[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] FW: [CWWC] A Lord's Day Snippet

Sun Jun 6 17:45:27 UTC 2021

From: committed-walk-with-Christ at groups.io [mailto:committed-walk-with-Christ at groups.io] On Behalf Of Penny Golden via groups.io
Sent: Sunday, June 6, 2021 9:04 AM
To: committed-walk-with-Christ at groups.io
Subject: EXT: [CWWC] A Lord's Day Snippet

A Lord’s Day Snippet!

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Pastor Ron Rumburg

263

1 When I can read my title clear
To mansions in the skies,
I'll bid farewell to every fear,
And wipe my weeping eyes.

2 Should earth against my soul engage,
And fiery darts be hurled,
Then I can smile at Satan's rage,
And face a frowning world.

3 Let cares like a wild deluge come,
Let storms of sorrow fall!
May I but safely reach my home:
My God, my heaven my all.

4 There shall I bathe my weary soul
In seas of heavenly rest,
And not a wave of trouble roll
Across my peaceful breast.  -Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

[This hymn was this writer’s great grandmother’s favorite, 

and is quoted in memory of Mrs. Martha Lilly Griffith.]

The Wicked and Righteous at Death

“The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.”

Proverbs 14:32

Mankind is classified into two groups. There are the wicked or ungodly and the righteous or godly. There are those who show irreverence to the Lord God and those who show reverence for the Lord God. There are those who are outside of Christ and those in Christ. There are those who serve the devil and those who serve God. There are those who curse God and those who worship God. There are those who are man-centered and those who are God-centered. Psalm 1 distinguishes between the two. “Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish” (Ps. 1:5-6). “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after that the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). Yes, all have an appointment, but some have no hope while others have hope. Our verse from Proverbs shows the division between the wicked and righteous as they are on the verge of eternity.

“The wicked is driven away in his wickedness.” The word “driven” refers to a display of the overthrow of one who is cast down by death into an irretrievable calamity. This definition is described by David, “There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise” (Ps. 36:12). The “wicked” by definition is “one whose heart is alienated from God; who makes light of the doctrines and precepts of the gospel; who disregards his moral obligations; obeys the impulses of an unsanctified heart; and who daily breaks the commandments of God in thought, word, and deed” [Wm. M. Engles]. The picture of the wicked on the verge of eternity is of one who is forced to turn loose of the world and is compelled into eternity. “He is dragged out of life, like a criminal to execution; torn away from his only heaven here, with no joyous heaven beyond. Dreadful beyond imagination to be thus forced out of the body, to die a violent death. Fain would he stay. But he cannot. He cannot live. He dares not die. Sometimes he departs with a horror that no words can paint. Hell is manifestly begun on this side eternity…. Though he may fall asleep as softly as a lamb, he will wake to live forever ‘with the devil and his angels.’ His wickedness was his element in life. It will cleave to him still—the sting of the undying worm—the fuel of unquenchable fire” [Charles Bridges].

“But the righteous hath hope in his death.” He is not driven away for he has anticipated the glorious world into which he goes to be with his majestic God and Saviour Jesus Christ and will now be able to eternally worship without the taint of sin. His righteousness is the imputed righteousness of Christ who took away all his sin and justified him by faith. A dying Christian once said, “I can smile on death, because my Saviour smiles on me.” What a delightful prospect in the dying hour to view the God to whom you are reconciled, to see the glorified Saviour with a body like yours, and to enter the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. The righteous are those who have received Christ’s righteousness in exchange for His taking away all our unrighteousness. The God against whom we sinned now sees us only through the righteousness of His Son; we are accepted in the beloved. The righteous have hope in a God of mercy, hope in a God of truth, hope in a God who is faithful, hope in a God who provided a covenant of grace. That same hope that stimulates us in life to desire obedience, comforts us in death when confronted with the terrors of death and hell, and inspires us with joy unspeakable and full of glory. 

Samuel Rutherford’s (1600-1661) response to Parliament’s summons when it came was described the following way: he spoke out of his bed and said, “Tell them I have got a summons already before a superior Judge and judicatory, and I behoove to answer my first summons, and ere your day arrives I will be where few kings and great folks come.” When they returned and reported that he was dying, the parliament was put to a vote, whether to let him die in the college. It was carried, “put him out,” only a few dissenting. My Lord Burleigh said, “Ye have voted that honest man out of the college, but ye cannot vote him out of heaven.” Some said, He would never win there, hell was too good for him. Burleigh said, “I wish I were as sure of heaven as he is, I would think myself happy to get a grip of his sleeve to haul me in.” 

Charles Bridges (1794-1869) commented, “The righteous hath hope in his death. His death is full of hope. Job pierced his dark cloud of sorrow with this joyous hope [‘I know that my redeemer liveth…. Whom I shall see for myself…’ (Job 19:25-27)]. David rested his way-worn spirit upon the Rock of salvation (2 Sam. 23:2-5). Stephen anchored within the veil, undisturbed by the volley of stones without [‘Behold I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God’ (Acts 7:55-60; Heb. 6:19-20)]. Paul triumphed in the crown, as if it were already on his head [‘For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens’ (2 Cor. 5:1)]. And hear we not daily ‘the voice from heaven,’ assuring to us the ‘blessedness of them that die in the Lord?’ Praise to our Immanuel! ‘When thou didst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven unto all believers. By thee as the way to the Kingdom we go freely, gladly, out of life. We go to what we love—to our native home—to our Saviour’s bosom—to our rest—our crown—our home—our everlasting joy. ‘Now, Lord what wait I for—I have waited for thy Salvation, O Lord.’”

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