Rev (Dr) Quek Suan Yew

O Death, Where is Thy Sting?

1 Corinthians 15:55-57 “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The sting of death is very real. Those who are suffering from chronic sicknesses or who are in the last throes and final moments of their lives do not need to be reminded of the sting of death. They are experiencing it daily. Their condition is the reminder. However, many of us think of death as something remote that afflicts others but not ourselves! The reason is that the sting of death is not yet a reality but a distant theory. But the sting of death is nearer than we would care to admit! This was brought home to all of us who were present at the last Helpmeet Bible Study on Friday evening (22 April 2017) in the home of Bo Thong and Sarah. One moment sister Chiew Mee was fellowshipping with us, and the next, the LORD took her home to glory! We did not know how serious her condition was, believing that it was just food poisoning and not something life threatening. Rachel called Dn Han and we did what he instructed over the phone to help Chiew Mee. Bo Thong called the ambulance. Fiona called Tee Jiam, Chiew Mee’s husband. One moment all was well and normal. None of us knew that within minutes at the end of the Bible Study all our lives would be changed forever. For our brother Tee Jiam and his sons, Jonathan and Joseph, there will be a huge vacuum in their home that can never be filled. From henceforth the Helpmeet meetings will not be the same! Death has stung all of us badly when it took Chiew Mee away from us. Those of us whose lives have been richly touched by Chiew Mee’s life of service and devotion will be changed as well. The sting of death is very real. There was no gradual process of saying good bye as with someone afflicted with cancer or old age problems. From life to death within a moment’s time has shaken all of us to the core. It could happen to any one of us.

Are you fearful of death? All men ought to fear death. Death is man’s last and most powerful enemy as the Bible says. It is the last enemy that Christ had to destroy for us. Christ has defeated sin, evil and all types of wickedness and transgressions on this earth including all the consequences of sin such as sicknesses, abnormalities at birth, etc; but the last enemy to be destroyed by Christ is the ‘greatest’ of them all, death itself. 1 Corinthians 15:25-26 “For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” By death millions of men, women and children without Christ have died in their sins and have gone to hell. Hell is a place of great pain and torment and there is no escape. No man wants to be there and yet many have found themselves there at the end of life. The Bible says that “the sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.” Sin is the reason why all men must die. There is no one righteous, for all are conceived in sin and born in sin. We have inherited the sin of the first Adam, man’s first parent. When Adam sinned against God in the Garden of Eden, all mankind fell into sin with him. That is why death passed from him to all mankind without exception. As long as man is born of human father and mother, he is born a sinner and he will die. Romans 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Sin is not only man’s master, it is also the cause of death in man. If man can get rid of sin in his life, he gets rid of death. How can he? Man is born a sinner and soon after he reaches the age of accountability he will commit more sins. This is known as wilful sin. There is no escape from death, for man sins with his heart (sinful motives), his mind (sinful thoughts) and his mouth and his deeds. Man is trapped by sin and so death is the ultimate consequence which every man must truly fear. After death is the judgement and hell is the consequence!

Man may deny that he is a sinner, but the law of God makes it abundantly clear that he is a sinner through and through, for all mankind are the chief of sinners! From birth to death, all deserve to die and be sent to hell. This might seem harsh but consider the One whom man sins against! Man has sinned against the all holy God almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth! The Decalogue is a good start for man to check his life against to determine the certainty and greatness of his transgressions. He believes in evolution which is an abomination to God because God is the Creator. Man is made in the image of God to worship God but he bows down to idols of his own making. He teaches others to sin by teaching lies like homosexuality and fornication as an acceptable way of life. Professing believers are mocking Christ by living according to what is right in their own eyes rather than according to Holy Scriptures. These examples are just the tip of the sinful ice berg. Man definitely deserves to die and find himself in hell for eternity. This is what the sting of death will do because man has sinned against the Holy God.

However, man can defeat death in his life but not by his own strength or good works which are all filthy rags in the sight of God. He needs the God whom he sinned against to save him. God did. God has given “us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” He sent Jesus Christ from heaven, born of the virgin Mary to die on the cross for our sins. Christ was born without sin through the virgin Mary and lived a perfect life, obeying all the laws of God and defeating all the enemies of sinful man including death, the last enemy to be destroyed. What Christ did for us was accepted by God as sufficient to take away all our sins, original as well as wilful sins, when God raised Christ from the dead on the third day after He died. When a sinner sincerely surrenders his life to Christ in true repentance of his sins and accepts Him as his Lord and Saviour with all his heart, all his sins will be washed away by Christ’s blood. God will forgive all his sins. God will look at that sinner as a saint and a child of God as if he has never sinned before. His life was like a filthy stained piece of white cloth but now is washed as white as snow by the blood of Christ. When he accepts Christ as his Lord and Saviour, he identifies himself with Christ, i.e. when Christ died, so did he even though Christ died nearly 2,000 years ago. This is faith. Therefore by his identification with Christ who died, the sinner also died. Therefore in Christ he has actually paid for his sins by Christ’s death. And therefore when God raised Christ from the dead, so is the believer raised from the dead. This is deliverance from spiritual death which is instantaneous. All believers are now spiritually alive in Christ, whereas before he was spiritually dead in sin. The deliverance from physical death is still in the future. This is known as the day of the resurrection of all believers who have died in Christ. The Bible describes it as a certainty, for this is the only way that the sting of death only hurts but is not fatal in the believer’s life. 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” (Emphasis added)

Are you living for Christ? When a sinner becomes a saint at the point of salvation, he can enter heaven immediately. However, many are left behind on this earth for service. Our sister Chiew Mee was sent into our midst for such a service. She has completed her service unto her Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ and her heavenly Father has called her Home to glory. She is safe in the arms of her Saviour Jesus Christ who died for her and rose from the dead for her. Chiew Mee’s life has been a life of witness and testimony upon her salvation. It was her and Tee Jiam’s desire to be channels of blessings to others. (Tee Jiam shared at the vigil service that one of the hymns they chose for their wedding day was “Channels Only.” This was not known to me when I chose the closing hymn for this morning.)

What about our lives? God has saved us from sin and death through Christ’s life and death and resurrection. We are still here on earth. What have we done with our lives? We have been delivered from death and the sting of death which has been removed from our lives forever. We now have the hope of glorification waiting for us which is the climax of our salvation in Christ to demonstrate forever the certain defeat of death in our lives. This is what God’s Word commands us to do in 1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” Be steadfast in the truth of God’s Word. Do not live your life outside of the parameters of the Bible. To do that, we have to obey the Bible by studying the Word of God diligently and consistently with an obedient heart. Then we pray without ceasing. Trust in God to fill us with His Holy Spirit, enabling us to live in holiness so that by our good works, others will see Christ in us and glorify our Father who is in heaven. Do not be moved no matter who or what is trying to push us out of the path of righteousness. Do not allow your love for your children to cause you to sin against God by disobeying God's Word. If we are truly disciples of Christ, i.e. born again in Christ, the Lord Jesus says to us in Luke 14:26 “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” Loving our children by sinning against God is not loving but hating our children. To love our children, we need to love Christ above all. When our children have done wrong, they need to know that they have done wrong by our rebuke. This will help them to stop sinning against God. Do not be moved by anyone and anything from walking the path of holiness and righteousness according to Scriptures. Losing our jobs is better than losing our witness for Christ. Losing our freedom including our lives is better than losing our witness for Christ. This is what it means to remain steadfast and unmoveable.

While we remain steadfast and unmoveable from the path of righteousness, we must continue to serve God with zeal and fervency. Serving the Lord must not stop one heart beat in the face of persecution or battling for the faith. The two must be done together like the Israelites who returned from exile to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. They held in one hand the sword to fight the good fight of faith against the enemies who tried to stop them from doing the work of God; and in the other hand they held the trowel to keep on building the wall so that the work of God was not delayed one bit. This is what all believers must do for Christ who died for them. Death has been taken away from us. Life has been given to us in Christ. We no longer have to be afraid of any enemy that we face as we serve our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Conclusion -- But thanks be to God, death has lost it sting in the believer's life. The sting of death may hurt but it is no longer fatal because the believer is protected in Christ. Glorification awaits all who are in Christ. The ones who have died in Christ will be resurrected. The ones who are alive in Christ will be caught up in the air to be with Christ. Christ will bring all His disciples in their glorified bodies to present us before our Heavenly Father, and there we will forever be with our Lord.
To the rest who have not received Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, the sting of death will be fatal and will last for eternity. Hell is a place of great pain and torment.

O death where is thy sting? – What is your answer?