John, chapter 21, beginning at verse 15. So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved, because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whether thou wouldst not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus said unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die. Yet Jesus said not unto him, he shall not die, but if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, for which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. This evening, I want to call your attention to verses 18 and 19, particularly to verse 19, where we read, This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. The glory of God, of course, we all know is... to be our ultimate motivation. It is to be the reason behind everything that we do. We are, according to 1 Corinthians 10.31, to do all to the glory of God. Peter particularizes this with regard to the Christian ministry and writes in 1 Peter 4.11, so that God in all things may be glorified. All of the different aspects of ministry, teaching, ministering, and so forth, ought to be done so that God in all things may be glorified. This is true, of course, of our lives, of every activity in them. But what our text points out to us this evening is the fact that God is to be glorified, not merely by our lives, but also by our deaths. And I have four propositions, four points to consider this evening in regard to this theme of glorifying God by our deaths. And the first is very simply the prospect of glorifying God by death. It is possible to glorify God by our deaths. Jesus makes a prediction to Peter about how when he is old, he will stretch out his hands, another will gird him, and they will take him where he did not want to go. And then John adds the comment that this he stakes, signifying by what debt he should glorify God. So what Christ is there saying to Peter is that Peter would have a long and fruitful life, feeding his sheep, feeding his lambs, tending to the church of God. And at the end of that life, when he is old, he will die, and his death will glorify God. Now, it would seem that a martyr's death is indicated for Peter, and church history, church tradition bears that out, that he was crucified at Rome and Denivra. But it is not only the martyrs who have the prospect of glorifying God by their deaths. It doesn't spell out in the text that it was a martyrdom. What is indicated to Peter, though, is that his death will glorify God. We see very clearly, then, that it is possible, that we have held out to us the possibility, the prospect of glorifying God by our deaths. And I think that to the heart that says with the metrical version of our psalms, what shall I render to the Lord? What shall my offering be for all the gracious benefits ye have bestowed on me? It's a grateful realization. It's something that makes you happy and glad to realize I can give God my life. But not only can I give God my life, not only can I bring Him glory by my life, I have the possibility, I have the prospect of glorifying God by my death. Whether we live, therefore, or die, says Paul in Romans chapter 14, we are the Lords. And being the Lords in life and death, It is not only our duty, it is not only our responsibility and what we are commanded to do, but it is also our privilege. And I trust our heartfelt desire to glorify God both in life and death. I said that it was not only the martyrs who glorify God by their death. Obviously, they do glorify God by their death, and it is a very special way that they have of glorifying God. It is a privilege that is granted to them to be murdered for the sake of the gospel, to be put to death for the sake of Christ. But I believe that any Christian who dies in confidence and joy testifying to the goodness of God. That Christian glorifies God by his death to other people. And even a sudden death, such as we heard of this evening. You know, we may look at that and we may think, but what glory did that bring to God? Well, perhaps, you know, they didn't have any tender, touching, dying words. Perhaps they didn't have the opportunity to speak to their friends and their family as they lay sick getting ready to die. But that does not mean that they did not sing praises to God as they were dying. That does not mean that God was not glorified because they died as they had lived. However, even though we have this prospect held out to us, and it is not a prospect which is confined to the martyrs, It is not an easy thing to glorify God by our deaths. Even a godly man like Hezekiah was troubled at the prospect of death. You can read about that in 2 Kings 20 verses 1-3 when the prophet Isaiah comes to him and says, set your house in order for you will die. And Hezekiah is very sad. He turns his face to the wall and he prays from a depth of agony at the prospect of death. Paul calls death the last enemy in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 26. I understand that he is speaking there in terms of eschatology, in terms of what will yet happen in the future. He is speaking there of the ultimate victory of Christ. The victory of Christ will not be complete until death is totally destroyed. But that statement is true, not only in a cosmic, eschatological sense. That statement is also true individually for each and every one of us. Because if the Lord carries, unless the Lord returns first, And what Paul writes elsewhere in 1 Corinthians 15, that we shall not all die, but we shall all be changed, is true of us. Then our last enemy will be death. Once we get through the conflict with death, there is no more conflict, there are no more enemies for us to face rather than in heaven. We are made perfect in holiness. We have no body of sin to bear us down. We have no sinful impulses. no distractions, we have nothing that can possibly come between us and Christ. So for us, as individuals, death will be our last enemy, our last trial, our final conflict with the powers of this world. And it will be a significant and a difficult conflict. I was reading just this afternoon in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. I was reading the sections at the end of Part One and at the end of Part Two, where Bunyan is describing the death, the passing of Jordan, the first of Christian and hopeful, and later of Christian's wife and those who went with her. And Christian, particularly, when he's coming into death, he struggles a great deal and says that hopeful have much work to keep his head above water. Death is not an easy enemy to face. It is our final challenge, though, but it is not an easy challenge. How are we to glorify God by facing this enemy? How, in other words, are we to prepare to glorify God by our deaths? Brings us to the second point, the means to glorify God by death. And the only way to glorify God by death, the only way to be prepared to glorify God in our death, is to follow Christ. You notice what Christ says to Peter in verse 19. It says, This spake he signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, when he had given the prediction of how Peter's death would glorify God, he says, follow me. If you would turn over to John 13, verse 36. John 13, verse 36. Before the crucifixion, Christ has been explaining to them how God is going to be glorified, giving them final instructions, washing their feet. And now, in verse 36, Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards. Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice. You see in verse 36 that very significant prediction where Christ says to Peter, thou wilt follow me afterwards, thou shalt follow me hereafter, later. At that time, for all of Peter's confidence, Peter was not capable of following Christ into suffering and death. But Christ gives him this promise, you will follow me later. Then when we turn over to John chapter 21 and we read in verse 19 where Christ says to Peter, follow me, it would seem the time has now come. The time that Christ predicted in John 13 has come in John chapter 21. It is now time for Peter to follow him. Although Peter protests back in John chapter 13 that he would follow Christ even into death, at that time he is not ready. Christ knows what's in his heart. So Christ says, no, you're going to deny me. You're not going to follow me. But later on, Peter has been restored to his apostolic office. He denied Christ three times, so three times Christ elicits from him a confession of love. And then Christ says to him, now, follow me. And he says, follow me in the context of predicting Peter's death. In other words, what Peter had before rashly said, Lord, I will follow you even into death. I will lay down my life for your sake. At the time when Peter said that, Christ said, no, no, you're not going to do that. But now the time has come. Christ says, Peter, follow me. And he gave to Peter the promise there that Peter would follow him not only in a long and fruitful life of tending the church, but also that Peter would follow him into death. Peter's desire, you see, to cleave to Christ at all costs was honored, even though when he originally expressed that desire and that determination, he expressed it in rashness and self-confidence and was not able to stick to it. Later on, Christ restores him. Christ gives him grace upon grace. And Peter is enabled to follow his Lord more perfectly and to follow his Lord into death. It suggests to us then, the example of Peter, that if we are going to glorify God by our deaths, we have to follow Him. You notice that verses 15 through 17 of John chapter 21, the charge to Peter to feed the lambs, to feed the sheep, comes before the prediction about his death. A life lived in the service of God, a life lived to the glory of God, is the only preparation for a death that will glorify God. We cannot expect to die better than we lived. If we lived for ourselves, if we lived in selfishness, if we lived without trust and confidence and dedication to God, we cannot expect that when we die, our deaths will glorify Him either. A life lived in the service of God is the only preparation for a death that glorifies Him. But, if we follow Christ, if we pursue Him as Peter did, in life and even in today, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence, as the author of Hebrews puts it, steadfast unto the end, We have the prospect, the possibility held out before us, of glorifying God by our deaths, even as Christ glorified God by His death. I want to think for a moment on how the death of Christ glorified God. First of all, the fact that the death of Christ did glorify God. Turn back just a page or two in your Bibles to John chapter 12, and I'll read verses 23 through 28. John chapter 12 verses 23-28 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me. And where I am, there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my father honor. Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from the sour? But for this cause came I unto the sour. Father, glorify thine in me. Then came there a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. You see, Christ is speaking of his death in verse 24. He talks about how the corn of wheat must die if it is to bring forth fruit. Then in verse 27, he admits that his soul is troubled in the face of that fact. And of course, we understand that because Christ was going to die, not as the martyrs die. With God going through the waters with Him, Christ was going to die abandoned and deserted by God the Father. With the wrath of God poured out upon Him, Christ is not less than the martyrs. If He were merely afraid of physical death, He would be less than so many of the martyrs, like John Huss, who went cheerfully to their deaths. But you see, John Huss and Latimer and Ridley and Cranmer and all of those other martyrs had something that Christ did not have in His death. Christ did not have the blessing of God. Christ did not have the smile of God. He had the wrath of God and the curse of God poured out upon Him. In view of that, is it any wonder that He says in verse 27, My soul is trouble. Would your soul not be troubled if you knew that in the space of a little while you would be, to all intents and purposes, in hell? Certainly your soul would be troubled. So he says, my soul is troubled. But he knows this is the Father's will. He is not going to pray, Father, save me from this hour. This is the reason why he came. And when he came into the world, he said, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy will is within my heart. So cheerful He to suffer at God's. He is going to go, in spite of the trouble of His soul, He is going to go to death. He will not pray, Father, save me from this hour, but what does He pray instead? His prayer is, Father, glorify Thy name. What was the consideration that allowed Christ to overcome the trouble in His soul and go to death? It was the glory of God. And what was the Father's answer to that prayer? What was the voice from heaven that came to Christ? The Father spoke to Christ. And this only happens a few times in the Gospels. But He speaks directly to Christ by an audible voice and He says, I have both glorified thy name, which seems to me to be giving a stamp of approval on all of Christ's ministry up to that point. I have glorified my name through your ministry and will glorify it again. Even though you go to a death where you will face my wrath and my condemnation, your death will glorify me." It was an appropriate answer. It was what Christ was looking for. The consideration that God would be glorified in His death upheld Him and sustained Him, made Him able to face that. God the Father did not just answer out of the blue. God the Father did not answer with something irrelevant. It's something that would not help. Christ's heartbeat was to glorify God. And when he had that promise that the Father would glorify his name again, that was a strengthening promise. I would like to point out to you also the manner in which Christ's death glorified God. And I suppose that there's many things that we could say on this point. But I want to bring to your attention just one way that Christ's death glorified God. Romans 3 and verse 25, speaking of Christ, says, Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation. through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. And that word propitiation, we have an allusion made to the sacrifice, the death of Christ. So speaking of the death of Christ, what did the death of Christ declare? What did it announce? What did it preach? It declared God's righteousness for the remission of sins that are past. Now that word, remission, in our version, is not perhaps the best word. It's been suggested that a better word would be pretermission, which is a very unusual word, not one we hear often, but that's appropriate because the Greek word that underlies it in Romans 3.25 is used only there in all of the New Testament. And the word pretermission means to pass over. And we can explain it like this. Here were all of these saints in the Old Testament, and God had declared them righteous. God had received them into heaven. And the great question that was raised by that is, how can Enoch and Elijah just be taken up into heaven? How can Asaph be received into glory? How can these things be? The blood of both, and ghosts can never take away sin. And so there was this great question mark. Has God been righteous to receive these people into glory? Well, the death of Christ answered that question because the death of Christ declared God's righteousness for the pretermission of the sins of those Old Testament saints. God had passed over their sins. God had accepted them. God had justified them in view of what Christ would do. But until Christ did it, there was the possibility of that question mark, that great question, has God done right? Has God been righteous to do this? Or if you were in no doubt about the righteousness of God, I guess the question would probably be, has God really done this? Has God really passed over David and Elijah and Esau? The cross of Christ glorified God by vindicating His righteousness and forgiving the sins of Old Testament saints. So that is the manner in which Christ's death glorified God. We see that it did and how He did it. And we have the prospect held out to us. of dying a death that is similar to Christ's in this regard, that it also glorifies God by declaring something about Him. We'll see what that is in due time. Now, I've said that it is necessary, in order to glorify God by our deaths, to follow Him fully in life and then into death. But there is a very definite attitude that lies behind that kind of commitment, behind that kind of following. As I said, it is not an easy thing to face death. It is not an easy thing at any time to follow Christ. What attitude lies behind this commitment? Turn over, if you would now, to Philippians chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1. There's a very definite attitude that lies behind the kind of commitment that will follow Christ into life and into death, that will follow Christ through hard times, trouble, persecution, nakedness, distress, sword, peril. And Paul had that attitude, and he reveals to us what it is in Philippians chapter 1. I'll read verses 20 and 21. Paul is here writing to the Philippians from prison, speaking about his upcoming trial. He says, according to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also, Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. The Apostle says that his expectation, his hope, which he expects to see answered, as we see in verse 19, through the prayers of the saints and through the supply of the Spirit of Christ, will be that, as always so now, Christ will be magnified in his body. And you think about it in these terms. Paul is going to appear before the Emperor Nero, and he is going to be called upon to give an account of himself. From the records in the Book of Acts of other times when he appeared before kings and governors, I think we can assume that Paul was going to preach the gospel to Nero. But as we know, Nero was not the sort of person whom you rebuked for his sins. A man who would design a special boat in order to drown his mother that was designed to collapse when she got onto it is not the sort of man you lightly cross. And Paul is going to be called before him. And Paul is not self-confident. Paul is not just confident that he will be able in his own strength to preach the Gospel boldly to Nero. He knows that's going to require grace. It's going to require the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. But because the saints in Philippi are praying for him, because God has helped him in the past, his confident expectation and his hope is that Christ will be magnified. He says, whether by life or by death, this may suggest that he did not know which way his trial would go. Perhaps Nero would condemn him to death at the request of the Jews. Perhaps Nero would set him free. But whatever the case was, Paul's ambition, Paul's desire, and Paul's hope was that living or dying, Christ would be magnified in his body. In other words, for Paul, the great thing is not how the trial goes. The great thing for Paul is that Christ will be magnified. The glory of God is the big thing. Life and death are simply means to that end. That is the attitude that underlies following Christ. in life and in death. That my life, my death, are unimportant. Whether I live, whether I die, that's neither here nor there. What matters is that Christ be magnified in my body. Now I wonder if we have this attitude. Of course, we're not given grace to bear trials before they come upon us. We may say, I would lay down my life for the Lord and be like Peter, who thought he would, and then he didn't. But I wonder, do we have that attitude with regard to our lives? Perhaps we're not called upon to die a martyr's death tomorrow. But we are called upon to live tomorrow. Do we have that attitude that my life is unimportant? compared to the glory of God. The only use, the only good that will ever come out of my life is if Christ is magnified in my body. If we have that attitude about our lives, it will be the preparation that we will have that attitude about our deaths. In the book of Job, the devil says, and I don't think the devil would have said this if he didn't believe, and I don't think the devil was at that point consciously lying. He says, skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life, in Job 2 and verse 4. However, the martyrs of Revelation 12 and verse 11 loved not their lives unto the death. It is possible then to come to this attitude that life and death are only means to the great end of glorifying God and magnifying Christ. But how do we get there? How do we come to have that attitude? What will enable us to really think that way, to believe that way, to know that for a fact? What would enable us to be able to say with Paul, That the big thing, the great thing, is that Christ would be magnified in our bodies. If he chooses that it be by means of life, that's fine. If he chooses that it be by means of death, that's fine. What will enable us to do that? What resources, in other words, has God given us to come to that attitude and to come to that perspective? Well, Paul lists for us in the same text, verse 21, two realities that enabled him to have this attitude. There were these two things he knew that strengthened him. Two areas in which his thinking is totally different from that of the world. Christ had done something to life, and Christ had done something to death. And because of what Christ has done to life and death, because Paul knew also what Christ had done. He was enabled to have this attitude. And so I want to look at those very briefly now. Verse 21, for me to live as Christ and to die as Cain. Let's look first of all at Christ's impact on life. When Paul says, for me to live as Christ, it is a difficult statement. Although the commentators generally have some areas of agreement, they tend to view it as a very full statement, and they list all sorts of things that it could mean and does mean. I think it does mean something of what he says. It includes the meaning of Galatians 2.20, where he says, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. who loved me and gave himself for me. When Paul says for me to live as Christ, I don't think there can be any doubt that included in that thought is the fact that Christ is living in him, that Christ is communicating his life and his attributes to Paul. I think that the commentator Glensky's observation was a good one when he said that it's a shortened form of saying that Paul is Christ's bond slave. In other words, what Paul is saying All the will that I have left is to do Christ's will. I don't want my own thing. I don't want my way. I want Christ's will. That is the supreme expression of my will. I am His slave. I am His. To do with as He pleases. For me to live is Christ. But there is also, and here is the area where actually most of the commentators did agree, an estimation of Christ. Matthew Henry put it in these terms, that for me to live as Christ means that for me to live as Christ finally, that is the goal of my life. I prefer to speak of it in terms of Paul's estimation of Christ. Paul is indicating here that life is worthless without Christ. The only purpose, the only goal, the only thing that gives any meaning to his life is Christ. Paul does not live for popularity, for gain, for pleasure. Paul lives for Christ. It's because of the worth of Christ that Paul lives for him. Paul lives for Christ, not because he's deceived as to the real worth of Christ, not because Christ has somehow tricked him into thinking that this will really be all for the best. Paul lives for Christ, as the hymn writer says, O Christ, in thee my soul hath found, and found in thee alone the joy, the peace I sought so long, the bliss till now unknown. Now none but Christ can satisfy. Paul can testify to that truth. That truth is real in his heart, and because of that, He can say, for me to live is Christ. Christ is the only goal. Christ is his desire. Christ is his love. Christ is his overruling passion. Life and death can be matters of indifference to Paul because he has Christ. And having Christ, he has everything worthwhile. He writes elsewhere in Philippians in chapter 3 that he has suffered the loss of all things. He tells them, but don't refuse. that he may win Christ. When you put up the scale of everything that Paul had, by his upbringing, by his training, by his life until his conversion, and you put Christ on the other side of the scale, the side with Christ is infinitely heavier. It flies down and the other side flies up. Paul counts it, but Donald refused. He doesn't care about it. So great is Christ's worth. So great is the privilege of being in any way associated with Christ, receiving anything from Him, that Paul can write to the Philippians as their privilege. It has been granted to them as a privilege, not only to believe, I feel that we're not enough, but also to suffer for Christ's sake. In Philippians 1 and verse 29, He's saying God has given you the gift of faith. He's given you to believe in Christ. Not only that, He's given you to suffer for Christ. And even suffering for Christ can be esteemed a privilege because Christ's worth is so great that being associated with Him even in the way of toil and pain and suffering and misery and persecution and affliction is worth more than all the pleasure and pomp and honor of the world. Paul sees Christ has done something to life. Christ has taken a useless, worthless, idiotic, vapid life, and He has turned it to the glory of God. He has filled my life with His presence, with His smile. For me to live is Christ. I have no life outside of Christ. Without Christ, I could live forever in this world, in this bodily frame, and it wouldn't be life. We often express of people who are very ill, who are on the point of death, we say, they're existing, not living. That is what Paul would say of a Christless existence. It's not living. It's mere existing. It's being with no reason, with no purpose, with no joy, with no life. What Christ did to life, Paul's estimation of Christ enables him to say that the glory of God, the magnification of Christ in his body is the great thing. Life and death are indifferent. Well, that's one of the elements. that enables us to come to that attitude. But there's another element. To die is gain. It's Christ's impact on death. You see, Christ not only did something to life, he did something to death. And death for the Christian is no longer the horrible, dreadful thing that it once was. That's why the New Testament can speak of saints falling asleep and can speak of the dead that die in the Lord. The dead in Christ shall rise first. They're dead, but they're dead in a different way than those in the world. You may remember the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. It says the rich man died and was buried. Being in torments, he lifted up his eyes. Lazarus died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. It can say of both of them, they died. But the condition is absolutely different. The dead in Christ are in a qualitatively different sphere than the dead outside of Christ. Now that does not mean that we will never be troubled in facing death. In fact, Bunyan was quoting this. Hopeful quotes it to Christian when they're going through the waters. A text from the Psalms that there are no bands in the death of the wicked. He is not in trouble as other men are. Many times Christians do come up to death and they do feel fear. Satan brings up their sins to their remembrance. They are worried. They are concerned. They are in doubt and turmoil. And our natural terror in the face of death, the fact that we can come to this condition, the fact that it's not easy to face death, calls upon us to prepare to meet death in a Christian manner. In other words, we need to understand what Christ has done to death if we're going to be ready and able to face it, as a Christian should. And the Christian view of death is that it is the gateway into something better. Paul would rather be absent from the body and present with the Lord. He would rather depart and be with Christ, which is far better, as he says in 2 Corinthians 5.8 and in Philippians 1.23. When Charles Williams died, he was a friend of C.S. Lewis, and C.S. Lewis wrote about him, what death did to him is nothing compared to what he did to death. Now that was true subjectively for C.S. Lewis when Charles Williams died. He realized, he began to understand the Christian view of death. And so what death did to Charles Williams was nothing compared to what Charles Williams did to death in C.S. Lewis's mind. But what was true of Charles Williams subjectively for C.S. Lewis is true objectively of Christ for every Christian. Peter tells us next, too, in verse 24, that Christ could not be holden of death. Death exerted all its power, death put forth all its energy to hold Christ. And Christ came out anyway. It was not possible that he should be holden of it. Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 1 and verse 10 that Christ has abolished death. Christ went into death, he did. But He came out, and coming out, He extracted death's teeth. So that Paul can say in 1 Corinthians 15, O death, where is thy sting? Because death is not, for the Christian, a thing of horrors, but rather a gateway into heaven. He can be indifferent. as to whether God will choose to glorify Himself by your life or by your death. If for you to live is Christ and to die is gain, then it won't matter to you whether you live or die as long as Christ is magnified in your body. As long as you are alive, you will do all to the glory of God. When you come to die, you will be prepared and you will be enabled to glorify God in your death as well. As Christians then, we have the prospect held out before us to glorify God by our deaths. Christ glorified God in His death by announcing and vindicating the righteousness of God. Following Christ, we can glorify God in our deaths as well. The kind of death that glorifies God is the kind of death that announces, that shouts to the world, in the words of the psalmist in Psalm 63, verse 33, Thy lovingkindness is better than life. And isn't that another way of saying, for me to live is Christ? But the kind of death that shouts, Thy lovingkindness is better than life to all the world, follows on a life that said the same thing. You see, if in your life what you're saying is God's love and kindness is not better than life, but pleasure, profit, fame, honor, family, friends, popularity, sports, whatever. If your life is preaching These things, these worldly, beggarly elements are better than God's loving kindness. You can't expect that your death will say anything different. Except that your death will preach that those things were not sufficient. Your death will preach that those things were not good enough. Your death will preach that those things were merely temporal and that your soul is eternal. If our deaths then are going to pronounce to the world that Christ is the fountain of living waters, we must follow Him in life and into death. For me to live is Christ comes before to die is gain. It is only in Christ that death has no sting. And it is only because Christ goes through the waters with us, and indeed because He already went through them before us, leading the way, showing the way, and making it safe for us, that when we go through them, we need fear no evil. Come upon overpowered by the Holy Spirit. Pronounce this sentiment in Numbers 23 in verse 10. Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last sin be like his. And who is the righteous, if not Christ? May we die the death of the righteous, of Christ, of Peter, of all who have followed Christ faithfully into death. May our last stand, like theirs, glorify God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, We pray that you would so teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Teach us that our time in this world is short, and that it is never too soon to begin to prepare for death. Lord, how often we prepare for our temporal death in making wills, buying cemetery plots, in writing out what we would like in our tombstone. And yet, Lord, we are not ready to glorify you in death, because we are not ready to die. Father, we pray that you would enable us to follow Christ, living and dying, to have the attitude that our lives, our deaths, are unimportant. It doesn't matter which, by which you choose to glorify yourself as long as Christ is magnified in our body, as long as we are alive, and when we die. We pray, Lord, that you would enable us, as you enabled Paul, as you enabled Peter, as you enabled our Lord himself, to understand these things, and to die and live for Your glory. We pray again for the families of those who were in this accident, that You would be with them, that You would minister to them. And that, Lord, those who died, the two who died, that their deaths would glorify You, that they would be used by You. to convert those who do not know you, and to confirm those who are weak in the faith. Father, write this word on our hearts, that we may be yours, and know we are yours, and live as though we are yours, in life and in death. For whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.