In the bulletin that you were
given, on the back of it is the psalm that we'll be reading.
Psalm 23. Psalm 23. The Psalm of David. The scripture
declares, the Lord, Elohim, Jehovah, Adonai, is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me
to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth
me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil. For thou art with me. Thy rod
and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil.
My cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the
house of the Lord, Forever. That's where our dear brother
is right now. He's going to dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. Forever. Also in the bulletin, on the
left page, is the text that I'll be preaching from. It's found
in Psalm 116, if you have a Bible. You can turn there, Psalm 116,
verse 15. Now I'm just going to read this one
verse right here. Again, it's in the bulletin. It says, precious
in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Verse 15. Precious. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. Now the word precious in the
text here in the Hebrew language means valuable. Valuable. So the scriptures here are declaring
that the death of a saved sinner is valuable in the eyes of the
Lord. Valuable. It carries the sense
of being rare. being rare. It's often used to
describe precious and costly stones. Now, to Irene, Richard was a
precious husband. To the children of Richard and
Irene, Richard was a precious father. To the grandchildren and great-grandchildren
of Richard, he was a precious grandpa. To the church family, he was
very precious to us, too. But we see in the text here,
more so, he was precious to the Lord. He was valuable in the
sight of the Lord. He was like a rare and costly
stone to the Lord. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints." Now, Richard was a born-again
believer. He'd been born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. He'd been granted faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. As I read earlier, Jehovah was
his shepherd. Jehovah was his salvation. The Lord is my shepherd. That's
Jehovah. The scriptures declare that God's
people are people saved by Jehovah, saved by him. And this text declares that Brother
Richard, as all the saints are, are precious in the eyes of the
Lord. When I would finish preaching
the gospel on Sundays, I'll never forget this either, I'd be standing
out there and Brother Richard would come and every time he
heard the gospel, I mean every time, he'd say, what a Savior. And then he'd say, what a gospel. He loved the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to tell you of one
who was precious in Richard's eyes. And I know that his wife,
Irene, and your children and grandchildren were all precious
in his eyes. And the church family, we were
all precious in his eyes. He told me so. But I want to
tell you of one who was so precious to Richard, more precious than anything in
this world. And his name is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, Brother Richard would be
the first to admit that he was a sinner. He'd be the first to
admit that. I had many talks with him. He'd
be the first to admit that. And you know, every one of us
in this room is a sinner, whether we believe it or not. We're all
sinners. We're born sinners. We're born
sinners. And we are all guilty before
God. In our natural state, we're all guilty before God, every
one of us. You know why? Because we've all
broken his commandments, all of us. And the one whom Richard
found precious is the only savior of sinners. There's no other
savior of sinners, no other one, not one. Not one. And the only savior
of sinners is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ
was not just a mere man. He was God in the flesh. He was God incarnate in the flesh.
That's who he was. He was not a man or a woman like
us. He was God in the flesh. He was
flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone, but he was perfectly
sinless. See, all we are is sinners from
the top of our head to the bottom of our feet. That's what we are.
Again, whether we believe it or not, that's what we are in
the sight of God, in our natural state. When Adam fell, we all
fell with him, all of us. But the one who Brother
Richard found precious is the only Savior of sinners. There's
no other Savior. If you're trusting in your own
works to get you merit and favor with God, that'll lead to your
eternal doom. There's no hope in anyone or
anything, including ourselves, no hope in anyone or anything
other than the Lord Jesus Christ for sinners to be saved. And the whole reason he came
here, the whole reason he came here was to save his people from
their sins. Now, Richard didn't know he was
among that number until the Lord saved him. But 2,000 years ago, the Lord
left glory, left heaven, and came to this world to die and
bleed on Calvary's cross for chosen sinners. Sinners who had
been given to him by the Father for maternity. And Richard was
one of that number. Isn't that amazing? And that's the reason the Lord
was so precious to Richard, because Christ had come to save him.
And through the preaching of the word and the Holy Spirit
applying and regenerating him, which means to be born again,
he came to fully realize that Christ died for him. And he fled
to Christ because he was made willing in the day of God's power. Now, everyone in this room is
going to die, every one of us. We're going to die one day. It's
an inescapable appointment. The scripture declares that it's
appointed unto men once to die, and after this, the judgment.
Now, we may skip appointments that we make with the doctor,
or we may skip appointments that we make with other people, but
this is one appointment that not one of us is ever going to
miss. We will die at the appointed time. And for Brother Richard,
it was his appointed time to go and to be with the Lord. Now, none of us know when that
time is, but the scripture declares, thou shalt come to thy grave. And it's sure. And it declares,
the scriptures declare that it's, again, appointed unto man and
woman, once to die, and after this, the judgment. So we all
have an appointment with death that we will not avoid. We will
not avoid it. It'll come to every one of us,
saved and lost. And we die because of sin. And now death has passed upon
all, and all men and women must die and be buried. Again, believers and unbelievers.
But Brother Richard is right now in the presence of the Lord,
Because the scripture declares to be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord. He's seeing him, as I said, face
to face. And he's rejoicing. He's rejoicing
right now. And why is he there? Well, because
the mercy and grace of God. He was saved by the sovereign
grace of God 2,000 years ago, the Lord Jesus Christ. died and
bled in his place as his substitute before God's law and justice for the salvation of his soul.
Christ shed his precious blood. He gave his life on Calvary's
cross 2,000 years ago for him. And he not only did it for Richard,
he did it for all the elect of all the ages, all who the Father
gave him. He died for. Now, I do not know
who the elect of God are. Therefore, I preach the gospel
to all and say, come. Come to Christ. Look to Christ.
Look to Christ. He, again, is the only savior
of sinners. There's nothing you have to do. You just look. By faith, look to him and live. And that faith will be given
to you by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. In God's people, we're born again
blood-washed saints by the grace of God. And we wholly trust in
the Lord Jesus Christ and him alone. We trust that when he
died 2,000 years ago, that death was perfect. Perfect. That when he shed his precious
blood, it redeemed us. It purchased our eternal souls.
That's what the scriptures declare. He died upon that cross. Believers
in Christ rejoice in that. We rejoice in his resurrection
because the reason he was resurrected is for our justification, so
that we could stand in the presence of God, in and through Christ
alone. And God's people aren't robots.
They come willingly to Christ. They run to Christ. They're made
willing in the day of God's power. And there's nothing going to
stop them from coming to Christ, because God is drawing them to
Christ. And it's wondrous. Those who are unwilling are made
willing to trust Christ. It's absolutely a miracle of
grace. And he becomes all our hope. The question is, for all of us
in this room, What think ye of Christ? What do you think of him? Who
is he to you? To the believer, he's everything.
He's my wisdom, my righteousness, my sanctification, and my redemption. And that is what he was to Brother
Richard, too. He was his all in all. He trusted
his eternal soul to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is in the presence
of the Lord right now. Right now. So what think ye of Christ? Ponder
that question. It's a question of more eternal
value than anything in this world. What do you think of Him? Who
is He? He's God incarnate in the flesh.
What did He come here to do? To save sinners. Where is he now, in glory, right
now, ruling and reigning? That's where he is. Are you hoping in him as the
only hope for the salvation of your soul? The Lord Jesus Christ, again, is
the only savior of sinners. And Brother Richard knew this.
By the grace of God, he knew this. He knew this to be true. And he trusted Christ Jesus for
the salvation of his eternal soul. That's why Christ was so
precious to him. That's why he's so precious to
the believer. For the believer, we've been
shown that all our works that we attempted to do to make ourselves
just before God, or to say, oh, I'm a good person, surely God
won't throw a good person in hell. Hell's full of good people. Supposedly good people. Because
there's none righteous before God. None. So the believer in Christ trusts
only in Christ and Him alone. We cast aside any works that
we had or thought we would do to gain merit with God, and we
trust wholly in Christ and Him alone. That's what my dear brother
did. We've been shown that all our
works of righteousness, all the works that we thought we'd do
to gain merit and favor with God, is a false refuge of lies. Never, never could we be saved
by anything we do. And I'm saying anything you think
you can do, anything you can do physically, like walk in an
aisle or pray in a prayer, that can't save you. Only the Lord
Jesus Christ can save your soul. He's the only one. In the preaching of the gospel,
the righteousness of God is revealed. And the righteousness of God
is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who our hope is as believers,
is Christ. He's my wisdom. Again, he's my
righteousness. He's my salvation. He's my redeemer. He's everything, everything to
me. And every believer says that. He's my plea, like you sang yesterday.
He's my plea. He's my hope. My hope before
God. So Christ was very precious to
Brother Richard because he saved his soul 2,000 years ago at Calvary's
Cross. Christ's precious, precious blood
was shed to purchase his soul. That's how valuable the blood
of Christ is. It purchased the soul of his people. All that the Father gave to Christ
in eternity, Christ purchased at Calvary's cross. And the scripture
says it's a number that no man can number. You may say, well, you don't
know how much of a sinner I am. I'm a saved man, and I'm still
a sinner. But God's had mercy on me. forgiven me for all my sins and
he did that for for brother Richard and for sister Irene too. We
don't deserve that. Oh God's so merciful. He's so
gracious and we're purchased by the precious precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. How do we know that the blood
of Christ was precious to God? his precious to his people will
listen to these words from 1st Peter chapter 1 verses 18 to
21. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, no
amount of money can purchase our soul. The scripture says,
what shall you give in exchange for your soul? Nothing. For what
shall profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose
his own soul? And it says, for what shall you
give in exchange for your soul? There's nothing we can give. Not redeemed with corruptible
things of silver and gold from your vain conversation received
by traditions from your father, but with the precious blood of
Christ. There's the purchase price. for
the souls of God's people. The precious blood of Christ
is of a lamb without blemish and spot. See, Jesus Christ was
God incarnate in the flesh, and he was perfectly sinless. He
never had a thought sin, never had a spoken sin, and never a
sin indeed. He was absolutely perfect. Absolutely
perfect. He was the lamb of God, sent
to die in the room and place of sinners. And it says, who verily was foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these
last times for you, who by him do believe in God that raised
him up from the dead and give him glory, that your faith and
hope might be in God. See, a lot of people hope in
themselves, and that's a false refuge. A lot of people hope
in false gods. That's a false refuge. There's
only one hope, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ for sinners.
There's only one hope. God will only accept sinners
in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, no other way. In a result
of being regenerated, being born again by the Holy Spirit of God,
we are given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Cast yourself upon Christ. You
know, he's never turned a sinner away. John Newton, famous writer of
Amazing Grace, was a slave trader before the Lord saved him. And he penned the words, Amazing
Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. We're
going to sing that coming up. He knew what the grace of God
had done for him. And his only hope was the Lord
Jesus Christ. I ask you, is Christ your hope? Is he your hope? Are you hoping in things you
do to get you to glory? That's a
false refuge. Are you hoping in something that
a priest says or something somebody else says? That's a false refuge. That's a false refuge. The only
hope for sinners is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only
hope. Is he your sole hope and plea
before God? Other refuge have I none. Hang
my lowly head on thee. There's a story in the scriptures
of a publican and a sinner. A publican was a man of authority
within the Jewish community. And he went to the temple to
pray one day, and he said, oh, I thank God that I'm not like
others. I'm not like this person over here and that person over
there. And he looks at that publican. He says, I ain't like that publican
over there. You know what God's people are
like? That publican. And you know what the publican
did? He bowed his head. He couldn't
even lift his head up to God. He bowed his head, and he said,
God, be merciful to me, a sinner. God's people are safe sinners. And we'd be the first to tell
you that. Brother Richard, he'd tell you that very clearly. That's why it was so precious
to him when he heard the gospel preached. Here was Richard's
only hope. I'm reminded of a quote of a
famous preacher of old who said, meet me in heaven. Meet me in
heaven. Trust Christ in him alone for
your salvation, for the salvation of your soul.
Now again, each one of us here has an appointment with death.
And we will not escape it. We will not escape it. Our bounds
are set. The number of our days are with
thee, the scripture declares. He knows exactly how long we're
going to live to. It was Brother Richard's appointed
time to be in the presence of the Lord. And I'll tell you,
he's rejoicing. He's rejoicing. For the born-again, blood-washed
believer, our salvation is complete in Christ, absolutely complete. And so the Lord's, when the Lord's
purpose for us on this earth is served, the believer is ready
to be plucked from this world and taken to the presence of
the Lord. Again, it says here, precious in the Lord is the death
of his saints. Do you know why the saint of
God is so precious to the Lord? Do you know why saved sinners
are so precious to the Lord when they die, that their death is
so precious to Him? Do you know why Richard was so precious
to the Lord? It was not because anything Richard
did or would ever do. And he'd be the first to tell
you that. He was precious in the eyes of
the Lord because he was loved by God for eternity. He was loved by God for eternity. He was precious to the Lord Jesus
Christ because the Lord Jesus Christ left the glories of heaven
to come to this world to save his soul. He was precious to the Lord and
still is, still is, still is in glory because Christ redeemed
him. He purchased him with his own
blood. He gave his life for him as his substitute before God's
law and justice. The sinless, spotless lamb of
God gave his life to save him. And Richard was precious in the
sight of the Lord because when he walked upon this earth, when
the Lord Jesus Christ walked upon this earth, He perfectly
fulfilled the law of God as his substitute. And then he clothed Richard in
the righteousness of Christ so that he would be fit to be in
the presence of the Lord. My, oh, my. Acceptable. Accepted by God in Christ, the
beloved one. Is it any wonder, then, why Christ
was so precious to Richard? If Christ did all these things
for him, which he did, is it any wonder why he was so precious
to Richard? Wonder of wonders, Christ had
saved his soul. In all that God demanded for
the salvation of his soul, Christ did it all. And think of how the death of
the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, work for the good of
his people. Redemption, our redemption, our salvation, our justification,
the forgiveness of all our sins. And I mean every one, past, present,
and future. People say, how can you mean
future? Because every one of Richard's sins were future when
Christ died 2,000 years ago, weren't they? Yeah. So that payment covered all his
sins. All of them. Oh, what a salvation. And the Son of God, he came here
to save his people from their sins. And he did. He cried, it
is finished. The work is done. The salvation
of the souls of my people is finished. And he obtained salvation
for them. Christ died in the room and placed
the sinners. Are you a sinner? That's the
question. Most people say, I'm not a sinner.
I know a sinner. But surely I'm not one. Yes,
you are. Whether you believe it or not, you are. You're a
sinner from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet, just
like me. Every one of us are. I pray God
will show you you're a sinner. If he hasn't shown you that already,
I pray that he will, because you and I are in desperate need
of Christ. Listen to what the scriptures
say here in Titus chapter 3, verses 4 to 7. But after the
kindness and love of God toward man appeared, the kindness and
love of God toward man appeared. This is talking about when Christ
is manifest in the flesh. not by works of righteousness
which we have done. So that means nothing we can
do ever. And nothing means nothing. Not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
his mercy he saved us. That's why Christ was so precious
to Richard, because he saved him. He saved his eternal soul. By the washing of regeneration,
that means to be born again and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which
he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that
being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. The gospel proclaims a finished
work of salvation, absolutely finished. Christ died in the
room instead of chosen sinners. And only in Christ is the justice
of God satisfied. The soul that sinneth, it must
die, the scriptures say. But Christ died in the ruined
place of sinners. Satisfied God's law and justice
in the place of chosen sinners, payment was fully made. The law
of God is satisfied. And Christ has secured and accomplished
the salvation of his people. All he did this for are identified
in this text right here. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. There they are. There they are. Precious to Christ, precious
to Jehovah. Precious ones who are saved by
Jehovah. Why? Because it pleased him to
do so. May God give you faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. May God give you grace and faith
to believe.