Let's go turn your Bibles to Colossians chapter 3. I'm going to be reading verse 1. Let's go to reading verse 1. Paul writes in Colossians chapter 3, If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you shall also appear in God. Meditation is done as we look to you, to your word, to prepare us to come and sit at our same feet. Lord, may the truth of this word comfort and instruct and prepare our hearts for you. We ask it in Christ's name. Recently I've been doing some reading about the Arab world over Jordan and over Egypt. And tomorrow I'll be sharing a story with you about some of the men who participated in those battles in the sky victory. But if you can imagine yourself for just a moment this morning as a young man in his twenties in a metal tube high in the sky in a B-17 flying force under attack from enemy fighters. You can hear at the end his tracer bullets peening through the metal skin of your plane. And as you're trying to see what's going on around you, you see the plane next to you, your formation, shot to pieces and begins to fall out of the sky. And as it goes down, it takes the wing off of another, which is just below it. And immediately it arches over and begins to spiral toward the ground. When you arrived on station there in England, you learned that there was a greater than 75% chance that you would be killed, seriously injured, or imprisoned. before the time in the air is finished. Greater than 75% chance. And sitting there praying, you hear another round of bullets ripping through the heat slides of your plane, and the chatter of the machine guns as your shipmates try to drive off the enemy fighters on the ramp. This weekend is the time when we remember the thousands of women who died in the Scotty School Preserve and the hundreds of thousands of men and women who, like them, have lost their lives in the fight for freedom. We honor them for their sacrifice and our debt. We thank God for our liberty, something that we could be tempted, I think, at times to take for granted. But remembering these men and women serves as a reminder of how precious a thing it is to be able to live free in a world that's still really the dark. But what do you think might have been on the mind, on your mind, if you were up there in that D-17? Hearing the tracers tear through the skin of a hunk of metal that's keeping you up in the freezing air, and watching other planes fall all around you. The stories of the men who survived tell of thoughts of home, thoughts of girlfriends or wives, thoughts of mothers, thoughts of fathers. Of future plans, now in serious jeopardy. thoughts of how to survive, thoughts of imprisonment, and of course, thoughts of death and eternity. Some of the men who were going to war in those days, and perhaps even some who were required to make that sacrifice, were given the opportunity to prepare for death and eternity under the ministry of the Word through this church, where they heard the timeless message of the gospel of Jesus Christ before they were sent to death. And though it was 75 years ago, We're here this morning to talk about it again. And with all the changes in the world since World War II, there's been no change in the biblical message of the gospel. That message is offered to men and women and children. Hope for the forgiveness of sins, and the life that will last into the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. His resurrection from the dead, and his freedom to be heeded within that resurrection. As the Apostle Paul says in Colossians chapter 2, not where we are now, it's a little bit further from where we are, in verses 13 and 14 he says, and you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision on your flesh, he is made alive together with the enemy. Having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us, and he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. That is the message preached by the baked, unwhippened bread and the blow of the grape just before you went to the table this morning. That's the message preached by those elements. Now here in the third chapter of the Deuteronomy of Colossians, Paul says there in verse 1, If then you were a grape to the Christ, seek those things which are God. And he then comes back, and I want you to read in verse 3. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ through his life appears, then you also will appear with him in the Lord. Today we want to consider three things as we prepare for supper. And these things are the Christian's death, the Christian's life, and the Christian's grief. Thinking about the Christian's death, I want you to look at what Paul says here in Colossians 3. He says it emphatically, and he's writing by the Holy Spirit. He says that you, Christian, die now. You died. It's impacted your death. And if you want to know, if you want to see what your death for sin looks like, read in the gospel about Christ on the cross. Because that's where you see what it would look like if you had to bear your own sins. There you'll find just what your death for sins is. Jesus on Calvary died your death for you there. And that's what you see on the cross. The great tenor said this, you who think of sin but lightly, nor suppose the evil great, here may view its nature rightly, here its guilt may estimate. Mark the sacrifice appointed, see who bears the awful burden. Tis the word, the Lord's anointed Son of Man and Son of God. At some time in life, I think almost everyone wonders what his or her death is going to look like. But they're usually only thinking about the physical circumstances under which their flesh is going to perish. Most people think about, among those my death is going to look like, that's what they're thinking about. What's it going to look like when my flesh fails? And that, beloved, is the consequence of death, that tearing of your flesh. Death is a judgment that's brought on by sin. the expiring of their flesh is the result of that sentence of death. So when the average person is wondering how she feels she's going to die, it involves, it should involve, much more than how they'll breathe their last breath in this world, because that's only a part of death, a part of the sentence of death brought on by sin. Now whether we'll die in our sleep, or whether we'll be in the hospital, or in a nursing home, in a car, or on a plane, or whatever it is, that is just the consequence of the sentence of death as it's carried out. The truth is that both the Christian and the unbeliever can see what his or her death looks like by looking to the cross. His or her death or sin. But the difference is for the believer, he or she is looking on his or her own death or sin in Christ. What the unbeliever is looking on is what awaits him or awaits her outside of Christ. That's what the sickness that awaits you looks like. That suffering. You read about Christ. That bitterness as you see Christ in the world. And it's the same situation, not for a few hours, but for eternity. Now, theologically, there's a great deal to be fleshed out there, how Christ's separation from the Father for a moment was more horrible to him than man's separation for eternity. But I'm going to save that for another time, because I want to return to the same scene with his or her death. Paul says, In Christ, you die. And it speaks here, in past elements, you die. In Romans chapter 5 and verse 68, Paul writes, for while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the undoubted. For one who scarcely died for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one who even dared to die. But God chose His love for us, and while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He died on our behalf. He died in our place, you see. When Christ took on your sin and carried it to the cross, He died for you, and you died your death in Him. Now, sure, we hear your flesh is still going to expire. That's not dead, in common sense. The dust lies there, awaiting a new call to life and elevation, a new call to existence, as it were. In 1 Corinthians 15, verses 27-49, Paul says, The first man was of the earth, made of dust. The second man was the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust. And as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man. And our flesh was planted in the grave at the shore of certain hope of the resurrection, is planted there with a hunger of anticipation, a kind of expectation that this isn't the end and this isn't the final culmination for that flesh, but there's coming a resurrection to life that will be astounding. Now also in the context here of Colossians, Paul was referring to our relationship to this world. And he says that the believer is dead. The power of Christ's death is such that it not only satisfies the demands of divine justice, but it also renders those who have a part in it not only dead to death, as it were, but also dead to sin and the world. That's very strange. But those who are dead in trespasses and sins keep reaching out for that which brings death. That is, they keep reaching out for sin in order to find life and happiness. Their inward thought is, if I could just sin with impunity, If I could just do whatever I want to do, I could just sin any way I want to, and it wouldn't even have to be called sin. If I could just indulge every passion and every lust, then I would finally find true happiness. And so I can direct it that way towards Christians. You Christians, because of your gospel and because of your godly law, you're keeping everybody from having fun. They're keeping everybody from finding happiness. And if you would just give all that up, and just say there is no sin, and just let everybody do whatever they want to do, then we'd all be happy. That's their dream. Their inward promise, like, just live like that and find happiness. And that's what I believe is the insanity of the deception of sin. And this pursuit of happiness is geared to finding some sort of elusive happiness in a fallen world plagued by sin. For whilst they're willing to sin, the very thing that destroys happiness and brings sorrow and death into their lives, they're willing to. The Christian, Paul says, has died to all that kind of desire and hope. Jewishness is not looking for that sort of contentment and gladness in this world, and certainly doesn't see the indulgence of sin as the key to happiness. On the contrary, the Christian is looking forward to the city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God. This dying to death, to sin in the world, provides a life of happiness which begins here on earth and continues throughout all eternity for the believer. So consider this morning as you think about the death show here at the Lord's table, that this was Christ's death for you, dying your death for you. It was your death and suffering Lord, And while we want to rejoice in its cleansing and healing power, we don't want to miss the fact that all of this would be ours to bear. We would be condemned and left to bear their burial. God had not sent his son into the world, and all of him is dying now. Thanks be to God, we die in Him. Paul says in Romans 6, verse 8, now if we die for Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more, death no longer has dominion over Him. With the death that He died, He died to sin once for all of the life that He lives, He lives for God. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin for the lives of God and Jesus Christ. So you die. But now, you have this life. And if you look again at the extraordinary way Paul puts this, your life is, or has been, hidden with Christ in God. You shouldn't think about those words for a minute. But I think if I asked you to explain that to me, it would be that you'd have to do it now. Listen to me. Your life is hidden with Christ in God. E.T. Robinson, a Greek scholar, says that your life remains concealed, locked together with Christ in God. No hellish burglar can break that combination. The idea here is that all your hope is hidden in Jesus Christ. What life is Paul referring to here? What's the life that we live by grace, both now and forever? And while all hope you have in such a life and for such a life hereafter is backed up in or hidden in Jesus Christ. John Chapter 6, Verses 56-57, He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me. You live because of Him. John 14-19, Jesus says, well, I've learned, and the world will see me no more than you will see me, because I live, you will live also. And all that's necessary, beloved, to make it better and secure it, that is your life, you're being alive, you're having these eternal hopes for Jesus Christ. Rest in God himself. It's been wrong again a lot. but who has the power to do all that's holy will. The hope of the life of the believer depends on nothing in and of himself or herself. Every bit of the hope and expectation has its origin, has its promise, and has its fulfillment in Jesus Christ and the faithfulness of God toward you in him. None of it's in here. So when you look for it in yourself, and you don't see it, don't be surprised. Because it's not about you. It's about Christ. Your life, this life that's been promised to you, is hidden in Jesus Christ. That's what it is. If you ask a believer, how do you know you're And if you then ask, well, how do you know Christ died for you? The answer is, because he says so. And if the question then comes, how do you know it applies to you? Your answer is, because he says that if anyone comes to him, he won't cast that person out. And if the person then asks, how do you know that you will go to heaven? Your answer is, because Christ says he's prepared to bless you. How do you know you're going to be raised from the dead? Because Jesus said he's coming back for you. Well, how do you know you won't end up in hell? Because Christ died for you. And it's all in Christ, isn't it? All the answers are because of Christ. It's because of what Christ did. It's because of what Christ has promised. It's because Christ is coming again. It's because Christ says, I know this. It's all in Him. It's all in Him and what He has done for me. It's all Christ. Always Christ. The whole thing rests secure in Him. And we must be united to Christ by faith. For we are nothing but dead carcasses housing this. For all who are united by faith, their life is hidden in Jesus Christ. And as Davenport says, as it is impossible that Christ and life be separated, it is no less impossible that they who believe should perish, whose life is here through Christ. It's 1 John 4, 9, and this is the love of God, and this is the love of God's manifest toward us, that God has said, we only have God's Son for the world, that we might live through him. The lady hidden from the world seems somewhat hidden from me as a believer. But we say to John what he says in 1 John chapter 3 and verses 1 and 2. Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God. Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when he is revealed, everything is hidden about this. will be open and will be like him for we shall see him as he is. Which brings us then to the question of when Christ, this is verse 4 of Colossians 3, when Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. And you have to remember that he's working here to confound his enemies. He's trying to confound the work of the Gnostics and the other mystic cult teachers who were saying, no, there's more out there. There's mystery, truth that hasn't been revealed to you yet. You have to be initiated into it. They were always trying to get gained by suggesting that there was some secret. keeper message, and that Paul and others were hiding it from them, but it could be revealed for a price. And that price was sometimes discipleship, sometimes cash, but it was always some kind of price to find that extra secret treaty. But Paul is doing it here slowly, masterfully. He is, in effect, saying, you don't even know what you know. You, Christian, don't even know what you know. You don't know it to the fullest. And when you begin to see that, and you understand, you don't need anything more. That's true. We really don't know what we know. What will it be like when you appear with Christ on the way? I'm not talking about some nebulous group of people, some giant choir of angel wings and smoky clouds flying over. What are you? What is it going to be like when you appear with Christ in glory? What is that going to be like? What will that be? Your spiritual capacity will be enlarged with Him in glory. And it will surpass anything you know now. And all your communion with Christ will be face-to-face as it were. You think of all your communion now, it's in prayer, it's in the Word. And you believe, and you have the joy of that faith and that belief. But what a relief to be there face-to-face. In 1 Corinthians 13, there's a post talking about that, and he says, for now we've seen a mirror, didn't we? But then face to face, now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. Think of it, beloved, every spiritual need wholly fulfilled, even as your capacity is enlarged. Think of what that would be like. to have every spiritual need completely and fully filled in the presence of Christ. It's the same thought. We don't know what we want. We know that's not ours because that's the promise. I don't know what I'm talking about. In Revelation 7, verses 15-17, therefore, when they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne will shelter them in his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. The sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, but he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Now maybe you should think about it in regards to someone in a relatively troubled, living in the high deserts of North Africa. Starving, dying of thirst, baking in the heat, and waking up in the presence of Christ. With the heat no longer striking them, no longer a hunger, no longer any thirst, and God himself wiping away every tear. Maybe if you wander a little better than that, but if that's seen, then in our own comforts. But we realize, even we don't have it like peace. That's why. Paul said, Grace be with all who love my Lord Jesus Christ, with love interrupted. That's the very sort of love we will possess in heaven, and be interrupted over for. Not this poor, sporadic, weak, weak, halting sort of thing, but a pure love that's unsullied and interrupted. You have to remember, Lord, that you should love the Lord with all your heart and all your strength and all your might, all your arms. Not one of us has been able to see that moment when we have loved Christ, when we have loved God like that. But that day is coming, that all our spiritual needs will be fulfilled, and we will love Him in that way, fully and completely, as we are The amazing thing is to think about. When we think about here, how we come short in it. You know, how we neglect prayer and suddenly we're reminded we need to get back to it and we think, oh, why did I do that? Why did I neglect that? I love those poems. We're suddenly arrested and we realize, I'm not really living for Christ with a loving heart like I'm supposed to. And those moments come upon us and we grieve over it. Nope! Never did anything like that when you're in His presence. Because you're alive in Christ and you have this life that he's promised you. Your physical existence in a spiritual body will be stunning to the world. In Matthew 13-33 Jesus said, Then the righteous shall shine like the sun in the kingdom of their God. Can you explain to me what that's going to be like? Can you tell me how you understand this? You know it, don't you? Because it's all there waiting for us. Think about those verses we read so often at memorial services. They're from 1 Corinthians 15, verses 42 to 44. So it is with the resurrection of the body. What is sown is perishable. We know that. We've got that now. We understand the perishable part of the body. What is raised is imperishable. Imperishable. What does that mean? What is that like? Dr. Stone spends his days and hours taking care of folks whose perishable bodies are suffering under the results of the curse. There we go. Because we will have imperishable, physical, spiritual bodies. It's sown in dishonor. It's raised in glory. It's sown in weakness. It's raised in power. It's sown in a natural body. It's raised a spiritual body. If there's a natural body, there's also a spiritual body. And all this gives way to, this is what's yours in Christ, because Christ died for you. In Philippians chapter 3. We're all night stares, we're flippings, he says in verse 20, but our substantive doesn't have it. And from it we weigh away the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. So, beloved, as we come to the Lord's table, we're seeing here our death die for us. And our death is in the world, And we're participating in a meal that's filled with expectation, because it won't be long before we are all fully living that life which is hidden with Christ in God. It won't be long before we're all living in it. I didn't even imagine it. John in Revelation chapter 21, verse 2-7 says, Then I, John, saw the holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride born for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of hell is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, There shall be no more death, no more sorrow, no more crying. There shall be no more pain for the former things who passed away. Then he who sat on the throne said, Behold, I made all things new. He said to me, write, for these words are true and faithful. And he said to me, it is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give a fountain of the water of life free to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. This morning, as we come to the Lord's table, For all of you who have found that fountain and have been drinking freely from it, this table is for you as a token of your death and also the life and the hopes that you have in future. To anyone here this morning who is without that hope, the world and sin will never bring you happiness or contentment. Those are things that can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at the cross. Read about the cross. See what Christ is suffering there. That is the death that awaits the sinner. See Christ resurrected from the dead. And that's the life that awaits those who are His by faith. Father, we ask you to bless us now as we move from here to the table. And we pray, Lord, that the blessing of these thoughts will be upon our hearts as we eat together before you. We do so in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.