First Thessalonians chapter four. The title of the lesson this
morning is Comfort in Death. Now, the church at Thessalonica
had been established when Paul and Silas left Philippi and they
came to Thessalonica and they spent three whole weeks there
preaching Christ. And from what we read, we read
that a multitude of Greeks believed, you know, the chief women, not
a few. But of course, as is always the case, many did not believe.
And they hated the gospel that Paul and Silas preached so much.
They caused a riot throughout the whole city. Paul and Silas
had to get out of town at night. And from there, that's when they
went to the noble Bereans who were more noble than those in
Thessalonica because they searched the scriptures to see if these
things be so. And now sometime later, Paul
writes his first letter back to the Thessalonian believers.
to strengthen their understanding in some key doctrines. He writes
to them of the doctrine of election. He writes to them about the believers
walk through this earth, through this world. He writes to them
about how pastors are to care for the congregation, how they're
to preach the gospel to the congregation and how the congregation is to
love the pastor in return. And he writes to them about the
death of these bodies and the resurrection of these bodies
when the Lord returns, and that's where I want us to look at a
little bit this morning. Now, these at Thessalonica must
have come under quite a bit of attack for believing the gospel
of Christ. One thing we know that unbelievers
often mock is they mock the truth of Christ's return. Where is
the promise of his coming? All things remain the same as
from our fathers. And they often mock the resurrection
of the dead. How could these bodies ever be
raised from the dead? But, you know, before either
of those things can happen, before the Lord will return, before
these bodies are resurrected, we've got to die. Unless the
Lord returns first, these bodies must die. And all of us wonder
what happens when we die. And you know, we wonder that
because we really don't know a whole lot about what happens
when we die, because the word is largely silent on it. It just
doesn't tell us much about it. And we haven't experienced it
yet. We don't know anybody that's
experienced it. So we don't know what happens when we die. But
we don't have to be ignorant about some things. We don't have
to be ignorant about things about death and what will happen after
we die. We don't have to be ignorant about Christ's return, what happens
when he returns. We don't have to be ignorant
about the resurrection of these bodies. And we also don't have
to be without comfort when it comes to our death or the death
of our loved ones who know Christ. We don't have to be without comfort
about the things that will happen after we die. Look here first
at verse 13 of chapter four. Paul says, I'm sorry, verse 13,
but I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning
them which are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which
have no hope. I told you not too long ago that
false prophets, they do not prepare people to die. They have a message
that's all for this life, telling you how to live this life, how
to be richer, how to be happier, how to have more friends, but
they don't prepare you to die. They don't tell you what it is
to die, why we die, what was the believer's hope when we die.
And that's what I want to talk to you about this morning, about
dying and the believer's comfort in death. Now, Scripture tells
us about three kinds of death, and all three are very closely
related. The first one is spiritual death. God created Adam, put
him in the garden, and he told Adam, you got to run to the place. And there's just one law, just
one rule. Don't eat of the fruit of the
tree that's in the midst of the garden, the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. And Adam, in the day you eat that fruit, thou
shalt surely die. And literally translated, that
is dying, thou shalt die. Adam, the moment you eat that
fruit, you will begin to die physically. And you'll instantly
die spiritually. And that's exactly what happened.
The moment Adam took that fruit, He died spiritually and he began
dying physically. It took 900 years for sin to
kill that body, but about 900 years later he died. And he died
physically because he became spiritually dead. Now to be spiritually
dead, what is that? Well to be spiritually dead is
to hate God. That's just what Adam and Eve
did when they died spiritually. They began to hate God. The carnal
mind is enmity against God. They began to hate God. They
blamed God for their sin. And then to be spiritually dead
is to be ignorant of who God is. And you think about it. Adam
knew God. Adam walked with God in the cool. Adam and God talked. That fellowship went with another.
Adam knew God. But when he ate that fruit, suddenly
Adam was ignorant of who God is. What did they do when God
came in the cool that day? They hid in the bushes. You think
you can hide from God in a bush? They did because they're suddenly
ignorant of who God is. They're ignorant of who God is.
They tried to cover their shame with the fig leaves of their
own works, and they thought it might work. This just might work. Why did they think that? They're
ignorant of who God is. They're ignorant of his all-seeing
eye. They're ignorant of his holiness,
the righteousness that he requires. Suddenly, Adam knew God. And
suddenly, he's spiritually dead and he was ignorant of the character
of God. You go back and you read that
story again of Adam, the fall of Adam. Never one time did Adam
ask for forgiveness or mercy. You know why? He's ignorant of
the character of God. Adam died spiritually and all
of us died in it because Adam is our representative. Adam passed
that spiritually dead nature right on to all of us because
that's all he had to pass on, spiritual deadness. He died spiritually. Well, the second death we read
about in scripture is physical death. And that's the death we're
all pretty well acquainted with. We've all been to the funeral
home and seen lots of corpses lying there in the casket. Physical
death is when the life that's in this body leaves it. And that's
a mystery to us, but the life that's in this shell leaves it
and the flesh returns back to its dust. And these bodies die
because we sin. We die because we're spiritually
dead. We're full of sin. Where there's
sin, there's always death. The wages of sin is death. That's why these physical bodies
die, because we live in sin with them. Well, the third death that
scripture tells us about is eternal death, or the second death. The
apostle John wrote in Revelation 20, verse 14, that he saw that
death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. He said, this
is the second death. The second death is eternal death. eternity separated from God. Whatever hell is, hell is separation
from God. That's the second death, eternal
death. It's eternal separation from God. And that's the three
deaths that are taught in scripture. Well, is there any hope of escaping
that death of any of the three? Is there any hope? Isn't that
what Job asked? If a man dies, shall he live
again? If a man die, is there hope for life? Is there hope
for spiritual life? Is there hope for physical life?
Is there hope for eternal life? Thankfully, yes, there is. There's
one hope, one hope of life, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look over
at 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Remember the three kinds of death,
spiritual, eternal and physical. In Christ, there's deliverance
from spiritual death. The Savior said, I'm come that
they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.
1 Corinthians 15 verse 21. For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. How can a
sinner be made spiritually alive in Christ? The exact same way
we became dead in Adam, through representation. We became spiritually
dead by Adam's sin, didn't we? Well, we become spiritually alive.
We have spiritual life through the obedience of Christ. If you
look at Romans chapter 5, I'll show you that. We become spiritually
alive by Christ's obedience. The same way we became spiritually
dead through Adam's disobedience. Romans chapter 5, verse 17. I'm
getting the right chapter here. For if
by one man's offense death reigned by one, much more, they which
receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness
shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the
offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation,
even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon
all men under justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. That if sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. We become spiritually alive through
the obedience of Christ. That's spiritual death, spiritual
death. Then in Christ, there's deliverance from eternal death.
There's in Christ, there's deliverance from punishment in hell. There's
deliverance from being separated from God. Christ came to this
earth as a man and he did for his people what they could never
do for themselves. He kept the law and he gave that
obedience, his personal obedience to the law as a man. He gave
it to his people and then he took their sin. What a trade. He traded his righteousness,
his obedience for the sin of his people. And then he died
in their place as the substitute for his people to put their sin
away. So that's how the Lord Jesus Christ delivers his people
from hell. He suffered it for them on the
cross. He was separated from God at Calvary. He cried, my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? At that moment, he was suffering
hell. He was suffering, suffering separation
from God for his people. So they'd never be separated
from the father. And now the law is satisfied. He gave us
his obedience. He died to put away our sin.
And everyone for whom Christ died must have eternal life. They can't die because Christ
already died for them. And in the judgment, they won't
be cast into the lake of fire. They've been delivered from that
in Christ, their Savior. And if you look in John chapter
three, I'll show you how we lay hold on that eternal life. We
lay hold on that eternal life by faith in Christ. John chapter three, verse 36. He that believeth on the son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. That's how
we lay hold on the spiritual life is through faith in Christ. So anyone who's in Christ, they've
been delivered from spiritual death and from eternal death.
But you remember, there was a third kind of death, physical death.
What about physical death? What about the death of these
bodies? Unless Christ returns, like I told you, unless he returns
first, all of us must die. There's going to be a funeral
service for every one of us. Unless Christ returns first,
flesh always dies. The flesh has to die because
it's full of sin. That's all we are seeing. The
flesh has got to die. Well, is there any comfort for
the believer? Is there any comfort for the
believer for our own death or the death of our loved ones who
died in Christ? Is there any comfort in this
physical death? Yes, there is. Yes, the flesh must die, but
our comfort is Christ. The Savior has already taken
the sting of death away. So there's no reason for the
believer to fear death. Christ removed the sting of it.
He removed the curse of it. It can't harm you, can't touch
you. Matter of fact, since Christ
died for us, the believer has every reason to look forward
to death with anticipation. It's like we, when I was a kid,
oh, how I anticipated Christmas. And it seemed like it was forever
in coming. Well, that's kind of the way
the believer looks forward to death. It's going to be Christmas
time. Oh, great game to go home and
be with the Savior. We can look forward to death
because the only way we can get from here to there, the only
way that we can get from being like Adam to being perfectly
like Christ is to lay down this body and go be with him to die. Now, here's some comfort for
the believer in death. Death is never lost. You know,
we talk about our loss if a loved one dies. You know, it's our
time of loss. But it's not loss for the believer. For the believer
to die is great gain. Look over in Philippians chapter
1. For the believer to die is great gain. You believe that,
don't you? Every child of God does. Well,
I have to tell you, I believe that. But at this very moment,
I prefer not to die. I mean, quite honestly. I mean,
that's just so. Well, should I feel bad about
not wanting to die right now? Is that some sort of lack of
faith? I know it's great game, but I
don't want to die right now. Should I feel bad about that?
Earlier this year, I watched one of my daughters get married.
I'd like to live to see the other one get married. I'd like to
live to see them and enjoy married life. I'd like to live till they
give me grandbabies. You know, I'd like that. I really
would. I'd like to stay here long enough
to spend time with this church family, to be with you in happy
times or sad times. I'd like to be with you and see
God bless you, see God call out his people. I like that a great
deal. really would choose not to die
at this very moment, even though it's great gain. You feel that
way, don't you? You feel that way about your
families, about the family. Of course you do. Should I feel bad about that?
Absolutely not. Look what the Apostle Paul said
in Philippians 1 verse 21. 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. If it was up to me, Paul said, I just don't know what
I would choose for because I'm in a straight betwixt two. I've
got a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
It's far better for me if I can depart and be with Christ. Nevertheless,
to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. Now, Paul knew
it was better for these Philippian believers and other places where
he would go preach. It was better for them that he
stay, that he be with them, that he preach to them. Just like
you and your family. You know, it's better for you,
Jonathan. It's better for you. You've got a young family. It's
better for you that you stay. It's better for them you stay
with them and raise them and teach them and provide for them.
But if the Lord calls us home, that's just fine. That's just
fine. That happens. We're not going
to mourn like we don't have any hope. No, we're not going to
do that. For us, it'll be great gain if
the Lord calls us home. And you know what? The Lord will
take care of our family. Those we leave behind, He'll
take care of them a whole lot better than we would anyway.
See that? That's the believer's relationship
with death. For the believer to die is greater
gain. Paul said, for me to die is gain. We can't even imagine how great
that gain really is. To leave this flesh and go be
with the Lord. I think the best way we can describe
how great and unspeakable that gain is, is to say with David,
I'll be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. That is great
gain. To leave all this and awake in
the likeness of Christ. Great gain. greater than we can
even imagine or say. Now, let's turn back to our text,
1 Thessalonians 4. Let's look at these verses and
see if we can't learn something about the believer's relationship
with death. Verse 13. But I would not have
you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. Now,
when a loved one who dies knows the Lord, we sorrow, don't we? And don't feel bad about that.
It's perfectly natural to sorrow, to mourn and cry and lament. Our Lord wept at Lazarus' tomb.
Now, he didn't weep at Lazarus' tomb like you and I weep at the
tomb of the loved one. I think he was weeping because
he knew he was going to bring Lazarus back. But there was emotion there
that our Lord himself wept. Abraham mourned for Sarah. Israel
They wept and mourned for Moses when he died. It's just natural
that we sorrow and mourn. But you remember this when we
mourn. We're mourning our loss. Not that loved one. Not that
they knew the Lord. We're not mourning their loss.
We cry for ourselves, but don't you cry for them. Now they're
better off. And we who have a good hope through
grace, we don't mourn because our loved one's not lost forever. We don't mourn like we don't
have a comforter either. Now, this thing I see on TV,
I guess it's a custom over there in the Middle East. They flail
around and sling themselves on the ground and do all these things.
Walter Groover tells me in Mexico when somebody dies, they dig
the grave and they jump down there in it and dance and foam
at the mouth and just, you know, it's this huge ordeal. Now, we
don't mourn like that. We don't mourn like we don't
have a comforter. No. You may say goodbye to a dear
husband, but don't you mourn like you don't have one. Christ
is your husband. We may say goodbye to a dearly
beloved father, but don't you mourn like you don't have comfort
now. God's your father. We may mourn the loss of one
who dies. It's the provision, the work,
you know, that they can go out and do and provide for us. But
don't you mourn like you don't have a comforter. The Lord will
provide, come on, and he'll provide. And the basis of our hope is
a very good hope, because our hope is Christ, Christ himself.
Look at verse 14. For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with him. Now here's our hope and confidence.
This is so fascinating to me. Paul says the Lord died. And
then when he says here, Jesus died, but he doesn't say the
believer's dead, did he? He says the believer's asleep.
The believer's asleep, but Jesus died. The believer can never
die. The believer just is asleep because
Christ, our savior, already died for us as our substitute. We
already died in him, so we can't die again. Now, yes, these physical
bodies will die. We've got to lay this dust down. But the believer can never die.
Not you. You can't die spiritually or
eternally if Christ died for you. And that's why I say there's
no reason to fear death. The sting's gone. Matter of fact,
there's every reason to look forward to it. But this is the
question that people have. Well, where did my loved one
go when they died? They're not here in this body
anymore. You see that? This body's lifeless. They're
not in this body. So where did they go? Well, if
they knew the Lord, they went to be with him, didn't they?
See, there's no such thing as soul sleep. There's no such thing
as ghosts of departed loved ones, departed people roaming the earth. There's no such thing. Now, there
could be demons or something, but there's not ghosts of people
who died and gone on. Because scripture says to be
absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Not roaming
this earth looking for something. Not a ghost, you know, watching
over you. No, to be absent from the body
is to be present with the Lord. And Paul says when the Lord returns,
he's bringing them with him. They're with him now, and he'll
bring them with him when he comes. Well, then people wondered, well,
okay, their body's here. They're with the Lord. Are they
Disembodied? Are they ghosts or spirits? I
mean, what are they? Well, they're not disembodied.
They're not ghosts. Remember when Moses and Elijah
appeared at the Mount of Transfiguration? They appeared as Moses and Elijah. They came to talk to the Lord
about what he would accomplish by his death in Jerusalem. Moses
and Elijah were themselves. Same's true of everybody else
in glory. They're themselves. And when we get there one day,
we're going to be ourselves. We're going to know each other.
We'll be ourselves. Well, if we're ourselves there
right now, their bodies in the in the grave, what kind of body
do they have? We'll look over second Corinthians
chapter five. I don't know what kind of body
that they have, but I know that they're that they're not naked.
I know that they're not. They're clothed with some sort
of body. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 1. For we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building
of God and house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with
our house, our body, which is from heaven. If so be that being
clothed, we should not be found naked. For we that are in this
tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not for that we should be unclothed,
but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
Now he that hath wrought hath prepared us for this selfsame
thing as God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
Therefore, we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at
home in the body, we're absent from the Lord. For we walk by
faith, not by sight. We're confident, I say, and willing
rather, to be absent from the body and to be present with the
Lord. Now, whatever state body that
they're in, they have some sort of body. They're not naked. They're
clothed with some sort of house from heaven. And whatever kind
of body the saints have in glory right now, when Christ returns,
he's going to bring them with him and they're going to be joined
to their resurrected body. They're going to be reunited
with those bodies in glorified bodies. And it's in those bodies. that we will be with the Lord
forever. That's what Job said. He said,
I know my Redeemer living. And even though my skin worms
are going to destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see the
Lord and not another. He won't be a stranger. I'm going
to see him in this flesh. Now it'll be glorified flesh,
but it's going to be this body. Well, all right. What about those
who are still living when Christ returns? I see the death and
the resurrection, but But what about those who are still living
when Christ returns? What will happen to them? Oh,
verse 15. Back in our text, verse Thessalonians
4. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we
which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall
not prevent them which are asleep. And that word prevent is an old
English word, which means precede. We who are alive and remain,
we will not proceed. We will not go to meet Christ
in the air first. First, those who are dead in
Christ shall be raised. That's what will happen first.
But we've got to be changed. Those who are alive and remain
must be changed. If anybody's going to go to glory,
now we've got to be changed. This corruption must put on incorruption. We know that corruption cannot
inherit incorruption. So the dead will be changed.
We have some understanding of that process, don't we? They'll
be changed and their bodies will be raised in incorruption. And
we know something about that from the seed being planted in
the ground. What grows up out of the ground,
what's raised up out of the ground, is something a whole lot more
glorious than that dried, dead, little shriveled up seed you
put in the ground, isn't it? Well, the same thing is true of those
who are dead in Christ. They're going to be raised in
a body much more glorious than the body we buried under the
ground, much more glorious. We've got some concept of that
process from farming, planting crops, planting seeds and seeing
crops grow. But now all those who are living
when Christ returns, they've got to be changed too, don't
they? And they're changed, they will be changed in some way,
some process we don't know anything about right now. Paul said in
1 Corinthians 15 that that's a mystery. How that change happens,
it's a mystery. But he said we will be changed.
In a twinkling of an eye, we're gonna be suddenly made incorruptible.
But now how that happens, Paul says it's a mystery. It's good
enough for me that God says it's gonna happen. And that's all
we need to know. Now, our society today, is so
taken up with the end of this world. I mean, you just turn
on your TV and surf through the channels and my goodness, you
always find something about the end of the world, a movie, a
documentary or something, you know. And they imagine and they
try to put on the screen all these horrible events that just
scare the living daylights out of people. Don't get caught up in it. Brethren,
don't get caught up in it. The believer has no reason to
fear death, and the believer has no reason to fear the end
of the world. I'll tell you what the end of
the world will mean. The end of the world will mean
our Savior himself has returned for his people. Look at verse
16. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God and
the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive
and remain should be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the
Lord. Now the Lord himself, not angels
now, the Lord himself will return. How comforting is that thought?
When our daughter Holly began kindergarten, we dropped her
off, and Janet told her, now you stay here, and I'll be back
to get you when it's time. Not somebody else. I'll be back
to get you when it's time. Through the day, one of the other
little girls started to cry. She was scared. She started to
cry. And Holly was happy. I mean, she was loving it, man.
But suddenly she thought, oh, well, this little girl's crying.
Maybe I ought to cry. She shook it off. She said, no, mama said
she'll be back to get me when it's time. And that was a comfort
to her. Brethren, our father is coming
back himself to gather us to himself and bring us where he
is. That's comforting. Sometimes
I want to cry and then at the It's all right. He's coming back
when it's time. He won't be late. The Lord himself
will return with a shout, the shout of a conquering king to
claim his final victory. Death's finally going to be put
away. All three of them finally put away. The trump shall sound,
the battle trump shall sound. It's going to sound loud enough
to wake the dead and those who are dead in Christ to be raised
from the grave. Those believers who remain will
be changed. And we're going to meet the Lord
in the air. Just exactly like He ascended
on high after He was resurrected and He ascended back on high.
We're going to ascend to meet Him in the clouds. And we'll
be in heaven with Him. We wonder what heaven will be
like. What will we do there? What's
it going to be like? Who cares? Paul says, so shall we ever be
with the Lord, worshiping him perfectly, singing his praises
perfectly, forever beholding his face. Who cares what else
is going on? Who cares what anything else
looks like? We will be forever with the Lord. Now wherefore,
because all this is true, verse 18, wherefore, comfort one another
with these words. Comfort one another with these
words at all times. And especially in times of sorrow
and loss when a loved one dies. Comfort one another with these
words. These words of comfort and what
death really is and what hope the believer has of life in Christ. What comfort the believer has
through Christ our Savior. Comfort one another with these
words. All right, the Lord bless you.