chapter of John's Gospel, our
Lord had come to the town where Lazarus was laid in the tomb. Mary and Martha had sent him
word, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. And
then our Lord waited three days, but Lazarus had died and was
buried, and he came to the place where Lazarus was laid in the
tomb. And there's a reason why he did that. Truly, what Martha
said to the Lord is so. Martha said, Lord, if you had
been here, my brother had not perished. If you'd been here,
I know you could have prevented this thing. Fact is, he could
have prevented it where he was, had it been his will and his
purpose to do so. But the miracles that our Lord
performed, all of them were designed to describe for us in picture
form, His work as our Savior, as our Mediator, as our God and
our King. The miracles that were performed
were given as signs to prove His Messiahship as a man, to
prove that He is indeed the Son of God, and they were given to
picture for us the gospel of His grace. Now, here in John
chapter 11 and verse 24, our Lord Jesus said to Martha, I
am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth on me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die." Do you believe that? Do you believe
that? He said, Martha, I am the resurrection,
I am the life. Anybody that believes in me,
though he was dead, he's going to live. and whosoever lives
and believes in me shall never die." Do you believe that? Do
you believe that? I do. Christ Jesus is life, spiritual,
eternal life. All who have Christ, all who
believe Christ, all who are united to Christ by faith have life. John said in 1 John 5 and verse
13, he that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son
of God hath not life." Now, in this one sentence given by our
Lord to Martha, we are told three things very plainly. First of
all, our Lord tells us that we were dead. Just like Lazarus
physically was dead in the tomb, you and I came forth from our
mother's womb dead spiritually. Man is entirely without life
toward God by nature. Now, when we say that a man is
dead, we mean that he is spiritually dead toward God. He's alive physically,
he's alive mentally, he's alive emotionally, he has feeling and
he has sense, but he has no spiritual sense, no spiritual feeling,
no spiritual life, and no spiritual ability. We all, in our father
Adam, died. Wherefore, as by one man, sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sin. When Adam fell in the garden
and we fell in him, man did not become a little bit impaired.
He did not become just a little bit bent toward evil. He did
not become somewhat hindered in his spiritual life. He died
spiritually. And so when we come to deal with
men in preaching the gospel, we're dealing with men and women
who are spiritually dead. We're calling upon men and women
who are spiritually dead to live before God. And we recognize
that no man ever can or ever shall live before God unless
God, who is life, gives life unto men and causes the dead
to rise. Brother D.J. Ward was telling
me about a gentleman in his congregation. God's taught him the gospel of
his grace, and Brother Ward was having difficulty with the fellows,
and this one man stood up while another was arguing at their
pastor for preaching the gospel of God's grace, and this gentleman,
he said, I love my mother. My mama was good to me, and I
buried her several years ago. She's out in Seneca, her body's
laying in the grave. Now, I love my mother, and I
love the memory of my mama, and I love all that she's done for
me, but I'll tell you what, if I was to get a call from my mama
tonight, it'd scare me to death. And he said, if God ever gets
a call from a dead sinner, it'd scare God to death. Well, I don't
exactly agree with the scaring God to death, but I do mean for
you to understand, men are dead, and unless God calls the dead
to life, the dead will never fall on Him. You have to be quickened
who were dead in trespasses and in sins. Now, that's the first
thing our Lord tells Martha. He's telling us also that believing
on Christ We have life. We have spiritual and eternal
life. For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
him might be saved. Our Lord said, Father, this is
life eternal, that they might know thee. the only true God
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. All who trust Christ, any
sinner in this world who truly in his heart believes Christ,
who with a heart-faith rests his soul upon Christ, has been
regenerated by the grace of God. God has given us who believe
life. We have been resurrected from
spiritual death by the power and the grace of God the Holy
Spirit. We believe because we live. and we go on living because
we go on believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what our
Savior said here in John 11. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. That's the third thing. Believing
on Christ we shall never die. Now that's a mouthful. Death is the penalty of sin.
The wages of sin is death. But I'm here to tell you tonight
that God's elect shall never die. I believe that fact and I rejoice
in it. I rejoice in the knowledge of
it. And I am confident that some of you, before I'm done tonight,
will go out of this place rejoicing with me to know and have confidence
that God's elect shall never, never, Now, I know that I shall
leave this body for a while. I know that. This body is going
back to the dust from which it came. This body is going to be
laid in the grave, and it shall become the habitation of worms,
and it shall rot and decay. That's what happens when a body
goes back to the earth. We embalm them, and we try to
make them look good, and we try to keep them from smelling too
bad for a little while, so we get the family in and say a few
words over them. But if time stands, the embalming
fluid won't last forever. The body is going back to the
earth. I recognize that. But I also
recognize that though this body goes to the grave, though I am
stretched out in a coffin, And that coffin is lowered down into
the earth, and you men take the shovels and throw the dirt on
top of my coffin lid and cover my body with the earth. I'm here
to tell you, I shall not die. I'm not going to die. I'm confident
of that. That's the inevitable result
of sin, that we go back to the earth. Our earthly house, this
tabernacle of clay, must be dissolved. I'm fully aware of that fact. that I shall not die. When this
body of clay is laid in the earth, I'm telling you it will be a
welcome relief, a welcome relief. It will be laying aside a tool
when all its work is done and it's of no longer of any value. It will be like dismissing an
employee whose services are no longer needed. If I knew, if
I absolutely knew that I would never travel again, If I absolutely
knew, I would never have any more use for that car out there. It'd be foolish for me to buy
it. It'd be foolish for me to maintain it. I have no use for
it. I'd get rid of the thing. If Oscar Bailey knew he'd never
plow another field, if you absolutely knew you'd never plow another
field, would you go out and buy a new John Deere tractor? Why,
of course not. It's foolish. That's absurd.
And what I'm saying is this. When my work on this earth is
done, I will have no more use for this body, and I will lay
it aside most willingly and most anxiously. I will lay aside this
body of flesh, but I'll not die. It'll only be a separation from
a troublesome companion. It'll be like taking off a shoe
that hurts my foot. It'll be a welcome relief. You
see, to depart from this body is to depart from a foul, unclean,
and sordid habitation for my soul. What is it but the interest
of this body, this body of flesh, that keeps my soul from its best
desires? Were it not for the care of this
body, were it not for caring for this body and the things
of this body, I would have nothing to care for except the worship
of God and the glory of his name. Do you see what I'm saying? It'll
be a glad relief to lay aside this body. I know by much experience
that this body has been a painful lodging for my soul. This body
has been the source of much grief, much pain, much fear, and much
sorrow. And I know that the Apostle Paul
spoke the truth when he said, I have a desire to depart and
be with Christ, which is far better He says, I recognize that
in God's good providence it's needful now for a time that I
remain with you, but I have a desire, this is my heart's desire, that
I may depart this body and be with Christ. That's better than
anything on this earth. The apostle said, we are confident,
I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to
be present with the Lord. I will lay aside this body of
clay, and it will be a welcome relief. But I'll not die, Hubert,
I'll not die." About all of you have been to the funeral home
and picked up those little nice little packages, you know, tracts
like things that announce who the fellow was, how long he lived,
and who survived him, and who the preachers were going to be
to tell you how good he was. And then on the inside or the
back of that little brochure, there's a poem. Most people never
read it. It does, it will do you good
to hear it. The poem goes like this, It is
not death to die, to leave this weary road, and, midst the brotherhood
on high, to be at home with God. It is not death to close the
eye long dimmed by tears, and wake in glorious repose to spend
eternal years. It is not death to bear the wrench
that sets us free, from dungeon chain to breathe the air of boundless
liberty. It is not death to fling aside
this sinful dust and rise on strong, exulting wings to live
among the just." And there's another verse that I've never
read, except in a few places. "'Jesus, thou Prince of Life,
thy chosen cannot die. Like thee they conquer in their
strife to reign with thee on high.'" Maybe you're saying to
yourself now, If the believer does not die, what happens when
his body goes to the earth? What happens when his body and
soul are separated? The answer is given clearly over
in 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 13 and 14. The apostle is telling
us here that the believer who falls asleep, that's what it
is. His body sleeps in the earth. and his soul goes immediately
to be with Christ. Look here in verse 13, 1 Thessalonians
4. I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren, concerning them which are asleep. Those are good words,
huh? Them which are asleep. I wouldn't
have you to be ignorant concerning them which are asleep, that you
sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep
in Jesus will God bring with him." Now, here is a pleasant
representation. I see a man. He's an old man. He's been a believer for many
years. He's walked faithfully and worshiped and served Christ
his Lord. He's endeavored to live for the
glory of God and the honor of God and for the good of God's
And now the old man is lying on his bed. His body's weak. He's been sick for a long time.
His body's wracked with pain. There is a cold sweat on his
brow. There's a rattle in his throat.
His lungs heed to get a breath of air. And at last he breathes
that one last long rattling breath out in his body. What happened? Well, Paul tells
us here, that dear man fell asleep in Jesus. That's what he did.
He fell asleep in Jesus. Do you see it? Them also which
sleep in Jesus. Throughout the Word of God, now
listen, throughout the Word of God, what men call death, what
you and I commonly call death, is represented as a sleep insofar
as it concerns God's elect. As a matter of fact, if you read
through the Word of God, read through the New Testament especially,
you'll recognize that the only way the word death is used with
reference to a believer is to kindly accommodate for our ignorance. That's the only way it's used.
Throughout the New Testament, the death of a believer is referred
to as sleep. Listen to this. We're told concerning
the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that they gathered
their feet into their bed and they slept with their father.
That's not used for nothing. And their sleep was not looked
upon as a hopeless end of life. David said, I shall be satisfied
when I awake with thy likeness. Those men and women of faith
fully expected to awake from their slumber. They fully expected
to arise from the grave. Our Lord uses this language over
in John 11. When he came, when his disciples
were there and he told them he was going to go down to Bethany,
He said, our friend Lazarus is sleeping. Now, he talked about
his death. He was telling them Lazarus is
dead. But he wanted them to understand that it wasn't really death,
it was just his sleep. And they said, well, Lord, if he's sleeping,
he'll be all right, no need to go down there. He said, I mean
that Lazarus is dead. He died in his own body, that
body went to sleep, and now Lazarus is dead. That's what I mean by
sleep. Now, the sleep that I'm talking about, is the sleep of
the body. I regret that I have to give
a word of caution, for there are some fools who run off crazy,
and they say, well, when it talks about sleeping, that means that
the soul goes to sleep for a long time, and then at the resurrection,
the soul and the body are awakened. No, no. The soul is wide awake. Paul said to be absent from the
body is to be present with the Lord immediately. Right now,
as soon as these eyes close in death, this man shall Stand before
God, alive and well!" But this body is asleep. This body sleeps
in the grave. This body lies in the dust. Just
as our Lord's body went to the tomb while His soul went to glory,
this body shall go into the tomb. We recognize that this sleep
is described for us in the New Testament with very good reason.
Surely it is the intention of God's Spirit to teach us something
about the matter. Otherwise, he would not have
given us this kind of language. Paul said specifically, I would
not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which
are asleep. Let me give you a few things
concerning this reference of death to being asleep. This thing of believers sleeping
in Christ. Sleep is a suspension of our
physical faculties. But it is not the destruction
of the body. There's a man asleep. All of you going home tonight,
in a little while, you'll stretch out on your bed, and you'll lay
your head down, and you'll go to sleep. Now, there's not any
need to worry. There's not any need for your
children to run around the house screaming and hollering, pulling
their hair out. Daddy's just asleep. He's just asleep, that's
all. And that sleep is a suspension
of your physical faculties. It's a suspension of your physical
body's activity. But it's not the destruction
of the body. And this is what I'm saying. This body will go
to the earth again. It will rot and decay in the
earth. but it will not be annihilated.
The earthly house of this tabernacle must be dissolved, but it cannot
be destroyed. It's going to be broken down
again and return back to the earth, but it cannot be destroyed.
It shall rise again at the last day, and I'm telling you that
God will guard the very dust of his elect until that day when
these bottles shall come forth from the grave. When I lay down
on my bed at night, I just expect to wake up in the morning. I
have reason to expect I will. I'm not sick. In God's good providence,
I have no forebodings of death, though it may come at any time.
I have been awakened every morning now for 35 years. I just expect when I lay down
tonight, I'll probably wake up in the morning. But I'm not sure
of that. But I'm sure of this. Though
this body shall sleep in the earth, My sleeping clay shall
awake at the voice of the archangel in the morning of the resurrection.
And with Job I say I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that
he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though
my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God,
whom I shall see for myself and not another." The apostle Paul
said, I show you a great mystery. Come back there, 1 Corinthians
15. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 51. I can't explain to you what I
believe concerning the resurrection. It's a mystery. I just know it
so. I just know it so. He said, I
show you a great mystery. We shall not all, there's the
word again, sleep. We shall not all be in the grave,
but all of us, those who are in the grave and those who are
not, shall be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead, those who are sleeping, shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when
this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written, is swallowed up in victory. O death,
where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be unto God, which
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." Now,
I know what I'm preaching and what I believe cannot be proven
by philosophy or science, nor can it be disproven by philosophy
or science. But I hope that you have learned
that the basis of our faith depends not at all upon proof. It depends
not at all upon philosophy. It depends not at all upon human
reason or human science. The basis of our faith is the
revelation of God in Holy Scripture. I believe these bodies shall
rise because God said they shall rise, and I'm confident of it.
I'm confident of it. The term sleep also implies quiet. There's a weary man, hard-working
man. He comes in from the field after
a long, hard day of work. He gets done eating supper. It's
already late. He decides he'll sit down in
his easy chair and read the newspaper before he goes to bed. He no
sooner lays his head back that he begins to, he begins to snore
loudly. And if his wife understands something
about the man's labor, she loves him and knows his love for her,
it's a sweet thing to watch him sleep because he's been working
hard to provide for his family. And even the sound of snoring,
yeah, I know it's not pleasant while you're trying to go to
sleep. I was sitting in the room with Brother Morris Montgomery,
And we were, I'd stay up late, you know, and Morris wasn't accustomed
to that. Just as soon as he sat down on the bed, he started snoring.
And I never saw anything like it in my life. I had to wake
him up so I could go to sleep. But, you know, you're up, and that
man's laying there stretched out, and that woman sees him
relaxing quietly, peacefully, and he just snores real big and
loud. She wouldn't think of disturbing
him. He's tired. He needs rest. He's ceasing from
his labor for a while, and we wouldn't think of preventing
it. After the day of labor has ended, it's only right that the
weary man should rest. Now, that's the way death is
for a believer. Sleep is a good description of the believer's
death. It implies that the saints in glory are totally undisturbed
by anything below. Once these bodies have been laid
aside and they sleep in the earth, we rest from our works, we enter
into that blessed Sabbath of rest, and nothing on the earth
is going to disturb us, nothing. Now, some folks sleep more soundly
than others in the figure and in the type, All of us sleep
soundly alike when it comes to the thing of sleeping in Christ,
but I'm a sound sleeper. My wife sets the alarm clocks
to go off, and one goes off, and she'll wake up and turn it
off, and another goes off, and she'll wake up and turn it off,
and another. She could set off 20. I wouldn't hear them unless
it's time for me to get up. I don't hear a thing. And Faith
can get ready for school and run the hairdryer and Turn on
this appliance and that appliance, I don't hear anything. I just
sleep right through it. I'm undisturbed by anything going on around me.
Well, that's the picture of the believer. The believer is unaffected
by everything going on here below. The believer who is asleep in
Christ, those who sleep in the arms of the Savior, are unaffected
by the things that so greatly disturb us. Nothing even causes
their hearts to leave those. On this earth we have a great
amount of difficulty remembering things that happened in days
gone by, our sin, remembering the sin of this day. But those
in heaven, they are totally undisturbed by anything they ever did on
this earth. I don't know how God does it,
but sometimes he fixes it so that we rejoice in redemption,
but we have no pain over the cause of redemption, have no
pain over our sins. In heaven, nothing that's happening
on the earth right now causes any of God's saints any sorrow
or pain, and they are not in the least bit disturbed by anything
that is going to happen upon the earth. For in heaven there
is no sorrow, no pain, no anxiety, no fear, and no weeping. For
God wipes away all fears. Those whose bodies are sleeping
in the earth, around the throne of God, are totally undisturbed
by things upon the earth. And sleep, as you know, is necessary
for repression. These bodies being defiled by
sin have got to return to the dust and ashes of the earth.
so that they might be raised in immortality. You'll notice
that Paul is careful to tell us that God's elect sleep in
Jesus. He's telling us that death does
not dissolve the union that subsists between Christ and his people.
He's telling us that our very bodies are members of Christ.
We're members of Christ spiritually, but these bodies of ours, this
physical flesh has been redeemed by Christ. and if this body of
mine is joined to Christ by a mystery unknown to man, and he must have
this body, it shall rise from the grave." Sorrow comes upon
God's people only because of ignorance concerning these things,
when one of the brothers, one of the sisters dies. Sorrow not
for those, Paul says, who sleep in Jesus. You see, their bodies
sleep in the earth. But while their bodies sleep
in the earth, they have perpetual, perfect fellowship with the Lord
Jesus Christ. Who's going to weep because a
loved one is sleeping? Who's going to mourn because
a loved one is sleeping? Secondly, our text sets before
us a painful realization We rejoice to know that God's
elect shall never die. That those who have left us sleep
in Jesus. But Paul tells us that there
are others which have no hope. You see it? He said, I don't
want you to sorrow as others which have no hope. And many
there are who die without hope. I've had the painful responsibility
of visiting with men, women, trying to minister to them. When they lay on their deathbed,
hopeless, hopeless. I've shaken hands with men, knowing
full well that I'll never see them, never meet them, never
speak to them again, for they died without hope. They died
without hope. Somehow, I don't know, but somehow God takes you there. So that men who defies the gospel
of his grace and rebel against Many women who will not heal
and will not bow, when they come face to face with death, still
will not heal and will not bow. Just will not heal. So, what
about the dying feet? Well, God gave that one example
so that none should despair, and he gave only one so that
none should presume. I have seen few men few women
whose hearts were broken in submission to God in times of sickness and
certain death. I've seen some get scared. I've
seen some get scared, and they think they get better for a little
while, and the scare soon wears off. But I've seen very few,
very few. I've never seen any. I've never
seen any whose hearts were changed by the sudden pacing of death. most people die without hope
some of you right now if this night your number is up and god
calls you home your home will be eternal damnation eternal
perdition you're gonna die without hope you're gonna die without
hope so what is that I mean that when you die there'll be no hope
of mercy. No hope. God won't show you mercy.
There'll be no hope of pardon. There'll be no hope of forgiveness.
There'll be no hope of leniency. There'll be no hope of satisfaction.
There'll be no hope of a caring friend. I mean there now could
be anybody in the eternal damnation of the wicked who even cares
that you're damned. Nobody. There won't be any hope
that it'll ever In this life, death is the king of terror.
For the damned in hell, death will be the most welcome of all
things, but it shall not come. No hope. For you see, to die
without Christ is to die without hope. To die without Christ is
to die without a sacrifice to pardon the sin. To die without
Christ is to die without any righteousness to bring before
God. To die without Christ is to die without life toward God. To die without Christ is to die
without hope. You may have read or heard the
story of Voltaire. You know, Voltaire, he was the
terribly notorious French bragging atheist. He was a man denied
God's existence. And he had raised his son in
the religion of atheism. And his son lay on his sickbed
dying. And his father came to his son's
bed. This young man was laying there and his father knew he
was dying. He said, son, hold on. Hold on, son, hold on. Just, just hold on, son. And
the boy looked at him and he said, Daddy, there's nothing
to hold to. Nothing to hold to. That's what
it is to die without Christ. There's nothing to hold to. Nothing
to lean on. No hope. No hope. But then thirdly,
Paul sets before us a practical responsibility. The pleasant picture is that
the believer falls asleep in the arms of Christ. The painful
realization is that the undelivered dies without hope. But there
is a practical responsibility to be drawn from this. There
are many points of responsibility that could and perhaps should
be made. But our text specifically shows
us responsibilities upon three groups of people. First of all,
living believers must be careful to comfort and encourage one
another. This is what it says in verse
18. Wherefore, comfort one another
with these words. That is, exhort, encourage, strengthen,
and console one another with these words. We who live in this
world ought to Engage ourselves in the business of comforting
and encouraging God's people. With regard to life, living in
this world, live for the glory of God. Living in this world,
live here for Christ's sake. Live here by faith in Christ.
Forget those other things. Seek the glory of God. That's
the only thing important. We ought to encourage and comfort
and strengthen one another regarding death. regarding the resurrection
and regarding eternity. You see, we have a responsibility
to live in this world for the glory of God as well as to die
for the glory of God. I have read about and known some
men who took their lives in their own hands and committed suicide. Some have even left statements
behind saying that they were just tired of life in this world
and they wanted to be done with life in this world. Well, we
have a responsibility to live for the glory of God. I hear
folks say, well, everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants
to die. No, I disagree with that. Paul said, he said, I desire
to depart and be with Christ. That's what he said. He said,
we're anxious to put aside this body of flesh. But we have a
responsibility, a responsibility under God to preserve life as
long as we can. We have a responsibility under
God to preserve our own life and the lives of those around
us as long as we can and within reason. We have a responsibility
before God to care for this life in such a way that we may live
for the glory of God as long as God intends us to live on
this earth. While we're living, let's honor
him. Let's honor him. While we're living, let's honor
him by trusting he will. Let's honor him by bowing to
his sovereign providence, whatever it is, whatever it is. I believe
I speak the truth when I say that when my day comes, trusting
Christ, I shall walk into the grave with the joy and gladness and happiness
with which a schoolboy walks to school for the first time.
I believe that. So, Pastor, you're talking off
your head now. Well, I might be, but I've been close, and
I know something of what it is to, with confidence and joy,
face eternity with faith in God. I know something about what that
is, and I fully believe it. I have to pray like Whitfield. He said, Lord, keep me from a
sinful and too eager desire after death. I desire not to be impatient. I wish to quietly wait till my
blessed change comes. I expect you to enter into that get tired and anxious. But let's
be patient and wait until the time comes when our master is
done with us. Bereaved believers also have
a responsibility to honor Christ and the gospel of his grace in
the midst of their sorrow. And let me be careful in what
I say, but you be careful in hearing me, will you? Some of
you have frequently been to the funeral parlor, and some of you
will likely go again in the near future. We're not stoics. We're not stoned. We're not inanimate objects that
have no feeling. We do sorrow. We do sorrow. Just a while back, I had to go
one week to bury my great aunt, and another week to bury my grandmother,
seven days of one another. And I weep, and I sorrow, and
it gives me pain, great pain, for they didn't know the gospel.
It gives me great pain. But at the same time, we who
believe do not sorrow like others which have no hope. We believe God. We believe God. In pagan, heathen lands, they
hire mourners and they hire women to come and bring their bodies
into terrible contortions and pull out their hair and scream
and lament terrible woes because they have no hope! But if I take any of you My own
dear family, you who believe, I'd hate to lose any of you.
I'd hate to, oh I'd miss you. And the void would cause pain, but it wouldn't cause me to go
crazy. It wouldn't cause me to lose control. Wouldn't cause
me to behave as a heathen and ungodly man would behave in the
funeral home. You see, we believe God, and
believing God, we willingly bow to his will and rejoice in him,
even in the midst of sorrow. Here's another word. Dying believers
have a responsibility to die. for the glory of Christ. Matthew
Henry said, he whose head is in heaven need not fear to put
his feet into the grave. I know that I will die at my
appointed time. Being in Christ, trust in Christ,
I have no reason to fear death because my sin is gone. I am
accepted in Christ laid righteous in him, and God's not angry with
me. God's not angry. I've got no
reason to fear that, none whatever. And I hope to die as a believing
man, fully conscious and full of well-grounded confidence before
God. The Apostle Paul, over in 2 Timothy
4, He said, I am now ready to be
offered the time of my departure at hand. I fought a good fight. I finished my course. I kept
the path. He looked back with no regrets
and looked forward with no fear. He said, henceforth there is
laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but
unto all them also that love his appearance. Andrew Bonar wrote, Lord, give
me Simeon's dismissal. Let me die with Christ in my
arms. That's how I want to die. Holy
Christ, that Christ is in my arms, and that I'm in Jesus'
arms. Thomas Goodwin lay on his deathbed,
and he said, oh, is this dying? How have I dreaded, as an enemy,
this smiling face? I tell one another, for the glory
of Christ, for the honor of Christ, blessed are the dead that die
in the Lord. You, too, shall leave this world
soon. Will you fall asleep in the arms
of the Savior? or will you perish forever under
the sword of his wrath? God help you to repent and believe
the gospel. Amen.