They don't care that you know
that they gave it. And I think that's a sweet thing.
But thank you all for your generosity, for your kindness, for your fellowship. We've had a great time. The meal
was outstanding. I'm telling you, that was some
mighty fine vittles. Y'all eat healthy up here in Indiana, like
we do down in Cherokee. If y'all ever want to come to
Cherokee, let me know. We'll fix you up and we'll feed
you, too. Because we eat every Sunday after
After service, we have a dinner. If you have your Bible, serve
me to Ecclesiastes chapter 7. I'm going to read one verse of
scripture. And I know because we've eaten,
it's approaching Sunday afternoon nap time, so I will be brief
in my remarks this afternoon. Unless, of course, that one old
fella said I start waxing elephants, you know. Ecclesiastes 7.1, a good name
is better than precious ointment and the day of death better than
the day of one's birth. Now life and death are the major
concerns of society and have been since the beginning of time.
The Greek word for birth means the beginning of miseries. That's
what the Greek word means, the beginning of miseries. So if
you're born, that's when the trouble starts. The Bible declares
the fact that factor with the words that says man is born a
woman in a few days and full of troubles. Few days and full
of trouble. There's no doubt that Solomon
saw that death was preferable when he considered that life
was nothing but vanity of vanities. Paul said that he was in a straight
betwixt two, whether to die, which would be far better, or
to stay on earth and preach the gospel. These words of verse
one are for the believer. They're for the believer and
are well understood by those who know the Lord Jesus Christ.
The believer who is subject to every trial, understands that those things attend fallen
humanity. And the believer suffers the
maladies and ailments of being a human being in a world full
of sin. And inwardly, he longs for the
day that he will be with Jesus Christ. To see him face to face,
worship him for the first time without the impediments of the
flesh, to worship Christ without sin, it's unimaginable. This is not the view of the world.
The world avoids even the topic of death like the plague. The
world has arrived at the place, it seems, that a good name also,
a life of integrity, It's not something that even creeps into
the minds of men. But these things yet matter to
God because he put them in his word. A good name is more precious
than fine ointment, and the day of death better than the day
of birth. Solomon was the wisest man that
ever lived save for Jesus Christ. He had a lot of natural wisdom,
but the things he pursued led him to sanction, if not participate,
in idolatry. Probably for political expediency,
he married many wives and had numerous concubines. Great wealth
attended him. And with great riches, the avenues
of mischief and sin are often broadened and made easier. And
a good name was something he desired, I'm sure. as God inspired
him as he pondered the vanity of life. And I'm sure that death
was a sweet concept to his soul. The fact is that because of the
sovereign grace of God, Solomon actually had a really good name.
A really good name. He has a name that speaks of
everlasting righteousness and perfection because the Lord God
died in his room instead on Calvary Street. and all his maladies
and sins and iniquities and transgressions were forgiven on Calvary, put
away, wiped from God's memory, and God will remember them no
more. Solomon was justified by the blood and death of the Lord
Jesus Christ in the grace of God. He was sanctified by the
Spirit and is an eternal child of God. He has a good name. He has a good name. So it is
with every child of God. Though our lives are plagued
with the sins and the vagaries of the flesh, we cannot point
to one good thing that might have eventuated with us as having
a good name. But God has given us the best
name, the name by which he shall be called, the Lord, our righteousness. And the death of the child of
God is precious in the sight of God. And that death will end
sorrow, It will end pain. It will end tears. It will end
sickness. It will all be gone. The day
of his death will far exceed the day of his birth in glory
in all ways. This cannot be said of those
who know not Christ. Their death will be but the beginning
of an eternal, never-ending misery and torment. But for the believer,
this can be kind of a mantra. A good name is better than precious
ointment, the day of death than the day of one's birth. That
being said, when we are not in deep distress, we enjoy this life. We like it. And we don't really want it to
end. We really don't. So much is wonderful about this
life that God has given us. It's fascinating, challenging,
educational, filled with mirth and humor. And God has said it,
and God has made it so for those who are his people and have his
word abiding in them. I remember that when Nehemiah
stood up and read the law to the people of God in Nehemiah
8, they wept when they heard the words of the Lord. And if
you understand the law, it'll make you cry too. because all
it does is say you're guilty, you're guilty, you're guilty.
That's all the law can ever say to you. What the law says to
them is it says to them that are under the law that every
mouth might be stopped and the whole world become guilty before
God. But Nehemiah said to those folks, don't cry. He says, go
out and have a meal. Fix a meal. Give some to your
neighbor. And have mirth. Mirth. Most people think that
Christianity is about having a sad, sour face. It ain't. It's about joy, and mirth, and
laughter. O. A. D. Muse used to say, if
you can't laugh with me, you can't cry with me. And that's
a fact. Spiritually, and even philosophically,
I know that the day of death is better than the day of birth.
I know that. But experimentally, I love the
life I have. I enjoy it. And I'm not particularly
anxious to die. I remember one time I was traveling
back from a meeting in an old 83 Buick wagon, come outside
of Statesville, North Carolina, and a tornado dropped down about
500 yards away, and I saw it drop. And I thought, is this
how it's going to end? And then I thought, well, I ain't
going to glory in a Buick. And I kicked that old V8, and
we went down the road, and I got out of the way. This passage here, there's something
we know about it that others don't know. And there's more to it than I
think what we know of death and life. Several years ago in a
study in Deuteronomy, I landed upon the phrase, and thine eye
shall not pity, but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth
for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot. I was fully aware
of how the world, and even myself had looked at that passage many
times, how the world handled this verse. And I thought of
old Robert Hawker. I don't know if y'all are familiar
with Robert Hawker. But the old fella had a way to get to Christ.
I don't care where he was from, he could get to Christ in his
writings. And when I opened his commentary to that verse, he
simply said these words. When we read, life for life,
eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Should we not hear, think about substitution. Changed my whole
view on the whole thing. It was amazing. I had a good
time preaching that passage afterwards. Now look at this verse in Ecclesiastes.
Old Hawker crept in my head again. I didn't read him, but I thought
about him. And the Holy Ghost guided me, I think, to think
of another way. because his work on earth is to take the things
of Christ, the Holy Spirit, and to show them unto us. So this
is about Christ, this verse of Scripture. That's who it's about. With very little thought, we
can see that there is but one person that fits the words of
this verse to a T. Who in history of the universe
has a good name? A name that's not tainted with
sin. not plagued with failure and sorrow. Only one, the great
and mighty Lord of glory, the sovereign savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the son of the living God, the very God himself. He has a good name, a good name,
the good name. Thy name is ointment poured forth.
ointment that anoints and soothes and comforts and consoles and
fills the room with fragrance of grace, mercy. Like that alabaster
box of ointment poured on the head of Christ that anointed
him for his burial, the aroma filled the whole room. And so
it is with grace. The Lord's name are many names. He's the great I Am, the Ego
I May, the Great Shepherd of the Sheep, the Redeemer, the
Savior, Those are His name, but they're also His titles. And
those are not job applications. He's not putting in to be a Redeemer
or putting in to be a Savior. He's called a Redeemer because
He has redeemed. He's called a Savior because
He has saved. The title fits. He's the Rock,
the Anointed. He's the wonderful Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
He's the Angel of the Lord. David's Son and yet David's Lord. The Living Water, the Holy Manna,
the Bread from Heaven, the Friend of Sinners, the Substitute, the
Holy One, the Just One, the Messenger of the Covenant, the Son of the
Living God, Emmanuel, which is interpreted God with us, the
Sun rising with healing in His wings, the Day Star, the Bright
and Morning Star, the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the Valley.
That's just to name a few. His name is a good name. He has
a good name. It's better than precious woman.
In fact, Scripture says there is no other name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved. This verse is about
Jesus Christ. It's about Jesus Christ. The
second phrase of this verse is a powerful illumination of the
person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the day of death
is better than the day of birth. The Christian world celebrates
the birth of Christ and the advent of God in human flesh was a momentous
event. Until that day, God could only
be perceived as separate from us, having left what we know
about him on a few tables of stone with ten very hard rules
on them. And he was separate. In fact,
the initial meaning of the word holy is separate. No man could see God and live,
Scripture says. And if He regarded iniquity,
no man could ever stand before Him. But now the heavenly host
has announced His arrival. And suddenly, wondrously, God
is with us. Not separate from us, but with
us. He's in the flesh. The image of the invisible God
was visible, approachable, friendly, kind. Sinners could come up to
Him and talk to Him. And that glorious birth began
a life of perfection and righteousness that would fit Him for the greatest
act ever known in this universe. His perfect life, living without
sin, knowing no sin, doing no sin, doing all for the glory
of God, not pleasing Himself so He would please His Heavenly
Father. That life, that righteousness that He alone had as a human
being upon the face of the earth He was perfect. Perfect. And what did that do?
That made him perfect. To be a sacrifice. For men. For sin. The suitable sin offering. Without spot. Without blemish. Or any such thing. God must accept
that offering. He must. It's a perfect offering. All the other offerings throughout
the ages, blood upon blood upon blood, a veritable sea of blood,
a giant coagulant finger that pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ.
None of those sacrifices took away sin, but this one did. This
one took away sin. His life was perfect. His righteousness
was perfect. But His life, as beautiful and
immaculate as it is, did not. save us, did not redeem us. It fit him
to do so. In the announcement of his birth,
the heavenly host announced his death. He was born a savior, and a savior
of souls must die, must die. Since the beginning, when the
Lord slew beasts, to cover Adam's sin and eons before that when
Christ was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
One thing was certain. One thing was sure. One thing
was absolute. Death alone is the payment for
sin. Nothing short of that will do.
When Jesus Christ died on Calvary's tree, nobody killed him. We wanted to. And when he gave
himself to men, they plucked out his beard and gave his back
to those that smote him. He was hit with the fist. A crown
of thorns was plaited and pressed down upon his skull. He took
40 lashes from the Roman cat-of-nine-tails. That was a whip with nine lashes
on it. It had a piece of glass or steel in the end of it. The
object was to hit the person with it and pull it across his
body and rip open the flesh. Fortum 9's 3633 thousand or 360
furrows in our Lord's body. And what did that show? It showed
what we feel about God. Because it's the only time God
ever let us touch Him. And what did we do? That didn't
kill Him. There was murder in our hearts.
But that didn't kill Him. And then God shut down the lights.
Cut off the lights. And for three hours, God, as
it were, rolled up his sleeves and pummeled the Lord Jesus Christ,
poured out his wrath and vengeance upon him, punished him for our
sins, and in three hours, our magnificent Savior bore an eternity
of hell for us in three hours. But that didn't kill him. He
came out on the other side of that and said, aylo, aylo, aylo,
aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo,
aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo,
aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo,
aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo,
aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo, aylo,
aylo, aylo Who is life? Stopped living. Why? Because
that's what it costs for my sin to be paid for. Death
and nothing short of that. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. And then he was buried and rose again the third
day and ascended to heaven. But that day, the day of his
death, the day of death is better than
the day of one's birth. His birth was magnificent, but
his death was better. It is the death of Jesus Christ
that is celebrated when we preach the gospel. What do we preach? Christ. And him what? Crucified. It is celebrated in
believer's baptism. When the believing saint gives
himself over to the pastor to put him in an element where he
cannot live. Dip him down into water. He ain't
no fish. He's gonna drown if he stays
there. Symbolic of death. We're saying that wonderful act
that we died when Christ died. He died our death and his death
was counted as ours imputed to us. His death was better than
his birth because his death saved his people from their sins. And
he was born to die. He was born to die. Born of a
woman, born under the law to redeem them that are under the
law and the redemption price is death. He was not born to
live for us. He was born to die for us. He
was raised to live for us forever, to make intercession for us,
but He died for us. Born to die. His life did not
accomplish salvation, nor was the righteousness of His life
imputed or imparted to us. His death put away our sin. And
the simple equation is thus, where there is no sin, There
is righteousness. That righteousness is Jesus Christ,
and it is counted as our own because we were in Him when He
died. For of God are you in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. This death swallowed
up death and turned it to victory. O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? This death was the subject of
the law and the prophets, when Moses and Elijah came across
the time continuum, to speak in Einstein's words, the time
continuum of space and time, and landed up at the foot of
the Mount of Transfiguration, and they spoke with Jesus. They
spoke with Him. What did they talk about? What
did they talk about? Abortion? No. Political issues? No. They speak with him of the
death that he should accomplish. Accomplish at Jerusalem. We don't think of death as an
accomplishment, do we? We think of it as a final reminder
of our will don't matter a whole lot. People say we has a will
to live. Well, look at the casket. It
didn't work very well, did it? He accomplished death. The only
man who ever did. Because it took something for
him to die. And I don't understand in one of those great mysteries
of the wonder of God himself, how life could die. How did that
work? Well, it was an accomplishment,
I'll tell you that. And that's what Moses and Elijah
talked about. That's what the law and the prophets talked about
from Genesis chapter 1 all the way through Revelation chapter
22. For as much then, as the children
were partakers of flesh and blood. And I guess they were children
before he partook it, because he says it was. You were always
the children of God, you just didn't find out until the gospel
was preached to you. For as much then as the children
were partakers of flesh and blood, he also likewise partook of the
same, that through death he might destroy him that hath the power
of death, or the power of fear of death, that is the devil,
and deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. The word comes down from heaven.
Paul the apostle writing in the book of Romans, daring anybody
to face him, calling people out, calling out heaven, calling out
hell, calling out earth. Who is he that condemneth? Who
is he that condemns? Step forward. Make your condemnation. It is Christ that died. You can't condemn me. It is Christ
that died. Christ said, and I, if I be lifted
up from earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying
what death he should die. But we see Jesus, who was made
a little lower than angels, for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor, that he, my, by the grace of God, should
taste death for every son. And we can say hallelujah. What
a Savior. What a Savior. And this is his
verse. It's his epitaph. A good name
is better than precious woman. And the day of Beth. better than the day of birth.
God bless you. Thank you so much.