Are you afraid to die? It's a natural thing for a man
to fear death. Man was not originally created
to die. God didn't make man to die. So it's natural for a man to
fear death. There was no reason for unfallen
man to die, no reason for Adam to die at all. Adam was created
to live on and on and on. But man has sinned, and the seeds
of decay and corruption and the seeds of death are in this flesh
of ours, and it's appointed unto men once to die. But it seems
to me that our body, It senses the fact that it wasn't created
to die, and it's reluctant to do so. I believe that. I believe
we retain enough of the image of God and enough of the light
of God that lighteth every man that cometh into this world,
but that this body somehow senses that death is strange, and death
was not meant to be, and that the body was not meant to die.
that it's a traumatic experience that's been brought about by
other causes. And it has, by sin. And this
fear of death in the natural sense, now listen to me, is not
wrong. In the natural sense, it's not
wrong. Actually, it serves a good purpose. The fear of death, naturally
speaking, serves a good purpose. For many a man or woman, if they
did not fear death, would be tempted to take their lives. It keeps people from taking their
lives. Fear of death does. Many a person
under a great trial or a great sorrow, and they do sometimes,
but But many a person under that particular sorrow or sickness
or trouble would, if it weren't for the fear of death, would
take their own lives. So it serves that purpose. And
then secondly, fear of death causes men to have a greater
regard for human life. And then fear of death gives
men the will to live, even in the most trying circumstances. in battle, on battlefields, suffering
and cold and weary and wounded and hurting, still want to live. And many a cause for freedom
has been accomplished because, not because men were especially
brave, but because they were afraid to die. So the fear of
death in the natural sense does serve a purpose, and it's not
altogether wrong. Fear of death in the believer
causes many evil effects. The believer should not fear
death. Fear of death in the believer is dishonoring to God. You know
why? It appears that you can trust
God in fair weather, but you cannot trust Him in a storm.
If I'm afraid to die, if I fear death, and it's evident It's
brought me into a condition or state of depression and despair. I'm saying this, in fact, God
can be trusted when it's fair weather, but not when it's stormy
weather. And God can be trusted when I'm
well, but not when I'm sick. God can be trusted when I'm young,
but not when I'm old. David said, he that is our God
is the God of salvation, and to our God, the Lord, belongeth
the issues of life and death." They belong to God. Job said,
though he slay me, I'll trust him. David said, the Lord is
my shepherd, and though I walk through a valley of the shadow
of death, I'll fear no evil, because thou art with me. Fear
of death in the believer is really dishonoring to God. And then
fear of death in the believer dishonors our faith. It's dishonoring
to our holy faith in the eyes of unbelievers. Now, this is
true. Ungodly men, unbelievers, whether
they'll admit it or not, are impressed. They are impressed. They are influenced. by the life
of a believer who can face old age, sickness and death in a
calm and faithful manner. They are impressed. And when
we do not face it that way, when we act just like they do, when
we go singing, Oh, how I love Jesus, and when we all get to
heaven, and when the rollers call up yonder, I'll be there,
and all these songs, when we're well and healthy, and then we
get old. and we get sick, and we face
death, and then we begin to act just like they act. We hang on
to the flesh, we hang on to the world, we hang on to every breath,
we act like unbelievers, and the unbeliever and the agnostic
and atheist says, told you there wasn't anything to that thing
of religion. I knew there wasn't anything to it. Why, they can
sing when the sun is shining, but when the rain is falling,
they're just like I am. They're just as scared as I am.
They don't have any anchor for their souls. Their ship is driven
and tossed by the same wind that drives and tosses man. They haven't
entered into any haven of rest. They haven't ceased from their
works and entered into any peace and rest of God. But when a believer
can face old age and sickness and death, And he can face even
the death of his loved ones in a calm and serene manner, trusting
the Lord. It impresses me. It impresses
me. And then I'll tell you something
else. Fear of death in the believer robs the believer of peace and
joy. If I'm afraid of that which is
certain, and it is, it's appointed unto me and wants to die. boasts
not thyself of tomorrow, thou knowest not what a day may bring
forth. There's no discharge in this
war. I am on my way rapidly to meeting God. This flesh has got
to go back to the dust from whence it came. There's no escape unless
Christ comes and all men before me have died. And those are some
who have been very close to me and very near to me have died. And I've accepted their deaths,
why can't I accept my own? And if I let this fear come in,
it's going to rob me of my joy, it's going to rob me of my peace,
it's going to rob me of that rest that God has promised to
those who trust Him. Listen to this song. fear to
die? What trembling worms we mortals
are! Death is the gate of endless
joy, and yet we dread to enter there. The pains, the groans,
the dying strife frighten our souls away. Still we hold to
this frail, sickly life. I wonder, are we
fond of our prison? Do we love this old clay? It's
a question, isn't it? Well, preacher, how does one
get rid of the fear of death? How does one get rid of the fear
of death? It's possible. It can be done. And I'm going to tell you this
morning, from God's Word, how to escape the fear of death,
how to get rid of the fear of death. And this is not one of
those how-to sermons that has no answers. I have some answers
from this book. Now, you don't get rid of the
fear of death by ignoring it. Out here in the field, the old
cow just keeps, you know, the old steer just keeps eating the
hay, and the farmer comes and takes the one on his right and
goes and slaughters him. He never looks up. He never glances
around. Comes and gets the one on the
left, goes and takes him to the slaughter. He never looks around.
He's ignorant of what's going on. Well, now that's not the
way to escape the fear of death, by acting like the brute beast
of the field. And the way to escape the fear
of death is not to make a joke out of it. Now brethren, let
me tell you something seriously. I love to laugh. I love to joke. Laughter is medicine. A merry
heart doeth good like medicine, a bitter spirit dryeth the bone.
There's a time to weep, there's a time to laugh. There's a time
to rejoice, and there's a time to be in sorrow. But I don't
like to joke about These things, they're too important. Death,
judgment, hell, heaven, God, the Bible, Christ. Leave that
out of your joking. You don't get rid of the fear
of death by making a joke out of it. And you don't get rid
of the fear of death by refusing to face it, refusing to deal
with it. In other words, thoughtlessness.
For the true believer wants to consider everything that lies
ahead. I want to, don't you? I want
to know what's going on. I want to know what's going on.
I want to inquire into the things of God. All right, three things. Number one, where shall I look? Where shall I look for deliverance
from the fear of death? The answer is, you look for that
in the same place you look for everything else, to Christ Jesus. Now, I'm not clouting this thing,
oh, somebody says, oh, well, he's going the same route. Now,
wait a minute. You look for the removal of the fear of death.
You look to the same place that you look for justification for
sanctification, for redemption, for eternal life, you look to
Christ Jesus. Now the reason I say that is
this, look at our text again, Hebrews 2 verse 14. Hebrews 2
verse 14, listen. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he, Christ, also himself took
part of the same flesh and blood, that through death, dying himself,
He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is,
the devil, and by his death deliver them, set them free, who through
fear of death all their lifetime subject to bondage. Christ died
that you might be free not only from death, but from the fear
of it, from the fear of it, from the bondage of it, not only from
the curse of it, but from the very fear of it. Now how did
Christ take away the fear of death? Number one, listen to
me. Christ removes the fear of death
by removing the sin, which is the sting of death. What is the
sting of death? Paul said the sting of death
is sin. Sin is that which makes it hard
to face death. That's the reason and only reason
men ought to fear to die, because of sin. Christ said, if you die
in your sins, you can't come where I am. It's sin that separates
me from God. If sin is gone, I'm not separated
from God. I'm accepted by God. I'm received
by God. I'm loved by God. If sin is gone,
the sting of death is sin. And the only thing that really
ought to cause me to fear to die is because if I die in my
sins, I have to face them at the judgment, and consequently
my sins will bring the wrath of God upon me. But if sin be
pardoned, I'm secure. Death hath no sting beside. The law gives sin its damning
power, but Christ, my Savior, has died. And my sins are gone. My sins are gone. Beloved, your
sins are covered by the blood. They are blotted out. They are
cast away from you as far as the east is from the west. So
you don't have to be afraid to die and face your sins. Because
Christ has already borne your sins in his body on the tree. And they don't exist anymore.
Alright, secondly. Not only does Christ remove the
sin, that is the sting of death, and causes the fear of death,
but Christ changes the very character of death. That's right. He's
changed the character of death for the believer. What did our
Lord say to Martha? Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Shall never die. Believers. Now listen to me. Believers do
not die in the same sense that unbelievers die. Unbelievers
die in order to endure the penalty of sin. That's right. The wages of sin is death. And
unbelievers die to endure the penalty of sin. But for us, Christ
is already born the penalty of sin. And death for the believer
is not a penalty. It's a promotion. Death for the
believer is not an execution. The unbeliever, the rebel, the
wicked, at death is executed. Their foot shall slide, God says,
in due time. But not the believer. Death is
not an execution. It's a deliverance. It's graduation. Death is not the end. For the
unbeliever, death is the end of whatever happiness he's ever
had, or whatever joy he's ever shared, or whatever love he's
ever known. But brethren, for the believer,
death is not the end, it's the beginning of greater love, greater
happiness, greater glory. Now we see in through a glass
darkly, then we shall know as we have been known. Now we know
in part, but then we shall know as we have been known. But death
for the believer is graduation. It's the very thing we're aiming
for, to be like Christ. Christ removes the fear of death
by removing the sting, sin, sting of death, by changing the very
character of death. It's no longer a penalty, it's
a promotion. And then Christ removes the fear
of death by assuring us. Now listen to this. by assuring
us that just as soon as we die, just as soon as we die, our souls
go into His presence. There's no soul sleep taught
in God's Word. That's an invention of men to
put other men in bondage. There's no purgatory taught in
God's Word. That's an invention of men to
put other men in bondage and raise money for ecclesiastical
powers. The Scripture says to be absent
from the body is to be present with the Lord. The scripture
says, the body returns to the dust from which it came and the
soul to God who gave it. Our Lord said to the thief who
died on the cross and pled for mercy, today thou shalt be with
me, with me in paradise. Christ said, because I live,
ye shall live. And Paul said, if this earthly
tent, this tabernacle be destroyed, we have a body not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens. I know this, that if I die this
afternoon, my soul immediately goes to be with God. Immediately. And it doesn't split about heaven
in a disembodied state either. It has a spiritual body waiting. And then fourthly, Christ removes
the fear of death by assuring us, not only that our souls will
immediately go into his presence, but also assuring us of the resurrection
of our bodies. Now it may seem a hard thing
to imagine our bodies in the ground. It may seem a hard thing
to imagine that our bodies are the dwelling place of worms.
Now listen to me. The rot will be from within.
You can get in a steel casket and an iron vault and encased
in concrete and your steel will corrupt and decay. It comes from
within. And this body, the habitation
of rot and decay, that seems like a difficult thing to think
about. But our Lord says this, our bodies shall rise. And they
have been sown in corruption. They'll be raised in incorruption.
Sown in weakness, raised in power. Sown in shame, raised in glory.
Sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body. Someone says, well, how
are the dead raised up? And Paul said, thou fool, that
which thou sowest does not grow. It is not raised up till it dies.
Let me give you an example. You can take a little grain of
corn. and look at it for a moment,
it's been dried and wrinkled and shriveled for a long time. Now lay it on a shell and it'll
lay there until it just becomes nothing or the worms eat it or
something. But take it out and plant it in the ground. Put it
in the ground. And God in his miraculous wisdom
and glory and power puts a little rain on it and a little sunshine
on it and a little of his power upon it. It rots and germinates
or something takes place and after a while a little green
blade comes out of that ground, pushes that heavy soil off and
raises its head. And then it grows and grows and
after a while you go out there and you'd never know that that
one little old shriveled, wrinkled grain of corn could produce anything
like that. There's a six or seven foot stalk
of corn with two or three ears of corn there, just so much more
than you planted, infinitely more than you planted. And he
said, even so the body. We're getting older and gray
and wrinkled and shriveled and dried up and some of these days
we're going to die and they're going to take our bodies and
put them in the ground. But when Christ comes, the miracle of
the resurrection, He said, out of that ground will come a body
just like the Son of God, fresh and glorious and beautiful, just
like Christ. So if you want the fear of death
removed, I'll tell you where you look. You don't look to a
philosopher, you don't look to the ways of men, you look to
Christ. Because by his death, he removed the sting of sin,
which is the sting of death, the sin which is the sting of
death. Christ Jesus changed the very character of death. It's
not death to die, it's graduation, it's promotion, it's the beginning.
Our Lord assures us that our souls will go to be with Him.
All pain and sorrow and sickness and tears and death and darkness
will be over. And then He assures us that our
bodies shall rise. thy brother shall rise again."
Mary and Martha were weeping and crying and Christ said, they
said, if you'd been here he wouldn't have died. Christ said, thy brother
shall rise again. Don't you believe that? Secondly,
how do we think and meditate? Now look to Christ, but now I've
got to do some meditating, I've got to do some thinking. Like
one of the ladies said in the class this morning, I've got
to experience this. I've got to get hold of it. I
do look to Christ, believe me, preachers, and I believe you
do. I believe on Christ the solid rock you stand, all other ground
is sinking sand. But now you've got to appropriate
this thing. And how do I think? All right,
number one, when I come to die, I do no more than my Lord's already
done. Christ died. Shall not the servant
be as his master? I profess to follow Christ. Shall
I not follow him to the grave? My Lord died. David died. James, John, and Peter died.
Abraham died. Noah died. They've all died. These all died in faith. In faith, but they died. Every
one of them. They all died. My Lord died,
and when I die, I'll do no more than He did. And then secondly,
death can't separate me from the love of Christ. He loves
me today, and He'll love me tomorrow. Paul said, I'm persuaded that
neither death nor life can separate me from the love of Christ Jesus,
my Lord. Christ is mine in life or in
death. To live is Christ, and to die
is gain. because I'll have more of Christ,
the reality of Christ. I'll be like him. And then thirdly,
death is going to usher me right into the presence of my Lord
and the eternal fellowship of my friends who've gone before. Friends will be there. I have
loved long ago. Joy like a river around me shall
flow, yet just a smile from my Savior I know will through the
ages be glory for me. I'm going to see the Lord, and
I'm going to see my loved ones and my friends, my brothers and
sisters in Christ. You say, you think we'll know
each other in heaven? I know you now, and I'm going
to be a heap smarter there than I am now. It's hard for me to
remember names now. I have a real struggle. I fight
that and I want to remember names, but I'm limited in my knowledge
of memory and these things because of the flesh and sin. There won't
be any limit there. I'm going to be like Christ.
I'm going to know everything. I'm going to know you. Let me
tell you this too. When I get to glory, when we
get to heaven, if we are not ourselves, If we're not ourselves,
if we're not, we retain our identity, no question about that. Have
to, and we have to retain some knowledge of this world. Because
in heaven the song is this, unto him who loved us and washed us
from our sins in his own blood. Now then, how am I going to remember
that Christ washed me from my sins if I'm not myself? And how
am I going to praise him eternally for saving me from my sins if
I don't have any recollection of sin? Think about that a little
bit. Now, we'll know each other in
glory, no question about that. Moses is Moses and Elijah is
Elijah, and you're you and I'm me, and we all differ like the
snowflakes and like the stars of glory. And God has given to
us personalities, and I think we'll be infinitely more beautiful
Perfect, strong, but we're going to be ourselves. God's going
to improve on us. He's going to redecorate us.
He's going to redecorate us, but we'll be ourselves. Then
watch this. Let's think about this a little bit. Meditate on
this. Death will be the answer to all
of my prayers. How often have I prayed to be
rid of trouble? Have you ever prayed to be rid
of your troubles? Lord, if you just lift these burdens, well,
He will. When you die, they'll all be
gone. That's right, Caesar, they'll all be left. That'll answer that
prayer. We've prayed so often, oh, to be rid of sin. You will
be. There'll be no more sin when
God takes you home. Oh, to get a full vision of Christ,
how I long to see my Redeemer in His glory. That prayer will
be answered that very moment. Oh, to be like Christ. I wish
I could be like Christ in my thoughts and words. You will
be right then. As soon as you die, you'll be
like Christ. You'll have a full vision. Oh,
to be real temptation and the urge and passions to sin. You
will be right then. Now, what we ought to do is quit
praying prayers like that if we don't mean to, shouldn't we?
We ought to quit. How often have I prayed for eternal
glory? Well, just as soon as I die,
I'll have it. So the thing, we need to be honest in our prayers,
most of all. Charles Spurgeon told about an
old minister friend of his, this is a true story, I forget the
man's name, but back in the old times, and now in some reformed,
Dutch reformed churches, they read the first verse of the hymn
they're about to sing. And this old gentleman had been
pastor of this church a long time, and he got up on Sunday
morning, like I did the first hymn this morning, I read the
first stanza. And he got up, he had another man that led the
music, but he got up and he read the first verse, he said, let
us all turn to a certain page and let us sing, Father, how
long I faint to see the place of Thine abode Soon I'll lead
these earthly courts and flee up to the throne of my God Shall
we stand he said and sat down back here in his chair And just
die virgin said he just laid his head over and died But we
say these things and and this is we need to think on this Death
will be the answer to all my prayers and then last of all
a contemplation of the glory that shall follow." Turn to Romans
8, verse 16, and look at this scripture. Romans 8, verse 16. "...a contemplation of the glory
that shall follow death." Oh, Romans 8, verse 16, says this,
"...the Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit that
we are children of God, and if children, then we are heirs of
God, We are joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer
with him, that we may be glorified together. For I reckon that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Think about
it. I wish I couldn't do it if I did. No, I started to say I
wish I knew something about the first sensations that a person
will experience when they leave the body and go to be with the
Lord. But I couldn't explain it. Paul couldn't. He said he
was taken there to the third heaven and saw things it wasn't
possible to utter. They're so infinitely beyond
human natural understanding, the first sensations, the glory,
the glory that shall follow our last breath. Doesn't that want
to make you just a little bit this morning? Want just to lay
your head down and go to sleep in the arms of Jesus and wake
up with the Lord? Meditate. I think we ought to
think about those things and meditate on those things. And
then here's the third question. Where shall I look to Christ?
What shall I think? meditate upon. Those are the
things to meditate upon. And then thirdly, well, what
shall I do? Give me something now to do,
to actually put into practice. All right, number one, let me
die daily. Paul said, I die daily, and the
man who has a daily rehearsal of death won't be afraid when
the reality comes. Now, if you live nothing but
the silly, giddy, materialistic, physical life, and you don't
ever think about death, and you don't ever contemplate death,
and you don't ever meditate upon it, and you don't ever consider
it, when it comes, it's going to take you by a tremendous surprise. You're going to be shocked. But
let me die daily. Let me die daily. We would be
wise to do that. We preachers would be wise to
minister as if it were our last sermon. We preach as those who may never
preach again, as dying men to dying men, as a dying man to
dying man. I need to die daily. I need to
have a daily rehearsal of death. I need to have a constant reminder
here and in my heart that someday I'm going to die at night. Take off your clothes and hang
them in the closet. And remember, someday this body
is going to take off these clothes and go to be with the Lord. You
watch the sun set in the evening, remember that your sun must set,
too. In the wintertime, you watch
the leaves fall off the trees, and someday your tree will be
barren. The winter's got to come. We
ought to live with that constantly and think about it and meditate
upon it. and die daily, and die daily. And then secondly, let's
learn to hold loosely to the things of this earth. Some of
you, I should say some of us, I didn't
mean to say that like that, some of us, we hold too tightly to
the things of this earth. You know, when you get up a little
bit older You just had good health all
your life, and God's blessed me with good health. But I want
to get it through this head of mine that this health has got
to go. Now, it's got to go. It's got to go. These aches and pains are the
natural results of being a human being. And they're the natural
consequences of getting older. Don't be alarmed by it. If you
hold loosely to your health, say your eyesight, just don't
get alarmed. If you hold loosely to it, when
God takes it, you won't be so upset. And your health, and your
children, don't squeeze them to you and hold to them, and
when God takes them out of your hand, He has to rip your hands
apart and break your arms to get you to turn them loose. Just
hold them lightly, just hold them out there, and when the
Lord wants them, He'll take them. And then it won't be near as
hard if you just hold them out there and hold loosely to them.
Your wife, your husband, it's no compliment to you or to your
wife or to your God for you to go berserk when one of them's
gone. That's no compliment. That's evil. It's no compliment
at all. I've heard people say, well,
I don't know what she'll do if her husband dies. Well, if she'll
turn loose of him now, when that does happen, I know what she'll
do. She'll trust the Lord. If she'll start trusting him
now, she can trust him then. Well, I don't know what in the
world, if her son were to be taken, or her daughter, what
would she do? Well, if she'll do it now, she
can do it then. Lean on the everlasting arm. I'm telling you the truth. It may not be in agreement with
human wisdom. It may not be what people like
to hear. But these think, this is the fashions of this world,
fade away. God said not one thing will be
left standing. It's got to go. Now let's turn
it loose now. I read the story about a man
who had his pastor over for dinner and the pastor was sitting there
and there was a fire going in the fireplace and the man's wife
was busy in the kitchen fixing a nice meal and he had a nice
home and his son and his daughter-in-law were there and his grandchildren
were running around, you know, and they were having a glorious
time and this man most solemn expression came over his face,
and he looked at his pastor, and he said, Pastor, these are
the things that make it hard to die. We hate to leave them. Well, now, we're just going to
have to make up our mind that we're sojourners here. I travel
a lot. I stay in motels. I go in, and
I throw my suitcase on the bed, And I'm going to be there four
or five days, and I'll be going on home. I don't care what color
the wallpaper is. I don't care where... I don't
call in a decorator when I get in that motel room and change
that room around. I don't care if there's a window
here or over there or a picture over here. If I was going to
stay there now, I would. But I don't care about the condition
of the room, because I'm just passing through. Why are you so alarmed about
this old world? You're just passing through.
And the personnel don't bother me a whole lot. I go down to
the restaurant there and sit down. The girl's crabby. I don't
care. I'm not going to live with her. I'm leaving in three days. She can be crabby if she wants
to. I'm just passing through. I don't care about the manager,
what he thinks of me, or anything else. That's not my home. We're
just best in here. Did you know that? And I don't
know why we want to straighten this thing out. I don't know
why in the world that we're so determined to redecorate this
old sinful world. Just passing through. Just a
sojourner. What'll I do? Hold it loosely. Hold it loosely. What shall it
profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his soul?
Now really, what's important today? The only thing, do I know
Christ? Do I know Christ? And then believe
firmly in Christ the Lord. Let me tell you this, you'll
find in proportion as your faith in Christ gets stronger, your
fear of death will grow weaker. That's the reason we have fear
of death, and it keeps getting greater and greater, is our faith
is not growing stronger. We're feeding this flesh and
starving our soul. That's right. We're departing from this book.
The more I stay in this book, the more I stay in the practice.
Let me tell you something. There was a man, there was a man who
never died. He never died. He never died. And the reason, he walked with
God. And he just walked right on in
the glory. And I think that's really a picture of the believer.
He really never dies. He's walking with God here, and
one day the Lord says, come on up. And he just walks right on
into glory. Just walks right on in. So let me tell you something.
Now you can't fear death if you're walking with Him who is life.
Now, if you're walking with dying men, and you're walking in a
dying program, and you're walking with a dying world, sure, you're
going to fear death. But if you're walking with Him
who is life, like Enoch walked with God, there's just so many
greater things. The price of potatoes just ain't
important, but the price paid for my soul is. The depth of the snow is not
important, but the depth of his love is. Walk with him. All these little old probabilities
and foolishness and fickle things that gnaw at us all day long
and get us upset, we need to walk with the King. And when
you walk with the King, you have matters of state. Those are the
important things, the state of glory. You discuss great things. You think on great things. You're
just not disturbed by the things that are temporary. And then
last of all, live each day as if it were your last day. Each
day. I'm not particularly crazy about
that little old silly song, One Step at a Time, or One Day at
a Time, or whatever it is, but actually the title of it's pretty
good. One Day at a Time. one day at a time, and live it
for His glory. What if this, now think about
it, what if this were my last message? Someday I'll preach
my last message, and God's not going to tell me which one it'll
be. What if this is your last service?
One day you'll sit in the last service, but God's not going
to tell you which one it's going to be. What if this were my last
day on earth, my last day? Would I hold that grudge against
that man over there? If this is my boy, I'd make a
beeline to him and say, old buddy, let's straighten her out. Wouldn't
you? Would I give my wife the old
silent treatment, you know, that's awful. You folks get mad so I
don't speak to them for two or three days. I'll kick you out
the front door. Would you do that as your last
day on earth? No, you'd put your arm around her and you'd say,
I appreciate you and you've been a blessing and I thank God for
you. Would you? Would your brother-in-law
or sister-in-law or kinfolks that you have all these little
quarrels with, you reckon you'd hang on to them just a last day on
earth? Last day. Oh, I tell you, someday
it will be. Someday. But we move in our motel
room, you know, and we get them all fixed up. We're going to
stay there a long time, the Lord comes along. It's not as long as we thought it
was going to be, is it? Let's turn to page 149.