Edmund Calamy lived a tough life during a tough era. But he loved the Lord and he preached faithfully about Christ through the tumultuous English Civil War.
Big thank you to John Rayner and his audio narration company for helping us with this episode.
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00:00 --> 00:03 [SPEAKER_02]: Revived Fauts is a production of Revived Studios.
00:09 --> 00:11 [SPEAKER_01]: This is Troy and Joel, and you're listening to Revived Fauts.
00:23 --> 00:25 [SPEAKER_00]: It was Stephen's body that fell asleep.
00:26 --> 00:29 [SPEAKER_00]: His soul was immediately received by the Lord Jesus in the Heaven.
00:31 --> 00:46 [SPEAKER_02]: Every episode we bring you a different voice from history and a sermon that they delivered today We're going to a sermon that was preached in West Binscher in 1661 at the passing of an important noble lady That's that's when the sermon was preached.
00:46 --> 00:48 [SPEAKER_02]: Calamie Edmund Calamie Troy.
00:49 --> 00:50 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's a new one
00:51 --> 00:51 [SPEAKER_01]: It is a new one.
00:51 --> 00:55 [SPEAKER_01]: We actually, so I do feel about the gentleman who sent this sermon to us.
00:56 --> 00:57 [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, hey, this is a great sermon.
00:57 --> 01:00 [SPEAKER_01]: In fact, he told us when his wife passes away.
01:00 --> 01:02 [SPEAKER_01]: She said she wanted this sermon a red.
01:02 --> 01:03 [SPEAKER_01]: I believe it's what he said or it was a password.
01:04 --> 01:05 [SPEAKER_01]: Sorry, guy who sent this.
01:05 --> 01:06 [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, took two years.
01:06 --> 01:11 [SPEAKER_01]: I kind of lost it in my folder of sermons, which by the way, oh, Joel, I have some cool sermons for us.
01:11 --> 01:12 [SPEAKER_01]: I'll tell you in a second.
01:12 --> 01:14 [SPEAKER_01]: But I lost it.
01:14 --> 01:15 [SPEAKER_01]: I found it in my folder of sermons.
01:15 --> 01:16 [SPEAKER_01]: I edited it.
01:16 --> 01:17 [SPEAKER_01]: And so finally, after we do try to take,
01:18 --> 01:25 [SPEAKER_01]: Occasionally a listener will say, Hey, there's a cool sermon every seeing this one and when we do and we can work it out We do try to have them on Speaking of cool sermons Joel.
01:25 --> 01:37 [SPEAKER_01]: We have a really a couple cool ones coming down and be a little while before they're ready But this week I found Another sermon to pirates on death row if you remember when we did one of those this is what a great setting for sermon
01:38 --> 01:39 [SPEAKER_01]: It is a great one.
01:39 --> 01:45 [SPEAKER_01]: I also found two different sermons separated by 500 years against Vikings.
01:45 --> 01:51 [SPEAKER_01]: So like two different times, people in the ancient days are being attacked by Vikings, and this is the sermon they preach.
01:51 --> 01:52 [SPEAKER_01]: So that's pretty cool.
01:53 --> 01:56 [SPEAKER_01]: I have one from Bleeding Kansas, which we just had a whole deep dive.
01:56 --> 01:58 [SPEAKER_01]: Patreon listeners, listening, alright, you guys.
01:59 --> 02:00 [SPEAKER_01]: I have a sermon from that era.
02:00 --> 02:01 [SPEAKER_01]: Pretty rad.
02:02 --> 02:03 [SPEAKER_01]: And I have another sermon.
02:03 --> 02:04 [SPEAKER_01]: And now I'm blank, you know what?
02:04 --> 02:04 [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, it was a sermon
02:05 --> 02:11 [SPEAKER_01]: like literal medieval knights like the guy gave a sermon prepping some knights for battle and they're all real.
02:11 --> 02:12 [SPEAKER_02]: I'm like, these are cool.
02:12 --> 02:13 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, we got a lineup coming.
02:13 --> 02:13 [SPEAKER_02]: That sounds awesome.
02:14 --> 02:20 [SPEAKER_01]: It'll be a while, and we have some really famous names before we get to those, your Dale Moody's, Charles Spurgeon, all the people you would expect on a show like this.
02:20 --> 02:32 [SPEAKER_01]: But I, I look, I love the famous guys that are great in their famous for a reason, but there's something about a guy preaching during a Viking attack that I also wanna know, what did you say to the people who are about to be Viking?
02:32 --> 02:34 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, what do you say to a pirate on death row?
02:34 --> 02:36 [SPEAKER_01]: What do you say to a bunch of medieval knights?
02:36 --> 02:40 [SPEAKER_01]: And literally it kind of ends like, no, co and die for God, like what do you say to these guys?
02:40 --> 02:42 [SPEAKER_01]: That to me also is quite fascinating.
02:42 --> 02:43 [SPEAKER_01]: So we got good stuff coming down the pack.
02:44 --> 02:46 [SPEAKER_01]: Sounds good.
02:46 --> 02:48 [SPEAKER_01]: Positive responses to share with everybody.
02:48 --> 02:58 [SPEAKER_01]: Jill Berry, former Managing Editor at the Babel Editor at the Babel on Be Current Producer for the Jeremy Boring Show, is shared us, which got a bunch of different new listeners, so we appreciate all of you who came from that.
02:59 --> 03:09 [SPEAKER_01]: If you haven't checked out the Revive Thoughts podcast, you need to, we protest at Evangelical, sometimes feel like we don't have a history or a heritage to our Catholic friends do, because unlike Catholicism or theology, doesn't really depend on that kind of thing.
03:09 --> 03:12 [SPEAKER_01]: But then you hear a sermon delivered centuries or even millennia's ago.
03:13 --> 03:21 [SPEAKER_01]: and you can easily feel like it could be delivered by Billy Graham or John MacArthur today, and you realize we really do have an unbroken threat of faithful biblical devotion going back to the apostles.
03:22 --> 03:27 [SPEAKER_01]: Joel, thank you very much for sharing and we really appreciate it and we got several new people checking this out because of that.
03:29 --> 03:31 [SPEAKER_01]: K-Y double zero buck.
03:31 --> 03:33 [SPEAKER_01]: I just guy, he's gonna let me kind of before.
03:33 --> 03:34 [SPEAKER_02]: He's correct you do before.
03:34 --> 03:36 [SPEAKER_01]: I know every time he gets me, I don't know.
03:36 --> 03:39 [SPEAKER_01]: I was gonna say his name is Brent and he actually is reading a sermon for us that's coming out soon.
03:39 --> 03:42 [SPEAKER_01]: So he's a great guy, but he's really cool.
03:42 --> 03:53 [SPEAKER_01]: He does, he's done a revive thoughts accomplishment that every time somebody says this to me, especially as the years get on, it becomes more impressive, which is he said, I finally finished the entire catalog of revive thoughts podcast.
03:54 --> 03:55 [SPEAKER_01]: you all may apply.
03:55 --> 03:55 [SPEAKER_01]: Check them out.
03:55 --> 03:57 [SPEAKER_01]: Best registry podcasts on the interwebs.
03:58 --> 03:58 [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, Brent.
03:58 --> 03:59 [SPEAKER_01]: We appreciate that.
03:59 --> 04:01 [SPEAKER_01]: Appreciate they have a sermon coming out.
04:02 --> 04:04 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we have people who have listened every episode.
04:04 --> 04:04 [SPEAKER_01]: We do it.
04:04 --> 04:08 [SPEAKER_01]: But I think as the catalog gets bigger, that becomes all the more impressive to me.
04:09 --> 04:10 [SPEAKER_01]: Now I got to listen to them again.
04:10 --> 04:12 [SPEAKER_01]: Let's keep those downloads coming all right.
04:12 --> 04:12 [SPEAKER_01]: Let's round to it.
04:13 --> 04:13 [SPEAKER_01]: No, I'm just playing.
04:14 --> 04:16 [SPEAKER_01]: Tim says this was a great episode.
04:16 --> 04:17 [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, deep.
04:17 --> 04:30 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I picked this one because there was a church history group talking like a today in Christian history was like, oh, there was the great fire Lenin fire 1666 and Tim here said, hey, here's a great episode on that shared our episode the guy the runs the page thanked him for it.
04:30 --> 04:31 [SPEAKER_01]: Listen to it.
04:31 --> 04:32 [SPEAKER_01]: Super awesome guys.
04:33 --> 04:33 [SPEAKER_01]: And
04:33 --> 04:38 [SPEAKER_01]: This, I picked it out because this episode, by the way, Brent also responded that, so thank you, Brent.
04:39 --> 04:41 [SPEAKER_01]: But this is very related to this.
04:41 --> 04:44 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if you noticed, but we said this sermon was preached in 1661 in Westminster.
04:45 --> 04:53 [SPEAKER_01]: And the guy who preached, he's in London five years before the London fire, and he actually has a very special relationship with the London fire.
04:53 --> 04:57 [SPEAKER_01]: One that even people in the London fire episode, there weren't many people who had this happened to them.
04:58 --> 05:13 [SPEAKER_01]: Rachel says if you haven't listened to that it's on it's a deep dive They're on patreon, but this one's actually also public so go download that's really great episode We'll talk about it more in a minute Rachel on Spotify says seeing this episode appear was a pleasant surprise Grad to have you guys back in the regular podcast lineup.
05:13 --> 05:14 [SPEAKER_01]: You know Rachel.
05:14 --> 05:14 [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
05:14 --> 05:21 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm glad you missed us and we're glad to be back Summer break is always nice because we get chances to catch up on things, but I miss doing this recording with you
05:22 --> 05:24 [SPEAKER_01]: And Daniel says, yes, the return of Revive thought.
05:24 --> 05:24 [SPEAKER_01]: So okay.
05:24 --> 05:26 [SPEAKER_01]: We got everybody that was happy.
05:26 --> 05:26 [SPEAKER_01]: We came back.
05:26 --> 05:28 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure there were more people than them.
05:28 --> 05:30 [SPEAKER_01]: But anyway, Joel, you ready.
05:30 --> 05:31 [SPEAKER_01]: Let's do this thing.
05:31 --> 05:31 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
05:31 --> 05:32 [SPEAKER_02]: Calamay.
05:32 --> 05:33 [SPEAKER_02]: Calamay.
05:33 --> 05:33 [SPEAKER_02]: Calamay.
05:34 --> 05:34 [SPEAKER_02]: Calamay.
05:34 --> 05:34 [SPEAKER_02]: Calamay.
05:34 --> 05:35 [SPEAKER_02]: Calamay.
05:35 --> 05:35 [SPEAKER_01]: Calamay.
05:35 --> 05:36 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm saying, Calamay.
05:37 --> 05:39 [SPEAKER_01]: And if he doesn't like it, he can call in and let us know.
05:40 --> 05:40 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
05:40 --> 05:41 [SPEAKER_01]: He's a new one for me.
05:42 --> 05:44 [SPEAKER_01]: Was he on your radar or had you had you heard of him before?
05:45 --> 05:48 [SPEAKER_01]: I, I'm not gonna make my normal joke because you told me I make it every time.
05:48 --> 05:50 [SPEAKER_01]: So, you too, it's a simple question.
05:50 --> 05:52 [SPEAKER_02]: Had you ever had a county before?
05:53 --> 05:53 [SPEAKER_02]: At every time.
05:53 --> 05:54 [SPEAKER_02]: I was enjoying it.
05:54 --> 05:55 [SPEAKER_01]: So, I'm not sure.
05:56 --> 05:58 [SPEAKER_01]: Look, when you work with students, I work with high schoolers.
05:58 --> 06:02 [SPEAKER_01]: You just get asked lots of questions all the time and you come up with like, little wrote answers.
06:03 --> 06:04 [SPEAKER_01]: You throw at them every time.
06:04 --> 06:06 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, is this gonna be on the quiz?
06:06 --> 06:09 [SPEAKER_01]: I kind of said you just have a little and then you just start to spill into other parts of your life.
06:09 --> 06:11 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, Joel.
06:11 --> 06:13 [SPEAKER_01]: No, I had not heard of Edmund Calamie in fact.
06:13 --> 06:22 [SPEAKER_01]: when I wrote this script, I wrote his name wrong, and I wrote Edward Calamity, and I was googling this guy for a while, and I was like, who is Edward Calamity?
06:22 --> 06:23 [SPEAKER_01]: Like there's no information.
06:23 --> 06:25 [SPEAKER_02]: I need to find more information on this Calamity guy.
06:26 --> 06:28 [SPEAKER_01]: I know I saw him when I first picked this sermon.
06:28 --> 06:29 [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, I knew that there was stuff on him.
06:29 --> 06:31 [SPEAKER_01]: Why can't I find anything on this Edward Calamity?
06:32 --> 06:34 [SPEAKER_01]: Except for, there was somebody named him.
06:34 --> 06:38 [SPEAKER_01]: He was some recent guy, and I was like, that's not the only, anyway, Edmund Calamity.
06:38 --> 06:39 [SPEAKER_01]: It's what I'm going to tell him.
06:40 --> 06:47 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, born in the year 1600 in London, England, to a family that came from the Hugonats.
06:47 --> 06:52 [SPEAKER_02]: Now the Hugonats were Protestant Christians that had converted in France and were persecuted for their beliefs.
06:53 --> 06:56 [SPEAKER_02]: This is, again, so he's born in the year 1600s.
06:56 --> 07:02 [SPEAKER_02]: We're like a generation on from the great reformation in Europe, and so there's
07:03 --> 07:04 [SPEAKER_02]: They're kind of the fallout.
07:04 --> 07:09 [SPEAKER_02]: They're living in the fallout, and the response to what that was.
07:09 --> 07:13 [SPEAKER_02]: And for a lot of people, unfortunately, there was a lot of pain.
07:13 --> 07:24 [SPEAKER_02]: A lot of hurt, a lot of persecution for the group that he comes from, these Huginats, they were scattered all around the world, because it just wasn't safe for them to be in France anymore.
07:25 --> 07:27 [SPEAKER_02]: In fact, at the first city,
07:30 --> 07:30 [SPEAKER_02]: Hugonauts.
07:30 --> 07:31 [SPEAKER_02]: Fort.
07:31 --> 07:32 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so for a Caroline.
07:33 --> 07:33 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just going to jump in.
07:33 --> 07:42 [SPEAKER_01]: I can't hold it back for Caroline is basically where Jacksonville would be settled by the Hugonauts when they left Europe to find a safe place in America and I'm from Jacksonville, Florida.
07:42 --> 07:43 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I like this fact.
07:43 --> 07:45 [SPEAKER_01]: I knew you were going to have stuff to say about Jacksonville.
07:45 --> 07:46 [SPEAKER_01]: I couldn't hold back.
07:46 --> 07:47 [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't get that.
07:47 --> 07:48 [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't chance this is a shout-out.
07:48 --> 07:51 [SPEAKER_01]: J-vill will do all right here.
07:51 --> 07:52 [SPEAKER_01]: So I thought in where I can.
07:54 --> 07:56 [SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, no, they built this little fort.
07:56 --> 07:56 [SPEAKER_01]: It was super nice.
07:56 --> 07:57 [SPEAKER_01]: It was made of wood.
07:57 --> 08:09 [SPEAKER_01]: A year later, the Spanish built St. Augustine, which is the oldest city in America, not Fort Caroline, because the Spanish went and then destroyed Fort Caroline, and it was brutal, and they got rid of the Huguenots there, the hard way.
08:09 --> 08:12 [SPEAKER_01]: So St. Augustine is now the oldest city in America, because of that.
08:12 --> 08:13 [SPEAKER_01]: But
08:13 --> 08:22 [SPEAKER_01]: Um, but there is a crazy end to the story, which is one dude survived the attack from the Spanish ended up becoming an pirate came back and burnt one of St. Augustine's forts later on.
08:22 --> 08:22 [SPEAKER_01]: So there you go.
08:23 --> 08:24 [SPEAKER_01]: Careful.
08:24 --> 08:25 [SPEAKER_01]: Careful who's for you destroy?
08:25 --> 08:28 [SPEAKER_01]: He might come back as a pirate and destroy one of yours.
08:28 --> 08:33 [SPEAKER_02]: I have actually had the privilege of visiting the fort at St. Augustine twice in my life.
08:33 --> 08:34 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's the life.
08:34 --> 08:36 [SPEAKER_01]: I was with you one of those times.
08:37 --> 08:37 [SPEAKER_01]: For you really?
08:37 --> 08:38 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I was with you.
08:38 --> 08:40 [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, wow, Joel.
08:42 --> 08:48 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we drove down from we drove down from Atlanta visited you guys in Florida and we all stopped off at saying I'll get seen together.
08:48 --> 08:56 [SPEAKER_01]: I remember this one because I was very excited to be there because I love saying I'll get seen because it was also one of the only times I paid to go inside of it.
08:56 --> 08:57 [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm pretty sure you're there.
08:58 --> 08:59 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:59 --> 09:04 [SPEAKER_02]: I'm I'm the type of guy that will pay to go into the museum parts of the museum exhibits when
09:04 --> 09:06 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we're the poor cheaper people.
09:06 --> 09:07 [SPEAKER_01]: But look from the outside.
09:08 --> 09:09 [SPEAKER_01]: It looks good on the outside.
09:09 --> 09:10 [SPEAKER_01]: Who needs to know what the inside is?
09:11 --> 09:13 [SPEAKER_01]: We were so, we're so bad.
09:13 --> 09:15 [SPEAKER_01]: We were in the Florence.
09:15 --> 09:17 [SPEAKER_01]: I need to know how the giant statue of David there.
09:17 --> 09:20 [SPEAKER_01]: And we were just like, I mean, it heard the lines long.
09:20 --> 09:23 [SPEAKER_01]: Oldest, you know, as seen it in the pictures, he's good enough there.
09:23 --> 09:38 [SPEAKER_01]: So we all of the memorabilia for Florence is that picture of David and I'm like, it probably it was I've heard it's really tall I don't yeah, we decided to skip it to be fair depending on how your week is going It does factor into the decision making progress there.
09:38 --> 09:50 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I do remember Sarah and I were like standing outside the Louvre in Paris and We were like it's it looks pretty cool from the out like it is a cool courtyard from the outside I think that's good enough for me right now.
09:50 --> 09:51 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah
09:52 --> 09:53 [SPEAKER_02]: That I felt hours over there out.
09:53 --> 10:07 [SPEAKER_02]: That's that's what my takeaway will be so I guess it's not an ultimate rule But in general, I do like I do like to see the exhibits That is a big tangent because Say noxin actually is nothing to do with
10:07 --> 10:15 [SPEAKER_02]: I had no, it was some of Edmund Calamies, probably grandparents, went to America, and it's very useful.
10:16 --> 10:19 [SPEAKER_01]: Edmund Calamie had a cousin or something that was a part of that.
10:19 --> 10:21 [SPEAKER_01]: We don't know, and it's, we're not going to leave it out.
10:21 --> 10:23 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, that's the connection we're making.
10:23 --> 10:24 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
10:25 --> 10:39 [SPEAKER_02]: Okay, we don't have any real documentation on his kind of life or upbringing or family, I guess, you know, like as far as where he's coming from the first thing we hear about him as is the case with most of these people are college records.
10:39 --> 10:44 [SPEAKER_02]: That's often times when you first get documented in this era in Europe.
10:44 --> 11:04 [SPEAKER_02]: And we see that at Pimbroke College, he was enrolled there, but during that era he got in trouble and he actually got kicked out of a local church slash fellowship area, because of his opposing views, Darwinianism, which is a hot debate at this time, and still is to this day.
11:05 --> 11:14 [SPEAKER_02]: But despite that hardship, there was a bishop in the Anglican Church, which was really kind of the only church there in England at the time, gave him a job as a chaplain.
11:14 --> 11:17 [SPEAKER_02]: And that was a position that he kept until 1626.
11:18 --> 11:25 [SPEAKER_02]: He preached that a church for 10 years as pastor, but then ended up having to give up that position in a rather odd way.
11:27 --> 11:29 [SPEAKER_01]: Joel, have you ever heard of the book of sports?
11:30 --> 11:37 [SPEAKER_02]: I have not, to be fair though, you and I don't, we don't overleaf a whole lot was for it.
11:37 --> 11:46 [SPEAKER_01]: So we're not, yeah, you know, you and I, we're not the kind of people to read books on sports for the George so busy doing this for it's that we don't, that's not us either.
11:49 --> 11:52 [SPEAKER_01]: We were at this 40 guys in college and by
11:52 --> 11:54 [SPEAKER_01]: college, which isn't the sportiest place you go.
11:55 --> 12:10 [SPEAKER_01]: Everyone else would go play sports and Joel and I, partially, I mean, this wasn't why we're friends, but part of the reason we were great friends was we were never with that group running around soccer and playing, well, they had some game like pickle, but I don't know, they had all their little games and weren't there.
12:10 --> 12:11 [SPEAKER_01]: We were, I was a couple.
12:11 --> 12:13 [SPEAKER_01]: Oh my gosh, I was the one.
12:13 --> 12:14 [SPEAKER_01]: I was not a part of those.
12:14 --> 12:16 [SPEAKER_01]: I did not partake.
12:16 --> 12:19 [SPEAKER_01]: I was busy talking to people and living my life.
12:20 --> 12:20 [SPEAKER_01]: So yeah,
12:21 --> 12:21 [SPEAKER_01]: Book of sports.
12:22 --> 12:24 [SPEAKER_02]: I had no idea how much to sustain like you're looking.
12:24 --> 12:46 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I was busy you know doing important things and meanwhile things just saying now it's more just like they clear You know, look if you're the sporty guy listening you're a you your shocked I know you're like grabbing your coffee because you almost filled it out of come out of surprise The original and I weren't slammed dunk in a mall.
12:46 --> 12:47 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
12:47 --> 12:49 [SPEAKER_01]: I get it at the same time
12:50 --> 12:52 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, they always look down on us for not going.
12:52 --> 12:54 [SPEAKER_01]: So maybe I still got that looked down.
12:54 --> 12:55 [SPEAKER_01]: No, I don't really, I don't.
12:55 --> 12:57 [SPEAKER_01]: It's more just like, that hasn't changed.
12:57 --> 12:59 [SPEAKER_01]: But we're going to school that love sports.
12:59 --> 13:02 [SPEAKER_01]: So it's kind of rough because they're like, don't you just love sports?
13:02 --> 13:05 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, no, no, still don't actually.
13:05 --> 13:06 [SPEAKER_01]: I like books, you know.
13:06 --> 13:07 [SPEAKER_01]: But I, I, I, I, I, I.
13:07 --> 13:20 [SPEAKER_02]: I asked Sarah, I do Russian last night, literally last night, I asked Sarah this question, I said would you rat if you had to with no distractions on TV watch a full match A tennis or watch a full game of baseball which one would you pick?
13:21 --> 13:22 [SPEAKER_02]: What would you pick, Troy?
13:22 --> 13:25 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, that was I actually would happily choose baseball on that one.
13:25 --> 13:28 [SPEAKER_01]: I do think this fall can can be very interesting.
13:28 --> 13:29 [SPEAKER_02]: Okay, it just depends.
13:30 --> 13:36 [SPEAKER_02]: Okay, what about a full match of bowling or a full match of like a table pool.
13:36 --> 13:38 [SPEAKER_02]: You know, like, I have competitive pool.
13:48 --> 13:51 [SPEAKER_02]: Okay, that's it, that's the end of my line of question.
13:51 --> 13:58 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I thought you had like a follow-up behind, like you did, you know, people who want to go later, psychologically more likely to be associated.
13:58 --> 13:58 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
13:58 --> 13:59 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
13:59 --> 14:08 [SPEAKER_01]: These are just genuine curious questions of like, you know what, if anyone question whether we were to sports guys, the fact that you're go to sports to watch reporting.
14:08 --> 14:12 [SPEAKER_02]: Well, like those are in my head like weird boring sports to watch.
14:12 --> 14:12 [SPEAKER_02]: They are.
14:13 --> 14:38 [SPEAKER_02]: they are is actually a poor baseball I actually like baseball and then when the royals were going to the world series yeah those games were pretty interesting and I enjoyed watching them I found them interesting when I had a friend of the show Daniel fry yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah Daniel for he is it was like a baseball expert and so he's sat next to me and he explained to me everything that was going on and I found that interesting
14:39 --> 14:41 [SPEAKER_01]: So what I like to that we're so what is happening to us?
14:41 --> 14:52 [SPEAKER_01]: We're never been more off to anyway what I like about it was I would I had a driving job at the time So I would drive by the stadium and see how the games were going like as I was like, oh, there's still crowd it And I could listen it on the radio so I felt connected to it.
14:52 --> 14:54 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, book your sports.
14:55 --> 14:57 [SPEAKER_01]: Neither had I had also not heard of a show
14:59 --> 15:25 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, apparently the Puritans were seeing a super strict and so in the years, which is crazy, because their reputation is sort of being just, you know, very fun people, but in 1618, the King passed a rule, and then he repasted again in 1633, and the King, to kind of push back on Puritans ruling in England, because the Anglican Church was actually in charge, they had to let certain sports be allowed on Sundays, and these sports were not only, but were
15:27 --> 15:30 [SPEAKER_01]: Dancing, and of course, May Games.
15:32 --> 15:37 [SPEAKER_01]: So I guess if you try to do any archery after church on Sunday before these rules passed, I mean, I don't know, straight to jail.
15:37 --> 15:38 [SPEAKER_01]: I know how to that work.
15:39 --> 15:43 [SPEAKER_01]: And they, they were like, no, you're allowed to dance and play some May Games.
15:43 --> 15:43 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, no, you're not.
15:43 --> 15:45 [SPEAKER_01]: The Pirates didn't like it.
15:45 --> 15:49 [SPEAKER_01]: The Piratin set all of Sabbath is for rest and worship.
15:49 --> 15:57 [SPEAKER_01]: This was basically telling, they thought like the King is basically saying go out and sin, a license to sin, and you were expected to read this from the pulpit as a decree from the King.
15:57 --> 16:00 [SPEAKER_01]: Like you had to say, the church the King says, this is okay on Sundays.
16:01 --> 16:03 [SPEAKER_01]: And they didn't even like the King making these kind of decisions in the first place.
16:03 --> 16:06 [SPEAKER_01]: This is England rules falling on the Piratin church, they were pretty upset.
16:08 --> 16:08 [SPEAKER_01]: Um, it's me.
16:08 --> 16:10 [SPEAKER_01]: This is very, you know, cutesy, right?
16:10 --> 16:13 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, we do not live in that world anymore.
16:13 --> 16:19 [SPEAKER_01]: And to be fair, I do think it's worth questioning, like, yes, people, there are people listening who will go, those guys have, like, really hardcore legalists.
16:20 --> 16:20 [SPEAKER_01]: Sure.
16:22 --> 16:25 [SPEAKER_01]: But also, I mean, do they have a point, like, are we supposed to rest on the Sabbath?
16:25 --> 16:29 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if you if archery is what I would consider crossing that line, but
16:29 --> 16:32 [SPEAKER_01]: most people don't even, you know, treat Sabbath like a full day anyway.
16:32 --> 16:38 [SPEAKER_01]: So I, if we're broken extremes here, they're on one end, but we're probably on the other end of that extreme too.
16:39 --> 16:46 [SPEAKER_01]: The real Sabbath is probably not supposed to be what we do necessarily, but it might also not be stopping the children from their made day games.
16:48 --> 16:52 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, anyway, the person over Calenie's church was very anti-piratin.
16:52 --> 16:53 [SPEAKER_01]: Like he was the director over the region.
16:53 --> 16:55 [SPEAKER_01]: He's like, hey, you got to do this.
16:56 --> 16:57 [SPEAKER_01]: He tells Edmin he has to read it.
16:57 --> 16:59 [SPEAKER_01]: Edmin refuses and says, you know what?
16:59 --> 17:01 [SPEAKER_01]: I'll just quit because I can't make me read this.
17:01 --> 17:03 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to, I don't think it's okay.
17:03 --> 17:04 [SPEAKER_01]: And so he does.
17:04 --> 17:06 [SPEAKER_01]: He refuses to read it.
17:06 --> 17:10 [SPEAKER_01]: He quits this same guy by the way who pushed it on Edmin.
17:10 --> 17:12 [SPEAKER_01]: He pushes it on a bunch of different people.
17:12 --> 17:14 [SPEAKER_01]: So there are several people who get fired or quit because of this.
17:15 --> 17:19 [SPEAKER_01]: So Edmund's not the only one, but there's a group of them to take a stand saying like, no, we're not going to read the book of sports.
17:20 --> 17:23 [SPEAKER_01]: We're not going to say from the pulpit that it's okay to go play our tree on Sunday.
17:24 --> 17:34 [SPEAKER_01]: And I was a big flashpoint, separated kind of people who were serious about this thing from my, it helped well very quickly people like that Calamity took a stand so they brought them to a church in London.
17:34 --> 17:36 [SPEAKER_01]: And this is where his life really kind of picks up from there.
17:37 --> 17:41 [SPEAKER_02]: There's no interesting, we should, this is a good revive that, uh,
17:42 --> 17:51 [SPEAKER_02]: topic is like, what are seemingly silly things that churches had to make a stand-on throughout history, you know?
17:51 --> 17:54 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think it would be, that is a good one.
17:54 --> 17:58 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, what is the lines that were once like huge that we don't even think about today?
17:59 --> 18:01 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, today they mean nothing to us at all, right?
18:01 --> 18:08 [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm sure there are things that we have lines in the sand on that people and the, you know, in the past we go, what, like, what even is that?
18:09 --> 18:15 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't, so I'm sure that we have our own areas where we are very strict in 200 years from now or 200 years ago.
18:15 --> 18:16 [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I think like, I mean, on Earth is that.
18:17 --> 18:18 [SPEAKER_02]: I think about growing up,
18:19 --> 18:25 [SPEAKER_02]: And this might be telling you about the circles that I'm done and in, but the debate around whether drums were allowed in the church.
18:26 --> 18:30 [SPEAKER_02]: I was, I feel like a pretty dividing topic amongst people.
18:31 --> 18:33 [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe not so much worldwide.
18:33 --> 18:38 [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe the rest of the world was already had the full worship band in place in the 90s.
18:38 --> 18:42 [SPEAKER_02]: But I feel like the 90s was a time of debate on...
18:42 --> 18:49 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, and that was before like your main grandma ethyl warned us that jumps are bad and is the church getting question contemporary movement.
18:49 --> 18:51 [SPEAKER_01]: So maybe maybe she was right.
18:51 --> 18:56 [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe we maybe we turtle cast grandma Ethel away too quickly with the drums.
18:56 --> 18:57 [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe we have been.
18:57 --> 19:01 [SPEAKER_01]: No, I don't have a problem with drums This is really one of the other on them.
19:01 --> 19:03 [SPEAKER_01]: We don't our fellowship in Indonesia.
19:03 --> 19:05 [SPEAKER_02]: But do you feel the type that always has a drummer?
19:06 --> 19:08 [SPEAKER_02]: So sure not necessarily a big deal
19:09 --> 19:12 [SPEAKER_02]: But do you feel like that's something that yeah people had opinions?
19:12 --> 19:19 [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, there was a time when that was a big deal I think for sure and there might even be some people listening who go it's still a big deal I don't sure.
19:19 --> 19:20 [SPEAKER_01]: I do feel like everyone's moved on.
19:20 --> 19:29 [SPEAKER_01]: I do think That at this point the drum or the very least have ended up on debated one side or the other of the yeah I think everyone knows where they're at on that one point.
19:29 --> 19:32 [SPEAKER_01]: That was definitely at one point a really big deal which is hard
19:33 --> 19:37 [SPEAKER_01]: It is hard to imagine is hard to think of a time when a bunch of people are angry about that.
19:37 --> 19:39 [SPEAKER_01]: It's hard to think of a time when people are mad about our treat.
19:39 --> 19:40 [SPEAKER_01]: It may date.
19:40 --> 19:41 [SPEAKER_01]: That's what I'm saying.
19:41 --> 19:42 [SPEAKER_02]: It's crazy.
19:43 --> 19:44 [SPEAKER_02]: Most logical equivalents.
19:44 --> 19:45 [SPEAKER_02]: I can think of it at the moment.
19:45 --> 19:49 [SPEAKER_02]: But, um, honestly, archery on son.
19:49 --> 19:50 [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, as far as the church like getting
19:52 --> 19:56 [SPEAKER_02]: on the whole government getting involved in it, like that's kind of wild, wild, and wild.
19:57 --> 20:00 [SPEAKER_01]: We'll say though, I know there are times and pasts where I go, I don't know if I could have done that.
20:01 --> 20:02 [SPEAKER_01]: I do feel confident.
20:02 --> 20:03 [SPEAKER_01]: I could have avoided it.
20:03 --> 20:06 [SPEAKER_01]: And I, in fact, I'm still holding to that.
20:06 --> 20:10 [SPEAKER_01]: I still, I'm with you, Calamie, no archery or me games in my book on Sunday.
20:10 --> 20:10 [SPEAKER_01]: I have never,
20:11 --> 20:13 [SPEAKER_01]: done any of those things on a son.
20:13 --> 20:17 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm at a dance, but you know, not a big one, just like a little dance, but other little jig.
20:18 --> 20:22 [SPEAKER_01]: I can proudly say I've kept to the pureton way on this one that I do not do our tree on something.
20:24 --> 20:40 [SPEAKER_02]: Okay, in this era, we're cruising through the early 1600s, and so being a pastor in London was kind of, you had bad vibes coming because the English Civil War would break out in 1642.
20:40 --> 20:44 [SPEAKER_02]: And by this time, Calamia was a fairly prominent pastor.
20:44 --> 20:45 [SPEAKER_02]: He had a large following.
20:46 --> 20:51 [SPEAKER_02]: Um, he had real influence over everything that was about unfold in the following years.
20:51 --> 20:56 [SPEAKER_02]: For example, when Parliament opened a document was written called
20:59 --> 21:18 [SPEAKER_02]: Mectamias, the smectamias, it's a smectamias, I mean what a smectamias, here's the thing, so it's written based on the initials of the men that wrote it, so you come behind all the initials together to make the name of the document, the smectamias.
21:18 --> 21:22 [SPEAKER_01]: So Edward Edmund here, not Edward Edmund, is E.C.
21:22 --> 21:25 [SPEAKER_01]: that little part of the smectamias, smectamias.
21:26 --> 21:33 [SPEAKER_02]: I understand it's cool to combine initials and make, you know, uh, what do they call it?
21:33 --> 21:36 [SPEAKER_02]: No, I've never seen anyone else do this before.
21:36 --> 21:41 [SPEAKER_02]: So, actually the thing is it only works if it makes a real word or like something that sounds cool.
21:41 --> 21:46 [SPEAKER_02]: If it, if it sounds like complete gibberish, then it's not cool.
21:46 --> 21:47 [SPEAKER_02]: It doesn't work.
21:47 --> 21:48 [SPEAKER_02]: What are you talking about?
21:48 --> 21:55 [SPEAKER_02]: Well, you can do our own job to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to,
21:55 --> 21:57 [SPEAKER_02]: make sense and roll off the tongue.
21:57 --> 22:06 [SPEAKER_01]: Smeck to me is first saw I thought this has got to be some really obscure Greek word and then I read it was their initials and I was like, oh, guys, no, like that.
22:06 --> 22:10 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't I think there's a reason this didn't catch on like we don't see more of these corner.
22:12 --> 22:15 [SPEAKER_02]: dumb name for a document, and he knew.
22:15 --> 22:27 [SPEAKER_02]: They put together this document and this document challenged the divine right of the bishop's rule and the idea that the bishop's were messengers of God at that time they couldn't be questioned.
22:27 --> 22:34 [SPEAKER_02]: There was an often how we associate the critiques that are against Catholic bishops.
22:34 --> 22:36 [SPEAKER_02]: This is the Church of England bishops, but the
22:38 --> 22:43 [SPEAKER_02]: their authority supposedly can't be challenged because they are direct messengers God.
22:43 --> 22:46 [SPEAKER_02]: This document, the Symmeticus, is challenging that divine right.
22:47 --> 22:56 [SPEAKER_02]: And John Milton, who is the famous writer of Paradise Lost, he helped make this document popular.
22:57 --> 23:02 [SPEAKER_02]: Apparently he was like a good marketer and he was able to circulate this and get it in front of people.
23:03 --> 23:03 [SPEAKER_02]: It sounds
23:05 --> 23:09 [SPEAKER_02]: strategies implemented to to circulate this.
23:09 --> 23:20 [SPEAKER_02]: I think it's like a modern day like social media marketer that's that's what I think of John Milton back in the day and his tactics of how he's getting this this semectamus document circulated.
23:21 --> 23:28 [SPEAKER_01]: You know if you're right though and I why keep we are so off of the name of it, less of Kildo when he was like hey guys what do people didn't throw in here in the like the semectanious.
23:29 --> 23:31 [SPEAKER_01]: He's a lot of that work with guys here
23:37 --> 23:49 [SPEAKER_02]: So the movement that Calamay belonged to favored a more Presbyterian model of church government, similar to like an elder led system that you would have had in Calvin's Geneva.
23:49 --> 23:52 [SPEAKER_02]: So very different than how the church of England is running things.
23:52 --> 23:59 [SPEAKER_02]: So all of this is going on and then the English Civil War is also popping off here and so obviously he is on
24:01 --> 24:29 [SPEAKER_02]: the side opposing the government during this English Civil War and their soldiers going to fight and one of the things he worked on during this era was being the editor for what's called the soldiers pocket Bible and this was a small kind of pamphlet that would be folded up and given out to soldiers all over Cromwell was like a big fan of this and he went out of his way to make sure that all of the soldiers had this pamphlet
24:29 --> 24:39 [SPEAKER_02]: and it was filled with scriptures that related to war and specific verses that would back up and support various themes that were being communicated.
24:40 --> 24:53 [SPEAKER_02]: So like for example some of the categories of sections we would see a soldier must not do anything wickedly or a soldier must love as enemies and then there would be like verses in such that would back up and kind of elaborating
24:56 --> 25:23 [SPEAKER_02]: These are hot collector's items these days as you can imagine there's a supposedly two that are still in existence today that survived from this era That'd be cool to see and this concept I think the document itself actually was just copied and made its way over to America during the union During the American Civil War the union soldiers were handed Reply cuz I guess you could say of this document
25:24 --> 25:32 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they were carrying the union gave out tens of thousands of these little soldiers pocket bibles that they wanted their people to have as well.
25:32 --> 25:35 [SPEAKER_01]: And I think the concept of giving your soldiers bibles and stuff like that.
25:35 --> 25:42 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I don't know if it was his very first time they did something like this, but it certainly was a big deal from that point on.
25:42 --> 25:47 [SPEAKER_01]: So how cool is it though that he wrote this little pocket Bible pamphlet?
25:47 --> 25:47 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
25:48 --> 25:54 [SPEAKER_02]: unintentionally used in two separate civil wars, you know, hundreds of years apart from each other.
25:55 --> 26:11 [SPEAKER_01]: That's, and I'm sure it was used in other places as well, but it's also interesting, too, because look, I mean, I don't know how many of these soldiers actually used it, you know, the stories of soldiers using Bible paper for guns or things like that are pretty famous, but I also do imagine there are probably some soldiers stuck in a hill
26:11 --> 26:28 [SPEAKER_01]: stuck in a fort recently whatever that they they look at it and they read it and who knows maybe this was the the little bit of scripture that they got that changed their life and moved them closer to God so it'd be pretty cool to think that maybe a book you wrote was read by a dying man or something you know I just think that would be pretty intense.
26:38 --> 26:41 [SPEAKER_01]: Crazy era English Civil War you we talked about it many times on the show.
26:41 --> 26:57 [SPEAKER_01]: We're not going to re-retredge old ground One point the English will kill their king and Edmund is against this and he kind of was like hey I don't think we should kill the king Lots of other stuff happen Oliver Cromwell Really liked him, but he did at Edmund did say hey Oliver Cromwell guy who runs this thing we actually was serving by him go check it out
26:58 --> 27:17 [SPEAKER_01]: uh... but we i don't think all the things are doing or good after uh... cramwell died calmy is a part of the group that goes and returns the king make over the nettle and say pull uh... king charles a second out and he's a part of these literally a part of that on to rasha helps do that uh... so he's a pretty big important guy here he's a big supporter of this
27:18 --> 27:36 [SPEAKER_01]: two years later King Charles II passes his acts of uniformity forcing the piratins to use Anglican Book of Prayer basically saying the Anglican Church is in charge of these piratins that have been running them up for so long and he joins the 2000 people that are ejected and said the 2000 ministers that say no we won't do it.
27:36 --> 27:46 [SPEAKER_01]: We've talked to many times about John Flivell and these guys who who end up preaching in barns, preaching in forest, having little hidden tunnels in their houses so they can escape.
27:46 --> 27:48 [SPEAKER_01]: It just crazy stuff they got involved with to get away from this.
27:49 --> 27:51 [SPEAKER_01]: Go listen to those many other episodes again.
27:51 --> 27:53 [SPEAKER_01]: John Flivell is probably what I think some of our best ones on that.
27:54 --> 27:56 [SPEAKER_01]: but oh also John Bunyan too.
27:56 --> 28:02 [SPEAKER_01]: He was also included in that John Bunny was in jail and wrote Pilgrim's progress from jail because of these acts of uniformity.
28:02 --> 28:18 [SPEAKER_01]: So really kind of a sad story because Calamie had helped bring him back in and two years later he's kicked out of the you know the churches because of it But also we're getting if you want to hear more about King Charles he's a huge part of the London fire episode that we did and that's really important because
28:19 --> 28:20 [SPEAKER_01]: Calamie stayed in London.
28:20 --> 28:27 [SPEAKER_01]: He wasn't preaching or at least not openly doing so when the fire hits the London fire 1666 Wild story.
28:27 --> 28:29 [SPEAKER_01]: I took the weeks to put this fire out.
28:29 --> 28:43 [SPEAKER_01]: It was like early days and it would stay around the city for weeks It was a crazy fire You really should go I have friends of mine and in life who have talked to me about that episode and they were like I could not keep track I like not like I couldn't keep track of like oh, this was confusing but like So many things happened.
28:43 --> 28:45 [SPEAKER_01]: How did I never hear the story before so go listen to it
28:46 --> 28:49 [SPEAKER_01]: But one thing we talk about in the story is not that many people actually die of the fire.
28:49 --> 28:53 [SPEAKER_01]: A bunch of them tie the plague the year before, but not that many people would die of the fire.
28:54 --> 29:02 [SPEAKER_01]: Callamy kinda does, because Callamy says that what he saw, horrified him so much that he basically got ill and died of the stress of having seen the fire.
29:03 --> 29:08 [SPEAKER_01]: So even though Callamy didn't get killed by the flames, watching his hometown just burned to pieces.
29:09 --> 29:12 [SPEAKER_01]: He's an old man and he couldn't really recover from it.
29:12 --> 29:14 [SPEAKER_01]: It just kinda looks like they kinda took him out.
29:16 --> 29:26 [SPEAKER_01]: kind of a rare victim of the London Fire 1666 and kind of a sad way to go, really, but cool guy though, I really like him.
29:26 --> 29:37 [SPEAKER_01]: Listen now as he tells the story of a woman, she had just recently passed away five years before this, and listen as he talks about the happiness of those who die, and it's a funeral sermon, but it's a really good one.
29:37 --> 29:39 [SPEAKER_01]: I highly recommend listening to it and enjoying it.
29:55 --> 29:59 [SPEAKER_00]: First, Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 14.
30:00 --> 30:07 [SPEAKER_00]: For since we believe that Jesus died in rows again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
30:09 --> 30:15 [SPEAKER_00]: In the previous verse, Paul encourages the Thessalonian believers, not to grieve excessively over Christians who have died.
30:16 --> 30:21 [SPEAKER_00]: He is not saying that morning is wrong, rather he is warning against grief that has no limits or hope.
30:22 --> 30:25 [SPEAKER_00]: Christianity does not eliminate our natural human emotions.
30:26 --> 30:27 [SPEAKER_00]: It rightly orders them.
30:28 --> 30:31 [SPEAKER_00]: God's grace does not destroy our humanity, but restores it.
30:32 --> 30:33 [SPEAKER_00]: It does not make us insensitive.
30:34 --> 30:38 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, it teaches us how to experience our emotions in a godly way.
30:39 --> 30:42 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul gives several reasons why Christians should not grieve without hope.
30:44 --> 30:47 [SPEAKER_00]: One, excessive grief reveals ignorance about the believer's future.
30:48 --> 30:55 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul writes, We do not want you to be uninformed brothers and sisters about those who are asleep, verse 13.
30:55 --> 31:02 [SPEAKER_00]: To grieve is though death where the end shows a lack of understanding about the glories future God has prepared for His people.
31:08 --> 31:15 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul continues, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope, verse 13.
31:17 --> 31:34 [SPEAKER_00]: Those who do not believe in eternal life naturally see death as a final loss, but Christians know that death is not the end, because Christ has conquered death, believers face it with genuine hope even while experiencing real sorrow.
31:35 --> 31:36 [SPEAKER_00]: 3.
31:36 --> 31:40 [SPEAKER_00]: Death is not the destruction of the believer, but a peaceful sleep.
31:41 --> 31:46 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul repeatedly describes the death of believers as sleep, verses 13 and 14.
31:47 --> 31:49 [SPEAKER_00]: This does not mean the believer sees this to exist.
31:50 --> 31:52 [SPEAKER_00]: Rather, it is a picture of a peaceful rest.
31:53 --> 32:00 [SPEAKER_00]: Just as sleep is temporary and followed by awakening, so the bodies of believers rest until the resurrection.
32:01 --> 32:01 [SPEAKER_00]: 4.
32:02 --> 32:05 [SPEAKER_00]: Believers remain united to Christ, even in death.
32:07 --> 32:10 [SPEAKER_00]: Those who have died are said to have fallen asleep in Jesus.
32:11 --> 32:16 [SPEAKER_00]: Even while their bodies rest in the grave, they remain safe and Christ's care.
32:17 --> 32:21 [SPEAKER_00]: The Greek expression literally reads those who sleep through Jesus.
32:22 --> 32:29 [SPEAKER_00]: as the scholar Hugo Grosius observed, the preposition can carry the sense of in Jesus.
32:30 --> 32:32 [SPEAKER_00]: The understanding is confirmed elsewhere in Scripture.
32:33 --> 32:44 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul speaks of the dead in Christ, first, the salonians, four, 16, and those who have fallen asleep in Christ, first Corinthians, 15, 18, five.
32:44 --> 32:47 [SPEAKER_00]: The levers will be raised at the final judgment.
32:48 --> 32:53 [SPEAKER_00]: On the last day, believers will be raised from their graves to the resurrection of life.
32:53 --> 32:57 [SPEAKER_00]: They will be raised by the power of God and because of their union with Christ.
32:58 --> 32:59 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul writes.
32:59 --> 33:07 [SPEAKER_00]: For if we believe that Jesus died in rows again, even so will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus, verse 14.
33:08 --> 33:14 [SPEAKER_00]: Just as Christ died in rows again, so all who have died in Christ will also rise because they belong to Him.
33:15 --> 33:17 [SPEAKER_00]: If the head lives, the members must live also.
33:18 --> 33:28 [SPEAKER_00]: The same God who raised Christ from the dead will also raise all who are united to Him, and bring them with Christ on the great day of judgment.
33:29 --> 33:29 [SPEAKER_00]: 6.
33:30 --> 33:32 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ will bring his people into heaven.
33:33 --> 33:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ will raise all his saints and bring them with him into heaven, where they will be with the Lord forever in perfect happiness.
33:42 --> 33:49 [SPEAKER_00]: The passage before us contains three of these arguments, which can be summarized in the following three doctrinal conclusions.
33:50 --> 33:56 [SPEAKER_00]: Dr. Nguyen, the death of a believer is nothing more than a quiet, peaceful, and blessed sleep.
33:57 --> 34:03 [SPEAKER_00]: Dr. and two, the bodies of believers, even while they rest in the grave, are asleep in Jesus.
34:04 --> 34:16 [SPEAKER_00]: Dr. and three, Jesus Christ will raise the bodies of His people, reunite them with their souls, bring them with Him to judgment, and then take them into heaven where they will be with the Lord forever.
34:18 --> 34:19 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's look at doctrine one.
34:20 --> 34:25 [SPEAKER_00]: The death of a child of God is nothing more than a quiet, peaceful, and blessed sleep.
34:26 --> 34:29 [SPEAKER_00]: To understand this doctrine, we must answer three questions.
34:30 --> 34:31 [SPEAKER_00]: Question one.
34:32 --> 34:34 [SPEAKER_00]: What part of a believer sleeps when he dies?
34:35 --> 34:44 [SPEAKER_00]: Some have taught that the soul sleeps along with the body, that when a person dies, both body and soul remain asleep until the resurrection.
34:44 --> 34:49 [SPEAKER_00]: The appeal to the example of Stephen because Scripture says that he fell asleep.
34:50 --> 34:53 [SPEAKER_00]: But we must ask, what part of Stephen fell asleep?
34:54 --> 34:57 [SPEAKER_00]: It was not his soul, as he was dying,
35:02 --> 35:08 [SPEAKER_00]: He also saw heaven open and the son of man standing at the right hand of God ready to receive his soul immediately.
35:09 --> 35:11 [SPEAKER_00]: It was Stephen's body that fell asleep.
35:12 --> 35:16 [SPEAKER_00]: His soul was immediately received by the Lord Jesus in the heaven.
35:17 --> 35:29 [SPEAKER_00]: When a person dies, the body returns to the dust from which it came, but the soul returns to God who gave it, to be judged either for everlasting happiness or everlasting misery.
35:30 --> 35:35 [SPEAKER_00]: In one sense, the soul may be said to sleep at death because it rests in Abraham's bosom.
35:36 --> 35:39 [SPEAKER_00]: But it does not sleep in the Antibaptist or Socinian sense.
35:39 --> 35:46 [SPEAKER_00]: That is lying in an unconscious state incapable of joy or sorrow, happiness or misery until the resurrection.
35:47 --> 35:52 [SPEAKER_00]: This is a deeply unsettling doctor and one that is not supported by Scripture.
35:53 --> 36:03 [SPEAKER_00]: When Paul says that he desires to depart and be with Christ, he is not expressing a desire to sleep unconsciously until the resurrection, without seeing, knowing, or enjoying Christ.
36:04 --> 36:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Rather, he wants to be with Christ and to experience the happiness found in his presence.
36:10 --> 36:15 [SPEAKER_00]: Likewise, when Christ promised to repent and thief, today you will be with me in paradise.
36:16 --> 36:21 [SPEAKER_00]: He meant that the thief would immediately enter into the joy of Christ's presence.
36:22 --> 36:25 [SPEAKER_00]: This is why Jewish inscriptions at the graves of loved ones sometimes read.
36:26 --> 36:29 [SPEAKER_00]: May their souls be gathered into the garden of Eden.
36:29 --> 36:32 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen, amen, amen, Salah.
36:33 --> 36:40 [SPEAKER_00]: The souls of those who were martyred for the Word of God, and their faithful testimony, are not lying in an unconscious sleep.
36:41 --> 36:51 [SPEAKER_00]: Scripture describes them as crying out with a loud voice, how long, oh Lord, holy and true, before you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth.
36:52 --> 36:56 [SPEAKER_00]: Likewise, the spirits of the righteous made perfect in heaven are not asleep.
36:57 --> 36:59 [SPEAKER_00]: They are enjoying the blessedness of heaven.
37:00 --> 37:07 [SPEAKER_00]: The same way, Lazarus was immediately received into Abraham's bosom after his death and entered into comfort.
37:08 --> 37:13 [SPEAKER_00]: Polycarb, the early and faithful witness of Jesus Christ, also testified to this truth.
37:14 --> 37:23 [SPEAKER_00]: As he stood at the stake before his martyrdom, he declared among his final words that his soul would that very day be presented before God in heaven.
37:24 --> 37:32 [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, the doctrine of soul-sleep is as harmful as the view that the soul dies with the body and rises only when the body is raised.
37:33 --> 37:38 [SPEAKER_00]: If this sleep is understood literally, the soul is incapable of such a state.
37:39 --> 37:43 [SPEAKER_00]: If it is meant figuratively, then it is simply another name for death itself.
37:44 --> 37:59 [SPEAKER_00]: For this reason, John Calvin and his work written against those who taught Soul Sleep rightly observed that those who claim the Soul lives apart from the body who ought to nine at all sensation and understanding have imagined the soul that possesses none of the qualities of his soul.
38:00 --> 38:02 [SPEAKER_00]: They've separated the soul from its very nature.
38:03 --> 38:07 [SPEAKER_00]: The soul by its nature possesses life, awareness, and understanding.
38:08 --> 38:10 [SPEAKER_00]: As Tertullian, likewise said,
38:14 --> 38:16 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's move on to the next question.
38:17 --> 38:20 [SPEAKER_00]: Is the death of a wicked person also called sleep?
38:21 --> 38:22 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, it is.
38:23 --> 38:29 [SPEAKER_00]: Scripture says that Bashar, Omri, and Jeroboam, three wicked kings slept with their fathers.
38:30 --> 38:32 [SPEAKER_00]: But two distinctions should be made.
38:33 --> 38:37 [SPEAKER_00]: This language is used only rarely for the wicked.
38:38 --> 38:38 [SPEAKER_00]: two.
38:39 --> 38:47 [SPEAKER_00]: Although the death of the ungodly may be called a sleep, it is not a piece for comforting sleep, but one of fear and unrest.
38:48 --> 38:57 [SPEAKER_00]: Just as Nebuchadnezzar was troubled by his dreams and just as a sick person may sleep only to awaken feeling worse than before, so it is with the wicked.
38:58 --> 39:03 [SPEAKER_00]: As Augustine said, both the righteous and the wicked sleep in their death, but their experience
39:06 --> 39:15 [SPEAKER_00]: some dream pleasant things and are comforted while others dream terrifying things and upon waking fear falling asleep again less the nightmare return.
39:16 --> 39:24 [SPEAKER_00]: In the same way every person sleeps in death according to the life he has lived and afterward rises to judgment.
39:25 --> 39:28 [SPEAKER_00]: The souls of the righteous and the wicked enter different places after death.
39:29 --> 39:34 [SPEAKER_00]: the right to center joy and blessiness while the wicked enter misery and torment.
39:35 --> 39:37 [SPEAKER_00]: The soul of the wicked immediately goes to hell.
39:38 --> 39:39 [SPEAKER_00]: While the body sleeps in the grave.
39:40 --> 39:44 [SPEAKER_00]: But it is like a criminal who sleeps in prison the night before his execution.
39:45 --> 39:47 [SPEAKER_00]: When he awakens, he's led away to judgment.
39:48 --> 39:53 [SPEAKER_00]: So the wicked fall asleep in death, but awakened to everlasting condemnation.
39:54 --> 40:00 [SPEAKER_00]: the child of God, however, sleeps the sleep of death in the arms of his elder brother.
40:00 --> 40:04 [SPEAKER_00]: When he awakens, he awakens to everlasting happiness.
40:06 --> 40:06 [SPEAKER_00]: Question 3.
40:08 --> 40:11 [SPEAKER_00]: In what ways may the death of a child of God be compared to sleep?
40:13 --> 40:18 [SPEAKER_00]: In a sermon previously published without my knowledge, I listed 13 similarities between death and sleep.
40:19 --> 40:23 [SPEAKER_00]: I will not repeat them here, for then I will merely repeat what was already been written.
40:24 --> 40:26 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, I will mention only two.
40:27 --> 40:32 [SPEAKER_00]: One, the death of a child of God is constantly because it brings true rest.
40:33 --> 40:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Scripture describes the graves of God's people as their beds of rest, and the apostle tells us that those who die in the Lord rest from their laborers.
40:42 --> 40:45 [SPEAKER_00]: They rest from every bodily and spiritual trouble.
40:46 --> 40:48 [SPEAKER_00]: First, they rest from all physical suffering.
40:49 --> 40:54 [SPEAKER_00]: They are freed from every sickness, disease, pain, and bodily weakness.
40:55 --> 41:01 [SPEAKER_00]: Death is the great physician who heals God's people of all their diseases at once and forever.
41:02 --> 41:12 [SPEAKER_00]: This is why, as the story is told, the blind man said to the lame man as they stood together at the stake-awaiting martyrdom, Bishop Bonner will cure both you and me today.
41:13 --> 41:19 [SPEAKER_00]: They meant that death would end all their earthly afflictions and bring them into perfect wholeness.
41:25 --> 41:28 [SPEAKER_00]: A death, every grief comes to an end.
41:29 --> 41:33 [SPEAKER_00]: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more.
41:33 --> 41:39 [SPEAKER_00]: Neither will there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, revelation chapter 21 verse 4.
41:40 --> 41:40 [SPEAKER_00]: 3.
41:41 --> 41:43 [SPEAKER_00]: They rest from all exhausting labor.
41:44 --> 41:51 [SPEAKER_00]: Martha will no longer have a reason to complain about Mary, nor will God's prophets wear out their bodies through the hardships of preaching.
41:52 --> 41:58 [SPEAKER_00]: As Augustine said, works of mercy themselves will cease where there is no longer any need or misery.
41:59 --> 41:59 [SPEAKER_00]: 4.
42:00 --> 42:03 [SPEAKER_00]: They rest from the wrongs and persecutions of this world.
42:04 --> 42:08 [SPEAKER_00]: In this life, God's people are mocked, ridiculed, and persecuted.
42:08 --> 42:16 [SPEAKER_00]: But when death comes, they're like someone who is risen above the storm into a place where no winds or tempests can reach them.
42:17 --> 42:17 [SPEAKER_00]: 5.
42:18 --> 42:22 [SPEAKER_00]: They are spared from the judgments that fall upon the wicked.
42:23 --> 42:35 [SPEAKER_00]: Augustine was taken to his rest shortly before hippo fell to the vandals, Martin Luther died before war broke out in Germany, and David Perius before Heidelberg was sacked by the Spanish.
42:36 --> 42:39 [SPEAKER_00]: They were removed before these calamities came.
42:40 --> 42:44 [SPEAKER_00]: Secondly, believers rest from all spiritual evils.
42:45 --> 42:45 [SPEAKER_00]: One,
42:46 --> 42:49 [SPEAKER_00]: They are freed from Satan and his temptations.
42:50 --> 42:52 [SPEAKER_00]: Death places believer beyond the devil's reach.
42:53 --> 42:56 [SPEAKER_00]: He can no longer hurl even one fiery dart against them.
42:57 --> 43:01 [SPEAKER_00]: Two, they are freed from evil companions and evil examples.
43:02 --> 43:09 [SPEAKER_00]: In this life, the weak grows together with the tears, and God's people must continually witness his name being dishonored.
43:10 --> 43:14 [SPEAKER_00]: This grieves them deeply, just as lot was distressed while living in Sodom.
43:15 --> 43:22 [SPEAKER_00]: But a death there forever separated from the tears and will never again hear God's name blasphemed.
43:24 --> 43:28 [SPEAKER_00]: Three, they are freed from God's fatherly withdrawals.
43:29 --> 43:33 [SPEAKER_00]: In this life, God sometimes hides the light of His countenance from His sinning children.
43:34 --> 43:37 [SPEAKER_00]: To them, this is more painful than death itself.
43:38 --> 43:45 [SPEAKER_00]: If God's loving kindness is better than life, then the loss of its felt enjoyment is worth than death.
43:46 --> 43:54 [SPEAKER_00]: After death, however, the light of God's face shines upon them forever, never again hidden by cloud or eclipse.
43:55 --> 43:55 [SPEAKER_00]: 4.
43:56 --> 43:59 [SPEAKER_00]: They are freed from the very presence of sin.
44:00 --> 44:04 [SPEAKER_00]: The death of the body completely delivers believers from the body of death.
44:05 --> 44:08 [SPEAKER_00]: Death removes sin, root, and branch.
44:09 --> 44:19 [SPEAKER_00]: Just as sin first brought death into the world, so death finally destroys sin, like a worm that destroys the very tree that produced it.
44:21 --> 44:27 [SPEAKER_00]: Augustine therefore said, more is restored to the child of God than was lost in Adam.
44:28 --> 44:35 [SPEAKER_00]: Adam possessed only the ability not to sin, but after death, the believer possesses the impossibility of sinning.
44:36 --> 44:42 [SPEAKER_00]: Sin was the midwife that brought death into the world, but death has become the grave in which sin is buried.
44:43 --> 44:50 [SPEAKER_00]: In this sense, death is no longer chiefly the death of the believer, but the death of sin and misery.
44:50 --> 44:59 [SPEAKER_00]: For this reason, the Greeks called burial places at dormitories or sleeping places, while the Hebrews called them houses of the living.
45:00 --> 45:00 [SPEAKER_00]: to.
45:01 --> 45:06 [SPEAKER_00]: The death of a child of God is called sleep because of the hope of the resurrection.
45:07 --> 45:13 [SPEAKER_00]: The language of sleep reminds us that death is temporary and points us to the certainty of the resurrection.
45:14 --> 45:19 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ said of Lazarus, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to wake him.
45:25 --> 45:30 [SPEAKER_00]: He also said, sleep is a short death, and death is a longer sleep.
45:31 --> 45:38 [SPEAKER_00]: Just as a person sleeps for a time and awakens in the morning, so those who sleep and death will awaken when the trumpet of God sounds.
45:39 --> 45:43 [SPEAKER_00]: They will rise from their graves as from their beds on the morning of the resurrection.
45:44 --> 45:50 [SPEAKER_00]: Augustine likewise explained that Scripture caused a dead asleep because of the certain help of the resurrection.
45:51 --> 45:56 [SPEAKER_00]: They will soon be awakened from the sleep of death and raised from their tombs as from their beds.
45:57 --> 46:05 [SPEAKER_00]: For this reason, Christians have long had the godly custom of saying of departed believers, they are not dead, but asleep in the Lord.
46:06 --> 46:16 [SPEAKER_00]: They speak this way, both to comfort the grieving and to encourage a right perspective on this present life, together with a firm hope and the resurrection to everlasting life.
46:18 --> 46:21 [SPEAKER_00]: Before applying this doctrine, I will first say something about the
46:22 --> 46:23 [SPEAKER_00]: doctrine too.
46:24 --> 46:28 [SPEAKER_00]: The bodies of the saints, even while they rest in the grave, are asleep in Jesus.
46:29 --> 46:31 [SPEAKER_00]: Those who sleep in Jesus.
46:32 --> 46:38 [SPEAKER_00]: This is a beautiful and deeply comforting expression worthy of careful consideration.
46:39 --> 46:41 [SPEAKER_00]: One, what does it mean to sleep in Jesus?
46:42 --> 46:44 [SPEAKER_00]: This expression teaches us two things.
46:45 --> 46:49 [SPEAKER_00]: One, a true believer dies as a member of Christ.
46:50 --> 46:55 [SPEAKER_00]: He remains united to Christ through a living faith until his final death.
46:55 --> 46:58 [SPEAKER_00]: As the apostle says, he dies in the Lord.
46:59 --> 47:02 [SPEAKER_00]: That is, he dies while grafted into Jesus Christ.
47:03 --> 47:04 [SPEAKER_00]: to.
47:04 --> 47:08 [SPEAKER_00]: He remains united to Christ even while his body lies in the grave.
47:09 --> 47:15 [SPEAKER_00]: The text refers to all believers who have died throughout the history of the world, those who sleep in Jesus.
47:16 --> 47:21 [SPEAKER_00]: That is, those who now lie in their graves resting in Christ.
47:22 --> 47:23 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul uses similar language in
47:27 --> 47:30 [SPEAKER_00]: Then those also who have fauna sleep in Christ have perished.
47:31 --> 47:37 [SPEAKER_00]: He is speaking about believers who had long been buried, yet throughout that time they remained asleep in Christ.
47:38 --> 47:44 [SPEAKER_00]: Even though the bodies of the saints returned to dust, they remain united to Christ as members of his body.
47:45 --> 47:49 [SPEAKER_00]: The separated from their souls, they are never separated from Christ.
47:50 --> 47:57 [SPEAKER_00]: The same was true of Christ Himself, by His body laying the tomb, it remained united to His divine person.
47:58 --> 48:04 [SPEAKER_00]: His soul and body were separated from one another in death, but neither was separated from His divine nature.
48:05 --> 48:12 [SPEAKER_00]: So it is with every believer, though death separates body and soul, it does not separate either from Christ.
48:14 --> 48:20 [SPEAKER_00]: Though the body may say to corruption, you are my father, and to the worms, you are my mother and my sister.
48:20 --> 48:25 [SPEAKER_00]: It may also say to Christ, you are my brother, and to God, you are my father.
48:27 --> 48:31 [SPEAKER_00]: For this reason, believers are still called Christ's at his coming.
48:31 --> 48:37 [SPEAKER_00]: 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 23, and Paul speaks of them as the dead in Christ, verse
48:40 --> 48:46 [SPEAKER_00]: Scripture does not merely say they died in Christ, but that they remain dead in Christ.
48:46 --> 48:50 [SPEAKER_00]: That is, they continue to belong to Him even while dead.
48:51 --> 48:53 [SPEAKER_00]: This is true for two reasons.
48:54 --> 48:59 [SPEAKER_00]: Reason one, the union between Christ and the believer is spiritual and everlasting.
48:59 --> 49:05 [SPEAKER_00]: First, it is spiritual, and therefore it does not depend on physical proximity.
49:06 --> 49:11 [SPEAKER_00]: A husband and wife or a father and child remain united even when separated by great distances.
49:12 --> 49:14 [SPEAKER_00]: Second, it is everlasting.
49:15 --> 49:21 [SPEAKER_00]: God says in Jose chapter 2 verse 19, I will betroth you to me forever.
49:22 --> 49:26 [SPEAKER_00]: In this respect, Christ's unison with his people surpasses even marriage.
49:27 --> 49:35 [SPEAKER_00]: marriage lasts only until death separates husband and wife, but death cannot break the union between Christ and his people.
49:36 --> 49:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Once united to Christ, they remain united to him forever.
49:43 --> 49:48 [SPEAKER_00]: Reason two, death itself belongs to Christ's gift to his people.
49:49 --> 49:54 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul tells the Corinthians, all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollo's or life for death
49:58 --> 50:00 [SPEAKER_00]: these words teach two truths.
50:01 --> 50:04 [SPEAKER_00]: One, death belongs to the believers in heronence just as life does.
50:05 --> 50:08 [SPEAKER_00]: Death is part of the Christian's gracious inheritance.
50:09 --> 50:17 [SPEAKER_00]: It is not merely an enemy to be endured, but through Christ has become one of the greatest privileges that belongs to God's people.
50:18 --> 50:24 [SPEAKER_00]: Two, Christ has purchased death for His people just as truly as He has purchased life.
50:25 --> 50:39 [SPEAKER_00]: death as part of the believers in heronence, Christ has given it to his people as part of their portion, just as truly as he has given them life, the ministry of Paul, Apollos, or Cephas, even heaven itself.
50:40 --> 50:43 [SPEAKER_00]: Through Christ, the nature of death has been transformed.
50:44 --> 50:48 [SPEAKER_00]: It has become, next to Jesus Christ Himself, the believer's greatest friend.
50:49 --> 50:56 [SPEAKER_00]: We will never be completely free from sin, perfected in holiness, or a sea God face to face until we die.
50:58 --> 51:04 [SPEAKER_00]: Death has become the gate to heaven, the end of all misery, and the entrance into everlasting happiness.
51:06 --> 51:12 [SPEAKER_00]: If death is Christ's gift and part of the believers in heridence, then it cannot separate us from Christ.
51:12 --> 51:22 [SPEAKER_00]: If it did, it would not be a blessing, but a terrible loss, contradicting both the apostles words and Romans chapter 8 verse 28.
51:23 --> 51:27 [SPEAKER_00]: All things work together for good for those who love God.
51:28 --> 51:31 [SPEAKER_00]: as Augustine adds, this is especially true of death.
51:32 --> 51:36 [SPEAKER_00]: The blessings enjoyed by the bodies of the saints while they rest in the grave.
51:37 --> 51:39 [SPEAKER_00]: Now we come to the second point.
51:40 --> 51:46 [SPEAKER_00]: What benefits do the bodies of believers receive while they die in the grave sleep in Jesus?
51:47 --> 51:52 [SPEAKER_00]: As soon as the soul departs, the body loses its beauty and strength.
51:52 --> 51:54 [SPEAKER_00]: It becomes a lifeless body.
51:54 --> 51:59 [SPEAKER_00]: Returns to decay and is laid in the earth thus to dust, ashes, to ashes.
52:00 --> 52:06 [SPEAKER_00]: Yet even them, the body enjoys six great blessings because it rests in Christ.
52:08 --> 52:13 [SPEAKER_00]: One, even though the body returns to dust, that dust is precious to God.
52:14 --> 52:21 [SPEAKER_00]: Just as precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints, so also the dust of His saints is precious to Him.
52:23 --> 52:26 [SPEAKER_00]: There are two kinds of dust that God especially loves.
52:27 --> 52:34 [SPEAKER_00]: The dust of Zion, Psalms chapter 102 verse 14, for her stones are dear to your servants,
52:38 --> 52:40 [SPEAKER_00]: the dust of his saints.
52:41 --> 52:47 [SPEAKER_00]: The richest gold hidden in the earth is not as precious to us as the dust of God's people is to him.
52:48 --> 52:58 [SPEAKER_00]: Job speaks of the dust of gold, but it may also be said that the earth contains another kind of golden dust which is the dust of God's saints.
52:59 --> 53:01 [SPEAKER_00]: As Belom said concerning Israel,
53:05 --> 53:10 [SPEAKER_00]: So we may ask, who can fully express God's love for the dust of Jacob?
53:11 --> 53:15 [SPEAKER_00]: Who can fully understand his love for the bodies of his people while they rest in their graves?
53:17 --> 53:24 [SPEAKER_00]: The apostle teaches that neither life nor death can separate believers from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.
53:25 --> 53:30 [SPEAKER_00]: God loves the bodies of his saints as well as their souls even when those bodies have returned to dust.
53:31 --> 53:34 [SPEAKER_00]: The dust remains included in God's eternal purpose.
53:35 --> 53:43 [SPEAKER_00]: The bodies of believers, no less than their souls, have been chosen for eternal life, redeemed by Christ, and set apart by the Holy Spirit.
53:45 --> 53:48 [SPEAKER_00]: What comfort this brings to a dying child of God?
53:49 --> 53:52 [SPEAKER_00]: Human friends must eventually leave us at the grave.
53:53 --> 53:57 [SPEAKER_00]: Has been must apart from his wife, children from their father.
53:57 --> 53:59 [SPEAKER_00]: but God does not abandon his people there.
54:00 --> 54:06 [SPEAKER_00]: He accompanies them even to the grave, and his watchful providence remains over their dust.
54:08 --> 54:18 [SPEAKER_00]: Just as Rizba spread her covering over the bodies of Saul's sons, protecting them from the birds by day in the beast by night, so God watches over the bodies of his saints.
54:19 --> 54:22 [SPEAKER_00]: And he cared for them in the hidden place of their mother's womb.
54:23 --> 54:26 [SPEAKER_00]: So he continues to care for them in the womb of the earth.
54:27 --> 54:33 [SPEAKER_00]: The God who loved them in the supple curve of the womb will also love them in the womb of the supple curve.
54:34 --> 54:38 [SPEAKER_00]: Two, those who sleep in Jesus have this benefit.
54:39 --> 54:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ has sanctified the grave.
54:42 --> 54:48 [SPEAKER_00]: By his own burial, Christ has sanctified, sweetened, and as it were, perfumed the grave.
54:49 --> 54:57 [SPEAKER_00]: By its own nature, the grave is a dreadful place, a prison of decay, a house of corruption and a place of terror.
54:58 --> 55:02 [SPEAKER_00]: But for the one who dies in Christ, its character has been changed.
55:03 --> 55:12 [SPEAKER_00]: It has become like a soft bed where the believer quietly rests, free from every care, fear, and trouble until the resurrection.
55:13 --> 55:19 [SPEAKER_00]: For the wicked, the grave remains the fearful place, the house of decay where they await the final judgment.
55:20 --> 55:26 [SPEAKER_00]: But for the children of God, Christ has made it a safe storehouse in which their bodies are kept
55:29 --> 55:40 [SPEAKER_00]: He has also made it the appointed road to heaven, Christ Himself entered heaven by passing through the grave, and all who belonged to him must follow the same path.
55:41 --> 55:48 [SPEAKER_00]: We must first lay aside the rags of mortality before we can be clothed with the robes of immortality.
55:50 --> 55:52 [SPEAKER_00]: For the wicked, the grave is the road to hell.
55:53 --> 55:59 [SPEAKER_00]: For those who sleep in Jesus, it is the passage to heaven, where Christ is.
56:00 --> 56:10 [SPEAKER_00]: If Augustine could say that he would willingly pass even through hell if it led him to Christ, then surely we would be willing to pass through the grave to be with him.
56:12 --> 56:12 [SPEAKER_00]: 3.
56:12 --> 56:16 [SPEAKER_00]: Those who sleep in Jesus have this benefit.
56:16 --> 56:18 [SPEAKER_00]: Their bodies are preserved.
56:19 --> 56:25 [SPEAKER_00]: Because they are united to Christ and watched over by God's providence, believers are not utterly destroyed by death.
56:27 --> 56:30 [SPEAKER_00]: Although their bodies decay, they are not annihilated.
56:31 --> 56:33 [SPEAKER_00]: Nothing is completely and finally
56:38 --> 56:42 [SPEAKER_00]: The decay of the body is like the seed planted in the ground.
56:42 --> 56:50 [SPEAKER_00]: As Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 36, the seed is buried, dies, and decays.
56:50 --> 56:52 [SPEAKER_00]: But it is not destroyed.
56:53 --> 56:57 [SPEAKER_00]: It decays so that it may later be raised to new life.
56:58 --> 57:03 [SPEAKER_00]: In the same way, the bodies of the saints decay in the grave so that they may be raised again
57:08 --> 57:13 [SPEAKER_00]: This is another reason Scripture calls the death of a believer's sleep.
57:14 --> 57:21 [SPEAKER_00]: A sleeped person has not ceased to exist, and neither has the believer whose body rests in the grave.
57:22 --> 57:23 [SPEAKER_00]: Something remains preserved.
57:24 --> 57:29 [SPEAKER_00]: As David says of the righteous, he keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken.
57:29 --> 57:35 [SPEAKER_00]: So God preserves the dust and ashes of his children, so that they are not utterly and
57:37 --> 57:38 [SPEAKER_00]: Here you may raise an objection.
57:39 --> 57:43 [SPEAKER_00]: Is there not also something preserved in the bodies of the wicked?
57:44 --> 57:49 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, their bodies are not completely destroyed, but they are preserved.
57:50 --> 57:55 [SPEAKER_00]: Not because they are united to Christ, but by the Almighty power of God is their judge.
57:56 --> 58:03 [SPEAKER_00]: They remain as it were, in prison until the great day of judgment when they'll stand before Christ and be condemned.
58:04 --> 58:14 [SPEAKER_00]: Indeed, it would be better for the wicked if their bodies were annihilated at death just as it would be better for a criminal to die in prison than to be led out for execution.
58:15 --> 58:16 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the difference between the two.
58:17 --> 58:24 [SPEAKER_00]: Those outside of Christ are not properly preserved in the grave, but reserved by Christ's power for future judgment.
58:25 --> 58:35 [SPEAKER_00]: Those who are in Christ are both reserved and preserved through their union with Him, so that body and soul together may inherit eternal glory on the day of judgment.
58:36 --> 58:36 [SPEAKER_00]: 4.
58:37 --> 58:44 [SPEAKER_00]: Those who sleep in Jesus have this benefit, while their bodies rest in the grave, their souls are in heaven.
58:45 --> 58:55 [SPEAKER_00]: Although the believer's body lies in the grave and returns to dust, the soul is already in heaven, and join the glorious presence of God together with his saints and angels.
58:57 --> 59:01 [SPEAKER_00]: The soul, the better part of the person, the true self, is in heaven.
59:02 --> 59:08 [SPEAKER_00]: The body, which is like the earthly container, remains in the grave, but the treasure itself is already with God.
59:09 --> 59:11 [SPEAKER_00]: Another objection someone might raise.
59:11 --> 59:15 [SPEAKER_00]: What benefit does the body receive from the souls being in heaven?
59:16 --> 59:18 [SPEAKER_00]: It receives two great benefits.
59:19 --> 59:22 [SPEAKER_00]: If the souls in heaven, the body will certainly follow.
59:23 --> 59:26 [SPEAKER_00]: The body is inseparably connected to the soul.
59:26 --> 59:32 [SPEAKER_00]: If the soul has already entered heaven, the body will one day be raised and brought there also.
59:33 --> 59:37 [SPEAKER_00]: The soul's happiness is not yet complete until it is reunited with the body.
59:39 --> 59:41 [SPEAKER_00]: God created the soul to be joined to the body forever.
59:42 --> 59:46 [SPEAKER_00]: Had out of not sinned, body and soul would never have been separated.
59:47 --> 59:50 [SPEAKER_00]: Death brought this separation because of sin.
59:51 --> 59:55 [SPEAKER_00]: For this reason, the soul in heaven still desires reunion with the body.
59:55 --> 01:00:05 [SPEAKER_00]: It longs for the breach caused by death to be healed, because together, body and soul will enjoy a more complete state than either does a part.
01:00:06 --> 01:00:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Scripture teaches that believers wait for the redemption of our body.
01:00:10 --> 01:00:22 [SPEAKER_00]: It also describes the souls of the redeemed praying that God would complete the number of his elect, so that they may be reunited with their bodies and receive their full and public crown of glory.
01:00:22 --> 01:00:27 [SPEAKER_00]: As Bernard said, the souls in heaven remember their bodies resting in the grave.
01:00:28 --> 01:00:34 [SPEAKER_00]: They are not like Pharaoh's cheap cup bear, who forgot Joseph after being restored to honor.
01:00:35 --> 01:00:40 [SPEAKER_00]: They remember the bodies that served God with them in prayer, fasting, and suffering for Christ.
01:00:41 --> 01:00:46 [SPEAKER_00]: They know that their joy will be made more complete when body and soul are reunited.
01:00:47 --> 01:00:57 [SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, they continue to long and pray for that day, and Christ, in His appointed time, will come and glory to raise their bodies to everlasting life.
01:00:59 --> 01:01:01 [SPEAKER_00]: Those who sleep in Jesus have this benefit.
01:01:02 --> 01:01:07 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ's work will not be complete until they are raised.
01:01:08 --> 01:01:20 [SPEAKER_00]: Just as human body is incomplete if even one of its members is missing, so Christ, as the head of his church, will not have the fullness of his redeemed body until every one of his people has been glorified.
01:01:21 --> 01:01:29 [SPEAKER_00]: For this reason, Ephesians chapter 1 verse 23 says that the church is the fullness of Him who fills all and all.
01:01:38 --> 01:01:41 [SPEAKER_00]: as a human body is incomplete with that all its members.
01:01:42 --> 01:01:50 [SPEAKER_00]: So Christ's mystical body will not be complete until all those who sleep in Jesus are reunited with their souls and glorified forever.
01:01:51 --> 01:01:57 [SPEAKER_00]: Those who sleep in Jesus have this benefit, their bodies rest in hope.
01:01:58 --> 01:02:04 [SPEAKER_00]: Although the believer's body lies in the grave and returns to dust, it rests there in hope.
01:02:05 --> 01:02:09 [SPEAKER_00]: David expresses this confidence in Psalm chapter 16 verse 9.
01:02:10 --> 01:02:16 [SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices, my flesh will also rest and hope.
01:02:17 --> 01:02:22 [SPEAKER_00]: Every believer may make these words his own as death approaches.
01:02:22 --> 01:02:27 [SPEAKER_00]: My heart is glad, my glory rejoices, and my flesh also will rest and hope.
01:02:28 --> 01:02:42 [SPEAKER_00]: That hope includes four great expectations that the body will rise again, that the same body will rise, that it will rise because of its union with Christ, that it will rise to ever at last in glory.
01:02:43 --> 01:02:46 [SPEAKER_00]: This leads us to the third and final doctrine.
01:02:47 --> 01:02:52 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus Christ will raise the bodies of those who sleep in Him as their head and Savior.
01:02:53 --> 01:03:00 [SPEAKER_00]: He will bring them with him to judgment and then take them into heaven, where they will be with the Lord forever.
01:03:02 --> 01:03:05 [SPEAKER_00]: All of this is contained in the words of our text.
01:03:05 --> 01:03:07 [SPEAKER_00]: God will bring them with him.
01:03:08 --> 01:03:12 [SPEAKER_00]: Before he brings them, however, he must first raise them.
01:03:13 --> 01:03:16 [SPEAKER_00]: The bodies of the saints will not remain forever in the dust.
01:03:16 --> 01:03:18 [SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, Isaiah says,
01:03:22 --> 01:03:24 [SPEAKER_00]: At first, this seems like a strange command.
01:03:25 --> 01:03:27 [SPEAKER_00]: Why should those who draw in the dust sing?
01:03:28 --> 01:03:32 [SPEAKER_00]: Because the earth will give up its dead, and so will the sea.
01:03:33 --> 01:03:39 [SPEAKER_00]: Just as the great fish gave Jonah back onto dry land, so the sea will give up all who have died within it.
01:03:40 --> 01:03:45 [SPEAKER_00]: When Jonah was swallowed by the fish, it appeared that he was lost forever.
01:03:45 --> 01:03:49 [SPEAKER_00]: Yet God simply spoke and the fish released him.
01:03:49 --> 01:03:54 [SPEAKER_00]: To the unbelieving eye, the grave seems like the belly of that great fish.
01:03:55 --> 01:03:59 [SPEAKER_00]: The atheist concludes that the child of God has perished forever.
01:04:00 --> 01:04:07 [SPEAKER_00]: But when the trumpet sounds in the archangel speaks, the sea will give up its dead, and the earth will do the same.
01:04:08 --> 01:04:13 [SPEAKER_00]: They are not only God's stewards, interested for a time with the bodies of His people.
01:04:14 --> 01:04:19 [SPEAKER_00]: When God requires them to give an account, they will faithfully return every one of them.
01:04:20 --> 01:04:22 [SPEAKER_00]: Not a single body will be missing.
01:04:22 --> 01:04:25 [SPEAKER_00]: The grave is only a temporary resting place.
01:04:26 --> 01:04:26 [SPEAKER_00]: a bedroom.
01:04:27 --> 01:04:37 [SPEAKER_00]: Just as one who goes to bed expects to wake in the morning, so believers fall asleep in death with the sure and certain hope of the resurrection.
01:04:38 --> 01:04:41 [SPEAKER_00]: All who sleep in Jesus will rise again.
01:04:42 --> 01:04:44 [SPEAKER_00]: They will rise with the same bodies.
01:04:45 --> 01:04:51 [SPEAKER_00]: they will rise with the same bodies in substance, though not with the same earthly qualities.
01:04:52 --> 01:04:55 [SPEAKER_00]: Otherwise, it would not be a resurrection, but a new creation.
01:04:56 --> 01:05:01 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ said, all who are in the tomb will hear His voice and come out.
01:05:02 --> 01:05:12 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul likewise teaches that this mortal body must put on immortality, and this corruptible body must put on incorruption.
01:05:13 --> 01:05:16 [SPEAKER_00]: this was Job's comfort in his suffering.
01:05:16 --> 01:05:19 [SPEAKER_00]: With these very eyes, I will see my redeemer.
01:05:20 --> 01:05:23 [SPEAKER_00]: It also accords with God's justice.
01:05:24 --> 01:05:31 [SPEAKER_00]: The body that sinned must stand for judgment, and the body that serve God must receive the crown.
01:05:32 --> 01:05:34 [SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, the same body will be raised.
01:05:35 --> 01:05:38 [SPEAKER_00]: They will rise through their union with Christ.
01:05:38 --> 01:05:40 [SPEAKER_00]: This is implied in our text.
01:05:41 --> 01:05:47 [SPEAKER_00]: If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
01:05:49 --> 01:05:56 [SPEAKER_00]: The same divine power that raised Christ from the dead will also raise all who are united to Him by the Spirit.
01:05:57 --> 01:06:02 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ is the husband of His church, and the husband will raise his bride.
01:06:03 --> 01:06:08 [SPEAKER_00]: He is the shepherd of His flock, and the shepherd will raise his sheep.
01:06:09 --> 01:06:12 [SPEAKER_00]: He is the king of His people, and the king will raise his subjects.
01:06:13 --> 01:06:19 [SPEAKER_00]: For this reason, he is called the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
01:06:20 --> 01:06:29 [SPEAKER_00]: just as the first fruits consecrated the whole harvest, so Christ's resurrection guarantees the resurrection of all who die in Him.
01:06:30 --> 01:06:37 [SPEAKER_00]: Scripture also says, as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
01:06:38 --> 01:06:45 [SPEAKER_00]: that is, all who are in Christ will be raised by His power because He is their head, Savior, and Redeemer.
01:06:46 --> 01:06:50 [SPEAKER_00]: If the head is above the water, the body cannot remain beneath it.
01:06:51 --> 01:06:53 [SPEAKER_00]: They will rise in glory.
01:06:54 --> 01:07:10 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul writes, it is sown in corruption, it is raised in corruption, it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory, it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power, it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
01:07:11 --> 01:07:16 [SPEAKER_00]: In becoming incarnate, Christ took upon himself our bodies as well as
01:07:23 --> 01:07:24 [SPEAKER_00]: Our bodies are united to Him.
01:07:25 --> 01:07:34 [SPEAKER_00]: They are members of Christ, temples of the Holy Spirit, and instruments in God's service just as truly as our souls are.
01:07:34 --> 01:07:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, Christ will glorify our bodies as well as our souls, making them like His own glorious body.
01:07:42 --> 01:07:47 [SPEAKER_00]: The glory prepared for the resurrected bodies of God's people is beyond human description.
01:07:48 --> 01:07:55 [SPEAKER_00]: I has not seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man would God has prepared for those who love him.
01:07:57 --> 01:08:03 [SPEAKER_00]: I have discussed some of this glory elsewhere in a funeral sermon already in print, so I will not repeat it here.
01:08:04 --> 01:08:07 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, for the resurrection of the wicked and of the righteous.
01:08:08 --> 01:08:13 [SPEAKER_00]: The bodies of the wicked will come out of their graves as prisoners, brought out for judgment.
01:08:18 --> 01:08:23 [SPEAKER_00]: You will come out as Pharaoh's chief baker came out of prison to face execution.
01:08:24 --> 01:08:30 [SPEAKER_00]: They will rise with fear and trembling, calling upon the rocks and mountains to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb.
01:08:31 --> 01:08:37 [SPEAKER_00]: but those who sleep in Jesus will rise from their graves as people awakening from peaceful beds.
01:08:38 --> 01:08:51 [SPEAKER_00]: They'll come forth like Jonah from the belly of the Great Fish, like Daniel from the Lion's Dam, like Pharaoh's chief cut bearer restored to honor and like Joseph released from prison and exalted to rule Egypt.
01:08:52 --> 01:08:58 [SPEAKER_00]: So the bodies of the saints will be raised from their graves, may like the angels, their faces shining like the sun
01:09:01 --> 01:09:08 [SPEAKER_00]: The dead in Christ once raised will be brought by Christ with him on the great and dreadful day of judgment.
01:09:09 --> 01:09:15 [SPEAKER_00]: He will cause them to sit with him on his throne, just as he sits with the father on his throne, Revelation 321.
01:09:16 --> 01:09:22 [SPEAKER_00]: They will share with Christ in judging the wicked, not only wicked people, but also the fallen angels.
01:09:23 --> 01:09:28 [SPEAKER_00]: They will do so as those who sit with Christ and affirm the justice of his judgment.
01:09:29 --> 01:09:37 [SPEAKER_00]: This great honor does not belong only to the apostles or to those who have given up everything for Christ as the Roman Catholic Church teaches.
01:09:38 --> 01:09:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Rather, it belongs to all who are truly God's saints.
01:09:43 --> 01:09:47 [SPEAKER_00]: The apostles will indeed enjoy a greater degree of glory than other believers.
01:09:47 --> 01:09:53 [SPEAKER_00]: Yet the privilege of sharing in Christ's judgment belongs to every saint, from the least to the greatest.
01:09:54 --> 01:10:00 [SPEAKER_00]: Those who are now judged and condemned by the world will one day sit with Christ and judge those who judged him.
01:10:01 --> 01:10:10 [SPEAKER_00]: Those who are now tempted, opposed, and sometimes overcome by Satan, but one day sharing Christ's judgment of Satan and his angels.
01:10:11 --> 01:10:21 [SPEAKER_00]: When the judgment has been completed, Christ will bring all who's sleeping him into heaven, where they will be with the Lord forever in perfect happiness.
01:10:23 --> 01:10:26 [SPEAKER_00]: This concludes the explanation of the three doctrines.
01:10:27 --> 01:10:28 [SPEAKER_00]: Now for the first application.
01:10:29 --> 01:10:34 [SPEAKER_00]: We should not grieve without restraint over the death of our believing friends and loved ones.
01:10:34 --> 01:10:37 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is the application Paula himself intends.
01:10:38 --> 01:10:47 [SPEAKER_00]: we may grieve, but not as those who have no hope, let us remember that the death of a child of God is nothing more than a peaceful and blessed sleep.
01:10:47 --> 01:10:50 [SPEAKER_00]: The believer goes to the grave as one goes to bed.
01:10:51 --> 01:10:54 [SPEAKER_00]: They're resting from every care, sorrow, and labor.
01:10:56 --> 01:11:02 [SPEAKER_00]: Even while the body lies in the grave, it remains asleep in Jesus and continues to belong to him as a member of his body.
01:11:03 --> 01:11:06 [SPEAKER_00]: The believer's very dust is precious to God.
01:11:06 --> 01:11:13 [SPEAKER_00]: It remains included in God's eternal purpose, Christ's redemption, and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.
01:11:14 --> 01:11:19 [SPEAKER_00]: Because of the believer's union with Christ, the body and the grave is not utterly destroyed.
01:11:20 --> 01:11:27 [SPEAKER_00]: It is not merely reserved, but preserved for the day when it will be raised to ever at last in glory.
01:11:28 --> 01:11:38 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ has so transformed the grave that, for his people, it has become nothing more than a temporary resting place, a dressing room before glory.
01:11:40 --> 01:11:51 [SPEAKER_00]: The believer rests there until the morning of the resurrection, when he will put on the garment of immortality and his lowly body will be made like the glorious body of Jesus Christ.
01:11:52 --> 01:11:55 [SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, let us comfort one another with these truths.
01:11:56 --> 01:12:02 [SPEAKER_00]: Let us not grieve without measure for those who's every tear has already been wiped away.
01:12:03 --> 01:12:06 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, let us remember the immeasurable game they have received.
01:12:07 --> 01:12:15 [SPEAKER_00]: Death has ended all their earthly and spiritual troubles, and has opened the way for them into everlasting happiness.
01:12:16 --> 01:12:18 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, for the second application.
01:12:19 --> 01:12:27 [SPEAKER_00]: Let these doctrines be a precious antidote against the fear of death and the grave for all of God's people.
01:12:28 --> 01:12:32 [SPEAKER_00]: Why should we fear that without which we would be truly miserable?
01:12:33 --> 01:12:41 [SPEAKER_00]: As the apostle says, if in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitted.
01:12:41 --> 01:12:45 [SPEAKER_00]: For this reason, when a room was spread that the apostle John would never die,
01:12:48 --> 01:12:52 [SPEAKER_00]: Yet Jesus did not tell to him that he was not to die.
01:12:52 --> 01:12:53 [SPEAKER_00]: John chapter 21, verse 23.
01:12:55 --> 01:13:01 [SPEAKER_00]: It is as though he was saying, God forbid that I should be so miserable as never to die.
01:13:01 --> 01:13:10 [SPEAKER_00]: Even if a believer could live forever in this world, remaining forever young, healthy and wealthy, he would still count himself miserable.
01:13:11 --> 01:13:20 [SPEAKER_00]: While he remains here, he is absent from Christ, who is his life absent from God, who is his happiness and still burdened by sin.
01:13:21 --> 01:13:32 [SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, just as Jacob rejoiced when he saw the wagons that would carry him to his son Joseph, so God's people should rejoice when death approaches for it will carry them to Christ.
01:13:33 --> 01:13:41 [SPEAKER_00]: And just as God said to Joseph, do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will go down with you and I will surely bring you up again.
01:13:42 --> 01:13:45 [SPEAKER_00]: So God says to all his children,
01:13:46 --> 01:13:49 [SPEAKER_00]: do not be afraid to go down into the house of decay.
01:13:49 --> 01:13:50 [SPEAKER_00]: I will go with you.
01:13:51 --> 01:13:52 [SPEAKER_00]: I will remain with you.
01:13:52 --> 01:13:59 [SPEAKER_00]: I will watch over your dust by my providence, and I will surely raise you again to everlasting glory.
01:14:00 --> 01:14:06 [SPEAKER_00]: We should not view death merely through the lens of nature, but through the teaching of Scripture.
01:14:07 --> 01:14:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Nature presents death is terrifying.
01:14:09 --> 01:14:13 [SPEAKER_00]: The philosopher called it the most terrible of all terrible things.
01:14:14 --> 01:14:16 [SPEAKER_00]: Job calls it the King of Terrors.
01:14:17 --> 01:14:19 [SPEAKER_00]: Death is frightening for three reasons.
01:14:19 --> 01:14:22 [SPEAKER_00]: One, death separates the soul and body.
01:14:23 --> 01:14:26 [SPEAKER_00]: Death separates two companions that have long lived together.
01:14:27 --> 01:14:34 [SPEAKER_00]: Soul and body are reluctant to part, for nothing is more contrary to human nature than their separation.
01:14:35 --> 01:14:35 [SPEAKER_00]: 2.
01:14:36 --> 01:14:38 [SPEAKER_00]: Death is the consequence of sin.
01:14:39 --> 01:14:40 [SPEAKER_00]: The wages of sin is death.
01:14:41 --> 01:14:42 [SPEAKER_00]: Adam never sinned.
01:14:43 --> 01:14:45 [SPEAKER_00]: Death would never have entered the world.
01:14:46 --> 01:14:49 [SPEAKER_00]: Through one man's sin entered the world and death through sin.
01:14:50 --> 01:14:52 [SPEAKER_00]: This is why death is frightening.
01:14:53 --> 01:14:53 [SPEAKER_00]: 3.
01:14:54 --> 01:14:56 [SPEAKER_00]: Death is followed by judgment.
01:14:57 --> 01:15:02 [SPEAKER_00]: After death comes judgment and after judgment comes either everlasting salvation
01:15:03 --> 01:15:05 [SPEAKER_00]: or everlasting condemnation.
01:15:05 --> 01:15:12 [SPEAKER_00]: For those who remain guilty before God and have not repented of their sins, death is indeed terrifying.
01:15:12 --> 01:15:20 [SPEAKER_00]: For everyone outside of Christ, it truly is, as the philosopher said, the most terrible of all terrible things.
01:15:21 --> 01:15:25 [SPEAKER_00]: But for those who are in Christ, the sting of death has been removed.
01:15:26 --> 01:15:28 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead of being the most dreadful thing,
01:15:31 --> 01:15:34 [SPEAKER_00]: as the apostle says, it is far better.
01:15:35 --> 01:15:39 [SPEAKER_00]: For the believer, death is nothing more than a peaceful sleep.
01:15:40 --> 01:15:44 [SPEAKER_00]: It is a laying aside of earthly garments before resting until the morning of the resurrection.
01:15:45 --> 01:15:59 [SPEAKER_00]: Augustine, therefore, said that the child of God should be willing to die as to take off his clothes, because death is simply the putting off of the body, the soul's garment, and the departure from misery into everlasting happiness.
01:16:00 --> 01:16:04 [SPEAKER_00]: It is like releasing a bird from its cage so that it may fly to heaven.
01:16:06 --> 01:16:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Death is the believer's entrance into the endless life of heaven.
01:16:10 --> 01:16:17 [SPEAKER_00]: It is the laying aside of an earthly tent in order to dwell in a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
01:16:18 --> 01:16:23 [SPEAKER_00]: It is the putting off of one dwelling, so is to be clothed with the heavenly one.
01:16:24 --> 01:16:30 [SPEAKER_00]: It is the journey home to the father's house, where perfect and everlasting happiness awaits.
01:16:35 --> 01:16:39 [SPEAKER_00]: A true believer has many reasons not to fear death.
01:16:40 --> 01:16:50 [SPEAKER_00]: One at the moment of death, the soul is immediately received into heaven, though the body is laid in the grave, the believer's better part enters at once into blessedness.
01:16:51 --> 01:16:52 [SPEAKER_00]: to.
01:16:52 --> 01:16:56 [SPEAKER_00]: The body does not truly perish, but sleeps.
01:16:57 --> 01:17:00 [SPEAKER_00]: As Christ said of Lazarus, the believer's body sleeps.
01:17:01 --> 01:17:09 [SPEAKER_00]: It rests in the grave, asleep in Jesus, still belonging to Christ, and remaining under God's loving care.
01:17:10 --> 01:17:10 [SPEAKER_00]: 3.
01:17:11 --> 01:17:14 [SPEAKER_00]: The soul's happiness is not yet complete without the body.
01:17:15 --> 01:17:23 [SPEAKER_00]: Although the soul is already in heaven, its joy will not be fully complete until it's reunited with the resurrected body.
01:17:24 --> 01:17:24 [SPEAKER_00]: 4.
01:17:25 --> 01:17:30 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ's redeemed body will not be complete until every believer is raised.
01:17:31 --> 01:17:35 [SPEAKER_00]: As the head of his church, Christ has joined himself to his people.
01:17:35 --> 01:17:42 [SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, in the completion of his redemptive work, every member of his body will be raised in crown with glory.
01:17:43 --> 01:17:43 [SPEAKER_00]: 5.
01:17:44 --> 01:17:46 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ has conquered death for the believer.
01:17:47 --> 01:17:52 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ has not only sanctified and transformed death, but he has conquered it.
01:17:53 --> 01:17:54 [SPEAKER_00]: as was foretold.
01:17:55 --> 01:17:57 [SPEAKER_00]: I will rant some them from the power of the grave.
01:17:57 --> 01:17:58 [SPEAKER_00]: I will redeem them from death.
01:17:59 --> 01:18:01 [SPEAKER_00]: O death, I will be your plagues.
01:18:01 --> 01:18:03 [SPEAKER_00]: O grave, I will be your destruction.
01:18:04 --> 01:18:07 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ has led captivity captive.
01:18:07 --> 01:18:10 [SPEAKER_00]: And death itself is among the captives, just as the devil is.
01:18:11 --> 01:18:14 [SPEAKER_00]: He has disarmed death and removed its sting.
01:18:15 --> 01:18:20 [SPEAKER_00]: For those who are in Christ, death is like a serpent who sting has been taken away.
01:18:21 --> 01:18:25 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like the Viper that fastened on to Paul's hand, but could not harm him.
01:18:25 --> 01:18:30 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like the bronze serpent in the wilderness, though it had the appearance of a serpent.
01:18:31 --> 01:18:33 [SPEAKER_00]: It no longer possessed its deadly nature.
01:18:34 --> 01:18:37 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead of bringing death, it became an instrument of healing.
01:18:38 --> 01:18:40 [SPEAKER_00]: so it is death for the child of God.
01:18:41 --> 01:18:47 [SPEAKER_00]: Far from harming the believer, death has become through Christ's victory, one of his greatest blessings.
01:18:48 --> 01:18:51 [SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, the believer may triumph with the apostle.
01:18:52 --> 01:18:53 [SPEAKER_00]: O death, where is your sting?
01:18:54 --> 01:18:56 [SPEAKER_00]: O grave, where is your victory?
01:18:56 --> 01:18:59 [SPEAKER_00]: The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
01:19:00 --> 01:19:04 [SPEAKER_00]: But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
01:19:06 --> 01:19:06 [SPEAKER_00]: 6.
01:19:06 --> 01:19:09 [SPEAKER_00]: The believer is always prepared for death.
01:19:10 --> 01:19:11 [SPEAKER_00]: Another source of comfort is this.
01:19:12 --> 01:19:17 [SPEAKER_00]: The one who belongs to Christ can never die unprepared, even if death comes suddenly.
01:19:18 --> 01:19:25 [SPEAKER_00]: A believer may die unexpectedly with respect to time, but never unexpectedly with respect to readiness.
01:19:26 --> 01:19:28 [SPEAKER_00]: He is already prepared through faith in Christ.
01:19:29 --> 01:19:34 [SPEAKER_00]: He has been justified by faith, sanctified by the spirit and delivered from condemnation.
01:19:35 --> 01:19:36 [SPEAKER_00]: As Scripture says,
01:19:37 --> 01:19:41 [SPEAKER_00]: there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
01:19:42 --> 01:19:48 [SPEAKER_00]: He does not need to seek grace at the last moment, for God has already given it to Him.
01:19:50 --> 01:19:50 [SPEAKER_00]: 7.
01:19:50 --> 01:19:53 [SPEAKER_00]: The believer can never die miserably.
01:19:54 --> 01:20:00 [SPEAKER_00]: No matter how painful or shameful the outward circumstances of death may be, the believer dies blessed.
01:20:01 --> 01:20:13 [SPEAKER_00]: Whether in a trash dump in a prison on the galleys or at the stake, the child of God dies happily, as the apostle says, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.
01:20:14 --> 01:20:15 [SPEAKER_00]: Stephen was stoned to death.
01:20:16 --> 01:20:17 [SPEAKER_00]: Yet he died blessed.
01:20:17 --> 01:20:22 [SPEAKER_00]: For while the stones fell, he saw heaven open up and Christ ready to receive him.
01:20:23 --> 01:20:25 [SPEAKER_00]: Lazarus died in poverty and hunger.
01:20:26 --> 01:20:30 [SPEAKER_00]: Yet he died blessed because the angels carried his soul to Abraham's side.
01:20:31 --> 01:20:32 [SPEAKER_00]: King Josiah died in battle.
01:20:33 --> 01:20:35 [SPEAKER_00]: Yet scripture says he died in peace.
01:20:36 --> 01:20:38 [SPEAKER_00]: The believer dies in the arms of Christ.
01:20:38 --> 01:20:40 [SPEAKER_00]: Whatever the outward circumstances,
01:20:43 --> 01:20:48 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace for my eyes have seen your salvation.
01:20:48 --> 01:20:49 [SPEAKER_00]: 8.
01:20:50 --> 01:20:55 [SPEAKER_00]: Scripture uses three expressions for death that bring great comfort.
01:20:56 --> 01:20:56 [SPEAKER_00]: 1.
01:20:57 --> 01:20:58 [SPEAKER_00]: Peter calls death in Exodus.
01:20:59 --> 01:21:04 [SPEAKER_00]: In 2 Peter 1 verse 15, Peter refers to his death with a word meaning departure.
01:21:05 --> 01:21:08 [SPEAKER_00]: Death is an Exodus from Egypt into the heavenly canon.
01:21:09 --> 01:21:14 [SPEAKER_00]: It is not merely dying, but passing from the valley of death into the land of the living.
01:21:15 --> 01:21:15 [SPEAKER_00]: 2.
01:21:16 --> 01:21:18 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul calls death the departure.
01:21:18 --> 01:21:24 [SPEAKER_00]: In Philippians chapter 1 verse 23, Paul says, I desire to depart and be with Christ.
01:21:26 --> 01:21:30 [SPEAKER_00]: Some understand this as a meaning that the soul returns to God from whom it came.
01:21:31 --> 01:21:37 [SPEAKER_00]: Others note that the word was used by sailors for loosening a ship from its moring and setting sail.
01:21:38 --> 01:21:42 [SPEAKER_00]: Then is like raising the sails for the voyage to heaven.
01:21:43 --> 01:21:43 [SPEAKER_00]: 3.
01:21:44 --> 01:21:46 [SPEAKER_00]: Simeon calls death a release.
01:21:46 --> 01:21:51 [SPEAKER_00]: Simeon says, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace.
01:21:52 --> 01:21:57 [SPEAKER_00]: The Greek word means a release or dismissal, especially the release of a prisoner.
01:21:58 --> 01:21:59 [SPEAKER_00]: This teaches two things.
01:22:00 --> 01:22:03 [SPEAKER_00]: First, the soul lives in the body as in a prison.
01:22:04 --> 01:22:08 [SPEAKER_00]: Even the Greek words associated with the body suggest the idea of confinement.
01:22:09 --> 01:22:17 [SPEAKER_00]: Patroc, therefore, remarked that the one who boasts in the strength of his body is boasting in the strength of his prison.
01:22:17 --> 01:22:22 [SPEAKER_00]: Likewise, when Plato saw one of his students giving excessive attention to his body, he asked,
01:22:26 --> 01:22:32 [SPEAKER_00]: In several respects, the soul dwells in the body is one confined within a prison.
01:22:33 --> 01:22:33 [SPEAKER_00]: one.
01:22:34 --> 01:22:37 [SPEAKER_00]: The soul is hidden within the body.
01:22:37 --> 01:22:41 [SPEAKER_00]: The soul is hidden in the body just as a prisoner is hidden in a prison.
01:22:41 --> 01:22:47 [SPEAKER_00]: Plato said that if people could see virtue with their physical eyes, they cannot help but love it.
01:22:47 --> 01:22:54 [SPEAKER_00]: In the same way, if we could see the beauty, glory, and excellence of the soul, we would admire and value it greatly.
01:22:55 --> 01:22:57 [SPEAKER_00]: Yet the soul remains hidden within the body
01:23:00 --> 01:23:02 [SPEAKER_00]: the body hinders the soul.
01:23:03 --> 01:23:05 [SPEAKER_00]: The body hinders the soul in three ways.
01:23:05 --> 01:23:08 [SPEAKER_00]: First, it delays the soul's entrance into heaven.
01:23:09 --> 01:23:12 [SPEAKER_00]: As long as we are in the body, we are absent from the Lord.
01:23:13 --> 01:23:15 [SPEAKER_00]: We cannot be with Christ until we depart this life.
01:23:16 --> 01:23:20 [SPEAKER_00]: In this sense, the body resembles a prison because it keeps
01:23:24 --> 01:23:27 [SPEAKER_00]: Second, it hinders the soul's heavenly pursuits.
01:23:28 --> 01:23:31 [SPEAKER_00]: The needs of the body consume so much of our time.
01:23:31 --> 01:23:42 [SPEAKER_00]: Just as Pharaoh's lean cows devoured the fat ones, so the daily work of feeding, clothing, and caring for the body often takes time that ought to be devoted to the soul.
01:23:43 --> 01:23:47 [SPEAKER_00]: The relationship between soul and body resembles that of Abraham and Lot.
01:23:48 --> 01:23:52 [SPEAKER_00]: Each had their own flocks, but the land could not support them both together.
01:23:52 --> 01:23:57 [SPEAKER_00]: So, too, the soul has its work, and the body has its demands.
01:23:57 --> 01:24:02 [SPEAKER_00]: Time is scarcely sufficient for both, and each competes with the other.
01:24:03 --> 01:24:07 [SPEAKER_00]: In this sense, they will not be perfectly at peace until they are separated.
01:24:08 --> 01:24:10 [SPEAKER_00]: It is kind of a bondage when the servant
01:24:12 --> 01:24:15 [SPEAKER_00]: when Haggar is preferred before Sarah.
01:24:16 --> 01:24:21 [SPEAKER_00]: Third, the body weighs the sole down in every spiritual exercise.
01:24:22 --> 01:24:24 [SPEAKER_00]: The body presses heavily upon the sole.
01:24:25 --> 01:24:37 [SPEAKER_00]: Like a bird with a stone tied to its leg cannot soar into the sky, so the sole of even the strongest believer is weighed down by the body and cannot rise as freely as it longs to and prayer in other holy duties.
01:24:42 --> 01:24:44 [SPEAKER_00]: as one rises, the other falls.
01:24:45 --> 01:24:49 [SPEAKER_00]: Just as Saul's armor weighed David down, so the body burdens the soul.
01:24:50 --> 01:24:53 [SPEAKER_00]: The body soon grows weary in the service of God.
01:24:53 --> 01:24:57 [SPEAKER_00]: The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.
01:24:58 --> 01:25:01 [SPEAKER_00]: It is like a strong writer mounted on a tired horse.
01:25:02 --> 01:25:03 [SPEAKER_00]: 3.
01:25:03 --> 01:25:07 [SPEAKER_00]: The body has become an occasion for the soul's corruption.
01:25:08 --> 01:25:13 [SPEAKER_00]: The soul is also like a prisoner because it is continually affected by the body in which it dwells.
01:25:14 --> 01:25:20 [SPEAKER_00]: God gave humanity a heavenly soul and an earthly body so that the soul might raise the body toward heaven.
01:25:21 --> 01:25:24 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, because of sin, the opposite has happened.
01:25:24 --> 01:25:29 [SPEAKER_00]: Our earthly bodies have pulled our souls downward and made them
01:25:31 --> 01:25:32 [SPEAKER_00]: as the old saying puts it.
01:25:33 --> 01:25:38 [SPEAKER_00]: The soul has lived so long and it's earthly tent that itself has become like the tent.
01:25:39 --> 01:25:45 [SPEAKER_00]: The soul has lived so long in a body of flesh that it has become as it were fleshly itself.
01:25:46 --> 01:25:50 [SPEAKER_00]: It sees through the eyes of flesh and is constantly drawn towards earthly things.
01:25:51 --> 01:25:57 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead of pursuing its true purpose to know love, fear, and serve God, it is diverted by the body's desires
01:26:00 --> 01:26:05 [SPEAKER_00]: For this reason, the body may rightly be compared to the soul's prison.
01:26:06 --> 01:26:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Two, death is the soul's release.
01:26:10 --> 01:26:14 [SPEAKER_00]: This expression also teaches that death is the soul's deliverance from prison.
01:26:14 --> 01:26:19 [SPEAKER_00]: Death loosens its chains and sets it free, like a bird is escaping from its cage.
01:26:20 --> 01:26:21 [SPEAKER_00]: So simian praise.
01:26:22 --> 01:26:25 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, now let your servant depart in peace.
01:26:25 --> 01:26:29 [SPEAKER_00]: That is, set your servant free from the prison of this body.
01:26:31 --> 01:26:31 [SPEAKER_00]: 9.
01:26:32 --> 01:26:34 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ has prepared a place for His people.
01:26:35 --> 01:26:42 [SPEAKER_00]: Another source of comfort is that Christ has gone into heaven to prepare a place for the bodies as well as the souls of His saints.
01:26:43 --> 01:26:44 [SPEAKER_00]: He Himself promised.
01:26:45 --> 01:26:47 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to prepare a place for you.
01:26:47 --> 01:26:54 [SPEAKER_00]: I will come again and we'll take you to myself that where I am, you may be also John chapter 14 verses 2 and 3.
01:26:56 --> 01:27:03 [SPEAKER_00]: For this reason, Hebrews calls Christ our forerunner, a forerunner goes ahead because others are coming after him.
01:27:04 --> 01:27:08 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ has entered heaven first to prepare a place for all who's sleeping him.
01:27:09 --> 01:27:12 [SPEAKER_00]: It is though he has already assigned each believer his own dwelling.
01:27:13 --> 01:27:20 [SPEAKER_00]: Hebrews speaks of those whose names are written in heaven and Peter says that inheritance is reserved in heaven for you.
01:27:21 --> 01:27:28 [SPEAKER_00]: Scripture also says that believers are already seated with Christ in the heavenly places because Christ entered heaven on our behalf.
01:27:29 --> 01:27:38 [SPEAKER_00]: He sits there in our human nature, not merely as a private citizen of heaven, but as the representative and head of all gods elect.
01:27:39 --> 01:27:40 [SPEAKER_00]: In due time, he will come again
01:27:47 --> 01:27:50 [SPEAKER_00]: Death ends every misery and opens everlasting joy.
01:27:51 --> 01:28:04 [SPEAKER_00]: The final comfort against the fear of death is that death brings a complete and permanent end to every sorrow, whether physical or spiritual and opens the door to eternal and indescribable happiness.
01:28:05 --> 01:28:10 [SPEAKER_00]: Let these ten considerations serve as precious remedies against the fearful dread of death.
01:28:12 --> 01:28:19 [SPEAKER_00]: Let us look at the third application, the dreadful condition of those who die outside of Christ.
01:28:20 --> 01:28:31 [SPEAKER_00]: Very different is the condition of those who die unregenerate with their sins unrepentative, whose bodies lie in the grave not asleep in Jesus, but asleep in sin.
01:28:32 --> 01:28:36 [SPEAKER_00]: For such people, death is the most terrifying of all terrorists.
01:28:37 --> 01:28:40 [SPEAKER_00]: It is like a cruel, serpent armed with many deadly stings.
01:28:41 --> 01:28:45 [SPEAKER_00]: one death ends on that the unbeliever values.
01:28:46 --> 01:28:50 [SPEAKER_00]: For the one outside of Christ, death strips away every earthly possession.
01:28:51 --> 01:28:56 [SPEAKER_00]: Riches, honor, pleasure, and everything he counted as his happiness.
01:28:56 --> 01:28:58 [SPEAKER_00]: This is a painful sting indeed.
01:28:59 --> 01:29:04 [SPEAKER_00]: When the men of Dan stole Micah's household gods, he cried after them in distress.
01:29:05 --> 01:29:12 [SPEAKER_00]: When they asked what troubled him, he replied, you have taken away my gods, and how can you ask, what is the matter?
01:29:13 --> 01:29:16 [SPEAKER_00]: So it is with the unbeliever at death.
01:29:16 --> 01:29:20 [SPEAKER_00]: His wealth, honor, and pleasures have become his gods.
01:29:21 --> 01:29:23 [SPEAKER_00]: When death comes, he loses them all.
01:29:24 --> 01:29:27 [SPEAKER_00]: It is no wonder then that the thought of death is so bitter to him.
01:29:28 --> 01:29:31 [SPEAKER_00]: to death destroys all his hope.
01:29:31 --> 01:29:36 [SPEAKER_00]: Scripture says when the wicked dies, his expectation will perish.
01:29:37 --> 01:29:39 [SPEAKER_00]: The righteous have hope even in death.
01:29:39 --> 01:29:43 [SPEAKER_00]: Their motto may be, as I breathe my last, I continue to hope.
01:29:44 --> 01:29:46 [SPEAKER_00]: But the hope of the wicked dies with them.
01:29:47 --> 01:29:49 [SPEAKER_00]: As Job says, their hope perishes.
01:29:50 --> 01:29:54 [SPEAKER_00]: Their motto is, rather, as I breathe my last, I despair.
01:29:55 --> 01:29:57 [SPEAKER_00]: Death brings all their hopes to an end.
01:29:58 --> 01:30:00 [SPEAKER_00]: Let us look at earthly hopes and heavenly hopes.
01:30:02 --> 01:30:05 [SPEAKER_00]: One, death destroys the unbelievers' earthly hopes.
01:30:06 --> 01:30:09 [SPEAKER_00]: The unbeliever builds castles in the air and makes great plans for the future.
01:30:10 --> 01:30:15 [SPEAKER_00]: Like the rich fool, he says, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years.
01:30:15 --> 01:30:17 [SPEAKER_00]: Relax, eat, drink and be merry.
01:30:18 --> 01:30:20 [SPEAKER_00]: But God replies, you fool.
01:30:21 --> 01:30:26 [SPEAKER_00]: This very night, your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, who's will they be?
01:30:27 --> 01:30:30 [SPEAKER_00]: death shatters every earthly expectation.
01:30:31 --> 01:30:33 [SPEAKER_00]: But something even worse follows.
01:30:34 --> 01:30:38 [SPEAKER_00]: Two, death destroys the unbelievers' hopes of heaven.
01:30:39 --> 01:30:43 [SPEAKER_00]: Many who are outside of Christ still persuade themselves that they will be saved.
01:30:44 --> 01:30:47 [SPEAKER_00]: Yet when death comes, all such hopes disappear.
01:30:48 --> 01:30:54 [SPEAKER_00]: Their confidence proves to be like a spider's web easily swept away as Job describes.
01:30:55 --> 01:30:59 [SPEAKER_00]: Jeremiah likewise says that the Lord rejects their false confidence.
01:31:00 --> 01:31:02 [SPEAKER_00]: No disappointments can compare with this.
01:31:02 --> 01:31:07 [SPEAKER_00]: To lose all hope of eternal life at the very moment it is most needed.
01:31:08 --> 01:31:13 [SPEAKER_00]: Three, death removes the pleasure of sin but leaves its punishment.
01:31:14 --> 01:31:16 [SPEAKER_00]: Sin is like a serpent.
01:31:16 --> 01:31:20 [SPEAKER_00]: It has both a beautiful appearance and a deadly sting.
01:31:25 --> 01:31:30 [SPEAKER_00]: While the unbeliever is healthy and prosperous, he enjoys the sweetness of sin.
01:31:31 --> 01:31:38 [SPEAKER_00]: It tastes like honey, but when death comes, the sweetness disappears, and only the sting remains.
01:31:39 --> 01:31:50 [SPEAKER_00]: It is like the thief who lives comfortably on stolen goods until he is discovered, imprisoned, and sentenced, then all his former pleasure is replaced with bitterness.
01:31:50 --> 01:31:52 [SPEAKER_00]: So it is with the sinner.
01:31:52 --> 01:32:01 [SPEAKER_00]: While life is easy, sin seems delightful, but when death arrests him, he begins to see sin for what it truly is.
01:32:02 --> 01:32:07 [SPEAKER_00]: He asks himself, where is all the pleasure I once found in my sinful ways?
01:32:07 --> 01:32:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Nothing remains except the sting.
01:32:10 --> 01:32:16 [SPEAKER_00]: As the old saying puts it, the pleasure was momentary, but the torment is eternal.
01:32:17 --> 01:32:17 [SPEAKER_00]: 4.
01:32:18 --> 01:32:20 [SPEAKER_00]: Death awakens the conscience.
01:32:20 --> 01:32:25 [SPEAKER_00]: Death becomes a terrible enemy because it gives conscience its full authority.
01:32:26 --> 01:32:34 [SPEAKER_00]: During life, the wicked often try to silence, ignore or deceive their conscience, but death places conscience upon its proper throne.
01:32:34 --> 01:32:42 [SPEAKER_00]: Once awakened, conscience becomes like a biting serpent in an ever-nawing worm, giving the sinner no rest.
01:32:43 --> 01:32:46 [SPEAKER_00]: Sin is like a heavy log floating in water,
01:32:46 --> 01:32:50 [SPEAKER_00]: While it floats, it seems light enough for one person to move.
01:32:51 --> 01:32:55 [SPEAKER_00]: But once it reaches dry land, many people struggle to lift it.
01:32:56 --> 01:32:57 [SPEAKER_00]: So it is with sin.
01:32:58 --> 01:33:02 [SPEAKER_00]: While a person enjoys health and prosperity, his sin seems small.
01:33:02 --> 01:33:07 [SPEAKER_00]: When he reaches the shore of death, they become unbearably heavy.
01:33:08 --> 01:33:11 [SPEAKER_00]: Conscience, like a fierce guard dog, turns against him.
01:33:12 --> 01:33:20 [SPEAKER_00]: His sins appear in all their ugliness, together, with every aggravating circumstance and pierce him with terrible conviction.
01:33:21 --> 01:33:24 [SPEAKER_00]: Five, death ends the day of grace.
01:33:25 --> 01:33:31 [SPEAKER_00]: Death brings God's patience, the day of mercy, and the opportunity for repentance to an end.
01:33:32 --> 01:33:34 [SPEAKER_00]: There is no repentance in the grave.
01:33:35 --> 01:33:38 [SPEAKER_00]: This present life is the time of grace and salvation.
01:33:39 --> 01:33:42 [SPEAKER_00]: Now the king still extends his golden scepter.
01:33:43 --> 01:33:46 [SPEAKER_00]: Now the hourglass of patience is still running.
01:33:47 --> 01:33:49 [SPEAKER_00]: Now the dropbridge of mercy remains lowered.
01:33:50 --> 01:33:53 [SPEAKER_00]: Now the banner of grace still flies.
01:33:54 --> 01:34:02 [SPEAKER_00]: But when death comes, the banners taken down, the hourglass runs out, the dropbridge is raised, and the day of grace comes to an end.
01:34:03 --> 01:34:14 [SPEAKER_00]: The one who now freely offers rivers of Christ's blood to cleanse sinners from their guilt will not grant even a drop of water to those who have entered eternal judgment.
01:34:15 --> 01:34:15 [SPEAKER_00]: 6.
01:34:16 --> 01:34:19 [SPEAKER_00]: The unbeliever always dies unprepared.
01:34:20 --> 01:34:26 [SPEAKER_00]: Everyone outside of Christ dies suddenly in one sense, no matter how long death may take.
01:34:27 --> 01:34:33 [SPEAKER_00]: Death may come slowly with respect to time, but it always comes suddenly with respect to preparation.
01:34:34 --> 01:34:40 [SPEAKER_00]: Like the foolish emergence, the unbeliever still needs to obtain what should have already been secured.
01:34:41 --> 01:34:44 [SPEAKER_00]: He lacks the grace, faith and assurance needed for eternity.
01:34:45 --> 01:34:49 [SPEAKER_00]: Death is the time for spending what has already been gathered.
01:34:49 --> 01:34:52 [SPEAKER_00]: Not the time for acquiring what has been neglected.
01:34:53 --> 01:35:05 [SPEAKER_00]: Just to someone who has saved nothing during health is in a miserable condition when sickness comes, so the one who has laid up no spiritual treasure is in an even worse condition when death arrives.
01:35:06 --> 01:35:11 [SPEAKER_00]: Such a person dies unprepared, however gradual his dying may be.
01:35:12 --> 01:35:12 [SPEAKER_00]: 7.
01:35:13 --> 01:35:17 [SPEAKER_00]: The unbeliever dies miserably, however comfortable his death may appear.
01:35:18 --> 01:35:24 [SPEAKER_00]: A person may die peacefully in bed, in old age, surrounded by honor, and be buried with great ceremony.
01:35:25 --> 01:35:29 [SPEAKER_00]: Yet if he dies in his sins, he dies under God's judgment.
01:35:30 --> 01:35:34 [SPEAKER_00]: He's under the curse at death, and remains under that curse afterward.
01:35:35 --> 01:35:36 [SPEAKER_00]: Eight.
01:35:36 --> 01:35:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Above all, death opens the door to eternal misery for those outside of Christ.
01:35:42 --> 01:35:47 [SPEAKER_00]: Most of all, death is dreadful because it is the entrance into endless and unrelenting misery.
01:35:48 --> 01:35:54 [SPEAKER_00]: It is, as the old saying puts it, the end of all joy and the beginning of all suffering.
01:35:54 --> 01:35:58 [SPEAKER_00]: If death simply ended a person's existence, it would not be so terrifying.
01:35:59 --> 01:36:06 [SPEAKER_00]: Its true tear is that it releases the soul from the prison of the body only to enter the ever-lasting prison of hell.
01:36:08 --> 01:36:21 [SPEAKER_00]: Death is God's officer sent to arrest the unbeliever, bring him before the judge receive the sentence of condemnation, and then hand him over to the keeper of the prison to be confined forever in the fire of hell.
01:36:22 --> 01:36:27 [SPEAKER_00]: It does to every unbeliever what it did to the rich man and Christ's parable.
01:36:27 --> 01:36:31 [SPEAKER_00]: It carries him from the darkness of sin into the darkness of hell.
01:36:32 --> 01:36:35 [SPEAKER_00]: All these things show the dreadful condition
01:36:39 --> 01:36:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, onto more direct applications.
01:36:42 --> 01:36:47 [SPEAKER_00]: Let us live in such a way that when we die, we may truly sleep in Jesus.
01:36:48 --> 01:36:56 [SPEAKER_00]: All 10 of the comforts earlier described belong only to those who sleep in Christ, which raises an obvious question.
01:36:57 --> 01:37:00 [SPEAKER_00]: What must we do to share in this great blessing?
01:37:01 --> 01:37:02 [SPEAKER_00]: We must do two things.
01:37:03 --> 01:37:03 [SPEAKER_00]: 1.
01:37:04 --> 01:37:06 [SPEAKER_00]: We must come to Christ while we are alive.
01:37:06 --> 01:37:12 [SPEAKER_00]: If we aren't united to Christ in life, we will die in Christ and sleep in Him in the grave.
01:37:13 --> 01:37:17 [SPEAKER_00]: This must not be our last concern, but our first and greatest priority.
01:37:18 --> 01:37:21 [SPEAKER_00]: We must leave the old Adam and be united to the new Adam.
01:37:21 --> 01:37:27 [SPEAKER_00]: We must be transferred from the root of condemnation into the root of acceptance through a faith that truly embraces
01:37:29 --> 01:37:41 [SPEAKER_00]: As Chrisistum said, the great work of justifying faith is to bring us into possession of Christ, like the merchant seeking the pearl of great price, we must be willing to give up everything else to gain him.
01:37:42 --> 01:37:51 [SPEAKER_00]: We must count all things as loss, even worldly advantages, religious privileges, and our own righteousness, if only we may gain Christ.
01:37:53 --> 01:37:58 [SPEAKER_00]: Two, we must seek a settled assurance that we belong to Christ.
01:37:59 --> 01:38:08 [SPEAKER_00]: Many of God's children fear death because they lack assurance that Christ is truly theirs and do not fully grasp the blessedness of dying in Him.
01:38:09 --> 01:38:14 [SPEAKER_00]: Jacob found no comfort in Joseph's being alive until he knew that Joseph truly lived.
01:38:15 --> 01:38:20 [SPEAKER_00]: Mary Magdalene received no comfort from speaking with Christ until she recognized who he was.
01:38:21 --> 01:38:31 [SPEAKER_00]: In that same way, a believer cannot find comfort in death until he knows that Christ is his and that Christ has transformed death into a blessing.
01:38:32 --> 01:38:32 [SPEAKER_00]: Therefore,
01:38:33 --> 01:38:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Every Christian should make it the work of his whole life to gain an assurance that will stand even before God's judgment seat.
01:38:42 --> 01:38:43 [SPEAKER_00]: Another question.
01:38:43 --> 01:38:46 [SPEAKER_00]: How can a person know that he belongs to Christ?
01:38:47 --> 01:38:52 [SPEAKER_00]: Scripture gives three tests, one by second Corinthians chapter 5 or 17.
01:38:53 --> 01:38:56 [SPEAKER_00]: If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
01:38:57 --> 01:39:06 [SPEAKER_00]: The one who has been inwardly and outwardly renewed, even though that renewal is still imperfect, may confidently conclude that he belongs to Christ.
01:39:07 --> 01:39:18 [SPEAKER_00]: Two, by Romans 8 verse 1, there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
01:39:20 --> 01:39:24 [SPEAKER_00]: A believer still has sinful flesh within him, and yet belongs to Christ.
01:39:24 --> 01:39:32 [SPEAKER_00]: But the one who lives according to the flesh and deliberately provides opportunities to satisfy its sinful desires has no share in Christ.
01:39:33 --> 01:39:42 [SPEAKER_00]: The one who walks by the Spirit is led by the Spirit, and sets his mind on the things of the Spirit may be assured that he belongs to Christ.
01:39:43 --> 01:39:43 [SPEAKER_00]: 3.
01:39:44 --> 01:39:51 [SPEAKER_00]: By Galatians chapter 5 verse 24, those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
01:39:53 --> 01:40:04 [SPEAKER_00]: Those who make it their continual aim to put death not only outward sins, but also the sinful desires that produce them are regarded by God as those who have crucified the flesh.
01:40:05 --> 01:40:12 [SPEAKER_00]: Though they cannot completely conquer sin while they remain in this life, they sincerely desire its death and continually strive against it.
01:40:13 --> 01:40:17 [SPEAKER_00]: Such people may confidently know that Christ is theirs.
01:40:17 --> 01:40:23 [SPEAKER_00]: They belong to Christ and that in both life and death, Christ Himself will be there ever lasting gain.
01:40:25 --> 01:40:33 [SPEAKER_00]: Here is an example worth following that you may be encouraged to make it the work of your life to gain Christ and to gain the assurance that you belong to him.
01:40:34 --> 01:40:42 [SPEAKER_00]: Let me set before you, the example of this excellent woman, Lady Anne Waller, whose funeral has brought us together today.
01:40:43 --> 01:40:53 [SPEAKER_00]: Of her, I may truly say is Gregory Nazionson said of his sister Corgonia, that we need not fear praising her too lightly, but rather, failing to appraise her enough.
01:40:54 --> 01:40:57 [SPEAKER_00]: It is not my custom to speak at length and praise of the dead.
01:40:57 --> 01:41:00 [SPEAKER_00]: Yet I must say something on this occasion.
01:41:00 --> 01:41:06 [SPEAKER_00]: not so much for her honor, for she no longer needs our praise, but for our instruction and imitation.
01:41:07 --> 01:41:13 [SPEAKER_00]: I will say nothing about her noble birth or social standing, nor about her accomplishments in ordinary life.
01:41:14 --> 01:41:19 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, I will only speak of her godliness, for that is the truest nobility.
01:41:20 --> 01:41:24 [SPEAKER_00]: She was, as John calls the recipient of his second epistle, an elect lady.
01:41:24 --> 01:41:31 [SPEAKER_00]: Whether that means a distinguished woman, or one chosen by God for eternal life, both descriptions fit her well.
01:41:32 --> 01:41:35 [SPEAKER_00]: Religion was not merely an occasional interest or pastime to her.
01:41:36 --> 01:41:37 [SPEAKER_00]: It was the business of her life.
01:41:38 --> 01:41:41 [SPEAKER_00]: She sought first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
01:41:41 --> 01:41:49 [SPEAKER_00]: She carefully sought to walk before God and sincerity in uprightness, maintaining a clear conscience toward both God and other people.
01:41:50 --> 01:41:52 [SPEAKER_00]: She came to Christ early in life.
01:41:52 --> 01:41:58 [SPEAKER_00]: and that she remains steadfast and faith and holiness to the very end is evident from the following marks of her life.
01:41:59 --> 01:42:00 [SPEAKER_00]: 1.
01:42:00 --> 01:42:02 [SPEAKER_00]: She loved the ordinary means of grace.
01:42:03 --> 01:42:10 [SPEAKER_00]: She's faithfully attended the public worship of God, delighting in his house and valuing his word more than her daily food.
01:42:11 --> 01:42:17 [SPEAKER_00]: She carefully took notes during sermons, writing them not only in her notebook, but also upon her heart.
01:42:18 --> 01:42:22 [SPEAKER_00]: her life became a practical commentary on the truths she heard.
01:42:23 --> 01:42:35 [SPEAKER_00]: She also compiled a large volume in her own handwriting, arranging under various theological topics, which she had learned from scripture from the writings of faithful theologians and from her own Christian experience.
01:42:36 --> 01:42:36 [SPEAKER_00]: 2.
01:42:37 --> 01:42:39 [SPEAKER_00]: She carefully observed the Lord's Day.
01:42:40 --> 01:42:47 [SPEAKER_00]: After both the morning and afternoon sermons, she'd withdraw to a room and gather her maid sermons and the boys who worked in the household.
01:42:47 --> 01:42:55 [SPEAKER_00]: She would ask them to recount what they had heard in the sermon, helping them remember what they had forgotten and explaining whatever they had not understood.
01:42:56 --> 01:43:02 [SPEAKER_00]: She urged them not merely to hear God's word, but to obey it, and she always concluded by praying with them.
01:43:03 --> 01:43:04 [SPEAKER_00]: 3.
01:43:04 --> 01:43:07 [SPEAKER_00]: She diligently prepared for the Lord's supper.
01:43:07 --> 01:43:12 [SPEAKER_00]: Unless prevented by unavoidable circumstances, she received the Lord's supper every month.
01:43:13 --> 01:43:22 [SPEAKER_00]: She prepared herself with great care, gathering the best biblical counsel she could find to help her approach the sacrament thoughtfully and reverently.
01:43:23 --> 01:43:24 [SPEAKER_00]: 4.
01:43:24 --> 01:43:26 [SPEAKER_00]: She learned to live by faith.
01:43:27 --> 01:43:31 [SPEAKER_00]: She knew what it meant to trust Christ not merely in theory, but in experience.
01:43:32 --> 01:43:33 [SPEAKER_00]: She endured many trials.
01:43:34 --> 01:43:36 [SPEAKER_00]: Both as a wife and later as a widow.
01:43:37 --> 01:43:42 [SPEAKER_00]: Yet through faith in Jesus Christ, she proved more than a conqueror over them all.
01:43:43 --> 01:43:43 [SPEAKER_00]: 5.
01:43:44 --> 01:43:46 [SPEAKER_00]: She was faithful in private devotion.
01:43:46 --> 01:43:51 [SPEAKER_00]: She maintained a regular times for prayer, scripture reading, and meditation.
01:43:51 --> 01:43:55 [SPEAKER_00]: These private exercises of devotion were a constant part of her life.
01:43:56 --> 01:43:57 [SPEAKER_00]: 6.
01:43:58 --> 01:44:00 [SPEAKER_00]: She was firmly grounded in the Christian faith.
01:44:01 --> 01:44:04 [SPEAKER_00]: She was not like a child carried about by every new teaching.
01:44:05 --> 01:44:08 [SPEAKER_00]: Rather, she was firmly rooted and established in the
01:44:14 --> 01:44:14 [SPEAKER_00]: 7.
01:44:15 --> 01:44:17 [SPEAKER_00]: She was remarkably generous.
01:44:17 --> 01:44:24 [SPEAKER_00]: She gave freely to those in need, especially to fellow believers, like the Christians commended by Paul.
01:44:24 --> 01:44:27 [SPEAKER_00]: She often gave beyond what seemed possible.
01:44:28 --> 01:44:35 [SPEAKER_00]: On one occasion, a trusted friend urged her to be more careful with her finances, reminding her of her debts and other obligations.
01:44:36 --> 01:44:44 [SPEAKER_00]: With deep feeling in tears, she replied that she could not eat her own bread with a clear conscience while God's servants suffered hunger and lack clothing.
01:44:46 --> 01:44:46 [SPEAKER_00]: 8.
01:44:47 --> 01:44:49 [SPEAKER_00]: She loved and supported faithful ministers.
01:44:50 --> 01:45:01 [SPEAKER_00]: After the civil wars, when she returned to her estate near Oxford and her own finances had been greatly reduced, one of her first concerns was to provide for the ministry of God's Word.
01:45:02 --> 01:45:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Since the elderly parish minister was no longer able to serve effectively, she bore much of the expensive supporting of faithful preacher.
01:45:09 --> 01:45:19 [SPEAKER_00]: later after moving to her husband's home, she established a regular preaching lecture in the parish, inviting the most able ministers available until later troubles brought it to an end.
01:45:20 --> 01:45:25 [SPEAKER_00]: Even in her final will, she demonstrated the same concern by leaving a substantial
01:45:29 --> 01:45:31 [SPEAKER_00]: She possessed a public spirit.
01:45:32 --> 01:45:34 [SPEAKER_00]: She did not think only of her own concerns.
01:45:35 --> 01:45:39 [SPEAKER_00]: She mourned over the sins of God's people and sought the welfare of Christ's church.
01:45:40 --> 01:45:47 [SPEAKER_00]: Indeed, she was often as concerned for the cause of the gospel as she was for her own affairs, if not more so.
01:45:48 --> 01:45:48 [SPEAKER_00]: 10.
01:45:49 --> 01:45:51 [SPEAKER_00]: She was a wise and godly woman.
01:45:51 --> 01:45:53 [SPEAKER_00]: She was an honor to her Christian profession.
01:45:54 --> 01:45:58 [SPEAKER_00]: She possessed sound judgment and deep understanding in the things of God.
01:45:59 --> 01:46:04 [SPEAKER_00]: Through her wise and gracious counsel, she often comforted and courageed and strengthened others.
01:46:05 --> 01:46:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Many gave thanks to God for the help and guidance they received from her.
01:46:10 --> 01:46:10 [SPEAKER_00]: 11.
01:46:11 --> 01:46:14 [SPEAKER_00]: She was exemplary in every relationship.
01:46:15 --> 01:46:24 [SPEAKER_00]: The beauty and power of true godliness are especially seen in the faithful discharge of our daily responsibilities, and Lady Anne excelled in them all.
01:46:25 --> 01:46:31 [SPEAKER_00]: She faithfully maintained family worship twice each day and catacize the children and servants once a week.
01:46:32 --> 01:46:41 [SPEAKER_00]: She encouraged those who were eager to learn, gently corrected those who were reluctant and even assigned small penalties given to the poor for neglect.
01:46:41 --> 01:46:47 [SPEAKER_00]: In every way she could, she sought to win those under her care to the service of God.
01:46:48 --> 01:46:51 [SPEAKER_00]: As a daughter, she was remarkably obedient to her parents.
01:46:52 --> 01:47:00 [SPEAKER_00]: Shortly before her death, her mother publicly testified that Anne had never knowingly disobeyed or grieved her throughout her life.
01:47:01 --> 01:47:09 [SPEAKER_00]: As a mother, she raised her children in the nurture and instruction of the Lord, setting before them a consistent example of humility and godliness.
01:47:10 --> 01:47:15 [SPEAKER_00]: As the lady of her household, she diligently instructed her servants in the ways of God.
01:47:16 --> 01:47:20 [SPEAKER_00]: Through her faithful witness, at least two of them, came to faith in Christ.
01:47:21 --> 01:47:23 [SPEAKER_00]: One testified to this before his own death.
01:47:23 --> 01:47:28 [SPEAKER_00]: And the other, still living at the time of this sermon, openly acknowledged the same.
01:47:29 --> 01:47:32 [SPEAKER_00]: as a wife she was especially outstanding.
01:47:33 --> 01:47:37 [SPEAKER_00]: Her husband could truly speak of her in the words of Proverbs 31.
01:47:38 --> 01:47:39 [SPEAKER_00]: Her worth was far above rubies.
01:47:40 --> 01:47:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Her husband trusted her completely.
01:47:42 --> 01:47:45 [SPEAKER_00]: She did him good and not harm all the days of her life.
01:47:46 --> 01:47:48 [SPEAKER_00]: She generously cared for the poor and needy.
01:47:49 --> 01:47:52 [SPEAKER_00]: She spoke with wisdom and kindness, governed her words.
01:47:53 --> 01:47:55 [SPEAKER_00]: Her children rose up and called her blessed.
01:47:55 --> 01:48:01 [SPEAKER_00]: Her husband praised her, saying, many women have done excellently, but you surpassed them all.
01:48:02 --> 01:48:03 [SPEAKER_00]: Let her own works, Fraser.
01:48:04 --> 01:48:07 [SPEAKER_00]: In truth, she was an extraordinary woman.
01:48:07 --> 01:48:11 [SPEAKER_00]: Those who knew her well will affirm that these words do not exaggerate her character.
01:48:12 --> 01:48:20 [SPEAKER_00]: Those who did not know her may trust that I would not dare flatter the dead while standing as Christ's minister before God.
01:48:21 --> 01:48:21 [SPEAKER_00]: 12.
01:48:22 --> 01:48:24 [SPEAKER_00]: As she lived, so she died.
01:48:25 --> 01:48:28 [SPEAKER_00]: She lived a holy life and she died a blessed death.
01:48:29 --> 01:48:31 [SPEAKER_00]: Her final illness was long and severe.
01:48:31 --> 01:48:37 [SPEAKER_00]: Although she endured intense suffering, no improper or impatient words were ever heard from her lips.
01:48:38 --> 01:48:44 [SPEAKER_00]: Indeed, even when pain forced to complain from her, she reproved herself for it.
01:48:44 --> 01:48:53 [SPEAKER_00]: Yet throughout all her suffering, she never ceased to confess her faith in God through Jesus Christ, resting in Him as her only hope and support.
01:48:53 --> 01:49:07 [SPEAKER_00]: She gently and earnestly urged her family and all who visited her to make certain that they truly belonged to Christ, and to devote themselves faithfully to God's service, reminding them that this alone would bring peace in the end.
01:49:08 --> 01:49:15 [SPEAKER_00]: Near the close of her illness, she addressed a painful disagreement that had existed between her husband and one of his sons.
01:49:16 --> 01:49:19 [SPEAKER_00]: Some had falsely accused her of increasing that conflict.
01:49:20 --> 01:49:27 [SPEAKER_00]: Knowing she was soon to stand before God, she solemnly declared that she was entirely innocent of such charges.
01:49:28 --> 01:49:35 [SPEAKER_00]: She affirmed that nothing her stepson had ever done had caused her to wish him harm or to act against him in any way.
01:49:35 --> 01:49:42 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, she sincerely desired his welfare, just as she desired the welfare of the rest of the family.
01:49:43 --> 01:49:47 [SPEAKER_00]: The day before her death, she asked her husband publicly whether she had ever stirred
01:49:50 --> 01:49:55 [SPEAKER_00]: He answered, before God, that she had done exactly the opposite.
01:49:56 --> 01:50:04 [SPEAKER_00]: Many times she had sought reconciliation between them, once even with tears, but she had never spoken or acted against his son.
01:50:06 --> 01:50:09 [SPEAKER_00]: I must add one observation from my own personal knowledge.
01:50:10 --> 01:50:15 [SPEAKER_00]: Throughout much of her life, this excellent woman strode with a deep fear of death.
01:50:20 --> 01:50:27 [SPEAKER_00]: those who fear death enough to prepare carefully for it when they live are often freed from that fear when death finally comes.
01:50:28 --> 01:50:30 [SPEAKER_00]: So it proved in her case.
01:50:31 --> 01:50:46 [SPEAKER_00]: She did not experience the overwhelming joys that some believers have at the end of life, but she possessed something equally precious, a calm spirit, a powerful conscience, and a willing readiness to commit her soul into the hands of her redeemer.
01:50:48 --> 01:50:55 [SPEAKER_00]: On the final day of her illness, God mercifully lessened her pain, leaving her chiefly with increasing shortness of breath.
01:50:56 --> 01:51:01 [SPEAKER_00]: Her mind remained clear, and only a few moments before her death she was still able to speak.
01:51:02 --> 01:51:06 [SPEAKER_00]: Throughout the day, she displayed remarkable peace and composure.
01:51:07 --> 01:51:13 [SPEAKER_00]: Her chief concern was to glorify God and to encourage everyone around her to devote themselves fully to his service.
01:51:15 --> 01:51:25 [SPEAKER_00]: When a respected minister came to visit her, she welcomed him cheerfully and asked him to examine her heart carefully, urging him to speak honestly and plainly if he saw any wickedness in her.
01:51:26 --> 01:51:29 [SPEAKER_00]: He spoke words of gospel comfort.
01:51:29 --> 01:51:37 [SPEAKER_00]: She openly confessed the sinfulness of her own heart while expressing unwavering confidence in the merits of Christ alone.
01:51:38 --> 01:51:40 [SPEAKER_00]: afterward, she asked him to pray with her.
01:51:41 --> 01:51:45 [SPEAKER_00]: She listened with complete attention and quietness, thanking him when he had finished.
01:51:46 --> 01:51:52 [SPEAKER_00]: She remained in this heavenly frame of mind throughout the evening, speaking many gracious words.
01:51:53 --> 01:51:58 [SPEAKER_00]: Around 8 o'clock, sensing the death was drawing near, she asked the minister to pray once more.
01:51:59 --> 01:52:01 [SPEAKER_00]: As she prayed, she quietly signaled
01:52:05 --> 01:52:13 [SPEAKER_00]: She thanked him, gently bowed her head, and within a few minutes, peacefully committed her blessed soul into the hands of her Heavenly Father.
01:52:14 --> 01:52:16 [SPEAKER_00]: So she lived, so she died.
01:52:17 --> 01:52:19 [SPEAKER_00]: And though she is dead, she still speaks.
01:52:20 --> 01:52:23 [SPEAKER_00]: She is gone where she no longer needs prayer.
01:52:23 --> 01:52:27 [SPEAKER_00]: For all her prayers have become everlasting hallelujah.
01:52:29 --> 01:52:46 [SPEAKER_00]: May the Lord give us grace to imitate her holy life, so that when our own time comes to die, we too may die in Christ, sleep in Jesus, and on the day of the resurrection be raised, body and soul together, to dwell forever with the Lord in perfect happiness.
01:52:47 --> 01:52:47 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen.
01:52:54 --> 01:52:58 [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for listening to today's episode of Revived Thought.
01:52:58 --> 01:53:00 [SPEAKER_02]: Today's sermon was narrated by John Rainer.
01:53:00 --> 01:53:01 [SPEAKER_02]: Big thanks to John.
01:53:01 --> 01:53:04 [SPEAKER_02]: He's been a big part of Revive Thoughts over the years.
01:53:04 --> 01:53:05 [SPEAKER_02]: Contributing his voice.
01:53:05 --> 01:53:07 [SPEAKER_02]: We're very thankful for that.
01:53:08 --> 01:53:26 [SPEAKER_01]: If you enjoyed this episode of Revive Thoughts, we are going to ask that you give us a 5 star on Apple Podcasts, please These ratings always help our show and help other people find their show give us a rating on Spotify if you're listening to it Give us a like on YouTube if you're listening to this on YouTube wherever you are give us some love it really helps us out And even better if you can leave a comment too.
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01:53:29 --> 01:53:32 [SPEAKER_01]: This is Troy and Joan you're listening to Revive Thoughts