We are gathered here together to find comfort from the word of God upon the death of your dear husband, your dad, your oppa, your brother, and our dear friend, Martin Tras. And it's at times like these that the gospel makes all the difference in the world. We can go on in life as if there is nothing else, but suddenly we're confronted with death. And when we're confronted with death, it forces us to consider eternity. Where will I, where will you spend eternity? What lies beyond the grave? And that's a question that we are all confronted with today. And when you can say, as your loved one did so clearly, that your only hope is in the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ, then you can be comforted with that truth. You can be comforted to know that the one who dies in Christ shall never die. Now here are these words of comfort from the scriptures and from our confessions. And further in the same passage he outlines the way of eternal life which your loved one knew only so well. No one comes to the Father except through me. And we have the comfort of knowing that your dear husband, your dad, your opah, your brother and our friend, he knew the way of life which came through our Lord Jesus Christ. And Christ said, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? That's the question that Jesus asks us today. Do you believe this? Do you believe what the Bible teaches about our Lord Jesus Christ? Do you believe that when you trust in Him that you will have eternal life? Do you believe this? So our catechism expresses the hope in the face of death when it asks, what comfort do you receive from the article about life everlasting? And the answer it gives is, since I now already feel in my heart the beginning of eternal joy, I shall after this life possess perfect blessedness such as no eye has seen nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, a blessedness in which we can praise God forever. And further, we come here this morning with the hope of the resurrection, that Jesus Christ has conquered death. So the apostle says, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting, O grave? Where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Then our catechism asks, since Christ has died for us, why do we still have to die? And it can answer so victoriously, our death is not a payment for our sins, but it puts an end to sin and is an entrance into eternal life. And John speaks of that blessed state when he says, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There'll be no more pain for the former things that passed away. That's the experience of your dear loved one. And further, we also have this hope for the future, knowing that if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. And these words of comfort are for each and every one of God's chosen children. What comfort comes to us even in the face of death when our Lord Jesus Christ is our Savior. What a Savior! And doesn't the gospel then have a rich meaning at times like these? We may go through all our life without a thought of eternity. As we go to work each day, we go about our business, we look after our families, and then there's a day like today that we stand on the brink of eternity. But the comfort is in knowing that when we pass away, when we turn to the Lord Jesus, then we enter into His eternal presence. Let us sing, as it's in your program, day by day, day by day, and with each passing moment, strength I find to meet my trials here. Singing those stanzas, you'll find that song in your program. I'm ♪ With a special mercy for each hour ♪ ♪ All I care to do is prepare and cheer me ♪ ♪ In the days round the world I'm found ♪ ♪ From her breast shall I be found ♪ and all hymns of the day. As thy faith, thy strength shall be endured, with the flesh with thee we lay. Let us draw near to the Lord. O gracious and eternal God and Father, we come into your holy presence in the morning of this day, and we come, O Lord, knowing that you are the one who gives life, the one who gives eternal life in and through your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. As we consider our own hearts and our own lives, we realize we have nothing to offer to you. There is no goodness in us at all. Lord, as we consider our sin and the judgment that is due to us for them, We realize that if you would deal with us on account of our sin, that we would be lost eternally. But you have sent your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Lord, what a comfort the gospel is on occasions such as this, when we know that our dear loved one, our husband, our dad, our hope, our friend, our brother, has made such confession, his hope and trust was in the Lord Jesus Christ, not only in the last moments of his life, but in the years of his life, how he lived his life with patience, trusting in you, especially in this last year, and that you were gracious to him and bestowed upon him every good gift. and how that He so frequently confessed of your goodness towards Him, how that He, being undeserving, yet experienced the marvel of your grace, that you saved Him and delivered Him from sin and set Him free in Jesus Christ, And now we might know that He's inherited an inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled, which eye has not seen nor ear heard. Lord, what a comfort this brings to us in days like today to know, O Lord, that He has entered into your eternal presence. Lord, we pray that you'll be with us. We ask that you particularly be with our dear sister, with mom, Christine. Lord, that you'll strengthen her. And as she, O Lord, through this day experiences some deep sorrow, as she says goodbye for a season to her dear husband of many years, Lord, we pray that you'll strengthen her and that you'll be near to her and bless her. and strengthen her day by day, and week by week, and month by month, and year by year in the days to come. Lord, be with the children, Lord, with each one of them, with the grandchildren, and we pray, Lord, that you'll be with them all in their personal circumstances, and that each and every one of them, too, would look to you for help and strength on this day. Be with us all Oh Lord be with us as family as friends as congregation as we Say goodbye to our dear loved brother And that as we Oh Lord lay his body to rest in the grave give us strength for this day that we would do so with the hope of the resurrection and the surety to know that your love is everlasting and Nothing nothing shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord And that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. And it's in His blessed name that we pray. Amen. We confess in our catechism what is your only comfort in life and death and we read there that I am not my own but belong with body and soul both in life and death to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my Heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head. Indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him. And then we ask, what does the resurrection of Christ profit us? We answer, first, by His resurrection, He has overcome death. that he might make us partakers of that righteousness which he has purchased for us by his death. Secondly, we are also by his power raised up to new life. And lastly, the resurrection of Christ is a sheer pledge of our blessed resurrection. We sing together from Psalter 32. You find it in the pew in front of you or below your seats or you find it in the paper laying on your chairs. Psalter 32 and we sing all the stanzas and I want you to notice in particular the last stanza. Psalter 32, all the stanzas. So, O say can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's For now, O God, I cry to Thee, Assured that Thou wilt answer me. Let me thy love encourage me, Thy wondrous mercy call and bring. We'll be there for eternity, and ever shall be. At this point, we will invite Mike Trask to come forward and give some reflections on the life of our brother. Hello, everyone. Thank you so much on behalf of the family for being here today. just to show your respects and love to a great man, a man that we all love very much. He was a wonderful, caring man, a wonderful husband, father, brother, grandfather, and friend. Even if someone had told me, I could not have believed it possible. to experience such deep sorrow, such opposing emotions, because at the same time, I feel such great joy. For I know where my Father is, and that He is with our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that at a funeral it's not normal to talk about, or it is normal to talk about the wonderful attributes of a loved one, and that it would actually be bizarre to stand up here and point out his faults. My father was a great man, as you all well know, but he was also a broken man, saved by faith, saved by grace. Last Christmas, when we gathered together as a family, he shared his testimony with us. He spoke of brokenness to encourage us and allow us to see a glimpse of the work of the Heavenly Father in his life. Allow me to read a few words from his testimony. Dearest Christine, dearest Christine, children and grandchildren, friends and loved ones, I'd like to give you a short biography of events in my life. By the time I was 27 years old, I was a full-fledged mechanic and everything was going well in our lives. However, I was also a heavy drinker while on my way to becoming an alcoholic. We were very successful in business, so money was no object. We spent lots of time with the kids, traveling, camping, enjoying our beautiful British Columbia outdoors. All the time, I was doing a miraculous job of hiding my higher and higher level of dependence on alcohol. At night, when I closed out the service station, I could never wait to be finished so I could rush to the liquor store to get my next bottle. Sometimes I would go buy it during the day and hide it in the service station for later. By the time the doors were locked at 6 o'clock, I would have my first little nip straight from the bottle. Some customers knew I did this, and they would come by to join me. Some would also bring their own bottle. When it was gone, we made our ways home, and at home I knew I'd always be able to find some more, hidden away. This went on for several years, going from bad to worse, more lying, more lying. I slowly found my relationship with Christina and my family deteriorating, my business going downhill, my finances plummeting, my work ethic taking a dive, and my care for anything ultimately disappearing, including any type of relationship with God. As time went on, I knew I had to get out of the alcohol. It was driving me to the bottom. I'd be in the service station some evenings at 6 o'clock, finish work, and stagger out to my truck. Bottle in hand. Start my car, and me on the steering wheel. My head against my hands, crying like a baby. Lord, please take this awful sin away from me. I asked myself, is this what I want for myself or for my children to see? I earnestly prayed that God would take this awful, depilitating vice away from me. I don't know what night it was, but I went to the house, I poured my liquor bottles into the sink, and cleaned up the empty bottles hidden in various locations. The next day I went to the service station and did the same, and I have not had a drink since. I knew the Lord must have answered my prayer. Why, I don't know. I was not leading a godly life, but he had more in store for me. I was getting great enjoyment from hiking and biking, walking, staying fit. I knew I couldn't do this while drinking alcohol. I wanted to volunteer as a firefighter with a local search and rescue team in the police auxiliary. And as you all know, he did those three things. My family life, relationship with my children, and wife improved dramatically, beyond belief. not through promises, but through actions. Looking back, I believe that when I got out of alcohol, crying like a baby in my car, the Lord was already working in my heart. I had many good discussions with friends, while fishing trips, snow bailing adventures, driving. During these times, words came to me, Romans 8, 31. For if God is with us, who can be against us? Philippians 1 verse 6, He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. And Romans 4 verse 13, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. We began attending the Langley Free Reformed Church on a regular basis with some family who was already attending there. Eventually a church plant was made here in Chinook Rock too. Attending here was very spiritually rewarding. My spiritual struggles continued, and I often thought of how I'd sinned against God. I lay awake many nights, praying that God would give me strength and guidance. I dug in my Bible quite a bit after that. More and more. I had one in the glove box on my truck. In the fire truck. In the lunchroom. Beside my bed at work. And beside my bed at home. I searched three-word continuously and saw many of the promises of God. God is good. He is almighty. He keeps his promises. Now that I am nearing the end of my life here on earth, I could not hold this to myself any longer. I feel my dear wife and children ought to know about it and prayerfully be blessed by it. Even if one wandering soul can be pulled away from the edge of hell, it will have been profitable. God is an awesome God and merciful to those who love him. In his testimony, my dad shared how Psalm 16 had a special meaning to him, a psalm which has special significance even now. Pastor John will be sharing that with you later and ask you to pay attention to his words. My father did not let his history define him. He became a different person, the one we all remember and love so well. He wanted nothing more than to touch the lives of others and allow them to experience a surpassing knowledge of the grace and mercy of his Savior. He did this often with his email updates over the last year. My father worked hard to atone for his sins. He led a good life. He was a good example for the ones he loved. He was loving, caring, hardworking, loyal, compassionate, and giving. Yet through it all, he recognized that it is by grace that we are saved, and not by works, so no man can boast. None of us can ever do enough to earn salvation. It is available only through Jesus Christ. This is the message that he wanted to share. In Romans 3 verse 21 to 28 it says, But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned, we all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Jesus Christ when he freed us from the penalty of our sins. For God presented Jesus as a sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who had sinned in times past. For he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate His righteousness, for He Himself is fair and just, and He makes sinners right in His sight, when we believe in Jesus. Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our accordal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith, and not by obeying the law. We grieve the loss of a great man, a man who fought the good fight, finished threes, and remained faithful. We rejoice in our knowing that he rests with our Heavenly Father, not because he obeyed God's laws or because he was a good man who did good works, for these are in vain if they are not preceded by faith. My prayers echo the desires of my father, that each one of you would see God's grace in his life and seek it for yourself. That you would humble yourselves before God and accept the gift of his son, Jesus Christ, as your personal Lord and Savior. Thank you. Thank you very much. We sing together from Psalter 28. Psalter 28. God Bless. O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of I shall be with thee, with thee We follow thee, thy truth is clear, thy heav'nly throne shall bear. The Lord, thy God, shall all be glad, for God the King shall reign. Then come, O God, then come, O God, my only God will take. ♪ The love that's strong ♪ ♪ Is better than the life I've known ♪ ♪ And that is evermore ♪ We turn to Psalm 16. Psalm 16. We read the entire psalm and we'll spend a few moments reflecting on the first verses of the psalm and then we will end reflecting on the last verses of the psalm. Psalm 16. Preserve me, O God, for in you I put my trust. O my soul, you have said to the Lord, you are my Lord. My goodness is nothing apart from you. As for the saints who are on the earth, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight. Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another God. Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take up their names on my lips. O Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup. You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good inheritance. I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel. My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me because He is at my right hand. I shall not be moved. Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will rest in hope for you will not leave my soul in Sheol. nor will you allow your Holy One to seek corruption. You will show me the path of life, and your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Dear Christine, family, friends, firefighters, congregation of our Lord Jesus, early this past Monday morning, Your loved one, Martin Trask, took his last breath and entered into everlasting life. And there are few events that are more sobering than the moment when one passes over the threshold of eternity. Death is sober because we are reminded so vividly of the bitter reality of what the Lord warned Adam and Eve in the beginning when He said to them concerning the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. And into God's perfect creation, death came because of Adam's sin. And that means that death is not our friend, but our enemy. And there's no escaping that reality. And if the Lord tarries, every one of us will one day lie in a casket in the front of the sanctuary. You ever think about your death? You see, it's a ploy of the devil to restrict our thoughts to the short time of this life. The Bible speaks of this life as only as a moment, as a morning mist, as a fading flower. We are here for only a moment, and then what? Do you live in your life, in this life, as if this is all there is? Consider where you spend all your efforts, where you spend all your time. And these will tell you what you're focusing on at the present time. But what about eternity? What hope do you have for eternity? Now, when David wrote this psalm, it seems as if he is facing death. Or at least he's being threatened by someone who wanted to kill him. And how does he respond to this reality? How did he respond to it? How did our dear brother Martin respond to this reality, this reality, this certainty of death when he was informed of his condition, that his condition was terminal and that he only had a few short months to live? He had a long time of preparation. But that's not always the case. But how does the psalmist respond to this threat of death? He turns to the Lord for safety, and he turns to the Lord for security. You see that from the first verses of this psalm. Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust. O my soul, You have said to the Lord, You are my Lord. David flees to the Lord in his need, you see. He cries out to God, Preserve me, O God, preserve me. Wasn't that the very confession of Martin that he had on his lips? If you visited him, that's exactly what he said time and time again. And he said, as the psalmist did, there's no goodness, as we heard a few moments ago, there's no goodness in me. My goodness is nothing apart from you, the psalmist says. And this is an acknowledgment of the reality of one's sin, of one's depravity, of the fact that before God we have nothing to offer to Him at all. In fact, apart from the Lord, we are sin, we are stained with sin, we are consumed in our sin. We are apart from God. And the psalmist is well aware of the fact that he doesn't deserve the favor of God. He knows not only that he sins, but that he's full of sin. He says, there's no goodness in me at all. And we can't help but recognize that this is precisely the confession of Martin. He understood that apart from the Lord there was no goodness at all. That was the confession even from his dying lips just a few days ago. But the confession that someone has no goodness in themselves doesn't save anyone, does it? You can know that you're in a desperate situation and still be lost, can't you? You can know that you're dying, but the fact that you know that you're dying, that doesn't give you life, does it? You can know your sin like no one else, but that won't save you at all. Because it requires one to turn to the Lord. Preserve me, O God. In You I put my trust. And in a New Testament sense, it means turning to the Lord Jesus in faith, trusting and resting in the promises of God. Confessing as the psalmist does, O Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup, my whole being, my whole purpose of existence is that God might be glorified in me. This was David's confession already here in the Old Testament because he knew of the coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, who would suffer and who would die for his sins. And so he cries out to God, preserve me, O God. But in the New Testament sense, we have all the more reason to know of this absolute security and safety because of the finished work of our Lord Jesus. The only way of life, the only way of safety, the only way of security is to flee to the Lord Jesus and hide under the shadow of His wings, take refuge under His wings. There are always those who mistakenly think that there needs to be some quality in themselves before fleeing to the Lord for mercy. But that implies that there's some goodness. But there is no goodness. But when we are aware of our need, when we truly understand our need, we will flee to the Lord Jesus and we will rest, what, upon His promises that whoever confesses his sin, He will forgive them their sins and then they will be saved. Now that sounds so simplistic to some of you. You believe that salvation is much more complicated than that, don't you? You want to think that that's easy-believism. Or maybe even you might think, well, that's man-centered. But a religion that looks for hope in what man experiences is man-centered. It's a deception of the devil who wants anyone to hesitate in coming to Christ. The devil wants you to question the promises of the gospel. He wants you to think that you need something that you need to experience something, that you need something better. But the call of the gospel is to repent of your sin and to turn from your sin to the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in Him. It is casting yourself on Him because of your great need, you see. It's not even believing that you are saved, but it's that Christ saves sinners. And knowing yourself to be a sinner, you flee to Him, don't you? Now, this is important for us to understand, isn't it? It's important for us to understand that this is the way of life. This is the way of eternal life, isn't it? To flee simply to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this has eternal consequences, and that comes out in the last verses of this psalm, doesn't it? The last verses. Look at verses 9b through 11. Now this is the confession of one who knows the Lord Jesus. This is the confession of the psalmist as he places his hope in the Lord. And this is the fact of the reality of his eternity when he turns to the Lord and he acknowledges that his hope is built on nothing else but what the Lord has done. Not his goodness, but the goodness of the Lord. He's acknowledging that there's life here beyond the grave, isn't there? That there's a certain eternal hope There's no doubt in his mind, my flesh also will rest in hope. He's experienced certain hope in the resurrection from the dead. He speaks of the certainty of the resurrection from the dead. And when we bring the body of your loved one to the grave, we do it with the full assurance of the resurrection from the dead. Look at verse 10, For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption. David speaks about the reality of spiritual and physical death. The first phrase refers to his spiritual death when he says, you will not leave my soul in Sheol. And the second phrase, to his body, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption. The result of man's fall into sin was corruption, spiritual and physical death. You see, the wages of sin is death. Do you understand? that if you were yet in your sin that when you die that you will experience spiritual and eternal death. That's what the reality of this text implies. But David makes this confession. He says, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption. Now, that's concerning his body, but David's body, it decayed in the grave, didn't it? Then you must see that ultimately this phrase, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption, doesn't refer, first of all, to David. For his body would see corruption. In fact, in Acts 2, we read that David's body did see corruption. And therefore, Peter tells us that this verse speaks about the Lord Jesus Christ, and not David at all. And this comes out abundantly clear later in Acts, when Paul quotes this verse, and he says, For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and, then he says, saw corruption. David's body saw corruption, you see. He's both dead and buried, Peter says, and his tomb is with us here to this day. And therefore, when David wrote the psalm, he's ultimately speaking of the Lord Jesus. Of the Lord Jesus. David's body saw corruption, of which both Peter and Paul in the New Testament remind us. But the Holy One, He saw no corruption. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the writer of Acts has given us a perfect commentary on Psalm 16. David was looking forward to Christ. David wrote in Psalm 16 about the Lord Jesus Christ, that His body would not see corruption. His soul would not remain in hell. David knew because he was a prophet, because he spoke on behalf of the Lord, that he was proclaiming the will of the Lord. And therefore David was placing his ultimate trust and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, specifically in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. He looked ahead, and his eternal hope came through the Messiah. He had Christ-filled light in the Old Testament, He believed. He trusted. He rested in the promises of God, in the coming of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he had an eternal hope, therefore, also for His body. Because while it speaks of Christ, it has implications for all who die in Christ. You see, because the Gospel is that we are united to Him in faith, and that when we're united to Him in faith, then there's also the certainty that all that is Christ are given to His people. The New Testament teaches that Christ is the firstfruits of them that died, meaning that Christ, while He rose again from the dead, it was only a foreshadowing of the resurrection of all who have died in Christ from the dead into everlasting life. And so, Paul breaks into doxology, doesn't he? O death, where is your sting? And he speaks of the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessed hope, isn't it? No, my flesh, he says, shall rest in this hope. Now, is this your confession? It was the confession of your dear husband, wasn't it? Of your dad? Of your Opa? Of your brother? Of our dear friend? But is it yours? Is it yours? Can you say to live is Christ and to die is gain? Now notice how the psalmist speaks of the gain of the believer at his death. We often think of heaven as the absence of certain things, of no sin and no sickness and no sorrow and no sadness and so on, and this most certainly is true. That would already make it a glorious place if we were done with cancer. We were finished with tears and sorrows and pains. That would already be a glorious place, wouldn't it? But it's so much more, isn't it? Because David speaks of being in the presence of God in your presence, he says. at your right hand. And the life that he's speaking here is not the life which we have on earth, but the life which comes after this life, after the grave, after the resurrection in the presence of God. This is where the path of life leads. It leads into the presence of God. And ultimately, that's what heaven is above everything else. It's being with the Lord. It's being in the presence of God at your right hand. This is the glory of heaven. The Bible's most common way to describe heaven is in a way that children can understand. It's so simple. It is being with the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus says when he left his disciples in John 14, I will come again. That's where I am. He says there, you may be also. And in John 17, he says to the Father, Father, I desire that those whom you have given me may be with me where I am. That's what heaven is like. And he says to the thief on the cross in Luke chapter 23, today you will be with me in paradise. You see, the message of the New Testament is clear. Heaven is being with Jesus. The Bible doesn't speak of going to heaven. It speaks of being with Christ, and Paul says, my desire is to depart, and what? To be with Christ, which is far better, he says. And in 2 Corinthians, Paul speaks of being absent from the body, and what? Present with the Lord. Being present with the Lord Jesus. But being present will be the fullness of joy, David says, and pleasures forevermore. These joys come from being in the presence of God. He's the one in whom we take delight, isn't He? You see, there are certain joys in this life, and we can be thankful for that. The birth of a child. We rejoice. The fellowship of friends. That's a joy. There's a certain euphoria in life. But in God's presence, the experience will be the fullness of joy. And will that not come as we reflect and meditate upon the greatness and the glory of the Lord in heaven? Because what does the fullness of joy look like? What does the fullness of joy feel like? Think of the joy that they must have experienced as Christ returned to heaven. As the Lord Jesus came into the presence of heaven, the angels were rejoicing, and no doubt Christ Himself was overwhelmed with the fact that He was in the presence of His Father in the fullness of joy and pleasures forever, evermore. Christ was exalted to the right hand of God. Being with Christ gives pleasures forevermore. You see, there's a brand of Christianity that looks suspiciously on pleasures, but true pleasure is pleasure in God. To be in the presence of God. Well, what does this fullness of joy, what does that look like? And what does the pleasures forevermore, what does that look like practically? Well, it won't be about things. It won't be about activities. It won't be about sensualities. Because these pleasures and joys, they are superficial and passing at best. It won't be about golf or hockey or soccer. It won't be about stuff. But it will be about being in the presence of the Lord. Let me ask you this question. What gives you the greatest pleasures in this life as a Christian? Isn't it really about two things? What gives you the greatest joy and the greatest pleasure in this life? This is assuming you're in Christ. When you believe in Christ, what is that which gives the greatest pleasure? Isn't it the lighting of the Savior? What has given you the most ecstatic pleasure and joy as a Christian? Is it not those times when you are overwhelmed with the grace and the mercy of God? When you've experienced it perhaps under the preaching or in participating in the sacraments or in your private or your family devotions and suddenly you're overwhelmed with the goodness and the mercy of God towards you as a sinner and all fears of judgment disappear and you realize there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus and joy just fills your soul and you experience this unspeakable joy. Delighting in the Savior. But doesn't it also involve fellowshipping with each other? Doesn't our most enjoyable times come when we might enjoy sweet fellowship with fellow believers, with the body of Christ? These times of fellowship when we dwell together in unity. If someone recluses themselves in their homes living as a hermit, we say there's something wrong, isn't there? And some of us might not pursue this fellowship for various reasons because we're insecure or we're filled with trouble or hurt, but you most certainly desire it, don't you? And will we not experience sweet fellowship in eternity forever? I think that's what I'll miss about Martin the most. He loved to be with people. And we love to be with him. It was a sweet fellowship. but it was a mere taste of what we will experience in eternity. I know some of you don't have a clue what I'm talking about. Some of you are looking for this experience before coming to Christ. But the only way to have a foretaste of these realities is to come in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we begin to experience something of this, you see. A taste of them, even now, before we enter into heaven. And some of you know exactly what I'm talking about. And do you see then how you can face death even with confidence through our Lord Jesus Christ? We can put off the body with a joyful hope of the resurrection. We can even as the apostle long for death. My desire is to depart. Do you ever have those moments? My desire is to depart. No, not in a fatalistic, suicidal way. Not in a perverted way. My desire is to depart and to be with Christ, which is far, far better. Do you anticipate that? Can you even at times anticipate it with longing, with joy? Or do you ignore that your days here are numbered? David says, my heart is glad. Glad. And my glory rejoices. My flesh also rests in this hope. Is that your song? There is nothing here that will give you fullness of joy. There is nothing here that will give you pleasures forevermore. But we begin to taste it. through our union with the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's only given to those who are truly united to the Lord Jesus in faith, trusting and resting in His promises. But these promises of joy unspeakable, of pleasures forevermore, surely await each and every one of us who die in Christ. Amen. Let us pray. O Lord, our God and our Father, there is no goodness in us. We have nothing to offer to you. But we know that the Lord Jesus, who lived a perfect life, was that sacrificial lamb for us who suffered and died on the cross, that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life. What a glorious truth that is. And that his righteousness and that might be ours through faith in him that we are not only forgiven of our sin Through faith in the lord jesus christ as marvelous and wonderful as that is But we are given the righteousness of christ We are adopted as your own dear children and so jesus then becomes our elder brother What a glorious truth the gospel is not only Renewing us into that previous state of which Adam and Eve found themselves in in the beginning But giving us O Lord an inheritance, which is incorruptible and undefiled which fades not away Joy unspeakable Pleasures forevermore even the for the taste of these things in this life We're thankful for them. We're thankful for the fellowship. We might have had over the years with our dear brother and Lord, in what sweet fellowship it was in the gospel as we spoke about our hope in Christ. And Lord, we pray that you'll be with the family, be with Christine now too as we go to the graveside. Lord, give us strength. Give her strength. And that she would also lay his body in the grave with this hope which David confesses. and thereby rejoice, knowing that what awaits us is more glorious than we can imagine. We pray all these things in the forgiveness of our sins, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Congregation because of the time I think we're going to move ahead and we're going to sing abide with me abide with me fast falls the even tide That will be our last song and then after that please stand for the benediction ♪ Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia ♪ you And our hearts will obey. Where're you to lead me? For each path shall lead me. Take any way, In all around I see. to take them from the heart with me. I, I have done every touching, How dear sunshine, how I fear thee. I'll never find you. You're like my soul. My heart is aching. Shine through the woodland, point me to the sun. Let morning bring, let earth with shadows gleam. In thy kingdom, O Lord, abide. Congregation, please rise. Receive now the blessing from the Lord, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. This concludes the service here at the church. At this time, we would have the family sit down and the guest will be leaving. And please go to your cars if you intend to come to the graveside with us and remain there waiting. Turn your four-way flashers on, though, so the So we can see you as you come with us and remain there until the hearse leaves the parking lot and follow behind us. And those who are not able to come to the cemetery because of the conditions are welcome to remain and wait here for our return because there will be refreshments served in the gym here afterwards. So with that, we close this service.