His Own Funeral Sermon*

His Own Funeral Sermon*

(No. 2243)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1892.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER
19, 1890.

"For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God,
fell on sleep." Acts 13:36.

*This sermon was preached on the Lord's-Day evening after Mr. William
Olney "fell on sleep." Long before the beloved preacher was "called
Home," it was selected for publication this week. Mrs. Spurgeon feels
that her dear husband could not have delivered a more suitable
discourse for "his own funeral sermon." She has, therefore, given it
that title in the hope that many will be blessed by the message which
"he, being dead, yet speaks." Believing that many friends will wish to
have this sermon for widespread circulation, the publishers will, at
once, issue it, in book form. Price one penny.

IT is remarkable that David should say, in the 16th Psalm, "You will
not leave My soul in Hell; neither will you suffer Your Holy One to see
corruption," and yet that Paul should say concerning him, when
preaching at Antioch, that he "saw corruption." The key to this
apparent contradiction is the fact that David did not speak of himself,
but of his Lord. Peter, in his memorable sermon on the day of
Pentecost, quotes the words of the Psalmist, applies them to his risen
Redeemer and distinctly affirms that, in the Psalm, "David speaks
concerning Him."

It is worthy of notice that Peter and Paul both use the same argument
about this statement of David. These two Apostles did not always agree,
but however much they might differ about other matters, they were of
one mind about the Resurrection of Christ! I hope that whatever
differences there may be among true preachers of the Gospel, they will
always be one in declaring the Resurrection of our Lord. This
cornerstone of the Gospel must never be displaced or dishonored. The
good news we are commissioned to declare is the same that Paul received
and delivered–"that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third
day according to the Scriptures." Chief among the Scriptures fulfilled
by the Resurrection of Christ stands this Word of God which David,
inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote so long before the event–"You will
not leave My soul in Hell; neither will You suffer Your Holy One to see
corruption." The Resurrection of Christ is the top stone of our faith!
Because, "He, whom God raised again, saw no corruption," Paul was able
to say this to his hearers, "Be it known unto you, therefore, men and
brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of
sins: and by Him all that before are justified from all things, from
which you could not be justified by the Law of Moses."

The argument of the Apostle is this–David could not have meant himself
when he said, "You will not suffer Your Holy One to see corruption,"
because David died and his body was buried–and it did see corruption.
He must, therefore, have referred to Christ, who is, indeed, God's
"Holy One." Of Him the prophetic word was true, for God did not suffer
Him "to see corruption." He died and was laid in the grave, but He rose
again on the third day. In that climate there was, while Christ lay in
the grave, plenty of time for His body to become corrupt. The spices
with which they perfumed the precious body would not have sufficed to
keep back corruption–they would have helped conceal the unpleasant
odor which putrefaction brings, but they would not have stopped the
process of decay.

But Christ rose again and no corruption had come to His body, for that
body was a holy Thing–it had no defect, nor taint of sin, as our
bodies have. Begotten of the Holy Spirit, it was a pure Thing. Though
born of the Virgin Mary, it was united to the Godhead and not separated
from it even in death–it saw no corruption. There is the Apostle's
argu-

ment, then–David speaking not of himself, but of Someone else, says
that the Lord will not suffer Him to see corruption–and this he spoke
by the Spirit of the very Christ whom we preach to you as the Author
and Finisher of salvation. He is living and reigning today, King of
Kings and Lord of Lords! He that believes in Him, though he were dead,
yet shall he live, and live forever with his risen, reigning Redeemer!

While Paul was speaking in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia, he
incidentally used the words of our text– "David, after he had served
his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep." That is to be my
subject on this occasion. Forgetting, for the present, the main
argument, I would only look at this eddy in the current and draw your
attention to the expression which dropped from Paul's lips concerning
David. Let us ask, first, What is it to serve our own generation?
Secondly, What parts of our generation can we serve? And lastly, with
tender memories of many who have gone from us, let us ask, What will
happen to us when our service is done? Even that which happened to
David–we shall, like he, "fall on sleep."

I. First, then, WHAT IS IT TO SERVE OUR OWN GENERATION? This is a
question which ought to interest us all very deeply. We live in the
midst of our own generation and, seeing that we are part of it, we
should serve it, that the generation in which our children shall live
may be better than our own. Though our citizenship is in Heaven, yet as
we live on earth, we should seek to serve our generation while we pass
as pilgrims to the better country.

What, then, is it for a man to serve his own generation?

I note, first, that it is not to be a slave to it. It is not to drop
into the habits, customs and ideas of the generation in which we live.
People talk, nowadays, about Zeitgeist, a German expression which need
frighten nobody–and one of the papers says, "Spurgeon does not know
whether there is such a thing." Well, whether he knows anything about
Zeitgeist or not, he is not to serve this generation by yielding to any
of its notions or ideas which are contrary to the Word of the Lord! The
Gospel of Jesus Christ is not only for one generation, it is for all
generations. It is the faith which needed to be "once for all delivered
to the saints." It was given stereotyped as it always is to be. It
cannot change because it has been given of God and is, therefore,
perfect–to change it would be to make it imperfect! It cannot change
because it has been given to answer, forever, the same purpose, namely,
to save sinners from going down to Hell and to fit them for going to
Heaven. That man serves his generation best who is not caught by every
new current of opinion, but stands firmly by the Truth of God which is
a solid, immovable rock!

But to serve our own generation in the sense of being a slave to
it–its vassal or its valet–let those who care to do so go into such
bondage and slavery if they will! Do you know what such a course
involves? If any young man here shall begin to preach the doctrine and
the thought of the age, within the next 10 years–perhaps within the
next 10 months– he will have to eat his own words and begin his work
all over again! When he has got into the new style and is beginning to
serve the present world, he will, within a short time, have to
contradict himself, for this age, like every other, is "always
learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." But if
you begin with God's Word and pray God, the Holy Spirit, to reveal it
to you till you really know it, then, if you are spared to teach for
the next 50 years, your testimony at the close will not contradict your
testimony at the beginning! You will ripen in experience! You will
expand in your apprehension of the Truth of God! You will become more
clear in your utterance–and it will be the same Truth of God all
along! Is it not a grand thing to build up, from the beginning of life
to the end of it, the same Gospel?

But to set up opinions to knock them down, again, as though they were
ninepins, is a poor business for any servant of Christ! David did not,
in that way, serve his own generation–he was the master of his
age–not its slave. I would urge every Christian man to rise to his
true dignity and be a blessing to those among whom he lives, as David
was! Christ "has made us kings and priests unto God His Father"–it is
not meet that we should cringe before the spirit of the age, or lick
the dust whereon "advanced thinkers" have chosen to tread. Beloved, see
to this and learn the distinction between serving your own generation
and being a slave to it!

In the next place, in seeking to answer the question, "What is it to
serve our own generation? I would say, it is not to fly from it. If any
man says, "The world is so bad that I will avoid coming into contact
with it altogether. Even the teaching of Christianity has become so
diluted and is so thoroughly on the Down-Grade that I will have nothing
to do with it," he is certainly not serving his own generation! If he
shall shut himself up, like a hermit, in his cave, and leave the world
to go to ruin as it may, he will not be like David, for he served his
own generation before he fell asleep. She that goes into a nunnery, and
he that enters a monastery are like soldiers who run away and hide
among the baggage! You

must not do anything of the sort! Come forward and fight evil, and
triumph over it, whether it be evil of doctrine, evil of practice, or
evil of any other kind! Be bold for Christ–bear your witness and be
not ashamed. If you do not take your stand in this way, it can never
truly be said of you that you served your generation. Instead of that,
the truth will be that you allowed your generation to make a coward of
you, or to muzzle you like a dog and to send you out into the streets
neither to bark nor to bite, nor to do anything by which you might
prove that there is a soul within you!

If we ask, again, What is it to serve our generation? I answer, it is
to perform the common duties of life as David did. David was the son of
a farmer, a sheep-owner, and he took, first of all, to the keeping of
the sheep. Many young men do not like to do the common work of their
own father's business. You do not want to drudge, you say–you want to
be a king! Well, there are not many openings in that line of business,
and I shall not recommend anyone to be eager to enter them if there
were! "Seek you great things for yourself? Seek them not." Before David
swayed the scepter, he grasped the shepherd's crook. He that at home
cannot or will not undertake ordinary duties, will not be likely to
serve his age! The girl who dreams about the foreign missionary field,
but cannot darn her brother's stockings, will not be of service either
at home or abroad. Do the commonplace things, the ordinary things that
come in your way, and you will begin to serve your generation as David
served his.

But serving our generation means more than this. It is to be ready for
the occasion when it comes. In the midst of the routine of daily life,
we should, by diligence in duty, prepare for whatever may be our future
opportunity, waiting patiently until it comes. Look at David's occasion
of becoming famous. He never sought it. He did not go up and down among
his sheep, sighing and crying, "Oh, that I could get away from this
dull business of looking after these flocks! My brothers have gone to
the camp–they will get on as soldiers–but here am I, buried among
these rocks, too look after these poor beasts." He was wiser than that!
He quietly waited God's time. That is always a wise thing to do. If you
are to serve God, wait till He calls you to do His work–He knows where
to find you when He wants you–you need not advertise yourself to His
Omniscience.

At length the set time came for David. On a certain day, his father
bade him go to his brothers and take them some corn and some loaves,
with cheeses for their captain. And he reached the camp just at the
time when the giant Goliath was stalking forth and defying all the
armies of Israel to meet him. Now is David's time and the young man is
ready for it! If he had lost the opportunity he might have remained a
shepherd all the rest of his days. He tells Saul how he slew both the
lion and the bear–and prophesies that the uncircumcised Philistine
shall be as one of them, seeing he had defied the armies of the living
God! Disdaining Saul's armor, he takes his sling and his five smooth
stones out of the brook–and soon he comes back with the gory head of
the giant in his hand! If you want to serve the Church and serve the
age, beloved Friend, be wide awake when the occasion comes! Jump into
the saddle when the horse is at your door and God will bless you if you
are on the look-out for opportunities of serving Him.

What is it, again, to serve our generation? It is to maintain true
religion. This David did. He had grave faults in his later life which
we will not extenuate, but he never swerved from his allegiance to
Jehovah the true God. No word or action of his ever sanctioned anything
like idolatry, or turning aside from the worship of Jehovah, the God of
Israel. He bore a noble witness to his Lord. He said, "I will speak of
Your testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed." And we
may be sure that he was as good as his word and that when he met with
foreign potentates, he vindicated the living God before them. The whole
set and current of his life, with the exception of his terrible fall,
was to the glory of God in whom he trusted and to the praise of that
God who had delivered him.

We, too, shall truly serve those among whom we dwell by maintaining
true religion. Had 10 righteous men been found in Sodom, it would have
been spared and the world, today, only escapes the righteous judgment
of God because of the presence in it of those who fear Him and tremble
at His Word. The spread of "pure and undefiled religion" is a certain
way to serve those around us. To help true religion, David wrote many
Psalms which were sung all over the land of Israel. A wonderful
collection of poems they are–there is none like them under Heaven! Not
even a Milton, with all his mighty soaring, can equal David in the
height of his adoration of God and the depth of his experience! That
man does no mean service for his time who gives the people new songs
which they can sing unto their God! While none can equal the Inspired
Psalms of the Hebrew king, which must always form the choicest
praise-book of the Church, other men may, in lesser degree, serve their
own generation, by the will of God, in a similar way and be blessed in
the deed.

To serve our own generation is not a single action, done at once, and
over forever–it is to continue to serve all our life. Notice well that
David served "his own generation"–not only a part of it–but the whole
of it. He began to serve God and he kept on serving God. How many young
men have I seen who were going to do wonders! Ah, me! They were as
proud of the intention as though they had already done the deed! They
took a front seat and they seemed to think that everybody ought to
admire them because of what they were going to do! And they were so
pleased with the project that they never carried it out. They thought
that they might meet with some mishap if they really attempted to do
the thing–and the project was so beautiful that they preserved it
under a glass shade–and there it is now! Nothing has been
accomplished! Nothing has been done, though much has been thought of.
This is folly!

Some, too, begin well, and they serve their God earnestly for a time,
but all of a sudden their service stops. One cannot quite tell how it
happens, but we never hear of them afterwards. Men, as far as I know
them, are wonderfully like horses. You get a horse and you think, "This
is a first-rate animal," and so it is. It goes well for a while, but
all of a sudden it drops lame and you have to get another one. So it is
with Church members. I notice that, every now and then, they get an
amazing lameness! To very many we have to say, even as Paul said to the
Galatians, "You did run well; who did hinder you, that you should not
obey the truth?" But David continually served God to the end of his
life. May we all, by Divine Grace, thus serve our whole generation!

Yet more is included in this faithful serving of our generation. It is
to prepare for those who are to come after us. David served his
generation to the very end by providing for the next generation. He was
not permitted to build the Temple, but he stored up a great mass of
gold and silver to enable his son, Solomon, to carry out his noble
design and build a house for God. This is real service–to begin to
serve God in early youth–to keep on till old age shall come and even
then, to say, "I cannot expect to serve the Lord much longer, but I
will prepare the way, as far as I can, for those who will come after
me."

Many years ago, Dr. Rippon, the minister of this Church, which then
worshipped in New Park Street, was known to prophesy about his
successor. When he was very old, after having been pastor for more than
60 years, it is in the memory of some still living that he was
accustomed to pray for the minister who would come after him. The old
man looked forward to one who should come and carry on the work after
he was obliged to leave it. So must you and I do! We must be looking
ahead as far as we can, not with unbelieving anxiety or unholy
curiosity, but after the fashion in which David prepared abundantly
before his death. If we cannot find a successor to enter upon our
service when we have to leave it, yet let us do all we can to make his
work the easier when he comes to it.

II. In the second place, let us ask a question even more practical than
the first–WHAT PARTS OF OUR GENERATION CAN WE SERVE? It is truly
written, "None of us lives to himself," we either help or hinder those
among whom we dwell. Let us see to it that we serve our age and become
steppingstones rather than stumbling blocks to those by whom we are
surrounded. We shall serve our generation best by being definite in our
aim. In trying to reach everybody we may help nobody. The wise man
tries to serve somebody in particular–where, then, should we make the
effort? In answering that question, I divide the generation in which we
live into three parts.

First, there is the part that is setting. Some are like the sun going
down in the west–they will soon be gone. Serve them, dear Brothers and
Sisters. You that are in health and vigor, comfort them, strengthen
them and help them all you can. Be a joy to that dear old man who has
been spared to you even beyond the allotted threescore years and ten,
and praise God for the Grace that has upheld him through his long
pilgrimage. Look on his gray hairs as a crown of glory– make his
descent to the grave as easy as you can. He once was as young as you
are. He once had the vigor that you have. Console him, cheer him, give
him the respect that is due to his many years. Do not let him feel that
you consider him an old fogey who lingers, superfluous, on the
stage–but learn from his experience, imitate his perseverance, and ask
God to be with you in your old age, as He is with him.

The second portion of our generation which we can serve is the part
that is shining. I mean those in middle life who are like the sun at
its zenith. They are working hard, bearing the burden and heat of the
day. As yet their bones are full of marrow and they are strong men
ready for service for the Lord. Seek to sustain their hands in every
possible way. Help them all you can. As one of those in middle life, I
especially ask the help of all my Christian Brothers and Sisters,
members of this Church, or of any other Church, who can aid me by their
sympathies and their prayers. Get closer to one another and fill up the
vacant spaces that death's arrows continue to make in our ranks. Suffer
nothing to be left undone which

may further the work of Christ, or help the people around you who are
so quickly passing away. Many of us have been together for nearly 40
years, and when, one after another, our dear Brothers and Sisters are
taken away, let it be everybody's ambition to try to make up what shall
be lacking through their departure. This is what is due to those who
are like the shining part of our generation.

Especially, however, I want to speak to you about serving your own
generation in the part that is rising–the young people who are like
the sun in the east, as yet scarcely above the horizon. This part of
our generation is especially the care of parents and Sunday school
teachers, but let us not leave it entirely to them. We can, most of us,
do something to serve this portion of our generation before we fall
asleep. Beloved, I commend to your care and attention the children and
young people who abound in our midst! In them lies our hope for the
future of God's cause on earth.

In the first place, they are the most reachable. Happily, we can get at
the children. The mass of people in London go to no place of
worship–the old habit of attending Church or Chapel seems to have been
given up–but the people will still let the children go to Sunday
school, even if they do it from no better motive than that of getting
them out of the way in the afternoon, or in order that the house may be
quiet without them. Anyway, if you open a school anywhere in London,
you can quickly get it filled with children. If you cannot do one
thing, do another! If you cannot reach the fathers and the mothers,
though you should earnestly try to get at them, yet, if you can reach
the children, take care that you lose no opportunity of teaching them
the things of God! This is the work that lies nearest to you–seek to
accomplish it and, "whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your
might."

Moreover, the children are the most impressible. What can we do with
the man who is hardened in sin? The Grace of God can reach him, I know,
but the children, as yet, have not known these evil ways. They are
horrified when they hear about them. Teach them while yet the clay is
soft–mold it for God! May the Lord, Himself, help you, dear Sunday
school teachers and others who labor among the children, to do your
work right well! Nobly are you serving your own generation and the
generation to follow. The salvation of the children ought to be sought
with double diligence, for they will last the longest. If a man of 60
or 70 is converted, he will have only a short time for serving God, for
he will soon be gone. If a child is converted, a long life of
usefulness may enrich the Church of God. Therefore, look after the
children!

If you had a gathering of Christian men and women and were to put the
question to them, "How many of you were converted before you were
twenty-one?" you would be greatly surprised to find that probably five
out of six would answer that, in early years, they were led to know the
Grace of God and trust in Christ as their Savior. I tried the
experiment one evening with a number of friends who had come together
from different places. "How many of you owe your salvation to your
father's prayers, your mother's instruction, or your Sunday school
teachers' influence in youth?" I asked. And almost everyone out of a
company of about 25 said that it was in early youth that God blessed
some instrumentality to their conversion.

Remember, too, that those who are converted when children usually make
the best saints. These of whom I have just spoken, who gave the answer
that they were converted in their youth, were ministers of the Gospel!
I do not know whether the same rule is true among ordinary Christians,
but among those who have become leaders of men, in nearly every case
they yielded to Christ while they were young. Our thoughts at this time
cannot but be occupied with our dear friend, William Olney, who has
just been taken from us so suddenly, to our unutterable grief. He was
as earnest as a youth as he was when he became an old man! Indeed, I
never knew a moment when he was not earnest. I never even knew him to
be dull or depressed–he seemed to be always joyous and glad. He would
almost frighten me, sometimes, with his jubilation under pain–for when
he was in agonies of suffering and could only sit on the platform for a
short time– there was never anything like depression about him! He was
just as glad and happy as if he had been in perfect health. I wish that
it were so with all of us. Young Christians do become the best
Christians. Early piety is usually eminent piety, so seek to catch the
children while they are young and train them for the Lord–then they
will be ready to serve their generation in their turn.

We ought to look after the children, again, for they are specially
named by Christ. He said, "Feed My sheep," but He also said, "Feed My
lambs." I would almost be inclined to say that the Lord made the same
division of the generation as I have done. When He said, the first
time, "Feed My sheep," He may have meant the old sheep. When He said,
the second time, "Feed My sheep," He may have had especially in mind
the middle-aged ones. There is no doubt that when He said,

"Feed My lambs," He meant the young people. Christ gave the lambs a
place all to themselves–"Feed My lambs." I wish Christians would
consider more seriously how the children ought to be looked after by
the Church.

I read, the other day, of a boy who wished to join in membership with
the people of God. His father said that he was too young and kept him
back. He was big enough, however, to be sent out to fold the sheep one
night. When he came in, his father said, "Jack have you folded the
sheep?" "Yes," he said, "I folded all the sheep," laying great stress
on the last word. "And did you put the lambs in?" asked his father.
"No," he replied, "I left the lambs outside–they were too young to go
in." "Oh, Jack!" said the father, "you know more than I do, after
all–they were the very ones that needed most to be folded. You may go
and see the minister about joining the Church as soon as you like!" If
any Believers in Christ need especially to be taken into the Church, it
is those who have come to Jesus in their youth! I pray you, serve your
generation by giving the children and young people your most loving
attention and care!

Look after the children of this generation, again, for the dangers
around them at the present time are almost innumerable. What a time
this is for boys! You cannot read the daily papers without being
shocked by the amounts of wrongdoing of mere boys. This is an age which
seems to make snares on purpose to entrap them. There are "penny
dreadfuls" enough to poison the whole generation! They are full of
stories of crime with a false halo about it so that it is made to seem
like heroism! These vile stories are everywhere–perhaps your own boy
has one, unknown to you–and is reading it while you are sitting here.
Traps are laid everywhere for the feet of our boys and girls! Serve
your generation by warning them of their danger and trying to keep them
free from the evils by which they are surrounded. Satan gets the
advantage over many a young life by causing even right things to be put
to wrong uses–and in all sorts of ways he lays traps for young people.

Oh, parents and teachers, do try to give your children a backbone of
moral honesty! Try to show them that they have not come into this world
merely to please themselves, that there is something better to be done
than that. Do not rest till you have led them to the Savior, for no boy
is safe until he is converted! No girl is safe in the streets of this
city till she has a new heart and a right spirit. The times are
perilous, yet if we speak a word of warning, we are called sour
Puritans! It always makes me laugh when I am called a sour Puritan
because you know there is nobody with a quicker eye for fun, or with a
deeper vein of mirth than I have! At the same time, I like to have
humor and anything of cheerfulness and brightness in life consecrated
to God. But when mirth is made a plank on which a man can go into sin
and iniquity, then we will saw that plank into pieces! You must be
saved from sin, young men! You must be kept from evil, young women, if
you are to be truly happy! May God's Grace put in your way wise, godly
friends, parents and teachers who shall serve their generation by
leading you in the paths of peace!

III. Now, I have done when I have tried, for just a minute or two, to
answer this question–WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO US WHEN OUR SAVIOR IS DONE?
"David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell
on sleep." The day's work is done; the worker is weary; he falls on
sleep–what can he do better? It was all "by the will of God." To what
part of the sentence do you think that clause belongs? Did David serve
his generation by the will of God or did he fall asleep by the will of
God? Both! Guided by the will of God, he did his work on earth and
calmly resigned to the will of God, he prepared to die. Even when
passing away, he served his generation by giving Solomon some last
charges concerning the kingdom, saying, "I go the way of the earth; be
you strong and show yourself a man." Over both his life and his death
may be written the words, "By the will of God." Oh, that we may all so
live, that even in death we may serve our generation! May it be true of
us that "whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we
die unto the Lord; whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the
Lord's"! Thus, "the will of God" shall be done both in our service and
in our sleep.

David is an example of what will befall those who know Christ at the
end of their service. He did not go to sleep till his work was done.
"David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell
on sleep." Do not want to die till you have done your work! When
Brothers and Sisters say, "Oh, I wish I could go to Heaven! Oh, when
shall I get Home?" they remind me of a man who, when he begins work on
Monday, says, "I wish it were Saturday night." We do not need servants
like that, nor does God, either! Be willing to live for 250 years, if
God wills it. Be willing to live until strength fails you, if God wills
it–you can still bear your dying testimony to the Lord's faithful and
unchanging love. Do not be in a hurry to go home to Heaven. Do not want
to go to sleep till you also have served your generation well. When
David had served his generation, he fell on sleep. We are told that, in
the early days of Christianity, when Believers

were falling asleep in Jesus, their friends did not bid them
"good-bye," but, "good night." So we say, in the words of that
beautiful hymn–

"Sleep on, Beloved, sleep, and take your rest, Lay down your head upon
your Savior's breast– We love you well, but Jesus loves you best.
Goodnight! Goodnight! Goodnight! Only 'good night,' Beloved–not
'farewell!' A little while, and all His saints shall dwell In hallowed
union, indivisible– Goodnight!

Until we meet again before His Throne, Clothed in the spotless robe He
gives His own, Until we know even as we are known– Goodnight""

But next we are told that when his work was done, he fell on sleep. Did
his soul sleep? By no means! It was not his soul that is spoken of
here, for we read that he "saw corruption." Souls do no see corruption!
Paul is speaking of David's body. "He fell on sleep, and was laid with
his fathers, and saw corruption." His body fell into its last, long
sleep, and saw corruption. If you like to take the words in the wider
sense, he was asleep as far as the world is concerned–he had done with
it. No sorrow came to him, no earthly joy, no mingling with the strife
of tongues, no girding his harness for the war. "He fell on sleep." He
had nothing to do with anything that was under the sun. And that is the
case with our dear Friend whom we miss from his place today–and it
will soon be the case, also, with you and with me. There is not much
here worth stopping for and when our work is finished, like David, we
shall fall on sleep. We shall then be asleep to all the declensions of
the age, all the strifes of men and all else which gives us sorrow of
heart.

Does not this word further mean that his dying was like going to sleep?
It usually is so with God's people. Some die with a considerable
measure of pain, but, as a rule, when Believers pass away, they just
shut their eyes and open them in Heaven. I have had infinitely more
pleasure at deathbeds than I have had at weddings. I have been to many
marriage feasts–I have gone there at duty's call–but I can confirm
what Solomon said, "It is better to go to the house of mourning, than
to go to the house of feasting: for it is the end of all men; and the
living will lay it to his heart." I am not aware that I have gained
anything at a wedding, but I have gained much at the dying bed, as I
have seen the joy and peace and rapture of girls and youths, and men
and women passing away joyfully to be "forever with the Lord."

I have known some of our number here who were too bashful and backward
to ever say much for Christ when they were well–but when I was sent to
see them die, there was not a bit of bashfulness about them! They spoke
out so boldly that I have said to them, "Why, if you get better, you
must preach for me one of these Sundays!" And they have smiled and said
that they would never get better. They have known this and they have
rejoiced to think that they were going where they would not need any
preacher, but would see their Lord Jesus face to face! How they have
brightened up at the mention of His dear name! Some of them have sung,
then, though I never knew them to sing before–and some of them have
told of things which they seemed to see and hear which eyes have not
seen, nor ears heard, till God has revealed them to the departing
spirit.

You remember such dying beds, do you not? Was it your mother, or your
father who passed away in that glorious style? Perhaps it was a beloved
brother, or a sister, or a friend. Well, if we know Christ, it shall be
ours, by-and-by, to sleep in Him. You who believe in Christ ought no
more to dread death than you dread going to sleep at night! You will,
before you sleep, commit yourself to God, and as you put your head on
the pillow, the similitude of death will be upon you, even sleep which
one has called, "death's cousin." You are not afraid of that! Why,
then, should any dismay seize you in prospect of that which is but
another sleep? Rather sing to yourself–

"Since Jesus is mine, I'll not fear undressing, But gladly put off
these garments of clay! To die in the Lord is a Covenant blessing,
Since Jesus to Glory through death leads the way." Let us follow where
He leads! Perchance some of us may tarry until He comes again. There
will be no death for such– they will but change the service of their
generation for the service of the glorified. "Behold, I show you a
mystery; we

shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed." Then, when the
trumpet shall sound, this corruptible shall put on incor-ruption–those
who sleep in Christ shall awake in Resurrection splendor and together
we shall serve our Lord day and night in His Temple forever! Meanwhile,
serve your own generation by the will of God. And if the Lord should
tarry, you will fall on sleep, even as David did. May God bless you,
who believe in Jesus, and save the unsaved who are in our midst, for
our Lord Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

Portion of Scripture Read before Sermon–Acts 13:14-43.