How to Die a Good Death: Live a Good Life

Hebrews 9:27-28
Gary Wassermann | Sunday, July 29, 2018
Copyright © 2018, Gary Wassermann

Pastor Mathew said last Sunday, “Do you want to die a good death? If you do, then you must live a good life in obedience to the will of God as found in the word of God.”[1]  This is the most serious counsel because whether or not we die a good death, death is something we cannot avoid, and there is no neutral death.

Many today use the crutch of atheism to avoid reckoning with the significance of death.  But death is not the inevitable result of natural processes as the evolutionary hypothesis claims.  Our text this morning, Hebrews 9:27, tells us that death is laid up in store for us.  This is a divine passive.  God has laid it up for us.  Man was created to live without dying, but when Adam sinned as the representative of mankind, God pronounced the sentence of death upon all men.  Nor is death final so that when we die we cease to exist as persons, as atheists claim.  We die because it is God’s decree upon sinners, and we face judgment because we must appear in court to account for sin.

But the emphasis of Hebrews 9:27 is not only that we will die, but that when we do, that is the end of our time to prepare for judgment.  The first point this morning will be “The only opportunity to prepare for judgment,” in which I will explain the doctrine taught here that we may understand the facts.  Then, by the grace of God, let us face these facts personally under the headings: “Death may come soon”; “God’s decree is sure”; and, finally, “The blessed death.”

The Only Opportunity to Prepare for Judgment 

Christ will execute the final judgment when he returns.  Most people throughout history have now been dead longer than they were alive, and it may be that for us also, many lifetimes will pass between our death and the final judgment. But no matter how long that span is, it has no influence on the judgment that will be pronounced upon us.  Three things in Hebrews 9:27 declare this truth.

First, it says “after that,” that is “after death,” “to face judgment”.  There is nothing that follows death and precedes judgment of any significance for our eternal condition.  It is as though judgment is the very next thing.  There is no second chance after death.  There is no purgatory as the Catholics teach, and no prayers or monetary gifts to the church or good works can help in any way those who have died.

Second, it says “once” to die.  The book of Hebrews uses the words “hapax” meaning “once” and the related “ephapax” meaning “once for all” eleven times.  The book of Jude uses these words twice, and no other book uses them more than once, so that aside from Hebrews, the rest of the New Testament combined uses these words eight times.  This tells us that the author to Hebrews puts particular focus on those things that are singular, never to be repeated and never to be superseded.  We do not exist in an ongoing cycle of reincarnation in which we continue to live and die until we get it right and achieve Nirvana.  We have but once to die.

Third is the comparison of the finality of our lives to the finality of Christ’s work in his earthly life in verse 28. “Just as man was destined to die once and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation.” Jeremiah Burroughs, an English Puritan from the early seventeenth century said the following about this verse:

A special part of this epistle is to show the excellency of the priesthood of Christ by contrasting it with the priesthood of Aaron, especially in this regard, that the priests offered up sacrifices often, but Christ offered himself only once.  This once offering of himself was sufficient forever and needed no further offering.  The Holy Spirit illustrates that point by comparing the efficacy of Christ’s sufferings with the efficacy of what man does here in this world.  As the actions of men here in this world, whatever they are whether good or evil, are the basis for his eternal condition; what a man does in this life accordingly, when he dies he comes to be established in that eternally, so the death of Christ is effective [completely, eternally, and unfadingly].”[2]

That’s why Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive what is due us for the things done in the body, whether good or evil.”  At death our souls are separated from our bodies.  Christ will judge us in reference only to what we have done prior to that.

Jesus testifies to the same thing.  In John 5 he said, “[The Father] has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out-those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned” (John 5:27–29).

All of this tells us that this life is our opportunity to turn to God in repentance and find peace with him, that we may receive mercy at the final judgment.  There is no repentance unto holiness after death.

Ecclesiastes 11:3 says, “In the place where a tree falls, there it lies.”  This simple observation about trees teaches us a serious lesson about ourselves.  The way you fall when you die is the way you will lie eternally.  If you are going sin-ward when you die, so shall you remain, and misery and destruction will be yours forever.  He who is vile will continue to be vile.  In life the child of the devil lives in sin but the restraining grace of God keeps him from the fullness of it.  In death God lifts his hand of restraint from the man so that lusts and evil thoughts have complete control over him, and he is fully given over to sin and its accompanying punishment.  But if you are going Godward when you fall, God is yours forever.  Likewise, he who is holy will continue to be holy (Rev. 22:11).  In life the servant of God lives a holy life, though not perfectly.  At death, his soul is made perfect, and he is relieved of all remaining lusts and temptations to sin, so that he rests in holiness and glory.

God will do his work here.  In 1 Kings 6:7 we read, “In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built.”  Likewise, whoever God intends for a living stone in his glorious temple in heaven, he squares and shapes them here.  There is no opportunity for repentance after this life; what is to be done must be done here.

Death May Come Soon

Our lives here are uncertain, and death may bring them to a close soon. Aaron Burr Sr. was a Presbyterian minister and the second president of Princeton, which was founded for training Presbyterian ministers.  His son was Aaron Burr Jr., the third vice-president of the United States.  Rev. Burr preached a New Year’s sermon at Princeton in 1757, and he chose as his text Jeremiah 28:16 “Thus says the Lord, this year you will die.”  His message to the church was that in the previous year some from their number had died, and they should expect that in the coming year some would die.  Therefore since they did know who it would be, each one ought to realize, “This year I may die.”

Do you think this is an inappropriate sermon for the New Year?  It is the best use of the beginning of the year to prepare for what is most important—for death and judgment.  In our own congregation, we have experienced the death of one baby this year, and it would not be in the least surprising if before the year is out, another one of us has died.  It may not be who you expect.  Later that same year in 1757, Aaron Burr died at the age of forty-one. Samuel Davies, the fourth president of Princeton, heard a few years later the account of Rev. Burr’s sermon, and he considered it so fitting, that he preached the 1761 New Year’s sermon from the same text, delivering the same message to the church.  Just over a month later, Samuel Davies died at age thirty-seven.[3] We do not take a superstitious view of these events, but we ought to learn from them that it may not be someone else who dies.  You may die this year.  I may die this year.

The rich fool of Luke 12 presumed that death was a long way off.  Like most people around us today, his focus was on prosperity leading to a comfortable retirement in this world.  God was absent from his thinking, so he was totally unprepared when God demanded his life in the middle of his prosperity.  But Jesus also warned those in the church against being unready.  In Matthew 24:45–50 he used as an illustration a servant who is put in charge of the household while the master is away.  Starting in verse 48 he says, “Suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him.”  If you call yourself a servant of the Lord, are you ready to face him now?

Some of you are now not ready. You are not certain on biblical grounds that you are right with God. Simply expecting to go to heaven is not the same as being certain on biblical grounds.  Thank God that you have today to look at your life in the light of the biblical standard.

There are of course many who say that they are basically good and they’ve lived a good life, so God will welcome them in.  That is exactly the way that seems right to a man that Proverbs 14:12 speaks about, but in the end it leads to eternal hell.  God does not accept your standard.

But within the church it is especially the antinomian error that gives an assurance of salvation that the Bible has not warranted and keeps people from seriously considering the question of whether they are ready to die.  The antinomian error says that if at one time we believed that Jesus is the Son of God and is our Savior, then we are ready ever after for the judgment to come, regardless of how we now live.  That false gospel keeps many people in the church from living in light of death and judgment.  That does not mean that legalism is correct and we must earn our right to heaven.  Rather hear the teaching of Jesus regarding what life will prepare us for the judgment to come.  In Matthew 16:27 Jesus taught the same great truth we are considering this morning: “The Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.”  Shortly before that, he said, “If anyone would come after me”—“to my kingdom in glory,” in other words—“he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” It is disciples who have a share in Christ’s precious blood, and it is disciples whom Jesus will save.  Jesus’ disciples lose their lives in this world and live by faith in the world to come.  They say no to their own will and gladly do the will of Jesus Christ.

You can know all this, and you may say without hesitation that you are Jesus’ disciple and you are born again, but know that you are not the judge. Christ will judge you without consulting with you.  In most situations in this life, we may hope for constructive criticism. Even if you are fired from a job, some constructive criticism can help you to do better in your next job. Even if you don’t get constructive criticism, perhaps getting fired will be a wake-up call that you need to do better next time. With Christ’s judgment, there is no next time; his judgment is final.  Today is your “next time.”  You cannot ask Christ directly what he says about you today, but he has sent men to work and speak on his behalf.  Christ has equipped the pastors he has sent to prepare his people for judgment.  Our pastor is a God-sent, God-equipped pastor who knows his sheep.  So don’t quickly assert that you are born of God without hearing the objective and spiritual assessment of the man of God.

I say again, some are not ready, and thank God that you are alive today.  Now you have the opportunity to turn.  “Now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).

Think of those who were like you just a few days ago, but have very recently died.  They were not sure of salvation, and they did not take action when they had the chance to make peace with God.  What is their condition now?  They are in agony and torment with no hope of ever finding the least relief.  They now await the final judgment, when they shall be cast into the lake of fire forever.  It is too terrible to grasp!  How much would they give to have one more day alive on this earth?  If they had the opportunity to have one more day when they could find peace with God, they would not trade it for all the world!  If they could return and have a little more time, how would they spend it?

In the same work, Jeremiah Burroughs said, “Imagine an extremely expensive oil.  Would the man who had it use it to light a lamp so he could play and fritter away his time?  Would he not rather only use it to light a lamp for some very important work?  Know then that the time of your lives is this lamp, lit up and fed with such precious oil.  Do not squander it away on vanities.  It is Christ’s great charge against Jezebel in Revelation 2:21 ‘I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling.’”[4]

There is a right reason and a wrong reason to value living. The right reason and the real value of your life is that you may still do today what will prepare you for eternity. The wrong reason to live on is to gratify your lusts.  God does not give you life so that you can work through your bucket list and keep enjoying the pleasures of this world.  Rather be glad to be alive so that you may make further provision for that which is of such infinite value, that if it is not done, it would be better never to have been born.  Let us value our lives for the right reason and give them to God. 

God’s Appointment Is Sure

Pastor Mathew said in his commentary on Hebrews, “God will keep this appointment he made.”[5]   Whether you die today or live for many more years, your life here will surely end, and judgment will surely come.  The realities of death and judgment are unchanging, but man changes.  It is a great mercy that a sinner may repent and serve the Lord and have all his sins wiped away.  But there is also such a thing as temporary faith, in which a person acknowledges God and judgment for a time, but then turns from things that are unseen and again lives by sight.  Death is the finish line.  What matters is not how we start but how we finish.  Are you living in such a way that in twenty years, if you still live, the judgment will be a more vivid and controlling reality to you, or such that the judgment will have faded from your view?

The recipients of this letter had heard the gospel and left their Jewish background to follow Christ.  But as they faced difficulties, some of them were beginning to turn back from Christ to their old life.  One of the great purposes of this letter as a whole is to call them and all who call on the name of Christ to persevere to the end, not to grow weary, and to stand without wavering in the face of greater trials than we have yet faced.

God keeps us from sinning by the fear of God that comes from the knowledge of judgment and by the love of God that comes from the knowledge of Christ our Savior.  But if in the face of these we return to sin, no barrier is left. Hebrews 10:26–27 warns us, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”

Beware, then, of those things that turn us from living in light of the reality of the judgment to come.  I will focus on sin, treasure, and thoughts.

Sin

We must beware of sin, especially secret and habitual sin.  It is to call men to account for sin that God has decreed a final judgment.  In order to sin, you must deny and defy the judgment seat of Christ. James 4:12 says, “There is one lawgiver and judge.”  If you break his law, you also deny his authority to judge. Romans 1:18 says that men suppress the truth by sinning.  Those who go on sinning become unmoored from reality and cannot think of the judgment except as a joke.  Sin makes you weak before men and weak before your own lusts.  Hebrews 3:13 says, “Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”  Sin hardens you.  As Hebrews 10:26–27 says, go on sinning and you will be separated from the one thing that can save you in the judgment.

On the other hand, 2 Peter 3:11–12 says, “You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.”  As you submit to God and say no to temptation, the day of God will be brighter and brighter before you.  When you call on God in the day of trouble rather than leaning onto your own understanding, God will prove himself faithful.  Walk by faith and not by sight, and your faith will grow.

Treasure

Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt 6:21).  If you labor to store up treasure on earth, your heart will be set on this life.  Jesus said, “What does it profit if a man gains the whole world and loses his soul?”  Death separates you from all wealth and worldly goods, but even if you could bring it with you to the judgment, what difference would it make?  The judge cannot be bribed.

Rather, store up for yourself treasure in heaven.  It is a right motive to look to reward in heaven for doing God’s work now.  God promises not only that there will be reward in heaven, but as you store up treasure there, your heart will be set on heaven as well.  By this we set our hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Thoughts

The third thing we must beware of is our thoughts. Guard your mind. It is Christianity that calls us to think, and nothing calls for more serious thought than the final judgment. It requires us to think, “How shall I be ready for that day? How can I face death with peace and confidence?  What should I use my time on earth to do?” God provides answers to all these questions in his word if we have a mind to inquire and the humility to obey his commands.

But the force of this world is always against thought. The world suppresses the truth. The world operates not by mind but by lust.  And the world pressures us to conform to its way by suppressing serious thought. It is well-known in the news media that what draws viewers is sensational headlines, anger-provoking lines, and burlesque pictures. Beyond that, the world is full of amusements.  An amusement is something that distracts you from serious thinking.  Entertainment and comedy have a draw, but they suppress thought. Stop thinking, and you live in view of the present only—you live by sight and by lusts.

Since thinking is so important, we don’t judge as the world judges. We value what promotes thought, and God provides especially trials to promote thought.  Weakness and pain remind us of our mortality, and sorrow reminds us that we do not have a home here.  Ecclesiastes 7:2 says, “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting.”  This is the exact opposite of the judgment of the natural man, like “blessed are the poor in spirit.”  The natural man doesn’t want to be reminded of the coming “days of darkness” (Eccl. 11:8).  It is an unwelcome message: Are you ready to meet this solemn event? But the verse gives us the explanation: “for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart.”  The value of the house of mourning is in the lesson it teaches (GM).  We must all expect to go the way of all the earth (Josh 23:14), and the house of mourning makes that palpable.  Charles Bridges said, “It is the divine ordinance to bring the living to thoughtfulness.”[6]

The right response to every reminder of our own death is not to put on a somber face and go silently to our room.  Rather we should again ask prayerfully, “How can I face death in peace and confidence, and how can I be blessed on the Day of Judgment?”  We pray, “Teach us to number our days aright.”  So we live our lives to do the will of God.  The book of Ecclesiastes declares that for those who live for this world, every pursuit in this world is meaningless.  But for those who live to the Lord and die to the Lord, everything is meaningful, and they alone lead meaningful lives.

The one who numbered his days aright is Jesus Christ.  He always did what pleased his Father.  He worked while it was day.  He lived every day in light of the purpose for which he was sent, and finished his work.  He lived and died by the power of the Holy Spirit whom he has now sent from heaven to be in us also. 

The Blessed Death

For the believer, death is still a reality, but it is not a depressing reality or a terrifying reality.  Instead it is a blessed death because of what his death is not and because of what his death is, both of which are based on Christ.

The believer’s death is not a cursed death unto judgment.  That is because of Christ’s first coming.  He offered one sacrificed, once and for all.  The purpose of his life on earth was to bear fully the sins of many people, in particular those whom the Father chose to give his Son to save.  He arrived at the cross as a lamb without blemish or defect.  His death completed his work.  It is finished.  He took the sting of death, so that for us, death has no sting.  Sin has been removed, and we have no fear of judgment.

The believer’s death is also not a loss of all things.  At death our worldly goods will fall away, the praise of men will fall away, talents and recognition and reputation will all fall away.  But the believer will not lose his soul.  Just as Hebrews 9:27 says death and judgment are laid up for man, so other verses tells us about things that are laid up for believers. Colossians 1:5 says there is laid up for us the hope that awaits us in heaven.  Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:8 says the crown of righteousness is laid up for all who have loved Christ’s appearing.

More than that, the believer shall receive an everlasting crown, a crown of life, a crown of glory, a crown of righteousness.  Revelation 14:13 says we shall rest from our labors, and our deeds will follow us.

But more than what death is not, is what death is, and that is a doorway to lead us to Christ.  Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:8 says, “We . . . would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” Charles Spurgeon, in contemplating how he would face death, began, “There are some that will be alive at the coming of the Son of Man in the rapture, and these will never die.  My real hope is in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.  I would far rather see the master return than to see the messenger of death.  I regulate my life as one who is looking for the coming of the Son of man.”[7]

As the bride and groom wait to be united at the wedding, so our spirits wait for the Lord.  As the wife longs for her absent husband’s return, so we long to see Christ come again.  Pastor Mathew wrote, “Have you been thinking about Christ’s second coming, which was the blessed hope of the early church?”[8] As surely as Christ came once, so surely will he come a second time.  This time he will come not in humility, but in glory.  At his first coming, he had no place to lay his head, but then as King of kings and Lord of lords all nations shall bow before him, and kings will cast their crowns and their wealth at his feet.  He will not come to endure the penalty, but to claim the reward.  We are the treasure he labored to secure, and he shall take us to himself.  Hebrews 9:28 says, he will appear a second time to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Whether Christ comes first or we die first, our lives here will soon come to an end.  Jesus said in John 9:4, “There are twelve hours in a day when we may work, but the night is coming when no one can work.”  This life is our daytime.  The night will fall and the morning of everlasting rest will come, but let us do the Lord’s work while it is day.  Blessed is the man whom the Lord finds doing his work when he is called.  And let us look eagerly to that day when the Lord will raise us up and we shall see him face to face.

 

[1] P. G. Mathew, “St. Peter: Christ’s True Pastor,” https://gracevalley.org/sermon/st-peter-christs-true-pastor/

[2] Jeremiah Burroughs, “The Saint’s Treasury, A Preparation for Judgment,” http://www.digitalpuritan.net/Digital%20Puritan%20Resources/Burroughs,%20Jeremiah/The%20Saints’%20Treasury%20(Ind%20Works)/[JB]%20Preparation%20for%20Judgment.pdf

[3] Dewey Roberts, Samuel Davies: Apostle to Virginia (Destin, FL: Sola Fide Publications, 2017), 409.

[4] Burroughs, “The Saint’s Treasury, A Preparation for Judgment,”

[5] P. G. Mathew, Muscular Christianity: Learning Endurance from the Book of Hebrews (Davis, CA: Grace and Glory Ministries, 2010), 213.

[6] Charles Bridges, Ecclesiastes, Geneva Commentary series (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2009), 136.

[7] Charles Spurgeon, “Are You Prepared to Die?”, sermon 635, volume 11 (http://spurgeongems.org/vols10-12/chs635.pdf)

[8] Mathew, Muscular Christianity, 214.