Please join with me in the scriptures to Romans chapter 5. I'm going to forego the reading in Matthew 27. I had a hard time deciding between reading the account of Christ dying or the interpretation of Christ dying. The gospel account or the epistle as it expands and explains that, but I think we'll forego Matthew 27 and read Romans 5 and then we'll turn in the Heidelberg Catechism to Lord's Day 16. Romans chapter 5, we give our attention to the very word of the Lord, Romans 5 verse 1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance character and character hope. Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love toward us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned, For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is the type of him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift, by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one man who sinned. For the judgment which came from one's offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous. or over the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." God's holy word. If you turn in the smaller forms and prayers book to the Heidelberg Catechism to page 217, we read Lord's Day 16. Page 217 in the forms and prayers book. We're continuing the exposition of the Apostle's Creed, coming to the words that he was dead, died, and buried. And question 40 asks, why did Christ have to suffer death? And the answer is, because God's justice and truth require it. Nothing else could pay for our sins except the death of the Son of God. Then it's asked, why was he buried? His burial testifies that he really died. And then it's asked, since Christ has died for us, why do we still have to die? Our death is not a payment for our sins, but only a dying to sins and an entering into eternal life. What further benefit do we receive from Christ's sacrifice and death on the cross? By his power, old man is crucified, put to death, and buried with him, so that the evil desires of the flesh may no longer rule us, but that instead we may offer ourselves as a sacrifice of thanksgiving to him. And then finally, he turned the page and asked, why does the creed add that he descended into hell? Answer, to assure me, during attacks of deepest dread and temptation, Christ my Lord by suffering unspeakable anguish pain and terror of soul on the cross but also earlier has delivered me from hellish anguish and torment. Let's ask for the Lord's blessing. Shall we pray together? Our gracious Father in heaven, we come before this deep and wonderful truth that Christ has died for us. We pray that you would uncover it to our eyes and hearts today, and that you would cause us to see the wonder of what we've been saved from and what Christ has done for us. Father, give us your help in these moments, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. What Carnation of Christ Jesus we consider a topic that is perhaps not the most desirable topic of death, certainly not a well-liked topic in our culture. The spirit of our age would have us forget about death, ignore death, never talk about death. Death is something that maybe older saints think about more often, but none of us really love to think about our own death. And yet, to ignore it is to stick our heads in the sand, because the mortality rate is actually quite high. It's nearly 100%. Ten out of ten people die. We're all going to die if Jesus doesn't come back. A couple years ago, I was asked to do my next-door neighbor's brother's funeral, which I agreed to do. It was interesting to me that I had met his brother 10 years earlier on a sunny Saturday afternoon for a couple minutes in his front yard and then I don't think I ever saw him again. And there I was now doing his funeral. And it struck me that anyone I meet is somebody I might be burying at some point. Anyone you meet might be someone whose funeral you might be attending at some point. Any preacher I meet might be the one who does my funeral. We all die. The thought of death is unsettling. We were not created to die. Death is unnatural. It's unnatural to have our bodies and souls separated. It's unnatural to lose our footing upon this earth. It's unnatural to be broken away from this world, to have our body laid in a casket and buried in the earth. We are never to come to a point where we are wholly resigned and reconciled. That's a wonderful thing. It's not. And death is deeply personal because in the end it's me, it's you who has to die and no one can go with us, humanly speaking. Face it alone. And yet this morning we've come as Christians to thank and praise God that by the death of the Lord Jesus we are not alone. But yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me. The Christ who died our death and was raised for our life so that Paul can say for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Through the death of Jesus something glorious has happened. What the Puritan John Owen said in the title of his book, the death of death in the death of Christ. The death of death in the death of Christ. So with thanksgiving and comfort, we stand to confess not just that Jesus suffered or Pontius Pilate was crucified, but that he was dead and buried. And that is our salvation. Let's consider that this morning as we consider, first of all, the awfulness of death, and then secondly, the victory of Christ, and thirdly, then the comfort that we have as Christians. Those three considerations this morning, the awfulness of death, the victory of Christ, and the comfort for the Christian. The Bible makes clear that Jesus died. He, as Paul says in Philippians 2, humbled himself, became obedient even to death, the death on a cross. Romans 5.8, that Christ died for us. He died for us. We confess in the Catechism this morning that only the death of God's Son could do it. Nothing else could pay for our sins except the death of the Son of God. Now, death is not a natural phenomenon. And it won't do for Christians to hide the reality that death is penalty for sin, to hide it in the background and just talk about our home going. We have to recognize what an ugly and awful thing death is. Because if we don't understand the nature of death, then we're not prepared to see the glory of what Christ has accomplished, nor are we prepared to see how desperately we need the Lord Jesus. And so, I have to do something for a moment here this morning. I have to take us on a tour of death. We might see the true nature of death. Death is a bit of a mystery, isn't it? If you've stood before a corpse, a dearly loved one, it's a rather shocking mystery that the one with whom you communicated and fellowshiped, who used to move and walk and talk, is now lifeless. Why should this be? Science cannot explain it. Science can tell us what death is, in a sense, someone who's missing the vital signs of life. Science might even be able to tell us what it looks like when someone is dying, the degeneration of our cells, organs. But science cannot tell us why anyone should die. Why shouldn't our cells continue to renew themselves and we live forever? Why do we die? Our lives are cut short, but other organisms live so long. And who can really explain what death is? The difference between breathing and not breathing. It's more than that, isn't it? That when you look at a body now without life, it's infinitely different than what they were. Even if they were only lying there barely breathing before, when they're dead, it's a whole different thing. Yet death isn't best understood or explained by our own experiences, is it? But we have to go to the Word of God to understand what death is. Death is the penalty of our rebellion. Death is the consequence of our sin. Death is what God had threatened. If you eat of this tree, God told Adam, you will surely die. And then Romans 5 explains the global significance of death, this cosmic reality that through one man sin entered the world and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sinned. And that's what happens, isn't it? Adam and Eve sin and then their son Cain kills his brother Abel. He dies, and then God gives him a replacement, son Seth. But then you read the next chapter, Genesis 5, the genealogy of Adam, and you read Seth lived 105 years and begot Enosh. After he begot Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died. Enosh lived so long, and he died. Cain and his son lived so long, and then he died. Now you begin to walk through a cemetery. This is what's happened due to our sin. Death has entered the world through our sin and all have died. Death has to be understood as the punishment assigned by God for sin, God's judgment on sinners. We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There's no one righteous, no not one. Death is the wages of sin and God now meets out to each one the proper payment for what we've earned. And so, as Dr. Sinclair Ferguson rightly puts it, death is not what we sometimes mistakenly suggest it is, a blessing, a release, a peaceful end. All of these may be found by the Christian in and through death, but they are in fact contrary to the true nature of death. For death is disintegration. It is the breaking of a union which God created. In and of itself, it is an ugly, destructive thing. It is the last enemy. You see, death is not some light and momentary trouble. It's the ugliest thing in the world. Death is separation from God. Death is to be cut off from the Lord. Death is horrendous. Because you see, life is defined in Scripture not simply as breathing. There's no such thing as naked existence or mere life. Life is fellowship and communion with God. It's to live in the light of His favor. It's not just to breathe or have a pulse. But death is the absence of all of that. Death is to be unplugged from God. Death is misery, poverty, hunger, absence of peace and fellowship with God. Death is the breaking apart of what God had put together. He created us in His image for fellowship with Him. And death is the dismemberment of that, separation from God and His blessing. And that spiritual death, that Adam and Eve died, leads to a physical death. People die, and then it leads to eternal death. People die forever in hell. All of those go together, right? That's death. It's all of that. Death is not a natural process. Many in our culture like to pretend it is. It's this beautiful circle of life. You live, you're born, you live, you die, you go underground, you decompose, a new life comes up from that decomposed matter. And it's wonderful to be part of the progress and the cycle of life. It's not what the Word of God says. Death is the curse. It is not the way God made us. It is not as God intended. Death is an alien intrusion into God's good world. It's unnatural. It's ugly. It's painful. It stings. It is the judgment of the Lord on our disobedience. It is disintegration not only of our life with God that's now fractured, but our life with humanity. That now the bond that we enjoyed with others is lost. At death, that communication, that fellowship we had with each other is now taken away, it's severed. And those into whom we poured our lives, those to whom we were dedicated and devoted to, those relationships are taken. And the disintegration doesn't even end there, does it? Death is not just separation from God and separation from loved ones, but death is the fracturing of our very own existence because now our body and soul are pulled apart. Our body is the only instrument through which we've known ourselves or communicated ourselves to others, and now our soul is separated from our body. This is not the way it was meant to be. Very body. It's laid in the ground. Though the Greek philosophers wrongly thought that it's wonderful when the soul escapes the prison house of the body like a bird fleeing the cage, that's not at all how the Bible describes it. Body and soul belong together. Body is part of who you are. Your body is you, part of you. So death is horrible. And if we don't think so, If we're tempted to think death is not such a big deal, all we have to do is look at the Lord Jesus Christ and how he approached death. Did Jesus approach death lightly? It was no big deal. No, Jesus shuddered in horror at the thought of death. Because Jesus did not face death as you and I will face death, as a death in the Lord, the victorious Lord, but he faced death as death is in and of itself. The judgment of the righteous God. And therefore Jesus saw death as a dark and a horrifying enemy. It caused him to drip sweats of blood. It caused him to say to his disciples that his heart is exceedingly sorrowful. It caused him in the garden to pray, Father, I plead with you if it's possible for this cup to pass from me. But was it possible? It was not possible if God would save sinners. Why did Christ have to suffer death, the catechism asks. Why? The late Dutch minister Herman Veldkamp says that's not a question of curiosity, that's a question of shuddering and horror. Why did it have to come to this? Did it really have to come to this? Did it really have to come to this, that the Son of God should die? And the answer is what? Yes, indeed, because God's justice and truth require it. Nothing else could pay for our sins except the death of the Son of God. God's justice demand it. God's a holy God. His throne is built on righteousness. God cannot wink at sin or pass it by. He cannot leave it unpunished. It's violated His holy law. Now, by the way, is why the preaching of the cross is an offense to so many people because to accept the cross, you have to say, I deserve that place where Christ hangs. I am the sinner. God's justice demands the death, but also God's truth. When we sinned, we denied God's truth. We sided with the devil who said, you will not surely die, but God's truth stands firm. You will surely die. Jesus understood all of this as he saw death. He understood it better than we ever do, which is why, as Martin Luther said, no man ever feared death like this man. No man ever feared death like this man. Because no man saw so clearly what death is as Jesus saw. Death in all of its ugliness, death in the hellish agonies, death in the deceasing of the body, death in the fracture of all these relationships, death under the curse of God. Jesus knew what death was. The destroyer of life. And he recoiled at the sight. But once we see how ugly death is, How marvelous it is that Jesus died our death. Romans 5, 8, that Christ died for us. Look at that sacrament this morning, this glorious victory of the Lord Jesus. As awful as death is in and of itself, isn't it wonderful that for the Christian, we don't face death as it is in and of itself. We face death as it's been defeated in Jesus Christ who's taken away the sting of death. And so we can have comfort and courage in dying. We can even, as they used to say, die well. We can die well for the glory of God and for our witness in this world because death is a defeated foe. And we ought never to make light of what Christ has done. That when we were still without strength and due time, Christ died for the ungodly. That God demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. What infinite love of God, what glorious mercies of our Lord Jesus. How much we have to celebrate when we eat that bread symbolizing the broken body of Christ or that wine symbolizing the blood poured out that Jesus died for us. How is it possible for the one who had true life to die? Death is the penalty for breaking fellowship with God, but Jesus certainly didn't do that. He lived in perfect fellowship and obedience towards his Father. But the answer is that Christ assumed our nature, shared in our humanity, and took our place beneath God's curse. And therefore, death in its most ugly form came to Jesus. When Catechism asked about that phrase in the Creed, he descended into hell. That one's confused a lot of people, hasn't it? I have to tell you, they actually don't know what the original author meant when he wrote that phrase. As I recall, it was, from what I've read, that it was added to the creed later on. We're not even sure what was intended by that phrase in its original, but the Catechism here takes it as a summary of the reality that Christ on the cross suffered hell. We don't believe that Christ, after death, that his soul went to a place called hell there to suffer. We don't believe that. He endured hell on the cross. Hell came to him. He endured that God-forsakenness that our sin deserved while he was on the cross in those three dark hours. He cries out at the end, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He's experiencing the reality of hell. Because Christ took responsibility for our sin, and the Father therefore turned away his favor from him. Christ was made to be sin. He was the cursed one in our place. And only in that condition, in that state of guilt, can he die. Then that's the only way he's able to die. that he might put death to death for us. Hebrews chapter 2 explains the marvelous reality that he tasted death for us, he drank of our death, and as much as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same, our nature, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. You know, we often think about Christ's death on the cross and we think about him suffering the hellish agonies, but we don't maybe think about the reality that he gave up his spirit, he laid down his life, he died, and yet Jesus had to do that. That too was part of the curse. He couldn't only suffer the spiritual eternal death on the cross while he was physically alive, but he had to actually physically die. That was part of the curse. So Jesus died and he was buried. And as the Catechism says, his burial proves that he was really dead. It's confirmation that he was really dead. Jesus says in Revelation, I was dead. Behold, I'm alive, but I was dead. The God-man, Jesus, was dead. And he was in the grave for three days, parts of three different days. It's interesting that the Westminster catechism used by the Presbyterians actually takes a different interpretation of the phrase, he descended into hell. They interpret the word hell there as meaning the realm of the dead, Sheol. And so the Westminster Confession says, wherein consisted Christ's humiliation after his death? And it answers, Christ's humiliation after his death consisted in his being buried and continuing in the state of the dead and under the power of death till the third day, which hath been otherwise expressed in these words, he descended into hell. Well, however you take the Apostle's Creed phrase, We would agree with the Presbyterians and the Presbyterians would agree with the Heidelberg that Christ suffered hell on the cross and he suffered the humiliation of the realm of the dead after the cross, his body in the grave. It was a humiliating thing. As someone as written man created to be king over creation is laid in the dust. We were created to rule and have the earth under our feet but in the end we lose all lust or we return to the dust. This was a humiliation for Jesus to have his lifeless body taken down and wrapped in linen and have spices dumped on him and be put into a tomb and to lie there for parts of three days. It was a humiliation. It was our humiliation. He suffered in our place for our sakes. Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am the living one. I was dead. And behold, I am alive forever and ever. And I hold the keys of death and Hades. Revelation 1, the words of Jesus. He holds the keys of death and Hades. They're in his grip because he died in the fullest sense of that word. He was buried. He was humiliated. And from that death and humiliation, he was raised up, the victor. And therefore, there's comfort for us this morning, great comfort for the Christian. Let's consider that finally. Have you ever wondered why we have to die? One Reformed pastor tells the story, doing a funeral, preaching the good news of Jesus Christ who died our death. And then the little boy afterwards coming up to him saying, you said Jesus died our death so we don't have to die. Why did my daddy have to die? Maybe we think the gospel's mocked. Proclaim the victory of Jesus over death, and then we attend funerals. And maybe we wonder if dying is really necessary. After all, didn't Enoch and Elijah make it to heaven without death? Shouldn't there really be a difference between believer and unbeliever at the gravesite, at the funeral? But here we are, they die, we die. Isn't the case that those who are left upon the earth at Christ's coming don't have to die but will be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye? Is death really necessary? But Jesus, when he prepared to depart, he prayed, I pray not that you should take them out of the world. Martha was not entirely correct when she said to Jesus, if you had been here my brother would not have died. Well actually Jesus is here and we still die. The Lord apparently has purpose in the death of Lazarus and he has purpose in our deaths should Christ tarry. But you see, death for us is not death in the full sense of that word, is it? It's not total banishment from God's life and light. It's not the fracture of fellowship with God. Instead, Romans 8 says that nothing in all of creation, not the present or the future, not life or death, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. We don't suffer that death. Jesus said, most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into the judgment, but has passed from death into life. Jesus said, most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he shall never see death. So there's some mystery, you see, as to why we have to go through physical death, but we must see that it's not Death in the ugly sense, the full sense of that word, as the Dutch theologian Herman Boving put it, for those who are in Christ Jesus, death is no longer death, but a passage into eternal life and the grave, a place of sanctified rest until the day of resurrection. The sting of death is taken away. Oh, physical death remains, and it is the last enemy. It's presently been conquered and disarmed, but it has not been eradicated. That, when Jesus returns, and God is in inscrutable wisdom, has called believers to pass through death, and through that, even through that, He's sanctifying us. Through that, He's giving us opportunity to bear witness to the world. Through that, He's accomplishing His purposes. But in that is not the death of God's hell. Notice a few things about our death. Number one, our death is not a payment for sin, we confess. How important it is to remember that our death is not a payment for our sins. Therefore, in the moment of death, we will not be left to fend for ourselves. At the moment of death, our Savior has us in his hand and he will transport us safely into his presence. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Psalm 73, you hold me by my right hand, you guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me into glory. As we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we don't have to fear the evil, not even the evil of death, because the Lord is with us. Nothing will separate us from his love. Nothing will take us out of his hand. We'll never be on our own. We'll never have a moment or 10,000 moments where we have to go to purgatory and suffer temporarily for our crimes. Never. That's a blasphemy of the work of Jesus. He's paid it all. All of my sin is covered. There's no dead outstanding. God has no curse or wrath towards me. I'm completely reconciled to him. I stand justified by the blood of Jesus. And even our grave has been sanctified. One writer says, when Joseph, Joseph of Arimathea, faced death, he must have found comfort in the thought that he would be laid where Jesus lay and rose from the dead. This is our comfort too. No flowery wreath, no marble mausoleum, no human effort to make our burial places appear like beautiful parks can hide the ugly fact of the grave, but Jesus was buried. He sanctified the grave for us. He promised, I live and you will live also. When we lower the bodies of the beloved dead, we are comforted in the believer's committal, O grave, where is your victory? But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our death is not a payment for sin. Secondly, our death is a dying to sin. Our death is a dying to sin. We confessed it this morning in the Lord's Day, don't we? That our death is a dying to sin. After the long, drawn-out process of sanctification, there is an end, right? And God puts an end to the struggle. He brings the war to an end for us through death. We're set free from the power of sin in this life already, we confess in question and answer 43, that already now you and I are broken free of the power of sin so we can live for the Lord a life of gratitude. But this is a hard life, isn't it? None of us win the complete victory in this world. We cry out with the Apostle Paul in Romans 7, I'm doing the things I don't want to do, the things I want to do, I don't do. Oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Well, at our death, we're delivered. Death puts an end to our sinning. Paul could say, I fought the fight, I finished the race. Through Jesus Christ, death becomes our servant that takes us out of the struggle and into glory. If God in his wisdom did not appoint death for us, we'd have to fight until Jesus came back. That would be a long time, for some people at least. Thousands of years already. But at death, you know, you hear Christians say remarkable things. You hear people say, well, now I realize that my mom doesn't have to deal with the difficulties of sin in this life anymore. or the death of a child or a young person, a recognition that in death they've been spared so many sorrows, so many troubles in this valley of tears. There's a mercy, isn't there, even in death that the Lord calls us out away from the battle. But finally, death is an entering into eternal life. It has become for us the entrance into glory. What an amazing thing to contemplate. As her brother John lies on his deathbed, that death so conquered by Jesus Christ that death has become for us the gateway into the glorious presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe many of you saw recently the death of a brother, his wife, speaking about the wonder, the amazement she had at contemplating the fact that her husband was now standing in the presence of the Lord Jesus. It's an amazing thing that we who deserve eternal death to be forever forsaken by God are through death now actually to stand in the presence of the Savior. and in the pleasure of his glory. For such a death is for us not condemnation, but a coronation, not a defeat, but an entrance into great life. What a marvelous thing the Lord Jesus has done for us. He has died our death, so we may live with him. No, death is never natural. We will never say that it is natural. Death remains an enemy. And we will keep saying that. But in the Lord Jesus Christ, there's a greater power at work. our sin covered, justified, reconciled to God. Our death died so that in it now is not the wrath of God on us, but the entryway to leave the life of struggle with sin and to enter into the presence of the Lord Jesus. So that's where we set our hearts, upon Christ Jesus, upon his glory, upon the pleasures at his right hand. We live our lives now in the light of eternity, and we learn to live now a life of dying so that we're ready to die when the moment comes. We learn to not hold the things of this earth too tightly, but to recognize that this life is passing away. We set our eyes on what is eternal. We set our eyes on the glory of the Lord Jesus. May God grant us the grace to rejoice that Jesus has died our death and in Christ is the death of death. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we are humbled by the reality of our death. We do not contemplate it, O Lord, with excitement. but often with fear, trembling. And yet, O Lord, we often see as well that the struggle is different for each one of us, that many saints, O Lord, have been able to confess great peace, the knowledge of your presence, And all of us, O Lord, as we look to your word, confess that we have reason for peace, that Jesus has passed through death and the grave for us and changed it completely. O God, take away all our sin in Christ Jesus and give us your comfort and hope. We pray that these precious truths that we rehearsed this morning will fill the hearts and minds of John and Susie And of all those who are, Lord, in great need on this day, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.