Clean Transcript

How Much Do You Value Death?

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• If you would, turn to the book of Philippians chapter 1, and we're going to read verses 12 through 26. I think the title of the message may interest you when you look at this text. So, Philippians chapter 1, beginning reading there with verse 12. There the apostle says, "But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel, so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places. And many of the brethren of the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear."

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• "Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife, and some also of goodwill. The one preached Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds, but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. What then? Notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I shall choose I wot not."

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• "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith, that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming again to you."

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• The title of the message is, listen carefully, "How Much Do You Value Death?" That is a strange question indeed. How much do you value death? The truth of the matter is we value life above everything, and we do everything that we can to prolong, enrich, and enjoy life. We struggle to live. I've preached for 57 years and I never kept an account of how many people I married. It's a large number. I never kept an account of how many people I buried, which is also a large number. Neither did I keep an account of how many people that I have watched die. An interesting thing when you are watching someone die, even then the body is struggling for life. We think of life more often than we think of death. In fact, we never really entertain in our minds the concept of valuing death. I think one reason that we devalue death is because oftentimes we view death as the cessation of life. And the truth is, death is not the cessation of life. In fact, the Bible clearly teaches that life exists after death.

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• Death is nothing more than simply the separation of the soul from the body. So life does indeed continue after death, and our Lord emphasizes this in Luke 20, verse 38, when He said, "For God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all live unto Him." So I want to enunciate a principle you've probably never thought upon. And that is this, that according to the Bible, there is indeed a value to life, but there's also a value to death. So what we need to do is view both life and death from a biblical perspective. So I want you to hold, if you would, Philippians chapter 1—we're coming back there—but I do want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and look at verse 1, and I'm going to explain a few things before we get to our text. But notice in Ecclesiastes—you have Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes—notice if you would, Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and verse 1, where Solomon says, "A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of one's birth."

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• Now, the first half of this verse is very easily understood. "A good name is better than precious ointment." In other words, we should always endeavor to have a good name, a good testimony, a good reputation. That is, we're to live an honorable life, full of character, integrity, and obedience. And he's telling us that it's far more valuable than the most precious of all ointments. And then he says this in verse 1, the latter part, "...and the day of death than the day of one's birth." In other words, he's saying that the day of one's death is better than the day of one's birth.

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• Now, I would say this, that that is exceedingly true if one is a believer, if one is genuinely saved, and one who trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ. For one who is unsaved and not a Christian, the day of one's death is not going to be a good day, nor is it going to be a joyous day. So you have to understand when you read the book of Ecclesiastes, that Solomon is writing as a man under the sun. That is, he's writing basically from the position of a natural man. So if you look in Ecclesiastes 6, and notice if you would, verse 12, right above it, he says, "For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life, which he spendeth as a shadow? For who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?" So without me giving a commentary on the book of Ecclesiastes, let me just tell you, you cannot understand the book of Ecclesiastes without understanding that it is a goads and nails—I'm going to show you this.

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• I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 12, and notice, if you would please, verse 12. Well, let's read verse 11. That's the verse I want right now. Notice, if you would, Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 11. He says, "The words of the wise are as goads and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd." So everyone knows what a goad is. They use them to goad oxen. It was a long stick and sharpened on one end. And so when the oxen stopped or hesitated, they would take that goad and punch him, stick him, prick him, and make him move. So a goad then is something that is going to prick you. It's something going to goad you. It's something going to sting you and make you think. And then he talks about the nails, and that is what Solomon is doing in this book.

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• He's goading you with a lot of things as the natural man under the sun, and then he gives you a biblical truth to nail a principle down. So when you study the book of Ecclesiastes, it is a goads-and-nails study. So if you look in verses 12 and, well, 13 and 14 particularly, you'll see how he concludes the whole matter. He said in verse 13, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, that is, of everything that is taught so far. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Why? For God shall bring every work into judgment and every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil."

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• So Solomon is telling us that the day of one's death is actually better than the day of one's birth. And certainly that would be true if one is a child of God.

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• Now, death is indeed precious and honorable and valuable for the Christian. The Bible says in Psalm 116 and verse 15, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."

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• Now the word "precious" there is the Hebrew word yaqar, and it literally means precious, costly, valuable, rare, splendid, highly valued as precious stones. So precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.

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• Now, I want you to turn back to Philippians chapter 1, and I will show you the verse that really goaded me to consider this. Here's a verse that you and I have read many, many times. In fact, probably everyone in this room could quote this verse. And the verse has been preached on over and over. But look if you would in Philippians 1 and verse 21. For the apostle Paul says, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." So Paul then definitively states that death is a gain. The Greek word there is the word kerdos, which refers to a gain, a profit, or an advantage. So he's actually saying that death for him—death for the child of God—is an advantage. It is a profit. So he reckons then that his death is indeed a profit or an advantage, and especially he compares this with what he was like before he was converted. So here is his death after conversion, and I want you to see what he says about his life before conversion.

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• So if you look in Philippians chapter 3, beginning there with verse 7, after Paul gives all of his pedigree in the preceding verses, he comes down to verse 7 and he says this, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ." Now, note if you would, he said he counted everything in his life prior to his conversion as loss. And then he said he counted it as dung.

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• So let me just spell this out for you. From a biblical perspective, life without Jesus Christ, no matter how pleasing, how profitable, and how pacifying it is to the flesh, is a loss. It is worthless. It is meaningless. In fact, it is reckoned as merely dung, and dung has absolutely no value except to fertilize the ground.

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• Now, before I go farther, I want you to turn back to two passages in your Bible. I want you to turn to the book of Nahum, if you would, first of all. Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk. And look in Nahum, if you would, chapter 1 and verse 14, and what God says to these wicked folks. Then we're going to the book of Malachi chapter 2. So notice, if you would, Nahum chapter 1 and verse 14, and God says, "And the Lord hath given a commandment concerning thee, that is, the wicked folks, that no more thy name be sown out of the house of thy gods: I will cut off the graven images and the molten image, and I will make thy grave, for thou art vile." In other words, God says, you're nothing but filth, you're nothing but dung. I will make your grave because you are vile. Now, look, if you would, in the book of Malachi chapter 2, beginning there with verse 1. Malachi chapter 2 and verse 1. Notice if you would what he says now to the priests. Look at it, Malachi 2 verse 1: "And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feast, and one shall take you away with it." So here is what Paul is saying, that life without Jesus Christ is wasted and worthless, and it is to be counted as nothing but dung. It does not matter how many temporary pleasures one enjoys. Without Jesus Christ, it is a worthless life. And the truth of the matter is, when the individual who dies without Jesus Christ stands before Him on the day of judgment, he will indeed acknowledge that his life was a wasted life and a worthless life.

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• Alice and I had a dear friend. He and his wife both are now dead. This man, before his conversion, was a drunkard.

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• Now, that didn't mean he didn't work. He did work, but he was still a drunkard. But he was also a musician, and he played a saxophone, and he played it very, very well. And many years after he was converted, he would visit us, and we called them Mama and Papa, although we were not related, and they referred to us as their children. But Papa would come over and visit, and he'd bring that saxophone, and Alice would be at the piano, and he would stand and play for hours. Finally, I would have to go up and say, "Papa, would you please put the saxophone down so Alice can get up from the piano and go fix us some dinner," you know, because he could play all day long. But one of his favorite songs, and he played it over and over, was a song called "Wasted Years." Wasted years. Oh how foolish. And I have seen him many times weep over the fact that he was only converted later in life, and the fact that he counted his previous life as nothing but wasted years. And that's truth.

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• That's what the Apostle Paul is saying. He counts it all but dung. He counts it all but loss because it was worthless. It was wasted. I've often said that I do not want to die without Jesus Christ, but the truth of the matter is, I do not want to live without Jesus Christ either. He is not only our hope in this life, He is also our hope in the next life as well.

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• Now, you'll remember I told you in the introduction that one of the reasons we do not value death is because we tend to think of death as the cessation of life. But there are other reasons as well. So I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would, to 2 Timothy chapter 4. And let me show you an interesting passage from the author of Philippians, that is, the Apostle Paul. So he says this again in 2 Timothy chapter 4.

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• Notice, if you would please, verse 6 and 7. Let me explain this. He says in verse 6, "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I fought a good fight. I finished my course. I've kept the faith." Now notice, he said, "I'm now ready to be offered." Why? He said, "The time of my departure is at hand." Why? Because "I fought a good fight. I finished my course. I've kept the faith." Clearly, one of the reasons most of us are not ready to be offered is that we have not fought a good fight.

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• And the truth of the matter is most of us have never even entered into the ring. We have not fought for the Lord. Moreover, we have not finished our courses. We have not kept the faith. And therefore, consequently, we hesitate, dread, and recoil even at the thought of death. Our lives oftentimes have been in contradiction to our profession of faith, and we know the violations of the principles of the Word of God that have occurred in our life. In other words, we basically know how we have lived. We basically also know what we have done. And it's very difficult for you and I oftentimes to say, "I'm ready to be offered."

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• "My departure is at hand." Now, when Paul said, "I'm ready to be offered," anytime you think of an offering, you think of a sacrifice, and that is true. Interestingly, the Greek word for "offered" here is the word spendo, which literally means to pour out as a drink offering, or to pour out as a libation. It is used figuratively of one whose blood is about to be poured out in a violent death. You remember how Paul died. He was axed.

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• His head was cut off. He was literally offered, and he said he was ready. His departure was at hand.

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• Now, if you look at the word "departure," the Greek word there is analusis, which means unloosening, a departure, a dissolving. It is a metaphor drawn from the loosing of a ship from its moorings right before it sets sail. So the Apostle said that he is ready to be offered in a violent death. Wow! So he was ready, he was willing, he was eager. So now I have to ask this question, was Paul crazy? Was Paul insane? I mean who could say, "I'm sitting here ready to have my head cut off"? But Paul was. Because he said, "I fought a good fight. I finished my course. I've kept the faith." Now let me show you why he could say that. Look in verse 8, 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 8.

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• "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day. And not to me only, but unto all them that love his appearing." So the apostle Paul said, "I'm ready to be offered, my departure is at hand. I'm ready. And although my head's going to be cut off, God's going to give me a crown." You'd think, where in the world is he going to wear it if his head's cut off? But the truth is, He's going to have a new body. That is for sure.

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• Now, I want you to turn back in your Bibles to the book of Philippians, because I want to work our way down and show you the truth. So let's begin in Philippians chapter one in verse 12 and read through verse 14. Look what he says. "But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel."

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• "So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and all the other places. And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear."

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• Now, he said, "I want you to understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather to the furtherance or the advancement of the gospel." Well, what were the things that happened to Paul? Well, he was arrested. He was thrown in the dungeon. He was sitting there thinking that his head may indeed be cut off. I want to give you a quote from Matthew Henry. Listen to what he said about Paul's statement here.

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• "The apostle was calm in the midst of it all. Since our troubles may bless many, we ought to rejoice. Whatever promotes our salvation is by the Spirit of Christ, and prayer is the appointed means of seeking for it. Our earnest expectation and hope should not be to be honored by men or to escape the cross, but to be upheld amid temptation, contempt, and affliction. Let us leave it to Christ, which way He will make us serviceable unto His glory, whether by labor or suffering, by diligence or patience, by living for His honor and working for Him or dying for His honor and suffering for Him." So he was saying that the Apostle Paul was just calm in all of this, and he could see all the blessings of God in it.

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• Now, if you'll notice in verse 13, he said that his bonds in Christ are made manifest in all the palace and in all the places as well. So everyone in the palace knew then of Paul's incarceration and why he was there. Moreover, if you look in verse 14, he said, "And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear."

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• In other words, it encouraged others. In other words, they said, "If Paul can endure imprisonment, so can I. If he can endure being arrested, so can I." And so they were much more bold to preach the word.

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• Now, let's begin with verse 14 and read on down. He said, "And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Now watch. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife, and some also of goodwill. The one preached Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds, but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. What then? Notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached."

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• "And I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ."

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• Now, Paul says the gospel was furthered by his imprisonment, that he was standing for truth and he was willing to be imprisoned for the truth. And he said that many of the brethren waxed bolder and were preaching the truth. But then he said that there were some who were very contentious. There were some who hated Paul so much. They wanted to add to his misery and his discomfort. And so what they did, they began to mock and ridicule and preach the same gospel that he preached, but not genuinely and not sincerely. They were doing it to mock Him, but here's what He said, "But Christ is preached. Whether it's in pretense or whether it's genuine, Christ is preached, and I therein am rejoicing." Now, you say, how in the world could Paul rejoice in someone who is so wickedly mimicking him and mocking him and preaching the Word about Jesus Christ as he did, although they hated and despised Jesus Christ?

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• Well, let me ask you a question. If God could use a dumb ass to rebuke a mad prophet, could God not use the words of these reprobates? And the answer is yes. If you'll read 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse 16, the Bible says, "...and the dumb ass forbade the madness of the prophet." The dumb ass in speaking, that is Balaam's donkey, spoke to Balaam and rebuked him. And Balaam answered the donkey—that's the amazing thing. The donkey asked him, "Have I ever done this to you before?" He said, "Nay," you know. So the donkey was prophesying and the prophet was naying, but anyhow, I just simply say God used that donkey, so God can use these reprobates, and this is what he's saying. Now, if you look at verse 19, let me just point this out.

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• Paul said, "For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ." I've pointed this out before. The word "salvation" is used in many different ways in the Bible. And this does not mean that Paul was unsaved, not by any stretch of the imagination. Paul was certainly saved. He was a true preacher of God. But when he says, "For I know this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer," he's just simply talking about being released from prison. He's not going to die at this particular point. He's not ready. He's ready to die now, but he's not going to die until you get over to 2 Timothy, which we've already read. So he says, "I know that this will turn to my salvation." That is, he's going to be released from prison. And as you read on down, you're going to see that is in the context as well.

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• So look, if you would, beginning there with verse 20 now. He said, "According to my earnest expectation, my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor."

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• "Yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I'm in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better, nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith." So this is why I'm saying in verse 19, he's just talking about his release from prison. And then when you look in verse 26, "That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again." So the apostle, of course, is saying that, yes, his earnest expectation and his hope is that he would not be ashamed.

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• He'd always be bold concerning Christ and that Christ would be magnified in his body, whether he lived or whether he died. And then he said this, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." To die is a profit. It is an advantage. And I certainly prefer that.

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• Now, I want you to look what he said. He said in verse 22, "But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor," that is, ministering. He said, "Yet what I shall choose I know not, for I am in a strait betwixt two." That is, he's got two choices. He can either depart and be with Christ or he can stay and continue to preach.

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• So watch what he says. "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better"—and you can put in parentheses, "for me." That's what he is saying. Verse 24, "Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you." So the strait that he was in, he had a desire to die and be with Christ, which was better for him, but to continue to live and preach and teach would be better for them.

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• And so he understood by this time he was not going to be martyred. He was going to actually escape. So Paul then, the whole point of this is that he valued death. He counted it as an advantage. He looked at it as an improvement. He looked at it as something that's to be desired. However, he said at this point, "I'm probably going to continue to live for your benefit." So think about this. Here's a question. Should we value death?

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• And the answer would be absolutely yes. Why? Death is not the end for the Christian. Death is really the beginning for the child of God. Death is not the cessation of life. Death, in reality, is the entrance to real life. Life does not begin at 40. Life begins, actually, at death for the child of God. Now, there's to be no fear in death. If you look in your Bibles very quickly to the book of Hebrews, chapter 2, at verses 14 and 15. Look what is said here, Hebrews chapter 2, verses 14 and 15. The Bible says, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." So for the child of God, we've actually been delivered from death. And that's true, and from the fear of death as well, because when we die, we are actually not dead, and we have been delivered from the fear of death as well.

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• So what is death for the Christian? Well, I want to give you a couple of passages to meditate upon. I want you to turn back in your Bibles, if you would, to 2 Corinthians 5, and let's look at the first nine verses. Watch this, if you would. 2 Corinthians 5, and let's read verse 9. Let me just go ahead and tell you this. First and foremost, death for the Christian is a transformation, a transformation. So watch this. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 1.

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• "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved," that's our body, "we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." So when this body dissolves, when our soul leaves this body and our body rots in the ground, he says we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Notice if you would, he begins this verse, "For we know." This is something that we understand. This is something that we know: there awaits us a glorified body. Then he says in verse two, "For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven." He said it's natural that we should want this glorified body. "If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle," this soul-fleshly body, "do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." We are mortal, we're going to die. But as

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• Christians, when we die, our mortality is swallowed up in life. That's why I said for the child of God, death is not the end. It is the beginning. It is real life. Now he says in verse 5, "Now he that hath wrought us for this selfsame thing is God, who hath also given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord."

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• "For we walk by faith and not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor that whether present or absent, we shall be accepted of him." So he says, we know this. We're going to be transformed. We are going to have a glorified body. This old body will expire. I've got a good friend in our church in Waycross.

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• He's younger than I am, but not too much. And usually he comes up to me about once a month and he says, "Why didn't you tell me that getting old had all these problems?" So, I usually say, "Cheer up, things are going to get worse." But it's true. But let me show you. I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would, to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. As you turn there, let me emphasize this.

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• What is death for the Christian? Death to a Christian is the door of hope, the gate of heaven, a glorified body, the entrance into eternal glory, the brightness of eternity, the presence of Jesus Christ, the glory of God the Father, and freedom from all that is sinful and evil, and the reception of all that is good, godly, and joyous. Wow. Now, I want to show you what heaven is and what death is for the Christian. Death for the Christian is going to be fixing permanently that which we are to be doing practically. So in Romans 12 verses 1 and 2, Paul writes, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice." Now usually when you think of a sacrifice, you think of something that's been killed, but now he says our sacrificial work is a living sacrifice. And he says, "holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Now watch verse two. "And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

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• Now, I want you to note in verse two, he said, "And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed." So let me say this again. That which we are to be doing right now, practically in this life, will be done for us permanently in glory. When you look at the word "transformed" in verse 2, I will give you the Greek word. You tell me what English word we get from it. It is metamorphoo. So what is the word? Metamorphosis. Metamorphosis, which means to transfigure, to transform, to change, to go from one form to the other. So he says, by renewing our mind, we are to be transformed, we are to be metamorphosized, we are to go through changes that we're becoming more and more like Jesus Christ. Of course, a caterpillar goes through stages and ultimately is transformed by metamorphosis into a butterfly. So the scripture is going to teach us that our metamorphosis will only be complete when we are transformed in eternity.

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• So death for the child of God is first and foremost a transformation. Okay. But that is not all. Death for the child of God is not only a transformation. It is a conformation. I want you to look in your Bibles to Romans 8 and verse 29. Romans 8, verse 29. Look what he says. Romans 8, verse 29. "For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren." So you have been predestinated as children of God to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

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• Now, the word "conformed" is the Greek word summorphos, and "sum" is a preposition, which means "with." It's from morphe, which means "form." So the word put together means fashioned like unto, having the same form, or being conformed. So turn over, if you would, to the book of Philippians, if you would, chapter 3 this time, beginning with verse 9. I want you to see this. We're talking about conformity to Jesus Christ. In Philippians chapter 3, beginning there with verse 9, the apostle says this, "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know Him, and the power of His

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• resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." He said, "being made conformable unto His death." So ultimately, we're going to be conformed to Jesus Christ. We are to be constantly being transformed and conformed in this life, but it will become permanent when we die. I want you to turn to 1 John chapter 3. Look at this. 1 John chapter 3 and let's begin reading there with verse 1. 1 John 3 and verse 1. Look at this. Here's a tremendous truth. John writes, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon

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• us that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in himself purifieth himself even as he is pure."

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• Did you hear what he said? "But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." And the scripture tells us that our Lord is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. And when we are conformed to His image permanently in heaven, we too will be holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sin, sinning, and sinners.

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• Now, I want to give you some quotes. I want to give you some quotes from some of the old Puritans and some of the more modern-day individuals, on the subject of death for the child of God. I'll quote Spurgeon several times, but listen, here's the first one from Charles Spurgeon. He said, "The best moment of a Christian's life is the last one, because it is the one that's nearest to heaven." The best moment of a Christian's life is the last one, because it is the one that is nearest to heaven. William Nicholson, "Death ends all the conflicts and trials and sorrows for the righteous. Death is the commencement of all the woes for the wicked." Richard Sibbes, the old Puritan, "Death will be," listen to this, "death will be the death of my misery, the death of my sins, the death of my corruption, but death will be my birthday in regards to happiness." Wow.

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• Adoniram Judson, missionary to Burma, he said, "When Christ calls me home, I shall go with the gladness of a boy bounding away from school." You can't get any happier than that if you're a boy. That is a fact. John Calvin said it like this, "We may positively state that nobody has made any progress in the school of Christ unless he cheerfully looks forward to the day of his death." Think about that. He said, "We may positively state that nobody has made any progress in the school of Christ unless he cheerfully looks forward to the day of his death." Well, the truth of the matter is, if we really understood the value of death, we could look cheerfully to the day of our death. Here's Samuel Bolton.

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• "It is the privilege of saints that they shall not die until the best time, not until when, if they were but rightly informed, they would desire to die." Isn't that amazing? If they were rightly informed, they would desire to die. Thomas Watson, "For the child of God, death is the funeral of all of his sorrows." John Bunyan, "Death is but a passage out of a prison into a palace." Wow. William Gurnall, "Let your hope of heaven master your fear of death. Why should you be afraid to die who hope to live by dying?" So death is not a cessation of life. Again, William Nicholson, "We're ever gliding down the stream of time into the ocean of eternity." And John Newton, the old slave trader, the author of Amazing Grace, said, "I'm packed, sealed and waiting for the post who would desire to live always in this poor world."

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• And Charles Haddon Spurgeon again, he said, "He who does not prepare for death is more than an ordinary fool. He's a madman." And then Spurgeon, in commenting on Paul's statement, "and to die is gain," he says this, "'And to die is gain,' because death, he felt, would free him from all sin and from all doubts as to his state in this present and in the future. It would be gain to him, for then he would no longer be tossed upon the stormy sea, but he would be safe upon the land where he was bound. It would be gain to him, for then he would be free from all temptations, both from within and from without. It would be gain to him, for then he would be delivered from all of his enemies.

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• There would be no more cruel Nero, no blaspheming Jews, no false brethren. It would be gain to him, for then he would be delivered from all suffering. There would be no more shipwrecks, no more being beaten with rods or being stoned. Dying too would be gain for him, for he would then be free from all fear of death, and having once died, he would die no more forever.

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• It would be gain to him, for he would find in heaven better and more perfect friends than he would leave behind on earth. And he would find above all his Savior, and be a partaker of his glory. This is a wide subject, and the more we think over it, the more sweetness we shall get out of it." Wow. So let me make an application and I'm going to let you look at another passage. But here's my application. First, the question.

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• Do you see any value in death? Here's another question. After having heard this truth, do you think that you can regard death in a more valuable light? You see, death is not our enemy. Death is our friend. Death does not destroy us. Death enables us to enter into eternity. And death for the child of God is not a cursing. Death for the child of God is a blessing because it is our passage from this life into eternity.

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• I want you to turn in your Bibles, please, to Hebrews chapter 12. I want to show you this. I don't understand in one sense of the word how we could be so pessimistic when it comes to death. Now I don't want to die, I tell people I want to live. There is a value in life, there is a value in death. I've said this before. I will say it again. There are two reasons why I do not want to die. The first one is I don't want to leave Alice. The second one is I don't want to quit preaching. I love to preach. I enjoy preaching. I tell everybody this. Whether you get anything out of my preaching or not, I do. I like it. I enjoy it.

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• I'm glad to do it. I just love it. That's what God called me to do. So I'm just saying, I'm like Christ and like Paul in one sense of the word. If I live, I want to just keep preaching. I don't want to quit preaching. But I also understand there's a value in death. There's things that I can never have in this life unless I die. Let me show them to you.

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• Look in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 12. Here is a wonderful truth for the child of God when it comes to death. Look if you would, Hebrews chapter 12, and let's begin in verse 22. Where do we go when we die? What do we encounter? He says, "But ye are come unto Mount Zion, unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, unto an innumerable company of angels." So when we die, we enter into the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. We'll be surrounded by an innumerable company of angels.

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• Those we cannot number, there'll be so many of them. Then we'll be coming "to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel." How could we not want those things? How could we not count that valuable to come to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly in the church of the firstborn, to God the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all the saints of God—and then, of course, to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant. Yeah. Death is exceedingly valuable to the child of God. For without death, none of those things would be ours. So again, the question is, how much do you value death?

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• Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we ask for your grace and your mercy. We pray, Father, that you would put us on a biblical perspective concerning death, as well as concerning life. May we be able to say with the Apostle Paul, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." May we not, Lord, waste our lives by living a worthless life. May we fight the good fight of faith and may we finish our course and understand, Lord, that when we keep the faith, there is indeed a crown of righteousness laid up for us. And help us, Father, to long to be like the Lord Jesus Christ.

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• We will not only be transformed, we will be conformed. And may, Father, our heart's desire be to be like unto him. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

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• We will not only be transformed, we will be conformed. And may, Father, our heart's desire be to be like unto him. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

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• so

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T15:35:32Z