lifting THE SHROUD OF DEATH
SERMON STARTER
Five Saturday's ago when we celebrated the life of pastor Ron Wasilchak's younger brother, Hank, I felt this black shroud of death hanging over me. When we came here from Southern California forty-three years ago Hank was just graduating from college. As I age and lose friend after friend to death I keep dealing with several things:
1) The brevity of Human Life
2) My own mortality
3) One day leaving behind those I love
4) The rapidity of the passing of my days
5) Endless struggles with grief over the loss of good friends
For the past several months we have had an on-going Friday night prayer meeting.
Friday night we met for prayer at the Sheepfold Chapel.
The shroud that had been hanging over me for the past two plus weeks lifted as I prayed for a young man (Todd).
lifting THE SHROUD OF DEATH
SERMON STARTER
Five Saturday's ago we celebrated the life of pastor Ron Wasilchak's younger brother, Hank. Afterwards, I felt this black shroud of death draping over me. Perhaps it was enhanced by the presence of four young men and one young woman that were in their 20's when I served at Hartford from 1976 to 1988. They're now in their 60's. I left the funeral home feeling so very old. The shroud had begun to fall and stayed on me for three weeks.
At Friday's night prayers at the Sheepfold Chapel I prayed for a young man and put my hand on his heart. The shroud of depressive blackness left me instantly as I spoke an encouraging word of prophesy over his life. It was a reminder to me of James 5:16, "Pray for one another that you may be healed."
When we came here from Southern California forty-three years ago Hank was just graduating from college. As I age and lose friend after friend to death I keep dealing with several things:
1) The brevity of Human Life
2) My own mortality
3) One day leaving behind those I love
4) The rapidity of the passing of my days
5) Endless struggles with grief over the loss of good friends
All grief is intensely personal and intimate. The English Poet John Donne, wrote, "Never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee." We have our tears, our words, one another and we have the One who promised, "Because I live, you shall live also." Pastor Phil <><<
February 17, 2019 - Sheepfold Ministries
Pastor Phil Roland
lifting THE SHROUD OF DEATH
Romans 8:1-4 - 1 Corinthians 15:20-28
"The Spirit of Death hangs over mankind like a dark, suffocating shroud. We are inborn into this life with the fear and dread of it. The enemy uses that fear to taunt us. Our Lord Jesus Christ has destroyed the fear and sting of death for we who love Him.” Pastor Phil <><<
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:2
“For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. 26The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.” 1 Corinthians 15:25,26
“The people who dwell in darkness have seen a Great Light: They that dwell in the Land of the Shadow of Death. . .upon them a Great Light has shined.” Isaiah 9:2
THANATOPHOBIA = Fear of Death
Fear of the Unknown; Loss of Control; Loss of Dignity
Secular Cures for Obsessive thoughts of Death:
Understand that death is part of the Cycle of Life
Know that people won’t forget you
Talk with someone of understanding
Live life the way God intended you to
Refuse to worry about things over which you have no control
Realize Dying isn’t painful: Living is
Develop a healthy Spirituality
Accept that we are travelers, passing through this life
Realize your only Hope is in the Lord
There are Eight Fears that Jesus has lifted the Shroud from:
1. WE NO LONGER FEAR GROWING OLD
A. Remember God all the days of your life - Eccles. 12:1
“Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the
difficult days come, And the years draw near when you say, "I have no
pleasure in them"
B. Jesus has put His faith in us - Galatians 2:20
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ
lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the
Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” NKJ
C. Each Developmental Stage of Life Provides Opportunities to Grow
LIFTING THE SHROUD OF DEATH, cont., p.2
1. In this life we can never say, “I’ve arrived!”
2. This physical life is a series of challenges
D. God has provided us His Overcoming Power – Romans 8:35-37
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?\
As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are
accounted as sheep for the slaughter." Yet in all these things we are
more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
Another Fear that Jesus has lifted the Shroud from:
2. WE NO LONGER FEAR LACK – Philippians 4:19
“And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by
Christ Jesus.”
A. Our Culture is being faced with the Emptiness of Materialism
B. God always meets our total needs -Psalm 37:25
“I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous
forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread.”
1. He cares for us physically, emotionally, spiritually
2. He cares more than you can ask or think – Eph. 3:20,21
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all
that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations,
forever and ever. Amen.”
C. I came empty handed, so I leave one day – Job 1:21
"Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked shall I return there.
The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of
the LORD."
D. The only thing that follows me is the good or evil I have done
”Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that
he will also reap.” Gal. 6:7
E. We must live our lives in the shadow of death so what we do will have eternal significance
Another Fear that Jesus has lifted the Shroud from:
3. WE NO LONGER FEAR BEING ALONE – Isaiah 43:1-3
“But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed
you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your
name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through
the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the
LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;”
A. Jesus last words during His physical life on earth – Matt. 28:20
“I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
B. He doesn’t abandon us in the time of trouble – John 14:18
"I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
C. We are created for Him and He has come for us
LIFTING THE SHROUD OF DEATH, cont., p.3
Another Fear that Jesus has lifted the Shroud from:
4. WE NO LONGER FEAR BEING INSIGNIFICANT
A. We are significant to God – Matt. 10:29-31
"Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls
to the ground apart from your Father's will. "But the very hairs of your
head are all numbered. "Do not fear therefore; you are of more value
than many sparrows.”
B. You are not forgotten by Him - Isaiah 49:14-16
“But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, And my Lord has forgotten
me.” “Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion
on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget
you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are
continually before Me.”
Another Fear that Jesus has lifted the Shroud from:
5. WE NO LONGER FEAR CALAMITY – See Job 1:22
“In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.”
A. Job doesn’t blame God, neither should we
B. If God will take you to it, He will take you through it
C. Keep your eyes on Him in the time of trouble and calamity
Another Fear that Jesus has lifted the Shroud from:
6. WE NO LONGER FEAR THE FUTURE – Romans 8:29-30
“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of
His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom
He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified;
and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”
A. We know who holds the future
B. All time, past, present and future is in God’s Hands
C. He knows you and your future is in His Hands
Another Fear that Jesus has lifted the Shroud from:
7. WE NO LONGER FEAR GRIEF AND SORROW – Matt. 5:4
“Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.”
The Last Fear that Jesus has lifted the Shroud from:
8. WE NO LONGER FEAR DEATH – Rev. 1:8
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and
who is to come, the Almighty.”
A. Jesus is victorious over death - 1 Cor. 15:26
“The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.”
B. The Great Promise of Jesus – John 14:19b
“. . .because I Live, you also will live!”
LIFTING THE SHROUD OF DEATH, Text
1 Corinthians 15:20-28
20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming.
24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.
25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.
26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
27 For "He has put all things under His feet." But when He says "all things are put under Him," it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted.
28 Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.
Romans 8:1-4
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 15:20-28 (NKJV)
20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming.
24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.
25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.
26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
27 For "He has put all things under His feet." But when He says "all things are put under Him," it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted.
28 Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.
THE STING
1 Corinthians 15: 54:57
“So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
A father and son were traveling down a country road on afternoon in the spring time when suddenly a bee flew in the window. Being deathly allergic to bee stings, the boy began to panic as the bee buzzed all around inside the car. Seeing the horror on his child’s face, the father reached out and caught the bee in his hand. Soon, he opened his hand and the bee began to buzz around once again. Again, the boy began to panic. The father reached over to his son, and opened his hand showing him the stinger still in his palm.
“Relax, son,” the father said, “I took the sting! The bee can’t hurt you anymore.”
The empty tomb is God’s way of saying to us;
“Relax, my child, I took the sting! Death can’t hurt you anymore.”
John 8:35-36 (NKJV)
35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.
36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
Romans 8:1-4 (NIV)
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,
4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
Life in the Spirit
Romans 8:1-4 (NLT)
8 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power[a] of the life-giving Spirit has freed you[b] from the power of sin that leads to death. 3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.[c] So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
Life in the Spirit
Romans 8:1-4
English Standard Version
8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.[a] 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you[b] free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,[c] he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
DEATH, Lifting the Shroud, Incomp. 2019-02-09.doc
AND THERE SHALL BE NO MORE DEATH FOR THE FORMER THINGS HAVE PASSED AWAY
Galatians 5:13-18
13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
