As I stood back there, just looking at all of you here today, I was thinking, this is Lydia right here. Everything she did was big. Everything. And as a son-in-law, I didn't quite understand that half the time. I didn't know why we had to have so much food. There weren't this many people here. But I think I understand it now. I want to thank Jared for sharing these songs. These were songs she picked. These were songs that she wanted to be sung. And thankful for that. And her grandson Jeremy, my son, playing. And I have to... I have to confess to you that this has been probably one of the hardest messages to prepare in my 22 years as a pastor. All week I have been kind of walking around in a daze and little bits and pieces through the family coming out and my wife even telling me that she hasn't had time to grieve. So, I have taken all week to write something down and to think about this. And as I put together the slideshow that you'll see again at the end of the service, looked over each of those pictures and we had so many pictures. And you couldn't put enough up. And you saw 15 minutes worth of pictures and easily we could have doubled, tripled that. But I would think about many of those pictures because I remember the situations in which they occurred. And that's where it's just been hard to think she's been taken from us. You know, I think we're all praying people. And I prayed so hard that God would give us more time. And sometimes He says no. And I'm not angry at Him for that. He's God. He says when it is time. And in the kind of things that I do, I get this reality put before me a lot. Some of you don't think about death until you're sitting in a room like this, having experienced this with someone you love, someone you care deeply about, and all of a sudden it's cut off. And now you're dealing with a loss in your heart, with an ache. But I have to say this, All of us will face this. 10 out of 10 people die. And of course, there's all kinds of situations in which that occurs, but it will happen for all of us one day, some sooner than later. And many of us won't be prepared for it. Friday when I was in the bookstore, I was Looking at covers, my wife and I had been talking about what kind of cover that she wanted on the book that many of you got. Obviously, we ran out. And I was snapping pictures of them with my phone and trying to email them to her, and email just was not working that day. And so she leaves me with this inevitable, just pick one. It's like, well, thank you for that. And she said, well, just look at them. Which one do you think is mom? And I just kept looking at them and I was like, I don't want to pick this. And finally I picked the one that you're holding. And it says, be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46 verse 10. And when I read that, I kept looking back to it, and I don't know if it was the design of the cover that kept attracting my eye, but I kept thinking about that verse that just kept protruding off the page. And I kept thinking, this really is a fitting verse. And of course, I went back and read the chapter in Psalm 46 to make sure it fit what I was thinking. And I kept thinking, this really states everything the best. Because it tells us even in those moments when we don't understand, God does. And God is in control. Nothing escapes His knowledge. Nothing is a surprise to Him. Lydia's death was not a surprise. It was the appointed time. It was His time. And again, all of us one day will die. All of us will experience this. There is an appointed time for all of us. We were told about three weeks ago that she only had six months to live. And to be honest with you, I was kind of angry at the doctor for telling her that. I've never understood why a doctor would do that because I feel like that it kind of gives a person an opportunity just to give up. And Teresa was explaining to me that how calm she was when she heard all of that. And later, I begin to think, well, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this is a way to prepare somebody, maybe to make some kind of arrangements to, you know, just spend time and just maximize what time you have left. I mean, simply ask us that question, what would you do if someone could tell you that you're going to die in a few days? What would you do? Well, as I said, many people died without prior notice, and we all kept saying, well, obviously He's not God, He could be wrong. But we didn't know it was going to be about a week. When it did happen, I was in Alabama and just felt a sense of, why am I here? You know, I'm seven hours away. How can I get there any sooner driving? My truck has no wings and no engine to propel me in that direction and I couldn't even make it back quickly driving all night. But the Lord had a purpose in that as well. Because the last time I had with her was on Kara's 18th birthday. And we all went up to the hospital where she was at and took her flowers, and all of the family was there, and we just spent that time with her. And we didn't know that it would be a matter of days. We had no way of knowing. And again, as I said, we don't really know when that time will happen. I heard of a preacher one time who was preaching, and he said, I may die today. And he finished preaching, he walked over, sat down next to his son, and he fell over and died that quick. We wake up in the morning and we don't think that this could be our last day here on earth. We don't think that in just a moment we could be standing before God. We don't think about that. But again, we don't die outside of our appointed time. The author of Ecclesiastes made this declaration. He says, to everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven, a time to be born, and a time to die. Even the author of Hebrews said, it is appointed for men to die once, but after this, the judgment. Notice the language of scripture here, where it speaks of death in terms of a purpose under heaven. and as an appointment. Death is a divine appointment. It is part of God's purpose for our lives. God calls each person to die. He is sovereign over all of life, including the final experiences of life. Deuteronomy 32, 39 says, and here's God speaking. He says, see now that I, I am he, and there is no God besides me. It is I who put to death and give life. Erwin Lutzer says, imagine staring in the face of Christ. Just the two of you, one on one. Your entire life is present before you. In a flash, you see what he sees. No hiding. No opportunity to put a better spin on what you did. No attorney to represent you. The look in his eyes says it all. Like it or not, that is precisely where you and I shall someday be. And as we think about this today, I want to share a perspective with you I think that we need to have. As I've already stated, death is inevitable for all of us. All of us will one day die. There is no escaping of death. And I even think leading up to Lydia's death, I'm sure she gave that much thought. I know some years ago when we talked about this on the steps at my house, she had a lot of questions at that moment about heaven, about salvation. A lot of questions about the Bible. And I remember after that conversation how encouraged I was because we had really never had a conversation to that kind of depth about the things of God. And I even remember another conversation where I shared with her how she could know for certain if she were to die, she would go to be with Jesus in heaven. I thank God for that privilege. And I know she took all that to heart. She may not have shared immediately what her thoughts were, but they would eventually come out, and they did. I remember a couple of Christmases ago, before we would even open any presents, and if you know anything about our family, it takes hours to open presents. I mean, it's one at a time, and we all stare at the one who has them. Talk about being put on the spot. If you don't like it, you have to act like you like it, you know? And she would begin to, you know, ask some questions of the grandkids. I mean, immediately, she just... I mean, we were at her house. Obviously, she could... She led everything and not just the bigness of everything and not just the huge amount of food, but all of a sudden, she stands up and she pulls all the grandkids together and she says, do you know what the purpose of all this is about? Do you know the reason for Christmas? And I just sat back in my chair and I listened, and like joy in my heart listening to her, because she had never done this in the 25 years I've been around the family. And she would even say, could you tell me about Jesus? And I sat there in amazement. because I saw a new creation right before my eyes. I know Lydia had a lot of fears. I know we talked about that too when I first met Lydia, seeing some of the struggles that she had experienced. We tried to just minister to her from the Word of God and take her to places in the Bible that she could read and find comfort in. I remember one of those fears she had certainly was speaking in front of anybody. I don't think she would have stood up and said anything in a crowd like this. let alone in a small room where we had our new members class one Saturday, and she had to sit in there with other people and talk about her commitment to Jesus Christ. I think she was terrified. That was one of the reasons why she kept putting off joining the church, because she knew that she needed to talk publicly, though it may have been five people in the room. But along with other people in that class, she confessed Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. Next Christmas, she shared even more. I saw a new faith that was growing. You know, the Christian faith is not without its struggles. It's not without its trials. We suffer. We go through experiences that God uses to teach us endurance and patience that test our faith as to the strength and the validity of it. Sometimes it's for the purpose of comfort, to use when you comfort someone else. It's various reasons. And trials come in our life, as James 1 talks about, at different points, and you can't pinpoint when they're gonna happen. They just, they happen. And I know she struggled with them, and she even at one time talked about how she was afraid she wasn't even saved. How many of you in here who know Jesus said that before? How many of you in here have struggled before? If you haven't, Maybe you're just a mannequin sitting there. Because the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10.13 that there is no trial or temptation, but such is common to man. All of us experience trouble in one way or another. And she would even write later in her journal, I feel unworthy, as a prayer to God, forgive me. And I can't tell you how many times I've prayed that. I can't tell you how many times, even though I know the Lord Jesus saved me 26 years ago, that I have questioned that. Because I'm not what I know I need to be. But as a believer, you're constantly reminded of your sin, you're constantly reminded of your unworthiness of his salvation. David in Psalm 51, as he was confessing his sin, he prayed this, do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. He even stated later in Psalm 42, verse 9, he says, I will say to God my rock, why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? And in all honesty, I have prayed prayers like that. I've sobbed on the way to work, all the way to work, and all throughout the day, and asked God the same question others ask, why? But the only thing that's held me or sustained me is this right here. This is it. All the answers are right here in this book. And I even hear the psalmist say that in his affliction, he would say this, your word has comforted me. And so I've taken God up on that. And I've sought with my life to understand what his word says and for me. I have to understand it for me before I can help anybody at that point. Why do I go mourning? There's even a psalm where the psalmist would say, as he's talking to himself, we usually think if you talk to yourself, your elevator doesn't kind of reach the top floor, you know. And I'm so thankful for the Bluetooth now, because I can pray riding down the road, pull up to the light and smile, and the person thinks I'm talking on the phone. But I'm praying. I pray out loud. I like to pray out loud. I like to hear, only to keep me from being distracted. And the psalmist would pray. He would say, soul, bless the Lord. Or he would say, soul, why are you cast down? Why are you depressed? Why are you discouraged? And he's telling himself this, and then he tells himself, hope in God. You have to tell yourself that. So, we're familiar with the struggles. Definitely. You don't have to be a believer five minutes to know that there's a struggle. Erwin Lutzer wrote, We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners. And the new birth doesn't take away the fact that we are sinners, but it does promise that God has, according to Psalm 103 and verse 12, removed our transgressions far from us. He says, Psalm 103, 12, as far as the East is from the West, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. I realize that that promise is not for everyone because it's only for those who have placed their full trust in Jesus. And I realize that even in a crowd of this size that there's probably some in here who have never trusted Jesus as their Savior. But my desire for you is that you will, and you'll do it soon. God wants us to love Him. He wants us to love Him with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, all of our strength, with every fiber of our being. That's the kind of commitment He calls for. Not lip service, not mental assent. but a full commitment. I learned that 26 years ago. Oh yeah, I prayed many prayers, I walked many aisles, I attended many churches. But if I died right at that moment, I would not have gone to heaven, I would have gone to hell. Because it wasn't real for me. I lived my life as I wanted to live my life. I wanted to do what I wanted to do. And I did it, I did it to the fullness. And I even have that to look back as my shame. But think about that verse we just read that's on the cover of the bulletin. Be still and know that I am God. When you're still and you know God and you know that He is God, every fear is stilled, every anxiety is quieted. You can relax because He is God. He is in control. Life doesn't stop if everything crumbles underneath you, because He's in control. In the first three verses of that chapter, it tells us that God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Let me ask you this, is your heart troubled? Does this event cause you to think about your own mortality? Do you grip a moment like this with fear? Are you afraid to die? It's an honest question. There are some days I am afraid to die. There are other days when I can't wait to die because I know that it would be leaving this life. Yes, I would leave my family, my loved ones, and that's what obviously makes it hard. I pray every night, even that for my family, that I would not have to experience that of them. But that's not something strange. The Apostle Paul said it himself, Philippians 1.21, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. is gained for a believer because immediately a believer is in God's presence. And that's exactly what Lydia is experiencing right now. She's not here. And like I said, all throughout the week, it's just like been, is this real? Has this really happened? I mean, this is right here at home. And then I'm reminded. 2 Corinthians 5.8, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Immediately, a believer dies, goes into his presence, no delays. Jesus said to the thief on the cross, he was crucified between two thieves. He was crucified as a criminal, though he had not done any evil at all. And they were even reviling him, the same as the crowd as they came by with their snarly lip, saying he saved others. Can he save himself? Can he save us? And finally, at one point, one of the thieves on the cross looked at the other one, really a paraphrase, basically saying, shut up. We are getting what we deserve. This man has done nothing wrong. And then he turns to Jesus and says, will you remember me when you go to be in paradise? And the Bible records for us, Luke 23, 43, today you will be with me in paradise. Jesus was on the cross only for about six hours. Pilate marveled that he died so quickly. And that's why the scripture says in John 10, they didn't just take his life, but he gave his life. He had the authority to give it and take it back again. In fact, three days later, he arose from the grave. He did that. He didn't need someone to push the stone away. In fact, he had two angels to do that. So when you think about this, this for a believer is a homecoming, being reunited with those whom have known and loved the Lord Jesus Christ, that you're embracing them again. But most importantly, you go to be with Jesus. This is the completion of salvation. This is the fullness of that. They enter, as Jesus said in John 14 too, into the father's house. I understand that culturally, because culturally, a Jewish family, when a son would marry, he would just keep adding on rooms to the house. That's my house right now. I got six kids, and we just keep adding on to the house, you know? We have nowhere else to go, but back her up. And I understand that. Lydia's death was a perfect experience with a perfect God, because she's experiencing God right now, more than we could ever imagine. If you could think of the best things, and the Lord has allowed us, even in a sin-cursed world, to enjoy the beauty of things, but we can't think even any better than that. We look around and go, that is so beautiful. How can you think more than that? You can't even get close to heaven. in your mind. And yet you read the descriptions that the Bible gives of the throne of God about the lightning flashes and the 24 elders around the throne and the four living creatures there above the throne and they are in antiphonal praise saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. And you're going, I don't even understand that. I can't even imagine that. TV can't even get close. But this experience, just as death is forever, and experiencing God is unlike any experience. Everything's perfect. Everything. Many of you know this as well as I do, that when you pray, you're sitting in church on Sunday morning and all of a sudden some kind of bad thought comes to your mind and you're, where in the world did that come from? We don't have any of that in heaven. Worship is perfect. No impure thoughts, no pain, no cancer, no diseases. Perfect. No sickness, no death, no more sin. Revelation 21 verse 4 says, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There should be no more pain for the former things have passed away. How can you be sure that if you were to die today, you'd go to heaven? That's, I think, an honest question. I think it's a question we all need to ask. If 10 out of 10 people, and one day we're going to cross that threshold, and we're one day going to have to die, then how can I be assured that if I die today, I could go to heaven? There's nothing wrong with that question. I think we need to ask. And the Bible answers it. The Bible answers it very clearly. The Bible says that you have to repent of your sin. I mean, you might not see yourself as a sinner. You might even be thinking, I'm not really that bad of a person. In fact, I know people far worse than me. There's always someone out there worse than us, right? But think about this. Is your goodness enough to get you to heaven? The Bible says of God in Habakkuk 1.13, your eyes are too pure to approve evil and you cannot look on wickedness with favor. In other words, God is holy, nothing unholy will be allowed in his presence. Psalm chapter 1, we're memorizing this as a church, verses 4 and 5 says, the wicked are not so, but they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. Ask yourself this. Ask yourself, is my goodness enough to get me to heaven? Ask yourself, let's just really find out how good we are. Ask yourself this, have you ever told a lie? Have you ever stolen anything? Have you ever used God's name in vain? Have you ever looked at another person with lust? Guess what, folks? You're breaking the commandment, thou shalt not lie, if you say no. Because we all have. And I, like the Apostle Paul could say of my life, I have been the chief of sinners. Those questions I just asked you came from the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments tell us you shall not lie, you shall not take the Lord's name in vain, you shall not steal, See, if you're guilty of breaking just one of these commandments, then you're in danger of God's judgment. Just consider this. Just consider you're in a courtroom. You have been declared guilty of a crime. The law is now about to carry out its full fury on you. The judge has already declared that you're guilty, and now you're going to be sentenced. And you stand before the judge and you say, but judge, I have been a good person. And I believe you're a good judge. That's not going to have any bearing on anything because the law knows no mercy. I hate to say this, shame to this, but I got pulled over about a week ago. I'd been watching the speed limit all day long. I drove through the speed trap of Lottie. I was back in town. Turned on Phillips Highway. I was in Bolivia at that moment. I look up and I see a car that does not look like a police car with lights flashing everywhere off this police car and I'm just as if this could be the icing on the day, okay? And when she came to my window, all I could do was plead for mercy. And I said, will you please have mercy on me? I don't know if she thought, who is this guy? He's from the 60s or something, you know? What's this language, you know? And she came back to the car, and I'm looking in the mirror. You know how you're reading the mirror, and you go, no mercy. And she even comes back, and she hands it this way to me to sign, and I just said, I guess, well, no mercy. And I'm signing, and she said, well, this is a warning. You're doing 16 miles over the limit, and if I catch you out here again, you know, I will write you a ticket. And I was in tears. See, but the law knows no mercy. The law was set to carry all this out. Think about this. All of us one day will stand before the judge of all the earth. In righteousness, he'll judge us according to our deeds. And if we've broken one of his commandments, he'll declare us guilty. He'll carry out the sentence. And the sentence, Romans 6.23, is death. And I'm not talking about just physical death. The Bible talks about two types of death in the Bible. It talks about the second death. And you might even say, listen, when it comes to the commandments, I haven't murdered anyone. But have you hated anybody? You might say, I've never even committed adultery, but have you lusted? Because Jesus says it this way. He says, You have heard that the ancients were told, You shall not commit murder. And whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court. And whoever says to his brother, You good for nothing, shall be guilty before the Supreme Court. And whoever says, You fool, shall be guilty enough to go into fiery hell. He's dealing with the heart. He's dealing with the attitude. He's dealing with the behavior. Even said in the same chapter, you've heard that it was said, you should not commit adultery, but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So the issue is our hearts, and we have to repent. We have to turn away from that sin. We have to turn to Jesus who paid our fine, because we're standing there guilty, having broken all the laws. The sentence of death is about to be carried out, and Jesus steps in, and He takes our penalty. And He took it on the cross. He took our fine. He took it for us. He stepped in, took the death we deserved. But you know what, folks? It means nothing to you if you don't receive that gift that He did for you. It means nothing if you don't commit your life to Him. It means nothing if you never repent or never surrender. It means nothing if you just pray a prayer and that's really all the activity you have with Him. Maybe you go to church. Maybe you're faithful at church. Jesus said this, Matthew 7, 21, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father in heaven. You got to do the will of God. You have to repent. And the Bible's pretty narrow about this. It says in Acts 4.12, there's no other name under heaven that has been given among men whereby we must be saved. And that name is mentioned, of course, all throughout the Scriptures, the name of Jesus, the person of Jesus, the literal, historical Jesus who declared himself to be God. who came for the only purpose of dying in our place, taking our penalty, rising from the dead on the third day, and ascending back to heaven. He said of himself, John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through me. When Jesus died on the cross, he was doing that for you and me. He paid the ultimate price for our sins. And he rose from the grave on the third day. Think about this. When you come to Christ, you do not come to give. You come to receive. You do not come to try your best. You come to trust. You do not come just to be helped, but to be rescued. I'm driving my car, I'm heading down a road, and I'm a long way from any roadblocks because it hadn't been discovered yet, and you're the only person that drove by and saw it. You almost had a certain death. You saw it. You stopped. It's all washed out. It's just a big crater right there. And you're standing there stopping people and trying to get them not to go that way. Well, guess what, folks? That's a preacher. trying to stop you, trying to warn you of the danger that's ahead, of the judgment that is to come, and trying to tell you that to flee from that danger is to embrace Christ, is to come to Jesus Christ. Don't let that offend you. Come to Christ. And when you come to Him, He makes you a new person, just like He did Lydia. He gives you heaven to look forward to, I want to close with this. I've been reading a book by a man named R.C. Sproul. It's called Surprised by Suffering. He says, when God wipes away tears, it will be the end of all crying. When God dries our eyes from all sorrowful weeping, the consolation will be permanent. There will then be no reason for mournful tears. Death will be no more. There will be no sorrow, no pain whatsoever. These discomforts belong to the former things that shall pass away. The New Jerusalem will have no cemeteries. There will be no morgue, no funeral parlor, no hospital, no painkilling drugs. These are the elements that attend the travail of this world. They will pass away. And if anything sounds too good to be true, it is the announcement of a place where pain, sorrow, tears, and death are banished. The heart almost faints at the thought of it. We're almost afraid to even think of it, lest we set ourselves up for a bitter disappointment. But he says, the commanding voice from the throne of God spoke decisively to John, write it down, he ordered. These words are faithful and true. You can trust it. You can believe the Bible. It's not some fantasy book. It's truth. It's God's word. It's attractive to want to go to heaven when you die, but it's not attractive to give up your life. Oh, it's attractive to take on the benefits as they're offered, but it's painful to die to yourself. Painful. And that's what Jesus says. Listen to what he says. I'm reading his very own words, Matthew 16, 24 and following. He says, then Jesus said to his disciples, If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Deny yourself, take up your cross, the cross is the instrument of death, and follow me. And then he says, for whoever wishes to save his life will lose it. And whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. If you want to hold on to your life, he says, you're going to lose your life. You give it up for Him. You make the exchange for Him. Guess what? You're given eternal life. And then he says this, for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his own soul? That's some pretty piercing words. And that's what I want to leave you with. Let's pray together. Father, I've sought to tell everyone here what Lydia is experiencing right now, and to give them an opportunity, too, to experience this. Help them to see, Father, that this is the truth, that You are the truth. You are the only way to heaven. In the midst of so many religions, your voice is the only voice. Your word is the only word. And to go to heaven is by faith alone, by grace alone, in Jesus alone. It's not you plus something else. It's you alone. And I have to fall down before you. Just as Job said, naked I came into this world, naked I leave. And we fall before you naked. We can't take anything with us. We leave it all behind. Lord, I pray as we spend the remainder of our evening together that we will contemplate these words. Well, think about this and react immediately to your gracious gift of salvation. I know right now, Father, that this is what you would want us to say. And I thank you, Father, for helping me to say it. But we're going to miss her greatly. We already have been missing her. And Lord, every time when I Lord, when I look at her little boys, I think about all that they could have had with her. Lord, thank you for what we've had. Lord, thank you for everybody here that has come to honor her, to remember her, and Lord, to be a support to the family. Lord, I know we all mourn in different ways. We grieve in different ways. And I know that there's still grieving to come. I pray, Lord, that most importantly, that we'll allow this to force us to what we've been exposed to in this hour. And I pray, Lord, if someone in here is just filling that tug of their heart to die to themselves, to take up the cross, to deny themselves, to take up their cross, to follow you, that they would commit their life to you now. Thank you, Lord. We pray all this now in Jesus' name. Amen.