That's a song that my father's
sister, who was blind all of her life, used to sing. Good morning up there where Christ
is the light. Good morning up there where cometh
no night. When we step from this earth
to God's heaven so fair, we'll just say good night here. and
good morning of that. Psalm 116, verse 15. Precious, precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His saints. Now, this is one of those psalms
for reading quite often. I asked
Brother Roach tonight in the study if he'd read this psalm
for me and for you, and I made the comment, it's such a delightful
psalm. It's such a blessed portion of
God's Word. But David didn't pluck these
words out of the air. David did not take these words
from a book of theology. They're theologically sound.
And David didn't find these words in a church catechism, or a church
creed, or a confession of faith, or a prayer book. And David didn't just recite
these words from tradition and cold logic. These are words that
issued forth from his heart. This man, after God's own height,
had a heart that loved God. a regenerated heart, a believing
heart. If you notice in verse one, he
says this, he talks about loving the Lord. I love the Lord. I'm sure Dave
is not boasting of his love for God. I think like John, he would
say, I love him because he first loved me. I believe like John, he would
say, here it is love, not that we love God. but that he loved
us and gave himself for us. But he's speaking like the Apostle
Peter. When the Lord said, Do you love
me? He said, I love you. I love you. And when our Lord
continued to ask him, Do you love me? He said, You know all
things, you know I love you. I guess people about me
have every reason to doubt it, but he knows my heart. That's
what David said. I do love the Lord. And he's
not talking about the God of his imagination. He said, I love
the Lord. I love the Lord, the Lord. I love the God of heaven who
purposed. They said to David, they said,
where is your God? Our God's in our temples and
shrines and places where we put them. Where's your God? David
said, my God's in the heavens. And he hath done whatsoever he
pleased. Whatsoever my God pleased, that's what He did in the heavens
and the earth and the seas and all deep places, and that's the
God I love. I love the Sovereign Lord, the Almighty Lord, the
Eternal Lord. I love the Lord of Heaven who
purposed. I love the Lord of Heaven who came in the flesh
and died. I love the Lord of Heaven who
by His Spirit calls. I love Him with a genuine, sincere,
heart affection. I'm not trying to prove anything
to anybody," David said. I just love the Lord. I'm not
trying to carry on a religious image. I just love the Lord. I love Him, and I love His Word,
and I love all that bears His name. I love the Lord. I love
the Lord. And he talks about how long he
intends to love the Lord in verse 2. He said, because he hath inclined
his ear unto me, therefore I'll love him, and I'll call upon
him as long as I live. How can a man make a statement
like that? I'll tell you how. I'll tell you how. Because his
love for the Lord and his union with the living God is not a
union with an organization. You can quit an organization,
but you can't quit God. This union, this fellowship,
this relationship he's talking about here is not a love for
and an affiliation with and a union with a system. You can quote
a system, you can hold to a doctrine vehemently and courageously and
boldly and then change. But he's talking about loving
here a person. I wish I could get that across. I will have accomplished everything
tonight that needs to be accomplished if God gave me the power and
the ability to get across this one point, that the hope of glory
is Christ in you. That's it. It's not being a Baptist. It's not being a Calvinist. It's
not being a fundamentalist. It's not being a religionist.
It's not being a moralist. It's not being a legalist. It's
not being a ritualist. It's not being a ceremonialist.
It's Christ in you. That's the hope of glory. That's
what Paul's saying to the church at Galatia. He's saying this. He's saying, I prevail till Christ
be formed in you. That's my prevail, is that Christ
be formed in you, in you. Just hold that place there and
turn a minute to John chapter 17. This is the union I'm talking
about right here in John 17. Our Lord says in verse 20, John
17, 20. Neither pray I for these alone.
I pray for them also which shall believe on me through their word,
that they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me. and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe
that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest
me I have given them, that they may be one as we are one." That's what Paul is saying in
Galatians when he said, God revealed his Son in me. When God arrested
him on the road to Damascus, brought him to saving faith.
He didn't just show Paul that he was following the wrong doctrine
and teach him the right doctrine. He didn't just show Paul that
his opposition to Jesus Christ was unfounded, he ought to get
on his side. He said that God revealed his
Son in me. He became a bond slave of Jesus
Christ. He became a servant of Jesus
Christ. He became one with Jesus Christ. His heart beat with Christ. His
mind thought of Christ. He became one with the Son of
God. And that's what David is saying here, I'll call upon Him
as long as I live. Because it's an impossibility
for me to be divided from Christ, because we're one. And then the
third thing he says here in verse three, He talks about trouble
and sorrow. Trouble and sorrow. In verse
3, he says, the sorrows of death compassed me, compassed me about,
and the pains of hell got hold of me, and I found trouble and
sorrow. There isn't a person in this
building tonight, and there are a lot of believers here, a lot
of people who love Christ. They can say with David, I love
the Lord. I'll call on him as long as I live. But there's not
a person in here over 30 or 40 years of age that can't identify
with verse 3, trouble and sorrow. I've found trouble and sorrow.
Some of you have lived through heartbreaking experiences. No
use me standing up here relating them. I know you and I know the
experience and the experiences. And it is, some of these experiences
actually are the solvers of death. In fact, rather than go through
them again, you'd rather just not go through them. Death is
preferred. And they're the pains of hell.
The pains of hell. And I know this, I know this,
that no one who knows anything about God, I don't care who the
preacher is, and you say, well, you ought not criticize these
fellows, but I'm telling you this, No one who knows anything
about God or salvation or redemption ever promises a believer an easy
road. Now, if he does, the truth's
not in him. God doesn't promise you an easy
road. God says this, in the world you
shall have tribulation. That's what it is. You shall
have tribulation, trouble, troubles, and sorrows. And I'm standing
here tonight. I claim to be a servant of God
Almighty. I claim to preach His Word. I
claim to tell men the truth about God and about salvation, about
our relationship with Christ. And I'm telling you this. If
you come to know Christ and really love Him and really are born
of God and have saving faith, you're going to have a life of
trouble. Real trouble and real heartache. Your tears are going
to flow. Your heart is going to break. You're going to be
bowed beneath burdens and troubles and sorrows. James calls it this. He calls it different temptations. And he says, count it joy when
you're called upon to go through these trials. Peter calls it
God trying your faith. And Paul in Hebrews said, if
you're without this chastisement and trouble and sorrow, you're
a bastard. You're not even a son of God. You're a false professor.
That's what he says if you're without trial. And he says this, count it not
strange when you go through trouble. I'll tell you, if you're a child
of God, count it strange if you don't have trouble. That's what's
strange. It's strange to me. Because the
Lord God is going to try your faith and my faith with trouble
and sorrow. It's going to have it. David
had it. He said, I found trouble and
sorrow. But then he talks about, as Cecil
read a moment ago, deliverance. Deliverance. Talks about verse
six, I was brought low. And then in verse eight he said,
but thou hast delivered my soul from death. Thou hast delivered
mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. Now I say
this to you. Some of you right here now are
going through some real heartache. Your heart's a bad headache.
You're very sad, you're very troubled. There's all sorts of
trouble and difficulty, fears and doubts. You're heavy hearted. I'll say this to you. If you
can trust God, if you can believe God, in the midst of this trouble,
I don't know when, I don't know when, I don't know how long it'll
last, but I promise you this, you will be delivered. And you
will be delivered stronger than when you entered the trouble
and the sorrow. Because this trouble and sorrow
will prove faith. And if you wait upon the Lord
and look to Him, it'll strengthen faith. Yes, it will. But one of our greatest problems
is this, if we want relief right now. That's the reason we have
all these different things like roll aids and tongue. We want
instant relief. That's what makes these things
popular. Instant relief. That's what makes a lot of preachers
popular. They offer you instant relief.
I don't offer you instant relief. Sorrow, endure it for the night.
I promise you this, joy is coming in the morning. I don't know
when the morning is, but I know joy is coming. If you can wait
till the morning. I wait on the Lord as those who wait for the
morning. I say, as those who wait for
the morning. I want to show you one other
passage in Psalm 27. I just promise you, I've been,
I'm not only speaking from the Word of God, I'm speaking from
experience. And some of you sitting right there can say, that's right,
preacher. Amen. If in the midst of this valley
and in the depths of this despair and trouble, just if you can
trust Him, if you can believe Him, if you can wait on There's
joy out there, the joy of the Lord. God will bless faith. In Psalm 27, verse 13, David
said, I had fainted. Psalm 27, 13, I would have fainted
unless I had believed. What did you believe, David? I believed to see the goodness
of the Lord in the land of the living. I believed that joy was
coming in the morning. I believed that God would make
us right. I believe that God would show me his hand. I believe
that God would use this for my good. I believe that God would
use this, whatever it is, I don't care how heavy it is, for his
glory. And that's what I believe. So
he says to us, wait on the Lord. I wish I could just take people
and slow them down. Just let's do this now, just
slow down. Well, let's go ahead, just slow
down. Just wait on God. There's not a door there. Don't
make one. Don't make one. I heard a preacher the other day
talking about leaving a place. He said, I believe my work's
done. The preacher went and said, when's a man's work done? I said,
when God's work's done. Is that right? That's right.
No, I know what he's wanting. He wanted a better place. He
just wouldn't confess it. He's tired. weary of the battle,
weary of the conflict, and want to go somewhere. But my work's
done. Yeah, your work's done when God's work's done. That's
when your work's done. So wait on the Lord, and be of
good courage, and He'll strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the
Lord! Be still. Lonnie Martin used
to sing a duet. I wish they'd do it again sometime.
Be still and know that I'm God. You've got the grace to wait.
And he said, if you have, verse 8, he'll deliver your soul from
death, and your eyes from tears, and your feet from fall. But
you've got to wait on him. Don't get ahead of the Lord. You say, will a true child of
God get ahead of the Lord? Yeah, God will let him get out
there, isolated, separated. Leave him on his own, but he'll
bring him back in his own time. It just makes the burden that
much greater. Verse 10. Then he talked about the foundation
of faith. I believe, therefore have I spoken. I got an article in the bulletin.
If you have your bulletin there, I don't have mine with me, but
I got an article on page 3 about faith. It's really twofold. It's believing God and therefore
believing God's Word. That's what I find throughout
the scripture. David said, I believe, therefore I spoke. I believe,
therefore I spoke. Here's an example of it over
here in Acts 27, if you want an example of this, of what I'm
saying. Over here in Acts 27, Paul was
on this ship crossing the sea. The sea was disturbed and troubled,
and the ship was about to go down. In fact, all of the All
of the experienced mariners and sailors on board thought it was
going to sink. And they told Paul that, and
they wanted to abandon ship. Paul said, now, stay on board.
Stay on board. In verse 23, now listen to this. Acts 27, 23. There stood by me
this night the angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve,
saying, Fear not, Paul, you must be brought before Caesar. And,
lo, God hath given thee all that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs,
give good cheer to foe. I believe God, and it shall be
even as it was told me." Charlie, that's it right there. I believe
God, and it's going to be just like he said. That's faith. That's
what Peter said when the Lord came to him. They fished all
night and caught nothing. They'd been out there. These
were experienced fishermen. And they toiled all night and
caught nothing. And the Lord said to them, He said, launch
out there now, launch out there, and cast your net on this side
of the boat. And Peter said, Lord, we've toiled all night
and caught nothing. And then he used the word. Do
you know what it was? Nevertheless. Nevertheless. In spite of all human failure,
in spite of the fact there's not any omen or sign In spite
of our inability, nevertheless, at your word, I'll let her down.
Nevertheless. And this is used, if one of the
preachers will do so some night, some day when they're preaching
me when I'm gone, is go through and give a study like I did one
time on that word, nevertheless. Let me show it to you a few more
times in Galatians 4. In Galatians 4, if you can come
to, this is the place right here. Nevertheless. Nevertheless. I
know that it just seems like that there's no one believes
it, no one stands for it, nothing. Nevertheless, that's your word. This is what I'm going to do.
Look at Galatians 4, verse 28. Now we brethren, as Isaac, are
the children of promise. And as Laman, he that was born
after the flesh, persecute him that is born after the spirit.
Now there's Ishmael hated Isaac, and he had warred against him,
and battled him, and tried to destroy him. You know, Ishmael
hated Isaac. Even so it is now. Works hates
grace. Children of the flesh, religious
flesh, hate spiritual foreign people. They do. That's the way
it is now. Nevertheless, let's say it's the Scripture. Cast
out the bondwoman and her son. The son of the bondwoman cannot
be an Arab with the son of the free woman. Cast it out. Don't compromise. Don't try to
make it work for you. I know, but you know, if you
preach pure grace and stand for grace, you've got to be, you've
got to conform a little bit. You've got to be lenient. You've
got to compromise a certain bit. Isn't that what he says here?
He says, nevertheless, cast out the bondwoman and her son. You
can't mix grace and work. It's pre-grace alone, plus nothing,
minus. Yeah, but you cause so much difficulty
and trouble. Cast out the bond, nevertheless.
cast him out. Don't let him raise his head
up in it. Look at 2 Timothy 2. Listen to this. I've got to move
along, but this is interesting. In 2 Timothy 2, verse 18 and
19, he talked about Hymenaeus and
Thylidas, these folks that left the truth. In 2 Timothy 2, verse
18, "...who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection
is past already, and overthrow the faith of some, nevertheless,
the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal, the Lord
knoweth him that he is, regardless of what men say. One more. Let me show you on 2 Peter chapter
3. 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 11. 2 Peter 3, verse 11. It says, Seeing then that all
these things shall be dissolved, heavens and the earth, what manner
of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? Looking far and hastening unto
the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on
fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to
His promise, look for a new heaven and new earth." That's it. That's what David is saying.
All this I've read, that's just what David's saying in verse
ten. I believe, I believe, therefore I speak. Martin Luther stood
there at the Diet of Worms, and he didn't have but one or two
friends in the whole country, I guess. The Catholic Church
was stirred up, the Pope was angry, the Cardinals, the priests,
all the leaders, everybody was stirred up against him. He was
contending for justification by faith apart from works of
any sort, and they had him there in front of all of these ecclesiastical
powers and men who controlled people's lives and living and
everything. They were just total, total authorities. And he stood there, and this
is what he said. He gave what he believed about
the grace of God and salvation by faith. And he looked into
the faces of all those powers, I mean, political and religious
powers, men who could just snap their finger and have him executed.
And he said, I can do no other. I can do no other. Why? This
is what I believe. I've had people say, well, so
and so, he believes grace, he just doesn't preach it. I don't
believe a word of that. I just don't believe a word of
that. Or he believes grace, but he goes to a church where they
don't preach grace because his children, you know, have to have
some kind of activities for the young people. I don't believe
he believes grace. Here I stand, I can do no other. That's commitment. Look at verse
13. I'll take the cup of salvation.
I'll take it. That's Christ. That's what Cecil
said. I will call upon the name of the Lord. My friends, I believe
so strongly, like David said, I believe, therefore I speak.
God chose his people in Christ. I know that, Cecil. known unto
God all His works from the beginning. I have no doubt about that, not
the slightest inkling of a doubt, that God's a God of eternal purpose.
He elected a people in Christ, not for anything He saw in us,
but according to the good pleasure of His will. Christ Jesus came,
and on that cross of Calvary, He suffered and bled and died
for our sins. Like the high priest of old,
He went into the holy of holies with the names of the people
of Israel, on his breastplate, carrying not the blood of an
animal, but his own blood, which he put on the mercy seat of glory
for our redemption. I believe that. But I also believe,
and I'd rather say, and I also believe, that all whom he chose,
and all for whom Christ died, the Holy Spirit will call, and
they will willingly, lovingly, openly, publicly receive Christ
and believe Him. And they will not. That's what
David's saying here, I will, I will. God has made me willing,
but I'm willing. God Almighty has given me the
ability, but I will with my ability lay hold on Christ. I will, I
will, I will, I will take the cup of salvation. I will. I will. And I'll pay my vows. That's not talking about money
and ties and that sort of thing. That's talking about in the presence
of all His people, I will acknowledge my God. That's what it is. Acknowledging Him. Confessing
Him. Declaring our union in faith. Union with Him in faith in Him.
It's declaring Him. It's being identified. Identified
with Christ and the things of Christ. And then he gives this
statement that I'm going to spend a few moments on. Precious in
the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Preacher,
why did you stay so long on these preceding verses when this is
your text? I'll tell you why. Because it's
very easy to see when you read the preceding verses the people
about whom David's speaking in verse 15. That's it. Those are his saints. those are his saints. And I know we've got a religion
today that is as broad as the sea, and anybody that says Jesus
is bound to go to heaven. But the Savior said, not everyone
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of God. And when David talks here about
precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his He's
talking about people who can say genuinely and sincerely,
I love the Lord. Who can say positively and convincingly,
I'll call on Him as long as I live. Who can say, I found trouble
and sorrow, but He delivered me. He delivered me. Who can say, I believe, I believe,
I believe Him, I believe His Word, therefore I've spoken.
Who can say, I'll take the cup of salvation, I will call out
of my misery. inability and need on the name
of the Lord. And if that be true, then my
death is precious in His sight. You know, when we think about
death being precious, now you see, this is, these are the folks
I'm talking about here. These are the people I'm talking
about. And I like to, I like to believe that I'm one of those
people. I'm one of those people, I like to believe that I can
say what David has said sincerely. Sincerely. Now death, he calls death precious. But my friends, let's face it,
death itself is not precious. Death is often accompanied by
pain. I've even visited some of you
sitting right here in the hospital and watched you hurt. And some
of the people who've died, I visit them and watch them hurt. Oh,
the pain and the sorrow that this body can bear. It's just
so disturbing when you watch someone you love. I was down
in Florida when they had this program last week sometime about
this man Gilbert that killed his wife and he just couldn't
stand to see her lie there and suffer like that. And of course,
we read it all week. The papers were filled with it.
The governor of Florida, Governor Martinez, is debating whether
or not to give him clemency and all this sort of thing. But he
just watched his wife suffer and could stand it no longer
and shot her. Death is accompanied a lot of times by pain. Severe
pain and anguish and tears and sorrow. The decay of the faculties. I watched my father die. a few
days before he died, and I could walk in the room. He didn't even
know I was standing there. You know, who are you? You know,
that's... Death is not precious in that
regard. But in what regard is it precious? When I turn to 1 Corinthians
15, this is the regard, this is the light in which it's precious. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 42. Now
listen to this. What I'm saying is this. One,
when I die, although my deathbed scene may be accompanied by much
pain and a decay of my faculties and much sorrow, and people standing
by may say, oh, I wish he could die, I wish he could die, I wish
he could get some relief from this agony. It may be that way. But I do know when I die, I'm
going to exchange an old, broken, corrupted body and immediately
gain a new body. That's precious. And I know that
I'm going to lose mortality and gain immortality. That's precious. And I know that I'm going to
lose corruption and gain incorruption. That's precious. I know that
I'm going to lose the weakness, oh, the frailty, the weakness
of this flesh, and I'm going to gain strength. I'm going to
lose ignorance. I sometimes Sit and look at this
book and think, God, why did you, why did you not give me
the wisdom of Solomon? Oh, wouldn't you love to have
wisdom? Wouldn't you love to have supernatural wisdom so you
could answer people's questions? One day I'll know as I have been
known. I'm looking through a glass so dimly. Seems like it's dimmer
and dimmer. And I'm going to lose all shame
and gain glory. I'm going to lose all my doubts
and fears and awake in his likeness. I like what old Richard Baxter
said to the fella that came to see him when he was dying. Richard
Baxter was lying there dying, and one of his friends came to
see him. And this is what we always ask. How are you? You know, fella can be strung
up there almost. How are you? Well, Baxter had
the classic reply. The fellow leaned over his bed
and said, How are you, Brother Baxter? He said, I'm almost well. Almost. Won't be long. That's
when it's precious. I'm almost well. Read this. 1 Corinthians 15.42. So is the
resurrection of the dead. It's sown in corruption. It's
raised in incorruption. It's sown in dishonor. It's raised
in glory. It's sown in weakness. It's raised
in power. It's on a natural body. It'll
be raised a spiritual body. As it is written, verse 45, the
first man, Adam, was made a living soul, but the last Adam, a quickening
spirit. Verse 47, the first man is of
the earth, earthy, the second man is the Lord of heaven. Verse
49, as we have borne the image of the earthy, that's what I'm
carrying around now, old Adam's image. Old decaying, rotten,
fallen Adam. But one of these days, I'll bear
the image of the heavenly. That's precious. And then you know something else
that's precious about death? It's to be present with the Lord.
Look at Philippians 1.23. That's what Paul is saying here
in Philippians 1.23. He says this, in Philippians
1.23, he says, I'm in a quandary here, I'm in a strait betwixt
the two. I have a desire to depart and be with Christ. To be with
Christ, which is far better. To be present with the Lord.
Here's another verse I want you to look at, Romans 8.18. Now,
you know, we say this in regard to a lot of times children come
around a casket and we'll say to them, now John's not here,
he's with the Lord. He's not here, he's with the
Lord. Now, don't grieve over mother, she's with the Lord.
Don't grieve over daddy, he's with the Lord. What do you mean
he's with the Lord? He's present with the Lord. Do you realize
what that encompasses? What that means? Now, you stop
and think what that means. Listen to Romans 8.18. I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy, are not even worthy,
are not even worthy. to be compared with the glory
which shall be revealed in us when we're with the Lord." There
may be some of you sitting right here that are dreading what we
call death. You're dreading that experience. And that's understandable in
a sense. But now let me tell you something about this. This
is what Paul is saying here in Romans 8.18. If you can, in your
thought and imagination, think about the happiest day of your
life, most total, happy, joyful, ecstatic, wonderful day of your
whole life. Can you recall any certain day
that was just the, you say, I'd like for this to go on forever?
Well, let me tell you, that ain't nothing compared to what you'll
experience when you're with the Lord. That's what He said. Now, that's not even worth comparing. Let me tell you, let me ask you
another. Take the time, if you can, to go back and think when
you were the healthiest and the strongest and the most fit and
able of your whole life. The prime pink of health here. Not even fit to be compared to
what you're going to be in just a minute. When your mind was
the keenest, sharpest, like I said, it's not worthy to be compared
to. You're not even going to think about it again. Take the
time, let me tell you, take the time in your life, if you can
remember when you were most contented. When were you most contented?
When the most peaceful time of your life. The most contented time. The most restful time of your
whole life. You're not a care, or a worry,
or a threat, or a fear. You ever had a day like that?
Well, it ain't even fit to be compared with what we're gonna
have with Him. You see, that's what he's saying.
That's what it means to be with the Lord. It's to be in perfection,
and glory, and peace, and happiness, and rest. And we'll show you something
in a minute. You say, well, why are Christians so dread death?
Well, we'll show you something here. But it says here in the
text again, over here in Psalm 116, it says, Precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Precious is the
death of this saint for that reason. It's not loss, it's gain. You see, like someone said, death's
not a penalty, it's a promotion. Death is not the end, it's the
beginning. Death for the believer is not to die, it's to live.
Somebody said to an old fellow one time, said, you're about
to leave the land of the living. He said, oh, no, no, no. He said, I'm going to leave the
land of the dead. I'm going to the land of the living. This
is not life, this is death. But it says here in our text,
precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
Now when I thought about, I said this morning, I too shall die
and this death will be precious. And I thought of the reasons
why death is precious to me. I lose this old body and gain
a new one. I lose unhappiness and gain complete
joy. I lose sin. And I gain perfect
holiness. I lose mortality and gain immortality. That's why it's precious. I'm
going to be with Christ. I'm going to be like Christ.
But it says here that the death of His saints are precious in
the sight of the Lord. Why is the death of the believer
precious in the sight of the Lord? I'll give you four quick
reasons. Number one, they're precious to Him. They're precious
to Him. He calls them precious jewels.
He calls them His sheep. He said, I've loved you with
an everlasting love. You're precious to me. He said,
I love my sheep. I lay down my life for my sheep.
That's how much I love them. With our inability to love like
we ought to love, it's hard for us to understand our God's love. It's an unchanging, infinite,
everlasting love. It's a perfect love. It's a sacrificial
love. It's an endless love. But not
only does He love them, and they're precious to Him, but their death
is precious in His sight, because when He redeemed them with His
precious blood, He redeemed not just their souls, but their bodies.
He redeemed all of us. He redeemed my soul and my body.
Christ didn't just redeem my soul, but my body. And we're
redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. I'll tell you a third
reason why our death will be precious in His sight. Because
sin, S-I-N, sin, even in His people, is obnoxious to God. And His goal for you, His goal
for you, is not to live on here in this rotten condition, but
to be like Christ. He predestinated that every one
of His people was going to be like Christ. And God's purpose
is not fulfilled till you like Christ. God's not happy with
you and me. He's not. God's not delighted
with us in our present state. Are you delighted with yourself?
Why not? Well, I expect Him to be. He's
delighted with us in Christ. Don't misunderstand me. But the
Lord God is not going to be delighted with you till you're perfect.
Not so. That's absolutely so. He's going
to have a people without sin. And that's the reason. A true
believer who loves Christ, who believes Him, when He dies, that's
a precious transformation in the sight of the Lord. That's
a precious change. That's what He's been waiting
on. That's what He chose us for, died for us, and called us to
be like Christ. And that's precious. It's God completing His work
of redemption, raising us in the image of Christ. You see
that? Now here's something I know you've been waiting on, something
I've been waiting to give you. Fourthly, the death of His people
is precious in His sight. Number one, because they're precious
to Him. Number two, because He redeemed them with precious blood,
both body and soul. And thirdly, because the golden
end of His redemption is not accomplished until they're like
His Son. And all sin's gone. Death is gone. And fourthly,
because God does not see like we see. We are earthbound creatures. And this is the way we think.
Life is here. Life is here. Here's my life.
There sits my life. And you. That's my life. My family. The church. My fellowship. The family of God. Because that's
all I've ever known. That's all I've ever known. I've
never been to glory. I don't know. I've never been
there. That's mysterious to me. This is real. That's something I've never experienced.
But God has. You can't say it, Al. I can't
either. That's real to him. This is temporary. You see what I'm trying to say?
My life is here. My home is here. My friends are
here. My need is here. But God sees
things as they really are. My home is not here. My home
is there. And my life is not here. This
is a dying experience. My life is there. When Christ
who is, our life shall appear. Then shall we appear with him.
This is a—we're prolonging death here, that's all. That's eternal
life. God knows that. My joy is not
here. This is a temporary joy. This
is just a joy for the moment. That's eternal joy. My family's not here. My family's
there. My family's in Christ. These
are blood relationships to which I have responsibility that God's
laid upon me and given me. But my true family, Christ said
that. He said, Who is my mother and
my brothers and my sisters? These that do the will of God.
That's my family. No, the circle will not be broken. It's been
intact from all eternity. There won't be one missing. And
I tell you this, there won't be one missed that's not there.
I heard that old song years ago, I dreamed I searched heaven for
you. Oh, no. Oh, no. No, sir. Our inheritance is there. So
this is what I'm saying. The death of a believer at any
age, if it's a small child, if it's a teenager, if it's a young
husband or wife, if it's a middle-aged person, if it's the death of
a person at any age under any circumstance, is precious to
God because His home has come home. That's right. It's precious to Him. He's back
home. And in preaching these messages
today, what I'd like for us to do, I'd like for us to live a
little less with dependence on and interest in and all this
present life. I want us to start thinking about
these things that are so essential. I want that to become our conversation. I want it to become our thoughts
when we'll be going home. We'll be going home and rejoicing
over those who've gone home and those who are going home and
to be with Christ. Because it's the ultimate glory,
and the ultimate joy, and the ultimate peace, and the ultimate
happiness, and the ultimate strength, and the ultimate health. Don't
grieve as those who have no hope. Let me give you a little song
here. We shall sleep, but not forever. There'll be a glorious
dawn, and one day we'll meet to part never. on that resurrection
morning. From the deepest caves of ocean,
from the desert and the plain, from the valley and the mountain,
all his sheep shall rise again. In that bright, eternal city,
death can never, never come. And in his own good time, he'll
take me.