Open your Bibles, if you will,
to Isaiah chapter 57. Isaiah chapter 57. A week ago yesterday, I received
word that my dear friend, Brother Norman Wheeler, was taken to
glory. That wasn't much of a surprise.
Norman was 79 years old. Robert Street Church in Dudley,
England for 40 years and he'd been sick in recent years and
failing quickly. Wasn't at all surprised when
I got a call telling me the Lord had taken him home. And then
Thursday morning got a call that Brother Cody Groover was gone. Gone to glory. And that was a
shock. Cody was 57 years old. He'd been
serving as missionary in Mexico for 22 years, faithful man. They just had their first grandchild
and so excited. And after getting over the initial
shock, immediately I began again to think about death. I like to do that. I encourage
you to do that. specifically about the death
of God's saints, the death of the righteous, and my own death. I try to do that very often. When I got a call telling me
Norman was gone, my first thought was, well, maybe it's about time
for you. And when I received a call that
Cody was taken Thursday morning, I thought to myself, maybe this
will be the Lord's day for you. I try to live incessantly with
the anticipation of death immediately. You would be wise to do the same. You would be wise to do the same. A father who raises sons and
daughters is wise to take those children much earlier than he
thinks they need to be told and tell them what to expect when
they get to be teenagers and situations arise where they need
to guard their chastity and watch over themselves. A father needs
to speak frankly, frankly, to his children concerning those
things, to prepare them for that which lies ahead. And the father
should often speak to his wife and his children frankly about
death, death. If the footman weary you, how
will it be for you in the swelling of Jordan? Are you prepared to
die? Let's look at Isaiah chapter
57, verses one and two. Isaiah chapter 57, verses one
and two. In this passage of scripture,
the prophet of God speaks specifically about the death of the righteous. And that's what I wanna talk
to you about this morning. righteous die, when the righteous
die. Isaiah 57 verse 1, The righteous
perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart,
and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous
is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace. They shall rest in their beds,
each one walking in his uprightness. Forever blessed, forever blessed
of God, forever blessed from eternity are those men and women
who know by experience the grace of God, who live in righteousness
and die in righteousness. I want to talk to you about death,
particularly the death of the righteous. Let me die the death
of the righteous and let my last end be like his. I'll show you
four things in this passage of Scripture, but you just hold
your Bibles open here and give me a minute to get to those four
things. Let me make a couple of statements
to you. You and I are dying. You and
I are dying. I don't mean you're going to
die, I mean you are dying. From the time you draw your first
infant breath, you begin the process of dying. And at the
appointed time, I mean the exact time God has appointed for you,
by one means or another, by exactly the means God has ordained for
you, you shall die. The Lord God said to Adam in
the garden, in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.
A better translation of those words might be, dying thou shalt
die. From the moment sin entered into
the world, life in this world is just a process of dying. Surely death will fall upon you. As death will fall upon me, the
wages of sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life,
but the wages of sin is death. And these bodies which have sinned,
with these hands, we have sinned. With these feet, we have sinned. With these eyes, we have sinned.
And these bodies, housing our corrupt nature, must and shall
die. And when we do, for you who are
without Christ, when you die, death will be the beginning of
infinite, indescribable, eternal woe. Knowing, therefore, the
terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Oh, God help you to hear
me now. You who are without Christ, You're just a breath out of hell. You're going to hell. I don't mean you might. I mean
if you breathe your last breath, you're dropping into hell right
now. Knowing therefore the terror
of the Lord, we persuade men. And I'm going to be honest with
you, I don't have any idea what hell is. And I don't want to
know. I know it is endless death. It
is endless darkness. It is endless separation from
God. Endless separation from all that's
good. Endless life With all the lust
of your life, all the lust of your flesh, keenly intensified
with never the least satisfaction. Thirst with no water, hunger
with no bread. Torment. Scripture speak of the fires
of hell, the bottomless pit, the lake of fire, and that place
where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched. Somehow
or another, you will wake up in hell like the rich man. keenly
aware of everything you've lost and that you've lost it by rights
and your conscience, your conscience. Oh, you can stifle it now. You
can hush it up a little bit now. You can appease it a little bit
now with a little doing this, doing that, doing another thing.
You may even have it seared now with hardness of heart. But then,
When you've taken your last breath and you wake up in hell, your
conscience will be keenly intensified, tormenting you day and night
as you say amen to your own eternal damnation, only intensifying
in your hatred of God. Hell. If you die without Christ, hell
will be your eternal portion. and this heart that breaks for
you now, and these eyes that weep for you now will not pity
you at all. No eye will pity you. No pity
in hell, no pity in heaven, no pity at all. But for the believer, For the
believer, things are different. For the sinner who's washed in
Christ's blood, made righteous by his grace, born again by his
spirit, for the believer, death is not something to be dreaded,
not something to be feared, but it is rather something to be
anticipated with hope and with joy. It will be a welcome relief. It will be the final consummate
answer to our Lord's prayer. Father, I will that they also
whom thou has given me be with me where I am that they may behold
my glory. And it will be the consummate
answer to our own prayers concerning ourselves. For the believer,
death is but the beginning of life. The believer lives in faith,
hope, righteousness and peace. And believers die just like they
live. They die just like they live. In fact, the reality is we all
die just like we live. Hold your hands here in Isaiah
57. I want to show you another passage of scripture before we
look at our text. Look at Revelation chapter 22. Revelation 22. At the end of
verse nine, we begin reading, the time is at hand. He that
is unjust, let him be unjust still. He which is filthy, let
him be filthy still. No changes in eternity. No changes
after death. You can forget the foolishness
of purgatory and all such nonsense. The time's at hand. He that is
unjust, leave him that way. Let him be unjust still. He which
is filthy, leave him just like he is. Let him be filthy still.
And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still. And he
that is holy, let him be holy still. Behold, I come quickly,
and my reward is with me, to give to every man according as
his work shall be. pause for a moment and consider.
Try to imagine if you can what it will be like for God's saints
to enter into heaven. I have not seen nor ear heard,
neither hath it entered into the heart of man, the things
which God has prepared for them that love him. But he's revealed
them to us by his Spirit. Now this is what that means,
Bill. We can't even begin to imagine what it is, but God's
told us the fact of it. What will it be to see Christ
in all His glorious fullness face to face? What will it be
to be in the company of angels and to know them intimately in
all their splendor? What will it be? To behold and
be seated with the church of God, triumphant in their perfection. What will it be? To experience
in your soul the ultimate consummation of God's goodness and grace.
Oh, what will it be? To know the fullness of redemption
through the blood and righteousness of God's darling son. Now, let's
look at Isaiah 57, verses one and two. The prophet here describes the
character of God's saints. And then he speaks about the
death of God's saints. And the foolish disregard of
our deaths by others, and then he speaks of the blessedness
of the righteous when they die. First Isaiah shows us the character
of God's saints. They are righteous and they're
merciful. Those are the words used by God's
prophet to describe every heaven-born soul. Those are the words used
by God the Holy Ghost to describe every person in this world who's
born again by God the Holy Spirit. They're righteous and they're
merciful. Now, none are righteous and none
are merciful by nature. We all, by nature, try to put
on some acts of righteousness. And we all try to act merciful
because those things are commendable and admirable as long as you
don't get to be a stuff shirt about it. So we all try to do
acts of righteousness. And we all try to show a merciful
face before men. But no man by nature, no woman
by nature is righteous or merciful. Nobody, nobody. Isaiah 57 verse
one. The righteous perisheth, and
no man layeth it to heart. Nobody pays any attention. And
merciful men are taken away, and nobody pays any attention,
none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to
come. He shall let her into peace.
They shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness. Believers are a people who have
been made righteous. The very righteousness of God
in Jesus Christ. You remember what we read in
Revelation 22, when the Lord Jesus speaks and says, I will
reward every man according to his works. Nobody goes to hell
who didn't earn it. And nobody goes to heaven who
didn't earn it. Nobody goes to hell who's not
wicked. Nobody goes to heaven who's not
righteous. Nobody goes to hell who's not
unholy. Nobody goes to heaven who's not
holy. But our works of righteousness
were not performed by us. They were performed by our mediator,
Jesus Christ, and we performed them in him. So that's just saying
in the beloved, accepted am I. God sees my savior, and then
he sees me. In the beloved, accepted and
free. The Lord Jesus Christ by his
obedience unto death as the God-man, our mediator, made us the very
righteousness of God in exactly the same way that he was made
sin for us. When he was made sin for us, He suffered all the hell of God's
furious anger, wrath, and justice as the sinner substitutes. Now
listen to me. David, he suffered it all because
he fully deserved it. God will not punish a righteous
man. and God will not reward the wicked
with goodness. When Christ was made sin, he
was made the object of God's wrath, and God in justice cried,
Awake, O sword, against the man that is my fellow, smite and
slay the shepherd. This is something this generation
is totally ignorant of. The God of glory is righteous. He must do right. He cannot and
he will not violate his own righteousness, justice, and truth. He won't
do it. He won't do it. He won't violate
his righteousness, justice, and truth, even to spare his darling
son. who cried, oh, father, if it
be possible, let this cup pass from me. But that's not possible. Your purer eyes than to behold
iniquity, thy will be done. And he bares his heart and says,
my father, shove in the sword. And he takes his own hand and
thrust it into his own holy soul until the sword of justice is
swallowed up in him. Because when he was made sin
for us, he died for us justly. And when we stand before God
and enter into glory, try to get hold of this if you can. This man, this man will enter into glory and take
possession of all the glory that belongs to Christ the mediator
who said, Father, the glory you gave me, I've given to him. And
I'll take possession of it because I will fully deserve it. being
made the righteousness of God in his Son. But what about our
sins, pastor? I wish I could get you to hear
me. I wish I could get you to hear God. Believe on the Son
of God. And your faith in the Son of
God is God's testimony in your conscience that you have no sin. Christ put it away. Now you got
to live with it the rest of your life. You got to live with it
while you live on this earth. You got to war with it all the
time you breathe in this body. But God says, God says, you have
no sin. You've been made the righteousness
of God in his darling son. And this righteousness, this
righteousness that God requires, has another aspect, it's called
holiness. Let him that is filthy be filthy
still. Let him that is unjust be unjust
still. Let him that is righteous be righteous still. Let him that
is holy be holy still. What's that talking about? That's
talking about the righteousness God puts in you. That's talking
about the new birth. That's talking about Christ in
you, the hope of glory. That's talking about that new
nature given to God's elect in the new birth when we're made
partakers of the divine nature. And these people, these righteous
ones, made righteous by God's grace, are people who are servants
of righteousness. They walk on this earth serving
God in righteousness, believing Him. God's saints in this world,
having experienced mercy, are merciful. They're merciful. They're kind and good, generous
and hospitable, forgiving and forbearing, gracious and loving. I don't mean they ought to be,
I mean they are. Now you ought to be, you ought to be, but if
you're born of God, you are. God makes men and women new in
Christ Jesus. Look at the second thing in our
text. First, the prophet describes the character of God's saints.
Then he speaks to us about the providence of God in the death
of his saints. The righteous perisheth. We often say, That was providential. That was providential. And every
time I hear somebody say that, and I've said it myself, you
shouldn't have said that. You mean some stuff's not providential?
His death was providential. Everything's providential. If
it comes to pass, it doesn't just happen. Nothing in this
world just happens. Everything that comes to pass
is brought to pass by the hand of God according to the will
of God and the purpose of God from eternity. Everything, no
exception, no exceptions. But there is a sense in which
the death of God's saints is distinctly providential. The
righteous perisheth and the merciful man is taken away Providential,
providentially. The righteous, of course, do
not perish eternally. That's not a possibility. They've
been born again. They've been washed in the blood
of Christ. They've been redeemed. They've been robed in the righteousness
of Christ. They have the garments of salvation.
They have a new nature. They're new creatures in Christ
Jesus. They have life eternal and they shall never perish because
they've been purchased by the blood of Christ. Those who are
bought with his precious blood cannot die. Those who are born
again by his spirit cannot die. Those who are sealed in his grace
cannot die. But Isaiah is talking about the
death of the body. The righteous perisheth. This
body of flesh, this tabernacle of clay, this tent must be dissolved. But the righteous never, never
shall perish. This perishing of these bodies
is an act of God's wise and good providence. The merciful man
is taken away, gathered up to heaven by the hand of God. Righteousness delivers us from
the sting of death, but not from the stroke of death. God has
ordained the time when I shall die. And God has ordained the means
by which I shall die. God has ordained the instrument
of my death and I would not alter it if I could. Those things are
altogether irrelevant. They are altogether irrelevant.
It matters not whether the believer dies as a young man or an old
man. It matters not. The only thing
that matters is that you die in the Lord. Nothing else is
relevant. Nothing else is relevant. It's
really no concern to me when I die, where I die, or how I
die. That's entirely up to my God. In his wise, good, adorable providence,
God often removes the righteous and leaves the wicked. Isn't
that amazing? You have a household and God
takes away the one believer in the family, the one who'd been
the object of his grace, the one person in the family that
is used for good. God takes him away and leaves
the rest of the roads to live on. Reckon why? Reckon why? Fruitful trees are
cut down in death while barren trees are left to cover the ground.
Merciful men are taken away by the hand of malicious men who
are left to work havoc in the earth. In his wise providence,
God took Abel by the hands of Cain and left Cain to continue
to work evil. That was by God's providence.
You see, God takes his own out of this world when their work
is finished. Brother Larry Brown responded
to me Thursday when I sent a note out about Cody's death. He said,
when the servant's work's done, he's gone. That's as it should
be. That's as it should be. I don't
know by what means God may be pleased to use me. If I had my
choice, I wouldn't be left here hooked up to a machine and have
this lady sitting by my bed 24 hours a day, wiping my brow and
sticking food in me, if I had my choice. But my father, whatever you will
is all right. Not all right, but best. Not
just best for me, best for all your people. And when God's done
using me, I'm gonna leave this world. And when God's done using
you, you're leaving here. And it doesn't really matter
whether you're 80 or 57 or 66 or 15 or 24. When God's done
with you, you're leaving here. Now, third, Isaiah speaks of
the foolishness of those who disregard the deaths of others. No man layeth it to heart, none
considering. Very few people value the lives
of God's saints. When they're taken, very few
look upon their being taken as a public loss. Fewer still take it as a public
warning. At God's appointed time, we're
leaving here according to the prayer of our Redeemer in John
17. Turn back there if you will,
John chapter 17. Let me show you two words of intercession
spoken by our Savior here. When the time comes for this
man made righteous by God's grace to leave this world, my Redeemer's
prayer will be answered to the indescribable satisfaction
and delight of his soul. Isn't that amazing? I didn't
say that accidentally, David. I said that on purpose. His prayer
will be answered to the indescribable satisfaction and delight of his
soul. Look here, John 17, 15. More than eight years ago, I'd
been sick for some time, as you know. And I had a tough time
for a while, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. It's a tough time. Things I thought I would never
experience, I experienced. Until Shelby read Spurgeon's
morning reading for May the 2nd. And this is what the text was.
The Savior says, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out
of the world. but that thou shouldest keep them from evil, the evil. And for the first time in two
weeks, God spoke to me. And everything's all right. Everything's all right. Don't
know when, but I'm not leaving here right this second. Not leaving
here right now. But our Savior has another prayer,
down in verse 24. He says, 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. For thou lovest me before the
foundation of the world. The heart of the wise is in the
house of mourning. Wise men look upon the deaths
of others as a reminder of the certainty of their own death. When God's saints are taken out
of this world, especially the wise and the godly and the righteous,
we would be wise to lay it to heart. When the servant is done, the
Lord takes him home. How blessed. When the righteous
perish, you who are God's righteous ones. I've thought about every one
of you this week. Every one of you. Tried to pray for you. You
righteous ones. You men and women God has made
righteous. Whatever sphere of your influence
is right now, when God takes you, your righteous influence
is gone. What a judgment. What a judgment
upon everybody you knew. What a judgment. When the righteous and the merciful
are gone, only the wicked and the malicious are left. And if
the righteous and merciful die, so too shall you who are unrighteous
and unmerciful. Number four, look back at our
text. Oh, the blessedness of the righteous
when they die. He shall enter into peace. They shall rest in their beds,
each one walking in his uprightness. What a statement. What a statement. The death of the righteous is
a blessed, happy, joyful thing. It causes much sadness and sorrow
and emptiness, but it's a blessed, blessed death. When the righteous
die, they're taken away from the evil to come. The Lord God
told Josiah what he was gonna do to Israel. He said, but that's
all right, I'm gonna take you out of here so you won't see
it. I will take you away so you won't
see it. And that was a mercy to Josiah. The righteous is taken
away from the evil to come, lest he should be harmed by it, lest
he should be hurt by it, lest he should be tempted by it, so
that he wouldn't be saddened by it at all. taken away from
the evil to come. And when he's taken away, he
enters into peace. Oh, what awaits us? A world of peace. Peace. We walk in the peace of
God now. being justified freely by his
grace. We live peaceably with God's
saints, with one another. We live peaceably in this world,
but we have a constant struggle, a constant warfare of the world,
the flesh, the devil, most especially in here with our own flesh. And
soon, all the peace the peace. We shall enter a world where
there's no sorrow, no sighing, no darkness, no pain, no crying,
no sin, no death, only peace and light and joy and satisfaction. and they shall rest in their
beds. I need to do this. I haven't
done it yet. I'm gonna buy a grave plot soon, I promise. I'm not
buying a grave plot. Some of you have requested it,
and Shelby and I want to do it. Make arrangements to get buried
right out here in the yard somewhere. But when you walk by and see
that place where this body lays, This body's gonna be resting. Resting. Resting. Sleeping. The body, not the soul,
the body. You're sleeping. No need to get
upset cause somebody's sleeping. Get upset cause they're not. No need to get upset cause fellas
asleep. Shelby asked me every morning, did you sleep well last
night? And I said, well, when I slept, I did. The times I didn't
sleep, I was having a tough time, but when I was sleeping, I was
fine. And as long as you get a good night's sleep, no need
to be concerned. No need to be concerned. He shall rest in his
bed. Where's Brother Don? Well, his
body's out yonder in his bed. That's where it ought to be.
That's where it ought to be. He's resting in his bed. But each
one, while this body rests in its bed waiting for the resurrection,
each one, each one shall walk forever. Now listen to what Scripture
says. Are you listening, Oscar? In
His uprightness. What? What? Old Oscar Bailey. I knew that old man. Yeah, I
knew him. Oscar Bailey. Where is he? He's walking in glory in his
uprightness. His own uprightness. His uprightness because you see
the righteousness and the holiness that is made ours and we are
made to be by the hand of God's grace truly is ours. As truly ours forever. as our sins were made to be our
Savior's sins when he suffered on Calvary's tree. And then when
he was raised up from the dead, and the Lord God gave the God
man everything because of his uprightness, his perfection,
his obedience, So the Lord God will give you, my brother, and
you, my sister, in the blessed experience of death, he will
give you everything you fully deserve. It's called eternal
life, heavenly glory through Christ the Redeemer. And I'll
meet you in the city four square and we will walk forever together
in peace, each one in our uprightness. God-given, God-wrought uprightness. Oh, God, make it yours. God,
make Christ yours. God, give you life and faith
in His dear Son. Amen.