Two good friends of mine, Bill
and Naomi Cooney, they're both dead now. But one morning, Naomi
called me on the telephone, and she said, Brother Mahan, she
said, my mother is dying with cancer. She lives just a few
blocks from me. And I've been talking to her
about the gospel, about Christ. My mother's never had any interest
in the gospel. Didn't attend church very much,
but she's got an interest now. She said, I wonder if you would
go up and visit with her. Well, I said, be glad to. I said,
you let her know I'm coming. Oh, I've already told her you
were coming to visit with her, and she wants to talk to you
about Christ. So I went up and knocked on the door. She'd been
in the hospital for a long time, and they'd released her to go
home, but she was still very ill. And she came to the door, And I forget
her first name. But anyway, I said, I'm Preacher
Mahan. She said, I was looking for you.
And I said, come in. So I walked in. I could see the
room still. Long time ago. And she was very
weak and bent over. And I looked through the living
room and it was French doors. There was a bedroom behind those
French doors, and I said, would you like me to go back with you
to the bedroom, let you lie down while we talk? Oh, she said,
that'd be fine. So she opened the doors and went
in and lay down on the bed and I pulled the chair up and I said,
do you have a Bible? I always want to talk to people
about the things of Christ. I have my Bible, but I like to
get theirs. She said, I have one. It's over
there on the coffee table. I walked over and got it. I said,
do you feel like reading? She was lying there, and I pulled
my chair up. I said, do you feel like reading? She said, yes,
I do. I said, well, open that Bible to 1 John. She said, you'll
have to help me find it. I don't know what 1 John is.
So I opened it to 1 John, chapter 5, and I read verses 11 through
13. This is the record. that God hath given to us eternal
life, and this life is in his Son. And he that hath the Son
of God, he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not
the Son of God hath not life. But these things are written
unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that
you may know that you have eternal life. and that you may keep on
believing on the name of the Son of God. So I took those verses
and talked to her like Philip talked to the eunuch. I preached
Christ to her from those verses. And she listened carefully. And finally I said, all right,
let me go back over it again and I want you to read And she read, and this is the
record. I said, you know now what that means? That's the Word
of God. You said that was a witness of God. That's right. That God
has given to us eternal life. And she read that. I said, you
know what that means? Yes, God gave us eternal life. And He gave us this life in Jesus
Christ our Lord, who died for us on the cross. I said, that's
right. Now read that next line. He that
hath the Son hath life. If you have Christ, if you believe
Christ, if you embrace Christ, if you love Christ, you have
eternal life right now. Half eternal life. You see that? Yes, you say that, and I do,
and I believe on Him. I said, well, the other side
says if man doesn't have Christ, he doesn't have life. Oh, but
she said, now I have Christ on her. Yeah, now I have life. And
I said, this says, this is written that you might keep on believing
on Christ, keep on looking to Christ, keep on relying upon
Christ. She said, well, I believe I do.
I believe I do. So we had prayer, and I began
to leave, and as I walked out the door and waved bye to her,
I thought to myself, I met her in a state of nature. Never seen her before in my life.
I met her in a state of nature and I left her in a state of
grace. Isn't that something? Met her in sin and walked away
and God revealed Christ to her. And you know, two days later,
Naomi called me and said, Mom's gone. I want you to push your
funeral. And I thought, well, I'm looking
forward to this. This funeral. The Lord took her
and I'm looking forward to it. Because I met her in a state
of nature. And I left her in a state of
grace. And God took her to a state of
glory. My, my. It doesn't always happen
that way. Rarely, rarely, rarely that quickly. But the thief on the cross did.
And this dear lady did too. And so, and I know that there
are a lot of people who don't like to hear sermons on death
and our appointment with God, but I've got an appointment with
God that I'm very anxious about going home. And I don't mind
reading it, preaching about it, Looking forward to it, and that's
what I'm going to talk about this morning. You know, Job said
this, when a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence
I shall not return. Remember those three words. I. Supported unto me once to die.
I shall go, no avoiding it. Got to go. When he says, come,
I'm coming, and I'll be glad. And then he said this third word,
I shall not return here. Won't be back here. Never be
back here. And this, this, this, the world,
this world looks upon this experience as a terrible tragedy. That's the way they look at death.
A terrible tragedy. Terrible. But our Lord uses three
words in regard to the death of His people. You know what
one of them is? It's blessed. Blessed are the
dead who die in the Lord. That dear lady was blessed. Blessed are the dead who die
in the Lord. The second word is precious. Our Lord uses the word precious.
He says precious. in the sight of the Lord is the
death of his sin. And you know what the third word
is? It's gain. For me to live is Christ, and
if I fall right now in his presence, it's gain. It's gain. Do you think for a moment, do
you think for a moment that any believer whom the Lord has called
home would come back here? Now you just think about that
a minute. You think any of them, any of
them would come back here. You know, David said, a day in
thy courts is better than a thousand anywhere else. I'd rather be
a doorkeeper in the house of my God, and dwell in the tempts
of wickedness." Oh, God Himself dwells there in His house with
His people, and there's no tears, there's no death, there's no
crying, there's no sorrow, there's no pain, there's no sin, because
He said, I make all things new. It's a glorious, glorious expectation. So I want you to turn with me
now to Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. And here is
the title of this message. I've got a title for it. The
title of this message is Delivered from the Fear of Death. Delivered
from the fear of it. Now let me read a scripture here.
Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. Let's begin
with verse 10. Hebrews 2 verse 10. For it became
him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in
bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through suffering. For both he that sanctifies and
they who are sanctified are all of one. For which cause he is
not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name
unto my brethren in the midst of the church that I sing praise
unto thee. And again, I will put my trust
in him. And again, behold, I and the
children which God has given me For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same flesh and blood, that through death he might destroy
him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver
them, who through fear of death where all their lifetimes subject
to bondage. Fear of death. He has delivered
us from the power of death and from the fear of death. How did our Lord deliver us from
the fear of death? Well, three ways. Number one,
He delivered us from the fear of death by dying Himself. He
actually, our Lord actually died. He actually died. That's right. He was made sin
for us. And under that wrath of God,
under the burden of sin, under the weight of that sin, He died. If He hadn't have borne our sins,
He wouldn't have died, because sin brings forth death. He had
to die. bearing our sins in his body
on the tree. And through his perfect life
and through his vicarious death, he destroyed the power of death
and destroyed and delivered us from the fear of death. And he
delivered it by dying himself. Dying himself. For Christ has
suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, that He might bring
us to God, being put to death in the flesh. You know, when
I was a kid, and when some of you were kids, we didn't have
too much things to entertain us. We just kind of made our
own entertainment. And sometimes it was dangerous.
Sometimes it was very dangerous. Way back yonder, we used to cut
with cross-cut saws and used to explore caves and used to
cut with hatchets, you know. Everybody had a rifle and a two-blade
axe, you know, to cut trees down with. So it is dangerous living.
And then we used to make our own entertainment by jumping
off high places, you know. And we used to put a rope on
a tree and swing out over the creek and drop in it. Sometimes
there's a way down. So, we'd get a rope and put it
up there and the fellas would all congregate, you know, with
their swimsuits on and stand by that rope and look down at
that water. And everybody would just stand
there. Finally, somebody said, you go first. You go first. You go first. Finally, somebody
went first. Swung out there and dropped and
it was wonderful. But the thing to it, my Lord
went first. He died. He's the first begotten
of the dead. First one to rise from the grave.
He went first and he made the way straight for me. I'm not
afraid now because he destroyed the power of death and delivered
me from the fear. I'm not afraid to die. I told
somebody the other day, I don't lie from the pulpit anywhere
else. Try not to. But I'm telling the truth. I'm
not afraid to die. Because he took the fear out
of it. He died first. He went into that grave and walked
out. And I'll be put in the grave
someday and I'm going to walk out. Walk out. Here's the second thing. He removed
us from the fear of death. by destroying death and throwing
himself first. And then he removed us from the
fear of death by removing the sting. What is the sting of death? O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. That's the whole trouble. The strength of sin is the law,
and the sting of death is sin. There was no death in this world
until sin came. And when my Lord took away the
sin, there's no death. There is therefore now co-condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. He removed the sting. I'm not
afraid to die. because Christ died first for
me. I'm not afraid to die because
there's no sting in death now. It's gone. This boy came in from
playing out in the yard one day and said, Mama, my little wasp
stung me. Mama said, well, come here, child.
She put something on it, you know. She said, now get back
out there and play. He said, I'm not going back out
there where that wasp is. She said, honey, he lost his
stinger. He can't hurt you. Make a pet
out of him. And that's what our Lord did.
He took the stinging out of death. There is no death, no condemnation,
no judgment to them who are in Christ Jesus. That's so. That's not play like. That's
show. And then Thursday, He removed from us the fear of death. He
died Himself by removing the sting of death, which is sin. But He has changed the character
of death. The character of death. Turn,
if you will, to John chapter 11. The very character of death
has been changed. In John chapter 11, And you know
the Lord, when he talks about a believer, a believer died,
he calls it sleep. That's what he said about Lazarus.
Lazarus is asleep. And the disciples finally said,
well, if he's asleep, he does well. Let's all join and go to
sleep with him, you know. He said, well, for your benefit,
he's dead. As far as I'm concerned, he's
asleep. In John chapter 11 here, start with verse 20. Then Martha,
as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, she went out and
met him. But Mary stayed in the house,
and Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you'd have been here, my brother
would not have died. But I know that even now, whatsoever
thou wilt ask of God, God will give it to you. Our Lord said,
your brother will rise again. Martha said, well, I know that
he shall rise again in the resurrection of the last day. He said, our
Lord said to her, I'm the resurrection. I'm the resurrection. I'm the
life. He that believeth on me, though he were dead, he's still
living. Your brother's not dead. I've
been telling the disciples that. He's asleep. Your brother's not
dead. I am the resurrection and the
life, and he that believeth on me, though he lays in the tomb,
yet he lives. And listen, and whosoever liveth
right now, that's us right now, we live right now, whoever lives
and believes in me never will die. Never will die. We're not going to die. We're
going to go to sleep. We do it every night. We go lie
down in bed and sleep. And there's no rigmarole about
it. Nobody's scared to go. I'm ready to go. About 10.30,
go to sleep. And we're going to go to sleep.
He turned to Martin and said, do you believe that? Do you believe
that? To sleep in Christ is not a curse,
it's a blessing. To sleep in Christ is not loss,
it's gain. To sleep in Christ is not a penalty,
it's a reward. My reward is with me. He said
to Abraham, I am your exceeding great reward. To sleep in Christ
is not the end of life. I said to somebody the other
day, if Brother Mahan dies, as people say that we all do, you
just tell him he's not dead. He's asleep and he's with the
Lord. That's right. He's not dead. To sleep in Christ
is not the end of life. It's the glorious beginning of
eternal life. I tell you, one of these days
pretty soon, all of us are going to really live. We're going to
really live. Oh, a poem wrote it, a poet wrote
it this way. It's not death to die, to leave
this weary road, and with my brothers on high to be at home
with God, that's not death. It's not death to close these
eyes long dimmed with tears and wait in glorious repose to spend
God's eternal years. It's not death to bear the sickness
that sets us free. Someday something is going to
happen to set us free. It may be like my brother was
talking earlier, his daughter, 40 years of age, last December,
heart attack. He set her free. It's sad, it
breaks your heart, but he set her free. It's not death. It's not death to bear the sickness
that sets us free from dungeon chains, to breathe the air of
God's perfect liberty. Boy, that's not death. It's not
death to fling aside this sinful dust and rise again on eagles'
wings to live among the just. That's death. That's not death. That's a blessing. That's a gain.
That's a reward. That's the beginning of life. I want to ask three questions. and answer them in this message. Brother Mahan, when our souls
depart, we die, save you died right now, where do we go? Where do we go? Well, I'll tell
you this, immediately, immediately we go to heaven. We go to God's
paradise. That's exactly right. Our Lord
said to the thief on the cross, on the cross said, don't you
fear God seeing you in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly,
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And our Lord
looked at him and said, this day, this day. Now the Lord is dying and the
Lord is going to be buried. The Lord's body is going to be
buried, but the Lord is going to glory to the right hand of
God. I go to my father and your father,
and I go to my father and your father, and you'll be with me
in paradise right now. Ecclesiastes 12 says this, then
shall the dust return to the earth as it was, as it was. That grass withers and dies,
returns to the earth, and the spirit to God who gave it. There's no Gehenna and Hades
and Sheol and places, purgatory, places for us to camp before
the Lord. We'll go to glory. The Spirit
to God who gave it. Paul said in Philippians, for
me to live is Christ and to die is gain. And I'm in a straight
betwixt the two. I have a desire. to depart and
be with Christ. To be where? With Christ. Where
is Christ? The right hand of God. To be
with Christ, which is far better. For he said, to be absent from
this body, to be present with the Lord. So if you ask me, when our souls
depart from this body, do we go immediately to heaven? Immediately. Absolutely. There's no question
about it. Go to be with the Lord. All right,
brethren. The second question. Well, when
we're raised from the grave, when we're raised from the grave,
what body do we have? What body? Well, I want to show
you two scriptures. Let's look first of all at Luke
24. Luke 24. What body do we have when we're raised from the grave? Luke 24, verse 36. Now watch
this. Luke 24, verse 36. Now our Lord
died, and our Lord was raised, and He appeared to His disciples
here in Luke 24, verse 36. And as they thus spake, Jesus
Himself stood in the midst of them, and saith to them, Peace
be unto you. But they were terrified, And
they were frightened and supposed that they'd seen a spirit. And
he said to them, why are you troubled? And why do thoughts
arise in your hearts? Behold my hands. Whose hands? My hands. Behold my feet. It's I myself. It's me. Not somebody else. It's not a
ghost. It's me. It's myself. Candle
me. Handle me and see, a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you
see me have." And when they had thus spoken, he showed them his
hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not
for joy, and wondered, he said, Do you have any meat? You have some food here? And
they gave him a piece of boiled fish, and a honeycomb, and he
took it and did eat. He's in his glorified body, resurrected
body, flesh and bones and ate. What kind of body are we going
to have? Now, I know we're going to be with the Lord, and whatever
goes on before that, I'm talking about the resurrection now. I'm
not trying to put this thing too thin at all. I just know
that when he's raised, We're going to be flesh and bones. We're going to eat. We're going
to be, we're going to be a person. And he said it, it's I myself.
Yeah. Now here's, here's the next verse. 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 35. 1
Corinthians 15 verse 35. Watch this now. But some men will say, How are
the dead raised up, and with what body do they come? Thou
fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die. And that which thou sowest, thou
sowest not the body that shall be, you sow bare grain. maybe a chance of wheat or some
other grain, corn, but God gives it a body, a glorified body,
as it has pleased Him, and to ever see His own body. And remember
this, all flesh is not the same flesh. There's one kind of flesh
of man, there's a flesh of beast, flesh of fish, Now watch this,
and there's also celestial bodies, that's heavenly bodies, and bodies
terrestrial, that's earthly bodies. But the glory of the celestial
is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. We're
going to have a heavenly body of flesh and bone. A heavenly
body. There's a flesh of fish and birds. There's a flesh of animals. There's a flesh of men and women. That flesh is dying flesh. But then there's glorified flesh.
It's spiritual. That's what our Lord was. Glorified. Oh, here's the third question.
Well, do we know each other then? Will we know each other in glory?
We go immediately to glory. And then when the Lord raises
us, and the Lord says, it's I myself, raise it. And like old Job said,
that I'm going to see my Lord. I'm not talking about somebody
else. I myself going to see the Lord. Well, here's what Spurgeon
said about this thing. When a farmer plants a seed of
corn in the ground, there it dies. It rots, it decays. By water and dirt, it rots and
it decays. And by and by, we see a green
blade come up, which continues to grow until it becomes a full
stalk of corn. Now, is this the same corn you
planted It's the same corn. It was a shriveled, wrinkled
seed. Just like that. But it's the same corn. It's
the same corn. It's the same corn. It came right
up where you put it. It came right up where you planted
it. You put this poor, wrinkled seed in the ground, and it springs
up a whole stalk of abundant corn. And people, they don't
get amazed or impressed with that miracle. That's a miracle. A miracle of God. Plant your
corn. It's just rain on it and dirt
and all these things. And that's why, here it comes.
And it's got a, it's not that little wrinkled seed now. It's
got a whole bunch of corn on it. Beautiful. Is that the same
thing you planted? Yeah, a lot different. And I'm
going to be a lot different. I'm going to be the same person. Is it the same corn? Of course
it's the same corn. The new corn came from the old
corn. And the new glorified being came
from that old body you put in the ground. Corruptible shall put on incorruption. Weak shall put on strength. All
this is true. Will we know each other in heaven?
The question is answered when you When you establish this fact,
is that the same corn that you planted? Is that the same corn? Yes, it is. That body you put
in the ground, that's the same body. God raised it, the same
body. Then we'll know each other. Job said, When I shall see for
myself, mine eyes shall behold my Lord, myself. David buried his son. And he
said, now he's dead. Wherefore should I pass? Can I bring him back? No. But
I can go to him. Let me look and close with four
pronouns. And here's what I'm dealing with.
Where we know each other. We're the same person. This person
whom God, as Brother Paul talked about a while ago, whom God chose
and elected and washed, and justified, and purified, and then we sleep
the sleep of death, and it buries us, and we go back to the dust.
Go back to the dust. And we're in glory now. Now when
He raises that body, brings the saints with Him, they go to glory. Are they going to be the same
person that they were buried in? That's exactly right. Let
me show you, let me turn to Revelation 5, Revelation 5, Revelation 5,
verse 9. I'm going to use four pronouns,
us, you, me, and they. All right, watch this now. Hebrews,
Revelation 5, verse 9, And they sung a new song, saying, Thou
art worthy Take the book, and open the seals thereof, for thou
wast slain, and hast redeemed us." Who's us? That's His people. You've redeemed us to God by
thy blood out of every kindred, tongue, and people, and nation,
and you've made who? Us. Unto our God, kings and priests,
and we are going to reign on this new earth. New heaven and
new earth. Us. The same one that He called
and chose and redeemed us. Alright, look at John 14. John
chapter 14. The Lord Jesus Christ is going
to the cross and told His disciples, He said, don't let your heart
be troubled. You believe in God, believe in
Me. And then look at verse 3. And I go to prepare a place for
you. I will come again and receive
you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also." Who's
going to be raised? You. You. Us and you. Now look here at John 6 that
the pastor read earlier today. John chapter 6. John 6 verse
37. John 6, 37. Oh, let the Father
giveth me, they shall come to me, him that cometh to me. I don't know why I was cast out,
but I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will
of him that sent me. That's the me. That's Christ.
Us and Christ. All right, here's the last one.
Revelation 7. Revelation 7. Are we the same
Same folks? Absolutely. If that's the corn
you planted, that's the corn he raised up. Revelation chapter
7, verse 13 and 14. Revelation 7, verse 13 and 14. And one of the elders answered,
saying unto me, What are these? which are arrayed in white robes.
Now we're talking about the elect of all ages. These that are arrayed
in white robes, and whence came they? And he said unto thee,
Thou knowest. And he said to me, These are
they. And so they are. These are they. These are they which came out
of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made
them white in the blood So we're waiting, waiting for
His Son from heaven. That's the last thing that Paul
wrote in 1 Thessalonians 1, to wait for His Son from heaven.
That's who we're waiting on. That's who you're waiting on.
Expecting the Lord to come and take us to Himself. And while
we're waiting, Let me give you 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 statements. Let's wait on him. Let's wait on the Lord. That's
what David wrote in Psalm 27. Wait on the Lord. Again, I say
wait on the Lord. Now, wait where? Wait at his
door in prayer. Wait at his feet in humility. Wait at his table Bread and the
wine in faith. In faith. Wait in worship with
His children in the house of God. Wait right there. And wait
until your course is finished. For old Paul said this, I finished
my course. I finished my course. Henceforth
it is laid up for me, a crown of righteousness. which the Lord,
the righteous judge, shall give to me in that day, but not to
me only, but to all those that love his appearing." So it's
not death to die, to lay aside this sinful dust and be raised
in the image of our Lord Jesus Christ and live among the just. It's gain. We've had a great
time, Brother Tom and all the folks that made it possible.
And to God be the glory. Thank you.