Good evening. It's a delight
for me to be with you. I've looked forward to it. I'm
at home. I'm at home. And the folks, lest
I forget, the folks in Sylacauga, Alabama, the church I pastor
there, send their best to you. Will you turn with me tonight
to Psalm 116? Psalm 116. I'd like to begin
the message by reading one verse of scripture here. in Psalm 116. And I imagine that it's a verse
that's come to the minds and hearts of most of you in the
last few weeks. It has mine, and I'm sure it
has yours as well. Here in Psalm 116, verse 15,
we read this statement. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. We, his saints, his redeemed,
his chosen, believing sinners, are precious to the triune God. That's an amazing thing. That's
an amazing thing. That's an astounding thing. And
the more we're made aware of what we are, which grace does
teach us, the more astounding that becomes. That someone like
this sinner standing before you tonight, in the sight of God,
in God's estimation of me, I'm precious. Precious to Him. Now,
when Peter wrote in his first epistle, chapter 2, he said,
under you that believe, he, that is Christ, under you that believe,
he is precious. He is precious. Christ is precious
to the believing sinner. And as old Newton wrote in his
most famous hymn, and still one of my favorites, he said how
precious And everybody here that knows Christ can identify with
this. They know what old Newton was
talking about. How precious did that grace appear,
he wrote, the hour I first believed. We don't have any problem in
understanding somewhat why Christ should be precious to us. Why
wouldn't he be, Don? Why wouldn't he be precious to
us? But that's not what this text
says, is it? We're told that we are precious
to him. Precious to him. Paul, in writing
to the church at Philippi, said to depart for him, that is for
Paul to depart this life, to leave this world. and everything
in it, to leave it behind. It wasn't a problem for the Apostle. He said the departing to be with
Christ is far better. Not just better, but far better. Compared to what? Compared to
what? Anything. Compared to everything. It really is no comparison after
all. I mean, think about that. To
be with Christ? To be with Christ? To really,
literally be in the presence of Jesus Christ? To see Him as
He is? To kneel before Him? To be with Christ forever? and to be like Christ? Now what
in this world can compare to that? No wonder Paul said, oh,
it would be far better for me to depart and to be with Christ. And in writing his epistle to
the church at Rome, he said, the time of that departure is
nearer now than when we first believed. Isn't that a comfort
to God's people? From the time we first believed,
Paul says, now is our salvation, our complete salvation. Salvation not just from the dominion
of sin and the penalty of sin, yes, we enjoy that now, but salvation
from the very presence of sin. Now that requires more imagination,
if that's the right word, and it's not. that I'm able to get
a hold of, standing where I am now, trying to get a grip on
that time when there shall be no trace of sin in me. That time, Paul says, is closer
now than it was when we first believed, as the old patriarch
expressed it. When he cried out of his ashes
of grief, Job said, when a few years are come, this is going
to be over. This sackcloth will be worn no
more. When a few years are come, then
I shall go the way from whence I shall not return. Now that's true of every believer. And we're thankful that it's
so. We rejoice that that's so. But it's also true of everyone
that's an unbeliever. When a few years are come, whether
you're a teenager or in your seventies, when a few years are
come, you're going to go the way from whence you shall not
return. The old hymn writer expressed
it like this. Swift to its close ebbs out life's
little day. Earth's joys grow dim, its glories
pass away. Change and decay in all around
I see. O thou, thou. There's someone that doesn't
change, Larry. Everything around me is changing.
I'm changing. change and decay all around and
within, I see, oh, but thou, thou, that one who means most
to me, that one that I don't want to change, says I change
not. Thou who changes not, abide with
me. You've heard this before. If someone should say to you
or tell you when you went to bed tonight, that when you woke up in the
morning, you wouldn't have any more sorrow. The very next morning,
no more pain, no regrets. Now think about that. No regrets. Would you be afraid to go to
sleep tonight? Would you? A child of God wouldn't. A few weeks ago, I read a text
from our dear friend, Donnie Bale, just a couple of days before
the master came and called Mary Hall. Donnie said she's getting
close to going home. I held her hand and sang to her,
it is well with my soul. And Donnie said, we bless the
Lord that it is so, that it is so. The last time I stood here, August the 31st, I closed my
message the last day of the conference here. by the story of when I
was a young boy getting ready to go down to the operating room
in a hospital where I was to have surgery and I was scared.
I didn't know what to expect. And my mother stood by my bed
and she said, Larry, it'll be over before you know it. And
when you wake up, I'll be right here. And I looked down at my
dear friend and I said, Bob, The great shepherd of the sheep
says to us that soon all this is going to be over and when
we wake up, he'll be right there. He'll be right there. I preached in Crossville on October
the 5th, Sunday night. Mary came out to service, surprised
us all. She came out. I spent about an
hour or so in their house the following morning, Monday, before
I drove back to Sylacauga. And the last thing she said to
me when I kneeled down to give her a hug, she said, Larry, I
want this to be over. I want to go home. I want to
go home. And now concerning our dear friends,
Bob, Mary, as we sang at Bob's funeral, It is well with my soul. It is well with my soul, my immortal
soul, my undying soul. It is well with my soul. That
soul, when I breathe my last breath, lay this body wherever
But my immortal soul is going to go on. It's going to live
forever. And it is well with my soul. How can that be? How can that
be? How can any sinner claim that
it is well with their soul? Only Christ makes that so. Is that not right? Nothing else
does. Only Christ makes that so. There is only one name. Not two
names. Not two names. It's not Christ
and. No, it's Christ period. Only
Christ gives sinners such a hope as that. Because only one name. God Almighty has given under
heaven by which men must be saved. If they're not saved through
him, they're not saved. They're not saved. Given among
men, given the power, given the authority, given the responsibility. Now just pause there for a minute.
With whom does the responsibility lie? for sinners to be saved. Who's
responsible to save sinners? Who's responsible? Is it the
sinner? Is it the sheep? Or is it the
shepherd? Isn't that comforting to know
he's responsible? He promised his father before
He ever created the world, that He would be responsible for every
chosen sinner God the Father put into His hand. He became
responsible for it. I find that so comforting to
know that my salvation is not dependent upon me, but Him, and
He shall not fail. God has given Him a name above
every name. Joseph quit tossing and turning,
quit fretting about Mary. It's not like you suspect. That
which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. It's that
holy thing. It's the God-man. And when he's
born, call him Jesus. Don't you love this? My soul. Some folks just quote this or
refer to it once a year on December 25th. I love to think of it every
day. Call his name Jesus. He shall
save his people from their sins. Father, you've given him power
over all flesh that he, he, no one else, no one else, he should
give eternal life to as many as thou has given him. Do you know him? Do you know
him? Oh, I know about him. Just about
everybody does, at least in our country. Oh yeah, mama told me
about him since I was old enough to remember anything. That's
not what I meant. Do you know him? Do you personally
know him? He said, no man cometh to the
Father but by me, and I know that's true. I know that's true,
Bobby. You know how I know that's true?
Not because somebody else told me. Because this sinner came
to the Father by Him. By Him. I know that that's so.
We will all come to God as our judge, but not as our
Father, unless we come to Christ first. And when we do that, When
we come to Jesus Christ first, we'll find that we have both
the Father and the Son. The triune God says concerning
all of his people, precious in my sight. Precious in my sight. Larry, you say Christ is the
only way to God? Christ himself said it over and
over again. Well, are you concerned about
being politically correct? Because that just kind of slams
the door in the face of all these other supposed ways to heaven. I'm not concerned about being
politically correct. I'm not a politician. I'm not
a politician. Let them worry about that. No,
I'm concerned about seeing Christ, looking to Him, and every one
of you as well. Having Christ, he says this,
He says this, remember, when Mary Magdalene, he made himself known to her,
and she reached out, Master, Master, he said, touch me now.
I'm not yet ascended. Listen to these sweet words.
Mary, go and tell my brethren. Go and tell my brethren. You mean Peter that denied you?
Yeah, he's my brother. He's my brother. They all forsook
you and fled. Go and tell my brethren that
I ascend unto my Father and their Father. Tell my brethren that
I'm going back to my God and their God. And God the Father,
our God, and our Father, has made Christ to be unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. We have everything
we need in Him, do we not? Now let's look briefly at this
blessed thought here in verse 15. Precious in the sight of
the Lord is the death of His saints. Precious in His sight. In the sight of God. Precious
because they belong to Him. Saints belong to Him. There's
no such thing as a saint outside of Jesus Christ. No such thing. Men are saints because they're
made so by being in Jesus Christ. His righteousness makes them
saints. Nothing else can. No church can. No priest can. Pope can grant sainthood to a
dead sinner. We've all heard the story about
Saint Dennis the Menace who was beheaded and picked up his head
and walked a hundred miles. He became a saint after he died.
teaching of the Catholic Church. No, no, no, no. If you're not
a saint before you die, you'll never be a saint afterwards.
Oh, no. If you don't know Christ before
you die, you'll never know him as your Savior afterwards. Oh,
today is the day of salvation. Oh, today. God be pleased to
allow us to hear your voice. to hear your voice and appoint
us to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Call to be saints. Turn, if you will, to 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. If there wasn't another passage
in the Word of God, this right here would be enough to teach
us where our sainthood lies, where our sanctification is. Because you well know this church
had a multitude of problems, horrible things. And Paul deals
with them in the following chapters, in 1 Corinthians. But look how
he addresses them. He knew the issue. He knew what
was going on. And yet, look at verse 2. And
to the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are
sanctified, sanctified? Paul? With all they were doing
and allowing Paul said sanctified, how can that be? In Christ Jesus. Called to be saints. That's sanctification. It's not a matter of don't touch
that. Don't you dare taste that. You'll lose your sanctification.
You're going to slide by three steps and there goes your progressive
sanctification. No. No, sanctification is in
Christ Jesus. It's because we're made partakers
of the divine nature. It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. That's what makes us saints.
It's not something you do, but something that Christ has already
done. I've had people Talk to me, it's
been a long time and I don't miss it at all, but years ago,
talk as though there are such people, believers, Christians,
that are justified but not sanctified. They hadn't reached that plateau,
that second work. They're unsanctified believers. Where does that put them? Are
they half-brothers in Christ or something like that? No such
thing. Turn, if you will, you're still
in 1 Corinthians, look at chapter 6. Look at chapter 6. We don't tire of being reminded
of this, do we? Know ye not, verse 9 here in
1 Corinthians 6, know ye not that the unrighteous shall not
inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators,
nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with
mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers,
nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such
were some of you. Past tense. Past tense. And such were some of you. And such was I. Oh, I love how
this little three-letter word appears again and again throughout
the Scriptures, but, but, introducing us to God's amazing grace that
makes us to differ, that changes what we used to be, what we were,
and yet would still be, except for this, but, ye are washed,
ye are washed, But ye are sanctified, but ye are justified. How? Why? In the name of the Lord
Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Precious in his sight. Precious to the Lord. Secondly,
because every child of God are objects of his everlasting love. God, as you very well know, didn't
begin to love the sinner when they experienced his grace. I
mean, what kind of pipsqueak God is that? A God that gets
up in the morning like you and I, Kibbe, and we have a new idea.
I just thought of something I never thought of before. God doesn't
do that. That sounds more like us. But
not God. Oh, God says, I've loved you. Jeremiah said, The Lord hath
appeared of old unto me, saying, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Isn't that marvelous? Redeemed. Why are we precious to him? Peter
again wrote, redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Oh my! How precious is that? Can you estimate the worth of
His blood? Can you put any value? It's invaluable. It's priceless. The blood of Jesus Christ redeemed
all of His people. Oh my! Oh my, precious is the
flow that makes this sinner white as snow. Redeemed with the precious
blood of Jesus Christ, nothing else could do it. Nothing else
could do it. Turn back, if you will, to Isaiah,
Isaiah chapter 43. Isaiah tells us this over and
over again. He says, fear not. God, through
the prophet, says to his people, don't be afraid. Don't be fearful. And he tells us why not to be.
Verse 1 of Isaiah 43. But now, thus saith the Lord
that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not. Fear not. Why? Why? I mean, sometimes
just suddenly, unexpectedly, the storms of life begin to rage. And my little vessel just starts
rocking. And I'm tempted to say with Peter
and the apostles like they did that night, don't you care? We're
going to perish. Are you asleep? Christ says,
fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I've redeemed thee. I've paid the price of your redemption. I've laid down my life for you. I've made atonement for your
sins. Fear not. I've paid for you. You're mine. I'll never lose
you. I'll never lose you. Fear not.
I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name.
Thou art mine. Thou art mine. You belong to
me. And I'll never lose you. I'll
never lose you. Nothing, nothing will ever pluck
you out of my hand. I know my sheep. I know where
they are. I know how they are. And they're
precious to me. I've bought them. They're mine. What a marvel. that he would
pronounce the death of his saints as precious. It's by that means
that they follow the lamb who tasted death for them, that they
follow him wherever he goeth. Think of that. And sorrow not,
as Paul said, sorrow not for those who die in the Lord as
you would those who died without the Lord. Because the great shepherd
doesn't sorrow, does he? You remember in Luke 15, when he spoke about as the faithful
shepherd going out and finding his sheep, you remember what
he said. And when he finds it, he puts it upon his shoulders
and he takes it all the way home rejoicing. Rejoicing. All the way home. All the way
to glory rejoicing. And those who have died in the
Lord, They sure don't sorrow, do they? Oh, my. I wonder what Bob's doing right
now. I wonder what he's doing. Oh, I declare he's beholding
the king. And dear Mary, dear Mary, no
more cancer, Larry. No more cancer. No more pain. No more sin. Oh my! Sorrow not for those who have
died in the Lord. When you lie down tonight, child
of God, lie down with the sweet assurance that you're lying in
the absolute perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. Just like you
wrap that blanket around you. Oh, before you doze off, remember,
you're made the very righteousness of God in Him. Everything God
Almighty requires, everything you have in the person of His
Son, accepted in to be loved, is as accepted as Christ Himself
is. Isn't that a glorious thought?
Don't move. Don't move. Lie right there. Right there. knowing that the
Lord, our righteousness, considers us precious in his sight." Precious
in his sight. Paul, in Hebrews 11, when he
spoke about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, pilgrims and strangers
on this earth, were persecuted, ridiculed, He said of whom the world was
not worthy. The world was not worthy of those
saints. The world looked at them just
like they look at you and I. Religious fanatics. Poor deceived
souls. You ever had anybody tell you
that? These fellas that think they're smarter than God, you
try to witness to them, they look down their intellectual
nose Like they feel sorry for you. Poor ignoramus, he doesn't
know any better. Oh yeah, I know better. I know
better. Of whom the world was not worthy. In the world's sight, in the
world's estimation, religious nuts. But in God's sight, and
in God's sight, what else matters? Why do we care what the world
thinks of us? God looks down and says, they're
precious. They're precious to me. And when
the rich men and the wise men and the mighty men are crying
for the rocks to fall on them and hide them from the face of
him that sits upon the throne, he'll be saying to you and I,
enter into the joy prepared for you from the foundation of the
world because we're precious in his sight. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. And that means he must be present
when it's time for them to cross over. And that's exactly what
we read in scripture in many places. The most familiar one,
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil. Why? Because you're with me. Thou art with me. Why should
I fear? Because He, Dave, is going to hold to my hand,
like you've seen. He'll hold to my hand as over this river I go. That hand, that hand that God the Father
put this sinner in before the world began. That hand that was
nailed to that cross and bore all my sins away. Am I going to see that hand,
that nail-scarred hand reaching out and taking my hand as over
this river I go? I expect I will. I expect I will. And safe I will be. In beautiful
heaven, I know, we that are parents will identify with this. Concerning
our children, if we would take them to their grandparents to
get a little free babysitting, to have a night out, we would
often say, or if a babysitter came to our house, you can't
let them out of your sight. Don't let them out of your sight.
I'm looking at Larry down at my other son over there, Roger.
I learned I couldn't let them out of my sight. Sitting on the
porch one day and I turned my head for a minute, Roger was
in a little hot wheel and did an evil keneval off the front
porch. I just turned my head. He told
me years later, LD pushed him off. I didn't. Couldn't let them
out of your sight. Our great God and Savior never
lets us out of his sight. Never lets us out of his sight.
We'll not turn there. You know the passage. What we
look like by nature, that deserted infant in Ezekiel 16, thrown
out into the field to die. Nobody looked on it with any
sympathy, any love, any concern. Did anybody even notice it? But
we read, God said, when I passed by, I saw you. When I passed by, I looked upon
you. I looked upon you, and it was
a time of love. It was a time of love. And I
did for you what none else could. and you became perfect through
my beauty that I placed upon you. You remember when our Lord
went to the garden, Gethsemane, the olive press, and the shadow
of the cross was already, I believe, eclipsing His holy, righteous
soul. And He left eight at a distance
and told Peter, James, and John, come with me. My soul is exceedingly
sorrowful even unto death. Compare the four Gospels concerning
the record of that event and we see him in a way we have never
seen the Lord before. He said, my soul is heavy. He began to be very sorrowful
and And he told the three disciples,
wait right here while I go and pray. And you know the record,
the story, how he prayed, and Luke tells us, until the blood
forced its way through the pores of his brow, and he was drenched
in his own blood. And he woke up, or rather he
got up and walked back, and Peter and James are all sleeping. Couldn't
you watch with me an hour? And he goes back and falls down
and prays. Three times that happens. Three times. And then he comes
back the third time and they're sleeping again. You remember what he said? Isn't
this a beautiful picture? In Matthew's account, he says,
sleep on now and take your rest. There's the great shepherd of
the sheep. trotting the winepress alone,
enduring the fierceness of the wrath of God. There's the great
shepherd of the sheep, pouring out his soul for his sheep while
they sleep. But when he comes back the third
time, oh, he went once, twice, did his human soul need some
companionship? Did he? But he found none. He
looked for help and there was none. And then the third time
he says, looking over those sleeping disciples, sleep on now. You may not watch with me, but
you're never out of my sight. Sleep on now and take your rest.
And there he is, the great shepherd, watching over his faithless sheep.
And then he says, arise, let us be going. He's that hand that
doth betray me. And again, Just moments after
that, he steps forward and says to that angry mob, whom seek
ye? Jesus of Nazareth, and you know
it very well. I am he. Take me. Take me. And even then, when he's going and soon to be made sin, then
we just can't understand the sinless one being made sin, yet
even with that so close, when in just a few more hours from
that time he would cry out, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
He's still thinking about his sheep. You can't have my sheep. Take me. We're never out of his
sight. Precious in his sight. Old John Bunyan. in the second
half of Pilgrim's Progress. He referred to the death of believers
as receiving a summons from the Celestial City. And one by one they would receive
their summons to go home. And one day he wrote, Mr. Valiant for Truth received his
summons to go home. and said many accompanied him
down to the river's bank. And as he stepped in, he said,
O death, where is thy sting? As he stepped in, he said, well,
this is not so bad. 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 our great Redeemer has taken
the stinger out by fulfilling the law and being made a curse
for us. So now we can say, oh, death,
where is thy sting? It's gone. It's gone. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. One more sight. Bobby read it to us back in the
study from Isaiah 53. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and be satisfied. He shall see. Isn't that a comfort? Again, again, that directs us
not to look to ourselves. Don't measure your acceptance
Child of God, don't measure your acceptance before the Lord God
with your own yardstick. Oh no, measure it by the worth
of the Lamb of God. Measure it by His merit. He shall
see of the travail of His soul, His sufferings, and He'll be
satisfied. That's why we can sing. That's
why we can sing. It is well with my soul. Every believer say, I don't always
feel like it, nor do I. It doesn't change the fact. It
is well with my soul. Is it well with your soul? Is
it well with your soul? What if tonight, what if tonight
when you got ready for bed, The Lord God would do what our Lord
said concerning that rich fool. Would say concerning your soul,
tonight I'm requiring your soul of you. Does God do that? Only God does that, no one else.
He has the issues of life and death are in His hands. If tonight
He should say, I require your soul of you, and you were ushered
into the presence of God Almighty, what's your hope? What's your
hope? Is it well with your soul? If
not, if not, may God open your blinded eyes. In grace, teach
your heart to fear. Show you your need of Him, and
that same grace Relieve your fears by showing you the lamb
of God. God bless you. Thank you for
your attention.