Unto the Death

Faithful till death, said our loving Master, short is our time to labor and wait. Toils of the road will then seem as nothing when we sweep through those beautiful gates. Father along, we'll know all about it.

Father along, we'll understand why. Cheer up my brother, live in the sunshine. We'll understand it all by and by.

I am missionary Richard Yerbe, preaching this to you from the opposite side of the globe in the Buddhist nation of Japan. My title for this sermon is Unto the Death, and it is a continuation of my last sermon, They Love Not Their Lives. These titles are taken from the last of the three qualifications of an overcomer, written in Revelation chapter 12, verse 11, which reads, And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they love not their lives unto the death.

Anyone can listen to these sermons anytime on my website, which is christisall.us. Separate those three words with two dashes, christ-is-all.us. Then, open the link titled Radio Sermons Audio. If you have not yet listened to my previous sermon, number 2026-6, please listen to it. Cowards die many times before their death.

The valiant never taste of death but once. That quote is from Shakespeare's play titled Julius Caesar. God has not ordained that we fear death.

Rather, he has ordained that we fear him, and thus repent unto him, because we have sinned against our holy, sinless creator. And then, put our trust in God the Savior, Jesus Christ, to save us from eternal death in hell. If you have not yet trusted in Jesus Christ to save you unto eternal bliss, please do so now.

You have no guarantee that you will be alive on earth tomorrow. Now is the day of salvation. My previous sermon ended where Queen Esther made the grave decision, possibly a fatal decision, to lay her life on the line for the salvation of a multitude of Jews living in a large territory by her appearing before powerful King Ahasuerus to plead with him not to let the Jews' enemies slaughter them in mass.

To make this desperate plea before it is too late, she must come into the king's presence without being called by him. And if he is displeased with her uninvited intrusion into his court, King Ahasuerus will have her killed. Carefully considering that, Queen Esther's bold decision and proclamation was, And if I perish, I perish.

You see, my friend, Jewish Queen Esther knew a most vital spiritual truth. That being, there are things in life more important than saving one's own skin. For example, not counting our lives dear unto ourselves when it comes time to fight spiritual battles for our creator God.

Any Christian believer should be willing to lay his or her life on the line. Lay it down if our creator and savior calls upon us to do so. To date, multitudes of godly saints have been killed for the cause of God in heaven's message of eternal hope to follow mankind, thus dying a martyr's death.

If you die a martyr's death for Jesus Christ, you will not be the first one. You will be in good company if that glorious fate befalls you, giving you the blessed privilege of laying a martyr's crown at your savior's feet on judgment day. Fear not, you spiritual coward.

Also, please pray for me that I will not be a spiritual coward if that day comes my way. Now, listen carefully to this glorious victorious truth. When we become unreservedly committed to giving up our own physical safety, even our physical life for our Lord Jesus Christ, then he becomes unreservedly on our side.

He is then our almighty friend in battle in a most powerful way to fight with us and for us against enemy and any and all foes. They fought from heaven. The stars in their courses fought against Cicero.

That is Judges chapter 5, verse 11. Lord of hosts, thou man of war, my mighty captain in spiritual battle, as I stand for thee against all forces that oppose thee, this is what I desperately need and desire, that thou wouldest fight from heaven for me, that the stars in their courses wouldest fight against thine enemies for me as I stand against thine enemies. I pray that all other Christian believers also would desperately seek and desire this glorious privilege.

Amen. Queen Esther boldly proclaims, and if I perish, I perish. And with that confession to all souls concerned, bam, God is on Queen Esther's side.

God fights for her with his almighty power with which powerful King Ahasuerus' might and power cannot compare. Even the stars in heaven will then fight for Queen Esther and the mass of Jews who are slated to be massacred. Sound the battle cry, see the foe is nigh, raise the banner high for our Lord.

Shield and banner bright, gleaming in the light, rest your cause upon his holy word. Rouse then, soldiers, rally round the banner, ready, steady, pass the word along. Onward, upward, shout aloud, Hosanna, Christ is captain of the mighty throne.

Joyfully meditating on Queen Esther's victorious confession here of being willing to be killed for fighting for right, right now, the Holy Spirit brings the following reassuring, victorious scripture to my mind. Proverbs 21, verse one. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water, he turneth it, whether so ever he will.

Glory to God for that blessed assurance. Friend, listening to me right now, as I fast and earnestly intercede in prayer for these lost, hell-bound Japanese Buddhists all around me, while also pleading with God to help my unbelief and to give me strong, unwavering faith, I have seen our almighty Creator God change the hearts of some stubborn people to save them. Of others to be an aid to me when they were first dead set against that.

I have seen him miraculously remove rebels who stood in my way, even stop the leaking of a busted water pipe inside the plaster wall of my bathroom, saving me the large expense of having that plaster torn away and the pipe replaced. I praise God for the abundant help that he gives to a believer who will boldly and zealously let his true light shine in this dark world of sin, one who will stand out in public sending forth from his mouth the sharp two-edged sword of the Lord, which is the word of God. Oh, this almighty man of war doth fight ever so powerfully and victoriously for any godly saint who will stand for God in right.

Christian friend, please pray for me that I will be a bold and courageous overcomer. I'll pray the same for you. And having done all to stand, Ephesians 6 verse 13 tells us.

Now, Esther was a common Jewish maid, not born in the royalty, but God elevated her to an earthly royal throne and earthly crown for the soul and the vitally important purpose of saving the lives of Jews living in that land. God forbid that she fail in this divine calling. In a similar manner, I was born into a family of poor Christian dirt farmers in Alabama, but God brought me to the exact opposite side of this globe to call into a nation of idle worshipers to repent and to trust in the righteous God who created them.

God forbid that I fail to be faithful to this divine and most glorious calling of mine. In a similar manner, God has divinely placed you amidst the multitude of lost souls with whom you are daily in contact with. God forbid that you fail to be a watchman over their souls, letting God's true light shine and warning rebellious souls to flee the soon coming wrath of God upon this end time human race.

Heavy is our Christian duty to God and to lost mankind. Tempted and tried, we're oft made to wonder why it should be thus all the day long. While there are others living about us, never molested, though in the wrong.

Father along, we'll know all about it. Father along, we'll understand why. Cheer up, my brother, live in the sunshine.

We'll understand it all by and by. You please think on the wisdom of Shakespeare's famous quote, Cowards die many times before their death. Be valiant, never taste of death but once.

Upon reading taste of death there, I think on the glorious scripture in Hebrews chapter two, verse nine. But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. Because Jesus tasted death for me, presently I do not taste death.

Rather, as a Christian believer, I taste life everlasting. Oh, that taste is ever so refreshing and assuring. Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

I just read 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses 55 through 58. Oh, victory in Jesus. My friend, without Christ, you have the opportunity right now to repent to your creator God and doing thus, exchange the taste of death for the taste of life everlasting and blessedness beyond compare in this life on earth.

Would you please do that? And from now on, please walk according to the Holy Spirit instead of walking according to your own selfish desire. Thus wise, you can daily live victoriously in Christ, casting off all worries about your upcoming physical death and its sting. My Christian friend, please earnestly ask God to enable you to daily live in the reality of our faith in Christ, making us more than conquerors through Christ who loved us.

Doing so will make you steadfast and unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Living in the reality of this victorious state, you can readily and willingly become partakers of Jesus's sufferings and afflictions and even rejoice in that privilege as the apostle Paul did in Colossians chapter 1, verse 24, where he says, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church. Sometimes I wonder why I must suffer, go in the cold, the rain and the snow.

While many wicked live in great splendor, heedless of where at last they must go. Father alone will know all about it. Father alone will understand why.

Cheer up, my brother, live in the sunshine. We'll understand it all by and by. My fellow Christian, our gracious Savior has ordained that we Christians go in the cold rain, snow and any and all other adverse natural conditions and against all opposition by God's enemies, no matter how fierce the enemy might fight.

Following our master and captain in fishing for the souls of men, seeking the lost sheep on the desolate mountainsides and making wicked sinners who are now living in great splendor on earth, making them aware of where at last they must go suffer for all eternity. If they die, lost and undone. Tempted and tried, how often we question why we must suffer year after year, being accused by those of our loved ones, even though we walk in God's holy fear.

Father alone will know all about it. Father alone will understand why. Cheer up, my brother, live in the sunshine.

We'll understand it all by and by. I will now leave the sense of taste to dwell on the sense of smell. Our Lord is a man of war and he created the war horse for battle.

I thrill to read of his creator commending that fearless fighting war horse in the book of Job chapter 39, verses 19 through 25. Has thou given the horse strength? Has thou clothed his neck with thunder? Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? The glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valley and rejoiceth in his strength.

He goeth on to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear and is not afraid. Neither turneth he back from the sword.

Let me say here that we Christian soldiers are to mock at fear of God's enemies whom we face in battle. God forbid that we become frightened by them causing us to turn back and run away from the battle. I now continue reading of the war horse.

The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield. He swalleth the ground with fierceness and rage. I interject, going into the battle, of course, not running from it.

Neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. He saith among the trumpets, ha, ha, and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains and the shouting. That ends the reading of the war horse in Job chapter 39, verses 19 through 25.

He smelleth the battle afar off is intriguing to me. No gunpowder of any kind existed in Job's day, we are quite sure, seeing that history tells us that gunpowder was first invented in China around 850 A.D. and has been a prominent smell of earthly army battles ever since then. I may be mistaken, but my personal belief is that what this war horse smelled, even afar off from the battlefield, was the smell of shed blood.

And he swalleth up the ground with fierceness and rage to get to it. To get in on it, even to join in in shedding his own blood. In that ancient battle, much of the shed blood was horse's blood.

Often when death has taken our loved ones, leaving our homes so lone and so drear, then do we wonder why others prosper, living so wicked year after year. Father along will know all about it, father along will understand why. Cheer up my brother, live in the sunshine, we'll understand it all by and by.

To me, a horse is a likable animal. From the time I was five or six years old, I rode our farm horses bareback, sitting behind an older kid driver atop the horse, and I worked those work horses in our fields from age six. I liked horses.

The following true horse story should make your heart merry. A man driving in stop-and-go, creeping New York City traffic, observed a small one-horse cart nearby on the street, one man riding the cart, which was creeping up to where two lanes merged into one. Most drivers were kindly taking turns with the vehicles in the adjacent lane, but as the horse was slowly reaching his turn, the adjacent rude driver was steadily creeping the head in his car, trying to get in front of the horse.

Apparently the horse had enough horse sense to know it was his own turn, and he would not be usurped. The rude driver had his window down, and finally the horse angrily thrust his head in through that open window. A driver in a nearby car submitted this true story to a magazine and received a few hundred dollars when the magazine chose to publish it.

That writer wittingly ended his story somewhat like this, I don't know what that horse said to the driver, but when the horse pulled his head out of the car window, the driver let the horse go first. I admire that horse for taking his stand, and having done all to stand. Our captain commands us in the book of Ephesians, we are not to be like bloodthirsty pirates, but we are to keep in mind that our lord shed all his blood to purchase us back to him, and if we happen to smell our own blood flowing in battle, it should not alarm us at all.

Faithful till death, said our loving master, short is our time to labor and wait, pause of the road will then seem as nothing when we sweep through those beautiful gates. Soon we will see our dear loving savior, hear the last trumpet sound through the sky. Then we will meet those gone on before us, and we shall know and understand why.

Father alone will know all about it, father alone will understand why. Cheer up my brother, live in the sunshine, we'll understand it all by and by. In first Samuel chapter 17, as King Saul and all the soldiers of Israel's army were greatly afraid before the Philistine giant Goliath, in verse 11, when shepherd boy David shows up and sees their appalling cowardice, he exclaims in verse 29, is there not a cause? There certainly was the highest and most noble cause, that being the great glory of the God of Israel, and almighty God enabled David to slay that strong, powerful, armored enemy, heathen giant with one stone slung from his simple sling straight to the giant's forehead.

Today, the cause is the eternal salvation of lost souls around us for whom Christ died, and upholding God's great glory amongst this present day abominable human race that turns his glory into shame. Fellow Christian soldier, let us love this most high and noble cause and count our own spiritual lives as not. How much war horse spirit do you have in you, my Christian friend? I realize that I'm most weak and frail, thus I earnestly pray for courage in the battle for myself.

You please pray for a Holy Ghost power upon my public preaching here in Japan, and for powerful Holy Ghost conviction upon the many Japanese Buddhist souls lost and undone who hear me preaching out in public amongst the human race. I pray for our Lord to greatly use you, Christian friends who hear this, to uphold his glory on this earth. And may our Lord fill you with holy boldness and courage, and bless you most richly and abundantly as you do so, giving you much fruit for your faithful labors unto him who is most worthy.