Jeff Smith
Pastor Piñero called me this afternoon and informed me of the death of Mr. Mesa. In the light of Mr. Mesa’s death, your pastors have asked that I preach an appropriate sermon, so this afternoon I went to my little study and my Bible, and I prayed and asked God to help me. Tonight I hope to give you a message related to this matter of the death of Mr. Mesa, and before we consider God’s Word, let’s pray one more time asking for His blessing upon our study of His Word.
Our gracious God, we thank You that You are sovereign over all things. We thank You that You order our lives according to Your wisdom. We thank You that we can be here tonight on the Lord’s day in the Lord’s house.
We now pray that You would give Your Holy Spirit to Your people and that You would give Your Holy Spirit to me and that You would come with Your truth by Your Spirit and bring it home to every heart and soul in this room. We pray our God that You would not only comfort the sorrowing but give light and instruction to all, and we also pray that You would use Your Word to bring salvation to sinners who are here tonight, who are dead in their sins, who are oblivious to the realities of eternity, who do no have any care or concern for Christ or the Bible, who have no concern, really, for their own souls. Lord, come by Your Holy Spirit with Your truth and save sinners this very night. We ask for these mercies in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Well, I’ve entitled this sermon, tonight, Lessons Learned from the Death of a Loved One. I don’t believe I know—knew Mr. Mesa, perhaps I’ve met him here previously, but, whenever a loved one dies, surely it is an occasion to reflect upon many matters and so I would like to bring you some lessons learned from the death of a loved one. First of all, only truth, though often very sobering and humbling, only truth can give solid, lasting comfort and direction to the grieving. Only truth, ultimately, God’s truth, can give solid, lasting comfort and direction to the grieving. Sometimes it is sobering truth, but nevertheless it gives that comfort and direction to the grieving, and why is that so?
Well, first of all, because Biblical truth sets people free. Biblical truth sets people free.
We’re going to turn to different passages this evening. I would like you to open up your Bibles and turn to John chapter 8, and we’ll read verses 31 and 32. John chapter 8, verses 31 and 32.
These are familiar words, I’m sure, to most of you. Jesus is the one speaking, and He says,
If you abide in My Word, then are you truly My disciples, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.
God’s truth delivers us and frees us from error and falsehood. It establishes us. It becomes like a foundation for a building but for our lives, that’s what it does, it stabilizes us, especially in times of perplexity and grief.
It’s not uncommon at funerals to hear people speak things that are intended to comfort the grieving, but they do not really comfort the grieving because they are words that are not true, they are falsehoods.
As an example, things like this, I’ve heard this with my own ears: we know he is in a much better place. He is at peace now. He has no more pain and suffering.
Well, if the person who has died is a Christian, a genuine believer that would be true. He is in a better place, but it’s often said of those who are not believers and my point is, truth sets us free, truth, biblical truth stabilizes us in times of perplexity and grief.
Such words of falsehood were spoken at my own father’s funeral. My father lived and died, as far as I know, an unconverted man and I heard, as a Christian, people saying such falsehoods to others and to me, “Well, we know he’s in a much better place.”
Well, you see, falsehoods do not really bring comfort to the grieving. Even unconverted people in such situations, they know in their conscience that that’s not true. Whatever temporary relief from grief such falsehood may give some, it is only fleeting relief, but it is the truth that sets us free and liberates the heart and conscience because God, who alone can give true comfort to the grieving, is the God of truth and He cannot lie and He will not lie and we should not lie. When we speak biblical truth to others in the midst of grieving, they end up having their hearts freed. They can actually concurrently be grieving deeply, even weeping, and yet with God’s truth held on to by their own hearts, they can be rejoicing in their God and that’s what you, the people of God, need to remember at this time.
Secondly, biblical truth is also the source of wisdom, instruction and understanding.
Turn to Proverbs chapter 23, Proverbs chapter 23 and verse 23. Here we are told by Solomon—we’re actually commanded to do something, buy the truth, Proverbs 23:23, buy the truth and do not sell it, yes, wisdom and instruction and understanding.
Truth is a commodity worth purchasing. Now, of course, we can’t go out to the marketplace, to Shoprite or to any other place and literally buy truth, but Solomon is telling us that we should, as it were, do that, whenever we read our Bibles, whenever we hear truth proclaimed from the Bible, we are to regard it as more valuable than anything you could buy at Shoprite, more valuable than all of the gold at Fort Knox, Kentucky.
You are to buy truth and when you have it, you are to keep it, not let go of it.
Biblical truth is to be held on to, and in times of death, in times of sorrow, God’s truth will give the Christian the wisdom and the understanding that he or she needs at that moment of difficulty.
So, you see, dear brethren, truth, though often very sobering and indeed humbling, can give solid, lasting comfort and direction to the believer, but secondly, the truth of God’s sovereignty gives solid, lasting comfort and direction to the grieving.
So, not just truth from the Bible generally, but more specifically the truth of God’s absolute sovereignty over everything, when embraced by the Christian gives solid, lasting comfort and direction in the midst of grief.
Turn in your Bibles to Job chapter 1. Job chapter 1 and verse 20 is where we will begin our reading.
I believe most of you know the story of Job, but just to refresh your memories, Job was a man of godly character and integrity, he was a man of unsurpassed wealth and possessions in the time period in which he lived, and Satan comes before God and questions Job’s integrity, and he basically is saying, Satan is saying to God, does Job serve you for nothing?
He’s accusing Job that the only reason he really serves God, the only reason he really worships God is because God has blessed Job abundantly with wealth and possessions and so Satan is accusing, before God, Job’s integrity, and God gives Job—excuse me, Satan permission to test Job and in one day Job lost all his children and all that he owned.
He did not understand why that all happened. He did not know what was going on up in heaven before God’s throne. He did not know that Satan had been given this permission to do this, but in one day he lost all his children and all that he owned.
So, follow now, as I read Job 1, beginning with verse 20.
Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshipped and he said, naked I came out of my mother’s womb and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this, Job did not sin nor charge God foolishly.
So, you see, God sovereignly gave these gifts of children, of sons and daughters, of lands and possessions to Job. Job understood—as you read the whole book of Job you see this, he understood that he did not deserve any of these mercies or blessings or gifts from God. He understood that very clearly, and further, he understood that because of his own native sinfulness, he deserved only God’s righteous and holy wrath and yet God had been very gracious and merciful to Job and therefore Job reasons when all of this trial has come upon him, if in God’s wisdom, God deems it right to remove all of these gift from me, to remove all of my children from me in death, it is His sovereign right, His sovereign prerogative to do so.
I, Job, am but a creature of the dust. I, Job, am but a sinner before God. Who am I to question God, why are you doing this? Why has this happened?
Job, you see, declares, I came into this world possessing nothing, I shall leave this world possessing nothing. My sovereign gracious, wise and good God is to be blessed and worshipped even now in the midst of sorrow, in the midst of trial, in the midst of confusion, in the midst of doubt, in the midst of questions, I am to bow down before my God and Creator and merciful Savior and worship Him.
He is the one in control, not me and I’m glad that He is in Sovereign control of all things, so, though I do not understand why this has come upon me, I will nevertheless hold on to my God and I will bow down before Him and I will worship Him and love Him because He is Sovereign and He is wise in all that He does.
So when any grieving man, woman, boy or girl grasps these biblical truths about who God is as the sovereign of the universe, there is then peace in the soul and worship to God flows out of that same heart—again, concurrently. Uh, the- there can be real sorrow of heart, weeping and broken heart and yet there is worship and peace in the heart because of that knowledge that God is in absolute control of all of these things.
Turn now to Job chapter 2 and verses 7 to 10. We’ll read those verses now, Job 2, verse 7.
Because Job continues to worship and love God, Satan requests permission to afflict Job’s body. Satan still believes that Job only believes in God and serves God because God has been gracious to Job, so God grants permission to Satan to afflict Job’s body, and what is Job’s response to this?
Notice in verse 7 of Job 2.
So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his head and he took him a potsherd, that is Job took a piece of potsherd, clay pot, to scrape himself with it, and he sat among the ashes, then said his wife unto Job, do you still hold fast your integrity? Renounce God and die, but Job said unto her, you speak as one of the foolish women speaks. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil? In all this, Job did not sin with his lips.
You see, what was Job’s response to this trial, this ongoing trial? He refuses to forsake God. Job reasons as follows:
I have received good from God’s hand, each and every day without any second thoughts on my part. I have received food, clothing, shelter, good health up to this point, prosperity, children, peace, comforts, I have received all of these benefits from God’s sovereign hand each day. I have taken them for granted as though I did deserve them, but I know I do not deserve them. They are not my right. I do not deserve any mercies or kindnesses from God, but He has showered me with all of these mercies up to this point in time. Shall I take all of those blessings and now refuse these trials and sorrows that God has brought into my life? Shall I be a selfish, spoiled child, taking all the good things from God and then turning away from God and having a snotty attitude toward God when things don’t go the way I want? Is that the way I should think? Is that the way I should feel? Is that the way I should speak or act? Shall we do that, shall we take blessings from the hand of God and then complain and murmur and grouse when something bad happens, when sorrow comes to me, when I have the death of even a dearly loved one?
Who are we, Job is reasoning, to reply against God?
Or, as the apostle Paul said, shall the thing formed say to the One who formed it, why are you doing this?
It’s arrogance. It’s folly. It’s impious. It’s irreverent. It’s the height of arrogance to renounce and forsake God when God brings trials and evil into our lives, including the death of a loved one.
I wrestled with whether I should say this, and I think I have said it from this pulpit anyway, but I’m not speaking theoretically. My firstborn child died at the age of one.
When she was three months old, my wife and I learned that she had a rare genetic disease. We were told that there is no cure, there is no therapy, there is nothing we could do and that she would not live past the age of two, and on the day after her first birthday she died.
From three months on she had to have respiratory therapy, all sorts of therapies to try to help her. My wife and I thought we would have many children, but our first child had this rare genetic disease. My wife is a carrier. I am a carrier. There’s no history in my wife’s family, no history in my family. No one knew anything about it.
So what did my wife and I do when we laid our one-year-old daughter in the grave, “Who are You to do this?”
Well, apart from the grace of God, I’m sure that’s what I would have done, but I can tell you to the praise of God’s grace that not once, not one moment in my life or my wife’s life did we ever have any bitterness toward God, any murmuring against God, any complaining to God, any questioning (why did You do this?)—not once, by God’s grace.
So, I am not speaking theoretically when I say, when God brings death into your life, when God brings trial into your life, as a genuine Christian you can indeed be brokenhearted and at the same time bow down and worship your God and Savior Jesus Christ.
This morning, at Trinity Baptist Church, Sharon Carrione, the pianist before the worship service, she plays different hymns. She wasn’t at Trinity Baptist Church when my daughter was alive and when my daughter died and today she did something that she’s done on other occasions. She played a hymn that I don’t think we’ve ever sung in the church (it’s in the hymnbook, obviously), and when she played it [snap!] instantly I thought of my daughter (her name was Margaret), because I always sang that hymn to her.
Savior, like a shepherd, lead us… I don’t know that I remember all of it unless I sang it.
Savior, like a shepherd, lead us, much we need your tender care. Those are some of the words.
So many years later, you see, that association is there, and in my heart, my response is one of gratitude and worship to God.
Do I know why He did this? For His glory… we had many gospel opportunities as a result with unconverted relatives.
Do I know why He did it? I know that even tonight I can say to you that you in the midst of grief and sorrow in the light of the death of Mr. Mesa can like Job bow down and worship God. It is a wonderful, liberating reality in the midst of sorrow to still say from the heart, I love my God. He is My God. He is My Savior. I still love Him. I will worship him. I will serve Him. I will obey Him. That’s what Job did. That’s what you can do. God’s grace is sufficient in the midst of death and trial to bow down and worship Him.
We must remember, we do not have comprehensive knowledge of God and His ways. Indeed we have very little knowledge of God and His ways even with all of the Bible. We must remember we do not know the mind of God. We are not God’s counselors. It is not right for us to say, why are you doing this?
We do not have the skill and wisdom to rule our own lives let alone the world about us. We are at our very best, finite, ignorant, sinful creatures of the dust, but when we, like Job wholeheartedly and patiently submit to God’s Sovereign and wise ways in the midst of trial, grief and darkness, when we embrace God and His rule, we then experience true rest, true comfort, true peace, even joy which the world cannot give us, which the world cannot understand, and we then are indeed light and salt in the world itself.
So, in the midst of the death of Mr. Mesa, where are you turning for comfort? Do not turn to falsehoods. Do not turn to self-delusions. Do not turn to worldly ways. Turn to God through Jesus Christ by turning to the pages of Scripture. Make God’s truth and God Himself, the Author of truth, your solid comfort in the midst of trial and grief. Meditate upon the sovereign goodness of God to your soul as a believer.
Now thirdly, the death of a loved one is always a call from Almighty God to examine ourselves in the light of the Bible in order to see if we are right with God and ready to die.
I’m going to say that again.
The death of a loved one is always a call from God to examine ourselves in the light of the Bible in order to see if we are right with God and ready to die.
I’m doing classes on church history at Trinity. Some of you know that. In today’s lesson, I concluded my lessons about the life of Martin Luther, and I told everyone he died at the age of 62. I know some of you here are older than 62. I know Victor is, the Victor that’s back there. I’m sixty and I thought, you know, this is very sobering. Martin Luther lived to 62; it’s only two years away from me. When we stand at the casket of a loved one and we bring Scripture truth to our minds, we should be reminded of a number of realities.
The first is, the certainty of death. Eloquent, powerful, sobering, silent speech issues forth from every casket in every funeral home. That casket is silently but powerfully—if you are listening—silently but powerfully proclaiming the certainty of death. It is proclaiming that the wages of sin is death. It is proclaiming that it is appointed unto all men once to die. It is proclaiming that after death comes judgment. It is reminding you that man, woman, boy, girl is not inherently good but rather sinful, because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. None is righteous, no not one.
Men love darkness rather than light. They will not come to the light lest their sins be exposed. Funeral homes and caskets, the death of loved ones, remind us of the certainty of death. Every conscience of every human being from the youngest to the oldest, including those that have never heard one verse from the Bible, their conscience tells them these truths when they stand at a funeral home looking at a casket. They don’t need to hear the Bible to know this because God made them in His image, and they have a conscience. They know that death is certain, and they understand that this is because of their own deeds. They do not fully understand it as they should, but they know that they are not right with God.
The casket, secondly, proclaims the brevity of life on earth—not only the certainty of death, but the brevity of life. Moses declared this in Psalm 90, “The days of our lives are seventy-years, and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away.”
Think of all of the deaths that Moses witnessed in the wilderness of Sinai for those forty-years. Think of all the burial services that Moses conducted during those forty years. Moses understood that our lives are like a mere vapor. They are like a mist. They are short lived, especially when compared in the light of eternity. Therefore, Moses prayed and asked God (as Pastor Martinez pointed out) that God would teach us to number our days, because our days are brief, and that we would get from God a heart of wisdom so we would not live lives as fools acting as though we will live forever when the reality is we will not live forever here on this earth. You see, school teachers can teach you many things. Homeschool teachers, Christian school teachers, university teachers, they can teach you algebra. They can teach you Spanish grammar. They can teach you Spanish literature, but no human being can teach you to number your days. Only God can do that, and the brevity of life on earth, that truth is taught ultimately by God, but it is seen in the reality of the death of a loved one.
Thirdly, the funeral home, the death of a loved one, the casket, reminds us that death is an entrance into an eternal fixed state in either heaven or hell.
Death is an entrance into an eternal fixed state in heaven or hell.
Turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 16, Luke chapter 16, beginning at verse 19. Luke 16, verse 19. Jesus is speaking:
Now, there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, eating sumptuously every day; and a certain beggar named Lazarus was laid at his gate full of sores and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores. It came to pass that the beggar died and that he was carried away by the angels into Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and he was buried and in Hades. He lifted up his eyes being in torments and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom; and he cried and said, “Father, Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am in anguish in this flame,” but Abraham said, “Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things and Lazarus in like manner, evil things, but now here his comforted and you are in anguish, and besides all this, between us and you there’s a great gulf fixed that they would pass from here to you may not be able, and that none may cross over from where you are to us.”
There are no visas that you can obtain in hell.
(I’m not trying to be funny. When I want to travel to Pakistan, when I want to travel to China, I have to get a visa or else I cannot enter into China, I cannot enter in to Pakistan.)
When the unbelieving and impenitent die and are in hell there’s no visa. There’s no application for a visa to leave hell temporarily and go off to heaven.
There’s no opportunity for those who are in hell to emigrate permanently from hell to heaven. There are people in countries like Pakistan and China, perhaps, who want to permanently leave their homeland and come to places like America. They want to emigrate here. Some succeed.
No one, no one, no one who is in hell will ever be able to emigrate out of hell to earth, to heaven, to anywhere else.
If you, unbeliever, sitting here tonight, whether young or old, if you continue in your unbelief and do not trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your real sins, if you continue to be impenitent, refusing to obey Jesus Christ and turn away from your real sins, death will come to you, it is certain.
Your life is brief, though you may not think so, but it is, and if you die impenitent and unbelieving, you will land yourself rightly in hell, and there will be no relief or escape or deliverance from hell. Death is an entrance into an eternal fixed state in heaven or in hell. Death and a funeral home and a funeral casket, the death of a loved one, is a call, in the fourth place, it is a call to all in the land of the living, to all here tonight, to hear and obey the Word of God today.
Death is a call to you, here tonight to hear and obey the Word of God.
Look at Luke 16 once again. We will now finish reading beginning at verse 27. (I stopped at verse 26. We’ll now begin reading at verse 27.)
And the man in hell (verse 27), he said, I pray, therefore, Father (referring to Abraham), I pray, therefore Father that you would send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment, but Abraham said, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them, and he said, the man in hell, he said, no, Father, Abraham, but if one go to them from the dead, they will repent; and he said unto him, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded if one rise from the dead.
Death is a call to everyone in the land of the living to hear and obey the Word of God today. Note that the rich man, while he was alive on earth did not concern himself with thoughts about heaven or hell. The rich man, while he was alive on earth did not think about the endlessness of eternity. He did not care to pray. He did not care to seek God. He did not care about God’s Word. He did not apparently listen to and obey the Word of God. Clearly he was very aware of Moses and the prophets from this very passage, but it would seem that he did not listen to or obey the Word of God while he was alive on earth. So death is a call to all to hear and obey the Word of God today. I ask all of you here this night, are you like the rich man in Luke 16 who landed himself in hell, or are you like Lazarus who arrived in heaven by the grace of God?
The death of Mr. Mesa is a clarion call—a clear call to all here in North Bergen to this night, don’t delay, hear and obey the gospel. Obey God’s command to repent.
You know, I talked to some individuals, sometimes they’re professing Christians, sometimes real Christians, sometimes unbelievers, and they can at times complain and whine, “Oh, I have this sin in my life, you know, it’s such a struggle,” and as I listen to it I realize, they’re simply not obeying the gospel command to repent.
“Oh, God is not answering my prayers and delivering me from this sin,” but as I talk further, I find out, well, that’s true, but not really true, because the real truth is God commands you to repent, to turn your back on that sin in your heart and life, to vomit it out of your heart and life, to reject it, to abandon it, to forsake it, to hate it, to have a purpose of heart, not a whining complaining, aah-aah-oh, tears sometimes—no, to have purpose of heart and will and soul to be done with it.
You say, “Well, but, uh, the Bible teaches I can’t repent. I have no ability to repent.”
The Bible does teach that, but the Bible also teaches you very clearly that God commands all men everywhere to repent because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He has ordained, even Jesus Christ. He’s given us the assurance that that will happen because He raised Jesus Christ from the dead, so the death of Mr. Mesa is a clarion call to everyone here to obey God’s command to repent and to obey God’s command to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why are you not believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, some of you? It’s because you’re not repenting. Why are you not repenting? It’s because you love your sin. But you need to own that, face that, confess that and cry out to God in Christ for mercy. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. He who believes on the Son has eternal life. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as wool, if you turn to Christ and confess your sins and repent.
So, death is a call to hear and obey the Word of God today, not tomorrow—not tomorrow, not even later on tonight, now, because you do not know what may happen as you walk out those doors.
Most of you know of Pastor Arif Khan and his wife Kathy Khan. They were murdered eight years ago, actually August 29th. This August 29th it will be eight years. They did not think that that day was the day of their death. Now, they were both believers, of course. They did not know that. You do not know. It doesn’t matter how young you are, you do not know whether you will live one more day. Therefore, repent now, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, now.
Fourthly and lastly, the death of a loved one is a fresh call to every believer in Jesus Christ to worship his Savior. If you are a believer on the Lord Jesus Christ, you need to remember that when you die, death will usher you into heaven, into eternal happiness. Your soul will be instantly glorified at the moment of death, and you will be from that point for all eternity never ending with Christ your Savior and Lord. Though absent from the body, you will be present with the Lord. The Bible teaches that a day is coming when your body will be raised from its sleep as it were, from its grave, and it will be instantly transformed and glorified and reunited with your already glorified soul. You will be forever with the Lord and with all of his people from all ages. Death will be no more because sin will be gone. There will be no more sicknesses, no more rare genetic diseases. There will be no more flus, no more viruses, no more bacterias, no need for antibiotics, no need for doctors. There will be no need for lawyers because there will be no sin. There will be no need for policemen because there will be no robberies or murders. There will be no funeral homes, because there will be no death. There will be no more sadness. There will be only eternal, ever expanding glory and joy and happiness in the presence of Christ your Savior.
The death of a loved one is a fresh call to every believer in Jesus Christ to worship his Savior for the deliverance He has brought into your very heart and life in mercy and in grace.
Turn to Revelation chapter 21.
Revelation chapter 21, beginning with verse 1:
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
Here we have in some very vivid, picturesque language a little bit of an idea of what heaven will be like for the believer in Christ. Notice that we’re told that God will be with us.
God is with you the people of God here at North Bergen even now. The Bible makes that plain. Where two or three are gathered together in the name of the Lord Jesus, we’re told, there He is in the midst of them, but in heaven this is going to be different. God is going to be with us in a way that He is not now with us. Exactly how that will be I am not totally sure, but this passage teaches us that.
Furthermore, notice that it is God Himself who will remove any trace of sorrow from any believer there in heaven. He shall wipe away every tear, verse 4, from their eyes. There will be no more crying because there will be no more death, of course, but God Himself will wipe away those tears that might remain, and all of this, we’re told, at the end of verse 5, is to be written down by the apostle John, which he did, why? Because these words are faithful and true. This is not make believe. This is not fantasy. This is reality that will happen and be experienced by every single true believer in Christ. We need to think more about that reality of heaven as believers and when Death, ugly Death, the enemy, Death, intrudes itself into our lives, we are to weep with those who weep. We are to join our hearts with theirs. We are to comfort them, but death of a loved one is a fresh call to every believer to worship the Lord Jesus Christ who has secured for that believer an entrance into heaven, undeserved, unearned, unmerited, freely, graciously given by Jesus Christ. So, remind one another of these realities as you interact with each other in these days of sorrow and grief.
Christ Jesus is indeed a wonderful Savior. That’s what people at a funeral need to hear. They need to hear about Christ Jesus the Savior of sinners.
Well, let’s close in prayer.
Our Father in heaven, we come to You and ask that You would do what we cannot do and take Your Word and bring it home with great grace and power to those who are grieving and give comfort and direction and clarity. Lord, we pray that You would cause those who are grieving to also look up to their Savior and to rejoice that their Savior has lived for them, has died for them, now lives for them, now intercedes for them. Lord bring comfort to the grieving, and we pray, our God that You would take Your Word by Your Spirit and also bring salvation to those who are still rebels, still unbelieving, still impenitent. Lord, our God, for the glory of Jesus Christ, do such a work in the hearts of every single unbeliever even here tonight. Receive our prayers and answer our prayers as we come in Jesus’ Name, amen.
