Transcript: Finding Comfort in Death with Christian Teachings and Bible Studies

There is one thing for sure as I had said, We each have an appointed time in which we will travel through the valley of the shadow of death alone. This journey will definitely be a spiritual one. And no doubt there will be some emotion mixed in with it too. After all, when you know that you know that you know where you are going, You can just imagine the excitement that has been pent up after going through the transition from this earth life and finally stepping into the eternity of eternities. King David gives us a clue in this home going when he says by starting out in Psalms 23, The Lord is my shepherd. This means in this life the Lord has been David's shepherd. if the Lord has been leading and guiding us in this life then he will be our shepherd in death also and this is also saying that the Lord had provided for David's every need in this life giving him joy and peace and strength and rest a good shepherd will do this when we are truly complying in obedience to his will and his ways so then David knew as he approached death He could depend on God's goodness in comforting him and his assurance as he laid up on his deathbed and even in walking through death's dark valley. You may ask yourself, why is this woman preaching about the subject of death? Couldn't she find something more cheerful to speak about? Well, let me tell you, as I was before the Lord the other day seeking the subject he wanted me to speak about. I was going through scriptures and praying and waiting for an unction from him and it came so simply and easily. I heard precious Holy Spirit's still small voice so easily say, speak about the valley of the shadow of death. And as the song says, Oh, the joy that floods my soul. Nothing should be more pleasing to us than when we know we are on track with God's will in any given matter. Well, death is a subject that nobody really cares to discuss. It is like one of those taboo things that most people just wait for the time when it falls upon them and they find themselves in the dark floundering around and wrestling with fear and all of the unknowns and the what-ifs as they struggle through their last day or days rather than have a pre-preparation and a forethought in the fact that we each will face the shadow of death alone one day. Dear ones, this is saying that all of our strength in these days and time will be to the point where we will have to totally lean on the arm of our precious Lord Jesus Christ. And this transition on this side of heaven may be the greatest test that you or I will ever face. It may include spiritual dryness because the test on your health may be great and it may include demonic attacks that will test your spiritual stability and will be a consuming beast if you are not spiritually mature. We never know in what ways God will bring our final tests on this side of heaven as we begin our spiritual journey into the world hereafter as we walk through death's dark valley. David said, I will fear no evil. So this is saying that evil is a great possibility as we venture through this time. But please know, this will be a time of testing beyond our own ability and more than any other time in our lives. David also said in verse 4 that the Lord's shepherd's rod and staff will comfort him. I think only David could have written a psalm or a song like this since he was a shepherd himself as a young man. But he knew by experience the cares and the tender affections and the kindness that a good shepherd must have towards his flock. And he knew the importance of protecting his flock against the wolves and the foreboding dangers that would suddenly come upon them. now the shepherd's presence with his flock would bring them comfort and in our case God's word and his spirit's presence will bring us comfort Jesus' rod under which we will pass will mean that we are counted as holy unto him as described in Leviticus 27 that is again in Leviticus 27 And the tithe of the herd or the flock, whatever passes under the herdsman's staff, by means of which each tenth animal, as it passes through a small door, is selected and marked, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord. in another reference prophet Ezekiel speaking to Israel says I will cause you to pass under the rod of the covenant and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant and you shall be once more claimed as the Lord's property and in all things devoted to his service being marked by his special providences and manifestations showing his kindness and favor being personally counted as the Lord's covenant people his rod is the instrument by which he counts us as holy unto him and if we are marked and counted and considered holy unto him then his staff will comfort us on this final journey through death's dark valley he will drive away all the dogs and the demons that come up and attempt to scatter us from him or endeavor to cause us worry or concern and yes, even fear. It is a comfort to us personally when it comes time for us to die knowing that God will take notice of us because he knows all who are truly his and he will rebuke the evil one and he will guide us with his rod and sustain us with his staff. in Psalms 110 verse 2 the scripture says the Lord will send forth from Zion the scepter of your strength rule then in the midst of your foes it is so precious to know that we have been given these kinds of promises and assurances from God these are all a part of his covenantal promises dear church God's word is called the rod of Christ's strength and there is more than enough in his word to bring comfort to each and every one when it comes time for them to die knowing also that underneath supporting us are his everlasting arms of love Deuteronomy 33, 26 declares there is none like God, O Jerusalem, Israel who rides through the heavens to your help and in his majestic glory through the skies. The eternal God is your refuge and dwelling place and underneath are the everlasting arms of love. He drove the enemy before you and thrust them out saying, Destroy! The Lord's everlasting arms of love will lead and support us through this dark valley right into eternal life. We will not be like so many of millions who will experience quite the opposite and will find themselves losing out on this precious gift of eternal life. You see, this newness of life is derived from Jesus Christ, who is eternal life himself. And this is why the very essence of our salvation comes from him, belongs to him, is in him. This is a gift from God. He doesn't owe us a thing. This life belongs to those who have been faithful on the earth and have been inseparably connected with eternal life beyond this earth. 1 John 5.12 tells us, He who possesses the Son has that life, and he who does not possess the Son of God does not have that life. so when Jesus was praying to his heavenly father right before he was going to literally lay himself upon the cross on our behalf he gave the bold statement of responsibility to you and me when it comes to apprehending this precious gift of eternal life Jesus said in John 17 verse 3 this is eternal life It means to know, to perceive, to recognize, and become acquainted with and understand you, the only true and real God, and likewise to know him, Jesus, as the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah, whom you have sent. In these few words, Jesus gave the ultimate and grand design of understanding when it comes to apprehending eternal life for which he alone is empowered to give. The great end for faithful and true Christians is an eternal gift. And the only way to attain this gift is knowing, obeying, and doing all in Christ's name. The future of perfection of this life in Christ will be the intimate knowledge of God and his Son. And those who are brought into this divine union with Christ will have a life of communion with him in Christ. They will live with Christ. They will dwell in Christ. And David says of this earth life in Psalm 17, verse 15, As for me, I will continue beholding your face in righteousness, in rightness, in justice, and right standing with you. I shall be fully satisfied for when I awake to find myself beholding your form and having sweet communion with you. You see, nothing but God can satisfy the desires of the soul, dear ones. Your soul is to be filled with vibrancy of His Spirit and only He can meet and gratify these desires. and it is done by restoration. And this is why Jesus said it is necessary and obligatory for each and every one of us to know him and his Father intimately. The very first subject and desire of our wonderful Father in heaven is to make each and every one of us his human creation in this world into the very image and likeness of his son And realize this please this was the only way that David could converse with God face to face in his day It was by this way only where he was capable of the most intimate union with God because he was filled with the holiness of God and was reaching into another realm, hungering after the righteousness of God to perfect his soul. David knew that this was the only way that he would satisfy the Father's heart. The God of infinite beauty and perfection and purity was filling all the powers and faculties of David's soul and yet David still cried out for more. King David was able to glimpse the awe-inspiring and breathtaking light of the divine spirit of God. And he knew that his happiness on this earth depended on that fact, that his soul needed to be restored to the divine spirit of God's likeness and image. And he knew that if his soul was not restored back to life during the time of his earthly stay, he would not awaken out of the sleep of death and sin. He knew that he would not see his Lord face to face when he awakened in the life hereafter. You see, to be created in the newness of God's image is to be created in his righteousness and true holiness. And David says in verse 15 again, As for me, I will continue beholding your face in righteousness and in justice, in rightness and right standing with you. I shall be fully satisfied for when I awake to find myself beholding your form and having sweet communion with you. So if this is heaven, then heaven is sweet communion with God and his son Jesus Christ forever. The knowledge of God and Jesus leads to eternal life and Jesus gives you and me the way by which we may attain it and that is by the knowledge of him to truly know Jesus as our creator is to love him and obey him dear ones and it is to submit to him and to trust him as the one who owns and rules our lives it means that you must devote yourself to him because there is no other way. He will not allow other gods or idols in our lives before himself. He demands to be first and foremost in our lives. No pretenders or counterfeits or precious idols. That is anything or anything that would steal your attention and time away from true devotion to him. It's just not acceptable. nothing would be acceptable in this way. For some and many people who purport to be Christians, the road to the valley of the shadow of eternal death and loss was because they had other gods and idols before them. They had no real interest in God and his son. They only feigned or pretended to have interest in him. And these are known as spiritual adulterers or prostitutes or as Jesus called them, foolish virgins in John's gospel. We are told that there is terror and dread in the valley of the shadow of death for those who do not know their Savior. We see this in Job 24, verse 15. Job 24, verse 15. The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me. and he puts a disguise upon his face. In the dark they dig through the penetrable walls of houses. By day they shut themselves up. They do not know the sunlight for midnight is morning to all of them for they are familiar with the terrors of deep darkness. You see, though the valley is deep, unknown and dark and lonely and dangerous, true Christians are not alone. Scripture again assures us that our good shepherd is in the valley and walking with us. And he will be there guiding and encouraging and comforting us all along the way in life. Many of us have had near-death experiences. And we found that our precious shepherd was there every time. The valley has dark shadows and these shadows are sometimes frightening, but it must be remembered. shadows cannot hurt or destroy you and these are times in our lives on this earth that God allows these experiences these times are for our benefit in that they show us how weak and fragile we really are these are really meant to humble us but you will find if you are permitted to have these earth life experiences which precede the final and lonely walk through facing the shadow of death alone, the Holy Spirit will carry you because Jesus promises this in his word. If the Spirit of God has been allowed to fill your spirit and soul and your entire being with his presence while you live now and you have been obedient and submissive to his word, then you shall know you will never be deserted or forsaken by him when you take this final walk alone. there is no greater power in what has already been conquered through Jesus Christ Satan has no rights to you because death has been conquered at the cross and the grave it matters not what or how you take your last breath it can be a natural cause of when the heart decides to stop beating or it can be a cause of an accident or even in these days which we are faced with as Christians right now and already happening to thousands and thousands of our brothers and sisters in other nations where they die at the end of a sword or a gun for their faith and testimony in Jesus Christ. The shadow of death cannot destroy you. It will only bring you to your full reward. And you can decide to fear the sting of a thousand deaths in fearing just that one that awaits you. fear exists and grows in the imagination of our minds as God's children we can trust our beloved shepherd in the midst of every trial or else we can freak out and show him that we had no real root of trust and love for him at all and as you submit to the will of your heavenly father now you'll have a harvest of peace and quietness in facing the shadow of death alone as you walk through that long and lonely valley. Revelation 12.11 declares, And they have overcome him by the means of the blood of the Lamb and by the utterances of their testimony. For they did not love and cling to life even when faced with death, holding their lives cheap till they had to die for their witnessing. Well, dear Christian, these love not their lives, even unto death. They were willing to die a martyr's death. They did not shrink back when they were threatened with death, but they remained firmly attached to the root of truth which is found only in Jesus Christ, our Savior. Never before in the history of the United States of America have we seen the dismantling of our constitutional rights. The First Amendment gives us assurance of freedom of speech, freedom of conscience and freedom of religion. But did you know, today in the United States, you are considered a terrorist and a conspiracy theorist by this present government if you believe in a one world government taught according to the scriptures and by Jesus Christ himself. If you believe the world will be taken over and controlled by a one world government, by an Antichrist before Jesus Christ returns to institute and set up his eternal kingdom, then you are defined as a threat and are labeled as a terrorist by this present administration. For people including Christians who are concerned about the impending collapse of the United States, the threat assessment warns, quote, historically domestic right-wing extremists have feared, predicted, and anticipated a cataclysmic economic collapse in the United States. Well, those who believe this can happen are labeled conspiracy theorists. These know also that martial law, civil strife, racial conflict, suspension of the United States Constitution, decay of moral values, eliminating religious rights and freedoms, and also institution of citizen detention camps, are all signs of socialism, and are now considered by America's own Department of Homeland Security to be domestic right-wing terrorists, because they believe these things are presently happening in America. The Attorney General of the United States has stated just recently that President Obama has the legal authority to unleash deadly force such as drone strikes against American citizens on U.S. soil without first allowing every citizen the right of a trial according to the Sixth Amendment. Do you not see the one world government coming into manifestation taking its form and cause? Do your homework, dear believer, so when the door to all of your freedoms are slammed in your face, you won't be left spinning in the dark, wondering what happened. Jesus said, keep watch and know the signs of the times. For especially Christians, these will be dark days. Our brothers and sisters in nations where they have no freedom run from village to village for their very lives. As I have said earlier in this word, many thousands and thousands die at the end of a sword or a gun, and are even buried or burned alive for their faith and stance in Jesus Christ. Facing the shadow of death alone is closer to us than we know or think in this world of uncertainties today. If we as Christian believers are not learning to die to self in this life on earth, then surely stepping out of this life as we know it into the other side the unknown world or better known as eternity to walk through death's dark valley then we shall not have the comfort and peace as we take this walk alone. You see when you really die to yourself in this life while you have breath this means that you have totally surrendered your will to God. that means you still possess the personality, the talents and the physical makeup that God has given you. But it means now you are created anew within your spirit. And those ungodly things that drove you and made your life miserable and unhappy and out of control are now brought under his control by precious Holy Spirit And then he puts his spirit in you and he gives you a hunger and a passion to know him more deeply. The story of Job is a wonderful illustration of dying to self. Job was blameless in God's eyes because he did everything he should have done according to the law. But God showed in the unfolding of this story that Job was self-righteous. God allowed Satan to devastate him and all that he had and owned. Finally, through losing all that he had, including his health, he sees God for who he really is and he sees himself for what he really is. And this causes Job to break down in true repentance and utter the words that have rung out over the generations of time. And those words are found in Job 42 verse 5. I had heard of you only by the hearing of the ear, but now my spiritual eyes see you, and therefore I loathe my words and abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. You see, Job was dying to himself here. He was on the way to true life, which is found only in God. You see, as a believer, you have special privileges at death. Remember David said in Psalm 17 verse 15, As for me, I will continue beholding your face in righteousness, in rightness and justice, and right standing with you. I shall be fully satisfied, and when I awake to find myself beholding your face, I will have sweet communion with you. As a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, one of the privileges you have is that you shall behold the face of God Almighty. You shall see Him with your eyes, and you shall behold the glorified body of Jesus Christ, your Savior. and you shall see him in the purity of his light and his glory and you shall behold him as the son of righteousness clothed with your human body in nature shining in majesty above all of the angels. Another privilege you have as a faithful follower of Jesus Christ is not only shall you behold him face to face but you will enjoy the eternal love of God and there will be no more viewing him through a glass darkly. His love will be discovered in itself as altogether lovely, sweet and pleasant. On the earth we pray to know his love more and more and do experience what will be considered a drop to what we will know there. To know this God love that surpasses all knowledge will cause such an untold joy in our spirits and the holy rapture and the peace would completely overtake us if God does not make us able to bear it. And one of the other privileges, dear one, that you and I will have when we finish our walk through facing the shadow of death alone and getting to the other side is that we shall have a celestial dwelling place that will be all of our own. You will never have the fears and the concerns of all the what-ifs in life and the uncertainties where you will live or what you will wear or what you will eat ever again. In eternity you will have a house not made with human hands, but you will have a place all of your own. You will have a royal palace, a house built in heaven just for you. and this will be a house made with precious pearls and stones of which the world has never seen and this is not your landlord's house but this is your father's house and this house stands upon holy ground and will shine forth to make known the holiness for which it was fashioned and made possible for you to dwell in and that was by the precious blood of Jesus Christ God's own Son All of this, too, should be a forethought before you face the shadow of death alone. You see, believers' privileges came with a high price. God doesn't owe you or me a thing. He gave all that he had. He gave his precious son, Jesus Christ, himself, and he made that lonely walk, and with the aid and the support of no one. One more thing that Jesus made possible for us as a believer and gives us as a privilege in him is at our time of death we will gain total perfection in the beauty of his holiness where we shall serve him fearlessly. Luke 1.74 declares To grant us that we being delivered from the hand of our foes might serve him fearlessly in holiness, divine consecration and righteousness in accordance with the everlasting principles of right within his presence all the days of our lives. We will gain total perfection in the beauty of his holiness and we shall be privileged to see not the external but the spiritual and the internal purity of our beautiful beloved Savior Jesus Christ. We shall behold him face to face, dear ones. And this is very exciting to see the very one who died for us and made eternal life possible is almost more than I can bear to think of. Jesus has made all provision for us to walk in his grace and in faith in this life. And he's made it possible for us to hold on tightly to him by way of his promises which are written in his book. this is the future estate of the true saints of God this is their rightful inheritance being heirs of God and co-heirs with Jesus Christ gives us the legal right to inherit all that he has promised but those who fritter away their so great a salvation have not this hope as they walk on facing the shadow of death alone there is a great difference for these ungodly sinners gain eternal death they lose out on several things they lose their place in the world they lose their souls and they lose their place in heaven even though they lived unrighteously on the earth they yet hoped that God would be merciful in the time of their death and might be allowed to enter into this privileged place of eternal life who knows what all of these unfaithful ones face at the time of their passage through the valley of the shadow of death how awful just to think about it how terribly awful another privilege that you and I have as faithful ones in Christ is that at the time of our death we have great liberties and freedoms and protections and one of them mentioned is at death we are freed from this body of sin sin defiles the soul and it debilitates us and disarms us of our strength and this freedom at death is where we can finally say I am free I am free I am free and also at the time of taking our final walk through the valley of the shadow of death alone and walking to the other side we shall be freed from all troubles and disappointments and heartaches and encumbrances to which this earth life is subject. There are many things that Satan attempts to embitter and cause us to stumble and fall in so we will not reach our final goal and promise in eternity. We shall also be free from fear, dear ones. Fear shall flee for those who make this lonely journey through death's dark valley. there will be no more torment in fear temptation is totally conquered by your death the devil shall no longer have the opportunity to shoot his darts at us any longer our labor shall cease and our suffering and sorrow shall be remembered no longer but what we shall be left saying at the end of our journey's ends are the words of David in our text today O Lord as for me I will continue beholding your face in righteousness and justice and right standing with you and I shall be fully satisfied when I awake to find myself beholding your face and having sweet communion with you forever. Oh, precious ones, this is eternal life. This is our goal and this is what we are living for and will die to God on earth is called the only one true God but to distinguish him and know him face to face in all reality is to know the one true and eternal one who is God's own son Jesus Christ and this is to know him as he really is and to know Jesus is to adore him to know him is to love him start now before you walk on that lonely walk and face the shadow of death alone on your final journey into eternity you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Thank you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.