Shelby and I have the family
over on Wednesday evening for Thanksgiving dinner every year.
We like to establish traditions of our own and break others.
That way the kids can go down and spend Thanksgiving Day with
Doug's folks after having breakfast with us on Thursday morning.
Wednesday night, just before I led the family in prayer, before
having our meal, I got a call from my sister that my dad had
just died. Needless to say, my mind this
week has been almost totally consumed with thoughts about
death, dying, and eternity. Monday morning, I preached a
funeral for a young man, 33 years old, up in northern New Jersey,
a policeman. He spent two tours of duty in
Iraq, serving his nation, protecting his nation, serving for us. He
committed suicide last week. And then Friday, I preach my
dad's funeral. I can't tell you how much I appreciate
your thoughtfulness, your expressions of sympathy, tenderness, love,
and care. How helpless we feel when we
try to comfort people who mourn the loss of someone they love.
And you can't imagine how utterly helpless I feel trying to help
folks in such circumstances when it's The business of preaching
a believer's funeral, the task is painful and difficult because
you have to say goodbye to somebody you loved dearly for a little
while. But it's eased and made delightful because we look upon
the death of this body for God's sakes as the entrance into life,
immortality, and everlasting glory. and anxiously await with
anticipation the sure and certain resurrection of these bodies,
knowing that our Redeemer lives, and that at the last day He shall
stand upon the earth, and we will see Him with our eyes, see
Him for ourselves forever, face to face. But when the person
who has died is an unbeliever, how do you comfort, how do you
minister to How do you speak to those who are bereaved and
mourning? Because we simply can't find
words to express ourselves, people often say foolish things. Often
we simply repeat things we've heard others say, or we parrot
things that we think people want to hear, refusing to deal with
reality. hoping to comfort folks by turning
their minds away from reality. The local pastor of the church
where my dad had been a member since he was a 12-year-old boy,
went there occasionally, a religious cheerleader. That's what these
preachers are, religious cheerleaders. Don't know God from a gourd.
And the whole of the religion of the day is designed intentionally
to keep anyone from having a serious thought about anything. Scared
to death, you might actually think about going to hell. Scared
to death, you might actually think about facing God in judgment.
And so he makes some idle yit-yak. You hear things like this, someone
dies without Christ, without life, without faith, without
righteousness, without hope, And some idiot says, well, he's
at rest now. At least his suffering's over.
He's better off. He's in a better place. Children
of God, don't talk like the fools around you. I don't mean be cruel
and harsh. I mean don't try to turn anyone
away from reality. There's no comfort in refusing
to face reality sooner or later. You've got to deal with it. I
was so happy to hear a fellow recently. You know, it's been
a couple of years ago. You know, when you get to be
more than half a century, three years ago was recent. And his
son had died suddenly. And everybody tried their best,
just everybody, trying their best to keep from using the word
dead. As he passed, he moved on. Finally,
he spoke up and he said, he's dead. Dead. Oh, what reality. After listening briefly to that
religious cheerleader as I stood beside my dad's coffin Friday,
I said to the congregation, there's nothing I can say that will affect
my dad in any way. He's dead. He's gone. Gone into eternity. And in just
a few minutes, like Abraham of old, we will bury our dead out
of our sight. But I've earnestly sought, and
I believe God has given me a message, you need to hear. And as I prepared
the message then, I was convinced it's the message you need to
hear today. So give me your attention. Give me your attention. Jeremiah,
the weeping prophet, wrote in the book of Lamentations, My
strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. Remembering my
affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall, My soul
hath been still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. The joy
of our heart is ceased. Our dance is turned into mourning. The crown is fallen from our
head. Woe unto us that we have sinned. For this our heart is
faint. For these things our eyes are
dim. Now turn with me, if you will,
to Ecclesiastes. the book of Solomon's wisdom. So many times
people think I read and hear folks say Solomon is here expressing
the frustrations and perplexities of uncertainty, misunderstanding
and confusion. Nothing could be further from
the truth. Solomon, the wisest of all in his day, writes the
book of wisdom in Proverbs and continues to write the same wisdom
in the book of Ecclesiastes. This is not an expression of
frustration. It is a declaration of reality. A declaration of reality. He says, it is better. Ecclesiastes 7 verse 2. It is
better. It is better. That's an absolute
statement. It is better. Always better. to go to the house of mourning
than to the house of feasting. Happiness seldom teaches you
anything. Happiness seldom gets your attention. Sorrow does. It's better to go
to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting. For
that is the end of all men. Look over the cemetery, look
into the face of the cold, dead corpse lying in a coffin. Look
in the sealed box before it's dropped in the ground. Watch
as dirt is shoveled into your face. And remember, soot lobbed
up at you. Soot. And then judgment. Oh, my God. Then judgment. That's the end of all men. And
the living will lay it to his heart. He didn't say he might.
The living will lay it to his heart. That's the reason folks
try their best not to face it. Because when you see one dead,
you can't help but lay it to your heart. Sorrow is better
than laughter, for by the sadness of the countenance, the heart
is made better. The heart of the wise is in the
house of mourning. Now, none of us would ever choose
to visit the house of mourning if we didn't have to do so. We'd
never go to the funeral parlor unless we were forced to go.
But the Word of God tells us that it is good for us to have
our merriment interrupted and our dancing turned into mourning. It's good for us, eternity-bound
sinners, to be found in the house of mourning. As we view the cold,
dead body of a mortal, gone to eternity, we're forced to face
the fact that death is the sure end of all men. It is appointed
unto men once to die. Appointed. Our grandson Will,
ever since he found out back in September that Pawpaw was
dying, had been asking questions. He's asked me just every little
bit the last few months. He said, Pawpaw's dying because
he smoked, isn't he? I said, no son, Pawpaw's dying
because it's time for Pawpaw to die. God arranged it. The
other night he said to me, he said, Pawpaw's dead because God
stopped his heart, isn't he? I said, yes son, he's dead because
God stopped his heart and before you were born, He appointed a
day and the means by which He will stop your heart, as they
say, dead in your tracks. That's all there is to it. You
say, well, what about second causes? I don't give a flip about
second causes. I'm interested in the first cause.
God did it. God did it. Will you lay this
to heart? Serious people take serious things
seriously. They asked serious questions.
God's servant Job was such a man. Turn back to the passage we read
earlier in Job chapter 14. In this chapter, this man Job
asked five serious questions. Questions about life, death,
and eternity. Questions that arose from his
experience in life, his experience of the grace of God. Now, Job
was a man who lived at least as early as Abraham. Probably
he lived earlier than that in the days of Noah after the flood,
or perhaps in the days of Enoch prior to the flood. Without question,
the book of Job is the first book of inspiration to be written. It's the oldest book in the Bible.
and being the first and the oldest book written by a man who walked
with God in a day when few people walked with God, who believed
God when few people believed God, who worshipped God when
few people worshipped God. This man Job gives us tremendous
words of instruction by the very questions that he asks. Now remember
who this man is. He was a faithful, faithful servant
of God. God owned him as is. He said,
if you consider my servant Job, there's not another man like
this man on the face of the earth. That's some kind of testimony
from heaven. And not another man like this
man on the face of the earth. He said, here is a man. Look
at him. Read his life. Read his life's
experiences. Read and learn everything God
did for him, with him, and in him. And understand, here is
what it is like for a man to live on this earth, fearing God,
and descuing evil. Perfect! and upright before God. What's it like? Well, the book
opens with trials. Darling, sometimes we stump our
toe and we think the whole world's coming to an end. We whine and
moan and carry on because we have a headache or got an ingrown
hair somewhere. With one sweep of God's hand,
Job lost every head of cattle he owned. He sweeps back again
and destroys his family, every one of his children. Just like
that. Who can imagine such a thing?
God sweeps again and takes away his health. And he sweeps again
and slaps him in the face. For his wife says to him, you
poor, sorry excuse for a man. Why don't you just cuss God and
die? I honestly believe I could take all of that which he previously
experienced before I could bear hearing that woman speak those
words to me. And Job bowed his head and worshipped. He bowed his head and worshipped. He didn't cuss God, he worshipped
God. He worshipped. He said, have
we not received good at the hand of the Lord? Shall we not receive
evil? He bowed to God's sovereignty
and bowed his heart to God's will. Throughout the book, in
the midst of his troubles, Job speaks like you lie after him.
It is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good.
Now let me tell you something, children of God. You will find
no solace for your soul. In any time of sorrow and woe,
like this, my father did this. My father brought this to pass. Let him do what he will, because
what he will is good. It is good. No matter how it
looks, no matter how it feels, no matter how it hurts, it is
good. The judge of all the earth must
do right. This man, Job, often had weaknesses
perplexing him, showed signs of frustration, even unbelief. But in his lowest times, he worshipped
God and maintained his integrity. He believed God. He believed
God. I said to my brother-in-law Friday,
I was talking about this thing, pain, difficulty. I said a believer,
a man, a woman who believes God can worship God while his heart
breaks and rejoice in Christ while his soul is troubled. We
believe God. That doesn't make pain less painful. That doesn't make heartache less
difficult. That doesn't make trouble less
difficult to bear. What it does do is gives comfort
to our hearts. Comfort in our souls. Peace that
nobody but somebody who knows it can understand. Peace that
passeth understanding. And when God got done with Job,
he honored him above all others, and caused even his wretched,
miserable friends to see how God had honored him and set them
at naught, and gave Job twice as much as he had before, twice
as much of everything. So it shall be with me, and so
it shall be with you who know God. All right, let's look at
these questions in chapter 14. There are questions asked in
one way or another by every man and every woman, even small children
who attend a funeral, sit down in the house in the morning and
look at a dead corpse. You can't help but ask them.
These are questions every one of you have asked yourselves
many times, questions for which your soul demands an answer,
but you try your best I won't hear about this! Don't
talk to me about these things! Listen. Before you breathe your
last breath today, perhaps, and meet God in judgment, hear these
questions and hear the answers given in the Word of God. Chapter
14, verse 1. Man that is born of woman is
a few days, thank God. Don't you? Maybe wouldn't you
hate to live 969 years like you are right now? A few days. Perhaps three score years and
ten. Maybe 80, 90 years old. Some folks even get to be 100.
I see these advertisements on television. I'm 105 years old. I guess the fella is demented
enough to really be happy. Who wouldn't hope to be? Who
wouldn't hope to be? 105 years old. No such desire
here. No such desire. Whatever God's
purpose is, I'll be fine. But if you live to be 105 years
old, it's not even a speck in eternity. So, number your days. Number your days. At best, I've
got a few more short days. to live and serve God. At best,
a few more. Should I say, at worst, a few
more. Just a few more. Apply, my soul,
your heart to wisdom. Oh, in the short time we have,
let's study and learn everything we can. Apply, my soul, your
heart to Christ, who alone is all wisdom. Set your affection
on things above, not on things on the earth, where Christ sitteth
on the right hand of God. Man that is born of woman is
a few days and full of trouble. Full of trouble because he's
full of sin, and trouble always follows sin. full of commotion,
full of commotion because man is like the troubled sea, full
of trembling because his troubled soul finds no rest in anything
here, no rest, no rest. Oh, men and women are born craving
satisfaction. We want to We want to get what
we can get. If I could just get that for
a minute, that's what I want. If I could just attain this,
that's what I want. If I could just go there. If
I could just do this. And you just keep reaching and
grabbing and reaching and grabbing and reaching and grabbing and
reaching and grabbing. Because you find no rest in anything. No rest in religion. No rest
in learning. No rest in education. No rest
in wealth. No rest in fame. None. full of
commotion and trouble, trembling, because there is no rest for
the wicked. No rest. The only way a sinner
ever finds rest is in the sweet rest of grace, righteousness,
peace in Jesus Christ the Lord. A man that is born a woman is
a few days and full of trouble. Now, here's Job's first question.
Dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one? Oh my God, what a wondrous thing
that you should open your eyes on me, a man a few days and full
of trouble. And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior's love? Died he for me who caused his
pain? Is it possible? Is it possible? Died He for me who caused His
pain? For me who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! How can it be that
Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Lord, O God, dost Thou look
upon such a one? Indeed, He does. He has, and
He shall. He looked upon me before the
world was in everlasting love, and this is what it said, I will
be his God, he shall be my son. He looked upon me and redeemed me with his precious
blood at Calvary 2,000 years ago. He looked upon me in the
same love wherewith he loved me and chose me and redeemed
me and called me by his grace. He looks upon me in his daily
providence, ordering all the affairs of time and eternity. He looks upon me in tender mercy,
in loving kindness, and in gracious pity, remembering that I am just
flesh, remembering that I am just dust, remembering me. He looks upon me as the apple
of his eye, and preserves and keeps me by his grace. Look at
the next slide. Here's the second question. And
bringest thou me into judgment with thee? What a question. What a question. He doesn't ask,
bringest thou me into judgment before thee? That would be astonishing
enough. Skip, he says, bringest thou
me into judgment with thee? Here we stand. It is appointed
unto men once to die, and after this, the judgment. We must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Knowing, therefore,
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, we are going to stand before
the great white throne judgment. But when we stand before God
our Savior in that great white throne judgment, we will be brought
into judgment, not before Him, but with Him. With Him. Some of you are old enough to
remember days when you'd go to the country store and you'd buy
a pound of bologna, or a pound of seed, or a pound of anything
else, and they had a set of scales. And over here they'd have weights
equaling a pound. And over here is that little
basket in which they put what you're buying. You want a pound
of it, let's say. And they'd measure it out until
each scale is precisely with the other scale. Now with men
such as we are, such measurement is next to impossible without
a great deal of labor. Never is it quite precise. Little
more, little less. But the scale is one with the
other. That's the picture. How good
do you have to be to stand before God in judgment. How good? Well, the Lord knows my heart.
I do the best I can. You'll have to be better than
that. Well, I've tried to live a good life, best I could. You'll
have to be better than that. Well, I've tried to be faithful.
You'll have to be better than that. Well, I've tried to live
by the law. You'll have to be better than
that. How good? This is what God says, Leviticus
23, 21. shall be perfect, to be exact,
perfect. God says, be ye perfect, for
I, the Lord your God, am perfect. He says, be ye holy, for I am
holy. Brother Dodd, surely you don't
mean that in order for a person to be saved, they've got to be
perfect. That's exactly what I mean. That's
exactly what I mean. You mean all together without
sin? All together. You mean they must be people
who have never, ever, ever sinned? People who have never, ever,
ever sinned. Never been defiled. Never been
corrupt. Never been vile. Perfectly righteous. Well, that can't be. God says,
the psalmist says concerning God, if thou, O Lord, shouldst
mark iniquity. Oh, Lord, who shall stand? If God Almighty spots sin on
you, on you, on you, on you, hell will be your portion. How
on earth can anybody be perfect? How can that happen? Well, let's
look at this third question. Verse four. Who can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean? Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean. Our translation reads, not one. Actually, a better translation
would continue the question through the end of the verse. Who can
bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Is there one? Is there one? Have you ever tried
to reach into a dirty pile with a clean hand and not get your
hands dirty? You ever try to work on something
that's dirty and not get dirty? You put something clean in and
bring out a dirty head. But no man can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean. No man. No man. That means you
can't justify yourself. You can't make yourself righteous.
You can't atone for your sins. You can't put away your sin.
That's what it is to atone for sin. It's not just to cover it
up, it's to put it away. It's not just to make it as if
it never existed, it's to make it never existed. I don't have
any idea how to explain what I just declared. I know it so.
The Lord hath not beheld iniquity in Israel. He hath not seen sin
in Jacob. How can that be? When the all-seeing
God doesn't behold something, when the omniscient God doesn't
see something, it's because it ain't. That's always good. He cast our sins behind his back,
removed them from us as far as the east is from the west, buried
them in the sea of infinite forgiveness. Who can bring a clean thing out
of one clean, unclean? Is there one? Oh yes, just one. His name is Jehovah subking you,
the Lord our righteousness, Jesus Christ our Savior. How does He
do this? How does God, our Savior, make
something as unclean as you and me clean? By redemption. The blood of Jesus
Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. When He had by
Himself, I love this word, purged our sins, He sat down on the
right hand of the Majesty O'Night. I don't know a better way to
describe it than what you've heard me say so many times. My
dear wife takes these white shirts I wear all the time, and I'm
kind of sloppy, especially with spaghetti. I can't eat it. You can wrap a bib around me
from head to toe, I still get spaghetti right here and right
here. I can't help it. But she always
gets to look at it. I can't imagine how many times
spaghetti gets sloshed on that shirt. And look at it. Not a
spot there. Cause she takes Clorox and water
and soap and her bare hands and rubs her knuckles red raw. She's cleaning the spots out
of these shirts. Purge. White as it can be. Well, not too white. Wait till
it snows and take one of your shirts out there and lay it on
the snow. You'll see how white it is. But that's the best a man can
do. Not the Son of God. He will make the sinner. He has
made this sinner whiter than the snow. Not as white. Whiter than the snow. Is that
right? He put away sin forever. How does He take the unclean
and bring something clean out of it? In the new birth, He puts
in this unclean man a clean, holy nature called Christ in
you. He puts in this unclean man a
new creature the holy seed that is born of God. And when this
body of flesh drops in death and you bury this worthless corpse
out of your sight, He takes that which He has put in that's clean
out of this unclean thing and is totally undefiled by it. And then, in resurrection, He's
going to take this body, this This physical body, this physical
nature, what all that includes, honestly, I really can't grasp. But this body that has been the
house of every lust I've seen. Sown in the earth, a natural
body. Ain't gonna raise it. This is
language that defies human definition. A spiritual body. Read for yourself 1 Corinthians
15. Well, you can't have a body and be spiritual. You can if
God does it. This mortal shall put on immortality. This corruptible put on incorruption. And out of this he will raise
that which is clean. Clean before God to enjoy God Christ shall change our vile
body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body,
according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all
things unto himself. Imagine that. Christ shall change our vile
body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body,
according to the working, whereby he is able to subdue all things
unto himself. All right, here's Job's fourth
question. Look at verse 10. A man dieth, and wasteth away. Yea, man giveth up the ghost. And where is he? Where is he?
Last Thursday, right before they went home, Will asked me, he
said, Pop, where is Pawpaw? Where is Pawpaw? Let me tell
you this. When the wicked die in this,
let me change that. Let me put this first person.
Will you listen to me like I sit down just talking to you? Just
to you. Hear me. Eternity bound sinner,
hear me. When you die without Christ,
you will immediately lift up your eyes in hell. Forever banished from light in
darkness in your soul. forever banished from good into
corruption, forever banished from God, tormented in terror,
in the terror of a conscience fully awakened to a sense of
guilt. Oh, the worm that dies not, and
the fire that is not quenched. And that's not something that
I have to stand here and convince you of. You may scream and holler,
that's not so, I don't believe it. I believe death ends all,
we die like a dog and that's it. You don't believe such nonsense
for a second. You don't believe such nonsense
for a second. You're a liar if you say you do. You're an absolute
liar. Lying worse than anybody possibly
can imagine to yourself. Because your conscience screams,
HELL! HELL! OH MY GOD! HELL IS MY PORTION! Try to silence
it. With any means you can, it can't
be silenced. Except by perfect atonement and
perfect righteousness. A perfect substitute. Now, when
a man dies, where is he? A man who dies washed in the
blood of Christ and robed in his righteousness. A man who
dies clinging to Christ. A man who dies living in Christ. A man who dies with the root
of the matter in him. Where is he? We know that if
our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, we have, what a
word, we have just as soon Just as soon as we breathe out our
last breath, we have a house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens. Absent from the body, present
with the Lord. Our Savior said, he that believeth
on me shall never die. Never die. This body, death for
the body, will be but the transition From one form of life to the
other. This body is going to sleep in the grave. Sleep until
my change comes. You take a piece of corn, stick
it in the ground. Why'd you stick it in the ground?
So it would die and come forth in greater life. This body going
to the ground. Going to rot. Die. Completely. Completely. Until that day when
Christ comes again and raises this body in resurrection glory. One more question. Verse 14.
If a man die, shall he live again? Oh yes. Oh yes. Christ makes us more than conquerors
and will bring us at last into resurrection glory by the power
of His grace. Blessed hope. Blessed, satisfying
hope. Amen. If you will, please take your
bulletin.