Dear family and friends. I would like to begin this message to you this morning with these words of victory. For the battle this life presents is over for Preston. The sickness and the pains of life is now swallowed up in what the church calls victory that is through Christ.
Therefore, Preston is now free from the agony and the pain of sin. However, we remain in the suffering and the affects of this battle. For Paul testified of this in Romans the fifth chapter and the twelfth verse. For he says, “Wherefore, as by one man [which was Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sin.”
That which you are suffering, the propensities and the proclivities that eventually affect the totality of your being, leaving you helpless and tormented is actually sin. And the penalty of sin is death. And no one is able to escape death, because all has sinned.
All of us have from the pulpit to the pew have improprieties, proclivities, or propensities. Proverbs 20:9 Solomon, the wises of all pinned these words, “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sins?” John than through analysis and revelation become conscious concerning mans condition. Therefore, he added in First John 1:8, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth in not in us.”
Let’s not set here and lie to ourselves. Think we are better than the next. We all got an issue, a hidden shame, a habit that is eating at this temporal body. And, eventually death will come visiting because it has been invited by sin; for the penalty of sin is death.
It is Jesus who is our hope and salvation though. For Romans 10:9 Paul declares, “That if thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shall be saved.”
This confession can give you the power over your sin. Now understand this, the power of sin can be broken, however the presence will always remain until this mortality takes on immortality. But, you can still become victorious even in the presence of sin - and no weapon formed against you will ever prosper when you walk in the life God has predestined for you.
This confession is not a simple acknowledgement that He, the Lord Jesus, is God and the Lord of this universe, since even demons acknowledge that to be true in James 2:19. This confession is a deep personal conviction, without reservation, that Jesus is your sovereign Lord and savior.
This is what we should have come seeking today. Not to view the eventual plight of all who lives. Yes, the plight of all because none of us will ever evade death. Just at this moment count yourself bless that God gave you today, for tomorrow is not promised to any of us.
Therefore, this is the day the Lord has made - and we should have come today to be reminded of our own predicament. Then after self examination, we should plead to God to cleanse us from our sins so we then can live a victorious life in Christ Jesus.
Despite what you may think, this is what Preston did. By his own volition he decided to experience his deliverance on the other side.
That, which lurked and tormented the condition of his existence, while his soul wrestled for relief and peace, has now lost its influence and power, for death is sin’s last triumph! The arch-enemy of Preston’s being, introduced all that he could. The melancholy, the depression, the sickness, and the vices of life warred against him.
Time and time again the arch-enemy of his soul through him a blow and brought Preston down to his knees in utter defeat. But, as customary he got back up as willful as he was and continued with life by the grace of God. Therefore, prior to April 10th, the arch-enemy of Preston’s soul became so frustrated; he called for a tribunal council. The enemies that gathered said the only thing we got left now to defeat him - is the blow of death.
Therefore, death was assigned a task through the works of sin to finally destroy Preston. Deep within the recesses of Preston’s mind he knew something was different. The pain and agony that warred against him had a different affect. The pulling and the resistance of the battle of life made him weaker to the point of exhaustion.
However, one night during the battle, I believe his mind reached back to the former teachings of his spiritual father, Elder Paul C. Jackson. For Elder Jackson had to speak to him concerning the power of Christ blood that was shed. His sacrifice upon the Cross-, which won for us the promise of salvation.
And instead of putting that promise aside as if it meant nothing, I believe Preston looked to the hills which cometh his help, and asked God to “Have mercy upon him, according to Thy loving kindness: according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies. Preston cried out, “blot out my transgression and wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.”
For as I held his hand when he left this earth on April 10th at 11:44 p.m., there was a peace that was upon him - I’m I right Aunt Mary? He just laid their and rested with assurance that all was well with his soul.
I believe after that cry, he looked at death as Christ did and declared, you have no power but was given unto you. Therefore, I lay my life down. No longer will you taunt me - for I found my victory in Christ Jesus. For the battle is over and the victory is won.
It may have seemed selfish Preston Lee and Preston Randy, that our father rather had suffered and died without letting anyone know. You may have thought Sincilery and Crystal that he gave us no thought or consideration.
But I believed during the last two weeks of his secrete battle, he was fighting the power of sin that had to be broken in his life - for he refused to suffer any longer by its affect here on earth. And I believe now he is in the presence of God looking down at death and declaring as our text, “O death were is thy sting?”
Even in this moment of grief, Uncle Joe, uncle Lish, and Uncle Henry, we feel a great lose. Empty, stunned and dazed Aunt Bay, Aunt Carolyn, and Aunt Mary, due to losing a part of someone we love, but Jesus is still is our hope as well and our salvation.
For Psalm 62:7-8 it says, “In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge. Trust in Him at all times, [even in this moment my family], pour out your heart before Him: (for) God is a refuge for us.”
Salvation in this text is not necessarily a technical theological term, but simply denotes “deliverance” from almost any kind of situation, weather material or spiritual.
God is able to deliver us family from the evils that suggest to us to self-medicate ourselves to cope with the grief and pain of this moment. We just got to call on Him, and pour our hearts before Him - for He will deliver, comfort, and heal our pain.
In my conclusion, as our text says, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, were is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
We are hear to ask that the promise remain upon our heart and upon our thoughts from now until the day we die. We are here to be encouraged that as we remain in Christ, so shall he remain with us - if we just confess our sins.
John 7:37 says, “Whoever is thirsty MUST come to me to drink!” There is no doubt that we are thirsty for Christ and His comfort. Today we have a thirst that cannot be comforted by the world, nor by any liquid. Our thirst is a spiritual thirst, a thirst of the soul.
Jesus is indeed with us here today to quench our spiritual thirst. Our thirst is quenched as His love reminds us that we do have hope even unto death for all those who die in Christ.
Our thirst continues to be quenched when we trust and remember the promise through Jesus’ words, “Given and shed for you for the remission of all sins.”
Our thirst which grow each and every day, is quenched each and everyday by way of Jesus’ gifts to us. Our thirst is especially quenched when death looms before us.
For if Jesus went as far as death upon the cross for you, why would he stop now when you need Him the most? He will always be with you for that was and still is his promise to us ever since he ascended into His Kingdom.
Today, although sorrow fills our heart in the loss of a son, a Father, a grandfather, a brother, an uncle, or a friend, Victory also resides there as well. It is a victory that swallows up the pain of death. We have been promised that what leaves this world as corruptible will be transformed thanks to Jesus’ victory over sin, death and the devil.
As we depart, we depart not in despair but in victory. Jesus Christ promises life again, so that the sting of death cannot be found.
Preston, your battle is over, and the victory won!
Dearly beloved, I pray when your battle is over as well one day, it will be a victory won.
