Greetings again in grace, God's grace to all of you, and I would invite you to bring the book to Psalm 116, the 116th Psalm. May God add his blessing on us as we sit under his word. Did you ever have somebody stare at you? And when they do, it can be quite uncomfortable. And we try to ignore it and look away and pretend it's not happening. But you begin to feel and sense that they're staring at you. You're very much aware of it. Well, I say that because Since last Sunday and in recent days, something has been staring at us. Death has been staring at us. And it's very uncomfortable. And we can't really shake it. We can't ignore it. We can't just pretend it away. We feel its cold, dark stare right inside of us. There are lots of things that are ugly, but ugly of uglies is death. We don't get imaginary and fancy, we don't sugarcoat death, we don't do what the world sometimes does in their poetry and songs, we don't call death a beautiful thing. It's the ugly of uglies, and we know that by experience, but not just empirically, we know that because the Bible teaches how ugly it really is. The Bible says that death is an enemy. I'm glad God considers death an enemy. We're like-minded in that way. God and us agree that it is an enemy. Death is called the valley of the shadow. Just sounds eerie. Death is the wage of sin. And we know that throughout scripture, There are stories of people dying, and when death is talked about, so often it is linked with sorrow, that in the Bible, death and sorrow go together like Siamese twins. You may recall the one episode where Jesus is in the midst of somebody else's death, and it says there that he groaned within himself at the thought of death. He groaned. And even here, if you look at our passage, Psalm 116, if you notice there in verse 3, it just heaps up language about how ugly death really is. You notice there in verse 3, it talks about the pains of death, the pangs of the grave, and that death brings trouble and sorrow. I'm glad that the Bible is very realistic about it. And so we know what the Bible teaches. And so as Christians, we cannot ignore it, especially when it comes into our congregation, when it comes into our families. We can't ignore it. We can't just pretend it away. It stares at us. And so we must acknowledge it, and we grieve over it, and we seek to cope with it. But ultimately, for the believer, Christians will conquer it. We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. And so by the Gospel, and by Psalm 116, we can conquer this ugly thing that stares. That we take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and we swing back at death with truth. And our text will help us to do that. Some 1,700 years ago, there was a man by the name of Bablius. Bablius was a bishop over the church. And because of his stance for Christ in the church, Bablius was persecuted. And ultimately, the Roman emperor came after him, and Bablius suffered martyrdom. And in the midst of his suffering, he not only spoke these words, but he sang these words. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." Now the world makes all kinds of lyrics and all kinds of songs, but I want to know, is that true? Was his song true? And if you notice there in Psalm 116 verse 15, Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. What he was singing was true. And may we sing it as well. Let's bow for prayer. Our Father, we do come as needy, we do come as weak. We do come with the stare of death upon us. And we do come with the hope of conquering it through Jesus Christ who loved us. And he gave himself for us that we would be saved from this awful stare. So, Father, we pray that you would bless us now in your grace, bless us now in your truth, and be glorified. We pray for the help of the Spirit, and we pray for the exaltation of King Jesus, our Savior, and his conquering power for our good. And it's in Jesus that we pray. Amen. Anne's life and her death were important to us. And I might refer to Anne a lot this morning, but the principle would remain for lots of people. But Anne's life and death were important to us, and they still are. But the question is, were they important to God? Her life and her death, was it important to God? In other words, was what happened last Sunday evening to Anne, was that important to God? Not imaginations and opinions and what you think and feel, but was it truly important to God? And this is a relevant question because a lot of times in the midst of sickness and death, what happens? People and families, they begin to wonder and question and they say to God, don't you care? It would be easy in the midst of sickness and death to wonder, God, don't you care? And the very first word of verse 15 gives us the answer. The answer is that word, precious. God, don't you care? And the answer comes, precious. Now, we know what that word means, don't we? We don't really have to define it. We know what precious means. Typically, we refer to a cute, cuddly baby, and you just want to grab that baby and squeeze that baby with all kinds of love and joy, and so we typically think of a precious little baby, but that's not really the sense here. We know that death is not cute and cuddly. This very word is used in the Old Testament of King David's royal crown. Think of a king decorated, and on his head is this golden crown, And in this royal crown, there are precious stones, the Bible says. On his head, there were precious stones. In other words, they were costly jewels. That's the word here. Costly, in the sight of the Lord, is the death of his saints. Now, you know that when something is costly to you, you don't take it lightly. your schooling, your career, your finances, your family, your relationships, your house. These things are costly to you and you don't take them lightly. And in the same way, verse 15 is telling us that God does not take the death of his saints lightly. That's helpful. Because death happens to family and friends and people around us, it happens in this church, but one day it's going to happen to each of us. And it is costly in God's sight. He doesn't take it lightly, which is why Luther used the word valuable. Valuable in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Now, all this week, I'm sure there are going to be a lot of things that we don't really pay attention to. There are a lot of things that they're going to come and go, and we're going to forget about them, and we won't care, and it's no big deal. There are going to be things that we could care less. But opposite of that is verse 15. Some of you may have a translation that basically says, the Lord cares deeply. The Lord has a deep concern, some of your versions say. And you notice that it's not just that the Lord has a deep concern about your life, and about your circumstances, and about your prayers. It's not just that he has a deep concern about your trials and temptations, and your doctor appointments, and your health, and your relationships, and your jobs, and your struggles, and your finances. That is true. The Lord does have a deep care about all of those things. He is touched by those things. They matter to him. But here the focus is that the Lord cares deeply about the death of his saints. You recall in John 11, There was a family there, some siblings, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. And that family was suffering with sickness. Lazarus was very sick, even to the point of dying. And so they called for Jesus to come and help sick Lazarus. And by the time Jesus came on the scene, Lazarus had been dead for several days and he had already been buried. And Jesus goes to the funeral, and the crowd there is crying. The crowd is sorrowing at Lazarus's death. And there it says that Jesus, when he came to the funeral, in the midst of somebody's death, he groans within himself. And in one of the shortest verses of the Bible, and you know it well, it says that Jesus wept. Of all the things in his years of life, and all the people that he encountered, The thing that made him weep. The Bible says Jesus wept over what? The death of Lazarus. And right after that, the very next verse, you know Jesus wept, but do you know the next statement? It says there, the whole crowd, they noticed Jesus weeping over this dead man, and the whole crowd says, behold, how much he loved him. At the way Jesus is responding, the weight of death lands upon him, and when they see it affecting Jesus, they say, behold how he loved Lazarus. In other words, you know what they were saying about Jesus? Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. They could tell it. Last Sunday, somewhere in the evening, When Anne left this world, when she experienced death, if you could roll away the clouds and look up into heaven and see the face of God, you would see that precious in the sight of the Lord was that death. You would see the face of God, and you would be able to tell, behold, how we loved her. Now, it's sobering. But Anne was not the only Christian. I'm specifically talking about a believer in the gospel, a person that by grace has been saved from sin, that has become a part of the Lord's family. And so it is sobering that Anne was not the only Christian that died last Sunday. I know tons of people did all over the world, but I'm talking about Christians, true believers. We don't know how many Christians died last Sunday with Anne. All over the globe, maybe hundreds. Maybe a thousand, maybe several thousand Christians died. They left this world. They died last Sunday. Do you notice what our text says? Precious in the sight of the Lord is the, and look at that word. Notice the word there is not deaths with an S. It's not deaths plural. But precious in the sight of the Lord is the death, it's singular in the Hebrew, it's singular, is the death of his saints. So that the Lord has many saints, but each of their deaths is precious to the Lord. He doesn't treat it as dime a dozen. So that this kind of thing happens in offices all across America. This happens in your office, but it didn't happen in heaven. An angel didn't come at the end of last Sunday night with a report and a statistical analysis and go to God and say, God, 500 Christians died and left the earth and came into heaven. Here's the printout. And God didn't take the printout and file it away without any consideration. Precious in the sight of the Lord was each death. of his saints." Now, how many Christians have died without anybody knowing and anybody seeing? How many Christians died last Sunday? How many Christians died this week? How many Christians died over the centuries without anybody knowing and seeing? And actually, in the final analysis, not one of them died without the Lord noticing. So that it wasn't in a vacuum, in a corner, all by its lonesome. In each of those death, there was, as our text says, the sight of the Lord. Ultimately, we don't die by ourselves without anybody knowing or seeing. In fact, the greatest eyes that could behold, they do. What's precious in the sight of the world, and you know this very much, what's precious in the sight of the world? Youth. Beauty. Strength. Glory. Power. Fitness. Physique. Looks. Fame, fortune, bank accounts, YouTube followers, championships, having albums, being on the movies. You know, all these things are precious to the world. But you notice in verse 15, the total opposite is precious to the Lord. It's not just when you're at your prime. It's not just when you're at your height. The world wants you in your prime and your height. That's precious. And when you're not precious in your prime, they move on. But notice here, that's not how it is in verse 15. Not at your highest, but even at your lowest in your death. The Christian is precious in his sight. Many of us, probably all of us, at some point or another have visited the hospital, we have visited the nursing home of somebody in a bed. Somebody that's not doing well. And we go there with full love and full intention and we go and visit. But you know how it is when you go to a hospital or nursing home after 30 minutes or 60 minutes, you get tired. And there's just a lot of stress and anxiety being in a hospital or a nursing home. And so, you're tired, and you just feel the discomfort that's all around you in the context. And after a while, you realize that you're busy, and you have some other things that need to happen, and so you leave this poor one in the bed, and you go about your business, and you even forget them, don't you? But not God. in our sickness, in our weakness, on that bed. He's not too busy, he's not too anxious, he's not too tired. He doesn't have other things to do and he goes about his business and he forgets us. Because while everybody else is busy and forgetful, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. And the Bible is very clear in Ezekiel that God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked. That comes right out of the Bible. He does not just smile and love and just wait with salivation. He doesn't salivate over the death of the wicked. So he doesn't take pleasure in the death of the wicked, but nor are their deaths precious in his sight as well. Do you see that? He doesn't take pleasure with the death of the wicked, is not a precious thing either. And when our text says saints, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints, we have to be careful because we're not talking about Roman Catholics. We're not talking about the venerated saints of the church. That would be very exclusive. But the Bible doesn't do that because when the apostles write in the New Testament and when they write to churches and congregations and people that believe on Jesus, you know what it calls them over and again? He calls them saints. Not some special, high-class, super-spiritual person, but all of those that are in grace, all of those that look to Jesus Christ are his special people. They are his saints. Their death, the death of the saints, is precious. This word in the Old Testament, this word used here, is used of the faithful ones, those that have faith, they're full of faith in God and specifically his gospel salvation promises which find their head in Jesus Christ. It's those people that are precious before the Lord. If you're looking to Christ, trusting in Christ, He is your hope, not a million other things, but in one word, it is Jesus or nothing. It is all in Him and everything in Him. If that's you, then your death is precious. This word in Psalm 148 is translated as those that are near to Him. There are all kinds of people out there, and then there are those that are near to God. And how do we get near to God? It's in the mediation. It's on the grounds of the grace and mercy of Christ. His sacrifice to bear our sins. His righteousness to clothe us so that our sins are washed away and we are dressed in the obedience that Christ has given to us. And it's those people that are precious when they die. Near to him in Jesus. And actually, the word here, saints, is related to that word hesed, and more and more, especially in prayer meeting on Wednesday nights, but we talked about this word Friday morning right here when we were considering our sister Ann. But in the Old Testament, there is that great Hebrew word hesed. It's a wonderful word. And this word saints here is related to that word hesed. This word right here, precious in the sight of the Lord, is the death of those that have received God's hesed. That's literally what it is. Those that are recipients of God's hesed, when they die, Those that are recipients of God's loving kindness. Those that receive the promise. God is loyal to that promise. And then on the basis of his loyalty to his promise, we have a relationship. And that relationship is through Jesus Christ. It's those kind of people that have received his loving kindness. When they die, it is a precious thing. So as we would look at this, why is it precious? Why is it a deep concern? Why is it highly valuable? Why is it costly? Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Why? Well, one writer said, hanging over Psalm 116 is the God of the helpless. So if you were to read this whole text here, you would see the God of the helpless. Now that's great because I'm helpless. And what is revealed here is not some God for a theology book, not just to theologize and do hypothetical things and opinions about God. But what's revealed here is a God for the real people like you and me, and real people like you and me are helpless. He is the God of the helpless. Now think about it. We have many moments of need, many moments of weaknesses, we have many moments of helplessness. But what is the greatest moment of your helplessness? The greatest moment of our helplessness is death. We are never more helpless than at the time of death. We need God most in the hour of death. And that's what's so precious about our death as saints. That when God looks down, he sees the helpless. And it is precious when he sees our utter helplessness. When he sees our greatest moment of need, it is precious to him. And on the flip side, not only is our death the greatest moment of our helplessness, but also our death is the greatest opportunity of God to help the helpless. Our greatest need matched with God's greatest ability to come in love and in grace and in power and to help us in our death. Our helplessness and his opportunity is of great importance. It is precious. And what is precious about the death of his saints is because that's what the whole life and death of Jesus was about. God has made us to be precious. God, as the New Testament says, he has purchased our pardon. He has purchased our salvation in Jesus Christ. What makes it precious is that the very transaction, the very purchase of Jesus Christ comes into fruition. There's a first time for everything. Baby's first birthday. first day of school, first anniversary. These are all precious things. The precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints because on that day there are some firsts, things that have never happened before that now begin to happen. Paul says, we walk by faith, not by sight, but in the hour of our death, it is precious to the Lord for the first time we see what we believed. It is precious when a dad will wipe away tears, when a mom will wipe away tears. And the day of death, which is full of agony and tears, the day of death is precious to the Lord because our faith becomes sight, and in that moment, for the first time, God wipes away our tears. And when he does, we will never cry again. That's precious to God. And what's precious about the death of his saints is that actually death means the funeral of our sins. You can tell a Christian, and I've heard many of you say this kind of thing, I can't wait to the day when I stop sinning. I hate sin. I can't stand myself sometimes. I just keep sinning and sinning and sinning. What will it be like not to sin? I can't wait to never ever do what I always do. It's precious. At the moment of our death, in the sight of the Lord, it's precious because we see for the first time what we believed. God wipes away the tears so that there's no more pain and agony that we knew all too well. And on that day is the funeral of sins so that Anne and all the Christians on the day of their death, they never, ever sin. They didn't know a moment like that, but now they do. And glory of glories is that they see God. Then in the great paradox, the lowest ugly moment of death becomes the highest moment where for the first time we behold God, we see him with our eyes. A father and children are meant to be together. And it's precious when we depart from this world, it's precious to the Lord at the death of his saints because the father and children are meant to be together. Husbands and wives are meant to be together. Christ is meant to be with his saints. He's meant to be with his church, the bride. And so we go to the family as children. We go to the marriage that Christ and the church have. and loved 2 Timothy 4. Paul says, I have finished my race. There is charted out a whole race, a whole course, so that when you think about a marathon, what, 26 miles? They run for hours upon hours. We can't even run for five minutes. They run for what, four or five hours? 26 miles. And during that racetrack, They start in the town, and they go by the banks, and they go by the restaurants, and they go by the post office, and they go up, and they go down, and all around, and they pass the parks, and then they leave town into the countryside, and through the woods, and through the bridges, and around the turns. They go all around this circuit for 26 miles. And then, there's the finish line, and when they cross it, it is precious. And so that God has a marathon, he has a racetrack for all of us. There is a circuit laid out for all of us. And it starts when we're born and we run as children and we run with our parents and our siblings and all of our circumstances. As we pass in a real race, we pass the bank and the trees and the parks and the post office. So along the way we go up and down and there are all kinds of bends and turns and we pass all kinds of things in our race called life, don't we? And the race leads us to marriage, and it leads us to college, and it leads us to this job, and that job, and this trial, and that trial, and it leads us to sickness, and it leads us to all kinds of circumstances. And at the end of the race, we cross the finish line. And when we cross the finish line, it is precious to the Lord that we have persevered and that we have been kept by his power. It is no small thing to finish a marathon, and it is no small thing for a saint to cross the finish line into the presence of God. It's precious when we finish. And really what verse 15 is about is what Paul says, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. So we talk about the Lord's table, the Lord's prayer, the Lord's word, the Lord's house, the Lord's day. But in the same way, what verse 15 is saying is echoing Paul. Whether we live, whether we die, we belong to the Lord. And what the grave does is mark that there is one last thing in the story of salvation. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. At death, at the grave, it marks one last thing. You see, our salvation is so grand, it is so much more, so much more than we realize, that it began before the foundation of the world, when by God's grace, he chose his people. And then he sent Christ 2,000 years ago, and he poured out the Holy Spirit, and he gave the word, and he has given us the church. And then as we go along our lives, he convicts us, and he opens our eyes, and he opens our hearts, and we repent, and we believe, and we become born again. Our sins are forgiven. We're united to Jesus. So God doesn't look at us by ourselves and our sin, but he looks at us in Jesus Christ, united to Jesus Christ. And when those kind of people die, they're Christians, they're united to the Lord, when they die and they're put six feet under, it marks that there's one last thing still to do. It's to rise. It is precious when we are lowered in the moment of death. God knows there is unfinished business and it will get finished. He will cause us to rise at the second coming of Christ and you like his son will take after his son and you will come out of the dust. Now it's unfinished business and that unfinished business is important to God that he sees it through to the end so that we rise. I know some of you fear death. It's a burden. It's a lot of things. And some of you would say, I don't fear dying and going to be with the Lord, but I fear the circumstances, the pain, the agony, what it's actually gonna be like. But actually, when we look at verse 15, we that fear death, we that fear its circumstances, Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. You remember that what is gonna happen to us has been well thought out by God. It's no light matter. He has considered it your death. And it will be precious if you trust him. But I have to end with one last saint. This text says, the saints, but there was a saint of saints. And his death was precious. There was no man of God like this saint. His laughing, his mockery, When they punched him and screamed at him and spit upon him and plucked his beard and pressed on him thorns. When they drove nails, spikes into him and hoisted him on the cross. Precious in the sight of the Lord was the death of that saint. Oh, what Pilate and Herod and the Romans and the Jews did was such an ugly, disgusting, deplorable thing, what they did to Jesus. But what that death meant, what that death was accomplishing was precious to the Lord so that in Isaiah 53, it was pleasing to the Lord because of the salvation that Christ was accomplishing. Precious in the sight of the Lord is his death because of what it means. A sacrifice to cleanse us from sin, A sacrifice to take our guilt and our penalty so that there's no judgment left for us. That was an act of love. And God the Father delighted when His Son did it. So what shall we do? That's actually the question of verse 12. What shall we do? And the answer comes in verse 13, take the cup of salvation. You're about to take a cup of coffee. cup of water. Take the cup of salvation. Christ and the gospel being precious before God in your life and death, it is offered to you. Take the cup of rescue. Take the cup of deliverance. You have sin that you need to be freed from. You have sin that is going to land you in judgment. You have a death that you must encounter. Take the cup of salvation where you can be saved and become one of his saints and be precious forever. God bless it to us through Christ our Lord. Amen.