Revelation chapter 14 and only
one verse, verse 13. And I heard a voice from heaven
saying unto me, Right, blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the that they may
rest from their labors, and their works do follow them." The works
do follow them. And this is my title this morning.
It's right here in this text. Blessed are the dead. Isn't it
amazing how the gospel turns everything on its head? It turns all nature upside down,
doesn't it? The thing that most people most
fear In this life is what? Dying. And yet here the gospel
says, happy to be ended, well off, fortunate are those who
die. Blessed are the dead. Nature says this. Let me compare
what nature teaches us as opposed to what the gospel teaches us.
And nature teaches us this. Blessed are those who laugh.
Blessed are those who are jolly, that find many things in this
life to entertain them. But the gospel says, blessed
are they who mourn. Nature teaches us to say this
and to think this. Blessed are the rich. Blessed are those who prosper.
Blessed are those who can live the lifestyle of the rich and
famous and have more than heart could desire. But what does the
gospel teach us to say? Blessed are the poor. Blessed are the poor. Nature
teaches us to say this. Blessed are the strong. Blessed
are the mighty. Blessed are those who have influence
over others. But the gospel teaches us to
say this, blessed are the meek, blessed
are the lowly. Nature teaches us to say this,
blessed are they who are full and have need of nothing. But
the gospel teaches us to say this, ìBlessed are those who
hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. He
hath filled the hungry with good things, but the rich he hath
sent empty away.î Nature teaches us to say this, ìBlessed is the
man whom the world befriends, Blesses the man who has many
friends, and all speak well of him. But the gospel teaches us
to say this, blessed are they who are persecuted and reviled,
and all manner of evil is said against them falsely. I tell
you, what we think by nature and what we know by nature is
right contrary to what the gospel tells us, isn't it? Blessed are
the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Blessed are they that
mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they
shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness, they shall be filled. And blessed
are ye who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. Be glad
and leap for joy, for great is your reward in heaven." Blessed
are the dead. Happy, fortunate. Well, nature
teaches us to say, I'm so sorry. I'm so sad. It's a time of heaviness. Our hearts are heavy. We've lost
a loved one. But the gospel teaches us to
say, you're blessed. Isn't it a wonderful thing to
kneel by the side of a dear saint of God and say, I envy you? When they're dying? You're well
off. Oh, you're a fortunate person.
But I'm dying. Yes, but blessed are the dead
who die. Nobody likes to contemplate death,
does he? I bet some of you here, I hope
you're not this way, but I bet you one or two of you this morning
say, I wish he wouldn't preach on that subject. I wish he wouldn't
talk about death. I want to talk about living.
I do too. I love life. I want to think
about living. Everybody does, really. God didn't
make us to die, did he? He didn't make us to die. Death
has been imposed on us because of sin. It's not a natural thing. It's a foreign thing to us. The
Bible calls it our enemy. But by one man's sin, death enters. And death passed upon all men,
for in Adam all of us sin, and it is so evident that we sin
because we all die. In Adam, all die. In sinful, fallen Adam, all die. Death is imposed upon humanity
the cause of sin. But all of us should contemplate
the reality of death, and here is why. All of us, without exception,
having an appointment with it. It's appointed unto men once
to die. That's an appointment. We'll
keep that appointment, won't we? We may call and cancel appointments
here, but that's one appointment we will keep. God has appointed
a day in which all of us shall surely die. Listen to how Job
says it in Job chapter 30. For I know that thou wilt bring
me to death, and to the house that you have appointed for all
the living. The living have an appointment
made for them. They have a house that's already
determined for them. A long home, the Scripture calls
it. Whether through wickedness, Whether
through sin and unbelief to that long home of misery, or whether
it's through the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father's house at last,
that appointment has already been made. Isn't that a humbling
thing? To think that God Himself, the
Judge of all the earth, has already determined our destiny. Isn't that amazing? Listen to
how Job said it in Job 14, verse 5. His days are determined, speaking
of man, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed
his bounds, that he cannot pass it. God has determined where
we shall be born, when we would be born, where we would live,
The day of our death? The means of it? These things
are secret to us, but they're known to Him. And you know something? I guess
this is why James said, don't say tomorrow we're going to do
this or we're going to do that. But always say this, if God wills. Why? Because what is your life? It's a vapor that appears for
a little time. And who has appointed the time? God has appointed the time. What
do you do if you're making an appointment? If you're making
an appointment, you write it down on a piece of paper, or
you put it on your calendar, and you go periodically and check. This is my day. This is the hour
of my appointment. And you keep that somewhere in
the back of your mind so you don't miss your appointment.
You know why we should contemplate death? Because we haven't an
appointment with it. You say, Bruce, but how do we
write it on a paper? How do we remember? We can't
remember it. We cannot know it. But since
it has been appointed, you know something? You and I ought to
meditate on it. Because it most certainly is
appointed. Blessed are the dead who die
in the Lord. That time is appointed. Why are
you and I so adverse to thinking about death? Well, we know why
the unsaved are adverse to thinking about it. If they're awakened
to death and dying at all, they fear it. They fear it. I have been there. I lived through
my teenage years and my early twenties, and I was tormented
with dying. I lived in the fear and dread
of it. I prayed my poor self to sleep
many a night. Oh God, don't let me die tonight. Preserve me tonight. Why was
I afraid of it? I didn't understand very much. But I had this feeling in my
conscience, and I couldn't shake it, that somehow or another I
knew that I had to stand after death sometime and give account
to God for my life. And I knew I wasn't ready or
willing to do that. I didn't understand eternity.
I was a poor lost soul, but I was grappling with this thought of
eternity. Eternity, eternity, eternity. I'm going to have to spend eternity
someplace. And I couldn't shake that thought.
I didn't know how, but my conscience bore witness to me. And you know,
I come to understand that that was God that was making me afraid. Some people fear they have these
moments of awakenings in their conscience, and they put that
concern from them, or they blame the devil for it. The devil is
just trying to make me afraid, when alas, it is God that is
speaking to their conscience. If you fear death this morning,
if you fear eternity, if you fear standing before God, then
examine to see if you have a true foundation to fear. You may have
a good reason to fear. If your hope is not in Christ
this morning, if you have not been washed in the blood, you
may have a good reason to fear. But we know why lost men fear. We know why the unsaved fear. Death has been such a concern
in our day that the medical profession has trained people to help the dying cope with death. When my dad was dying, they came
to try to help him, to talk to him about death. They never done
much good at it. Boy, he had the fear of it in
his conscience. Mr. Crabtree, death is just a fact
of life. It's just a reality. Everybody's
dying. You should just go ahead and
accept it and be at peace with it. That's what they tell you, you
see. Because when an unsaved person faces death, it's a fearful
thing. Though he can't explain it, he
can't get the thoughts of it out of his conscience. So be
at peace with it. Don't worry about it. Face it
when it gets here. It reminds me of Isaiah chapter
28, what these people said. Listen to that. We have made
a covenant with death, and with hell we are at agreement. When
the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come
near us. Death ain't going to hurt us.
We've made a covenant with it. We're in agreement with it. But
in verse 18, three verses later, listen to what God said. Your
covenant with death shall be disenough, and your agreement
with hell shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it."
We know why the unsaved are afraid, and they have a right to be afraid.
But bless God, our text says differently about the saved,
doesn't it? Our text says here in verse 13, blessed are the
dead. It qualifies, though, why death
is a blessing to these people, and he says here, blessed are
the dead who die in the Lord. That's the secret, isn't it? They die in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, that's why I said a minute
ago, to kneel down by the bedside of a dying saint, a man who has
found himself in Christ, and you can say to that man while
he's taking his last breath, I envy you. Oh, it's well with you. You're
in Christ. You're in Christ. That's what
salvation is. You told us that, Glenn, in the
morning service. That's what salvation is. It's to be in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Hold my text there just a minute.
Mark it and look back over to your left in 1 Corinthians, in
chapter 15, in verse 19. In Christ, death is a blessing. It's a blessing
to die in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look in verse 19. 1 Corinthians
15. If in this life only we have
hope in Christ, hope doesn't pertain to this life, does it?
But for the life to come. Some hope they'll get rich. They
profess Christ so they'll get rich. They profess Christ so
they can be wealthy. Paul said, Our hope doesn't pertain
to this life. If it does, only we're of all
men most miserable. Verse 20, But now is Christ risen
from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since thy man came death,
thy man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
die, Even so, in Christ shall all be made alive." You know
why death is a blessing to the saved? When he dies in Christ,
he dies with hope. He dies with hope. He doesn't
die in darkness. He doesn't die despairing that,
boy, this is it. He shall be made alive. He has
something to look forward to. And verse 23, But every man in
his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterwards they that are Christed
is coming. Then comes the end, when he shall
have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when
he shall have put down all rule and all authority, for he must
reign till he hath put down all enemies under his feet. And look
at this, the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. And you know he goes on down
here in verse 46 and he begins to tell us how this is going
to come to pass. Look what he says in verse 46.
I tell you, when the Lord Jesus Christ raised from the dead,
he would assure our resurrection from the dead. And look what
he said in verse 46. Howbeit that which was not first
which is spiritual, but that which is natural, afterwards
that which is spiritual. The first man, that was Adam,
our first representative back in the garden, he is of the earth,
earthy. But look at this, the second
man, Christ, is the Lord from heaven. And as is the earthy,
such are they that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such
are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image
of the earthly, we look just like Adam, don't we? And you
know what happened to him when he sinned? He started looking
just like some of you look. Dying, wrinkled, old, and your
body gets full of pain. That's what happened. And we
bear his image, his sinful image. But look at this, we shall also
bear the image of the heavenly. There's a change coming, a change
coming if we're in Christ. And here's how it's going to
happen in verse 50. This I say, brethren, that flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth
corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep Ain't that funny how the Bible calls
death a sleep? We shall not all sleep, not all
of us going to die, but we shall all be changed in a moment in
the twinkling of an eye at the last trump, for the trumpet shall
sound and the dead 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 I put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall I put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the
saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?
The sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be unto God, which giveth us the victory." Victory
over death. How? Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed, happy are those who
die in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because they die in hope. They've
got something to look forward to. That's the first thing. You die in the Lord Jesus Christ,
you're happy because you've got something to look forward to.
Look back over at my text again. For he tells us here in Revelation
14 and verse 13, he tells us the consequences of dying in
the Lord. What happens to those who die
in the Lord? Look what he says here in verse
13 again. And I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, Right,
blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth,
saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labor." What
happens to a saint when he dies? I mean immediately what happens
to him. He reposes. That's what that
word rest means. He reposes. Have you ever come
into your house and sat down in your recliner and you leaned
back in it and reposed? It means to refresh oneself,
to take ease, to be exempt. Rest. Well, the physical body
rests. We know that, don't we? Immediately
upon death, the physical body Things change for the physical
body, brothers and sisters. It changes. It may have been
in severe pain upon dying, but that pain ceases at death. And
the body may begin to decay, but no hurt shall come to it. It's resting. It's not molested
anymore with its trials, with its sufferings, with its doubts
and its fears and infirmities. The body is resting. It may be
in a cold ground, but that don't hurt the body. It's unconscious. It has no feeling. It knows nothing. It's resting. When Lazarus died,
His body had started to decay. But the Lord says he's sleeping. I go to awake him out of his
sleep. Who was he going to wake? His
body. When we die, our body enters
into rest. No matter what happens to it.
They'll take it down to the mortuary. They'll suck all the blood out
of it. They'll fill it full of fluid. They'll put powder on
it and make it look good. They'll take care of it and respect
it and take it and put it back in the ground. But the body is
resting. It's resting. But this rest here applies mainly
to the soul. Blessed are the dead that they
may rest from their labor. The soul rests from its labor. It reposes. It's refreshed. It takes its ease. It's exempt
from any and all labor. You and I don't know very much
about rest. You may be here this morning. You're in Christ. But
you and I don't know anything about perfect rest, do we? Not
a thing. Never experienced it. We're invited
to rest. We're invited to enter into this
soul rest. And there's a perfect rest that
the soul can enter into here. But you know, the conditions
for that rest lies mostly within us. And that's why we can't attain
it. Let me tell you what I mean.
How did the Lord say we'd find rest for our souls? Take my yoke
upon you and learn of me, and you shall find rest for your
souls. But how little we know of our
Savior, and how little we live by faith upon Him. And that's
the way the soul enters rest. But because we don't know much
more about our faithful Savior, and we don't trust Him more than
we do, what happens? We have more restlessness than
we have rest, don't we, in our soul. Here's another scripture. He says this. Thou wilt keep
him in perfect peace." That's akin to rest, that. But let me
ask you this question, and you be honest with it. Have you ever
experienced perfect peace? And if you've ever experienced
it, has it been just a fleeting moment? You can't live there in this
perfect peace. Why? The next line tells us. whose mind is stayed on thee."
I'm telling you, if you could get your mind upon Jesus Christ
wholly and fully, the grounds for perfect peace has been laid. We have a perfect Savior, have
we not? He has obtained a perfect atonement
for sin. There's not a sin running around
anywhere of God's elect people that has not been atoned for.
You know all your sins have been atoned for, even those you ain't
committed yet. All sins, past, present, and
future, they've been perfectly atoned for. We have perfect acceptance
in the Beloved. We are perfectly justified from
everything. Everything is perfect but our
present rest. We just can't enter into that,
can we? Our text encourages us That we should labor more and
more and more in this life. Because the hour is coming when
all our labor will cease. Boy, now we labor in prayer.
We labor in the cause of Christ. We labor for the lost. We labor
in love. But there's coming a day, bless
God, when we shall die in the Lord and rest from our labors. If this day is assured you, dear
child of God, then how much labor should you be involved in now?
Do everything you can, do it when you can, for His glory. Because the hour is coming, I
assure you, on the authority of God's Word, when all your
labor shall cease. And then you can rest. What all this rest consists of,
I don't know. I can't tell. I can give you
some hints what it must consist of. It has to be a perfect rest. Because there's nothing there
in that place to molest you, to disturb you. There will be
nothing there demanded of you to do. That's not a place of
doing. That's not a place of labor. That's a place of rest. What
must be involved, then, in this rest? One must be this. The soul, if it's to rest in
this perfect rest in heaven, it must be freed from any sense
of sin. Have you ever been without a
sense of sin? The Lord saved me in 1973, and I don't think
I've been without a sense of sin since. Oh, wretched man that
I am. That's been my motto for all
this time. What will it be to be without
any molestation of a sense of sin? To be free from it? Never to have a thought of it.
Never to be tempted by it. Never to feel it's working within
our heart. Rest, soul. Rest now. You've labored against sin. You've
prayed against it. You've struggled against it.
You've watched against it. But now rest. You're free from
it. It will never come near you again.
Oh, I want to go to heaven, don't you? I want to be free from sin. For the first time in my life,
I say, thank you, God, I'm free. I'm free. To rest in a perfect rest for
the soul to rest, it means that we no longer live by faith. Faith
is a laboring. Looking is a labor. Keeping your
eyes upon Christ our Redeemer, that's a labor. But in that day,
faith will end in the welcoming sight of the Savior's face. And I'm telling you, it will
be a smiling face. You can see it in His eyes, a
welcoming sight. We'll never escape the sound
of His gracious voice, His welcoming voice there with us. All will be free to love, free
to worship in the beauty of holiness in that day. Somebody asked me
one time, said, What are we going to do in heaven? I tell you, for the first million
years or so, I don't want to do anything but just worship. I don't want to be led over heaven.
I don't care a thing about walking the street of gold if there is
such a thing. I want to get down at the feet of my Savior and
worship Him. Don't you? Worship. Worship Him. Oh, to have rest for our souls,
our company must change from what it is now. You could not
have rest in heaven if everybody was there that is here in this
world, could you? You who still have to work a
public job, aren't you greed by the vulgar, filthy language? Using God's name in vain? The telling of filthy jokes?
Seeing all the sufferings and death in this world? We can't
rest in this world. The company is not fit for it.
But oh, there, there will be company that you can rest in
their presence. For there will be other saints,
the spirit of just men made perfect. There will be an innumerable
company of holy angels there. Nobody there will be telling
filthy jokes. Nobody there will be using our
Lord's name in vain. Everybody there will be just
like you. They will be blessed and happy and holy. It will be rest because the saints
that are there live in a sure and certain and steadfast hope
of the resurrection. What does this rest entail? It is incomprehensible, but it
is certain. For those who die in the Lord,
they rest from their labor. I don't think a saint should
fear death. I don't think a saint should fear death. And I think
he's given us something here in my text in verse 13 that would
help us to dispel whatever apprehensions we have of it. He gives us something
here for our faith to take hold of. And I want you to look at
it. Because we're told here how blessed those are who die in
Christ. And we are told by those who
must know, because they are there who tell
us. Blessed are the dead. They know
what it is to die in the Lord. They know what it is to rest.
Look what he said in my text in verse 13. And I heard a voice
from heaven saying, blessed are the dead. Whoever this is, they
know something about heaven, don't they? Because that's where
they are. I heard a voice from heaven.
Somebody's up there. And they're telling us, don't
be afraid to die in the Lord. We know something about this
place. It's a place of rest. Who is this? I don't know. Is
it God? He knows something about rest.
He labored, didn't he? He created the universe and the
earth and us in six days, and he rested the seventh from all
his labor. Is it him? Is it Jesus Christ
who knows something about rest? Because he finished the work
that the Father gave him, and he sat down on the right hand
of the Father. He knows something about rest.
Is it those saints? that have entered into this rest?
Is it them saying? Is it them telling us, blessed
are the dead? We know because we've experienced
it. Whoever this is, somebody knows,
and you and I ought to believe their testimony, brothers and
sisters. I've never found any place in the Bible where anybody
spoke from heaven and lied to us or misrepresented anything
to us. If this voice who is in heaven
says, there's rest here, then I'm going to believe them. And
I think when we get there, we'll find it to be so. And we'll say,
who was that that said this? Who was it telling us there was
rest here? I want to shake hands with them.
I want to hug their neck, because I found it to be just like you
testified. But he goes on. He goes on. He says more. He says here in the latter part
of this verse, and look at this. Blessed are the dead. They spoke
from heaven. I heard a voice from heaven saying,
right? Blessed are the dead which die
and the Lord permits for it. Yea, saith the Spirit. I don't know who said that first
statement from heaven, but we know who said this one. It's
the Spirit. Would you ever doubt Him? That
heavenly dove, the Spirit of truth that was given to lead
us into truth, that was given to comfort us. I'll give you
another comforter. And what does He say to suffering
saints? There's rest here. There's rest
here. Don't fear death. It has no sting
for you. It has no hurt for you. You'll
rest. That's what the Spirit says.
And we have one more thing here that he gives us that our faith
can take hold of, and it's this. I heard a voice from heaven saying
to me, write. Write it down. It's not enough for him to just
testify. He said, I want you to write it down where they can
read it whenever they want to read it. If they're ever in doubt
about what takes place at death, I want them to go back and cast
their eyes upon what I've said about it. Write it down. And
I'll preserve it. Write it. Blessed are the dead. You know something? Some of these
old men in the Bible and women, boy, they took hold of this Word
that's been written down. And they've got some wonderful
things to say about death. They talk about death as leaving
a foreign country and going home. They talk about it as it's a
departure. A departure. If you were in some
foreign country, they got me down in Mexico one time. One
time I went to Mexico. And I tell you what, if I wasn't
embarrassed, I'd have kissed the ground when I landed back
in Miami, Florida. You go buy truckloads of men
with AK-47s, giving you some stares, trying to bribe you,
don't know if you're coming home or not. I love this country, and I was
glad to get back in it. If you were in a foreign country,
and you didn't speak their language, and people gave you these stares
like, boy, you're a foreigner here, you're not much welcome
here, and they said, tomorrow, We're going home! Would you be
afraid of that? What time are we departing? I
want to be there a little early. How did Paul say it? I have a
desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. How did Simon say it? When he
took the Lord Jesus up in his arms and he said, Oh, Father,
I've seen your salvation. Now let me depart. Let me depart
in peace. And Paul said it again, probably
on his deathbed, when he complained about all in Asia and forsaken
But he said, I fought a good fight. I finished my course. The time of my departure is at
hand. The time of your departure? You
mean you're dying? Yes. I'm departed. I'm leaving
this shore where I've been a stranger and a pilgrim, and I'm sailing
to heaven's coast. I'm departed and going home to
my Father's house. I never was afraid to go home.
Are you? Every time I used to get in trouble,
I'd want to be home. Go home. There was an old missionary
a fellow was telling me about, and he was on a ship way back
when they used to have to ride ships, and he was coming home
from a foreign country. He'd been in the missionary field
for many, many years. And there was a big-name celebrity
on the ship with him. And they landed there at Ellis
Island. And the celebrity had a band
out there to meet him. The media was there to get a
report about who he was and what he was doing. And they surrounded
him and the poor missionary was standing over here by himself.
Nobody was there to greet him. And he said the thought come
to him while he was looking at that crowd, the celebrity getting
all the attention. The thought came to him, you're
not home yet. You're not home yet. You've landed
on a different coast, but this is not your home. When you get
home, to your long home, there will be the celebration. There
you'll rest. And the last thing, look at this
in verse 13, the last portion, and the works do follow them. The works follow them. The works
don't go ahead of them. It's not the works that's going
to go ahead and make room for you in heaven. I'm telling you
that right now. The reason you're going to be
accepted in heaven is because of him that's already there.
We're not going to be justified by what we do. We're going to
be justified by what He's already did for us. We're justified by
His grace. We're justified by His blood.
We're justified by faith in Him. Then what's these works are about?
Why are they following us? Because they testify our love
to the Master. That we've done what we've done
because we loved Him. And we did it for His glory.
And they're going to follow us up to heaven. And someday the
King of Glory is going to recognize those works. Ain't that be amazing? And you'll be amazed. And I'll
be amazed. And all the saints will be amazed. He's not going to say, you've
built great cathedrals. You blasphemy. You've been over
the missionary boards. You've done great things. The
world recognized you and they patted you on the back. Oh, you've
done great things. But what is the works that he's
going to recognize? I was hungry and you gave me
meat. I was thirsty and you gave me
drink. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you come
to me." Boy, that, that, it's works of love, isn't it? It's
works of kindness. It's works of tenderness and
gentleness and faithfulness to our fellow man. It's not building
great buildings. It's not doing mighty things
that the world recognizes as great. But it's loving one another
and caring one for another. And I'm telling you on the Day
of Judgment, the Master is going to recognize it. And He's going
to say, Come, you blessed of my Father, enter into your eternal
rest. Rest. Some of you are tired,
aren't you? You're tired. You get an old, some of you are
sick, and you're tired. But let me tell you this, dear
soul, are you in Christ? Are you in Christ? Gene, your
rest is coming, sweetheart. Your rest is coming. You ain't
going to labor with that sick body. We ain't going to continue
to labor with our fears and doubts and our hearts and souls. There's
a rest that is awaiting the children of God. And we ought to be longing
for it, and live and like it. God bless this Word. Let's pray.