Bible, Death, the Child of God: Two Facts

Introduction: A Sermon on Death Prompted by Personal Loss

0:00 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, May 26, 2002, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now those of you who regularly attend this place on the Lord's Day know that two weeks ago I began a series of messages entitled, In Praise and Defense of Marriage, Motherhood, and homemaking. And I had every intention of continuing that series this morning until some of the singles who are going to be away today spoke to me last Lord's Day and with a rather earnest look in their eyes said, Pastor, we're not going to be there. And I got their message and I made something short of a covenant of promise that I would wait until they were back

0:51 next Lord's Day. And having done that, since the righteous swears to his own hurt and keeps it, it left me in the position of casting about, what shall I bring on this Lord's Day? Shall I bring something that is particularly related to the significance of this weekend? What should I do?

1:10 Well, when news came to me Friday evening that my sister, Sue Keener, had passed into the presence of Christ, and I began to reflect in a very concentrated way, Lord, what is true of her right now? It was not true an hour ago. My mind was then fastened on what the Scripture has to teach us concerning these blessed realities for the child of God. And the more I thought and the more I prayed, the more I was constrained to seek to preach to you this morning on this very basic, simple theme, the Bible, death, and the child of God. The Bible, death, and the child of God.

The Despair of Ignorance vs. the Hope of Scripture

1:59 If we are ignorant of or willfully reject the witness of the Bible with respect to the cause and to the issue and to the conquest of death, we will find ourselves very much in sympathy with these pathetic words. I don't know where I read them or where I heard them, but I wrote them down on a little stick-em note and put them on my desk months ago, believing that at some point there would be a judicious opportunity to quote them in the course of preaching. Here are the words of someone who was either pathetically ignorant of or willfully rejected what the Bible says concerning

2:47 death. This is what he wrote. Life is a narrow veil between the cold and barren peaks of two eternities. We strive in vain to look beyond the heights. We cry aloud, and the only answer is the echo of our wailing cry. That is nihilistic despair. Someone says, here we stand in a narrow valley between two cold and barren peaks of an eternity past not knowing where we came from

3:33 an eternity future where we're going and when we try to look up above those mountains we can't do it and when we cry out why are we here what is death what is reality all we get is the haunting echo of our own wailing cry. And sitting here this morning, if you are ignorant of or willfully reject the testimony of the Bible concerning this matter of death, that experience that will inevitably come to us all, you will stand with this one in this narrow veil between two cold and

4:21 barren peaks of two eternities, and all you'll hear is the echo of your own wailing cry.

4:30 But when we open our Bibles, we find not the echo of our wailing cry, but we find such statements as these, Revelation 14, 13, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Or the words of Jesus in John 8, 51. Truly, truly, I say unto you, He who keeps my word shall not see death. Or the words of Philippians 1, 21.

5:07 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. And if we are to be able to understand and enter into some of the realities encompassed in those words of Scripture. Think with me this morning on our subject, the Bible, death, and the child of God. Now I begin, first of all, by highlighting what I'm calling two foundational facts of biblical revelation.

Foundational Fact 1: The Essential Nature of Human Beings

5:40 We will never think aright about death unless we understand and grasp these two foundational facts of biblical revelation. Fact number one has to do with the essential nature of human beings. Fact number one has to do with what the Bible reveals concerning the essential nature of human beings. According to the Scriptures, mankind, men and women, boys and girls, made in the image of God, were created by God and composed of two distinct entities.

6:23 Now, I am not injecting Greek philosophy into what I'm about to say. This is the clear testimony of Holy Scripture. We were made with a physical, material, a corporeal entity that we call our bodies. It is in this entity that I stand before you.

6:46 These hands that wave when I speak are part of that entity. The tongue and the lips and the larynx and the mechanics of speaking are all part of that entity called the body. But we were also made with a non-physical, non-material, non-corporeal entity that the Bible calls our souls or our spirits. And while the Bible everywhere assumes this fact regarding our essential nature as human beings, there are texts which unmistakably assert this reality and which are sheer nonsense if this is not reality.

7:28 For example, Matthew 10 and verse 28, Jesus in commissioning his 12 disciples to go forth as apostles and apprising them that they're going to face opposition, even as he did, says in Matthew 10, 28, these words, Do not be afraid of them that kill the body, entity number one, but are not able to kill the soul, entity number two, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul, entity number two, and body, entity number one, in hell.

8:16 I say the words of Jesus are unmistakable I'm sorry are undiscernible gibberish if this is not the teaching of scripture with respect to the essence of who and what we are as human beings we have the two entities joined in our humanity body and soul or take for example Paul's prayer in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 as he prays for the Thessalonian believers he tells them what he prays for them this is his sanctified wish we might call it rather than a prayer verse 23 of chapter 5 the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly

9:02 that is in the totality of who and what you are that means and may your spirit and soul the non-material, immaterial, non-corporeal part of you and body, the material, corporeal, physical part of you, be preserved entire without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. If we are to think biblically concerning death, and in particular death and the child of God, we must have clearly in place in our understanding this foundational fact of biblical revelation concerning what I have called the essential

9:50 nature of human beings. We are in that sense utterly distinct from all of the other of God's creatures. Angels are spirit beings, but they have no corporeal physical essence. They can assume in the sovereignty of God and by the mighty power of God, temporary physical constitutions apparently, but in essence they are called ministering spirits. They are essentially spirit beings.

Foundational Fact 2: The Essence of Death for Human Beings

10:22 The animals are physical, corporeal, material beings, but they have no soul or spirit in the sense that human beings have a soul and a spirit. Fact number two has to do with the essence of death in the case, again, not of the animals, but of human beings. The fact of the essence of death in the case of human beings. What does the Bible tell us? The experience of death for human beings is the radical separation of these two entities.

10:58 The radical separation of the soul or spirit and the body. James 2 and verse 26. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead. He's using an illustration.

11:15 Everyone would understand this. So faith apart from works is dead. As the body, apart from the spirit, is dead. When the non-material essence leaves the body, a person is dead.

11:32 John chapter 19, with respect to the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, this is abundantly clear in the text. John 19, verses 30 and 31. Our Lord Jesus is hanging on a cross. His life's blood is flowing out of him.

11:51 And we read in verse 30, When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. When he yields up his spirit, the scripture tells us he died. What is the very essence of death in the case of human beings?

12:15 It is this radical separation of the two entities of the spirit or soul and the body. We see it again in the case of the death of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Acts 7, verses 59 and 60. Acts 7, 59 and 60.

12:36 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon the Lord and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. A beautiful euphemism for what death is for the child of God.

13:02 It is a falling asleep in Jesus, not with respect to the soul going into a state of non-consciousness. Stephen has said Lord Jesus receive my spirit and when he dies it is called a falling asleep and we are told that this man was then buried verse 2 devout men buried Stephen they buried Stephen what did they bury they did not bury his spirit that was in the presence of Jesus but they buried the corporeal physical part of Stephen. They buried his body, but it says they buried him.

13:51 Now concerning this radical separation of the soul and the body that is the very essence of death in the case of human beings, we need to understand these two things. And I can't emphasize enough how critical they are. if we're to think biblically concerning death and the child of God. It's vital that we understand this.

14:14 This radical separation of the soul and the body is unnatural and is the result of sin. Death is unnatural and is the result of sin. Let me quote from a very helpful book on the future and on last things. It's called The Promise of the Future by a man named Venema.

14:44 And notice how carefully he has stated this. Contrary to many modern myths about death, that death is a natural part of life. That is the buzzword in society right now. Death is a natural part of life.

15:00 contrary to many modern myths about death, that death is a natural part of life, that it marks the cessation of existence, that there is a natural dignity in dying well, the Bible paints its portrait of death with the most dark and sobering of colors. Nowhere in the Bible is death treated as something natural, as something that can easily be domesticated and treated merely as a part of life. No encouragement is given us in the Bible to minimize the terror and fearfulness of death as our last enemy. 1 Corinthians 15, 26. The biblical understanding of death begins with

15:46 the fall into sin. Death is the divinely appointed punishment of humankind's disobedience. In Genesis 2.17, as part of the stipulation and probation of obedience, Adam was forewarned, you must not eat of it. If you do, you shall surely die. Adam formed from the dust of the earth and made a living soul through the inbreathing of his creator, Genesis 2.7, became liable to death through his act of disobedience, a liability which now falls to all whom he represented as their covenant head.

16:24 One does not have to read far in the biblical record to discover that the curse of God extends to all. Because of Adam's sin and disobedience, he in his posterity must now return to the dust from which they were formed, Genesis 3.19. And then you know from Romans chapter 5, wherefore as through one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, for that all sin.

16:52 this radical separation of the soul and the body that we call death that the Bible describes as death we must understand that it is unnatural and is the result of sin and secondly listen carefully now it is a temporal condition awaiting the reunion of soul and body at the return of Christ and the general resurrection and judgment. This death this radical separation of the soul and body is not only unnatural and the result of sin but according to the Bible it is a temporal condition awaiting the reunion of the soul and body at the coming of Christ and the general resurrection and judgment

17:47 And we must constantly remind ourselves of that biblical truth. In John chapter 5, our Lord Jesus asserts it in the plainest words possible. John chapter 5, 28 and 9. Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in which all that are in the tomb shall hear his voice and shall come forth.

18:14 They that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment. An hour is coming when the body and soul that have been radically severed in death shall be reunited in resurrection. A resurrection to life for those in Christ. A resurrection to judgment for those outside of Christ.

18:39 Acts 24 verses 14 and 15. A similar statement from the Apostle Paul. Acts 24 verses 14 and 15.

18:52 And he says that this perspective is rooted in the Old Testament Scriptures as well. But this I confess unto you, that after the way which they call a sect, so serve I the God of our fathers, believing all things which are according to the law and are written in the prophets, having hope toward God, which these also themselves look for, that there shall be a resurrection both of the just and the unjust. so that if we're going to think biblically about death, these two foundational principles of the Word of God are crucial. We must think biblically with respect to man's essential nature.

The Immediate Result of Death for the Believer: Moral Perfection

19:38 He is spirit. He is body. And that the essence of death in the case of human beings is this radical separation of the soul and body that is not natural but is the result of sin and is a temporal condition awaiting the day of resurrection. Now then, having considered those two foundational principles, now I want to address one simple question concerning the Bible, death, and the child of God.

20:16 And the question is this. According to the Scriptures, What is the immediate result of this separation of soul and body for the one who is savingly united to Jesus Christ? Let me give you the question again. according to the scriptures, what is the immediate result of this separation of the soul and body for the person who is savingly united to Christ?

20:55 Now let me explain the words of my question. I've written and rewritten and changed words here or there. I want you to understand why I've chosen precisely those words. we're concerned with the immediate result of the separation of soul and body in the case of the believer we are not concerned with the ultimate destiny of the one who is in Christ we had some blessed Lord's days contemplating that as we opened up the doctrine of the second coming and we saw from the scriptures that the focal point of the believer's hope is not what happens when the body and soul are severed in death.

21:42 That is not the hope of the Christian. The hope of the Christian terminates upon what will happen when Jesus comes again in glory and in power. And our salvation is consummated in the resurrection of the body, or if we're alive, it is coming in the immediate transformation of body and soul into the likeness of Jesus. We are dealing in this question with what the theologians call the intermediate state.

22:15 What happens immediately when death comes, when body and soul are temporarily severed? We're concerned to discover from our Bibles what happens immediately upon the separation of soul and body and that with respect to those whom I've described in these words who are savingly united to Christ. Now, why do I use those terms and not just say with Christians, with believers? Well, because those terms have such a diluted significance in the minds of many.

22:56 And I want to be true to such terminology as Revelation 14, 13. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. That is, in saving union with Christ. Or in the language of 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 18.

23:17 Them, I was about to quote it from memory and it slipped me exactly how it's stated. Here we are. than they also that are fallen asleep in Christ. That's the description of a true Christian.

23:35 He falls asleep in union with Christ. When the separation of the soul and the body occurs in death, it comes to one in saving union with Christ. Such are blessed. such die under the benediction and the canopy of the blessing of God.

23:58 Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. And we are concerned this morning to discern from our Bibles what happens immediately when there is the separation of the soul and body in the case of one who is savingly united to Christ. A union that from the human side is effected when we believe into Christ. John 3, 16.

24:25 God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes into Christ, true faith is a believing into Christ. And from the divine standpoint, that union is effected when we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and the Spirit becomes the bond of our union with Christ so that we are said to be indwelt by Christ himself. We're talking about real, vital, spirit-wrought, true saving union with the Lord Jesus. Now, with that understanding of the question, what is the immediate result of the separation of the soul and body for the person who is in Christ?

25:10 The Bible does give us some answers. Now granted, the Bible's witness concerning the intermediate state is very scanty compared to the Bible's witness concerning the ultimate consummate state of redemption. For every text that speaks explicitly to the issue on the intermediate state, there are 20 that speak explicitly and clearly on the ultimate state of the believer. But nonetheless, God has given us sufficient light that no true Christian ought to have murky, fuzzy ideas of what will happen when he or she crosses that river.

25:53 we ought to be able with our Bibles before us to say this is what death can do to me this is what death cannot do to me and I know it because here in this text in this text God has said it and for many of us the next great crisis in the life of Trinity Church in the next 10 to 15 years is going to be dying well and we're not going to die well if we die with fuzzy notions of what happens to us when we die. You see that? That was the thrust of that marvelous hymn by Isaac Watts. He said, if only we can see clearly what is on the other side, we won't stand trembling on the brink of the river.

26:41 The river is real. The river is terrifying. Death is still the last enemy. And we must not try to cosmetize it.

26:50 We must not try in any way to think of it in any other framework. But nonetheless, the child of God, instructed by his Bible, walking by faith, can say, this is what I know will happen to me when there is that unnatural, radical separation of soul and of body for a time until the Lord Jesus comes and reunites me in the integrity of who and what I am as image of God, body and soul. Well, first of all, the one who dies in Christ is in the full consciousness of his existence immediately made perfect

27:38 in moral likeness to Christ. The one who dies in Christ is in the full consciousness of his existence.

27:53 It's not put in some kind of a spiritual coma. The one who dies in Christ is in the full consciousness of his existence immediately made perfect in moral likeness to Christ. Now according to Romans 8 and verse 29, The great goal of God in redemption is what? I hope by now all of you are familiar with that text.

28:23 It's been quoted times without number over the years in this place.

28:29 God's great goal in redemption is nothing less than this. Whom He foreknew, that is, those upon whom He set His sovereign love and marked out to be the recipients of His saving mercy, whom he foreknew, not what he foreknew, that some people were going to choose him and so he chose them. No, whom he foreknew. He foreknows people.

28:55 Those described in our passage in Ephesians this morning, who were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that He, the Son, Jesus, might be the firstborn, the chief one among many brethren. In other words, God's goal in redemption was nothing less than the full restoration of His image after the pattern of His own beloved Son, so that He will have a heavenly family who all bear without exception the full family likeness. Think of it. That's God's goal.

29:43 Now, for those who are the children of God, how does God accomplish that goal? Well, He begins it when, by the mighty work of His Spirit, He opens our eyes to our sinfulness, regenerates us, takes out the heart of stone, gives us a heart of flesh, unites us to Christ. And in that complex of our saving union with Christ, whether we call it conversion, whether we call it our coming to faith, however we describe it, the reign of sin is dethroned. The reign of sin is dethroned.

30:24 Sin is no longer the master. In what the theologians call definitive sanctification, the reign of sin is broken. we are united to Christ indwelt by the Spirit and then the fruit of the Spirit begins to be manifested in us and we as quickened from the dead are engaged consciously in the powers of our new life in Christ in seeking to put to death the deeds of the flesh that's the negative side of sanctification we seek to cultivate those graces of Christ likeness that's the positive side of conformity to Christ. And throughout our lives, God's purpose to make us like Jesus is being accomplished.

31:11 He begins it in our conversion with that radical cleavage from sin. The dethronement of sin is our master. The indwelling of the Spirit. The implantation of both desire and power in the direction of holiness.

31:26 And by degrees, and sometimes with two steps forward and one and three quarters backwards. We are seeking to press on in likeness to Christ. And then, when we die, what does God do? In an instant of time, I don't know how I struggle with how to describe it.

31:48 You say a millisecond. I don't know how to describe it. In an instant of time, God will put forth the energy of redemptive grace that first touched us in our conversion and broke the reign of sin, all right, and implanted within us a yearning to be holy and gave us spirit wrought enablement and power to pursue holiness, God will give a concentrated beam of that same grace that in an instant is going to complete the work as to our souls. So that passing into His presence total conformity to the moral likeness in our souls will be accomplished by the living God.

32:35 Think of it. In an instant of time, all of the sins of the mind, distractedness, envy, lust, jealousy, inordinate preoccupation with the things of this life, every facet of sin that ultimately has its tap roots in the soul every last vested, purged in an instant of time marvelous that's what God will do for those who are alive at the coming of Christ He'll do that in an instant for them as well as in an instant give them glorified bodies but most of us are going to get conformity to Christ in two stages

33:23 First stage, when we die. Second stage, when he returns. And child of God, if you're a true child of God, next to the second thing we're going to consider, nothing, nothing, nothing makes you long for heaven and be willing to face the river of death more than this truth, that immediately upon the separation of your soul and your body, That work begun in your regeneration and conversion, carried on by degrees with varying periods of success and failure and progressive sanctification, will in a moment of time be completed and every last vestige of sin forever removed.

34:12 And in the language of Murray McShane, you'll love him with unsinning heart. Now you need to understand that's what God is going to do for you. He's committed to. When he set his love upon you in Christ before the foundation of the world, he did so with this end in view.

34:35 I'm going to make that sinner just like Jesus. And this is how I've determined to do it for the vast majority of them. I'm going to begin it in their conversion, carry it on by this process. and when the appointed time comes to separate their soul from their bodies, I going to complete that work in their souls in this instant of time And they will then enter my presence totally conformed to the moral likeness of my Son, and that forever.

The Immediate Result of Death for the Believer: Presence with Christ

35:14 But then the second thing God's going to do, the one who dies in Christ is in the full consciousness of his existence immediately brought into the presence of Christ. Not only immediately conformed to the moral likeness of Christ, but having been conformed, immediately brought into the presence of the glorified Christ. And here we have two texts in Scripture that are as clear as the noonday sign. The first is 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

35:52 I should say before passing on to that I got carried away trying to see whether I was preaching looking at your eyeballs and neglected to mention another key text on that first head may I back up please Hebrews chapter 12 Hebrews chapter 12 a very key text in showing the contrast of what God's covenant people came to under the old covenant when they came to Mount Sinai and the giving of the law and what we now come to in Christ in the new covenant. The writer to the Hebrews says, Under the blessings of the new covenant, here are some of the things to which you come. Verse 23 of Hebrews 12, You come to the general assembly and church of the firstborn

36:39 who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. now when we come to christ we enter in to a mystic communion not only with people with us but those in the very presence of god the spirits of just men made perfect and therefore when we die to join them we become part of the company of just men just women made perfect so that's another pivotal text. Now then we come to the second thing. The one who dies in Christ is in the full consciousness of his existence immediately brought into the presence of Christ. The two key texts,

37:27 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Paul has mentioned that he counts all of his sufferings and afflictions a light thing because he's not looking at the things that are seen but at the things that are not seen, for the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. And then he launches into this marvelous statement in the first ten verses of chapter 5 concerning that wonderful prospect of being glorified and having a resurrected body, having what he calls his tabernacle that is not made with hands eternal in the heavens. And Paul says, my basic desire is not to enter the intermediate state, I would rather go from where I am right now to being

38:16 clothed upon with my heavenly habitation. That is, I would love to shed my earthly body immediately at the return of Christ and put on my glorified body. That's the language. It is so be that being clothed, we would not be found naked. Verse 4, indeed, we that are in this tabernacle, this present dwelling. We groan, being burdened. Not that we'd be unclothed, but they'd be clothed upon that what is mortal might be swallowed up of life. My great desire is that I might put off this earthly tent.

38:52 How? By having my new tent encompass me, having my resurrected body given to me without an intermediate state. However, though he says this is the thing that God has marked us out for, verse 5, Now he that wrought us for this very thing is God, who gave us the earnest of the Spirit, being therefore of good courage, and knowing, now notice, while we are at home in the body, this body, we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are of good courage, I say, and are willing, rather, to be absent from the body and to be at home with the

39:38 Lord. Now, you see this language, absent at home. He says, now, as long as we are here at home in our bodies, the radical separation of death has not occurred. We're at home in our bodies. Body and spirit are one. As long as we're at home in our bodies, we're absent from the Lord.

40:02 Now here's a man who knew wonderful, intimate, soul-ravishing communion with the Lord Jesus, who said in Philippians 3, this was the great passion of his life, to know him, and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. But he says, as to being in the immediate presence of the glorified Lord, as long as I'm intented in this body, I'm absent from Him. However, there's another alternative. If I take my leave of my body and absent from my body, what happens?

40:34 I am immediately at home with the Lord. The moment the soul leaves the body, absent from the body, it is at home with the Lord. Where is the glorified body of the Lord Jesus? I don't know.

40:57 But I know wherever He is in His glorified heavenly existence and place the moment the soul is gone from the body it's at home with Him. Absent from the body. present with the Lord. I remember how this text came home with such power a few years ago when the Lord took our dear sister Mabel Philbrook.

41:28 And many of you know, Dusty was some of his limitations. In trying to comfort Dusty, I remember sitting down with him and saying, Now, Dusty, as far as grandma is concerned, you've got to remember one thing. and I said it with a poetic cadence, absent from the body, present with the Lord. Now say it after pastor.

41:49 And so he would repeat it after me. Absent from the body, present with the Lord. Absent from the body, present with the Lord. My friends, you and I need to say it to ourselves.

42:02 And when we're brought to the edge of the river and we're filled with the apprehensions of the experience of dying And it's a frightful experience. We've never died before. We'll never die again.

42:18 You've been to the dentist, felt the needle go in your jaw, felt the trauma of a tooth pulled. You may be scared going the next time, but at least you've been there before.

42:30 Eight times I've laid there, I've lain there on the table when they've stuck the needle in and sent me in La La Land. I don't like it, but at least I've been there eight times and I know what to expect. You lie in your deathbed. If God gives you a deathbed, you ain't been there before and you ain't going to be there again.

42:48 And there's an element of the fear of the experience of dying. But child of God, there should be no doubt as to what your experience will be the moment you breathe your last, absent from the body, at home with the Lord. the one who dies in Christ in the full consciousness of his existence is immediately brought into the presence of Christ and the second text some of you have already thought of it is Philippians chapter 1 the great apostle who had said in verse 21 for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain who has one great passion

43:34 that Christ will be magnified in his body, whether by life or by death.

43:42 Then he says, but I've got a tug-of-war going on in my soul. Part of me wants to depart and to be with Christ. Notice how he describes it, verse 23, I'm in a strait betwixt two, having the desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is very far better. in the mind of the apostle to die, to have the Roman soldier come to his cell and say, Paul, today's the day you kneel by the chopping block.

44:18 Paul said the thought of going to the executioner's hall, kneeling and having my head laid on the chopping block and the swift flash of the executioner's axe, he said that's far better because the moment my head plops in the basket, my spirit is in the presence of Jesus. To depart and to be with Christ, far better.

44:47 Child of God, you and I must face death with that kind of confidence. To die is gain. Gain what? Gain, looking face to face upon the Savior who loved me, with whom I have walked by faith and not by sight.

45:09 How disembodied spirits see and interact with the glorified Christ, I don't know, I don't need to know. I just know that to depart is to be with Christ, which is very far better. whatever we now know of communion with Christ when Paul says to die is gain what is the great gain? the great gain is that there will be ravishing communion with Christ increased measures of real conscious face to face communion with Christ no more mourning in our hearts when we say Lord Jesus how can I love you so feebly

45:55 when I do believe all that you've done for me, all that you are doing with me, bearing with me by your constant intercession, receiving me when I come again and again seeking forgiveness for the same old sins dozens of times.

46:14 To see him face to face, to love him with unsinning heart. It is at that moment that Jesus' own prayer for you and for me is going to be answered. Did you know that? Jesus' own prayer for you and me is going to be answered.

46:33 Look at John 17 and verse 24. John 17 and verse 24.

46:41 Father, and this is the first time in the prayer that Jesus uses the stronger verb, I will. All of the other petitions are in the nature of petitionary prayer. but here's an expression of his regal will. Father, I will that they whom you have given me be with me where I am.

47:08 Be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which you have given me for you loved me before the foundation of the world. That's one of the prayers that Jesus prays for you, my dear believer. He wants you with him that you might behold his glory. Undimmed by the veil of your remaining sin and dullness and distractiveness and fickleness, beholding that glory face to face.

Angelic Escort to Christ's Presence

47:41 death and the child of God the scriptures tell us the one who dies in Christ is in full consciousness brought immediately into the presence of Christ as I was preparing and looking up the various passages I wonder, I wonder, that's all I'm not dogmatizing. If we don't have a very helpful clue as to how we're going to get there in Luke 16. In Luke 16.

48:23 Jesus, in a parable again that makes no sense if we are not comprised of the two entities, bodies that can die and go into graves and spirits that can go to Abraham's bosom or into Hades. Luke 16, 19. Now there was a certain rich man, and was clothed in purple and fine linen, and a certain beggar named Lazarus laid at his gate full of sores. And it came to pass, verse 22, that when the beggar died, and that he was carried away by the angels into Abraham's bosom.

49:01 carried away by the angels into Abraham's bosom. Angels are spirits, so they know how to carry spirits. I don't know how to carry a spirit. You came to me and said, I've got three spirits.

49:17 Will you take them? I said, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't know how to carry spirits. When the Lord tells an angel, hey, go down there.

49:24 Take the spirit of that, my child. The angel says, yes, Lord. And the spirit knows well how to carry spirits. could it be because the scripture says concerning angels are they not all ministering spirits to do what to do service to the heirs of salvation what greater service could an angel perform than to take your departing spirit and surround it with its god-given power and might and take it safely up through layers of those principalities and powers that want to claw at your spirit and drag it down to hell and take it up and bring it safely into the presence of Jesus. I'm not ready

The Immediate Result of Death for the Believer: Company of Saints

50:10 to write a book about it, but it does say it was carried by the angels. I didn't write that. Lord Jesus spoke that. But however God does it, our spirits will be brought into his presence. Quickly then, in these last two, the testimony of the scripture is not as clear and explicit, but I believe there is enough in our Bibles in the general tenor of scriptural teaching, what the old writers would call the analogy of faith, the overall climate of the teaching of the Bible, that we have reasonable grounds to expect that when we die, this will occur in our experience.

50:56 And here we get three and four more quickly. The one who dies in Christ is in the full consciousness of his existence brought immediately into the company of all the blood-washed saints of Christ. the one who dies in Christ is in the full consciousness of his existence brought immediately into the company of all the blood washed saints of Christ now the scripture is clear our experience is clear we are born individually even if you're one of triplets you came out one by one we're born individually we are born again individually We will die individually.

51:44 Yet God's design in salvation is not individualistic. It is a design in salvation to have a new humanity in Christ. Called His church. Called the body of Christ.

52:01 Called the bride of Christ. The vision of the glorified saints is the city of God coming down out of heaven. And we shall see as we read the book of Ephesians, God's commitment in saving mercy has these cosmic corporate dimensions. He's to sum up all things in Christ.

52:26 So that we must not think of our salvation especially as we enter in to its consummate blessings in a crassly individualistic way The final state is set before us under the imagery of the city of God. When Paul describes the return of Christ, he says, Then we that are alive and are left shall together with them be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, And so shall we ever be with the Lord in this state of eternal togetherness. Togetherness. And if we are already in fellowship with the spirits of just men made perfect while on earth, and that's what Hebrews 12, 23 is saying.

53:11 You have come. It's a perfect tense of the verb. You have come and remain in the condition of some relationship to the spirits of just men made perfect. If we have communion with them whilst we're here and they're up there, what will it be when we're up there with them?

53:31 And we're part of the spirits of just men made perfect, while believers still in their earthly pilgrimage have communion and fellowship with us. If we are already in fellowship with the spirits of just men made perfect, then surely when we join such spirits, our relationship to them will be exponentially increased in the intensity of pure brotherly, sisterly affection and delight as we gaze upon the common object of our highest devotion, even our glorified Lord Jesus. And there are hints in the book of the Revelation and some of the pictures of the redeemed. Revelation 7, 9 to 17 may be a vision of the saints in the intermediate state. That's debatable, but certainly Revelation 6 is a picture of the saints, some of the saints, in their intermediate state.

54:32 and notice how they are pictured. Revelation 6 verse 9. And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of them that had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried, now notice, with a great voice. It doesn't say they cried with great voices. With one united cry, how long, O Master, the holy and the true, do you not judge and avenge our blood? And it was given to each of them a white robe and said to them that they should rest for a little while until their fellow servants also and their brethren who should be killed even as they were should have fulfilled their course. You see what God is saying.

55:20 They are together. There is this beautiful togetherness even in their cry that God would avenge their blood. And the Lord says, look, there are others yet to join you. But the whole concept again is the togetherness of the people of God. And I believe we have biblical warrant from the general tenor of Scripture to say that the one who dies in Christ is in the full consciousness of his existence, brought immediately into the company of all the blood-washed saints of Christ.

55:53 And every grace of pure human love established in the hearts of believers here will surely be augmented and increased and overflow to fullness when we join their company. From that standpoint, John, Nia, I don't know if I see Sarah, but if Sarah's here too. Susie Mom sees Pop-Up and sees Grandma Sanquist and Grammy Melville I wonder

56:40 if they reflect on us poor earthlings what they're saying about us every human affection that at least in some measure partakes of grace here on earth surely will be augmented when we are brought into the total moral conformity to Christ in the moment of our death I couldn't help but think of this when this past Friday I had the privilege of seeing a dear brother that I haven't seen for about 20 years. Back when we used to worship in the Cracker Box in Essex Fells, he came up one summer to work while he was in seminary and to get him a wife. And he got him a wife from one of our young ladies

57:27 who has served nobly as his helper as he has labored for over 25 years in the land of Kenya, speaking of Keith Underhill. And I was anticipating what it would be like when they drove up into the driveway and what would it be like to see my brother after 20 years? And my mind was going through, will he have grayed much? Will he have paunched out?

57:50 You know, all these things. What's he expecting as he thinks of me? And as I relive right now standing before you that moment when I opened the door and he came out of the car and our eyes met one another and we embraced, I said, surely, Lord, if there can be such exquisite moments of pure Christian love here. What will it be when my spirit is launched into the very presence of Christ, able perfectly to love?

58:23 You mean to tell me that if I go to glory and He follows me, we had something better in the driveway than we're going to have up there? Not on your life. As I say, by analogy, I believe we have grounds to expect that those graces which are implanted in their imperfection here, that will flower to perfection there, one of them will be the blessed privilege of entering into totally selfless, pure, love-energized relationship with the company of all the blood-washed saints of Christ. And then fourthly and finally, the one who dies in Christ is, in the full consciousness of his existence, brought immediately

The Immediate Result of Death for the Believer: Promised Rest

59:12 to experience the promised rest of Christ. The one who dies in Christ is, in the full consciousness of his existence, brought immediately to experience the promised rest of Christ. And Here we come to our text that I quoted in the introduction, Revelation 14 and verse 13.

59:37 Some will sit here and remember that I have used this text in other ways at the funeral of some of your loved ones. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth. Yes, says the Spirit. in order that a Hina clause of purpose blessed are the dead who die in the Lord in order that they may rest from their labors for their works follow with them.

60:15 Here is a blessing pronounced on those who die in the Lord and the aspect of blessedness highlighted by the Spirit in this text is that they may rest from their labors.

60:31 Now in Matthew 11, 28, Jesus promises in the gospel a measure of blessed rest. Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden. Same family of words, all you that labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest.

60:49 I will give you rest. Same family of words. I'll give you rest. rest is promised to the one who comes to Jesus rest from an accusing conscience when coming to Jesus we lay hold by faith of the virtue of his shed blood on behalf of sinners rest from the galling dread of death and of judgment that the scripture calls a form of bondage those who all their life were through fear of death subject to bondage we find rest in Christ.

61:25 But that rest issues in the labor. For he goes on to say, Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And no sooner do we find rest from an accusing conscience and rest from the crippling bondage of the fear of death and of judgment that we know we are in the labor of seeking to live holy lives in an unholy world with much remaining sin within us. And there is that which the Bible describes with the term of agonizing in the Christian life.

61:58 And there is buffeting our bodies. And there is amputation, plucking out right eyes and cutting off right hands. And there is in the overall curse that yet rests upon the world, there is that labor with toil and sweat. And whatever is of the nature of grueling, oppressive, toilsomeness, The moment the body is separated from the Spirit, the child of God enters into the fullness of the promised rest.

62:33 You remember in the Revelation 6 passage, that was the comfort given to these who are longing for the day of God's judgment upon those who took their lives unrighteously. It is said in verse 11 of Revelation 6, it was said to them that they should rest for a little time. Rest, rest, rest, rest. Whatever it is that is of the nature of toilsome, burdensome labor, the moment we breathe our last we enter into that rest.

Conclusion: Death is Yours in Christ

63:16 Well, I've tried to open up the scriptures for this morning under this very simple, unglamorous title The Bible, Death, and the Child of God. We've looked at two foundational facts of biblical revelation. Fact one, the essential nature of human beings. We are body, we are soul.

63:36 fact two the essence of death in the case of human beings is this radical separation of soul and body unnatural the results of sin temporary awaiting the day of resurrection then we addressed one simple question concerning the bible death in the child of god and that question was this according to the scriptures what's the immediate result of the separation of the soul and the body for the person savingly united to Christ. And we've seen four things. The one who dies in Christ is immediately made perfect in the moral likeness of Christ. He's made like Jesus. The one who dies in Christ is immediately brought into the presence of Christ. He or she is with Jesus. The one who

64:23 dies in Christ is immediately brought into the company of all the blood-washed saints of Christ. He or she is with the people of Jesus. And the one who dies in Christ is immediately brought to experience the promised rest of Christ. And while we do not deny that death is still an enemy, he is called the last enemy, and he is not conquered until the resurrection.

64:51 I get irritated when I hear people quote that verse at funerals. O death, where is thy sting? Look into the coffin. There's its sting.

64:59 Go to the graveside. There's its sting. Death is still conquered. And sometime perhaps we'll preach on, since Christ is born, all the penalty of the broken law.

65:10 What has death become in relationship to divine law and divine punishment? It's an matter that I believe needs to be addressed. Not today. But though it is the last enemy, is ugly and cruel.

65:25 Nonetheless, in the light of what we've seen this morning, I want you to see why such statements as these can be written in our Bibles. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, Paul can say to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 21, Wherefore let no one glory in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, Now notice, or life or death or things present or things to come are all yours. And you are Christ's and Christ is God's. My brother, my sister, death is yours in Christ.

66:11 That's what the text says. I didn't write it. Death is yours in Christ. but you will not regard it yours in Christ unless your understanding is enlightened by the Scriptures and you're walking by faith and you can view death in the light of the things we've studied this morning.

66:35 Or the familiar words of Romans 8, 35-39 where Paul can say neither life nor death shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And then that fascinating verse that I've meditated on much in recent days, John 8, 51, He that keeps my word shall never see death. What's that mean? Well, whatever else it means, surely it means this, we'll never see death as the naked result of the wages of sin.

67:09 Christ saw it. Christ tasted it. Christ swallowed it up in His death. Yes, we will experience dying, but we'll never see death as the naked fury of God as the wages of sin.

67:27 And what's made the change for as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he likewise partook of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death and deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Hebrews 2, 14 and 15. My closing words, I've spoken to God's people this morning. I've had little to say to you who are not in Christ, but I close with this simple word.

A Warning to Those Outside of Christ

67:59 You may sit here this morning feeling very comfortable living without Christ. But I want to ask you, do you think you're going to die comfortably without Christ?

68:13 I want you to think about it. Yes, you're living very comfortably without Christ. That's why all the gospel appeals you hear Sunday by Sunday make no dent on you. But I ask you, are you going to die comfortably without Christ?

68:34 You know the answer.

68:39 Death will be a horrible, terrible intruder. And will only hand you over to the irreversible judgment of God. My friend, get into Christ. Give yourself no rest until you're into Him.

Prayer for Grace and Confidence in Death

68:56 Let's pray. our father we pray that you would take your word on this sobering theme on this matter that we must all ultimately face and we pray that you will help us as your people to have a well-instructed mind and a vigorous faith that we may be a people who, when it comes time for us to die, will glorify and magnify Christ in our death. We think of your words concerning Peter, telling him by what death he should glorify you. And we with Paul do desire that we shall glorify

69:48 you in our death, that should we have consciousness bringing us up to the river, we may, as men and women of faith, bear testimony to your grace and to our confidence in your saving mercy. Have mercy upon those who have no such confidence. Be gracious to them and draw them to yourself, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

70:18 Thank you.