What God Thinks About Death (Funeral Service For Martin Belger)

Some months ago I had a problem dealing with death.

Illus: Former President Reagan was asked a question by a reporter, “What would you do without Nancy?” He did not answer that question immediately. But when he thought about it for a few moments he said, “It hard to imagine life without Nancy!”

When I heard that I thought about my wife dying and death became so real to me that I was grieving her death while she was still living.

I would look at her at time tears would come to my eyes.

It got to be such a problem that I had to go see my doctor.

Since than with some scriptures God showed me somethings from His Word which gave me strength to deal with death.

But make no mistake about it dealing with death is a serious problem for many people.

Illus: Doris Day that lovely woman and a great singer was so afraid of death she forbid anyone to talk about death in her presence.

We do not like to think about death. But today since we are forced to deal with death today, let’s deal with it on the basis of God’s Word.

WHAT DOES GOD’S WORD SAY ABOUT DEATH?

There are two verses of scripture that use to confuse me dealing with death.

(1) One of them is Psalm 116:15 which states “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”

The other one is…

(2) Phil 1:21 – “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

Look at these two verses that are confusing in these two verses….

I was confused….I did not see death as being PRECIOUS or a GAIN.

• How could I go to parents who have lost a child and tell them what has happened to their child is PRECIOUS!

• How could I go to MAN who have lost his brother and tell him that his death is PRECIOUS!

• How could I go to a Wife/Husbnd and tell them what has happen to their spouse is PRECIOUS!

I thought how can I go to a family member that has lost a family member and tell them what has happened to their love one is precious and great gain.

The reason God can say the death of a family member or a friend is PRECIOUS and that it is a GAIN because when Christ said this he was looking at death from His perspective, not ours!!!

The Bible tells us PRECIOUS IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD IS THE DEATH OF HIS SAINTS.

From His perspective death is PRECIOUS and it is a great GAIN.

HOW IS DEATH PRECIOUS and a GREAT GAIN?

If we look at death from His perspective it is precious and also a great gain.

For example…

I. We Gain a better body

We gain a glorified, immortalized, resurrected body.

In this present body of clay we are subject to all the sorrows and tears that come with it.

Such as…

• Ageing,

• Sickness,

• Sorrows of life

• Tears of life

• Disappointments

And finally death is the inevitable end of this house made of the dust of the earth.

But death is PRECIOUS and a GAIN at our resurrection…

HOW IS IT A GAIN?

I. Because we gain a better body, one that can:

• Never grow old,(Can I stop and say Praise the Lord)

• Never be affected by any kind of disease, (Aman)

• Suffer no pain, (Glory)

• And we can never die. (Halelujah)

We gain a better body.

Illus: How much would you give to have a body that did not age, never affected by any kind of disease, no pain, never die!!!

If such a body existed I would say SIGN ME UP TODAY!

Illus: Dr. Odell Belger was talking to a wealthy Jewish man. He was very wealthy WORTH MILLIONS and he said, “Preacher, I would give everything I got for my wife and I to regain our health…EVERYTHING!!!”

Here was a millionaire saying I would give everything I have to regain my health back for me and my wife.

Such a body is available for EVERYONE!!!

Christ gave everything He had on the cross of Calvary so that we could have such a body.

He left the portals of heaven to die on that cruel cross HE GAVE UP EVERYTHING so we could have such a body!

Martin has been sick for a long time.

In recent weeks I prayed many prayers for God to work a miracle and heal Martin.

I was disappointed with God when he died.I was expressing this disappointment to the Lord.

And God spoke to my heart and said I DID WORK A MIRACLE, I HEALED HIM BUT AFTER I HEALED HIM I BROUGHT HIS ETERNAL HOME.