Ready For Death
- Apr 12
- 15 min read
Updated: Apr 14
Pastor Stan Mons
Sermon Transcription:
This morning, the title for this word is “Ready for death.” Ready for death. 1 Corinthians 4:9 reads this: “Instead, I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display like prisoners of war at the end of a victor’s parade, condemned to die. We have become a spectacle to the entire world, to people and angels alike.” See, I, I have never—and I probably, hopefully never will—call myself an apostle. But every country I’ve ministered to, every mentor I’ve ever had, independently from each other, have always said, “Stan, there’s an apostolic office on your life.” And I don’t like to talk about that too much because people look at it like a really large word. What that really means today, the ministry of the apostolic offices, is that God has called you with that call. He’s placed that office on your life. And that simply means that wherever God sends you, new things are started. Wherever God leads you, he starts new things, and he starts them, he grows them, he causes them to begin to come into existence and to bring glory to his own name.
But there’s been many a time in my life that I really identify with this scripture, where we get a rare look into the personal wonderings of the heart of the apostle Paul, who literally says, “Sometimes I think…” In other words, I’m not quite sure one day I’m going to understand it, but sometimes I think God has put us apostles on display. He just wants to show something, like prisoners of war at the end of a victor’s parade. What they would do, they would conquer a city, and they would take the fighters or the leaders of that city and they would parade them behind themselves. So the victors would go ahead up front, and everybody they conquered would be, often on a carriage, locked up, be paraded through the city as a demonstration of what strength they were able to conquer. And Paul says, “I sometimes feel like God’s doing that with me—that he’s parading me around this world, just showing off what he can conquer, showing off what he’s able to get his children through.” And he says, “Sometimes I think God also does it not only for people, but angels alike.” And I want to talk to you this morning about that topic, “Ready for death,” because we really can be ready to deal with death. Our youngest daughter, just two days ago, had an accident here at church while we were having a meeting right off in that room, and she hit her head awful hard right on our temple.
Instantly, her eyes lost complete function. Shining in it with a flashlight, the pupils wouldn’t dilate. The eyes wouldn’t follow you. She said it best herself. We were wondering, “Is it black? Do you see nothing?” She says, “Dad, if I opened my eyes or closed my eyes, it’s the same.” And we rushed her to the hospital here nearby, and she’s doing well. Her eyesight by now has returned. People were praying all over the world through the night. But somewhere while we were in the midst of that whirlwind in the hospital, one of the people that were leading a prayer group, I believe in New Jersey, praying for our little one, asked, “Is this your first time having a child with major concern in the hospital?” And unfortunately, I’d say no.
Sion was there twice last year. Lenie was there last year for, for what I would call, Lenie, a minor surgery removing a growth. Sion, one time, staring for a moment there, death in the face. And I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display because every single time that something so out of our control and something so kind of extreme, out of nowhere, happens—every single time—I’ve experienced it in various ways, sometimes more severe than others. Every single time, the moment it happens, the peace of God instantly falls both on my wife and I, and there’s just nothing that can touch us. And it’s literally as if God says, “Just trust this parade. Just let me take you on this journey. I have all of this under control.” Peace is all surrounding us. It honestly makes no logical sense. You, at times, may even feel like an irresponsible parent. And I sometimes think there’s a parade going on for some people and for some angels to see what God is able to do in the life of what I would describe as a worthless, sinful man that has done never anything right, even since getting saved, other than believing that because of Jesus, he’s forgiven.
God really can make you ready to face death. Inna and I had to, in that moment where Ester couldn’t walk anymore, her eyes had already given in. She began to scream as we were driving to the hospital, “My head, my head, I can’t.” “I can’t. I can’t.” And I’d never seen her in such pain. And she’s our tough kid. Inna and I had to come to terms with this could be a brain bleed. It has some of the signs, especially the eyes losing all function contributed to that being a real threat. And we had to consider, we don’t know if we’ll be bringing her back home tonight. We don’t know if we’re going to lose her. We don’t know if we’ll ever get her back the same. I’m telling you today, you really can be ready to deal with death. But if you’re not ready to deal with death, fear will grip your heart in these kinds of situations. And a lot of people experience that they still are under the grip of fear when things are out of control, or when things happen that they don’t have the ability to change or to influence, or they come literally face to face with death of a loved one.
The thoughts, the concerns that begin to spiral into the heart—being afraid, worried—Jesus does not want that for you. And no matter who you are this morning, no matter if you say, “I, I don’t even know if I have a relationship with Jesus yet. I don’t even know if I really want to repent of my sins. I don’t really know if I am able to believe on him,” Jesus does not want you to struggle with the fear of dying or your loved ones dying. I’ll read to you Hebrews 2, verse 14 and 15. “Inasmuch then as the children”—that is talking about the children of faith, you and I—“inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself”—talking about Jesus—“he himself likewise shared in the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”
This is one of the major things that Jesus came to do: to defeat the enemy, the devil, Satan—that snake of old—to defeat the enemy and to release those that used to have the fear of death all their lifetime, subject to bondage. What kind of bondage? They are bound to this life, and it’s a strong type of bondage. It’s the kind of bondage that makes you feel you’ve got to get the best out of this life. It’s the kind of bondage that makes you feel like you don’t really want to lay all of your life down. It’s the kind of bondage that screams in your bones that this is your life, and God, including anyone else, is not really allowed to tell you what to do with it. You only have one life, and, and every fiber of your body seems to know it, and it manifests itself in that bondage to that one life. And it makes mankind—it makes you, it makes the believer, it makes the unbeliever, when you struggle with this—fearful when death comes around, begins to touch your life in whatever way.
You can be ready for death in whatever way it may touch yourself or your family. But if you’re not ready, if you have not been made ready by the Son of God, if you have not been released by the Son of God all your lifetime, fears will grip your heart off and on, time and time again. And when you live a life where you have not been released by the Son of God from the fear of death and the bondage that comes with it, then, then from time to time you’re going to have a good time in life. You’re going to enjoy things. You’re going to love people. There’s going to be times where you’re not necessarily struggling with worry. But anytime death comes close to you, anytime you are confronted with things that may affect when the end of your life may be, anytime something like that comes into your life, fear comes in. If you’ve not been released by the Son of God from that fear, everyone has it until they are released. It makes you scared when you think on it— on death—or if you are confronted with death, your own or those closest to you, that fear is stirred back up in your life every time, if you’re not released. But Jesus doesn’t want that to go on in you, inside of you.
First John 5, verse 12 and 13: “Whoever has the Son has life. Whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” See, you see, John makes it very simple. He says knowing Jesus is knowing life. And if you don’t know Jesus, if he doesn’t talk with you, if he doesn’t explain by his Holy Spirit the scriptures to you personally, if he doesn’t teach you to pray, if he has not released you personally from the fear of death, if he has not taken the sins off of you and shown you that he has taken them to the cross to make you completely clean—if, if, if you do not know him as your Christ, Christ, your Lord, your Savior—then really all you’re going to know, all that’s going to be real to you, is death.And when you’re face to face with it, it will cause you to shiver. It will make you afraid.
Now, let me tell you a little bit of the setting of the story that we will look at in Luke 7 today. In the beginning of Luke 7, Jesus does an incredibly famous miracle. And it’s not so much for the miracle; it’s because of what he says and whose life he does it in. He heals the servant of a centurion, not a Jew. Right here in the story, we read something incredible. Jesus was amazed, and Jesus told the Jews, “I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” And right there, as that story comes to an end, we pick up the story that we are looking at today. Luke 7, verse 11–16: “Soon afterward”—right after this story—“soon afterward Jesus went to a town called Naan, and his disciple and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.” Very important note.
It was about the most fearful thing for a woman to be a widow. Now, if she had a son, she would still have an inheritance in Israel; she would still be able to survive. But to lose her son as well, more in—than in most of the cases—that woman would end up being a beggar, living off of charity in the street. And so there’s a reason that this story tells us that this was the only son of a mother, and she was already a widow. In many cases, it would have almost felt like her life was probably coming to an end. In every case, the way that she had known life would have been coming to an end. And then we read verse 13: “And when the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her, and he said, ‘Don’t cry.’ Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, ‘Young man, I say to you, get up.’ The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.” “They were all filled with awe and praised God. ‘A great prophet has appeared among us,’ they said. ‘God has come to help his people.’”
See, we can learn so many things from this story. But what I want you to see today, as we talk about this ready-for-death stuff, what I want you to see in this story is that when a brother or sister in the Lord dies—whether it’s your child, your parent, your friend—when a brother or a sister in the Lord dies and comes before Jesus, you know that he will raise them back alive. That’s what the story is showing us. This woman has the pain of death that she is experiencing. And Jesus never promises that we will not have pain in this life. But as soon as her dead son is brought before Jesus, he brings him back to life. And this is Jesus doing the will of the Father. This is Jesus being who he is called to be in your and my life.
Well, now we know that the lamb is before the throne of the Most High God. John says, “I saw him as a lamb slain, standing.” And when you or I, or a loved one of you—a brother or sister in the Lord that believed in the name of Jesus—is brought before Christ, he will raise that person back to life. I’ll read it to you in John 6:40: “And this is the will of him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at that last day.” Jesus was showing in this story what it is going to be like when we lose one of our people—one of the ones that are close to our heart, someone, a brother or a sister in the Lord, whoever they may be to you. All they have is they have believed that, because of Jesus, they are perfectly forgiven. And Jesus says, when they are brought before me, I’ll raise them back to life. “Don’t cry.” He told the woman, “Don’t cry.” He did that before he did the miracle. He says, “Don’t cry. I will raise him up at the last day.”
There’s still pain, but there’s no fear. Not for the born-again believer. There’s no bondage. I’m not bound to this life on earth. When this life on earth ends a little too early for my feelings or my perception, it, it’s, it’s still painful, but there’s no fear because this is not the only life I got. I’m free. I’m going to be taken care of. My loved ones are going to be taken care of. Two days ago, we were rushing through the hospital. Doctors were concerned. They weren’t quite sure because the eyes were not responding to anything. Ester is in more pain than I’ve ever seen her in. She’s kind of convulsing, and her body is, is shocking just because she had such excruciating pain. Inna and I are there, hurting for our little girl. But in that whole process at the hospital, there was some waiting involved between appointments, and in that moment, in our opinion, a little too much waiting, a little too much time, and fear began to launch an attack on our hearts. Do the people here not care enough for our little girl, how she’s doing? Do they work hard enough for our daughter?
Are they going to give her what she needs right now, at the time that she needs it right now? And once our nurse came back and, and began wheeling Ester out, and, and we’re following along for a CT scan for her brain, we’re running across the hall from one side of the wing to another because on our end the CT machine was taken. But they sensed they needed to get her in as soon as possible, so we’re running across the hall. And as we’re running, a lady jumps out. We hadn’t seen her yet. And as we’re running by, she shouts, “Is that Ester?” “Yes,” Kyle shouted as he kept running. And the lady said, “Okay, that’s good.” And she responded with a smile. And that question hit my heart so, so deeply and so hard as we were running. “Is that Ester?” And the moment that lady shouted that, the Holy Spirit spoke so clearly to me: she’s known. She’s known by me in heaven. I love her. I’m making sure that she’s known on earth where she’s in need right now. You’re not the only one concerned for her. You’re not the only one running. She is known. And instantly, whatever fear attacks were trying to be launched, they were rendered powerless. Instantly, it’s going to be okay. My daughter’s going to be okay. Even if she dies, she’s going to come before Jesus. He’ll raise her back to life. She’s known. There will be pain; there will not be fear.
See, the born-again believer is not in bondage anymore. It’s not bound to this life. So if this life fails, it’s not a problem. It’s not a problem because I’m not bound to this life. I also will live eternally. My kiddo will. There will be pain; there will not be fear. There’ll be pain for a time, but there will not be fear in this life. Church, this is not a talk about what things will be like in heaven in this life. This is the promise of God to you. If you have been cleansed of your sins by Jesus Christ, you will not struggle with fear. John 6:40: “And this is the will of him”—this is what the Father wants, a very simple translation of what it says here—“this is the will of him who sent me. This is what God the Father wants: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have everlasting life, and I’ll raise him up at the last day.” Jesus encounters any dead son or daughter of the kingdom, he’ll raise him to life again and release those who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage. All their lifetime, they were bound to having to make this life the best they could make it. All this time, they were, because of the fear of death, bound to this life, to hold on to it. It’s so impossible to lay it completely down for the things of God. It makes no sense.
You’re not doing anything wrong if that’s you. Jesus is the one that releases you. You can’t do it yourself. He’ll do that for you. If you want to be released from the fear of death so that you’re no longer bound to one life, he’ll do it for you. This is what he desires for your life. Here’s a question I want you to ask yourself, just between you and God right here today: Have you been released from bondage to this world? You can be ready for death. That’s what the Father wants for you: that you’re always found ready, never intimidated by death, not worried about it, not concerned by it. Have you been released by the Son of God from the fear of death? If you’re not quite sure, there is one thing that you need to do this morning. Isaiah 45:22: “Turn to me and be saved.” That’s what the word says: “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other.” Turn to me and be saved from the fear of death. Turn to me and be saved from your sins. Turn to me and be saved from the future that you fear. He says, “I am God.” In other words, I can actually do this for you. I can actually deliver you, release you from the fear of death, release you from the grip that this world has on your heart. “I release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” “Turn to me,” he says, “and be saved.”
He gives eternal life, and he helps your heart to understand eternal life. Your mouth may not be able to explain it in this world, but your heart will understand eternal life. And this life, this temporary life on earth, it’ll lose all grip. It’ll lose all power on you, so you’re not bound anymore to being driven to live on this earth, to live it up, to make it everything you can. If you die, he raises you again. There’s no fear, no bondage screaming in your bones that says, “I must have this life here on earth.” Jesus, the Son of God, is the one that releases that bondage, that releases the fear. And he’ll do it for you. He’ll do it this morning. “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth, for I’m God and there’s no other.” If you say, “That’s me. I need to be released from a fear that returns to my mind and heart. When death is looking me in the eye, so to speak—my situation or someone I love—fear returns to my thinking, my heart. I recognize that, pastor, that I feel like this life here on earth is very, very important for me. It’s still very important for me that I get to do with it what I want to do with it.
Honestly, I would, I’d love to be different, but this is all I know. This is all I can do. I need that. I need the Son of God to do a releasing, to do a setting free that I cannot do myself. I cannot change it myself. I cannot make my heart calm. I cannot cause my life to be about eternity. I can’t make that change myself. I need the Son of God to do the release in my life.” If that is you, and you are willing to say yes to God—yes God, your will be done. Yes, God. Yes, Father, if you want me to be free from the fear of death. Father, if you want me to be free from being bound to this world. Father, if you want me to be free, all I can say is yes. There’s nothing good I’ve ever done. I cannot pay you back for my sins. I cannot change my ways. But if you can set me free, I’m willing. I want to say yes. If that is you, I want to invite you to come and join me here at the front so that we can pray together and that we can say yes to God. You never know exactly what you’re saying yes to, and he’s going to take you on a journey that you could have never imagined. But if you begin to say yes to God, I can promise you this: you’ll be ready for death anytime that it shows up. You’ll be ready to look death right back in the face and not have a simmer of fear in your heart or mind. It doesn’t look like an enemy. It doesn’t look impressive. It doesn’t look like a problem. There’ll be pain in missing a loved one for a season, but there need not be any fear for those that have believed on the name of Jesus. If you say, “I want to be released and freed from it,” I want to invite you right now to come on down so we can pray together.
-Pastor Stan Mons
