talk about the Holy Spirit. Friends, if it weren't for the
Holy Spirit, you'd be lost. I don't care how you think you
got saved. You didn't just decide one day, I think I want God.
He gave you that heart. And He gave you that heart of
His own will. And anything else, any other
way to salvation is man-centric and man-works. And friends, if
I can earn it, I can lose it. If I can grasp it, I can let
go of it. If I can raise myself to life, then I can kill myself. So this is the love of God that
we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not
burdensome. Are you alive? See, so many Christians live
as dead people because we walk around going, oh, I can't do
this and I can't do that and I can't do this. I remember when
I used to have fun. Friends, I'll be honest with
you. Over the last few years of my life, God has shown me
that that attitude is not Christ like. And that if the burden
and the yoke of God is heavy, he's a liar and I don't want
him. If you miss sin so much, then
stay in it. If you're tired of being called
righteous or a funny dad, if you're tired of being someone
who is ridiculed, then stay lost. Because that's exactly what you
are going to get as a child of the King. Your children are going
to be picked at. They're going to be beat up.
They're going to be called names. They're going to be ostracized.
They're going to have very few friends. They're not going to
be popular. They may even be killed. And your job, you may
lose it because you're not willing to compromise the holiness of
God. It's OK, God understands. No,
he doesn't. God's going to put to death every
sin. He's going to destroy and bring his wrath upon every sin.
And either we stand righteous in Christ because he has experienced
the wrath of God for us, or we stand subject to the wrath of
God ourselves. His commandments are not burdensome,
they are joyful. I want to be righteous. Is that your voice? Is that your
heart? For everyone who's been born of God, see, here's the
joy. Has overcome the world. Has overcome the world. Now I
hear garbage spewing out of the mouths of stupid men who, I'm
a stupid man too, but even more stupid than me. of stupid men
who stand there and say, you're a victor. Don't worry about your
past. Don't worry about your future.
And they smile a lot. $5,000 shoes on. God wants you
to be happy. God wants you to have all kinds
of stuff. God wants you to just give and have faith. And God
will move. He's your genie in a bottle,
baby. Christ has overcome the world. And this is the victory that
has overcome the world. Our faith. That we trust in the One who
is faithful. Not the amount of faith we have.
And that we, by no means of our work, we trust that God will
do what He says He's going to do. And God says that death has
been destroyed. And we've overcome the world.
Who is it that overcomes the world? Except the one who believes
that Jesus is the Son of God. And so here we are at the introduction
of a message. We ask the question, are you
dead? Because Scripture says that you
can be alive. I mean, really. Listen to first Peter. But your chosen race. You're
a royal priesthood. a holy nation, a people for His
own possession, that you might proclaim the excellencies of
Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once
you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you
had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. And so, in talking about death,
The best way to illustrate it is to start with life. Why start with life? Because
death is the end. Death is the end of something.
Life is the beginning of something else. So if death is the end
of something, then life is the beginning of something else.
And I believe that life is the opposite of death. Maybe you
would agree. So are we living To die? What does that mean? Are we living
this life just so we can get through and get finished? Are
we living this life for ourselves so we can stack up our accomplishments
that we just leave? Are we living to die or are we
dying to live? There's a big difference. Life. Let me read 1 Peter 2,
9 and 10 again, and then if you want to listen, the lyrics to
this song are there, but consider that question as Stuart plays. Are you dying to live? Are you understanding the significance
of what Christ has done? You were a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. that
you may proclaim the excellences of Him who called you out of
darkness into His marvelous light. You were once not a people, but
now you're God's chosen people. Once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy. Would you just allow the Lord's
Word to speak through you, not only through what you've heard,
but through song? Death has lost its power. Death has lost its soul. Fatherless, a stranger with no
hope Your kindness wicked me, wicked me For my sin, you delivered
broken people A call to come and die My place, now I will
come Take your life, take your life You are the truth, you are the
life, you are the way Your breath fills up my lungs,
now I'm free, now I'm free In my dead hands, now we're free
My deepest pains are released Your breath fills up my lungs,
now I'm free This time See the mountain I've found Oh,
the marvelous smile, the marvelous smile I'll leave my hand to the
wind See the mountain I've found Oh, the marvelous smile, the
marvelous smile Father, God, may we reflect on that light.
May we reflect on You as the sufficient, marvelous light. God, may we not really sing of
our own song, but God, may we sing the praises of the new life
that's given to us by grace. And Father, as we truly focus
on death, God, may we see death from a different perspective.
May we see the death of our flesh and the death to sin, Lord, not
as something to be horrified over, but God, as a joyous occasion
of victory. And Lord, that even when the
body dies, Christ has overcome death and overcome sin. We will live again. The question is, are we going
to be alive in Christ or are we going to be alive in death? What an oxymoron, God. The Father
living away from Christ is living in death. And it doesn't stop
here. So, Father, give us those eyes. Give us that heart. In Christ's
name, Amen. Paul says in Romans 6, verse
23, for the wages of sin is death. Everywhere you look in Scripture,
you see death. You see the New Testament teaching
about Sin bringing death. You see the Old Testament seeing
the wrath of God and death and destruction being brought on
the sinner. But there are two sides of the
Gospel. For the wages of sin is death,
but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. The problem is that most of us
as believers, we have not grasped hold of that. And we focus so
much on the dying that we forget about the living. We focus so
much on the despair of death, even in the body, that we fail
to truly live in grace. So maybe there is some psychology
at hand here. I don't believe that's what it
is. I listened to the radio show that I did last week again, last
night, and when I asked the question, would you say sin and racism
and other things exist in the world because worship doesn't
truly exist? And the person on the phone said,
that's a cop out. It's not true. Friends, I respectfully disagree
with that gentleman. Because worship is ascribing
ultimate worth to its object. And if Jesus was our ultimate
worth and our ultimate treasure, our ultimate joy, the wages of
sin is death. Oh, whatever. The free gift of
God is eternal life. My body will die because of sin,
but it'll live again. We get consumed. True life and
the certainty of death. These are the two things that
you see in this little tiny passage. But when death comes. You will
not be late. Death in your body will come,
that's a 100 percent guarantee. As a matter of fact, death in
the flesh, in the body is the only guarantee you ever have
in this life. Hallelujah. Ain't that something? We've been trying to, as a people,
for tens of thousands of years to find something that we could
really invest in that had a guaranteed return. Well, friends, death
is it. Jim, you were saying that your
uncle was a mortician? Your grandfather? That man was
never out of business. I don't care how bad the economy
is. Undertakers have got a job. But one day they're the ones
laying on the slab. One day somebody else has to put them in the ground.
Death is coming for all of us. And there's an appointment set
for each of us. And we're not going to miss it. So why do we
run from it? Why do we hide? Why do we not
want to talk about it? I'll tell you this. Preaching funerals
are my favorite things to do. Because it gets me close. It
gets me to a window where I can see Jesus. It's really what I
believe. Not that I look forward to people
dying, but I never turn down the great blessing of being able
to preach to a group of people who have experienced loss. Especially the loss of a believer.
It's beautiful. Death. I describe death literally
because it doesn't always mean death of the body or death of
a physical nature. I believe death means coming
to an end. Coming to an end. So death is
not always a bad thing. See, some things need to die.
There are things in this life that need to die. What are you
talking about? I'm not being ugly. But disease. If you have cancer, you want
the disease to die. You want the cancer cells to
die. You want them to move away from your body in a living state. The flesh, the sin nature, needs
to die. It has to die. Otherwise, we
will be dead forever. See, there are some things that
want to die. There are some things that need to die. There are some
things that want to die. For instance, people who are
terminally ill. And they've suffered so greatly
and they look for that sweet release of just rest. Makes sense. Euthanasia is this is a big thing
across. And the humanitarians, they have
this wonderfully awesome case of assisted suicide. The friends
for the believer. That is a cop out. Paul says we want to fill up
what is lacking in the suffering of Christ. How dare we say that
our life is ours and that we can take it away because we're
hurting? When Jesus endured the fullness
of God's wrath for our sin, how dare we say? And I've been at
the bedside of loved ones who I prayed to die. I would not have helped them.
I understand. But friends, the very reason
we live is so that God could be glorified in our suffering. And some things try to die. Some
things try to die. We've got people who live their
life to the fullest, they think. They stay drunk. They stay high.
They stay diseased. They stay in bed with whoever.
Because it feels great, it looks great, it tastes great, it must
be great. But what they don't realize is they're trying to
die. Sometimes in the flesh, sometimes in the mind, but always
in the Spirit. Sometimes people actually do
want to take their lives. Because their despair is so awful,
it's so real, the domain of darkness has overclouded them to such
a place where there is no glimmer of light. Friends, I've been in that place. Not when I was 10, 15. When I
was 30, 32. But God's Spirit ministers to
those who want to die. And He saves us from ourselves. It's been asked of me three times
this week if suicide is right. Well, God says, do not murder. Do not take selfishly a life. That's why abortion is murder.
That's why suicide is murder. You see, James chapter 4, the
reason we murder is because we fight and quarrel, we covet,
we want, we can't have, so we kill. But friends, there is no sin
that will take you out of heaven's place once you've been saved
by grace. Because a lie terminates your
ability to be with God. Stealing a penny. A pencil. Running a red light on purpose.
Separate you from God. Waking up in the morning and
feeling frustrated. Separate you from God. And you
are eternally condemned to the judgment of God because you are
a sinner from birth. And so there is no way possible
in our lives that we cannot be dead in sin except God save us
in spite of ourselves. And so what God saves, God seals. And what God seals, God sanctifies. And He holds until the day where
He solidifies that hope. Because if I could lose salvation
that I can't even get on my own in the first place, how can I
take it away? Now, the argument could be made
that a Christian, in their right mind, would not take their own
life. But we don't know that. My experience has been that God stops the saints. He heals their hearts. But I can't be sure. But there is no sin except the
sin of unbelief that keeps you out of heaven. All sin keeps you out of heaven,
but once you're saved, friends, Jesus has paid for those sins. So there are many ways to die.
We look, I mean, euthanasia, suicide. I mean, you look at
all the things that we deal with, and I could go on and show you
statistics, but it's really irrelevant. You know it. You feel death.
You feel the sting and the pain of death in our lives. And if
you haven't, you will. If you haven't, you will. Sadly though,
death has become a little bit lighter, because we watch television
that displays death and depicts death in a very lifelike sense.
I've seen real people who were shot up, and I've seen people
on TV who were shot up, and they look exactly the same. I've seen
people lying on a gurney on television. I've seen people lying on a gurney
in a hospital, and they look the same. I've seen decomposed
bodies in the fields, and I've seen a decomposed body on television.
They look the same. So we know what it looks like.
And we might go, oh, that's sort of gross, ooh. But it doesn't
rip us up like it used to generations ago. I remember when I was a
kid and we watched the school bus safety video. And I remember
sitting there, was I third grade or second grade, and we're watching
this thing, you know, the big projector. You know, when they
used to have that, and if it got too hot, it'd melt the film.
And then the recording was at another place, had the record,
and you're trying to get the film and the record to go at the same
time. So the bus is driving off, and then there's a guy sitting
at the table, and then you hear the bus... because they had the record off. But
I'll never forget what it felt like, second or third grade,
to watch this kid, and they showed the kid walking too close to
the bus, and they showed the bus brake lights going... And
then they show everybody running and screaming, and they see a
shoe there. And if they didn't show the kid getting run over
today, they'd probably see him bawled and dragged down the highway.
That's the way entertainment is. They'll say their kids don't
do that, because that's what it would take to shock a child today. A shoe in
the road was enough for me. And every morning when I went
out to get on the bus, I was freaked out. I'm standing like
this far to the door. Honk, honk. I'm like, I ain't
got it. Turn it off. And put the brake on. Okay, I'm
coming up. But now we have so diffused the severity of death
in America and in our world through entertainment, that it's not
even that big of a deal anymore in some situations. that you
watch lifetime television and see death there and you'll cry
for six years. That's the man-hater channel,
if you don't know what that is. There's a man on there, he's
either super sensitive and he dies, or he's a really bad guy
and he should die, you know. So what's going on? Why are we
infatuated with death? Why is it that we, even though
we are, We make light of it when we have no reason to make light
of it. The world cannot make light of death, but the believer
can. Kenny Grant in 2001 preached this message out of the 23rd
Psalm. And there were three points. You probably heard me use this
before. I don't know if it's his originally, but this is where
I first heard it. Death is a fact for all people. Death is a fear
for most people. But death is a friend to some
people. That's always stuck with me. Stuck with me. It's always
stayed with me. And the question was, how is
friendly? How friendly really is death?
Well, let's look at two sides today. First, let's look at the
temporal death of the body. What does temporal mean? Temporary.
So in other words, everyone who has died, according to the Scripture,
they've died in the flesh. They will be resurrected in the
flesh. Did you hear that? The Scripture
teaches that the body will be raised from the dead in the flesh.
Living, breathing, touching, feeling, heart, blood, oxygen,
everything, toenails, hair, eyes, everything, the whole nine yards,
walking around the world, running, skipping, jogging, swimming,
whatever you can do, your body will be resurrected when the
Lord returns. Whether you're lost or whether
you're saved. And then that body will be subject to either the
mercy of God because you've been found in Christ, or the wrath
of God because you've rejected His truth. So the death of the
body is temporal. It is appointed for man once
to die, Hebrews 9.27, and after that comes the judgment. So we
will die, and we will enter judgment. In Genesis 3.19, We see Moses
writing the words of the Lord, "...by the sweat of Your face
You shall eat bread till You return to the ground. For out
of it You were taken, for You are dust, and to dust You shall
return." We will die. And for the lost,
death is not only something that should be feared, but death is
already reigning in our hearts. and already reigning in our lives,
and the shadow of eternal death." Now, you just said death was
temporal. Death in the flesh is temporal, but death in the
Spirit is eternal, if we're outside of Christ. Death in the Spirit is the condemned
soul. And friends, only grace will save one from death. There's an eternal death. They
call it the second death. Death forever. the body and the
soul, and the presence of God's wrath. I've had this conversation
for many, many years. But dealing with the omnipresence,
and that's a nice big way of saying everywhere all the time.
God is Spirit, and God is at all places, at all times. The
Scriptures give the idea that God's vastness, and that the
universe is infinite, that we can measure, we calculate the
infinity of the universe, and yet God holds it. Imagine that. And so God's presence is in every
aspect of the universe. And so God created and will create
the final hell, the final place where the physical bodies of
the lost will be forever, not consumed, but be eternally judged,
be eternally tormented. And you might say, well, I've
always been told that hell is separation from God. It is separation
from some of the aspects of God. It's separation eternally from
Christ. The mercy seat. As we saw in
Hebrews over the last two years of looking at Christ as the High
Priest, the One who mediates, the One who says, No, Father.
Their sins were on Me. I took their place on the cross
at Calvary. And so because of that, your
wrath against this one has been satisfied. Your thirst has been
quenched. Propitiation. That's what that word means. But then those who Jesus says,
I never knew them. I never knew you. Depart from
Me. God's eternal presence of wrath
will be on them forever. That doesn't make any sense. Yes, it makes perfect sense. If during children's church today,
one of my four children gets in trouble, then what could happen is I'm
telling your dad after church, and when church services are
over and we walk out the door, we'll see three that are excited.
Yay! Let's go! It's daddy! and one
that will be nowhere to be found. Why? I'm daddy. Because there's a difference
in the mercy and the love and the gentleness of daddy and the
absolute horror of the wrath of daddy. And I can be horrifying. You think I yell in the pulpit.
You ain't seen nothing. I'm not saying that's right,
but I can be loud at home. Drill sergeant loud. Should have
gone into the army, I guess. But that's the way it's going
to be with God. If we're dead in our sins, if we're dead, we
will be eternally in the presence of the wrath of God being poured
out on our sin eternally. Or we'll be in the presence of
Christ, the glory. The mercy. The second death. We need life,
friends. But the tree of knowledge of
good and evil you shall not eat, God tells Adam and Eve. For in
the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. And what does
the devil say? You will not die. You know what? They bit that fruit.
However you want to take that. And their bodies didn't die.
They didn't kill over dead like a Walt Disney fairy tale. And
they thought for a second. He was right. Then their eyes
were opened to see sin. And they were dead. Walking,
living, dead. And through Adam, and through
Eve, and through sin has entered the world through the first people. It's not something that's just
here and grabs us around and pulls us down. James says the
desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin. And sin, when it
is fully grown, brings forth death. Why does people have to
die? Why does death have to be in
the world? Because we're sinners and we deserve it. It is part
of the fallen nature of humanity. It is not only that, but we see
in Romans chapter 8 where even creation has been subject to
the futility of sin. Trees aren't sinners. Birds aren't
sinners. Man is sinner. And yet our sin
is so vile that it affects the world. It affects nature. And
one day, this sinful, beautiful stuff we see here, or not sinful,
but sinfully marred, beautiful creation will be recreated into
the fullness of the glory that God wanted to show us to begin
with. And so if you've ever had your
breath taken by a sunset, or your breath taken by a mountain
view, then baby, you ain't seen nothing yet. For the wages of sin is death.
But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now there's the other side of death. The other side. Eternal life. Eternal life versus
eternal death. Paul, I could have taught the
whole 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians this morning. It just... I didn't
know what to do, so I put a few of them in here. I hate these... I don't hate them, but I get
really frustrated with topical messages, if you haven't seen.
It's just too much scripture, too much. I like being focused.
I'm ADD, so as I add scripture, I just keep adding, keep adding,
and keep adding. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 20. But in fact, Christ
has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who
have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has
come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in
his own order. Christ the firstfruits. In other
words, Christ rose from the dead in the flesh first. And you say,
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. He raised some people from the
dead. Yeah, but they died again. Okay? He's the first eternal
resurrection. And He's not going to die again.
He's immutable. He's immortal. And one day we
will be immortal in the flesh. For Adam, also in Christ, shall
we all be made alive, but each in his own order, first Christ
the firstfruits, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end. When he delivers
the kingdom to God, the Father, after destroying every rule and
every authority and every power. Listen to this. For he must reign
until he has put all his enemies under his feet. And the last
enemy to be destroyed is death. Death. It's destroyed. So why do we fear it so much?
We mock it. When I preach a funeral, I make
a mockery of death. I make a mockery of morticians
and their job. What a waste! You did such a
great job, and the dude's going to bust out of there and tear
it all to pieces, and then God's going to burn up your glorious
work. Appreciate the temporal assistance. We put the casket in the ground.
Hey, this soul will live again. You're talking about landlocked. There won't be any cemeteries
in the new order. There won't be any cemeteries
in the new Jerusalem. There won't be any cemeteries
in the new world because they'll be empty. Hallelujah. Man, I ride by a
cemetery. I used to be scared of them.
Now, I just get giddy. It's almost like I saw a circus
and I'm five. I don't want to go to the circus. I want to ride
by. I just want to ride by a cemetery.
I can't wait. I probably won't ride. To walk
in a cemetery after Christ comes. You know what they call it? A
pasture. Skip on down to verse 54 in 1
Corinthians 15. When the perishable That's us. We perish. Puts on the imperishable,
which is Christ. And the mortal, that's us, puts
on immortality, which is in Christ. Then shall come to pass the saying
that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Now imagine that. Have you ever been to Sea World?
I have. And that was a turning point
in my life. I stopped getting in the water. after I came up,
because they picked me out of 500 people to come down there
and do hand motions to this whale. It's about the size of this stage.
Half this stage. And I thought it was Shamu. That
was Shamu's little tiny cousin. Because when Shamu came by, his
eyeball was about the size of that piano. And I literally almost
fainted. I was so freaked out. The wall
this tall and this eye came swimming by. I forget that. And they like
throw 50 pounds of fish up in the air and swallows it up. See,
there's a reason for my madness. My ADD works to my advantage
if I don't forget where I'm going. And death has been swallowed
up. Swallowed up in victory. And then we could say, oh death,
where is your victory? See, this is a mock. This is
a diss in today's vernacular. We dissing on death. Be a good
hip hop song. Hey, that's a good one. Write
that down. Oh death, where is your sting?
The sting of death is sin. And the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. See, for the saved, for the righteous,
for the regenerate, death is gone. We mock it. We laugh at
it. We thumb our nose at it. We spit
at it. We dance on its grave. There's
a pun for you. A little irony. Dance on the
grave of death. We do not fear it, but we long
for the day to be complete in Christ. For to save our flesh
dies, and then our sin dies, and then we die to sin. And this
is life. This is life. My church in Brunswick,
our quote, Motto was experience a new beginning. Experience a
new beginning. That's what death for the believer
really is. The death of the flesh and the
death of sin in a spiritual sense. It's a new beginning. We're recreated. Jesus says that you've been reborn.
Born again. You've been brought to life from
the dead. And then even though our bodies in the flesh, our
hearts will stop and our minds will cease, in the flesh, but
we live forever. And when our bodies die, we're
present with the Lord immediately in a conscious state. Not in
the flesh, not with spiritual bodies, not with angels. We don't
become angels. They're a different race and they are not. There
is no redemption for an angel. You don't want to be an angel.
Because you and I will be fallen angels. And we have the lake
of fire to look forward to. Look at Matthew chapter 5. And so when we look at this as
believers, we are eternally dead to sin, and we're eternally dead
to death, which makes us eternally alive. Doesn't that sound confusing? How can you be eternally dead
to something that makes you eternally alive? Remember what I asked
you in the very beginning of this message? Are you dead? Are you a walking,
living, breathing, dead person? Death is the end of something.
Life is the beginning of something else. Are we living to die or
are we dying to live? And I suggest to you this morning
that in order to truly live, we must die. Some of us say, well, we've forgiven
of sin and so let's just live it up. God understands if I sin. He doesn't expect me to have
a life of holiness. That's a bunch of garbage and
it comes straight from hell. Not literally hell, but from
the Father of lies. from Satan and from our rational,
philosophical discussions. We believe that that is true.
And friends, that's a lie. God cares about holiness. Look
at the cross. When He took the righteous, the
true, the only, And He put Him on the cross and He destroyed
Him. He destroyed His flesh. He destroyed His blood. He destroyed
His Spirit. He destroyed everything. His
countenance. Christ was destroyed. Ultimately just disposed of,
if you would. God ground Him up like meat and
threw Him away because He became sin. And that's the view of holiness
that we should have. Why are you so bent up on little
tiny sins that aren't really that important? There is no such
thing. No such thing. Quit listening to that garbage. Quit listening to a cheap grace
that you can get out of a nickel machine at the Safeway or whatever. Quit listening to that crap.
Listen to God's Word. Paul says in Romans, basically,
so grace abounds and grace this, and we've been freed from sin,
and we don't have to worry about the consequences of sin, and
we're free, we're made alive with Christ. And so, Paul asks
the question, so what should I say then? Are we to continue
to sin so that grace may abound? Sounds good, doesn't it? Oh,
because the more I sin, the more God's grace is shown. Gosh! He says, no, not at all, by no
means, absolutely not. Impossible for a believer to
think this thing. How can we who died to sin still
live in it? That's not saying, oh, I don't
need my cancer removed. I had lung cancer and they took
that out, but some of it moved to my shoulder and lung cancer
is gone. I don't worry about this. It's
ridiculous. That's how ridiculous it is to
say we can sin knowingly and that God's okay with it. Do you not know that all of us
who have been baptized into Christ, submerged, were found in Christ,
were baptized into His death? What does that mean? That means
that our death of our flesh and the death of our sin was imposed
upon Christ and interlaced upon Him and God's wrath was poured
out upon our sin. And so if Christ had to suffer
the penalty of our sin, how dare we say that we can continue in
it? Friends, that's unimaginable. That's a gospel that will not
save you. We were buried, therefore, with
Him by baptism in His death. Why? So that just as Christ was
raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk
in newness of life. When I baptize someone, I say,
buried with Christ in baptism and raised to walk in newness
of life. We believe that, church. For if we have been united with
Him in a death like His, That sin is no more. We're dead to
it. We shall certainly. You know
what that word means? Certainly. You can be sure of
it. You can be sure to be united
with Him in a resurrection like His. It's not what we want. We know that our old self was
crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought
to nothing. And that's how I can say that
God destroyed Christ and sort of just chewed Him up and almost
annihilated Him. He brought sin to nothing so
that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died
has been set free from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ,
we believe that we will also live with Him. We know that Christ
being raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer
has dominion over him. That's the kind of life we have. And the only way to have that
life is for our sin to die and for our flesh to die. For the
death He died, He died to sin once for all. But the life He
lives, He lives to God. So, you also must consider yourselves
dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. And I don't know when the last
time it was that you just had the reality of your sinfulness
befriended. I can tell you what it was yesterday for me. Hard
reality. So I walked in and looked in
the mirror. I wanted to see myself. I said, God, why do you save
such a wretch? Why? It's going to be hard for some
of you because you put me up on this holy pedestal. You put me up in this
plane of untouchability. Oh crud, if the pastor's talking
like that, who am I? You're just like me. You're just like me. Matter of
fact, I'm probably more a vial of a sinner than most of you in here. It's
not about what we do. It's not about our righteousness.
It's about God's righteousness in Christ and His grace alone,
by faith alone in Christ alone, revealed to us by the Word of
God alone. No other way will we know Him and that we live
righteous through His power for His glory alone. And there's
the five pillars that we stand on as a church. Grace. Grace gives repentance,
friends. Repentance doesn't give grace.
Did you hear that? Grace gives repentance. Because
if repentance, if we decide, OK, all right, all right, I got
you, I got you, OK. I'm going to stop sinning. First of all,
that makes us the biggest liars in the world. And secondly, that's
an impossibility. And thirdly, then it's our work,
not God's work. So if we say, OK, I'm going to
stop sinning and then I'm going to trust you and then we get grace. That
don't work, that don't hold up in court, that don't hold up
in judgment. Here's how it works. God goes,
I'm going to change your heart. And then we go, oh, God, I got
to repent. That's how it works. And I can't repent. So that's
the conversations I'm in heaven. God, I can not make it. I can't do it. I want to quit. And I hear Paul's words, my grace
is sufficient for you. Take this out of me. Take this
thorn out of my flesh. Take this thought out of my mind.
Take this music and flush it. Take those images that I've seen
decades ago and take them away. But He doesn't. Because it's
a reminder of what He saved me from. The domain of darkness. John says that we love the darkness. And that's why we stay in it.
The only way to be saved is if God gives us light. The true light which enlightens
everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world and
the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him.
He came to His own and His own people did not receive Him. But
to all who do, who did, who believe in His name, He gave the right
to become children of God. Who were born, listen, who were
born not of blood, no matter who you are, your mom and your
daddy are, no matter how close you are to the pastor, or how
many times you've been in church, or what membership role you're
on. God could care less about that. Not of blood, nor the will of
the flesh. It's not what we desire. It's not our hope. It's not our
passion. It's not our thoughts. It's not our drive. It's not
our focus. Nor the will of man. It's not our thoughts. It's not
our decision. But the will of God that we are born. Are you saved? Are you a Christian? Are you
a follower of Christ? Are you like Him? Are you righteous?
Are you holy? Are you a saint? Some of us go,
I'm trying, I'm trying, I'm trying. You're trying. And that's the
problem. Quit trying. And fall on the face of grace. And say, God, I'm tired of trying.
You've got to do something with me. You know, the illustration
is the potter's hands. The pots don't sit on a wheel
and just turn into something pretty. The potter has to touch
it. The potter has to mold it. The
potter has to keep it wet. The potter has to put it in the
kiln and bake it and then glaze it and bake it again. The potter
has to do the work. How stupid is it of the pot to
say, I'm going to create myself into something? But you know
what it's going to look like? The same thing it looked like
when he started thinking that way. A big mess. Is that what you feel like today?
A big mess? It's because you need grace. You need to trust
in Christ alone to save you and to change you. We see Him who for a little while
was made Lord of the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory
and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace
of God, He might taste death for everyone. Jesus tasted death
so that we didn't have to. This is the joy of death. Let
me close with a snapshot of one of my most, gosh, there's too
much stuff to say. Let me close with a snapshot
of Stephen. One of the most amazing men in
the entire New Testament. Stephen. Deacon, servant, ministry
leader. Someone who fed people and taught
the Word and did things for the cause of Christ. Acts 6. And the Word continued to increase.
And I started in verse 7 because I wanted to preach the entire
chapter. And the Word of God continued to increase. I'm going
to read that again. And the Word of God continued
to increase. And the Word of God continued to increase. And
the Word of God continued to increase. Can I say that again? Yes. Friends, listen. We want
to see people come to faith in Christ. And the Word of God must
continue to increase in your life. The Word of God must continue
to increase in your heart. The Word of God must be continually
increasing in your soul. If the Word of God is not your
diet, is not your mainstay, is not your bread and butter, is
not everything that you ever needed, is not sufficient for
all good works, you are living a life of a dead man, breathing.
The only way to life is through the Word. You can't experience
Jesus. You can't get enough from my
mouth in order for you to be sustained. I start walking through
the food court of a mall, starving to death and just smelling and
walking out. I smell good. That'll tide me
over for about a second. But that's what we do when we
come in here. We get together, we hear the word. Hopefully it's
the right word. If it's not, I hope you forget
it. But the Word of God continued
to increase, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly
in Jerusalem. What is a disciple? Everybody
who comes to faith in Christ. See, we think the disciples were
some of these elite guys that Jesus sort of stuck around with
and turned them into these powerhouses. They're not more even saved after
the resurrection, except maybe John. And if you came on Sunday
nights at, what, 530? At 530. You'd see some of that. But if you're a Christian, you're
a disciple. You're to look like Jesus. You're to talk like Jesus.
You're to think about the Word. You're to devote yourself daily
to the apostles' teaching. Where is that at? Right here.
I'm not an apostle. I'm a prophet. I speak what the
apostles spoke, who spoke the words of God. So you're hearing the Word of
God, you're hearing the voice of God through His Scripture,
not through me, not through... That's how you devote yourselves
to the Apostles' teaching. It says, "...the disciples multiplied,
and great many of the priests, the Jewish priests, became obedient
to the faith. And Stephen, full of grace and
power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Then
some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the freedmen,
as it was called, and the Cyrenians and the Alexandrians and those
of Cilicia and Asia. They rose up and they began to
dispute and argue with Stephen. But they could not. Listen, I
love it. You want power? This is power and it's a humble
power. But it's the power of the Word
of God. We want to argue. We want to philosophize. We want
to debate. Nothing wrong with that. But
the power comes from the Word. That's why if you ever hear me
speak anywhere, I'm going to go to the Scripture, and I'd
rather read a passage of text than have commentary about it.
Because God's Word does its work. It'll harden your heart, or it'll
soften your heart. Or it'll convict you of your sin, or it'll encourage
and build you up. But listen to what it says. Many
people came against Stephen, but they could not withstand
the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking. Then, Because he pulled their
pants down and they had no ground to stand on, they secretly instigated
men who came and gave false witness against Stephen. And they said,
we've heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.
And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes
and they came upon him and they seized him. And they brought him before
the council. And they set up false witnesses who said, this
man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the
law. But we'd heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth would
destroy this place, the temple, and would change the customs
that Moses delivered to us. And gazing at him, all who sat
in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Now there's a lot there because he's asked to give an account
and he preaches the entire Old Testament. Beautifully. Awesomely. Expositional preaching. Verse by verse by verse by verse. Because without that, we lose.
We lose. And listen. And in verse 54,
after he got through preaching the Word of God, not his opinion,
he just spoke the Word of God. Then they heard these things,
they were enraged. You know, it's amazing when I
just quote Scripture sometimes to people, and they get really
ticked off at me. They'll say something. They'll
ask me a question. I'll just not say, well, you know, John, this,
blah, blah. I'll just recite the Scripture as though it were
coming out of my mouth. And they will get so angry. You know what
they'll say a lot of times? Why are you judging me? Isn't
that beautiful? Hebrews 4.12. Look it up. They ground their teeth. But
Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, this is where I wanted to close,
gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God. And he saw Jesus
standing at the right hand of God. And he said, look, behold,
I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right
hand of God. And they cried out with a loud
voice and they stopped up their ears and they rushed together
at him. And when they cast him out of the city and they stoned
him, And the witnesses laid their garments down at the feet of
a young man named Saul. And these Jewish people, for
the first time in a long time under Roman rule, they took their
coats off and they laid it down at the feet of Saul as a sign
of honor. He was a Pharisee. He was able
to oversee the stoning, which was a legal stoning. He'd been
found guilty of blasphemy by witnesses. And they laid down
their coats and they killed Stephen. And in verse 59 it says, As they
were stoning Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit, receive my
spirit. And falling to his knees, he
cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against
them. And when he said that, he fell
asleep. Why did they say he fell asleep?
Because he's coming back. And when we die, I believe death
is a gift from God for the believer. And in Stephen's case, a great
blessing, a wonderful miracle, because he was able to see Jesus. When we die, we see Jesus. Jesus is our hope. He's our treasure. It's what we long for. And now
we're able to gaze and see Him. He says, I saw heavens open.
He gazed into heaven. He saw the glory of God. He saw
Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. God gives us the
heart to love Him. And God gives us the heart to
only want Him. And not only do we see Jesus,
but we see Jesus for who He really is. If you notice there, Jesus
in Hebrews and another section of Scripture, He finished His
work and He sat down. Something that the high priest
never did. There was a chair in the Holy of Holies. The priest
was never allowed to sit down or he'd die. Because he wasn't
fit to be in the presence of God except to pour blood of a
sacrifice and get out. Jesus sat down, but when the
saints come home, Jesus stands up. It's like, OK, I've got another
part of my job to do. I'm your high priest. So as the
mediating, eternal, sufficient sacrifice, Jesus is done. But
until the saints are all honed, He's going to stand up for us.
And so we see Jesus for who He is, the true, the complete in
front of us. We in front of Him. Death is
the way to be with Christ. We see Jesus' power as the one
who prepares the way for us and receives us as our High Priest.
And then we see Jesus' forgiveness on the cross. And Stephen said
that. He quoted almost the same thing
Jesus said. Forgive them, for they know not
what they do. Lord, don't hold this sin against
them. How many people heard Him say
that? It's a testimony. It's a legacy.
What we do in this life is not important. What we leave, who
we leave, It's important. The legacy is what we leave behind. And we either leave a pile of
garbage that we call our success, or we leave the gospel. And we
leave a life of holiness and a life of righteousness and a
life that is worth talking about. What do we talk about now? Famous
people? Dead people? You know what God showed me this
week, just in the last three days, looking at Wikipedia, looking
up Johnny Cash. I wanted to know when he died.
You know what he's reduced to? A web page with links to some
cool songs. What else is there? And when I'm gone, I don't want
to be a web page. with a whole bunch of songs and
millions of books and a bunch of sermons sitting around that
somebody else will listen to and go, isn't that great? I want to know that the work
of God is continued. I want to know that the gospel
is still moving because I was used by God. And that there's
a human being in this life that through me God used bring to himself. Because if
you leave anything else, you might as well die when you get
saved. Even though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For you are with
me, and your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Death is a friend to some people.
And friends, there are many forms of death. There are many politically
charged ways that we could talk about it. But the truth is this,
is that you must die to live. And I pray that God's Word has
done its work in you this morning. Are you able to say now that Christ is my treasure? That Christ is my King. Not my
bloody ticket out of hell. But my only hope. My only heart. My first true love. And I'm willing
to suffer. And surrender. And die. And lose everything that I am.
Even my identity for Him. Because I'll be honest with you,
if you're not willing to do that, I seriously think you need to
ask yourself if you truly have a relationship with Christ. You're willing to lose your home,
your family? You say, why is this so hard
for people? I sort of feel, sometimes when
I say that kind of stuff, I sort of feel like some people just
go, whoop, and they just tune out. That's just too much. Jesus says, I want you to give
me everything you can't. And we either throw ourselves
at His mercy and He'll show us how to do it. Or we walk away
dejected as the rich young ruler did. Or we keep trying until
we stand before Him and He says, I never knew you. Is God calling
you? Would you pray with me?