The Wednesday Word ~ 30 September, 2026 A.D.

The Gospel and a Good Death, Part III

by D G Miles McKee

“Look by faith to your dying, buried, risen, ascended, glorified Lord. Nothing will more powerfully overcome both the poison and the fears of death, than the believing thoughts of Him that has triumphed over it.” –Richard Baxter.  excerpt from, Directions for a Peaceful Death 

In the two previous Wednesday Words, we discussed how that, because of the lack of Gospel ministry, countless numbers of Christians do not know how to die well. When a man is on his deathbed, he’s not going to thank his pastor for having taught him how to be an emotional success in life. All the self-help and self-improvement techniques will be useless at that stage. On our deathbeds we will have a different set of priorities. 

As Spurgeon says, “—Go and see some of our dying friends; go and talk to them about politics and they will look you in the face and say, “Oh, I am going from this time-state: it is a very small matter to me what political change will be carried out.” You will not find them much interested in that matter. Well, then, sit down and talk to them about the weather, and how the crops are getting on-” Well, it is a good prospect for wheat this year.” They will say, “Ah, my harvest is ripening in glory.” Introduce the most interesting topic you can, and a believer, who is lying on the verge of eternity, will find nothing precious in it; but sit down by the bedside of this man, and he may be very near gone, almost unconscious, and begin to talk about Jesus-mention that precious soul-reviving, soul strengthening name Jesus, and you will see his eye glisten, and the blanched cheek will be flushed once more-

”Ah,” he will say, “Precious Jesus, that is the name which calms my fears, and bids my sorrows cease.” You will see that you have given the man a strong tonic, and that his whole frame is braced up for the moment. Even when he dies, the thought of Jesus Christ and the prospect of seeing Him shall make him living amid death, strong in the midst of weakness, and fearless in the midst of trembling. And this proves, by the experience of God’s people, that with those who believe in Him, Christ is and ever must be a precious Christ." -CHS: Christ Precious to Believers: Sermon #242

Sin introduced death to the human race: however, according to the book of Hebrews, Christ purged His people’s sins before He sat down in cosmic authority (Hebrews 1:3). We need to let this sink in! At the cross, Christ did away with our sins and uncleanness. At the cross, our sins were judged, punished and paid for before we had even committed them! If you believe this, you will have a good death.

So how did Christ purge our sins?

By His teaching? No!

By His kind words? No!

By His miracles? No!

He purged our sins, “By Himself.” He Himself purged our sins—He is the Lamb who has taken away our sins, He is the one, “Who His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree.” He is the One who “By His own blood entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”

He is the one who “offered Himself without spot to God.”

He is the One who gave Himself for us;

He Himself is our ransom!

Believe these truths and you will have a good death.

So dear believer, where are your sins? He has purged them! That means they are gone! Our sins and their filth have been effectively taken away, once for all! Look around you, where are your sins? —They don’t exist—they are purged—they have been, not merely forgiven, they have been paid for by blood, the blood of the God/Man. Because of the cross we have been rendered clean! 

We sometimes forget that in the Old Testament the atonement, left the believers clean, Leviticus 16:30 says, “For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.” How much more then does the true priest, the Lord Jesus by His atonement declare us clean before God. Believe this and you will have a good death!

To be continued...

And that´s the Gospel Truth!