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TOPIC: Spurgeon - C.H. - Sermons from Acts (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 14 - ACT 13:36 His Own Funeral Sermon
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His Own Funeral Sermon
Oct 19th, 1890
by
C. H. SPURGEON
1834-1892
NOTE: This sermon was preached on the Lord's-day evening after Mr. William
Olney "fell asleep." Long before the beloved preacher was "called home."
Mrs. Spurgeon feels that her dear husband could not have delivered a more
suitable discourse for "his own funeral sermon." She has, therefore, given
it that title in the hope that many will be blessed by the message which
"he, being dead, yet speaketh."
"For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of
God, fell on sleep."-- Act_13:36.
It is remarkable that David should say, in the sixteenth Psalm,
"Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine
Holy One to see corruption," and yet that Paul should say
concerning him, when preaching at Antioch, that he "saw
corruption." The key to this apparent contradiction is the fact that
David did not speak of himself, but of his Lord. Peter, in his
memorable sermon on the day of Pentecost, quotes the words of the
psalmist, applies them to his risen Redeemer, and distinctly affirms
that, in the Psalm, "David speaketh concerning him."
It is worthy of notice that Peter and Paul both use the same
argument about this statement of David. These two apostles did not
always agree; but however much they might differ about other
matters, they were of one mind about the resurrection of Christ. I
hope that, whatever differences there may be among true preachers
of the gospel, they will always be one in declaring the resurrection
of our Lord. This corner-stone of the gospel must never be
displaced or dishonoured. The good news we are commissioned to
declare is the same that Paul received and delivered, "that Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried,
and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures."
Chief among the Scriptures fulfilled by the resurrection of Christ
stands this word, which David, inspired by the Holy Ghost, wrote
so long before the event: "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell;
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." The
resurrection of Christ is the top-stone of our faith. Because "he,
whom God raised again, saw no corruption," Paul was able to say
this to his hearers, "Be it known unto you therefore, men and
brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness
of sins: and by him all that before are justified from all things, from
which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses."
The argument of the apostle is this. David could not have meant
himself when he said, "Thou wilt not suffer thine Holy One to see
corruption;" because David died, and his body was buried, and it
did see corruption. He must therefore have referred to Christ, who
is indeed God's "Holy One." Of him the prophetic word was true,
for God did not suffer him "to see corruption." He died, and was
laid in the grave, but he rose again on the third day. In that climate
there was, while Christ lay in the grave, plenty of time for his body
to become corrupt. The spices with which they perfumed the
precious body would not have sufficed to keep back corruption;
they would have helped conceal the unpleasant odour which
putrefaction brings, but they would not have stopped the process of
decay. But Christ rose again, and no corruption had come to his
body, for that body was a holy thing; it had no defect, nor taint of
sin, as our bodies have. Begotten of the Holy Ghost, it was a pure
thing; though born of the Virgin Mary, it was united to the
Godhead, and not separated from it even in death; it saw no
corruption. There is the apostle's argument, then: David speaking
not of himself, but of someone else, says that the Lord will not
suffer him to see corruption; and this he spake by the Spirit of the
very Christ whom we preach to you as the Author and Finisher of
salvation. He is living and reigning to-day, King of kings and Lord
of lords; he that believeth in him, though he were dead, yet shall he
live, and live for ever with his risen, reigning Redeemer.
While Paul was speaking in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia, he
incidentally used the words of our text: "David, after he had served
his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep." That is to be
my subject on this occasion; forgetting for the present the main
argument, I would only look at this eddy in the current, and draw
your attention to the expression which dropped from Paul's lips
concerning David. Let us ask, first, What is it to serve our own
generation? Secondly, What parts of our generation can we serve?
And, lastly, with tender memories of many who have gone from us,
let us ask, What will happen to us when our service is done? Even
that which happened to David; we shall, like him, "fall on sleep."
I. First, then, WHAT IS IT TO SERVE OUR OWN GENERATION?
This is a question which ought to interest us all very deeply. We live in
the midst of our own generation, and seeing that we are part of it, we
should serve it, that the generation in which our children shall live may
be better than our own. Though our citizenship is in heaven, yet as we live
on earth, we should seek to serve our generation while we pass as pilgrims
to the better country.
What, then, is it for a man to serve his own generation?
I note, first, that it is not to be a slave to it. It is not to drop into the
habits, customs, and ideas of the generation in which we live.
People talk nowadays about Zeitgeist, a German expression which
need frighten nobody; and one of the papers says, "Spurgeon does
not know whether there is such a thing." Well, whether he knows
anything about Zeitgeist or not, he is not to serve this generation by
yielding to any of its notions or ideas which are contrary to the
Word of the Lord. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not only for one
generation, it is for all generations. It is the faith which needed to be
only "once for all delivered to the saints"; it was given stereotyped
as it always is to be. It cannot change because it has been given of
God, and is therefore perfect; to change it would be to make it
imperfect. It cannot change because it has been given to answer for
ever the same purpose, namely, to save sinners from going down to
the pit, and to fit them for going to heaven. That man serves his
generation best who is not caught by every new current of opinion,
but stands firmly by the truth of God, which is a solid, immovable
rock. But to serve our own generation in the sense of being a slave
to it, its vassal, and its varlet--let those who care to do so go into
such bondage and slavery if they will. Do you know what such a
course involves? If any young man here shall begin to preach the
doctrine and the thought of the age, within the next ten years,
perhaps within the next ten months, he will have to eat his own
words, and begin his work all over again. When he has got into the
new style, and is beginning to serve the present world, he will
within a short time have to contradict himself again, for this age,
like every other, is "ever learning, and never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth." But if you begin with God's Word, and
pray God the Holy Ghost to reveal it to you till you really know it,
then, if you are spared to teach for the next fifty years, your
testimony at the close will not contradict your testimony at the
beginning. You will ripen in experience; you will expand in your
apprehension of the truth; you will become more clear in your
utterance; but it will be the same truth all along. Is it not a grand
thing to build up, from the beginning of life to the end of it, the
same gospel? But to set up opinions to knock them down again, as
though they were ninepins, is a poor business for any servant of
Christ. David did not, in that way serve his own generation; he was
the master of his age, and not its slave. I would urge every Christian
man to rise to his true dignity, and be a blessing to those amongst
whom he lives, as David was. Christ "hath made us kings and
priests unto God his Father"; it is not meet that we should cringe
before the spirit of the age, or lick the dust whereon "advanced
thinkers" have chosen to tread. Beloved, see to this; and learn the
distinction between serving your own generation and being a slave
to it.
In the next place, in seeking to answer the question, "What is it to
serve our own generation? I would say, it is not to fly from it. If any
man says, "The world is so bad, that I will avoid coming into
contact with it altogether; even the teaching of Christianity has
become so diluted, and is so thoroughly on the Down-grade, that I
will have nothing to do with it," he is certainly not serving his own
generation. If he shall shut himself up, like a hermit, in his cave, and
leave the world to go to ruin as it may, he will not be like David, for
he served his own generation before he fell asleep. She that goes
into a nunnery, and he that enters a monastery are like soldiers who
run away, and hide among the baggage. You must not do anything
of the sort. Come forward and fight evil, and triumph over it,
whether it be evil of doctrine, evil of practice, or evil of any other
kind. Be bold for Christ; bear your witness, and be not ashamed. If
you do not take your stand in this way, it can never truly be said of
you that you served your generation. Instead of that, the truth will
be that you allowed your generation to make a coward of you, or, to
muzzle you like a dog, and to send you out, into the streets neither
to bark nor to bite, nor to do anything by which you might prove
that there is a soul within you.
If we ask again, What is it to serve our generation? I answer, it is to
perform the common duties of life, as David did. David was the son
of a farmer, a sheep-owner, and he took first of all to the keeping of
the sheep. Many young men do not like to do the common work of
their own father's business. You do not want to drudge, you say,
you want to be a king. Well, there are not many openings in that
line of business; and I shall not recommend anyone to be eager to
enter them if there were. "Seekest thou great things for thyself?
Seek them not." Before David swayed the sceptre, he grasped the
shepherd's crook. He that at home cannot or will not undertake
ordinary duties, will not be likely to serve his age. The girl who
dreams about the foreign missionary field, but cannot darn her
brother's stockings, will not be of service either at home or abroad.
Do the commonplace things, the ordinary things that come in your
way, and you will begin to serve your generation, as David served
his.
But serving our generation means more than this. It is to be ready
for the occasion when it comes. In the midst of the routine of daily
life, we should, by diligence in duty, prepare for whatever may be
our future opportunity, waiting patiently until it comes. Look at
David's occasion of becoming famous. He never sought it. He did
not go up and down among his sheep, sighing and crying, "Oh, that
I could get away from this dull business of looking after these
flocks! My brothers have gone to the camp; they will get on as
soldiers; but here am I, buried among these rocks, too looks after
these poor beasts." He was wiser than that; he quietly waited God's
time. That is always a wise thing to do. If you are to serve God,
wait till he calls you to do his work; he knows where to find you
when he wants you; you need not advertise yourself to his
omniscience. At length the set time came for David. On a certain
day, his father bade him go to his brethren, and take them some
corn and some loaves, with cheeses for their captain; and he
reached the camp just at the time when the giant Goliath was
stalking forth, and defying all the armies of Israel to meet him. Now
is David's time, and the young man is ready for it. If he had lost the
opportunity he might have remained a shepherd all the rest of his
days. He tells Saul how he slew both the lion and the bear, and
prophesies that the uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them,
seeing he had defied the armies of the living God. Disdaining Saul's
armour, he takes his sling, and his five smooth stones out of the
brook, and soon he comes back with the gory head of the giant in
his hand. If you want to serve the church and serve the age, beloved
friend, be wide awake when the occasion comes. Jump into the
saddle when the horse is at your door; and God will bless you if you
are on the look-out for opportunities of serving him.
What is it, again to serve our generation? It is to maintain true
religion. This David did. He had grave faults in his later life, which
we will not extenuate; but he never swerved from his allegiance to
Jehovah the true God. No word or action of his ever sanctioned
anything like idolatry, or turning aside from the worship of Jehovah,
the God of Israel. He bore a noble witness to his Lord. He said, "I
will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be
ashamed;" and we may be sure that he was as good as his word,
and that when he met with foreign potentates, he vindicated the
living God before them. The whole set and current of his life, with
the exception of his terrible fall, was to the glory of God in whom
he trusted, and to the praise of that God who had delivered him.
We, too, shall truly serve those amongst whom we dwell by
maintaining true religion. Had ten righteous men been found in
Sodom, it would have been spared, and the world to-day only
escapes the righteous judgment of God because of the presence in it
of those who fear him, and tremble at his word. The spread of "pure
and undefiled religion" is a certain way to serve those around us. To
help true religion, David wrote many Psalms, which were sung all
over the land of Israel. A wonderful collection of poems they are;
there is none like them under heaven. Not even a Milton, with all
his mighty soarings, can equal David in the height of his adoration
of God, and the depth of his experience. That man does no mean
service for his time who gives the people new songs which they can
sing unto their God. While none can equal the inspired psalms of
the Hebrew king, which must ever form the choicest praise-book of
the church, other men may, in lesser degree serve their own
generation, by the will of God, in a similar way, and be blessed in
the deed.
To serve our own generation is not a single action, done at once,
and over for ever; it is to continue to serve all our life. Notice well
that David served "his own generation"; not only a part of it, but the
whole of it. He began to serve God, and he kept on serving God.
How many young men have I seen who were going to do wonders!
Ah, me! They were as proud of the intention as though they had
already done the deed. They took a front seat, and they seemed to
think that everybody ought to admire them because of what they
were going to do; but they were so pleased with the project that
they never carried it out. They thought that they might meet with
some mishap if they really attempted to do the thing, and the project
was so beautiful that they preserved it under a glass shade, and
there it is now. Nothing has been accomplished; nothing has been
done, though much has been thought of. This is folly. Some, too,
begin well, and they serve their God earnestly for a time, but on a
sudden their service stops. One cannot quite tell how it happens, but
we never hear of them afterwards. Men, as far as I know them, are
wonderfully like horses. You get a horse, and you think, "This is a
first-rate animal," and so it is. It goes well for a while, but on a
sudden it drops lame, and you have to get another. So it is with
church-members. I notice that, every now and then, they get a
singular lameness. To very many we have to say, even as Paul said
to the Galatians, "Ye did run well; who did hinder you, that ye
should not obey the truth?" But David continually served God to the
end of his life. May we all, by divine grace, thus serve our whole
generation, too!
Yet more is included in this faithful serving of our generation. It is
to prepare for those who are to come after us. David served his
generation to the very end by providing for the next generation. He
was not permitted to build the temple; but he stored up a great mass
of gold and silver to enable his son Solomon to carry out his noble
design, and build a house for God. This is real service; to begin to
serve God in early youth; to keep on till old age shall come; and
even then to say, "I cannot expect to serve the Lord much longer,
but I will prepare the way as far as I can for those who will come
after me." Many years ago, Dr. Rippon, the minister of this church,
which then worshipped in New Park Street, was wont to prophesy
about his successor. When he was very old, after having been
pastor for more than sixty years, it is in the memory of some still
living that he was accustomed to pray for the minister who should
come after him. The old man was looked forward to one who
should come and carry on the work after he was obliged to leave it.
So must you and I do. We must be looking ahead as far as ever we
can, not with unbelieving anxiety or unholy curiosity; but after the
fashion in which David prepared abundantly before his death. If we
cannot find a successor to enter upon our service when we have to
leave it, yet let us do all we can to make his work the easier when
he comes to it.
II. In the second place, let us ask a question even more practical
than the first; WHAT PARTS OF OUR GENERATION CAN WE SERVE?
It is truly written, "None of us liveth to himself:" we either
help or hinder those amongst whom we dwell. Let us see to it that
we serve our age, and become stepping-stones rather than
stumbling-blocks to those by whom we are surrounded. We shall
serve our generation best by being definite in our aim. In trying to
reach everybody we may help nobody. The wise man tries to serve
somebody in particular: where, then, should we make the effort? In
answering that question, I divide the generation in which we live
into three parts.
First, there is the part that is setting. Some are like the sun going
down in the we set; they will be gone soon. Serve them, dear
brethren. You that are in health and vigour, comfort them,
strengthen them, and help them all you can. Be a joy to that dear old
man, who has been spared to you even beyond the allotted
threescore years and ten, and praise God for the grace that has
upheld him through his long pilgrimage. Look on his grey hairs as a
crown of glory; make his descent to the grave as easy as you can.
He once was as young as you are; he once had the vigour that you
have. Console him, cheer him, give him the respect that is due to his
many years. Do not let him feel that you consider him an old fogey
who lingers, superfluous, on the stage; but learn from his
experience, imitate his perseverance, and ask God to be with you in
your old age, as he is with him.
The second portion of our generation which we can serve is the part
that is shining. I mean those in middle life, who are like the sun at
its zenith. They are working hard, bearing the burden and heat of
the day; as yet their bones are full of marrow, and they are strong
men ready for service for the Lord. Seek to sustain their hands in
every possible way. Help them all you can. As one of those in
middle life, I especially ask the help of all my Christian brethren,
members of this church, or of any other church, who can aid me by
their sympathies and their prayers. Get closer to one another, and
fill up the vacant spaces that death's arrows continue to make in our
ranks. Suffer nothing to be left undone which may further the work
of Christ, or help the people around you who are so quickly passing
away. Many of us have been together for nearly forty years, and
when, one after another, our dear brethren are taken away, let it be
everybody's ambition to try to make up what shall be lacking
through their departure. This is what is due to those who are like the
shining part of our generation.
Specially, however, I want to speak to you about serving your own
generation in the part that is rising; the young people who are like
the sun in the east, as yet scarcely above the horizon. This part of
our generation is specially the care of parents and Sunday-school
teachers; but let us not leave it entirely to them. We can, most of us,
do something to serve this portion of our generation before we fall
asleep. Beloved, I commend to your care and attention the children
and young people who abound in our midst. In them lies our hope
for the future of God's cause on earth.
In the first place, they are the most reachable. Happily, we can get
at the children. The mass of people in London go to no place of
worship now; the old habit of attending church or chapel seems to
have been given up; but the people will still let the children go to
Sunday-school, even if they do it from no better motive than that of
getting them out of the way in the afternoon, or in order that the
house may be quiet without them. Anyhow, if you open a school
anywhere in London, you can quickly get it filled with children. If
you cannot do one thing, do another. If you cannot reach the fathers
and the mothers, though you should earnestly try to get at them, yet,
if you can reach the children, take care that you lose no opportunity
of teaching them the things of God. This is the work that lies nearest
to you; seek to accomplish it; and "whatsoever thy hand findeth to
do, do it with thy might."
Moreover, the children are the most impressible. What can we do
with the man who is hardened in sin? The grace of God can reach
him, I know; but the children as yet have not known these evil
ways; they are horrified when they hear about them. Teach them.
While yet the clay is soft, mould it for God. May the Lord himself
help you, dear Sunday-school teachers, and others who labour
amongst the children, to do you work right well! Nobly are you
serving your own generation, and the generation to follow.
The salvation of the children ought to be sought with double
diligence, for they will last the longest. If a man of sixty or seventy
is converted, he will have only a short time for serving God here;
for he will soon be gone. If a child is converted, a long life of
usefulness may enrich the church of God. Therefore, look after the
children. If you had a gathering of Christian men and women, and
were to put the question to them, "How many of you were
converted before you were one-and-twenty?" you would be greatly
surprised to find that probably five out of six would answer that, in
early years, they were led to know the grace of God, and trust in
Christ as their Saviour. I tried the experiment one evening with a
number of friends who had come together from different places.
"How many of you owe your salvation to your father's prayers, your
mother's instruction, or your Sunday-school teachers' influence in
youth?" I asked; and almost every one out of a company of about
five-and-twenty said that it was in early youth that God blessed
some instrumentality to their conversion.
Remember, too, that those who are converted when children usually
make the best saints. These of whom I have just spoken, who gave
the answer that they were converted in their youth, were ministers
of the gospel. I do not know whether the same rule is true among
ordinary Christians; but among those who have become leaders of
men, in nearly every case they yielded to Christ while they were
young. Our thoughts at this time cannot but be occupied with our
dear friend, William Olney, who has just been taken from us so
suddenly, to our unutterable grief. He was as earnest as a youth as
he was when he became an old man. Indeed, I never knew a
moment when he was not earnest. I never even knew him to be dull
or depressed; he seemed to be always joyous and glad. He would
almost frighten me sometimes with his jubilation under pain; for
when he was in agonies of suffering, and could only sit on the
platform for a short time, there was never anything like depression
about him. He was just as glad and happy as if he had been in
perfect health. I wish that it were so with all of us. Young Christians
do become the best Christians. Early piety is usually eminent piety;
so seek to catch the children while they are young, and train them
for the Lord, then they will be ready to serve their generation in
their turn.
We ought to look after the children, again, for they are specially
named by Christ. He said, "Feed my sheep;" but he also said, "Feed
my lambs." I would almost be inclined to say that the Lord made the
same division of the generation as I have done. When he said, the
first time, "Feed my sheep," he may have meant the old sheep.
When he said, the second time, "Feed my sheep," he may have had
specially in mind the middle-aged ones. There is no doubt that when
he said, "Feed my lambs," he meant the young people. Christ gave
the lambs a place all to themselves: "Feed my lambs." I wish
Christians would consider more seriously how the children ought to
be looked after by the church. I read, the other day, of a boy who
wished to join in membership with the people of God. His father
said that he was too young, and kept him back. He was big enough,
however, to be sent out to fold the sheep one night. When he came
in, his father said, "Jack have you folded the sheep?" "Yes," he
said; "I folded all the sheep," laying great stress on the last word.
"And did you put the lambs in?" asked his father. "No," he replied,
"I left the lambs outside; they were too young to go in." "Oh, boy!"
said the father; "you know more than I do, after all; they were the
very ones that needed most to be folded. You may go and see the
minister about joining the church as soon as you like." If any
believers in Christ need specially to be taken into the church, it is
those who have come to Jesus in their youth. I pray you, serve your
generation by giving the children and young people your most
loving attention and care.
Look after the children of this generation, again, for the dangers
around them at the present time are almost innumerable. What a
time this is for boys! You cannot read the daily papers without
being shocked by the amounts of wrong-doing of mere boys. This is
an age which seems to make snares on purpose to entrap them.
There are "penny dreadfuls" enough to poison the whole generation;
they are full of stories of crime with a false halo about it, so that it is
made to seem like heroism. These vile stories are everywhere;
perhaps your own boy has one, unknown to you, and is reading it
while you are sitting here. Everywhere traps are laid for the feet of
our boys. Serve your generation by warning them of their danger
and trying to keep them free from the evils by which they are
surrounded. Satan gets the advantage over many a young life by
causing even right things to be put to wrong uses; and in all sorts of
ways he lays traps for young people. Oh, parents and teachers, do
try to give your boys a backbone of moral honesty! Try to show
them that they have not come into this world merely to please
themselves; that there is something better to be done than that. Do
not rest till you have led them to the Saviour, for no boy is safe until
he is converted. No girl is safe in the streets of this city till she has a
new heart and a right spirit. The times are perilous; yet if we speak
a word of warning. We are called sour Puritans. It always makes me
laugh when I am called a sour Puritan, because you know there is
nobody with a quicker eye for fun, or with a deeper vein of mirth
than I have. At the same time, I like to have humour, and anything
of cheerfulness and brightness in life, consecrated to God. But when
mirth is made a plank on which a man can go into sin and iniquity,
then we will saw that plank into pieces. You must be saved from
sin, young men; you must be kept from evil, young women, if you
are to be truly happy. May God's grace put in your way wise, godly
friends, parents, and teachers, who shall serve their generation by
leading you in the paths of peace!
III. Now, I have done when I have tried, for just a minute or two, to
answer this question: WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO US WHEN OUR SAVIOUR IS DONE?
"David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on
sleep." The day's work is done; the worker is weary; he falls on sleep:
what can he do better? It was all "by the will of God.: To what part of the
sentence do you think that clause belongs? Did David serve his generation
by the will of God; or did he fall asleep by the will of God? Both. Guided
by the will of God, he did his work on earth; and calmly resigned to the
will of God, he prepared to die. Even when passing away, he served his
generation by giving Solomon some last charges concerning the kingdom,
saying, "I go the way of the earth; be thou strong, and show thyself a
man." Over both his life and his death may be written the words, "By the
will of God." Oh, that we may all so live, that even in death we may serve
our generation; may it be true of us that "whether we live, we live unto
the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live
therefore or die, we are the Lord's"! Thus, "the will of God" shall be done
both in our service and in our sleep.
David is an example of what will befall those who know Christ, at
the end of their service. He did not go to sleep till his work was
done. "David, after he had served his own generation by the will of
God, fell on sleep." Do not want to die till you have done your
work. When brethren say, "Oh, I wish I could go to heaven! Oh,
when shall I get home?" they remind me of a man who, when he
begins work on Monday, says, "I wish it was Saturday night." We
do not want servants like that, nor does God either. Be willing to
live for two hundred and fifty years, if God wills it. Be willing to
live until strength fails you, if God wills it; you can still bear your
dying testimony to the Lord's faithful and unchanging love. Do not
be in a hurry to go home to heaven. Do not want to go to sleep till
you also have served your generation well. When David had served
his generation, he fell on sleep. We are told that, in the early days of
Christianity, when believers were falling asleep in Jesus, their
friends did not bid them "good-bye," but "good-night." So we say,
in the words of that beautiful hymn--
"Sleep on beloved, sleep, and take thy rest;
Lay down thy head upon thy Saviour's breast:
We love thee well; but Jesus loves thee best--
Good-night! Good-night! Good-night!
Only 'good-night,' beloved-not 'farewell !'
A little while, and all his saints shall dwell
In hallowed union, indivisible--
Good-night!
Until we meet again before his throne,
Clothed in the spotless robe he gives his own,
Until we know even as we are known--
Good-night!"
But, next we are told that when his work was done, he fell on sleep.
Did his soul sleep? By no means. It was not his soul that is spoken
of here, for we read that he "saw corruption." Souls do no see
corruption. Paul is speaking of David's body. "He fell on sleep, and
was laid with his fathers, and saw corruption." His body fell into its
last, long sleep, and saw corruption. If you like to take the words in
the wider sense, he was asleep as far as the world is concerned; he
had done with it. No sorrow came to him, no earthly joy, no
mingling with the strife of tongues, no girding his harness for the
war. "He fell on sleep." He had nothing to do with anything that was
under the sun. And that is the case with our dear friend whom we
miss from his place to-day, and it will soon be the case also with
you and with me. There is not much here worth stopping for; and
when our work is finished, like David, we shall fall on sleep. We
shall then he asleep to all the declensions of the age, all the strifes
of men, and all else which gives us sorrow of heart.
Does this word further mean that his dying was like going to sleep?
It usually is so with God's people. Some die with a considerable
measure of pain; but, as a rule, when believers pass away, they just
shut their eyes, and open them in heaven. I have had infinitely more
pleasure at death-beds than I have had at weddings. I have been to
many marriage-feasts, I have gone there at duty's call; but I can
confirm what Solomon said, "It is better to go to the house of
mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for it is the end of all
men; and the living will lay it to his heart." I am not aware that I
have gained anything at a wedding, but I have gained much at the
dying bed, as I have seen the joy and peace and rapture of girls and
youths, and men and women, passing away joyfully to be "forever
with the Lord." I have known some of our number here who were
too bashful and backward to ever say much for Christ when they
were well; but when I sent to see them die, there was not a bit of
bashfulness about them. They spoke out so boldly that I have said
to them, "Why, if you get better, you must preach for me one of
these Sundays"; and they have smiled and said that they would
never get better. They have known this, and they have rejoiced to
think that they were going where they would not need any preacher,
but would see their Lord Jesus face to face. How they have
brightened up at the mention of his dear name! Some of them have
sung then, though I never knew them to sing before; and some of
them have told of things which they seemed to see and hear, which
eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, till God has revealed them to the
departing spirit. You remember such dying beds, do you not? Was it
your mother, or your father, who passed away in that glorious style?
Perhaps it was a brother beloved, or a sister, or a friend. Well, if we
know Christ, it shall be ours by-and-by to sleep in him. You who
believe in Christ ought no more to dread death than you dread going
to sleep at night. You will, ere you sleep, commit yourself to God,
and as you put your head on the pillow, the similitude of death will
be upon you, even sleep which one has called "death's cousin." You
will not be afraid of that. Why, then, should any dismay seize you in
prospect of that which is but another sleep? Rather sing to yourself:
"Since Jesus is mine, I'll not fear undressing,
But gladly put off these garments of clay;
To die in the Lord is a covenant blessing,
Since Jesus to glory through death lead the way."
Let us follow where he leads. Perchance some of us may tarry until
he comes again. There will be no death for such; they will but
change the service of their generation for the service of the
glorified. "Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but
we shall all be changed." Then, when the trumpet shall sound, this
corruptible shall put on incorruption, those who sleep in Christ shall
awake in resurrection splendour, and together we shall serve our
Lord day and night in his temple for ever. Meanwhile, serve you
own generation by the will of God; and if the Lord tarry, you will
fall on sleep, even as David did. May God bless you who believe in
Jesus, and save the unsaved who are in our midst, for our Lord
Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.
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