Let's begin our service opening
our Bibles to the book of Second Timothy. Second Timothy, chapter one. And we'll begin our reading in
verse eight. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but
be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel. according to the
power of God, who has 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, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life
and immortality to light through the gospel. Whereunto I am appointed
a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles, for
the which cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I
am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him
against that day." And we'll end our reading there. If you would, turn to 126. 126. Rock of Ages, lift for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood From Thy wounded side withdraw,
Thee I'll send a double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure. Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer know? These four sins could not atone. Thou must save and Thou alone
In my hand, O Christ, I bring Simply to Thy cross I cling While
I draw this fleeting breath When I rise to worlds unknown,
And behold, beyond thy throne, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Back in the far pages back, 512,
512. Sing the first, second and fourth. Some day the silver cord will
break And I no more, as now, shall
sing, But, O, the joy when I shall wake Within the palace of the
King. And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story saved by grace. And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story saved by grace. Someday my earthly house will
fall, I cannot tell how soon it will be. But this I know,
my all in all, Has now a place in heaven for me. Him face to face And tell the
story Saved by grace And I shall see Him face to face And tell
the story Saved by grace Someday, till then, I'll watch and wait,
My lamppost trimmed and burning bright, That when my Savior copes
the gate, My soul to Him may take its flight And I shall see
Him face to face And tell the story saved by grace And I shall
see Now, if you would open your Bibles
with me to the book of Philippians, Philippians chapter one. We'll begin our reading in verse
21, Philippians chapter 1. For me to live is Christ, and
to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this
is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I shall choose I want
not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart
and to be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless,
to abide in the flesh is more deedful for you. And having this
confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all
for your furtherance and joy of faith, that your rejoicing
may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by coming to you
again. Only let your conversation be
as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and
see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs that you
stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for
the faith of the gospel and in nothing terrified by your adversaries,
which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation
and that of God. For unto you it is given in the
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer
for his sake, having the same conflict which he saw in me and
now here to be in me. Thank God for his word. Let's
bow together in prayer. Our great Holy, sovereign, just
and merciful Heavenly Father, Lord, we bow in your courts this
evening. We bow before your throne, daring only come into your thrice
holy presence in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Father,
we bow a thankful people. How we thank you. for our Lord
Jesus Christ. How we thank you that you'd send
your own son into this world to be made flesh, that he might
redeem sinful men and women such as we are. Father, we're thankful. We're thankful for the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ that you've given to us. Thankful
for the gospel you use to call us to Christ, to call us away
from self and sin and the world and cause us to come to Christ.
And thank you for this gospel that feeds, comforts, instructs,
and edifies your sheep, the gospel of Christ. Father, let us be
completely taken up with, completely in love with and adore the Lord
Jesus Christ. I pray that every service, but
for this service, let his name ring out. Let the glory of Christ
our Savior reign supreme, that your people might look to Him,
that we might find our all in Him, that we might leave here
this evening rejoicing in Christ our Savior, rejoicing in Him,
resting in Him, full assurance of faith. Father, I thank you
for this place that you've given to us. I thank you for this family
of believers that you've gathered together. Father, I pray you
bless each one, bless each person, each home, Bless us with your
presence, bless us with your grace and your mercy, your leadership. Father, for those that you brought
into the time of trouble, heartbroken, sorrowing, sick and hurting. Father, we pray for them, that
you would give them a fulfillment of your promise that you not
leave or forsake your people, but comfort the hearts of your
people until you see fit to deliver and bring out. Father, we thank
you for our children. Thank you for all these little
ones that you've given to us. Father, we pray for them. We
pray that you would protect them from this wicked generation in
which they grow up. Above all, Father, as you protect
their bodies and their minds, have mercy on them. We beg mercy
on their souls. Cause us to be faithful to them.
to always preach Christ to them, point them to Christ, to teach
them the scriptures that are able to make them wise unto salvation. And all these things we ask,
Father, and we give thanks to that name, which is above every
name, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. When my life's work is ended,
And I cross the swelling tide, When the bright and glorious
morning I shall see, I shall know my Redeemer, When I reach
the other side And His smile will be the first to welcome
me Oh, the soul-thrilling rapture When I view His blessed face
and the luster of his kindly beaming eye. How my full heart will praise
him for the mercy, love, and grace that prepare for me a mansion
in the sky. I shall know Him, I shall know
Him, and when redeemed by His sight, I shall stand. I shall know Him, I shall know
Him, By the print of the nails in His hand. O the dear ones in glory, how
they beckon me to come. and are guarding at the river
I recall. To the sweet vales of Eden they
will sing my welcome home. But I long to meet my Savior
first of all. Through the gates to the city,
In a robe of spotless white, He will lead me where no tears
will ever fall. In the glad song of ages, I shall
mingle with delight, But I long to meet my Savior first of all. I shall know Him, I shall know
Him, And redeemed by His side I shall stand. I shall know Him, I shall know
Him by the print of the nails in His hand. All right, if you would, open
your Bibles with me tonight to Psalm 116. I titled the message this evening,
A Precious Death. My subject should be of great
interest to everyone who's here this evening, because all of
us will deal with my subject sooner or later. Very soon, we
will deal with the death of a dear loved one and very soon we will
deal with our own death. My subject should also be of
great interest to you and to me because our text teaches us
a truth that is absolutely contrary to everything the flesh thinks
about death. My text is Psalm 116, verse 15. Precious, precious,
precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
Our text says that the death of a believer is precious. We
tend to think of death as a curse, don't we? But for the believer,
it's precious. It's precious to the Lord. Recently,
Janet and I were at the funeral visitation of a high school friend
that we have kept in contact with over the years. At that
funeral visitation, this friend asked me, How do you do this? She said, you deal with death
every day. I said, I do. I deal with life
and death every day. You're right. She said, how do
you deal with that? And I tried to explain to her as short of
a time as I had about the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ that
I spend my time praying and seeking a message from God that would
point God's people to Christ. Because if they'll see him, if
they'll believe him, they'll never die. And when their body
dies, it will be sad. But I have a lot of hope. We'll
be filled with joy, too. I tried to explain that, how
that could be precious. But every death is not precious.
The death of a rebel is not precious. The death of one who has refused
to believe on and bow to our Lord Jesus Christ, that death
is not precious. It's heartbreaking in every way. Those are tough funerals. Tough,
tough funerals. But the death of the believer
is precious. It's precious to the Lord. And
it's precious to the believer who has died too. But now we're
going to deal honestly with each other on this matter of death.
The death of our loved one is not precious to us. Even when
we're confident that they had a good hope, the sorrow that
our flesh feels is so great, it's really difficult to call
what we're feeling precious at that time. We miss our loved
one. We miss talking to them. We miss
doing things with them. Janet's just gone out of town
today for two days, and I'm already missing her. We miss them. We miss them. And we are thankful. You make these two contradictory
statements, you know, both can be true. We're all we're heartbroken. We're so sorry. We're just. But
we're thankful. We are thankful that there are
loved one has been taken out of this body of sin and they've
gone to be with the Lord. They've seen the Lord face to
face. They're a perfect rest, perfect peace, they've been glorified,
they've been made just like Christ, and we would not bring them back
if we could. And if we could bring them back,
they wouldn't talk to us anymore. They'd be so mad at us. We wouldn't
want to bring somebody back from that. We're thankful. Oh, we
are thankful. But it's still hard with the
mixed emotions that we feel to say that the death of our dear
husband or wife or our dear loved one, it's hard to say that death
is precious to us. And you already know if you've
dealt with death, about everybody here has dealt with death often
enough to know, you already know, I can't say anything to you tonight
that will take away the sorrow we feel when our dear loved one
dies. But I can show you from the Word
of God why we don't sorrow as others which have no hope. I
want us tonight to look at what God's Word has to say about the
death of His saints. See if we can't learn why their
death is precious to the Lord. You see, the Lord sees things
differently than we do. The Lord sees everything from
a totally different perspective than we see it. And the way the
Lord sees things, that's the way it really is. You know, the
Lord looks at things in light of eternity, not the small dust
of the balance of this life. He looks at things in light of
eternity. And if the Lord would be pleased
to teach us a little bit about how the Lord sees these things,
how He sees the death of His saints, I promise you we'll find
some comfort when our loved ones die who know the Lord and they
depart from this world. Now this word precious the psalmist
uses, it means valuable. The death of God's saints is
valuable. It means prized. It's something
to be prized. It means weighty. It's a weighty
matter. the death of one of God's children. And the word means
splendid. It's a splendid thing. I want
to show you eight ways that the death of a believer is precious.
The death of the saints is precious because of other things that
the scriptures call precious. First, I want you to look at
Psalm 49. We'll just take them in the order in which they appear
in God's Word. Psalm 49. Here's the first thing. The death of a believer is precious
because their redemption is precious. Psalm 49 verse 8. For the redemption
of their soul is precious and it ceaseth forever. Verse 7 says,
none of them can by any means redeem his brother nor give God
a ransom for him. None of us can do that, but God
did. And he calls that redemption, the redemption of their soul,
precious. See, when the body of a believer
dies, The believer doesn't die. Their body does, but they don't
die and lose their life. Because David said in Psalm 103
verse 4, God has redeemed thy life from destruction. He's bought
it back so your life cannot be destroyed. And God has redeemed
the life of his people with the precious blood of God's own son.
Their redemption was bought with the blood of God. And that what
Peter told us in 1 Peter 1 verse 19, that we're not redeemed with
corruptible things, but we're redeemed with what? The precious
blood of Christ. The redemption that the son of
God purchased with his own blood can never be lost. The price
paid for it is too high. Precious blood. And this we know,
if God crucified his son for your sin, you can rest assured
he'll never let you die. There's no reason that he would.
Your sin has been gone, taken away by the sacrifice of Christ.
God's not going to kill you and Christ for the same sin. That
would be unjust because Christ's death is precious enough to redeem
your life from destruction. Right now, look at Psalm 72. Here's the second thing. The
death of the believer is precious because their blood is precious
to God. Psalm 72 verse 14. He shall redeem their soul from
deceit and violence and precious shall their blood be in his sight. Now, you know, all of God's children
are precious to him. He said in Isaiah chapter 43
verse four, since thou was precious in my sight, thou has been honorable
and I've loved thee Therefore will I give men for thee and
people for thy life. He said, I've destroyed whole
countries for my people. I've destroyed Ethiopia and Saba
for my people. Because God's people are precious
to him. And everything, every detail
about them is precious to the father. Their lives here on this
earth are precious to God. They're precious to him. Everything
that happens to them is important to God. Our Lord said, whosoever
shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it's
better for him that a millstone are hanged about his neck and
he were cast into the sea. That's how much you just offend
one of my little ones. That's how much they matter to
him. And their trials and tribulations
and persecutions and what they suffer in this flesh matters
to our God. And our heavenly Father is downright
happy. And it's time for Him to put
an end to all of our suffering here below because of our sin
and bring us out of the cesspool of this world and bring us home
to be with Him, to bring us into perfection. It makes Him happy. That day is precious to the Father.
We know we'll be satisfied when we awake in glory, the likeness
of Christ. We know that. That day, we say
these words, but we really don't know the full meaning of them.
to awake in the likeness of Christ will be joy unspeakable and full
of glory. That'll be precious to the believer.
Oh, how we long for that day. And it will be precious to our
Father, too. It'll make Him happy because
the blood of His people, their life, their death is precious
to Him. All right, thirdly, look at Psalm
139. The death of a believer is precious.
because of God's thoughts toward his people. Psalm 139, verse
17. How precious also are thy thoughts
unto me, O God, how great is the sum of them. God's thoughts
of his people are precious thoughts. God's thoughts of his people,
first of all, are precious to his people, aren't they? It's
precious to me that God would even think on the likes of me.
I mean, that God would think on me? That's precious to me. It's precious to me that God
would think to choose to save somebody like me. That God would
think and he would accomplish my salvation, that he would save
me by the sacrifice of his son. It's precious to me that God
would think upon me and on purpose call me by his gospel and give
me faith to believe his son. It's precious to me to think
that God thinks to preserve me. He thinks to protect me and lead
me and guide me. He thinks to provide everything
that I need. Those thoughts are precious to
me, precious to the believer. And God's thoughts of his people
are precious to him, too. You know, we are so happy when
the Lord brings blessings our way. We see that the Lord has
blessed us. And I think that there is just some way in the
back of our mind we think, OK, I think I see what the Lord's
thinking here in His blessing to me because He's promised to
bless His people. I'm thankful. What about when
the Lord brings trouble our way? Sorrow, heartache, the loss of
a dear loved one. It's really hard to see how the
Lord's blessing in that trial is. Hard to see. Sometimes we
think, why did the Lord do this? Well, I know he has got a purpose
in it, but why did the Lord do this? What's the Lord thinking
in this? Well, our Lord told us in Isaiah 55 verse 8, when
we think like that, he said, you remember this. My thoughts
are not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways, saith
the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts. Now look, hold your place here
because we're coming right back to Psalm 139. Look at Jeremiah chapter
29. Even in times of trial, heartache
and sorrow, those things don't happen because God's forgotten
his people. God still thinks on his thinking upon his people
at that time, even at those times of heartache and sorrow and difficulty,
God's thoughts toward his people are still precious. Jeremiah
29 verse 11, you got it? For I know the thoughts that
I think towards you, saith the Lord." They're thoughts of peace,
not of evil. To give you an expected end. God's thoughts of His people
are precious to Him. Because His thoughts are always
bringing His people closer to coming home with Him. God's thoughts
of His people are always bringing His people closer to an expected
end. Every believer has the same end.
It's to be glorified with the Lord Jesus Christ. You can expect
that. It's not presumption to expect
it because God promised it. That's God's thoughts toward
his people to bring them to this expected end. So back to Psalm
139, that's why David can say here in Psalm 139 verse 18, If I should count them, these
precious thoughts, if I should count all these precious thoughts,
they're more in number than the sand. When I awake, I am still
with thee. When the moment this body dies
in this life, the moment that happens, the believer's eyes
awake in glory. And every child of God is going
to say, huh, I went to sleep on the earth and I awoke. I'm
still with the Lord. You're going to open your eyes
to look in the face of the Savior himself. We'll say welcome home. Well
done, my good and faithful servant. Oh, God's thoughts are precious,
aren't they? Precious. Define that I'm still with God,
except now perfectly. That's the expected end of every
believer. Mighty precious. Right now, if
you would turn to John, the gospel of John chapter five, here's
the fourth thing. The death of a believer is precious because
the word of God is precious. First Samuel chapter three, verse
one, we read that the word of the Lord was precious in those
days. There was no open vision and the word of the Lord was
precious in those days. And same thing's true today.
The word of the Lord is precious. And look at what our Lord says
in John chapter 5 verse 24. Barely, barely, I say unto you,
he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting
life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from
death unto life. He that heareth my word and believes
it. See, the believer who died didn't
really die, did they? Their body did, but they didn't.
They've already passed from death unto life. And when this body
dies, all they've done is lay down this body of death. And
that's what this flesh is, this body that we're in. It's a body
of death. And when they lay that down,
now they're living. I mean, they're living. Living
like you and I cannot imagine. God gave them that because they
believed His Word. His Word that was precious. His
Word. This Word, If something that's
precious is rare, this Word is the only place you'll find out
how God saved His Son. It's the only place Christ the
Savior is revealed. It's the only place life is revealed.
There is life in believing the Word of God. Philippians chapter
2 verse 16, Paul calls it the Word of life. There's life in
believing this Word. And if you believe this Word,
you don't have to understand it all. Even if you don't understand,
you read some. So I believe that I can't explain
that, but I believe that you find yourself doing that. That's
your assurance. God's given you eternal life.
Believing this word gives eternal life and death is precious for
anyone who believes this life giving word. All right, now look
at the book of First Peter, here's the fifth thing. The death of
a believer is precious because of precious faith. First Peter
chapter one, verse seven, that the trial of your faith
being much more precious than a gold that perishes, though
it be tried with fire by be found under praise and honor and glory,
glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Now faith in Christ is
precious. It's valuable. It's a splendid
gift of God. Faith in Christ. It's faith in
the precious Lord Jesus Christ. It's faith in Him. Now our bodies
still must die because of sin. But no believer who has faith
in Christ will ever die. He'll never die the second death. There is therefore now no condemnation. no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who are in Him by faith. Now, we know
that. That's a theological fact that I'd say
everybody here would say, yeah, I believe that. I see that. I
agree with that. That no believer will ever die the second death. The Lord's going to bring us
to the place where the rubber meets the road, and we learn what that
means. He did that with our sister Martha.
Remember when our Lord told Martha she's outside the tomb of her
brother Lazarus, she's broken hearted. She's broken hearted.
And Martha was trying to find some comfort. She's trying to
find and she tried to comfort herself with some true doctrine,
with a true statement. She told the Lord, I know my
brother will rise again. I know he will. In the resurrection
of the last day, I know that. Somehow, I suspect that wouldn't
comfort her heart too much. It's true. I suspect it wouldn't
comfort her heart all that much. And then our Savior gave her
something better. He said, Martha, I am the resurrection. You're
not looking for an event out there in the future. I'm right
here, Martha. I am the resurrection. Martha,
I am the life. I'm the life. He that believeth
in me. He believes in me. Though he
were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Martha, believest thou this?
Hurricane Road Grace Church, believest thou this? Do you believe
this? Huh? If you do, you'll never die.
If you believe Christ like that, you'll never die. And before
they went to our Lord, had to tell his disciples, Lazarus isn't
dead anyway. He's just sleeping. His body
is resting in sleep. And that's all death is to the
believer. It's rest and sleep. We, Jan
and I, after the service Sunday, we drove, met our kids in Moorhead
and ate, and we came back home. And I normally like to take a
Sunday afternoon nap. And by this time, about 4, 4.30,
you know, I thought maybe I shouldn't take a nap. Oh boy, I did. That felt good. I mean, it felt
good. That's all death is to the believer.
It's rest. Rest. Lazarus is living. He's living with Christ. And
that's precious. See, the death of this body for
the believer is not death at all. The death of this body for
the believer really is the start of life. Life that is so splendid. It's so prized. It's so valuable. We can't imagine it on this side
of the We just can't imagine how glorious it is. All right,
now look at 1 Peter 2. Here's the sixth thing. The death
of a believer is precious because Christ is precious. Now here's
where it all hinges. Everything I've said before,
I'm going to say the rest of this message, all hinges right
here. The death of a believer is precious because Christ is
precious. 1 Peter 2 verse 7. Under you,
therefore, which believe he is precious. Under you, which believe
Christ, the word there is preciousness. He is preciousness itself. The Lord Jesus Christ is everything
that's precious. Would you say life is precious?
Christ is my life. Would you say the resurrection
is precious? Christ is my resurrection. How about wisdom? Righteousness,
sanctification, redemption. Christ does that to me. And since
Christ is precious, you who believe on Him, I promise you, you will
receive the end, the goal, the expected end of your salvation,
which is being made just like Christ and being with Him forever. Back in the previous chapter,
1 Peter 1 verse 9, receiving the end of your faith. even the
salvation of your soul. You're going to receive that
and be made just like Christ. That makes the death of the believer
precious to the Lord and precious to the believer, too. I long
to be made like Christ, don't you? I mean, I long. And Sean,
I've got no idea what I'm saying. I mean, got no idea. Oh, It's just beyond human comprehension,
the glory of being made just like Christ. That day is precious
to the believer. To be made instantly like Christ. We're willing, just like the
Apostle Paul said, to be absent from this body and to be present
with Christ. Buddy, that'll be glory for me.
To be present with Christ. I ain't gonna care about streets
of gold and pearly gates and big crowds. To see Him. That will be glory for me. The death of the believer is
precious because at the moment of death, that very moment, the
believer is instantly made just like Christ. And then we'll see
things like the Lord seen all along and it will be precious
to us. That day will be precious to
the believer. Because then we'll be like Christ and we will not
be like Adam anymore. Mike just sang about the Lord
preparing for us a mansion. And you know, you've been well
taught that that word mansion means it's a dwelling place.
It's not a great big house. You know, everybody's not going
to have the $10 million house or whatever. It's not something.
Talking about a dwelling place, a body. I promise you this, that
body we have there is going to be a mansion compared to this
shack. It could be a mansion. And then, oh then, We will finally
be free from sin, from thoughts of sin, from the effects of sin.
We'll be free from sin. We'll be free from every disease
and every sickness. No more flu shots. We'll be free
from every pain. No more acetaminophen. We'll
be free from seeing through a glass darkly. And then we'll see Christ
face to face. No more eyeglasses. We'll be
free from anxiety, worry, fear, depression, and doubt. No more
narcotics. No more commercials saying, well,
we can help you with your anxiety. We're going to cause you 50 other
symptoms. No more. As our dear brother Scott Richardson
said, no more birthdays. No more birthdays. No more getting
older and weaker. To have the do of youth. just
like Christ. Oh, that'll be precious. That's
precious. Right now, the seventh thing,
look at second Peter, second Peter. Chapter one. Verse four, the death of a believer
is precious because of God's precious promises. 2 Peter 1,
4, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that's in the world through lust.
Now you think about all of God's precious promises, every promise
God's ever made to a sinner, precious isn't it? God promised
to send his son to redeem his people from their sins and he
did it. Exactly what he did. God promised to send the Holy
Spirit to come and be the comforter of His people. Our Lord said,
if I go away, I'll send in a comforter. I'll send the Spirit to you.
He'll come and reveal Christ to His people and He's done it.
And you know He's still doing it. He's still revealing Christ
to His people. God's given us the promise of life that now
is and that which is to come. And He's still giving it, still
sustaining it, still giving it. God's made this promise too and
He's going to keep it. to make His people just like
His Son. Now here in this life, we've already been made partakers
of the divine nature. When we're given a new nature
and the new birth, we've been made partakers of the divine
nature. But then it'll be complete. Then that's the only nature we'll
have. We're not going to be dragging around this old nature of the
flesh anymore. That's God's promise to you who believe. And you can
bank on it. Just like Abraham believed God.
He believed in what God had promised He was able also to perform.
God's going to perform that because all the promises of God are in
Christ. See, Christ is precious. It's all hinges upon him. All
of God's promises are in Christ and in him they're yay and amen. So let's hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering. Why? For he's faithful to promise. He's faithful. And that includes
the death of these bodies. The moment of the believer's
death is God's promise to his people. And you know, it's also
the very moment our Savior himself prayed for. Remember in John
17, verse 24, he prayed, Father, I will. That they also whom thou
hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my
glory which thou hast given me. He prayed his people be taken
from this world to be with him. And the Father is going to grant
that request. We have a sick loved one, and we're going to
gather around and pray that the Lord heal him, aren't we? We're
going to pray that the Lord heal him. And while we're praying
that, the Savior may be praying, Father, I will. I will. Take him home to me. Brother,
they're going home. They're going home. Because that's
God's will for them. Our Savior personally prayed
for him. That's precious. And then here's the last thing.
Look at Revelation chapter 14. The death of a believer is precious
because their death is a blessing. It's God's blessing to them.
Revelation 14 verse 13. I heard a voice from heaven saying
unto me, right. Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, sayeth the Spirit, that
they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them. Oh, the death of the believer
is precious because it's a blessing. It's not a curse. I know it's
the result of the curse of sin, but it's not a curse to the believer.
There is no curse at all in the death of the believer. None.
Zero. Because Christ already died being
made a curse for us. He bore the curse away. When
Christ died, He took the stinger out of death. Here in the summertime,
somehow we get wasps or hornets or something in here, and I can
tell when there's one up there because everybody's watching
it. You know why you're watching it? That thing's got a stinger.
It'll come down here and get you. When Christ died, He took
the stinger out. You don't have to be, oh, where
is it? Christ took the stinger out.
He took it out. There's no harm. So all that's
left to the believer is blessing, blessing, rest, peace and joy. The death of the believer is
all blessing to them. But that doesn't feel like a
blessing to us here who are left behind, does it? No, it really
doesn't. We feel sorrow and loss, but
it's all blessing to them. It's blessing they finally finished
their course. They've finally been crowned
with righteousness and glory. They finished their course and
now they can rest. They had a desire for many years
to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Now they
have it. Now they're with him. He is precious. See, it's all a blessing to them,
isn't it? I hope next time that we face
the death of a dear loved one, who died in the faith, had a
good hope through grace, the Lord will bring these things
back to our minds, our heart, give us some comfort and assurance.
The death of the believer is precious. Maybe we'll be filled
with a little less anxiety and a little less sorrow because
we'll see things maybe a little bit like our Heavenly Father
sees them. You know, I don't know what it's
like to die. Never died, never talked to anybody
who has died. But I can just imagine the death of a believer
is like when you have a cast taken off an arm or legs, had
a broken bone and now that bone is healed. That cast has restricted
your movements for weeks, maybe months, maybe months. It's constantly
weighed you down. It's so heavy. When you got that
cast on, You can't do what you want to do. That caste stops
you. Just like sin stops the believer
from doing what we would. That's what Paul talked about
in Romans chapter 7. What I would, I do not. What
I would not, that's exactly what I do. I can't do what I want
to do. I can't stop sin. It's stopping me from doing what
I want to do. It's dragging me down. That caste
is chafed. and rubbed, and you got sores.
You got a stick padding and stuff around that thing. It's rubbing
you raw. Isn't that what sin does to this body? Makes it full
of wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. Last year, I mean, you all remember,
right? Our daughter Savannah was in
a very serious car wreck. She had all kinds of medical
apparatus on. One of the things she had on
was this She had a great big old cast on her hand and arm.
I was there the day it was appointed to have that thing taken off.
She was so excited. Oh my goodness, she was so happy.
I got to be the one to drive her down to have her cast taken
off. I told her, I've got to put another
one back on. I mean, driving that kid home. It was horrible.
Horrible. Like the believer thinking, oh,
I'm finally going to go home. The doctor says, oh, you're getting
better. You're getting better. I keep
the cast on. And then one day the cast comes off. The death
of this body must feel like the freedom and the lightness you
feel when they remove that cast and you're free. That's precious. Precious. Precious in the sight
of the Lord is the death of his saints. God help us to see it
like he does, like he precious does. Let's bow together. Our Father, we thank You for Your Word. We
thank You for the instruction in Your Word that teaches us
about this matter of death that we cannot know by nature, but
only by Your Word and by Your Spirit revealing it to us to
enable us to see the death of this body in the light of our
Lord Jesus Christ. who's already died for his people,
who's already given himself a sacrifice, a ransom to redeem his people
from their sin, who's already died the death that we deserve,
so that all that death is for the believer is graduation day,
to leave here and to be with him. Father, I pray that you'd
apply your word to our hearts, that you'd cause us to to see
Christ our Redeemer, how He died for us, to deliver us from death,
to deliver us from sin, to deliver us from every effect of sin,
cause us to rejoice in Him, to rest in Him, to hope in Him,
to have our hearts thrilled at the thought, the sound of His
gospel. Father, how we thank You. Pray. We pray, Father, that You would
apply this Word to our hearts and bring it to our remembrance
when we need it. to know that the death of your
dear children is precious. Father, it's in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and for His glory, we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right, Mike, you lead
us in a song, if you would. If you would, let's stand and sing
456. 456. We'll sing verses 1, 3, and 4. So precious is Jesus, my Savior,
my King. His praise all the day long with
rapture I sing, To Him in my weakness for strength I can cling,
For He is so precious, For He is so precious to me. For He is so precious to me. Tis heaven below my Redeemer
to know, For He is so precious to me. I stand on the mountain of blessing
at last, No cloud in the heavens, a shadow to cast His smile is
upon me, the valley is vast For He is so precious to me Lord, He is so precious to me. Lord, He is so precious to me. Tis heavenly love, my Redeemer,
to know. For He is so precious to me. I praise Him because He appointed
a place Where someday through faith in His wonderful grace
I know I shall see Him, shall look on His face for he is so
precious to me for he is so precious to me for he is