This is a weekly series with things Iâm reading and pondering from Charles Spurgeon. You can read the original seed thought here, or type âThursdays With Spurgeonâ in the search box to read more entries.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.Â
Beautiful Homegoing
You shall come to the grave at full age, as a sheaf of grain ripens in its season. (Job 5:26)Â
   The Christianâs death is always timely. âYou shall come to the grave at full age.âÂ
   âAh,â says one, âthat is not true. Good people do not live longer than others. The most pious man may die in the prime of his youth.â But look at my text. It does not say you will come to your grave in old age, but in a âfull age.â ⌠All fruits do not get ripe and mellow at the same season. So it is with Christians. They are at a âfull ageâ when God chooses to take them home. âŚÂ
   There are two mercies to a Christian. The first is that he will never die too soon. And the second is that he will never die too late. âŚÂ
   âBut,â say some, âhow useful might they have been had they lived.â Ah, but how damaging they might have been! And were it not better to die than to do something afterward that would disgrace them and bring disgrace to the Christian character? Were it not better for them to sleep while their work was going on than to break it down afterward? âŚÂ
   Again, the Christian never dies too late. ⌠God is too good a Husbandman to leave His wheat in the field too long and let it shale out. ⌠Â
   Now the last thing is that a Christian will die with honor. ⌠I think there are two funerals for every Christian: one is the funeral of the body, and the other of the soul. Funeral, did I say, of the soul? No, I meant not so. I meant not so. It is a marriage of the soul. For as soon as it leaves the body, the angel reapers stand ready to carry it away. They may not bring a fiery chariot as they had for Elijah. But they have their broad spreading wings. I rejoice to believe that angels will come as convoys to the soul across the ethereal plains. ⌠I think the most honorable and glorious thing we will ever behold, next to Christâs entrance into heaven and His glory there, is the entrance of one of Godâs people into heaven.
From The Death Of The Christian
As I mentioned last week, this sermon was so providential in its timing for me because my precious mother went Home to be with Jesus just days before I opened to this sermon from Charles Spurgeon.Â
We are comforted by the promises Rev. Spurgeon shares because they are based on the truth in Godâs Word. âGood people pass away; the godly often die before their time. But no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come. For those who follow godly paths will rest in peace when they dieâ (Isaiah 57:1-2).Â
At my Momâs graveside committal service I shared thisâ
One of my favorite authorsC.S. Lewis made a comment, âYou donât have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.âÂ
This part that we called Claudia Owens was just the body that carried around who she really was. What a beautiful soul that we got to experience for 78 years. What shined through was so sweet and graceful and wonderful. What a glimpse we got! But a joy to know that it was only a glimpse. That the part of my Mom that was so beautiful that we got to see, was only a fraction of her full beauty! The part that was really her, that is at Home with her Savior Jesus now is shining in all its brilliance. âŚÂ
We will all miss her and we will grieve our loss. But as the apostle Paul reminded us, we donât grieve as those who have no hope. We know that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. We know that this body is sown perishable ravaged by the disease of cancer, but that my Mom is now in a place with no more tears or disease. We know that the same Savior that prepared a place for Claudia has prepared a place for us.
And we concluded with this prayer that can be offered up for every Christian who has died at their âfull ageâ:Â
Heavenly Father,Â
We commit this body to the ground with the full assurance that her soul is in your everlasting presence. Holy Spirit, help us in our grief to be reminded of the hope of eternal life that we all share. Thank You, Jesus, for purchasing this hope on which we stand.
As I mentioned last week, if you donât have this blessed assurance of the marriage of your soul when you take your last breath here on earth, please donât hesitate to contact me.
This is a weekly series with things Iâm reading and pondering from Charles Spurgeon. You can read the original seed thought here, or type âThursdays With Spurgeonâ in the search box to read more entries.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.Â
The Death Of The Christian
You shall come to the grave at full age, as a sheaf of grain ripens in its season. (Job 5:26)Â
   Let me tell you a parable. Behold, two men sat together in the same house when Death came to each of them. He said to one, âYou will die.âÂ
   That man looked at him. Tears suffused his eyes, and tremblingly he said, âO Death, I cannot! I will not die.â He sought out a physician and said to him, âI am sick, for death has looked upon me. His eyes have paled my cheeks, and I fear I must depart. Physician, there is my wealth. Give me health and let me live.â The physician took his wealth but gave him not his health with all his skill. The man changed his physician, tried another, and thought that perhaps he might spin out the thread of life a little longer.
   But alas! Death came and said, âI have given you time to try your varied excuses. Come with me. You will die.â And he bound him hand and foot and made him go to that dark land of Hades. As the man went, he clutched at every side post by the way, but Death, with iron hands, still pulled him on. ⌠He did not come to his grave, but death fetched him to it; the grave came to him.
   But death said to the other man, âI am come for you.âÂ
   He smilingly replied, âAh, Death! I know you; I have seen you many a time. I have held communion with you. You are my Masterâs servant. You have come to fetch me home. Go and tell my Master I am ready, whenever He pleases. Death, I am ready to go with you.â And together they went along the road and held sweet company.
   Death said to him, âI have worn these skeleton bones to frighten wicked men. But I am not frightful. I will let you see myself. The hand that wrote upon Belshazzarâs wall was terrible because no man saw anything but the hand. But,â said Death, âI will show you my whole body. Men have only seen my bony hand and have been terrified.âÂ
   And as they went along, Death ungirded himself to let the Christian see his body, and he smiled, for it was the body of an angel. He had wings of cherubs and a body glorious as Gabriel. The Christian said to him, âYou are not what I thought you were. I will cheerfully go with you.â At last Death touched the believer with his hand. ⌠So did Death put his finger on the manâs pulse and stopped it for a moment, and the Christian found himself by Deathâs kind finger changed into a spirit. Yes, found himself brother to the angels. His body had been etherealized, his soul purified, and he himself was in heaven.
From The Death Of The Christian
I love Godâs timing. In my ongoing series looking at the sermons of Charles Spurgeon, I simply turned the page to the next sermon for this week, and this parable was especially timed for me because my Mom just passed away on December 26.Â
What a godly woman she was!Â
What a thrill it is to know that Death did not take her to her grave, but that she came to her grave at full age, fully ripened in Godâs timing. Our family is at peace because we know that my Mom is now at Home with her Savior Jesusâthe home she has been longing for!Â
Our family loves the promise in 1 Thessalonians: And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have diedso you will not grieve like people who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). We grieve because we will miss her, but we have such an unshakable hope of her eternal home! Paul goes on to tell us that we should âencourage each other with these wordsâ (v. 18).Â
So let me encourage you, my friend, with this question: Will Death have to take you to the grave, or will you come willingly with him? If you have your sins forgiven because you have placed your faith in the sin-forgiving work Jesus Christ did upon His Cross, then Death will have no fear for you. If you are uncertain or fearful, donât lose another moment! Pray to God: admit you are a sinner who is helplessly trapped in your sin, believe that Jesus paid the full penalty for your sin, and then ask God to forgive your sins because of your faith in Jesus. The moment you do that, you will be completely forgiven and the fear of Death will be removed.Â
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.Â
As we wrap up our series looking at our foundational belief statements, I want to combine the last four statements together, not only because they all cover the same theme of end-times events, but also because these statements should give every Christian hope!Â
âHope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances which we know to be desperate.â âG.K. ChestertonÂ
âOne of the great enemies of hope is forgetting Godâs promises.â âJohn PiperÂ
âHope is not wishful thinking; itâs well-founded believing!â âCraig T. OwensÂ
Christians have a fantastic, unshakable, blessed hope on which we can stand not only secure but joyful!Â
Foundational truth #13: âThe resurrection of those who have fallen asleep in Christ and their translation together with those who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord is the imminent and blessed hope of the church.âÂ
This blessed hope in the future helps us live with joy today! Knowing that death has been defeated and Jesus will come back to take us home with Him should fuel us to say ânoâ to the temporary pleasures of sin, and live such godly lives that it turns othersâ eyes to Jesus (Titus 2:11-14; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).Â
Foundational truth #14: âThe second coming of Christ includes the rapture of the saints, which is our blessed hope, followed by the visible return of Christ with His saints to reign on earth for one thousand years.âÂ
Sometimes you will hear Christians talk about the âraptureâ of the Church. Although this word itself isnât in the Bible, the Greek word harpazo in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 means âcatching up.â It also means âto eagerly claim for oneâs self,â which reminds me that Jesus is thrilled to bring His Bride home to be with Him forever! After the Church has been caught up to Heaven, a period of tribulation will plague the earth, followed by Christâs Second Coming and His millennial reign (Zechariah 14:4-5; Revelation 19:11-15; 20:1-10).Â
Foundational truth #15: âThere will be a final judgment in which the wicked dead will be raised and judged according to their works. Whosoever is not found written in the Book of Life, together with the devil and his angels, the beast and the false prophet, will be consigned to the everlasting punishment in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.âÂ
Christians have no fear of the second (or final) death because our names are written in the Book of Life (Luke 12:4-6; Revelation 20:11-15). Not only is there judgment for the wicked, but there will be rewards for the righteous.Â
Foundational truth #16: âIn keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwellsâ (2 Peter 3:13). Revelation 21-22 give us a small glimpse of our eternal home.Â
In light of these truths, how should Christians live while still on earth? I think there are three ways we should live:Â
With this blessed hope of the Second Coming of Jesus and our security in knowing we will remain with Him forever, letâs tell everyone we can how they too can know what it is to live with this hope in their heart.Â
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple or Spotify.
I have some sobering news for you: You are going to die.Â
Death is the great equalizer. It comes for the rich and poor, the scholar and the illiterate, all races, all ages, the healthy as well as the sick. Unless youâre still alive when Jesus comes back again, your odds of dying are 1-in-1.Â
What happens âon the other sideâ? What happens after this life is over? Since it seems dark and mysterious to most people, they tend to ignore it until itâs thrust upon them. Thatâs why I find the dying words of people interesting. Like P.T. Barnum asking, âHow were the receipts today at Madison Square Garden?â or W.C. Fields reading a Bible on his deathbed and telling a friend, âIâm looking for a loophole.âÂ
Jesus is steeped in Scripture, so nearly everything He says in His final four declarations come directly from the Psalms, including His final phrase which comes from Psalm 31:5.Â
When Jesus broke a three-hour silence with His cry, âMy God, My God, why have You forsaken Me,â both Matthew and Mark use the Greek words megas phonĂŠ to describe how loudly Jesus spoke. And now with His final words, Luke uses the same megas phonĂŠ description.Â
Notice in the first megaphone cry Jesus calls on God the All-Powerful Creator. And with His last megaphone declaration, He calls on His Father who is All-Loving. How comforting it is to know that God is both All-Powerful and All-Loving! Not only can He answer our cries, but He delights to answer them!Â
The word Jesus uses for âcommitâ is in the future tense and it means âto entrust as a deposit.â Jesus believed that God was going to do more than just give Him life again, but that He would give life to all who would believe in Him.Â
Unlike atheist Bertrand Russell who said, âI would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong,â Jesus DID die for His beliefs, and by rising from the dead proved He was right in trusting God.Â
Job saw an inescapable death for all mankind, but he also foresaw the forgiveness of God (Job 14:5, 16-17). Jesus died once for all mankind and was then resurrected, bringing about the death of death by making forgiveness accessible to anyone (Hebrews 9:27-28; 1 Corinthians 15:19-22).Â
We can now have the peace that comes from trusting the only One to Whom we can safely entrust our souls. Because Jesus brought death to death, we can have the same peace when we die that Jesus had when He died.Â
With faith in Jesus, you canâŚ
âŚlive today knowing youâre invincible until God calls you homeÂ
âŚlive today full of joy because your home in heaven is secure
âŚlive your very last day in peace because you know to Whom your soul is entrustedÂ
Because Jesus died at peace with God, we can face death triumphantly!Â
He found Jesus and quickly explained that his 12-year-old daughter was dying. They had tried everything they knew to do, but she kept inching closer and closer to deathâs door. Jesus readily agreed to go with Jairus to his home.Â
Along the way, Jesus was interrupted by another woman in desperate need, and He stopped to heal her. As Jairus was (im)patiently waiting for Jesus to continue on the journey, one of his servants ran up to Jairus with the sad news, âYour daughter is dead.âÂ
Jesus looked at this heartbroken father and simply said, âDonât be afraid. Just believe, and your daughter will be well.âÂ
Jairus took Jesus at His word and continued walking with Jesus to his home.Â
While Jairus was gone, family members and friends had shown up to mourn the death of this sweet girl. They were wailing loudly, but the clear voice of Jesus could be heard even over their woeful cries: âStop crying. She is not dead, only asleep.âÂ
There was a pause, and then there was a totally unexpected and out-of-place response: laughter.Â
Not joy-filled laughter, but mocking, derisive laughter at the utter foolishness of the words of Jesus.Â
âWhat do you mean, âShe isnât deadââ they yelled. âWeâve been in her room. Weâve seen the cold, lifeless body! She is absolutely, undeniably dead!â And they continued to laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of what Jesus had pronounced. Many of the laughs probably turned to jeers as they began to mock His foolish, insensitive statement. The historian Luke wrote, âThey knew the girl was dead.âÂ
Jesus took the grieving yet believing parents into the girlâs room, He took her lifeless hand in His hand, and simply said, âLittle girl, get up.âÂ
And she did. Fully alive!Â
Let me ask you something: Who was laughing now?!Â
Iâm sure the uncontainable joy of these parents burst out into laughter. And I think Jesus shared in the joyful laughter as well.Â
âHe who laughs last, laughs best.âÂ
Friend, what do you âknowâ right now? Whatâs gone wrong that cannot be fixed? What terminal diagnosis have the doctors given? What is approaching deathâs door? What has already died?Â
Listen again to the words of Jesus: âDonât be afraid. Just believe.âÂ
Jesus gets the final word. Jesus gets the final laugh. Jesus will make all things new!Â
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; He will remove His peopleâs disgrace from all the earth. (Isaiah 25:8)Â
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, âI am making everything new!â (Revelation 21:4-5)Â
Donât be afraid. Just believe.Â
Jesus has secured the lastâand bestâlaugh for both you and Himself! A laughter that will reverberate through all of eternity!Â
Is death the #1 fear people have? The simple and complicated answer is: It depends. Fear of dying is a BIG fear in those that statistically are the least likely to die: the young. But fear of dying is very LOW for those on death row, the elderly, and the terminally ill.
I hope to convince you of a fourth group that shouldnât fear death. Itâs a group that all of us can be a member of: Those who understand that physical death is not the end.Â
In the Garden of Eden, God planted one tree that was off-limits, and He said that the penalty for eating from this tree was death (Genesis 2:16-17). satan tried to get Adam and Eve to doubt what God said, and after they ate the fruit, it appeared satan was correctâthey didnât die. At least not physically.
But their sin did something far, far worseâit separated them from Godâs presence. Now when God appeared, Adam and Eve hid in fear. In fact, Jesus even told His followers that the greatest fear wasnât physical death but spiritual death (Luke 12:4-5).Â
Jesus came to lift our hope to something beyond this physical world. He said, âGod so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him would not die, but would have eternal lifeâ (John 3:16).Â
Famed atheistBertrand Russell said, âI would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.âÂ
On the other hand, Jesus DID die for His beliefs and proved He was right by His resurrection!Â
Friend, listen to meâWeâre definitely not living our best life now. We are all terminal. Unless Jesus returns, the chances of our physical death are 1-in-1.Â
But physical death is not the end! Death of the body means freedom for the soul. Jesus has defeated Death once for all! âDo not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades,â Jesus said (Revelation 1:17-18)Â
Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)Â
Invite Jesus into your life right this moment!!Â
Once you have invited Jesus into your life, and your sins have been forgiven, and your destiny following your physical death is assured, this is how you should now live:Â
Live in joyful hope. Not optimismâthatâs just the belief in what you think you can do. But hope is the belief in what you know Jesus has already done!
Live free of all anxiety and the fear of death. Because nothing can separate you from Godâs love and presence (Romans 8:38-39). Â
Live telling others about your Risen Savior. Itâs the most loving thing that you could do for anyone.Â
I donât think itâs a stretch to say that to be a Christian and to be fearful of death is a sin. A fearful Christian gives God no praise, robs Him of glory, and paints God in a bad light. A happy, secure Christian knows the Lord is his strength, his comfort, his supply. A happy Christian lifts God high and invites others to know this All-Good, All-Happy God too!Â
We can live this way because Jesus died to pay the penalty for your sins that separated you from God, and He was resurrected back to life to assure you that your eternal home in Godâs presence is secure!
Eâen for the dead, I will not bind
Craig T. Owens 