talk about the death of a believer,
suffering and the death of a believer. I did not intend for this lesson
and this message, which has largely the same subject, to fall on
the same day, but God did. So there will be some things
I repeat in the message that you hear in the lesson this morning,
but this must be a message that we need to hear for these to
fall on the same day in the will of the Lord. The title of the
lesson this morning is Comfort in the Death of Believers. Now
death is a very big part of life on this earth. Sin has brought
forth death and we face death constantly. We deal with death
constantly. Every form of life on this planet
dies. Plant life dies. Animal life
dies. Humans die. If you look in Genesis
chapter 5, Sin is brought forth death. Sin in Adam brought forth
death. In Genesis chapter 5 we have
the genealogy of Adam. This is what happened in Adam
because of Adam's sin. It's death. Genesis 5 verse 5. And all the days that Adam lived
were 930 years. And he died. Verse 8. And all the days of Seth were
912 years. And he died. Verse 11, all the days of Enos
were 905 years, and he died. Verse 14, and all the days of
Canaan were 910 years, and he died. You see the pattern? You
get the point? That same account is given four
more times in this chapter. So and so lived X number of years,
and he died. We all died because of sin. Now, there are many things about
death that we don't understand, that it's a mystery to us, you
know, what happens immediately after we die, you know, so many
things are a mystery to us. But there are some things about
death that a believer is not to be ignorant of. There are
some things that are not to be a mystery to us. So that for
this reason, we're not overcome with grief when a believer dies. Now look at verse 13 in our text,
1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 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 don't be ignorant
of this. The death of the body is just
temporary. The death of the body is called
sleep. That's what the Apostle calls it here. Them which are
asleep, he's referring to those who have died. When Lazarus died,
this will be our text this morning, our Lord said he's asleep and
I'm going to awake him out of sleep. So a believer is not destroyed
when his body dies. Now our body's going to go back
to the dust from which it was made, but the believer's not
destroyed. He's just sleeping. He's resting. When we sleep,
we rest. And when a believer dies, he's
asleep. He's resting from all his troubles
and his trials and his work here in this life. He's asleep. He's unaware of what's going
on around his body because he's asleep. But he will wake again. Sleep is always temporary. We
wake up again. On Sunday afternoons, Janet goes
and takes a nap. I try not to take a nap. If I
take a nap, I'm up until three o'clock in the morning. I try
not to. She goes and takes a nap. Why don't weep and mourn when
she's taking a nap? She's going to wake up again.
It's just sleep. That's what David said. I'm going
to sleep, but I'll be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. When we awake, our sleep will
be changed. And death is called sleeping.
Now the body sleeps. Don't be mistaken about this.
The soul does not sleep. This matter of soul sleep is
heresy. The body sleeps. The soul does
not sleep. The soul is alive with the Lord. What does Paul say in verse 14?
They're asleep in Jesus. They sleep safe in Christ. They're resting in Christ. They're
safe in the person and the work and the power of Christ. They're
not lost. They're with the Lord. They sleep
in Christ. And they've died. Their bodies
have died. But don't think they're a loser. They're not a loser.
They've gained everything. They sleep in Christ. They're
with Christ. They sleep in union with Christ. A believer's in union with Christ. Y'all who believe, you're in
union with Christ right now. Well, those who are sleeping
in Christ, that union hasn't changed. They sleep in Christ
with union with Christ. And that union never ends. The
soul does not sleep. What did our Lord tell the thief
on the cross? Today, thou shalt thou be with me in paradise. Today, you are going to be with
me in paradise. His soul, his body died, but
his soul didn't sleep. Paul said to be absent from the
body is what? Well, waiting on the Lord to
return. No. To be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord. Paul said he had a desire to
what? Depart and be with Christ. Not
depart and lie in the grave and wait for Christ to return. I
have a desire to depart and be with Christ. That's far better.
So only the body sleeps. The soul does not sleep. The
soul is with the Lord. Well, people want to debate that
and talk about that. Well, they can't be with the
Lord because what form do they take? You know, I have no idea. I mean, just none. But it doesn't
matter. All that matters is this, they're
with the Lord. That's all that matters, whatever
form they take. So Paul says sorrow not. Don't be overcome
with sorrow when a believer dies. Now he doesn't mean that our
sorrow is forbidden when a loved one dies. We do feel sorrow. We're sorry for ourselves. You
know, we've lost their companionship. We can't fellowship with them
anymore. Just all these different things. But it's all about ourselves. You know, what we've lost, not
what they've lost. And that sorrow is just natural.
Abraham mourned and wept for Sarah. Joseph, when Jacob died,
he wept. All Egypt mourned Jacob for 40
days when he died. Israel wept for Moses 30 days
when he died. The Lord Jesus himself wept at
the tomb of Lazarus. So sorrow is not forbidden. Weeping
and mourning are just natural. But excessive mourning, now that
is forbidden. It's not honoring to the Lord.
Excessive mourning. We sorrow, but our sorrow is
tempered by a good hope. A good hope through grace. We
don't sorrow like all is lost, like all hope is lost, because
all hope is not lost. We have a good hope through grace.
And there's five reasons here why we're not to be overcome
with grief when a believer dies. Is that five or four? Four. The first one is this. We don't,
we're not overcome with sorrow when a believer dies. Because
we have this good hope through grace. That's what we see in
verse 14. For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them which sleep in Jesus will
God bring with him. Now what can be more comforting
than knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ died and rose again for
you? Look in 1 Corinthians 15. The
death and the resurrection of Christ is the foundation of our
faith. And if God saves you, you believe
this. Christ died, was buried, and
rose again for you. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel, which I preached unto you, which also you have
received, and wherein you stand, by which also you are saved,
if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, lest you believe in
vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also
received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the
And he was buried and he rose again the third day according
to the Scriptures. Now what can be more comforting
than that? Besides that being the foundation of our faith,
that's not just doctrine. What can be more comforting than
that? Knowing that Christ died for you. He suffered and he died
for you, for your sins. And he was buried and he rose
again for you. He rose again for your justification.
If Christ died and rose again for you, your sin's gone. What can be more comforting than
that? Whatever else happens, as painful and as much as we
may not like it, whatever else happens, does it really matter? I mean, really? It doesn't if
your sin's been put away. This thing's going to end out
best for you. So good. You'll be with the Lord.
Now, there are three kinds of death that are mentioned in scripture.
First of all, there's spiritual death. Spiritual death is separation
of the soul from God. And if you're still in 1 Corinthians
15, look at verse 22. That's what happened because
of Adam's sin. The soul was separated from God. For as in Adam, all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. That's spiritual
death because of sin. The soul is separated from God.
The second kind of death mentioned in scripture is eternal death.
Eternal death is the separation of the body and soul from God
for all of eternity. And the believers deliver from
both those deaths, spiritual death and eternal death. And
we've been made alive in Christ and we have eternal life so we
can never perish. Christ died and was raised again
for our justification. Sin's gone. You can't have spiritual
death. You've been given spiritual life.
And you've been given eternal life in Christ, so you can't
ever suffer eternal death. But the third death mentioned
in scripture is physical death. Physical death is a separation
of the soul from the body. Now, no one, not even a believer,
is exempt from this physical death, the separation of the
soul from the body. And when a believer dies, we
ought not be overcome with grief. Because physical death is not
eternal death. not spiritual death, because
we have a good hope through the grace that's found in our Lord
Jesus Christ. Christ died for us, so we can't
die eternally. God, who cannot lie, has promised
eternal life to his people, so we have no reason to fear death.
The second reason not to be overcome with grief when a believer dies
is this is just temporary. We'll see Him again. Yes, they're
asleep in Jesus, but we will see them again. Paul says, even
so, them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with them. We're going to see Him again.
Now, you believe that Christ died and rose again, don't you?
You believe that? Well, then everyone in Christ
is going to do the same thing. They're going to die and they're
going to be raised again, too. And we'll see them again. Those
who die in the faith are with our Lord at this very moment.
So there's a good reason not to be overcome with grief. And
when He returns, He's going to bring them with Him. And we're
going to see them again. Now, clearly, the most important
thing about the Lord's return is we're going to see the Lord.
I mean, we're going to see the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going
to see the Savior. I mean, I don't know how much
you're going to care about anything else once you see the Savior.
What glory? Oh, I can't wait. But we will
see those who died in the Lord too. We'll see others and we'll
worship God together with them. We'll see our loved ones who
died in the faith. Look at 2 Samuel 12. We'll see
them again. 2 Samuel 12, let's begin reading
in verse 15. And Nathan departed unto his
house, and the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife barren
to David, and it was very sick. David therefore besought God
for the child, and David fasted. He went in and lay all night
upon the earth. He was mourning, begging God for mercy for this
child. And the elders of his house arose
and went to him to raise him up from the earth, but he would
not. Neither did he eat bread with them, just overcome with
grief. And it came to pass on the seventh
day that the child died. And the servants of David feared
to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, Behold,
while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he did
not hearken unto our voice. How will he then vex himself
if we tell him the child is dead? But when David saw his servants
whisper, David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore
David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said,
he's dead. Then David arose from the earth
and washed and anointed himself and changed his apparel and he
came into the house of the Lord and he worshipped. He worshipped. Then he came to
his own house and when he required, they set bread before him and
he did eat. Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this
that thou hast done? Why didst thou fast and weep
for the child while it was alive? But when the child was dead,
thou didst rise and eat bread. And he said, while the child
was yet alive, I fasted and wept. For I said, who can tell whether
God will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he's
dead. Wherefore should I fast? Why
should I be overcome with grief? Can I bring him back again? No.
I shall go to him. He shall not return to me, not
in this life, but I'm going to go to him. I'm going to see him
again. And that's the comfort to a believer.
When a believer dies, we're going to see him again. We'll either
see Him in glory or God's going to bring Him back. But one way
or another, we're going to see Him again. Now, the third reason
not to be overcome with grief when a believer dies is unless
we live until Christ returns, the only way we can get rid of
this body of sin is to die. That's the only way to get rid
of it. Look at verse 15 in our text. 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, should not prevent, and that's
an old English word that means proceed. We should not proceed
them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, and the voice of the archangel, and
the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Now
this, Paul says, by special revelation of the Lord. So we don't have
to be ignorant about this. This is not speculation of the
apostle. This is given to him by special
revelation from God. Now, we're in this body of sin,
but this flesh cannot come into the presence of God. I mean,
it's too full of sin. And we say too full of sin, Wayne,
one's too many. I mean, any sin is too much.
We cannot be in the presence of God in this flesh. Flesh and
blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Corruption cannot inherit
incorruption. So this corruptible must put
on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality. And that's done through the death
of this body. We've got to get rid of this
body and be raised again. The Lord give us a new body.
And when the dead in Christ are raised, they're going to be raised
in a perfect body. They're going to come out of
the grave in a perfect body, body and soul perfect, just like
our Lord Jesus Christ, just like His body. Well, then why should I be overcome
with grief when that process begins? That process of being
given a body, just like our Lord, begins with the death of this
body of sin. Rather than be overcome with
grief, I ought to be happy about it. Now, in this flesh, we can't. We're going to be sorry for ourselves,
but we have reason to rejoice. That process of being made, just
like Christ, has begun. And believers who are still alive
when this happens, when our Lord returns, they're going to see
All this happened. They're going to see the graves
open. They're going to see the dead in Christ rise. And then
they'll be changed, too. And that change, I don't know
anything about it other than this. That change is going to
accomplish the same thing as the death and the resurrection
of the body. They're going to work, will be changed and into
a body just like our Lord will be changed, but not first. We won't precede them which are
asleep. The dead in Christ will be raised
first, then those who are still living, then they'll be changed.
And you see how scripture describes this? The Lord's going to descend
with a shout, with the shout of a mighty victor. That's the
way that word is defined, the shout of a mighty victor. I thought
about basketball players, you know, they hit a big shot, they
do something great and they just let out this primal scream, they
just roar. That's the shout of the mighty
victor. The Lord Jesus Christ is going to give the shout of
the mighty victor. And everybody's going to hear
it. And the trump of God shall sound. Everyone will hear it. That trump's going to wake up
everybody who's sleeping. And it's going to call everyone
who's living to appear before Christ. Now, verse 17. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the air. to meet the
Lord in the air. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. So shall we ever be with the
Lord." Now, at this time, it does not appear that the Lord
will actually descend all the way to the earth. The earth is
not fit to receive him. He's still in the air. This world
is still full of sin and it's got to be purged with fire before
he descends to And after that is purged with fire, then there'll
be a new heavens and a new earth where Christ will dwell with
his saints. So all his people, they're going to be, they're
only left here. They're going to be caught up to meet the Lord
in the air, ascending up in the air to be with Christ. Very similar
to the way the Lord ascended back to the father and he ascended
up into the clouds. There's no reason to fear that.
And here's the fourth reason. Not to be overcome with grief
when a believer dies. We'll never do this again, ever. So shall we ever be with the
Lord. Now, spiritual resurrection,
the giving of spiritual life to a dead sinner and a new birth,
that guarantees our physical resurrection. Not simply the
resurrection of our physical body. That's going to happen
to everybody. But this is a resurrection. If God has resurrected you to
spiritual life, Then your body will be resurrected to eternal
glory. Eternal life and eternal glory.
Never to depart from the Lord again. And never to depart from
each other again. You think about being forever
with the Lord. With nothing between. It's not
like now. You have union with Christ now.
We have in the Spirit now. But it's limited, isn't it? There
won't be in spirit, there will be in person, forever with the
Lord. We see Christ now through faith. There we won't have faith, forever
with the Lord. See Him in person. And it's not
seeing just a little bit. We see a little bit, very little
bit. It's through a glass darkly,
but then face to face, forever with the Lord. Forever. without interruption. Our worship
services are a blessing to us, aren't they? I mean, I look forward,
I hope you all do, I look forward to our worship services. But
they're interrupted, aren't they? We can only stay here just, you
know, Sunday mornings, a couple hours, and we've got to go. You
know, the flesh has all it can take. You know, we've got to
go eat. They're interrupted. We've got to go back out in the
world again. We can enjoy our Sunday worship service. But you
know what happens after every Sunday? Monday, I go back to
work. I go back. Yes, all the responsibilities. It's like it's interrupted We
have fellowship with each other here and we enjoy all we enjoy
but it's interrupted. We got to go back home We got
a you know, eventually that fellowship be interrupted by death. There's
people that we just enjoy being with them in the past Lord's
calling home. We don't fellowship with them
or that fellowships been interrupted for a time but there no more
One of my favorite things I've ever heard Brother Henry say
at a funeral is, we won't do this there forever with the Lord. Forever. Verse 18, wherefore? Comfort one another with these
words. You know, all this was not written so that we would
know all the events of Christ's return. We know something somebody
else doesn't know. This was written for the believer's
comfort. when a believer dies. Now, what
about when an unbeliever dies? I don't have a lot of help for
you there, to tell you the truth. I do find three things in God's
Word that may be helpful. We find comfort in the fact that
the judge of all the earth will do right. Secondly, we find comfort
in this. The Lord's going to give us grace
to bow to His will. Eventually. It takes some time,
but eventually, eventually David bowed to God's will in the death
of Absalom. He knew Absalom did not know
the Lord, but eventually God gave him grace to bow to his
will. And third is this. We find comfort
in the presence of the Lord. Now, whoever it is, a believer,
unbeliever, only God can comfort your heart. I mean, I can tell
you these things. We weep with you, cry with you,
bring you food, we'll sit with you. But only God can comfort
your heart. And He will. His presence comforts
the heart of a believer. So comfort one another with these
words. When believers die, they're not destroyed. They're with Christ. This body, flesh, and sin is
going to be destroyed, but they're with Christ. And those who sleep
in Christ, you'll see them again. When God returns, He'll bring
them with Him. Third, comfort one another with
these words. Christ is coming again. He's
coming again in power. He's coming again in glory. And
every believer, those who have been raised and those who are
changed, they're all going to rise together to meet the Lord
in the air. And we will be forever with the
Lord. Comfort one another with these
words. This is our comfort. It's our hope. It's a good hope
through grace. That's our expectation. I want
you to close by looking at 1 Corinthians 15. We won't read this whole chapter.
When you have some time this afternoon after you've taken
a nap, you wake from sleep, maybe you want to read this whole chapter.
But we're going to begin reading in verse 35. But some man will say, How are
the dead raised up, and with what body do they come? Well,
thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened except to die.
And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall
be, but bare grain. It may chance of weed, or of
some other grain, but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased
him, and to every seed his own body. All flesh is not the same
flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh
of beasts, another flesh of another of fishes, and another of birds.
There are celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial, but the glory
of the celestial is one, the glory of the terrestrial is another.
There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, another
glory of the stars. One star differeth from another
star in glory. So also is the resurrection of
the dead. It is sown in corruption. It
is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor. It's
raised in glory. It's sown in weakness. It's raised
in power. It's sown in a natural body.
It's raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there
is a spiritual body, and so it's written. The first man Adam was
made a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening
spirit. Howbeit, that was not first which
is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that
which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth.
The second man is the Lord from heaven. And as is the earthy,
such are they also which are earthy. And as is the heavenly,
such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image
of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now, this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption.
Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, this mortal must put on immortality. So,
when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the
saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in O death, where
is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in
vain in the Lord." I hope that's a blessing to you. Comfort for believers in the
death of a believer.