Romans 8:1-6 (King James Version)

 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

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From “Morning Thoughts” by Winslow

“That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil; where the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus.” Hebrews 6:17-19

THE hope of heaven fostered by an unrenewed mind is baseless and illusory. There exists not a single element of goodness in its nature. It is the conception of a mind at enmity with God. It is the delusion of a heart in covenant with death, and in agreement with hell. It is the treacherous beacon that decoys the too confiding but deluded voyager to the rock-bound shore. Unscriptural, unreal, and baseless, it must eventually cover its possessor with shame and confusion of face. But not such is the believer’s hope. Begotten with his second nature-the in-breathing of the Spirit of God-an element of renewed mind, and based upon the atonement of the Savior, it must be essentially a good hope. Cleansed from moral impurity, not in the laver of baptism, but with the blood of Christ; justified, not by the ritual of Moses, but by the righteousness of the incarnate God; sanctified, not by sacramental grace, falsely so called, but by the in-being of the Holy Spirit-the believer’s hope of heaven is as well founded as the throne of the Eternal. Moreover it is “a good hope through grace.” The first and the last lesson we learn in our Christian course is, that “by grace we are saved.” Lord! do You require of me one thought of stainless purity, one throb of perfect love, one deed of unsullied holiness, upon which shall hinge my everlasting happiness? Then am I lost forever! But since You have provided a righteousness that justifies me from all things, that frees me from all condemnation-and since this righteousness is Your free, unpurchased gift, the bestowment of sovereign grace-I clasp to my trembling yet believing heart the joyous hope this truth inspires. It is a blessed hope. “Looking for that blessed hope.” Its object is most blessed. The heaven it compasses is that blissful place where the holy ones who have fled from our embrace are reposing in the bosom of the Savior. They are the blessed dead. The day of their death was to them better than the day of their birth. The one was the introduction to all sorrow, the other is a translation to all joy. Blessed hope! the hope of being forever with the Lord. No more to grieve the Spirit that so often and so soothingly comforted our hearts; no more to wound the gentle bosom that so often pillowed our head. No more to journey in darkness, nor bend as a bruised reed before each blast of temptation. To be a pillar in the temple of God, to go no more out forever. And what a sanctifying hope is it! This, to the spiritual mind, is its most acceptable and elevating feature. “Every man that has this hope in him purifies himself even as He is pure.” It detaches from earth, and allures to heaven. Never does it glow more brightly in the soul, nor kindle around the path a luster more heavenly, than when it strengthens in the believer a growing conformity of character to that heaven towards which it soars. It is, in a word, a sure hope. Shall the worm undermine it? shall the tempest shake it? shall the waters extinguish it? Never. It saves us. It keeps, preserves, and sustains us amid the perils and depressions of our earthly pilgrimage. And having borne us through the flood, it will not fail us when the last surge lands us upon the shore of eternity.

 

From “Morning Thoughts” by Winslow

” And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:3

When heart and flesh are fast failing, and the trembling feet descend into the dark valley of the shadow of death, to whom shall we then look but unto Jesus? The world is now receding, and all creatures are fading upon the sight; one object alone remains, arrests and fixes the believer’s eye-it is Jesus, the Savior; it is Emmanuel, the Incarnate and now-present God; it is the Captain of our salvation, the Conqueror of death, and the Spoiler of the grave; it is our friend, our brother, our Joseph, our Joshua, loving and faithful, and present to the last. Jesus is there to confront death again, and vanquish him with his own weapons. Jesus is there to remind His departing one that the grave can wear no gloom, and can boast of no victory, since He himself passed through its portal, rose and revived, and lives for evermore.

Sick one! in your languishing, look to Jesus! Departing one! in your death-struggles, look to Jesus! Are you guilty?-Jesus is righteous. Are you a sinner?-Jesus is a Savior. Are you fearful, and do you tremble?-the Shepherd of the flock is with you, and no one shall pluck His sheep out of His hands. How fully, how suitably, does the gospel now meet your case! In your bodily weakness and mental confusion, two truths are, perhaps, all that you can now dwell upon-your sinfulness and Christ’s redemption, your emptiness and Christ’s sufficiency. Enough! you need no more; God requires no more. In your felt weakness, in your conscious unworthiness, amid the swelling of the cold waters, raise your eye and fix it upon Jesus, and all will be well. Hear the words of your Savior calling you from the bright world of glory to which He bids you come, “Arise, my love, my fair one! and come away.” Believer! look to Him-lean upon Him-cleave to Him-labor for Him-suffer for Him-and, if need be, die for Him. Thus loving and trusting, living and dying, for “Jesus only.”

From “The Word For You Today” by Bruce Christian – Satan Is Defeated (3)

For many of us, death is our greatest fear.  One comedian quipped, “I don’t mind dying, I just don’t want to be there when it happens!”  But we can’t joke away the sobering reality the Bible describes as “the last enemy.”  So what’s the answer?  Jesus!  “Only by dying could He break the power of the Devil, who had the power of death.  Only in this way could He set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying” (Heb 2:14-15 NLT).  Until Jesus came, Satan used the threat of death.  Until then we all lived in fear of it.  But because of the resurrection, all Satan has left are the lies he can tell about death.  The word “destroy” implies “to reduce to zero” (See 1 Jn 3:8).  Wow!  By His death and resurrection, Jesus reduced Satan’s power to zero.  And today Jesus says to you, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.  I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.  Amen.  And I have the keys of Hades and of Death” (Rev 1:17-18 NKJV).  After destroying the prison of Death, Jesus came out and said to Satan the jailer, “I’ll take those keys,” then He went back to heaven.

We grieve the loss of a loved one, and that’s a healthy thing to do.  But you can handle the grief when you know you can live through it, and that you’ll be reunited in heaven with your loved ones.  So even in death, we win and Satan loses.

From “Daily Meditation” by the Rev. George Bowen

     Most of us human beings don’t like to think about death, but how can we really understand the gift of life without it’s contemplation?  This world offers many things to it’s inhabitants that are illusive and transitory which hold seeming value but turn to dust over time and reveal their true worth.  This world offers an infinite variety of paths to follow, but in the end they all seemingly end at one place.  It’s the wise person who gives as much thought to the end of life as to the beginning . . . . 

 

” . . . grave, where is thy victory?” –

1Co_15:55.

In great cities we find monumental arches, columns, obelisks and tablets, telling of victories won by man over man; but death writes his name loftily on all these, saying, ” Man’s victories are my victories.” But the monumental trophies of death are found in all cities great and small, in all places, in fact. Death lords it everywhere and over all. Scarcely has humanity begun to put on nobility or virtue in any quarter, before death appears and sweeps away the excellent object, terrifying the stricken admirers with the display of its prodigious power.

Yet we make bold to say, ” Where is thy victory, O grave? Where, death, thy sting?” We tell death to the face that the captives whom he has apparently taken are not to be found in his chambers. In fact we can point to them in mansions where death has no admission. We can show the Son of God, once dead on Calvary, standing at the right hand of the Majesty on high. And with him the saints redeemed from the earth, the noble, the beautiful, the virtuous, dwelling in habitations not made with hands, clothed in purity, exempt from pain and sorrow, and not at all despondent because of their mortal remains sleeping in dust. How art thou become a picture of confusion, death, standing there with a crumbling bone in thy hand and looking at a celestial being walking amid the groves of the New Jerusalem, once connected with earthly life by that bone, now wearing many crowns of perfection bestowed by him who died and rose again! After having conquered all, behold, thou art thyself conquered, and a new in violable life given to those who once succumbed to thee. Behold the keys of death and hades are in the hands of our Lord; and what wonder if hereafter thou shouldst be compelled to restore even the dust of the once dead. Sweep as thou wilt with thy scythe from pole to pole; there is a sword impending over thee. Thou thyself shalt die. What canst thou do to him whose life is hid with Christ in God? He will sit upon a throne in the day when thou shalt be driven to darkness.

　

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