I want to just say a few words dealing with the death of a believer. You know, when I preach a funeral, it's not always easy. But when you have the assurance of the comfort of knowing a person who died in the Lord, it's a blessed time. Blessed are those who die in the Lord, the scripture says. And certainly that would apply to our sister Sue Parker. When Debbie and I first moved with our two boys to Albany, Maurice and Sue were two of the first people we met, and they really helped make our transition from the Commonwealth of Kentucky to the state of Georgia. Some might say, well, you know, that can't be easy. But it was. We love the people here. And Sue and Maurice had us over to their home, especially when they lived out in Lake Blackshear. We had some good times with them. I always knew Sue to be a serious, genuine person. She wasn't one to play religion. She was no hypocrite. And so what I would like to do is to speak on her death as the death of a true believer. In this psalm, it says in verse four, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. And you know, when most people think of death, they really have a limited view. Because most of us think about physical death. But if we know the scriptures, and especially if we know the Lord Jesus Christ, and what he accomplished in his death for his people, his sheep, We see that death has many facets. I once read a book called The Death of Death in the Death of Christ. It's a great book. But what we see here is if you look at verse one of Psalm 23, it says, the Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want. And what that means is if Christ is your shepherd, You do not lack anything that God requires and that you need for salvation. You shall not want. And one thing you need to understand is that, and Sue would want you to know this, now especially her loved ones, if you don't know it already, the things that God blesses His people, His sheep with, now and forever, are not things that you've earned or that you even deserve. But they are products of God's free and sovereign grace, like Brother Jim read or spoke. His free and sovereign grace in and by the glorious person and the finished work of Christ. And I know this about Sue. The last thing she'd want me to do is stand up here and sit up here and brag about her. But she'd want me to brag on Christ. Paul, the apostle, wrote in Galatians 6.14, he said, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that word glory means to boast. So I'm going to brag this morning, but I'm not going to brag about me or about Sue or about anybody. I'm going to brag about Christ. I want to glorify him. Well, let me give you these things quickly. When we talk about death, we see that it has many facets. So let me tell you about the kinds of death that the scripture tells us about. When he says, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and we all do. And how we end up on the other side is a matter of God's grace and God's work. But first of all, there's physical death. Now, this is what Sue has experienced and what we're all headed to. Hebrews 9 and verse 27, it says, as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment. Now, who appoints that time of death? God does, not the devil. Somebody says, well, death is the work of the devil. Death is the just consequence of sin, for the wages of sin is death. we know the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, but if you don't know the Lord, if you're not one of his sheep for whom he died, then what's it all about? When he says in John chapter 10, he says, I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. And so this is an issue of death, physical death, the consequences of sin. But here's another facet of death. There's a legal death. Now, legal death, this is a legal sentence of condemnation pronounced by a just God, the judge of all, to whom sin is imputed or charged or accounted and reckoned. The Bible says in Jude in verse four, there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Romans three in verse 19, now we know that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that means condemned by the law. that every mouth might be stopped and all the world may become guilty, subject to God's judgment before God, therefore by deeds of law shall no flesh be justified. You know what it is to be justified? Number one, it's to be forgiven of all of our sin. Now, follow this now, don't leave it there. To be forgiven of all our sin, past, present, future. All our sin on a just ground. And what is the only just ground of forgiveness? It's not your tears of repentance. Now, we ought to be crying over our sin. We ought to show sorrow, but that's not the just ground of forgiveness. The just ground of forgiveness is the blood of Jesus Christ. And Sue knew that. And to be justified is to be declared righteous in God's sight, but not based on your works or my works. It's based upon the righteousness of Christ revealed in the gospel, that righteousness which has been imputed, charged, accounted to His sheep. As their sins were charged to Him, His righteousness has been charged to them. That's all grace. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who can condemn us? It's Christ that died, yea, rather is risen again, seated at the right hand of the Father ever living to make intercession for His people. And then there's spiritual death. This is another facet. Spiritual death is because we fell in Adam and were born dead in trespasses and sins. Romans chapter three and verse 10 says, as it is written, there's none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good, no, not one. Well, what's the answer to that? You must be born again from above. And that new birth, that new life, that new heart comes from Christ. You can't work your way into it. You can't even decide your way into it, because if left to yourself, what does the Bible say? 1 Corinthians 2.14, the natural man. This is how we are born naturally. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them. They're spiritually discerned. That's why Christ told Nicodemus, you must be born again or you can't see the kingdom of God. You don't have spiritual sight. And that's what we need to have. And then lastly, there's eternal death. John chapter five and verse 28. Marvel not at this for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good under the resurrection of life and they that have done evil under the resurrection of damnation. Well is that telling me that I'm going to make it to heaven based upon my doing? No. What is it to do good? It's to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. as your only Savior, your Lord, your righteousness, your hope of forgiveness, all of that. So he says, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. I shall not lack anything that God has for his people. And Christ says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. So in giving his life for his sheep, the Lord Jesus Christ saved all of his sheep from all facets of sin. He saved his people. He saved Sue Parker from physical death. What do you mean by that? Sue's body, as she exists now, is not even where she lives. That body, I know in her latter years, you know, she had a stroke and she fell and broke her hip and then she got pneumonia. That's over. That's over. No more tears, no more sorrow. What did Paul write in Romans 8 and verse 10? If Christ be in you, the body is dead, this physical body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. He wrote, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law. But if Christ died for my sins, and I cannot be charged with my sin, the sting of death is removed. And he says, but thanks be to God, which giveth us that death, that life, the spirit, and all of that. For as in Adam all die, as in Christ shall all be made alive. The sting of death is sin, the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God, which giveth us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ saved us from legal death. Condemnation. Second Corinthians 521 says, for God hath made him, Christ, to be sin for us. How was he made to be sin? He didn't become a sinner. He wasn't corrupted or contaminated with our sin. He was the perfect, spotless Lamb of God dying on that cross. for sins of his people that were laid on him, charged to him, imputed to him. And so it says, for he hath made him to be sin for us, Christ who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Think about that. If God has brought you to faith in Christ, given you that gift, you are righteous in his sight. based on a righteousness that you and I had nothing to do with making it. David described it in Romans four and verse six as Paul quoted from David in Psalm 32. He said, the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputed the righteousness without works. And he said, and Paul wrote over in verse one, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ. So he saved us from legal death. He saved us from spiritual death. You must be born again. Look at that Psalm. He says, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures. Literally, that's pastures of tender grass. That's his word. He leadeth me beside the still waters. That's peace. God reconciled to his people. His people reconciled to him. He restoreth my soul. He makes my dead soul come alive by his work. leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake." I have a righteousness, a perfect righteousness that cannot be contaminated or taken away, it's the righteousness of God, it's his righteousness and I walk in his path looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of my faith. That's what Sue did and by the grace of God. Verse eight, four, for yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, and thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. His rod and his staff is his word. Do you gain comfort from the word of God? Not from the word of people now. They're not always gonna give you comfort. And if they do, it's usually false comfort. The word of God, thy rod and thy staff. Verse five, thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. I tell people all the time that salvation is no potluck dinner. Don't bring your own dish. He's already prepared it. It's all prepared. It's all done. The gospel is not do and live. The gospel is live and do. And that's what it is. The gospel is a finished work. Christ said on the cross, it is finished. And that's the Sabbath that we spiritually enter when God brings us to faith in Christ. Resting in him. Thou anointest my head with oil. That's the spirit. My cup runneth over. More than what we can imagine. So he saved us from spiritual death, and then he saves us from eternal death. Look at verse six. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And my friends, I know there are all kinds of religions, all kinds of denominations, but I'm gonna tell you right now, if you believe the word of God, if one, and I know people say, oh, you believe that one's saved always. If God saved you, if he saves, that's a done deal. And people say, well, then I can go out and live like I want to. Well, how do you wanna live? What's your problem? See, not only does He save us by His grace, He keeps us by His grace. What did Paul say? I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day. And what have I committed unto Him? What did Sue commit herself to? Christ. It's all committed to Him. And along with that, He gives us a new heart, a new mind, a new affection, a new will, a new conscience. that gives us a desire to follow him, not to be saved, but because we already are. And we have the assurance. He said, my sheep hear my voice. They come to me. No one can pluck them out of my hand. My father's hand. He said, I and my father are one. He said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. And this is the will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose. Anybody know the next word? Nothing. But raise it up again at the last day. That's what grace is all about. And grace reigns in righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Let me close with this. Christ is the good shepherd who gave his life for the sheep, and he arose again the third day, showing that the ground of our salvation, the ground of our justification, was completely finished by him. For by one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, those whom God hath set apart. But Christ is also the chief shepherd, First Peter 5.4 says, when the chief shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. And when we speak of the crowns that we have, they're not crowns that we earned. They're crowns that God has given us freely, unconditionally. And then Christ is the Great Shepherd, Hebrews 13, 20. Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, the covenant of grace, make you perfect, that's complete, in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. But the death of a believer, like Sue Parker, teaches other believers the value of the gospel truth, as it stands in Christ, the glory of his person, the power of his finished and successful work for his sheep. And so, in closing, I want to read a passage of scripture from 2 Timothy chapter 1, beginning at verse 8, where the apostle wrote to a young preacher named Timothy. And he said, be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner. Paul was in jail at that time for preaching the gospel. But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. Now listen to this. Who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us his sheep, believers, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Wow. That ought to make you perk up. But now is made manifest, made known, by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, in every facet of it, for Sue and for all of his sheep. and hath brought life and immortality to life through the gospel. May the Lord bless us in his word.