Death Transformed: A Believer's Hope in Christ

"The Westminster Larger Catechism has a number of often unearthed gems. One of those gems is an answer to this very question. Let me read the question and answer. 'Death, being the wages of sin, why are not the righteous delivered from death, seeing all their sins are forgiven in Christ? Answer: The righteous shall be delivered from death itself at the last day, and even in death are delivered from the sting and curse of it; so that, although they die, yet it is out of God's love, to free them perfectly from sin and misery, and to make them capable of further communion with Christ in glory, which they then enter upon.'" [00:01:17]

"The catechism's question and answer tells us as we think about this question, 'Why do Christians die?' we need to hold onto and not let go two biblical convictions. The first of these is that death is the wage of sin. That is what death is. It is what we are owed for sin. And the second conviction that we hold on to with equal firmness is that all of the sins of the righteous are forgiven in Christ. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have been counted righteous in Christ." [00:02:37]

"The Scripture tells us enough, so that we can rest confidently in the truth, the justice, the goodness of our God, and in the sufficiency of what Christ has done for us to save us. As often with difficulties in Scripture, Scripture doesn't answer every question that we may have, but it gives us enough so that we can trust our God fully and confidently and walk with Him and before Him. And what the Scripture does is to make one basic point about death for the believer, and that is that Christ has transformed death for the believer in two basic ways." [00:04:20]

"The sting and curse of death have been removed for every believer. This is how Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 15 at verse 55. 'O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?' 'The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.' So, in Christ, death's sting is gone, because Christ has paid our debts, He has met the demands of the law for us, and so there is no more sting to death." [00:06:54]

"In the first place, and our catechism question and answer so helpfully reminds us, that when the believer dies, this is out of the love of God for the believer. God never ceases to be our heavenly Father who loves us with an everlasting love, and that is true no less in death. So, we should not think of death as the just penalty that God sends against us for our sin, because Christ has paid the penalty for our sins and God in love sent His Son into the world to do just that." [00:08:05]

"Death is something that God appoints for our good. Do you remember how Paul puts it in Romans 8? 'All things work together for good to those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose.' Death is among those 'all things.' Paul doesn't say that death is good, only that it is for our good. So, what good thing is God doing through this evil thing, death? We could think about that along a couple of lines. In the first place, at death, God frees us from sin and misery." [00:09:15]

"We are freed from the presence and the influence of sin that affects us at every point and turn, every waking moment of our lives. We are freed from the effects of sin, the experience of the curse, what sin has done to our relationships in our families, in our friendships. We are brought out of a world that is committed to sin. And so, there is a great good when God brings us out of that and into an environment and among an assembly where all is holy and without sin." [00:10:34]

"It was Paul's great hope that immediately upon death he would go to be with Christ which he pronounced better by far. Now, Paul had communed with Christ through faith all his life, and he was looking forward to a new phase of communing with his Savior in glory. He would go to be with the One whom he had known and loved and trusted and served all along. It would be the same One with whom he had fellowship, but that fellowship would be sweeter and better than anything he had experienced on this earth." [00:11:45]

"And it is for these reasons because of what God takes away and what God gives, we can say death is for the good of every believer. That is why we can say the words of the Revelation chapter 14, 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. 'Blessed indeed,' says the Spirit.' Now, this raises the question of fear, fear in the face of death. A wonderful recent hymn, In Christ Alone, teaches us to sing, 'No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me.'" [00:13:12]

"What are some fears that we may face? What are they and how can we speak to them according to the gospel? We can just mention three. One is the fear of readiness. What if I am not ready to meet Christ in the hour of my death? My sins are many. I am not as holy as I ought to be. How can I think of appearing before God immediately upon death? And this is where we remember the gospel of grace, that we are accepted, we are counted righteous, not because of our record, but because of the record of another." [00:15:38]

"The first may seem counterintuitive. We need to be thinking more of death and not less of death. Remember, we live in a world that is in denial, but the gospel teaches us to look at death for what it is in Christ. That is why Martin Luther told his congregation, 'We should familiarize ourselves with death during our lifetime, inviting death into our presence when it is still at a distance and not on the move. You must look at death while you are alive and see sin in the light of grace and hell in the light of heaven permitting nothing to divert you from that view.'" [00:20:26]

"And then, finally, think on Christ as you face fears in death. Thomas Boston told his congregation, 'We have a trusty good friend before us in the other world.' If you travel and you are anxious about those travels, often thinking about a friend or a loved one who will meet you, who will be there with you, goes a long way to ease those anxieties. And we have a faithful Savior and friend, Christ, who is waiting for us and who is with us now. He told His disciples, 'I have gone to prepare a place for you.'" [00:22:23]