Let's face it, no matter what our thoughts may be on the subject of death, you and I need to face reality. God, who breathed life into us at conception, will one day take the breath of life away, and we will face eternity.
In Psalm 23:4 we read, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil (literally I believe the writer is referring here to death, meaning I will fear no death), for thou (the Lord our Shepherd) art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” At death a believer leaves this earth and is immediately in the presence of the Lord, where he will, “dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” When death comes to a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, the funeral service ought to be a day of triumphant rejoicing.
WHY, because of Psalm 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”
WHY, because the believer knows the reality of the statement, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”
WHY, because of some of the great promises of God.
The promise of victory over death is found in I Corinthians 15:54-57: “Death is swallowed up in VICTORY. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy VICTORY? …But thanks be unto God, which giveth us the VICTORY through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The promise of Jesus to prepare a place for those who have placed their faith in Him is found in John 14:2-3: Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions…I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.”
The promise of Jesus to come again is a promise of resurrection and reunion found in I Thessalonians 4:16-17.
“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. (14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. (15) For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. (16) For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: (17) Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (18) Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
The promise of a new body is found in II Corinthians 5:1-2.
“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.”
As glorious as every facet of the pomp and precision of the procession, and the services given our President, the death of a believer in Christ is just as glorious. Here are the words to the Hymn, “What a Day that will Be.”
There is coming a day when no heartaches shall come,
No more clouds in the sky, no more tears to dim the eyes;
All is peace for evermore on that happy golden shore.
WHAT A DAY, GLORIOUS DAY, THAT WILL BE.
There'll be no Sorrow there, No more burdens to bear.
No more sickness, no pain, no more parting over there; And forevermore
I WILL BE WITH THE ONE WHO DIED FOR ME.
What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see.
And I look upon His Face, the One who saved me by His grace;
When he takes me by the hand, and leads me through the promised land,
WHAT A DAY, GLORIOUS DAY, THAT WILL BE.
The Lord bless you this week as you prayerfully read and meditate on the attached Weekly SERMON, “The Ordinance of Baptism.”
In His Amazing Grace,
PS: We do not, nor will we charge for the Weekly SERMON, however if these have been a blessing to you and you can help with the COST of this endeavor for the Lord, we appreciate and thank you for your prayers and FINANCIAL SUPPORT. Yes, at times I need to extend my hand in order to give you an opportunity to extend your hand financially to enable this ministry to continue to extend the Word of God to others. For financial accountability we are handling all ministry funds under the Green Street Baptist Chapel of Edwardsville, PA. (Mailing address: Bible Baptist Ministry, 48 Alexie Rd, Hanover Township, PA 18706) Checks made out to them and memo to Bible Baptist Ministry will be tax deductible for you and placed in the account for this ministry.
PPS: In order to access the Weekly SERMON, please click the link to Weekly Sermon Library, where you will be able to choose: Plain Text (TXT), Microsoft Word document (DOC), Rich Text (RTF), Web Page (HTML) or PDF (Portable Document Format), any of the format(s) you desire. After you decide on the appropriate format(s) you may then print a copy of the Weekly SERMON, save it to a file on your computer, or download it and save it to a disk for future use. Your use of this material is meant to be flexible.
