I had planned for the last several
days in preparation to preach to you from Habakkuk chapter
3 tonight, as I told you I would Sunday. And when I got to the
office this morning and started working again on the message
of three great wonders from that chapter, I just didn't have any
liberty to pursue it. And I believe the Lord gave me
a more suitable message for this hour. I hope directly for you. Message suitable for this hour
as we consider the fact that this is the last time we'll meet
together as a body of believers to worship God in this year,
2010. Maybe we'll meet Sunday if the
Lord spares us and spares this world. If not, this will be a
suitable message, I'm certain. I want to ask you a question,
a question you may prefer to avoid. You might wish to postpone thinking
about it, put it off, a question you need to deal with. afraid to die? You're going to soon. Are you afraid to die? Does death
alarm you? Does the thought of death frighten
you? Does your heart tremble at the
prospect of eternity? This has been on my mind more
perhaps in recent weeks than at other times, though it's on
my mind deliberately all the time. We have some friends who
will soon leave us. They're dying. And unless God
intervenes, they will die soon. Some possibly are nearer death than
we realize. I wonder how many of you, myself
included, will be here this time next year. We're leaving this world dying. Dying. Are you afraid of that
fact? I've watched a lot of people
die. I've told you this numerous times, but it serves my purpose
to repeat myself. As a young pastor, I went to
pastor a group of folks in Lookout, West Virginia, most of them older
than most of us now. The congregation was quite old
when I went there. And a lot of folks in their upper 60s and
70s and 80s, some in their 90s. One of the deacons shortly after
I became his pastor, Brother Harold Martin, Asked me to go
see his brother, his brother who had no interest in the gospel,
no interest in things of God. Asked me to go see him. He was
in the hospital in Montgomery, West Virginia, dying. And so
I said, well, I'll be happy to go see him, Brother Harold. And
I drove down to Montgomery to walk in visit with Harold's brother.
And that old man looked at me as I walked through the door.
I guess he recognized since I had a suit and tie on, I was probably
a preacher. And he looked kind of gruff.
And I introduced myself, I said, I'm your brother Harold's pastor.
And before I could get my hand out to shake hands with him,
the old man looked at me and he said, if you're here to talk
to me about God and Jesus, you go on back. He said, I've lived
like hell and I'm going to die like hell. And stared at me with
hell in his eyes. And I couldn't sleep when I went
home. I'd never experienced such a thing. And he died like hell. A few years later, not many,
just a few years later, two or three, I visited with his brother,
Harold, his last day of consciousness in this world. I flew out to
near Washington, DC, in Dale City, Virginia, and visited with
Harold in the hospital. It's the last day he was alive
and visited with him, spent the last hours he was conscious with
him. The last thing that man said
before he left this world, his very last words, he looked at
me and said, preacher, it's good to come here and know that everything
is under the blood. How different the deaths. of
two men from the same parents, raised in the same circumstances,
one chosen, redeemed, and called, one who believed God, and one
who died a rebel. Are you afraid to die? I know a good many, many women
who do everything they can to avoid visiting rest homes and
hospitals or funeral parlors, they simply can't deal with death. They just can't deal with it. The thought of death terrifies
them. I ask you what Jeremiah asked long ago. If sickness and
death torment you now, then how wilt thou do in the swelling
of Jordan? I know this, the fear of death
is a very natural thing to sinful men. The fact is, if you're without
Christ, you are without Christ. You have every reason to fear
death. Every reason. It's appointed
to men once to die, and after this, the judgment. You and I must die. I forgot
where I picked this up some years ago. It was written on someone's
tombstone. Please view my grave as you pass
by, for as you are, so once was I. And as I am, soon you must
be. So make your plans to follow
me. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Because of your sin, because
of your guilt before God, you must die. But death doesn't end
it all. There are many who try to suppress
the fear of death by saying, well, we all die like a dog.
And when you die, that's the end of it. You're just buried
in the ground and forget it. Not so. Not so. Yes, man must
die as the beast must die. The wise man Solomon tells us
that. But the death of a man and the death of the beast are
two different things. When your body dies, your soul lives forever. You will stand before the holy,
just, righteous God in judgment. And you'll reap exactly that
which you have sown in the earth. You will reap the penalty in
judgment for your sin. The infinite, eternal wrath of
God in hell shall be yours by an act of divine justice. Look
at 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10. We must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things
done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it
be good or bad. You're going to receive exactly
what you deserve. If you believe the son of God,
Joe Blakely, if you trust Christ, you deserve everlasting life. Because Christ earned it for
you. He bought it for you. You have
done that which was lawful and right in the substitute, in the
mediator, by his obedience and death. Not by what you've done
before God saved you or since God saved you. By what he did
while he walked on this earth and when he cried, it's finished.
You've done that which is good. But if you meet God without Christ, eternal death shall be yours.
How do you know this is what that's talking about? Knowing
therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade me But we're made
manifest unto God and I trust also made manifest your consciences
look in Revelation chapter 20 Revelation chapter 20 Now the
death of the body doesn't end anything except our state and
existence on this earth The death of the body is but the beginning
of our experience of eternity, both for the righteous and for
the wicked. Revelation 20 verse 6. Blessed and holy is he that
hath part in the first resurrection. Now, if you haven't done so already,
right somewhere in the margin, that's talking about the new
birth. Blessed and holy is he that is born again. He that is
born of God. On such, the second death hath
no power. But they shall be priests of
God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. The word thousand is in the singular.
There's no singular word for thousand in the scriptures. It's
thousands of years. It's talking about eternity.
Shall reign eternally. Verse 11. And I saw a great white
throne, and him that sat on it from whose face The earth and
the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. And
the books were opened and another book. Thank God for that other
book, which was open, which is the book of life. And the dead
were judged out of those things which were written in the books
according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it. And death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them. And they were judged every man
according to their works. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Somebody asked me, what is hell? I don't know. I don't know. I just know it's
real. And I know if you meet God without
Christ, hell will be your everlasting portion of torment and darkness
and damnation. And whatever concept you have
of that torment, I promise you, you haven't begun to imagine
what hell is. You haven't begun to imagine
what it is. and whosoever was not found written
in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. If you're without Christ, you
have reason to fear death. But for believers, things are
far different. Turn to Hebrews chapter 2. Here in Hebrews chapter 2, verses
14 and 15, God the Holy Spirit is telling us why Christ assumed
our nature, why the Son of God became the Son of Man, why God
took on himself our nature and came into this world. And one
of the reasons he tells us for the incarnation is that our Lord
Jesus came here to destroy Satan and to deliver his elect from
the fear of death. Hebrews 2 verse 14. For as much
then as the children also are partakers of flesh and blood,
that is, since we were flesh and blood, he, the Lord Jesus
also himself, likewise took part of the same, that through death,
that is, by his death, he might destroy him that had power, the
power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. There is an hour when I must
part with all I hold most dear and life with its best hopes
will then as nothingness appear. There is an hour when I must
sink beneath the stroke of death and yield to him who gave it
first my struggling vital breath. There is an hour when I must
stand before the judgment seat and all my sins and all my foes
in awful vision meet. There is an hour when I must
look on one eternity and nameless woe or blissful life my endless
portion be. Are you afraid to die? Christ
Jesus came to deliver chosen sinners from the fear of death. Look to Christ. I tell you now
and I want to urge you throughout this message. Look to Christ. He alone is deliverance from
the fear of death as he alone is deliverance from death. The
Lord Jesus delivers us from the fear of death by several things. Let me give you just a few first. Our blessed Savior destroyed
the power of death by dying in our place and rising again. His death was the death of death. His death for his people was
the death of death. When Christ died, he conquered
death, hell, and the grave. So that our Lord Jesus says,
he that believeth on me shall never die. By him dying in our
stead, the Son of God put a period to death for his people, so that
none for whom he died shall ever die. These bodies must go back
to the earth. These bodies shall decay. These
bodies shall return to the dust. But we shall never die. God's elect live forever. We
are given eternal life. Eternal life life that we had
with Christ before the world began given to us in time in
the experience of grace and Possessed by us unto everlasting life even
in resurrection glory Here's the second thing. Not only is
our Lord's death the death of death our Lord Jesus delivers
us from this fear of death by removing sin from us John said,
in him is no sin. The sting of death, Paul tells
us, is sin. It's sin that causes men torment
in death. But in Christ, we who are his
have no sin. Be sure, my friends, you have
the forgiveness of sin. Be sure you have it, that you
possess the forgiveness of sin. Well, Brother Don, how can I
have that? Only God can give it to you. And you receive this
forgiveness by faith in Christ. Believe on the Son of God and
all your sins are forgiven. And you have the testimony of
God for it, not only in His Word, but as God gives you faith, the
testimony of God in your own heart, so that God declares He
will not charge you with sin. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. If we confess our sins, he's
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and the blood of
Jesus Christ, his son cleanseth us from all unrighteousness.
For another thing, the law of God held us in bondage, held
us under the sentence of death and condemnation. But Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Christ paid our debt. He paid our debt. In the scriptures,
our sins are described as crimes. Our sins are described as a debt. Our sins are described numerous
ways in the scriptures. Because it takes many things
by which God conveys to us the fullness of our forgiveness,
but one of the great Descriptions of sin is a debt remember in
Luke chapter 7 our Lord speaks of those Speaks about to the
Pharisee about that woman said man owes ten thousand farthings
another owes this Who loves most if he forgives both of them?
The man said, he to whom much is forgiven, the same loveth
much. So our Lord Jesus compares the
forgiveness of sin by his blood to the removal of a debt. Christ
canceled my debt. Christ canceled my debt. He canceled it. That means I
owe nothing. The Son of God, by his blood,
Has blotted out our transgressions. He's cancelled our debts. He's
satisfied justice. We don't owe anything. Can you
get ahold of that? Don't owe anything. Nothing.
Nothing of righteousness. Nothing of atonement. Nothing
for redemption. Nothing for acceptance. Christ
has accomplished all for all who are his. Believe on the Son
of God. and walk home tonight free of
the fear of debt or of death because your debt is gone. Not only that, our dear savior
delivers us from the fear of death by changing its character. For the unbeliever, death is
a horrible thing. Anything short of death for the
unbeliever is mercy. You get conditioned to things about
society in which you live. And people think, well, suffering
so much, it would be better for them to die. Let me give you an example that
ought to be fresh on your minds. I want it fresh on your minds.
Brother Tommy Robbins, I can't tell you how anxious
I am for God to take him from this world. I want the Lord to take him quickly,
soon. I pray that he'll do so. That's
that's my personal desire for him. Oh, what a great mercy that will
be. What a great mercy for his family, for his church. What
a great mercy. But if he were an unbeliever. That's another story. If he were an unbeliever. Well,
he'd be better off, let's just, let's ask the doctors to do whatever
they have to do and put him out of his misery. You're not talking
about killing a dog. Anything short of hell is mercy
for the unbeliever. But our Lord has made death for
the believer a blessed prospect. John Trapp made this observation,
to those that are in Christ, Death is but the daybreak of
eternal brightness. It's not the punishment of sin,
but the period of sin. Not punishment of sin, but the
end of sin. It is but the sturdy porter opening
the door of eternity, a rough passage to eternal pleasure. Why should Israel be afraid to
cross the swelling Jordan into the land of promise with the
ark of God in front of them? What is there to make death in
any way something to be dreaded by us? Believers don't die like
unbelievers do. Our Lord said, whosoever liveth
and believeth on me shall never die. For the unbeliever, death
is God's penalty for man's sin. For the believer, death is just
a change of location. For the unbeliever, death is
the execution of justice. For the believer, death is deliverance
from sin. To the worldly, death is the
beginning of sorrows. To the believer, it's admission
into glory. For the rebel, death is everlasting
imprisonment. For the believer, it is the glorious
liberty of the sons of God. You understand the difference?
Not only that, our Savior has taken away the fear of death
from those who trust him by assuring our souls that we go to be with
him in heaven immediately. Because I live, he said, ye shall
live also. Father, I will that they also
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory. Paul said to be absent from the
body is to be present with the Lord. Knowing this, I can no longer fear to die. I speak not in any way a matter of bravery,
and that's not the case at all. I speak not just as an idealist
who has studied this thing out, and I'm here to tell you the
best way to approach things. In God's good providence, I have
known more than once what it is to be faced with almost certain
immediate death. And I know what it is to face
death with no fear in my soul, no trembling in my heart, no
sense of dread. I have no reason to fear death
because Christ is mine. And to die is but to enter into
his presence. To die is but to possess all
his glory. And our Lord Jesus delivers us
from the fear of death, assuring us of a glorious, blessed, and
certain resurrection. These bodies, these bodies, sown
in corruption, shall be raised in incorruption. This body must
be sown in the earth in mortality, a mortal body. But it's going
to be raised up a spiritual body. We we shall be sold in the earth,
this body of flesh, but raised up a celestial body of glory
like the body of that one, the disciples all transfigured on
the mountain transfiguration. The body must die, but blessed
God, we shall arise. I know that my Redeemer liveth,
Job said, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.
And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my
flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself. And mine eyes
shall behold and not another, though my eyes, though my reins
be consumed within me. And with that hope, the grave
calls Job no alarm. and she calls us no alarm. If
you'd be free from the fear of death, meditate on it often. Think about it a lot. I try deliberately
to think of death every day that I live, my death. I try to think of it frequently
through the day. want to think of it until the
day that I cease to live in this world, that I may serve my God
consciously with the brevity of my life before me and serve
God faithfully in the days that he's given me. Death will bring
us into the presence of many friends. It takes a wife from her husband,
a husband from his wife, a father from the family of children,
from a husband or from a father or mother. But there is a day
of reunion coming when we shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob in the kingdom of God. That's something. People like to debate about nonsense
and every now and then someone will ask me, do you think we'll
know each other in heaven? Well, I know James Jordan now,
and I think I'll know more then than I do now. Peter, James, and John, when
they saw Moses and Elijah on Mount Transfiguration, they knew
immediately who they were, and they had never seen them, and
they sure didn't have a Polaroid snapshot of them, and they didn't
have any description of what they looked like. But immediately
when they were transfigured, when the Lord was transfigured
and Moses and Elijah appeared on the Mount with the Lord, they
recognized Moses and Elijah. Oh yeah, believers will know
each other. You reckon we'll know our relationships from another
aspect. I expect we will. And all things
concerning those relationships that here are matters of weakness
and pain will be insignificant and matter nothing. And all those
things about our relationships with one another that here are
matters of so much joy in a carnal sense, in a purely physical sense,
in an emotional sense, in heaven will make no difference whatever,
being significant. See if I can illustrate it. I
don't have any question at all. In resurrection glory, I'm going
to know that dear lady right there. I'm going to know she
was my wife, mother of my child. and my faithful companion on
this earth all these years. And I won't love her anymore
than I do you. And the relationship won't be
any more dear than my relationship with Joe's wife. You see, in
Christ, we are one body in the Lord. That doesn't mean there's
no distinction. That doesn't mean that there's
no knowledge, no individuality, not at all. It simply means that
we are one in the Savior and that's all that matters as far
as our relationship is concerned. Dying in Christ means something
else. Our most earnest desires, our
most constant prayers, our most noble ambitions will be fulfilled. We'll have no more sin. And I'm
not talking about what's out there. I'm talking about what's
in here. And no more pain. And no more sorrow. No more heartache. No more trial. No more separation. No more parting. Only blessed
joy. Perfect righteousness. Life. Perfect life. Righteous life. Glorious, free life with no restraints. with no hindrance, no darkness. We pray for a brighter, clearer
knowledge and understanding of Christ and his glory. Oh, what
it will be like to see him when these eyes are opened in life
everlasting without the dimness of carnality and flesh. The death of God's saints, I'm certain, is accompanied with
many comforts. Moses, in Exodus 15, describes
in his song how that the Lord takes his saints across the Red
Sea, takes his saints out of this world into Canaan's fair
and happy land with their enemies pursuing them. And it says, concerning
their enemies, They shall be as still as a stone until they
be passed over. Now, cause no trouble, cause
no difficulty. I think certainly we will discover
that many of God's saints have fresher, clearer, fuller light
given them as they are leaving this world. Concerning the person
and work and dearness of Christ the Redeemer than they've ever
had in all their days Walking with him on this earth. I Know
I'm a dying man But I'm not afraid to die I don't have any reason
to be I'm ready to depart Ready to be absent from the body
and be present with the Lord if that is God's purpose and
God's will and want it. I want it. There's no reason to be fearful
about all those things that cause us fear. We get concerned about
the welfare of God's church, how proud I would be, how proud
I am, God forgive me, when I think that somehow the welfare of God's
church depends on me. Not in the least. Or the welfare
of our families. God is the father of his people. He cares for his own. He provides
for his own. My first real experience, what
I'm trying to talk to you about, our daughter was just a little
girl when I really thought I'd die, just a young man with cancer.
Doctors thought I'd die, and I struggled with that until the
Lord gave me this blessed peace. She's mine, not yours. And I'm a better father than
you can ever imagine being. And with that, okay, I'll be
fine. Out in California a few years
ago, I used to listen to three conversations at one time, especially
when I wanted to. And Shelby was talking to some
ladies and they were asking her, you know, what's going to happen
when Brother Don dies, you live in Parsons, you don't have any
property, don't have any house, what's going to happen to you?
And Shelby responded, I don't think she knew I was listening.
The Lord's taking care of me all these years, and I'm sure
he'll take care of me then. And she's just right. Death. Nothing to fear about
death, not for God's sakes. Martin Luther wrote in his will,
Lord, thou has given me wife and children. I have nothing
to leave them, but I commit them unto thee. Oh, father of the
fatherless and judge of widows, nourish, keep, and teach them. And our blessed Savior, Sweetly
gives us foretaste of heaven By which he takes away the fear
of death He's given us the earnest of
the spirit The down payment the earnest money the pledge of 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 And yet the Lord Jesus has given us this earnest. And
this much we know. To die is to be absent from this
body. This body, not just the physical
frame. But this body of sin. This body
of flesh. This body of my father, Adam.
which has been so much trouble and so much pain. It is to be
absent from the body and present with the Lord, to possess Christ,
all that he is in all his mediatorial glory, all that he has as the
obedient servant of Jehovah. It is to possess him and be with
him perfectly like it face to face with no sin and no sickness
and no sorrow. Death, children of God, is not
something to fear, but something to anticipate. Were it the will of God, my father,
According to his purpose, for his glory, I much prefer death
to life. And soon I shall have it. And
you too. Now would you live free from
the fear of death? Free from the fear of death?
Believe on the Son of God. Trust Christ and life everlasting
is yours. Would you be free from the fear
of death? Live every day as though it were your last. You can't carry that too far.
George Whitefield, Before he retired, every night, as you
know, he traveled, he was an evangelist, traveled all over
the world, gone most of the time. Every night before he went to
bed, put everything right where it needed to be if he didn't
wake up tomorrow. Put everything right where, put
his gloves, his shoes, everything, just right where he'd cause no
trouble to anyone that'd come clean up behind him. That's a
good way to live. Live every day as though it were
your last. in every relationship, with every
opportunity, both to serve God and his people, and to worship
him and benefit one another. Hold everything here, everything, with a loose hand. Count it no more dear than you
will when you have to leave it. Let go. Let go. Let go every day of everything
that you're going to have to leave in this world. Everything.
Live not for the perishing things of time, but for the lasting
things of eternity. Would you live free of the fear
of death? Walk with God. Walk with God. Enoch walked with God, and he
was not, for God took him. Walk with God, and you'll walk
out of this world into heavenly glory. Walk with God. Believe the Son of God. Trust
Him. Walk with God, and walk in peace. As for me, I will behold thy
face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake
with thy likeness. When I have breathed my final
breath and dropped this robe of flesh in death, when my appointed
work is done and my allotted time is gone, Don't stand around
my grave and cry. I'll not be there. I did not
die. My savior came to call me home,
and I with him to heaven have go. Now I am free from sin and
pain and with the glorified I reign. Don't stand around my grave and
cry. I'm glorified. I did not die. Seated with Jesus
on his throne, glorified by what he has done. I am a trophy of
his grace. Rejoicing, I behold his face. So don't stand around my grave
and cry. I am with Christ. I did not die. My body lies beneath the clay
until the resurrection day. In that day when Christ comes
again, body and soul unite again. So don't stand around my grave
and cry. Rejoice with me. I did not die. Amen. Let's stand together and
pray.