The Profitable Burial

Before we go into this message, I would like you to lay your hand on your chest and pray like this: “My heart, cooperate with the Holy Ghost, in Jesus’ name. This message is for people who are tired of the valley and desire to live a mountain top life. People come to the house of God with different objectives just like all kinds of people watched our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross for different reasons. His mother was there crying, there were some sympathetic observers. Some were there to ridicule Him, saying, ”Come down from the cross if thou be the son of God.” There were also those who were fulfilling their duty as soldiers: They killed Him because they were instructed to do so. His disciples were there too filled with fear and distress.

There are only two grounds; you are either on the mountain top or the valley. There is no middle ground. All kinds of evil things happen in the valley. For example, that is where witches hunt people down but it is not so on the mountain. They cannot get to the mountain because on the mountain you find the power of Him who is taller than the tallest, mightier than the mightiest and who is the most excellent.

One of the terrible things that can happen to a minister of God is for him to conduct a burial ceremony for a person, he knows has gone to hell fire. He gets there with his Bible looking at a hopeless situation. It can be sad because he would be wondering what he is doing at the burial ceremony of a man who had gone to hell fire and his friends gathered there smoking cigarette, chatting or doing anything that will keep them from remembering that they had come to bury their friend and afterwards they went back home for refreshment to celebrate that a person had entered into eternal prison from where he cannot come out again.

Sometime ago, a man of God on his sick bed refused to see anyone. Then one man who called himself an atheist and used to preach against Christians in the town came and the man of God said they should let him in. The man was surprised. When he was about to leave, he said to the man of God, “I beg sir, why is it that you turned other people back except me?” The man said, “It is because they are Christians. I know we shall meet again but I want to say a final bye to you.” When that atheist dies, his burial will be a profitless one. The Bible says that precious is the death of the saints in the eyes of the Lord. His angels will be there waiting to take them away. We have profitable burial and profitless burial. Romans 6: 14 says, “For sin shall not have dominion over you. For ye are not under the law, but under grace.”

We must understand that the devil has his own trinity which comprises sin, flesh and the devil himself. There is a serious cooperation between them. Now the Bible says that sin shall not have dominion over us. It means that we do not have to commit sin. Sin is not a necessity as far as the Bible is concerned. It is important for us to understand this very well because it is when sin is in the flesh that demons will eat it. It is when there is sin in the blood that demons will drink it up. The Bible says, “Awake to righteousness and sin not, little children sin not.” It also says, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid.” I John 3:8 -9 says, “He that committeth sin is of the devil... Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” There is no middle camp. A child of God lives according to the standard of the Bible. Romans 8:10 - 14 says, “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Colossians 3:5-7 says, “Mortify your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanliness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence and covetousness, which is idolatry. For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.”