Book of Ecclesiastes, chapter
12. There's one verse in chapter
11 that I want to read in a moment, but primarily we want to use
a couple of three verses here in the 12th chapter. Beginning with verse 5, And also
when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears
shall be in the way, The almond tree shall flourish, and the
grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail, because
man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets.
And then I want to skip on down to verse 9. And moreover, because
the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge.
Yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs. The preacher sought to find out
acceptable words, and that which was written was upright, even
words of truth. The words of the wise are as
goads and as nails fastened by the master of assemblies, which
are given from one shepherd." I've been afflicted with allergies
all week, and the throat has been sore, and it's been kind
of difficult to talk some this week. I trust that the Lord will
enable us to overcome that this morning as we get into the message. In chapter 11 in verse 3, it
says, If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon
the earth, and if the tree fall toward the south or toward the
north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall
be. And then I want to read again
the last part of verse 5, where it says, Because man goeth to
his...about the streets. Now it is evident as we read
this 12th chapter, and along with the verse that we just read
out of chapter 11, that these verses talk about the about the
old body of ours becoming decrepit and how the tent that we live
in and live out our days, how that it comes down, how it's
afflicted and how that it grows weak and trembles and And it
speaks of the keepers of the house, the legs, how that they
tremble in verse 3. And the strong men, meaning the
back, how that it bows. And then the grinders, that's
the teeth, because there are few. And those that look out
of the windows be darkened, that's the eyes that become dim. And so man is going to his long
home, we're told in verse 5. And the mourners are going about
the streets. Now I hope this morning that
the Lord has given me some words that are true and faithful, and
that the preacher, as he's attempted to seek out acceptable words,
words which God has been pleased to bless, that he will bless
them today, and that there will be a moving of the Spirit of
God in our hearts. If there's any subject that we
need to be aware of, that we need to be thinking about being
mortals as we are, I think it is this subject that is introduced
to us in our text. Because man goeth to his long
home, the mourners go about the streets. The first time that
I ever used this verse of scripture was back in 1955, and there was
a lady in our church in Brownsburg, Indiana, whose husband was an
alcoholic and he passed away there in Brownsburg and they
shipped his body to Jackson, Mississippi. And I was to go
there along with a couple of our deacons and I was to preach
his funeral. Now he was a lost man. He had
no faith in the Son of God and died a lost sinner to the best
of my knowledge and my understanding. And nevertheless, they shipped
his body on by train to Jackson, Mississippi. It got mixed up
in St. Louis, Missouri and ended up
in Chicago, Illinois. And so we arrived on Wednesday
evening. The funeral was to be on Thursday
morning at 10 o'clock. And of course, we were informed
that there was no body. And so we had to wait until Friday
afternoon at 3 o'clock when the body would be sent back from
Chicago down to Jackson, Mississippi. And so we waited, and sure enough,
about 2.30 the body did arrive in Jackson, Mississippi, and
they brought it over to the mortuary. And when I arrived, and the brethren
that were with me to preach his funeral, the place was filled,
and there were many, many of the folks that were there that
knew Mr. Devaney from years gone by, and
they were pretty well by three o'clock in the afternoon. Many
of them were drunken and the place was full of disorder and
I got up to preach his funeral and I used this as my text. because man goeth to his long
home. I was 23 years of age, and the
first time that I'd ever preached on this text, I got up to preach
it, and there was just two or three different men in the audience
that day that were speaking out loud, and as soon as I began
to preach, they began to say, we don't need any preaching like
this. We don't need to be preached
to. Now these people were about ready
to bury their friend. It was pouring the rain outside.
It was early in the spring and we were going to take his body
out and bury it. on a hillside and the water was
running into the grave. They were bailing the water out
of the grave right before we arrived with the body. But these
men didn't need any of this kind of preaching. They were drunkards,
alcoholics, and they resented me preaching on a sobering message
like this, preaching something that they really desperately
needed to hear. So man go up to his long home
and the mourners go about the streets." Now, when we read Solomon's
language, it's not hard to understand his meaning. We can understand
this meaning, I think, quite well. Whatever your condition
is when you die, and of course in verse 3 of the 11th chapter
where it talks about a tree falling, there it shall be. Well, whatever
your condition is when you die, that will be your condition throughout
eternity. It's not going to change. Death
does not change anyone's spiritual condition. or their legal standing
before God. There is nothing that happens
when an individual dies that is going to change their standing
that they have through grace. If they have a standing in grace
and through grace, that will remain the same. If they die
in their sins and lost, then they will be lost for all eternity. Where the tree falls, There it
shall be. Now death does not change anyone's
condition then. The judgment bar of God is not
a trial to determine the guilt or the innocence of those who
stand before the Lord. It is a bar to show and to declare
guilt or innocence. Now there's a difference in that.
If you go to the judgment of God and think that at the judgment
of God you're going to be cleared and you've died in unbelief,
you're mistaken. All that the judgment of God
is going to do is to show and declare your guilt before God. Or if you be saved and if your
name is in the Lamb's Book of Life, if you have a standing
in the true grace of God, And your innocence will be declared,
not that you have committed no sin, but in your substitute you
stand as righteous and holy as he is. And this judgment is to
execute the penalty of justice upon the guilty and to give the
reward of justice upon the righteous. Now I say to execute justice
upon the guilty. Because certainly that's what
lost men and women and boys and girls are going to receive at
the judgment is absolute justice. The day of mercy is over. The
day of grace is over. And now justice will be meted
out. But thank God even the righteous
shall receive justice in that day. We are through faith waiting
for the hope of righteousness by faith. And I mean by that,
that in that we are declared to be righteous in the Lord Jesus
Christ and that there's therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Jesus Christ and see that we are standing in Christ and
have His holy garments of salvation on, then God must reward us as
a perfectly righteous person when we stand before Him. And
that is to be received into everlasting bliss. That is to be blessed
for all eternity in the presence of God and the holy angels and
all of those who have died in faith, in true faith, in the
Lord Jesus. So my beloved it is written,
he that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he which is
filthy, let him be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let
him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him
be holy still. Revelation 22 and verse 11. So if you die in a state of guilt
and condemnation with the curse of the law and the wrath of God
upon you, you die unjust and you shall under the wrath of
God, unjustified, guilty, condemned, under the curse and unmedicated
wrath of Almighty God. That'll be your situation, because
that's where the tree fell, and there it shall lie for all eternity. If you die in a state of unregeneracy,
if you die in a state of filthiness, with the polluted heart of sin,
you shall spend eternity in hell, that filthy state of unregeneracy,
forever, forever I say, lost. However, if you die in a state
of righteousness, being perfectly justified, by the imputed righteousness
of Christ, having your sins atoned for by the precious blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall spend eternity in heaven with
God in heaven in perfect white righteousness. Be no blemish
upon your garment. You'll have on that blessed wedding
garment and it'll be a white garment, white righteousness. If you die in a state of perfect
holiness, being born again by the Spirit of God, sanctified
by the imparted righteousness of Christ with a heart, with
a nature, with a will toward holiness, you shall live forever
in perfect holiness. Won't that be wonderful? Out
of the presence of sin, away from all the abominations and
the wickedness of this world, away from all of the filth and
the corruption of this world, and shut up forever perfect holiness
in that place where our God abides. Death for you will only separate
you from the body of sin if you be a believer. So what must be
determined is this morning what will our eternal destiny be. How is the tree going to fall
when it's cut down? When you go to your long home,
my friend, where shall that home be? Now I say to you that we
need to determine where we're going to spend eternity. We need to think on this. There
was a quaint inscription on a gravestone in an old British cemetery that
was not far from Windsor Castle. It read, pause, my friend, As
you walk by, as you are now, so once was I. As I am now, so
you will be. Prepare, my friend, to follow
me. And there was a visitor who read
this epitaph and added these lines. To follow you is not my
intent until I know which way you went. Now, beloved, the thing
that we need to determine this morning is what will our eternal
destiny be? Do you know this morning in your
heart, as we've attempted to describe the judgment bar of
God, what shall be determined there? Where do you stand? Are you still in a state of nature
lost and undone before God and His Son for want of faith and
love in Him? Or are you this morning in Christ
sealed away forever, saved forever in the Lord. If you believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, you are forever justified, and justification,
as we said last week, is irreversible. You're clean everywhere. You're
righteous and holy if you be in the Holy One. Now, if you
refuse to believe, You are and shall forever remain unjust,
filthy, unrighteous, unholy, forever separated from God and
the holy angels and from the saved loved ones. Are you ready to die, my friend?
Are you ready? Man is going to his long home.
and the mourners are going about the streets. Can you picture
yourself in that place? Can you picture yourself in your
coffin this morning and the mourners all around? and the mourners
all around, I say, and those that would follow you to your
grave. Can you picture that this morning?
Well, let me say to you that nobody is ready when they're
born into this world to make their exodus out of this world.
No man is born, I say, ready to die. Hebrews 9 and 27 says,
and as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the
judgment. There was a visitor that came
out west here and he met an old-timer and he put this question to the
old-timer. He said, what's the death rate
here? And the old-timer replied, same as back east, one to a person. My friend, it is appointed that
a man wants to die and after this, the judgment. Well, So,
my friend, you'll be called to meet God in eternity. You're
going to make an exodus from this world. No man has the power
to retain his spirit. No man. There is no discharge
from this war. There's no way to get out of
it. You must die, my friend. It's appointed. And at God's
appointed time, you shall die. By God's appointed means, you
will die. Somebody said there's diseases
that linger around to hurry mortals home. And it is true. And we
know that the very instruments of death are already prepared.
And we know that knowing to God is our time of departure. Are you ready to die? Are you
ready to face God? Well, be assured of this, my
friend, that no external form of religion or personal righteousness
can make you ready for death and ready for eternity. You must
give up and renounce all your dead works of self-righteousness
and seek the righteousness of God in Christ by faith. Let me read to you Romans 9.
Verse 30 through 32, What shall we say then, that the Gentiles,
which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness,
even the righteousness which is of faith? But Israel, which
followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law
of righteousness. Wherefore, because they sought
it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for
they stumbled at that stumbling stone. Let me read Philippians
3, verse 7 through 9. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I
count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but done that I may win Christ
and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which
is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith. I say, my friend,
you must give up and renounce all your dead works of self-righteousness
and seek the righteousness of God, not in the works of the
law, not in your outward obedience to the commandments of God, but
the righteousness of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now notice, only God by His free
grace in Christ can make a sinner ready to die. Only God, by His
free grace in Christ, can make a sinner ready to die. Now my friends, shut yourself
up to that. I'm telling you, the preacher is trying to seek
out acceptable words. Words that will stand you instead. Words that will show you how
you can be ready to die and leave this world. Because man goeth
to his long home and the mourners go about the streets. Many, many
people joke and tell frivolous stories about dying and so on
and so forth. But my friend, it is a sober
thing to die. One man said he didn't mind to
die, he just didn't want to be there when it happened. And another
individual, he made this kind of a comment that he was a Christian,
he said, I have eternal life, but I'm not homesick forever. Well, That, my friend, is foolishness
in my thinking. I say to you this morning that
it is appointed unto you to die. And it is up to me, as a preacher
of the gospel, to tell you how serious this dying is and to
talk to you about your condition and how that you can be made
ready to die. I tell you it's a sobering thing.
It's a serious thing to die. It is, because as we said, however
that tree is, wherever it falls, that's how it's going to be with
you from all eternity. Only God, listen to me sinner
friend, by His free grace in Christ can make a sinner ready
to die. Colossians 1 verse 12 and 14,
giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who have
delivered us from the power of darkness and have translated
us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. And so we see then that
the one that can make us meet for the inheritance The one who
can translate us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom
of God's dear Son is God Almighty only. He's the one that can deliver
from the power of darkness. He's the one that can give us
forgiveness of our sins so that we'd be ready to die. Well, what
constitutes readiness for death? O soul, hear me. There's a doorway
into eternity this morning right where you're seated. Right where
you're seated there's a door that can open and you be gone
in a flash off into eternity. And so what constitutes readiness
for death? How can you and I be made meat
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life? Well,
number one, you cannot be ready to die unless You have redemption
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen carefully. The
debt of sin must be paid. The debt of sin, I say, must
be paid. The penalty of sin must be satisfied. The record of sin must be blotted
out. What about your record, my friend? That record must be blotted out,
and thank God He blots out our iniquities and our sins and never
remembers them against us anymore. Has your sins been blotted out? Has the penalty of sin been satisfied
on your behalf? The debt of sin, has it been
paid? You remember that old song, Jesus
paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it. Why this? No, my friend, only
the Lord Jesus Christ can do that. The wrath due to sin, it
must be endured. Do you believe that? The wrath
due to sin, it must be endured. Well, the Word of God teaches
that we are under the wrath of God. if we're outside of Jesus
Christ. Now the wrath of God must be
endured either by you or by your substitute. Somebody has got
to endure the wrath of God. Oh, that should endear the precious
Savior to us more and more when we understand that He endured
the wrath of God on our behalf. He suffered eternal judgment
on our behalf. Oh, my blessed friend, look to
Calvary and see that man, that God-man as he hangs on Calvary's
tree. See my sin upon his shoulders,
see my See my soul upon his heart. See, my friend, that the wounds
in his hand are the victory that I have this morning, the wounds
that are in his hand. My friend, has he endured the
wrath of God on your behalf? The death of sin must be executed. Has somebody died yet in your
place? Has somebody suffered sin's death
in your place, my friend? If it has not happened to this
time, then you still, you're on the brink of eternity and
you shall die the death that never dies. You will suffer for
all eternity under the judgment of God. And so let me say that
the guilt of sin must be washed away. It must be washed away. Has your guilt been washed away? My friend, it's a serious thing
to die and it's serious to fall into the hands of a living God.
It's fearful to fall into the hands of a living God. To live
one day without salvation. To live one day without our sins
having been pardoned. To live another hour with our
hearts and souls in jeopardy of eternal judgment and wrath.
My friend, what a terrible, terrible thing for us to do. Well, the
blood of Christ alone can accomplish all of these things that we have
just mentioned. Listen to 1 Peter 1 and 18. For
as much as ye know that ye were redeemed, ye were not redeemed
with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation
or behavior received by tradition passed down to you from your
fathers. Your father was wicked, and you're
wicked. Your father was sinful, sin with
both hands, and so did you. Your relatives are sinners, and
so are you. That's your name. It was passed
down to you. But, who his own self, in 1 Peter
2.24, bear our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being
dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose stripes
ye were healed. 1 Peter 3.18, For Christ also
hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that
he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit. Now then, you are not ready to
die this morning unless you've been redeemed by the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Next, you're not ready to die
unless you obtain perfect righteousness by divine imputation. It is not enough that your sins
be atoned. If you would enter heaven, you
must be perfectly righteous and holy in God's sight. Now the
Bible says Jesus himself made the statement, he said, except
your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, you will no wise enter into the kingdom of God.
Outwardly, they were righteous. Outwardly, they would excel in
righteousness compared to you and I maybe. But inwardly, they
were lost. They were undone. They were unregenerate. But Jesus said your righteousness
must exceed theirs. Now how is that ever going to
be? Ephesians 1 verse 4 says according as he has chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before him in love. Now, that righteousness,
that holiness, can never be obtained by the works of sinful men and
women, by the works of flesh. It can never. I say to you that
to be holy, I say to you to be without blame, I say to you to
be able to stand before Him, Him having seen nothing in you
that would hinder His free love toward you, can only be through
the sovereign grace and mercy of our God. It can only be through
imputed righteousness. Only God can make sinners righteous.
Now, I don't think anybody here is going to question that statement.
Only God can make a sinner righteous enough for Him to be tolerated
and received and accepted by God for all eternity. Do you
expect to live in the presence of God? If you expect to be in
His presence and to live for all eternity with Him, my friend,
you must be made righteous by God. None can make themselves
righteous. Well, it's by imputation. Romans
5 and verse 19, listen to it. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, you know who that one man was, it was
old Adam. So by the obedience of one, and
that one, that one, and I spell it to you, O-N-E, one, by the
obedience of one shall many be made righteous. And so, my friend,
may it ever be sounded forth from this old puppet. My old
puppet is out there in Mike's truck, preached on it for 30
years, pounded on it for 30 years. preaching the imputed righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. May it ever be sounded out from
this pulpit that salvation and that righteousness comes by imputed
righteousness. That you can't be righteous before
God any other way. Righteousness is not a work that
we perform for God. The religious world is all wrapped
up in performing works for God. Works for God. It is a work Christ
performed for us by His life of obedience as our representative
which God imputes to us by His sovereign grace. We are righteous
as we stand in the person of Jesus Christ. With His holy garment
on, I am as holy as the Holy One. Next notice, if you will,
that if we'll be ready to die, we must have regeneration by
the Spirit of God. You can read it in John 3, verses
3 through 8. But it essentially says you must
be born again. Ye, personal word to you. Ye must, a word that is imperative,
we must be born again. Be, that means that we're passive
and it means that we don't have anything to do with our spiritual
birth any more than we had to do with our physical birth. It
is a work of God by the Holy Spirit in our soul. You must
be born. Born from heaven. Born from above. Born by the Spirit and power
of God. Again. Again. And that means
that the first birth was in the flesh and it would not get you
to heaven. You cannot enter heaven by one
birth. You must be born again. Again. And that by the Spirit
of God. Until you're born from heaven
by the Spirit of God, you cannot see the things of God, and you
cannot enter into the kingdom of God until you're born again.
Somebody said, I just have trouble seeing all of this, preacher.
Well, if you were born again, and that's God's work, you'd
immediately begin to see the truth of God. You'd see these
things and begin to praise the Lord for His goodness and for
His mercy that's found in His own precious, precious Son. And
then, fourthly, You must receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith.
You're not ready to die until you have received the Lord Jesus
Christ by faith. Personal faith in Christ is necessary. Without it, no one is prepared
to die. Now my friend, we know that faith
is the fruit and not the cause of life. We know that men and
women believe because they have been regenerated by God's Spirit. But without faith, there is no
life. Listen to John 1 verse 12 and
13. But as many as received them,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name. which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God. Faith, Ephesians 2, 8 and 9,
if Aaron was here, I'd have him to quote it. Faith is the gift
of God. It is the gift of God. We cannot, faith comes down from
God, comes into our hearts, yet it is an act of our hearts. Romans
10. 9 and 10, that if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth he makes confession unto salvation. As we're able
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we see our readiness
to die, to make our exodus from this world as we're able to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Paul in 2nd Timothy 4 and
6 says, for I am now ready to be offered and the time of my
departure is at hand. Now death beloved is the time
of harvesting in the kingdom of God. In death our Lord comes
into his garden and he gathers his lilies out of his garden. Heaven is the granary into which
he gathers his wheat at the death of his saints. In the hour of
death he gathers his lambs into his fold and he makes up the
number of his jewels one by one. Psalm 116 verse 16 says precious
in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Beloved
if we knew as much about heaven as God knows about it we would
clap our hands every time a Christian dies. we would clap our hands. I say if we knew as much about
it as God knows about heaven, we would clap our hands. It is
precious in the sight of the Lord that death be saved, and
it ought not to be irksome to us. Here are five things which
I'll give you quickly to help you fortify your heart against
the fear of death. It won't take me long. Death,
first of all, is not a tragedy, it is a decree of God. Now, many,
many folks do not understand that. Death is not a tragedy
for a child of God, it is a decree of God. This old body is going
to die, this old body ought to die. This old body must die and
go back into the dust of the earth. Do you remember that here
in this chapter? Verse 7, Then shall the dust
return unto the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto
God who gave it. Now, somebody said that death
is the last sleep. I say no, it is the final awakening. Somebody said death for the Christian
is a turning off of the light Because the dawn has come and
that's right. That is correct It is a shadow
death is a shadow for the believer Donald Gray Barnhouse some of
you have heard him speak over the Christian radio and his wife
died and he was taking his children to the funeral. And they came
to a intersection and there was a huge semi pulled up beside
them and cast a shadow over the car. And Mr. Barnhouse asked his children,
would you rather be hit by the shadow or by the semi? And immediately they said, well,
we'd rather be hit by the shadow. And he said, that's exactly what
happened to your mother. Your mother was hit by the shadow
of death, but the semi hits those who die in their sins, and they're
lost forever, plunged into eternal darkness. Death is simply a shadow
for believers. Like all of God's decrees, it
was by wise and holy counsel, the wisest and the holiest of
counsel, And if we were as smart as God, we would agree with Him
that the end of a thing is better than the beginning of it. For our complete and eternal
happiness. Let me explain that the best
I can. Death is necessary for your eternal
happiness. Now you say, well preacher, I
don't see it that way. Well you may not, but my friend,
it is so. Listen to me, we must die to
be free from this body of sin and sorrow and to go to that
place yonder where there be no more crying, be no more tears,
where all the former things are passed away. We must die to go
to that place. And Romans 7, 24 and 25, Paul
said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. We must die to go, my friend,
to our Father's house. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 1,
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were
dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with
hands that's eternal in the heavens. At dusk, There was a little girl
that entered a cemetery. An old man stood near the gate. The cemetery in the dark? Oh
no, she replied, my home is just on the other side. And so you
see, we all must go through the cemetery at dark to get to the
father's house. You can't get to the father's
house unless you go through this darkness, which some people call
death. We must die to be with Christ
in the eternal glory. You can't be in the glories without
dying. Paul said in Philippians 1, 21
and 23, for me to live is Christ, to die is gain. Gain for me to
be over yonder with the Lord, for I am in a strait betwixt
two, having a desire to depart to be with Christ, which is far
better So we must die to be reunited with our departed friends and
loved ones who sleep in the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot be. You know a mother, her daughter
passed away and she said to the earth, this world seems such
an empty place now to me. But she said heaven seems so
much real, so much more real now. And it is true that when
we have departed loved ones, They're over on the other side,
they've already entered in to that blessed and eternal fellowship
with our beloved Lord, that we do have more of an attachment
over there, more of a desire, more of a drawing of our souls
toward eternal heaven. 2 Samuel 12 and 23, David was
praying for his child, and you know the story that his child
died. And he said, well, there's no need to fast and pray anymore.
I cannot bring him back to me. I shall go to him. I shall go
to him, but he shall not return to me. And so, beloved, we shall
go to be with our loved ones in eternal glory. And then we
must die also in order for Christ to see of the travail of his
soul and be satisfied. You know Isaiah 53 11 says that
he shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied.
Well, that's when the Lord has all of the sons and his daughters
that have been brought home to glory. And as he looks upon them,
he shall see the travail of his soul. You would not rob him of
that time of glory, would you? Absolutely not. I'm telling you,
death, we must experience it to be absolutely happy. Sin,
the sting of death, has been taken away by our Lord Jesus
Christ. The sting of death is sin. The
strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. There's victory
in death for the believer, for the child of God. Our Lord took
our sins away. They're gone forever. God will
never lay them to our charge. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Sin, my friend, is the sting
of death. It's the sting of death. And
so when the stinger has been pulled out of death, then we
have nothing to fear. Death for a believer only comes
once and is soon over. Because we're not going to suffer
the death that never dies like the lost are. Revelation 20 verse
6 says, Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection,
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. There was two brothers. One of
them was about ready to become a king on earth many, many years
ago. And his brother was dying. And so his brother that was dying,
the brother that was dying was a Christian so he called his
brother that was about to become king and said very soon you shall
be king but I will be reigning when you're king on earth I'll
be reigning with the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings in
eternal glory and I'll be a priest unto God and so beloved whatever
be your rank here be nothing to be compared with what we shall
have when we cross over and when we should come into the presence
of God. Yes, these bodies must go to the grave. That's the result
of sin, but beyond the grave, death cannot follow us. This
is the gift of the grace of God, and that wonderful death cannot
follow us any further than the grave. Well, lastly, we have
the blessed and sure promise of the resurrection. Sometime
when you're reading scripture, read out 1 Corinthians 15. This
vile body must go to the grave to be raised a glorious body.
This corruptible body must be sown in the earth to be raised
incorruptible. This mortal body, though it dies,
shall be raised immortal. This body of flesh must perish,
but it shall be raised a spiritual body. Death is an enemy to nature,
contrary to all natural instinct, but it is an enemy that shall
be destroyed. And when it is destroyed, our
redemption, our salvation, and victory in the Lord Jesus Christ
will be complete. I think that the epitaph which best suits a believer would be
this, and this was found on a gravestone out of New England. I have sinned. I have repented. I have trusted
Christ. I have loved Christ, I have rested
in Christ, I shall rise as I am risen in Christ, and I shall
reign with Him forever. Glory be to God. That would be
a good epitaph, wouldn't it? On a believer's tombstone. Well,
I trust that the Lord has sobered our hearts this morning when
we thought on the fact that as the tree falls, there it shall
be. If you were to die today, how
would the tree fall, my friend? How would it fall? When man goes to his long home,
when you go to your long home, and the mourners go about the
streets, what shall be the consolation to the hearts of those that bear
you to your tomb? What shall be the consolation?
Are you one who has openly Confess Jesus Christ. Are you one that
have embraced the loveliness, the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ? Are you one that has believed
on the Lord Jesus, believing the Word of God? My prayer today
was that God would help me to speak acceptable words, words
that were wise, words that were chosen, that they would speak
to your heart, that God would bring unto Himself today. They're those here that need
to openly confess the Lord Jesus. And we're going to have a song.
Mike's going to lead us.