Legacy of a Godly Life

Introduction: The Legacy of Richard Denzel

0:06 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, April 17th, 1983, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:19 Now will you join your heart with me in praying that God would be pleased to speak to us from His Word, that He would give grace to His servant to have the composure necessary to deliver that Word, and that none of us will leave this place without having heard the voice of God to our hearts. Let us pray.

0:51 Our Father, we bow in Your presence, very conscious that each of us lives on the edge of eternity.

1:04 And we pray, O God, that as we reflect upon the truths of Your Word so powerfully and eloquently manifested in the life of our beloved brother, who now looks upon Your face with joy, O that we may know that Word coming home to us with power. We pray for the careless and the indifferent, for the giddy and the flighty, for those to whom the world to come is but an empty notion. O may the powers of that world be felt in their hearts this morning. And for those of us who, by Your grace, do seek to live in the light of that world, O Lord, give us a sharpened perspective, a clearer vision, a more resolute determination so to live, that there shall be given unto us an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Meet with us then in the ministry of the Word, we pray, through Him who lives. He who loved us and conquered death on our behalf, even our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

2:26 As Pastor Nichols has already intimated, we do meet this morning under the dark cloud created by the sudden homegoing of our beloved brother and our friend, Mr. Richard Denzel. Because our brother deeply loved the living God, revealed to sinners, and the faithful men in the person and work of Christ, he abhorred anything that robbed that God of glory that was due to him. I can remember occasions when our mild-tempered and mild-mannered brother would bristle with holy anger when he heard or observed something that was a blatant detraction from the glory of God. And I know in the light of that deep-settled principle, at his heart, the last thing he would have approved of would be anything that would be a eulogizing of his person or a praising him for what he was as a man, as a husband, as a father, as a father-in-law, as a brother beloved, or as a friend.

3:52 His unreserved confession concerning anything that was praiseworthy is the confession, couched in the language of the Apostle Paul who said, I am what I am by the grace of God. However, since God has taken away from us a man of no little stature in our midst, as I have prayed about the ministry of the Word, I have been constrained to speak to you this morning on this very relevant subject of some biblical truths highlighted in the life and death of Mr. Dempsey. Some biblical truths highlighted both in the life and in the death of our brother. And in this sense, then, it can be said of him as was said of Abel in Hebrews 11 and verse 4, that he, having died, yet speaks. And though it pleased the Lord to bring our brother to himself through the door of death, this past Thursday night, he, having died, yet speaks to us. And as I have prayerfully reflected upon what his life and death say to us in terms of pointing in the direction

5:16 of fundamental biblical truths, I want to set before you, first of all, the fact that his life and death is a clear and eloquent description of the greatest inheritance we can leave, to our loved ones, our fellow believers, and to the world. Mr. Dempsey's life and death constitutes a clear and eloquent description of the greatest inheritance, the greatest legacy we can leave to our loved ones, to the people of God, and to the world.

The Greatest Inheritance: A Well-Attested Profession of Faith

5:58 I want to ask you a very personal question this morning. The question is, have you ever soberly asked yourself, what is the greatest legacy I can leave to those who are left behind when I die?

6:20 Is it the legacy of a beautiful and spacious and stately home passed on to my children in my will? Is it the legacy of adequate provision in terms of life insurance? Is it the legacy of a famous name, what is really of great worth in terms of those that will be left behind to mourn in the hour of my death? Have you ever asked that question?

6:51 You ought to.

6:53 Because you see, if you're going to accumulate an inheritance worth anything, you've got to do it while you're alive. If you're going to have a noble legacy to leave in the hour of your death, you can't accumulate it on your deathbed. And I say, I say the life and death of Mr. Densel is a clear, an unmistakably clear and eloquent description of the greatest inheritance any man, any woman, any boy, any girl can leave to his loved ones, to the people of God, and to the world.

7:35 Do you know what that inheritance is? The inheritance that our brother has left for all of us to enjoy, it is nothing less than this. It is the inheritance of a well-attested profession of a saving relationship to the living God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

8:00 His legacy, His inheritance left for all of us is the legacy of a well-attested profession of a saving relationship to the Lord, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now what do I mean by that mouthful of words? Well, I mean simply this. He left us the legacy of a profession of a saving relationship to the living God through Jesus Christ.

Elements of a Saving Profession

8:34 And what is involved in that profession of a saving relationship to the living God through Jesus Christ? Well, it involves simply, three things. It involves, first of all, the unreserved acknowledgement of personal guilt and sinfulness. The unreserved acknowledgement of native unworthiness to receive anything from the hand of God but wrath and judgment.

9:04 The Bible says of you and of me as it said of Mr. Densel, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one of us to his own way.

9:21 The scripture said of him as it says of us, there is not a righteous man upon the face of the earth, a just man who sins, who does not sin, and who does only what is right. And it was the unreserved acknowledgement of our brother that the Bible's description of him was true. He loved the hymn that we sang because it embodied his own consciousness of sin. Weary of earth and laden with my sin, I looked to heaven and longed to enter in.

9:59 But there was the confession, how can I enter? I am unclean. I am a sinner. I am vile.

10:08 So vile am I. That profession of a saved, living relationship to the living God through Christ not only involves the unreserved acknowledgement of personal guilt and sin, but it involves the childlike acceptance of the divine testimony concerning Christ, the only Savior of sinners. You see, the same Bible that said of him and says of us that all have sinned says, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 1 Timothy 1.15 That Bible says thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. Matthew 1.21 That Bible records the words of Christ himself in John 14.6 in which he said I am the way, the truth, the life.

11:13 No man cometh unto the Father but by me. That Bible says without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. That Bible says that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. And it was Mr. Denzel's joyful confession that in childlike humility he embraced the testimony of God about his Son, that his Son was all he claimed to be, the incarnate God, that his Son was all the Bible says he is as the only but the adequate Savior of the vilest of sinners. That confession of faith involved in the third place the wholehearted embrace of the Savior himself. The wholehearted embrace of the Savior himself. John 1.12

12:09 As many as received him to them gave he the right to become the children of God even to them that believe on his name. Mr. Denzel made such a profession of a saving relationship to the living God through Jesus Christ. A profession that involved those three elements.

The Attestation of a True Profession

12:32 The unreserved acknowledgement of personal guilt. The childlike acceptance of the testimony of God concerning Christ. And then the wholehearted embrace of the Savior. But you see, it was a well attested profession.

12:50 There are many who profess those things but their profession does not stick when compared with what the Bible says happens to all who make that profession in truth and in reality.

13:07 For you see, the Scripture tells us that if any man be in Christ he is a new creation. Old things are past. Behold, all things are become new. To attest something is to determine it to be true or genuine.

13:23 And though God alone can read the heart, the Scripture tells us by their fruits you shall know them. The great legacy, the great inheritance left behind by our brother is this inheritance not merely of a profession of a saving relationship to God in Jesus Christ, but a well attested profession. One that was manifested in a life of universal holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Hebrews 12.14 One that manifested that love of the brethren. 1 John 3.14 which is the index of having passed from death unto life. One that manifested a love for the person and the people.

14:16 The people of God and of Christ. It was indeed a well attested profession because you see that profession was no barrier to his own children coming to Christ. It was attested in their eyes. Attested in the eyes and affections of his wife and of all of us who knew him.

Why This Inheritance is Wonderful: Present Joy, Future Comfort, and a Prod to the Unconverted

14:39 And I say in your presence choosing my words carefully, there is no greater inheritance that you can leave to your loved ones, to the people of God and to the world but that inheritance left by our brother of a well attested profession of a saving relationship to the living God through Jesus Christ. Now you say why is that such a wonderful inheritance? Well let me give you three simple reasons as to why it is and this comes out not only of the truth of the Bible but the experience of the past hours. First of all because with that inheritance our loved ones and the people of God our loved ones and the people of God can rejoice concerning the present state of the one who has departed from us. You see it is no little thing to leave behind this inheritance that enables the people of God and our loved ones to rejoice in solid confidence that everything that the Bible says about the departed spirit of a saint is true of us. Now what does the Bible say about the departed spirit of a true child of God,

16:07 of one who is indeed a Christian in reality? Well the Bible says such things as these 2 Corinthians chapter 5 to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Philippians chapter 1 to me to live is Christ and to die is gain verse 21 and then in verse 23 he said I desire and to depart and to be with Christ which is far better or Hebrews 11 23 speaks of the spirits of just men made perfect. And I say from deep pastoral sensitivity what a blessing it was to go into a home just a matter of minutes after our brother was taken and sit down with loved ones and while mingling tears with theirs to turn to such portions as I've quoted in your presence and to know as much as any mortal can know of a fellow mortal that while we sat in the living room and grieved our dear brother looked upon the face of Jesus with joy that he was beholding face to face the things we still see through a glass darkly.

17:35 I tell you what a legacy to leave your loved ones the legacy of the rejoicing they can have for you though they feel the sting and the pain and the bitterness of that radical and abnormal wrenching of death to be able to say not in some kind of pious drivel we grieve not for him but for ourselves. We can only rejoice that he sees face to face what he longed most to see the Savior who loved him and died for him.

18:20 My friend listen to me listen I don't care what else you leave your loved ones you could leave them the whole world leave them without that ground of rejoicing and you've left them impoverished because if they think biblically they have to think of the awful reality of the soul leaving that body going to the region of the damned to be held in prison until the day described in the passage we read this morning only to be joined to that body and to sink into hell forever all of the lovely soothing words cannot talk your lost soul out of hell all the preacher's pious drivel will release your soul from hell You say you love your wife you love your mom you love your dad how can you say how can you love them when you leave them the legacy of a broken heart that absent from the body is to be present with the damned sin loving selfish creature

19:50 what a legacy you leave a horrible legacy when you live I say Mr. Denzel's life and death teaches us clearly and eloquently the greatest legacy we can leave is a well attested profession of a saving relationship to God because reason number one loved ones and the people of God can rejoice concerning the present the present state of the departed but secondly because loved ones and the people of God can draw solid comfort concerning the future prospects of the one who is gone you see it's one thing to rejoice in the present state of the soul that's departed but then come the agonizing hours that our dear friends are passing through today and they must stand by the earthly remains we've only known our brother as God made us all to be body soul entities we were not made to exist

21:23 as disembodied spirits had sin never entered there would be no death no wrenching of body and spirit and so we do not thinking biblically talk as though well the body's just the external shell it's nothing God doesn't put that estimation upon it God made man in his own image he made him a body soul entity and so come the agonizing hours of realizing that there must be a time now is that separation and the agony of placing those precious earthly remains into the earth the cold damp earth what do we say in the face of that reality well we read in first Thessalonians chapter four comfort one another with these words what words he was a nice man he was a good husband no here are the words with which we confess our love and our faith and our love is not the love of God Convey solid comfort to one another. 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 13. We would not have you ignorant brethren concerning them that fall asleep, that you sorrow not even as the rest who have no hope. He says you are not to sorrow as those who have no hope.

22:41 Sorrow, yes, but your sorrow is conditioned by this great reality. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also, this is the beautiful description of death for a Christian, that are fallen asleep in Jesus, will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord. This is not the word of any church.

23:11 This is not the word of any formulary of any prayer book. This is the word of the Lord. We who are alive and left unto the coming of the Lord shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God.

23:33 Now notice, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Speaking of their bodies, those bodies are still in a way we cannot fathom in union with Christ. Your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, we are told. And if the Spirit of Him who raised up Christ from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ shall quicken your mortal bodies, I cannot understand how and in what manner, but it is enough for faith to rest in the dictates of God.

24:08 The dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall be caught up together with them. What a legacy, what an inheritance to leave behind. A well attested profession of a saving relationship to God in Jesus Christ.

24:32 For it not only gives to loved ones and to the people of God the basis for present joy as they think of what we will know when we in the language of the Old Testament writer, awake beholding His form or His likeness, but also to give them the basis of solid comfort concerning the future of these earthly remains. They've only known us in the touch of these hands, and in the look of these eyes, and in the warmth of our embrace. They've only known us in the words we've shared with lips and tongue that now lie cold and lifeless and will be placed into the earth. Thank God for this basis of solid comfort. Thank God that tomorrow when we stand with tear-filled eyes and heavy hearts by a graveside, we can in a sense defy that earth to keep us from the world. Thank God that tomorrow when we stand with tear-filled eyes and heavy hearts by a graveside, we can in a sense defy that earth to keep us from the world.

25:40 Thank God that tomorrow when we stand with tear-filled eyes and heavy hearts by a graveside, we can in a sense defy that earth to keep us from the world. Because as surely as we stand by that graveside, the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise! This is the word of the Lord. Then I say this is the greatest legacy we can leave for the third reason, because friends and neighbors will be forced to reckon with the great realities of divine revelation. When we leave behind us in our death the inheritance of a well-attested profession of a saving relationship to God in Jesus Christ, we not only leave something that is the basis of present rejoicing for the people of God and loved ones, of solid comfort for the people of God and loved ones, but we leave something that is a prod to the conscience of all unconverted people who had any dealings with us. You see the great fact of man's accountability is stamped upon man's consciousness, Romans 1 and Romans 2. Man cannot escape that he's a creature of God, answerable to God, but

27:07 he continually tries to put that knowledge down. That's why when he hears the Bible preached and his sin declared. In the only way of salvation declared on the one hand, there is an echo within his own breast, God's voice without meeting God's voice within. It is true. But he loves darkness rather than light and he seeks to retreat from the light and pressure of the word upon his conscience. And when he retreats and meets a true Christian, everything that is echoing in the chambers of his heart in virtue of his being made in the image of God, everything he has heard thundered into his ears from the proclamation of the gospel, is now as it were exemplified in a life. And he cannot escape the fact that that life reflects the great realities of the word of God and of my own consciousness as a creature made in the image of God. What a wonderful legacy to leave to a world that is determined to

28:10 send itself to hell to think that I might leave a roadblock in terms of my own life. What a wonderful legacy to leave to a world that is determined to send itself to hell to think that I might leave a roadblock in terms of my own life. But what my life was. What a legacy to leave to your neighbors. A roadblock in their path to hell. A finger pointing away from hell and destruction and the emptiness of this life. Pointing to the reality of God and Christ and heaven and the world of the spirit. And the true Christian does that just by living as a Christian. Just by being what he is.

28:47 I read something the other day and I couldn't read it. I couldn't read it. I couldn't read not help but think of our brother when I read this, someone who was privileged to have close contact with Professor Murray, the late, beloved professor of theology at Westminster Seminary. Speaking of his life, this individual said that his life had almost a revelatory character.

29:08 And then he said this, when doubts insinuate themselves upon my mind, can it all be true? One can still hear a voice that says, if it's not true, how then do you account for Professor John Murray? You see what he's saying? When the devil would insinuate doubts, looking at a man who exemplified a well-attested profession of a saving relationship to God in Jesus Christ, if it's not true, how do you explain him?

29:45 And I thank God. I can stand here and say to the praise of God, if it's not all true, how do you explain a man like Dick Denzel? There's no explanation. And you see, it's the fact that there is no other explanation that is a part to the conscience of the unconverted. My friend, are you going to leave that legacy so that your children, even though they may not be in the faith, as we have reason to believe each of his are, but even if they are not, would they be forced to stand by your grace? I will say, I've not yielded to the pressure of truth, but I know, I know, I cannot escape the conviction that it is true. The people you work with, are you a prod to everyone who has any dealings with you in the shop, in the office, on the street, over the back fence, in the playground, everywhere you go? Are you a constant monument? There is a constant

30:49 law of God. There is a heaven. There is a hell. There is an immutable law of God. There is a Savior. There is a Holy Spirit. That's what Jesus meant when he said, you are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth. I say, Dick Denzel's life and death is a clear and an eloquent declaration concerning the greatest inheritance anyone can have. None of us can leave to loved ones, to the people of God, and to the world. And you don't have to be in your sixties to leave that inheritance. You dear children, listen to me for a minute.

31:39 Do you love Mommy and Daddy? Do you love Mommy and Daddy? Do you know the greatest thing you can give to Mommy and Daddy? Do you know the greatest thing you can give to Mommy and Daddy? Do you know what it is? You say, but Pastor, I don't have lots of money to give him much. You don't need it. You don't need it. You don't need it. You don't need it. You don't need a nickel, a dime. You don't even need a penny to give him this. You say, I'm too small, and even if I had a lot, I couldn't carry it and give it to them. What's the greatest thing I can give to Mommy and Daddy? Oh, you dear children, listen to me. Little ones, teenagers and older, listen. I speak as a father. The greatest legacy, the greatest gift you can give to Mommy and Daddy is solid grounds to believe that you're in Christ. And if you rob them of that, I don't care what else you give them. You've robbed them

32:39 of their most priceless possession. If you died today, would you leave that inheritance for your mom and dad? Would you? Could they say as they stood by your lifeless remains, I know he, she looks upon the face of Jesus. I grieve and I pain and I ache.

33:06 Because I will never feel the warmth of the embrace of that son or daughter again. I'll not hear his or her voice again in this life. But I rejoice that he or she looks upon the face of Jesus.

33:23 He or she is free from sin and pain and disappointment and death.

33:32 Dear children, if you have any love for mom and dad, go to Christ in all your sin. Go to Christ in all your lostness. Go to Christ in all of your guilt and all of your undone-ness. And don't give yourself rest until you know that you're in Christ.

A Challenge to Examine Your Attestation

33:58 There's no pain like the pain of a parent's heart who contemplates the death of a son or daughter in a state of sin. Then I must hasten on and underscore the fact that if you're to leave, if you're to leave such a legacy, some of you better stop living the way you're living.

34:26 You have a profession of a saving relationship to God in Christ, but the attestation where the rubber meets the road is pretty paltry.

34:42 In other words, if you had died on Thursday night, I couldn't preach the way I'm preaching this morning. Can I make it any plainer? Can I speak with any more? Can I speak with any more precision to your conscience than that?

34:58 Some of you members of Trinity Church for years, but the attestation of your faith is so meager. In the judgment of charity, we would pray in terms of your profession and in terms of the paltry little pickings of attestation, and you would be buried as a Christian. But I tell you, I couldn't preach the kind of sermon I'm preaching this morning on the occasion of your death. You know why?

35:34 Because your life is so shoddy where the rubber meets the road.

35:40 I couldn't walk into your office. The minute I identified myself, believed that everyone's conscience in that office who's been there longer than a week knows that if I'm your pastor, then I must believe the Bible, and I must walk straight, and I must be narrow. I'm so minded because they've seen your life.

36:04 I couldn't open my mouth and have a grip on the conscience of your work associates because your pattern of life would totally neutralize any such opportunity.

36:20 You ought to hang your head today and weep, not for Dick Denzel, but for your shoddy life. Like a lot, you've rubbed shoulders with sodomites so long, it's hard to tell whether you're one of them or not.

36:39 God have mercy on some of you. You know who you are. Your own conscience is thundering. And you're sitting there saying, I know, I know, if I had died on Thursday, I doubt pastor could preach that way of me.

36:55 Well, friend, what are you going to do about it? It's time you started whacking off right hands and plucking out right eyes. If your business is destroying you, go to heaven with glory as a poor man, but not with glory living the way you're living.

37:23 Shoddy, misplaced priorities.

37:27 Oh, God have mercy.

37:31 If you want this inheritance, my friend, you've got to begin to lay it up by a radical transformation of your life's priorities and patterns. If you want to have a grip on the conscience of your children, if you want your children and the accountability, if you want the occasion of your death to have the privilege that Dick's three children had on the occasion of his death through their bitter tears to say, again, not in pious drivel, but out of the depth of burning conviction that looks upon the face of Jesus, we grieve not for him. You want to give your kids that legacy, you better stop fooling around. Stop playing around, my friend. Start seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Get rid of your toys.

38:41 What a legacy. What an inheritance.

Extensive Usefulness Not Dependent on Public Ministry Gifts

38:45 May God help us that we'll leave it. But I hasten on, and I'll touch these other two things much more briefly. That was the main burden that was on my heart this morning. But there is this second area in which his death and life speak to us, and it's this.

39:03 It's a powerful reminder that extensive influence and usefulness in the church of Christ do not depend upon special gifts for public ministry. The life and death of our brother is a powerful reminder that extensive usefulness in the church of Christ does not depend upon special gifts for public ministry. Mr. Densel was among us many years.

39:39 He never held an official office. He was never on the board of deacons. He was never on the board of elders. He never preached a sermon from this pulpit.

39:48 He never taught class.

39:51 And yet we feel the pain of his absence. Why? Because he had an extensive influence and great usefulness amongst us. And to see his life and death teach us that extensive, extensive usefulness and influence do not depend upon special gifts for public ministry.

40:15 The great truth of Romans 12 and of 1 Corinthians 12 that we are the body of Christ and God has given diversity of gifts within that body. And our brother took the gifts that were given and he sought to commit them to God and to use them for the extension of the kingdom. Amen. Amen.

40:37 Amen. He had the gift of parenthood, being a father. And he so sought to fill that role that his three children rise up and call him blessed.

40:50 His daughters-in-law, I should say his one daughter-in-law and his two sons-in-law can rise up and call him blessed and say, we are better daughters, we are better sons, we are better daughters-in-law and sons-in-law. Because of his life, his example, his pattern, his placing his feet in paths that we can follow and in so doing, follow Christ.

41:22 He lived long enough to see each of his children come to open profession of faith in Christ, to marry in the Lord and to establish God-honoring homes. I say the man who lives to see that is wealthy. He makes the wrongs and the Rockefellers look like paupers. And again I speak, I trust as a Christian father.

41:48 I've not asked God that I might live to be 90, but I've said, oh God, let me live long enough to see each of my children come to a well-attested faith in your son and be safely and happily married in the Lord. And maybe as a PS, see a grandchild or two then, Lord. Let me go home. Every parent finds an echo.

42:14 Don't you know what I'm saying? The usefulness is apparent. Oh, some of you have a distorted view of what it means to be useful, waiting for some great opportunity. No, no, friend.

42:29 God's given you precious lives to mold as future husbands and fathers and citizens in Christ's kingdom. Give yourself to that task. There are a few members in this church and many friends, very few, who have not known the hospitality of that home. It'd be amazing if I were to ask how many of you have sat at Rich's table for a meal as a guest in that home.

42:59 There would not be five, 10, 15, 20, dozens and dozens of hands, probably several hundred hands would go up in this place this morning. An extensive usefulness in the ministry of hospitality, consistency in the means of grace. And we all, without renting pews, we all get feeling more comfortable in a given place. I don't know who will fill that place down there, but we'll miss it.

43:28 Faithfulness in the means of grace. The supportiveness in the ministry. At times when those of us who must labor in the Word, and in doctrine, and in oversight wonder, is it all worth it? We look to men like Dick Jensen and we say, yes, God, it's worth it.

43:45 Who in his prayers, and in his whole demeanor made it evident that he knew no little part of helping him on to heaven was the ministry of his overseers and he was unembarrassed to make that known.

44:01 And how many, how many a juniper tree has been kept off our back because of his warmth of encouragement to press on in the work. I say his life and his death are a powerful reminder that extensive usefulness in Christ's church does not depend upon special gifts for public ministry because we believe in the primacy of preaching because God in grace and it's been all of grace has been pleased to bring blessing to this people through the ministry of the word of God we can very easily get a distorted view of the place of that ministry in the total life of the church and the place of that ministry in the total life of the church and the place of that ministry in the total life of the church yes it is to be primary but it is not the exclusive means of the advancement of Christ's kingdom you remember God said to Moses what is that in thy hand and when he said that to Dick Denzel Dick said in my hand is the stewardship of three precious children in my hand is a home, a wife the means of a steady income Lord that's in my hand and it is as though he said Lord Jesus it is your hand it is yours to be used for your glory for the benefit of your church for the advancement of your kingdom and many of us sit here today enriched because he understood

Sober Warning: Certainty and Suddenness of Death

45:28 that usefulness was not dependent upon special gifts for public ministry do you understand that? can you see it in the life of our brother? why is he missed? because of the measure of that usefulness but then finally and always I trust that you'll gird up the loins of your mind and seek to apply yourself carefully to this final strand of thought his life and death are a sober warning concerning the certainty and the possible suddenness of death the Bible says in Hebrews 9 27 it is appointed unto men once to die and after this cometh judgment it is appointed unto men once to die but little did we know that that appointment was made by the living God for this past Thursday night our hearts were full of encouragement all the reports were that whatever the recent setback was he was so much better and we were talking and thinking in terms of his returning home the beginning of this coming week it's just that the home is different now it's not the home in Clifton but it's the home in the presence of Christ the suddenness the suddenness the suddenness and oh my friends

46:55 surely God is speaking to you and to me this sober warning to consider afresh the certainty of our own death yes but also the possible suddenness of our death so you're trying to scare us no just facing reality just facing reality I'm not holding up phantoms this is a reality Mr. Densel will be laid in the earth tomorrow morning that's reality when we anticipated he'd be returning to his home that's reality and my friend as long as you cannot produce from the living God some index that you're going to live another day another week what right have you to go on playing Russian roulette with your never dying soul that's what you do the scripture says boast not thyself of tomorrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth do you know do you know that you'll see next Lord's day on what basis do you know it will you say I hope but my friend all of your hopes and your wishes and your longings and desires cannot stay

48:24 the angel of death when he is sent from the throne of the almighty Mary there aren't enough specialists in every specialized clinic in the world to keep your life sustained one second beyond the moment of God's appointment it is appointed unto men once to die a time to be born and a time to die and the hour is coming when that violent that abnormal wrenching of soul and body will occur in you and in me and the scripture says that the person who is unprepared for that is a fool Luke chapter 12 records the instance of the man who made preparations for everything but death and God says thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee and oh may God help us to face afresh the certainty of our death you cannot avoid it the only thing certain the moment you come that first cry in the delivery room is that you breathe your last breath somewhere the only thing we can predict with certainty about anyone born in this life is that he will die barring those alive at the return of Christ

49:51 it's appointed unto men once to die and coupled with that is the possible suddenness of our death in the old Anglican prayer book the people of God prayed from sudden death good Lord deliver us he does not always answer that prayer and it's a general rule that men die exactly as they've lived seeking to prepare my own heart for this morning I went back over that incident in the book of Numbers some of you will remember it you have the incident of that man that very mixed character called Balaam who's being seduced by Balak to prophesy evil against the people of God and he can't do it and God constrains him to prophesy only good and in the midst of all of this mixed state of affairs he cries out oh that I might die the death of the righteous he sees the latter end of the people of God and says oh that I might die the death of the righteous and someone picking up on that wrote this simple little couplet oh let me die his death the prophet cries then live his life the sacred book replies

51:15 oh let me die his death dear friend dear relative dear member of trinity cries let me die the kind of death that Dick Denzel died his last words to his loved ones I am at rest I am content in the will of God I am content in the will of God oh that I might die oh that I might die the death of the righteous that I might give some broken hearted pastor the solid basis of preaching on my death as he's preached on the occasion of Mr. Denzel's death oh that I might die the death of the righteous you cry let me die his death the member of trinity cries then live his life the book of God God replies a life you cannot live until you first of all make the confession he made coming in all of your naked undone-ness and saying God everything you say in your word about sinners is true of me it's true of me not somebody out there

52:44 and over there and out yonder but oh Lord like a publican I stand God be merciful to me the sinner is not a sinner and then in childlike humility accept everything God has said about His Son that He is all He claimed to be that He did what God says He was sent to do He died for sinners was raised from the dead is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty and then with unreserved abandonment embrace Him as your Savior and Lord trust Him to be your Savior trust Him to give you of His Holy Spirit that you might have power to live a transformed life then that profession will be well attested as you manifest the power of a new creation dear friend, if you would die His death then live His life and that life begins at the cross it begins at the cross but then it's carried on in the unglamorous, faithful submission to the ordained means of grace our brother is a reminder of the things we studied in the Sunday school class this morning faithfulness in the means of grace keeping priorities straight not allowing the weed beds

54:13 of the cares of this world to choke out the word in some of you the very word that caused Him to flourish has been overshadowed utterly choked by the cares of this world and the lust of other things entering in oh may God help some of you to go home today and with vicious hands pull up the weeds by the dozens in the name of God, friend do it today Christians have come to knock your right where you were a year ago two years ago and I fear you'll die and it'll take Herculean acts of Christianity and charity to even bury you as a Christian God help the poor preacher that has to go through that agony and all he can cling to is the threadbare hope that maybe the profession was real in spite of all of the absence of solid evidence that's what some of you are leaving us as your pastors

Conclusion: Live His Life to Die His Death

55:38 the lovely legacy you're leaving us that's the legacy you're leaving us that's the legacy you're leaving us that's the legacy you're leaving us to bury you with a broken heart and Herculean efforts to believe that possibly grace was there in spite of all thank God there are many of you whose profession is well attested and when the Lord takes you we'll have that wonderful inheritance left behind on your death we'll be able to rejoice that you look upon the face of Jesus We'll be able to rejoice as the earthly remains are placed in the ground. That the day of resurrection will see you coming forth resplendent with the glory of Christ himself.

56:48 Your life will be a constant monument when anyone wants to reflect upon it. That God and heaven and Christ and the Bible were real. My friends, you can have your big bank accounts. They don't attract me.

57:03 You can have houses and lands. They don't attract me. If I can leave that legacy, that's all that matters. Whatever else comes in alongside is incidental.

57:23 Is that your perspective? Is it? Are you living in such a way to indicate that it is?

57:32 May God write upon our hearts the lessons and the life of the dear man of God whom the Lord has taken from us. Let us pray. Father, we bow in your presence, sobered in the face of the great realities of the brevity of life,

58:09 the certainty of death and of judgment. We confess we are humbled in the presence of a consistent, quiet, godly life. Oh, Holy Father, help us to look with holy abhorrence. Upon anything that would keep us from leaving the kind of inheritance that our departed brother has left us.

58:40 We pray that our thinking would be altered with respect to what is the true path to real usefulness in your kingdom. Holy Father, in mercy, draw to yourself boys and girls, men and women. Oh, God, use the occasion. Use the occasion of our brother's home going to call many to yourself, to call some who are yours out of that path of spiritual barrenness into a path of fruitfulness.

59:15 Oh, God, what can we say? What can we ask? What can we plead? But that you would have mercy upon us.

59:27 Continue now to uphold, dear Mrs. Denzel, rich. Ruth, Frank and Margaret, Jeff and Joanne, especially during the afternoon hours as they must stand by the remains of their departed loved one. Oh, God, as you've poured grace into their hearts in these past hours, come again.

59:54 So uphold them that they may be a monument of your power and of the great realities that they all profess. Be their portion this afternoon, this evening, at the funeral service tomorrow. Oh, God, may such glory flood that place that none will be able to gainsay the reality of salvation in Christ. Lord, hear our cry.

60:24 Continue, continue in your grace to uphold and support us as your people as we seek to adjust to this loss. Oh, Lord, we bow our necks to your wisdom, to your sovereign right to do as you will with your own. Hear our cry and answer us for Jesus' sake. Amen.