family and friends of Darryl Kingswood. We come here this afternoon to praise the Lord. We come here to give him thanks. We come here to view this particular situation and his death through the lens of scripture. It's the only way to view death. It's the only way to view anything is through the lens of God's Word. It's through viewing these particular things through the lens of God's Word that we find hope. We find comfort. We find peace. There can be no peace. There can be no comfort. There can be no joy in the midst of sorrow unless we view things from the teaching of God's Word. And God's word gives us great comfort as Christians. The Christian worldview is the only true worldview. It's the only worldview that comports with reality. It's the only worldview that rings true in the hearts of people. Christ's resurrection is the first fruit of our blessed resurrection. The Scriptures teach us that it's appointed unto all men to die once. But Job said there is a resurrection coming. And that resurrection of the body where we will see the Lord with our own eyes. Not another, but ourselves will see Him. The Apostle Paul said that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And that is far better than in this fallen world in which we live. So he comforted the Thessalonians by telling them, through the teaching of God's Word, that there is a resurrection coming and those who have departed in faith are with the Lord. And they will come again when the Lord comes with them. And so we who are alive and remain will be joined up together and we will always be with the Lord. And the Apostle Paul said, comfort one another with these words. Notice the view and the comfort and the peace that we have is comforting one another with God's Word. There is no other comfort except from the teaching of Scripture. And this is why we come this afternoon. Come to hear what God says in his word. Are you ready to die? Are you ready to die? I thought one time in a funeral that I preached as you see the casket here, to have two caskets. And the first one would be the deceased individual. And the second would be away from that a bit. And then there would be a step or two leading up to it. So that the people, when they came in, they would look and they would see the deceased person. And then they would query what's going on with this. And they'd walk up a couple of steps and look in. And my desire was to have a mirror on the bottom. So you see yourself. Because one day, we will all be there, unless the Lord returns. Are you ready to die? Job was ready to die. Job was a rich, wealthy man. The Lord had greatly blessed him. You saw how many camel, how many sheep, cattle, all the livestock that he had, and his servants and his family. He was greatly blessed of the Lord. And he acknowledged that. He was a godly man. He was a righteous man. He's a man who worshipped the true and living God. And notice that he suffered. The godly do suffer. The godly do mourn and grieve. But we always mourn and grieve with an eye to the providence of God. The Lord gives. The Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. I preached on Sunday about David strengthening himself in the Lord his God. Job is doing that here. He strengthens himself in the Lord his God. God has given me all of this. God has taken it away. There's a great lesson for us to learn in this, that we are simply stewards of all that has been given to us. We are stewards of the time. We are stewards of our families. We are stewards of our lives. We are to steward them for the glory of God. Verse 20 of our text says that Job arose. Notice, he arose. whether he was sitting down or standing up, the text doesn't say, but whatever it was, when the sound came to his ears that all of his livestock were taken, the servants were killed except the one bearing the news of the servant's death and the livestock taken, he fell to the ground. He fell to the ground. It's a posture of sadness, of sorrow, of grieving. Beloved, it's okay as a believer to grieve. You must grieve. But you never grieve without hope. And Christ is our hope. Christ, through His Word, speaks to the sheep of His pasture, and He tells us there is a resurrection coming. This is not the end of the story here. This mortal must put on immortality. This corruptible must put on incorruption. And death must be swallowed up with life. God has said so. Job tore his robe. He shaved his head. And he fell to the ground and worshiped. How far are we from this attitude of worship and the death of a loved one? How far are we from viewing things even as the patriarch Job viewed the death of his loved ones and his servants and all of his livestock? If you were to go home today and have a message given to you that all of your children have died, your house is burned up, and all your money is gone, your stocks have failed, everything is gone. How would you respond? Would you respond in an attitude of worship? That's the Christian calling. God is to be worshipped, God is to be praised in all of our life. From life to death, whether I live, I live to the Lord. Whether I die, I die to the Lord. Therefore, whether I live or die, I am the Lord's. It's always an act of worship. Notice when Job fell to the ground when he worshiped the Lord, he said these words, naked I came from my mother's womb. Job understood in his reverence to God, he understood that grief was not wrong. He understood also that he would never charge God foolishly. He also had the right perspective in the death of all that he possessed. A stewardship mentality of knowing that God gave. Paul says, what do you have that you haven't received? Moses, as the Lord spoke to him and he told the children of Israel, remember when you come into the promised land, who it is that gives you strength to get wealth. All that we have has been granted to us by God. The breath that you breathe right now, it's that which God holds in His hand. And when He withdraws that breath, you die. No one is born by chance or by accident, and no one dies by chance or by accident. Everybody dies right on time. Because ultimately, it's God's time. It's God's calendar. Our Belgian Confession speaks about all things happening by appointment. God has got appointments for each one of us. Are you ready to meet that appointment? Have you trusted in the only Savior of sinners, Jesus Christ? There is no other name given under heaven among men by which we must be saved. And Jesus said, come to me, all you who are heavy laden and burdened, and I will give you rest. Peace can only be found in Jesus. Being ready to meet your Maker can only be found in Jesus. That's the only place that we can be of safety. Christ is our safety. He is our rock, our refuge, our stronghold. He is our all in all. Have you trusted in Him? Daryl was one who trusted in the Lord. He died in the Lord. He died as one who's a believer. He died and he is present with Christ right now. What was hope for him now becomes a reality of sight. He walked by faith and now he walks by sight. He sees the Lord. The hope that he had has been fulfilled. Now he's awaiting the resurrection of the body. Job had that worldview. Job understood. He said, naked I came from a mother's womb. He's saying I came into this world with nothing. I didn't bring myself into this world. I didn't sustain myself in this world. It's God who brought me forth. He brought me forth through my mother and my father, but it's God who gave me life, for the body without the spirit is dead. God must give life. Job is acknowledging that. I had nothing, I came with nakedness, and I'm going to return that way. The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away. Notice the sovereign view of God through all of this. He doesn't have the modern evangelical view of things being taken from him. He doesn't say that the Lord gave and Satan took away. He doesn't say that the Lord gave and some disease ravished the body and took it away. He doesn't say the Lord gave and the Zambians have taken, the Chaldeans have taken away. He says the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. That's what the catechism speaks about, of understanding the providence of God. I can be patient in adversity. I can have endurance in adversity because I know in whom's hand I belong. You saw in the scripture reading that the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? Oh, yeah. been wanting to get at that guy for a long time. I had my sights set on him. But you set a hedge around him. I couldn't get at him. That's, that's the believer. We're hedged in by the hands of Christ. No one touches the people of God, save by permission from our sovereign Lord. If we're touched with infirmity, beloved, if we're touched by something that goes on in this world, if we're touched by death, by murder, and as ordained by our God, it can be no other way. It can happen no other way. Not a hair falling from the head or a sparrow falling in the forest happens by chance. And then when the Lord tells him, everything that Job has is in your hand, do with him as you will, except don't touch the man. It's thus far and no further. This is what you can do. You cannot do anything other. And he goes out and he does his best. He does his best to try to get Job to curse God. The Lord gave. the Lord has taken away. What a view, what an instruction for us today as those who are Christians. This is what it means that God is sovereign. Our God is in the heavens and he does whatsoever he pleases. And no one can stay his hand or say to him, why have you done such and such? All the nations of the world are but a drop in the bucket to our God. That's a view of comfort. It's a view of comfort, beloved, to understand that God is sovereign. That what He has given, He has taken. He has taken it back. He gave it as a stewardship. He has taken it. When the body is ravished, when cancer, when sickness, when death of a loved one, God has taken away. Now, if you don't view it from the lens of Scripture, you're going to become bitter in your heart. If you don't view the things in life from the lens of God's Word, you will become anxious, and you will become one who questions God's sovereignty. You will question God's work, His wisdom. And you'll say the foolish things like, he died too early. Says who? Says who? That's not what my Bible says. No one dies too early. When you begin questioning God's wisdom, you begin saying things like, why not that one over there? Why this one? Was a mistake made? After all, he preached the gospel. He was a pastor. It's pointed unto all men to die once and then the judgment. The Lord gave. the Lord has taken away. You know, thinking about those three words right there, the Lord gave. God is always giving. Our God is a giving God. God has given us breath. He's given us life. He's given us many little pleasures that we take for granted every day. He's given us eyesight to see the beauty of his creation. He's given us ears so we can lay hold of the birds chirping, the wondrous noise of the wind blowing through the trees, some that many don't have, being deaf. He's given us a voice to be able to speak. How wonderful to be able to communicate, to be able to read what Job communicated, but to be able to communicate, to be able to speak. to bring a word of encouragement, a word of advice, a wise word, a word of knowledge. God gave. God gave his son. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him shall not perish, but will have everlasting life. Everlasting life. Everlasting life that begins the moment one believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust in Him. Then all the promises of God are yay and amen in Jesus Christ. Every promise in scripture given to the people of God, given to the church. because of the work of Jesus Christ. It's given to Christ in that we have Christ. All the promises come to us. All the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places are ours. He has given us all things in Him to those who trust Him. To those who trust Him, we know there is a blessed resurrection coming. To those who trust Him, we know that all things work together for good. To those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. To those who trust Him, we know that if God is for us, who can be against us? To those who trust Him, we know that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It's through faith in Him, it's through trusting in Him, these promises ring true in the soul. These promises comfort the believer's heart. Are you trusting today? Are you trusting Christ today? Are you hoping in Him? You don't have any other hope but Jesus Christ. You don't have a hope of a blessed resurrection, except trusting in Jesus Christ. You don't have the hope of forgiveness of all of your sins, except in Jesus Christ. You don't have any hope of escaping the wrath of God, except in Jesus Christ, who bore that wrath on the cross. Job was one who trusted. He looked to the Messiah. He looked to the one that God gave to be the propitiation for his sins. That's what every believer looks to, Jesus Christ. The one who knew no sin, who became sin for us, that we might become the righteous of God in Him. The one who cried out on the cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? If you're here this afternoon, and you're one trusting Jesus Christ, if you're born of the Spirit of God, you will never be made to say those words, because Christ said them for you. If you're not trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be made to say those words. you will be forsaken. Christ was forsaken that those for whom he lived and died would not be forsaken. Are you trusting him? Are you ready to die? Life is but a vapor. We're here today and we're gone tomorrow. It's so quick. It's so fleeting. Do you realize that it was a week ago Monday that Daryl died? Where has that time span gone just from the time of his death? We are like grass of the field that grow up and the sun comes up and it withers and it dies and it is no more. Its place isn't even remembered anymore. But I don't care if anybody in this world ever remembers me. Because I'm always on the mind of my God. The remembrance of our God. He remembers his own. That was Job's great hope. That was Job's confession. He gave, he took away. He gave, he took away. He has every right to. He owns us. He owns every one of you by right of creation. You're not breathing your own air. You're not walking on your own earth. God has given that to us. He's given the earth to the sons of men, to Stuart. Job understood that. And when it was taken away from him, he says, blessed be the name of the Lord. Let his name be praised. Let his name be exalted. Let His name ring in the ears and the hearts of His people. Let His praise be told. Sing out the honor of His name. Glorify Him when times are good and times are bad, when times are easy and times are tough. Blessed be the name. Notice verse 22, it says, in all of this, In all of Job's praising, in all of Job's confession that the Lord gave, the Lord took away. He didn't sin. He spoke what was right. He said the truth. God has given and God has taken away. And that must be the perspective of every God-fearing individual. Everyone who is trusting in the only Savior, your view must be this view right here. The Lord gave, the Lord took away. Blessed be His holy name. So I ask, is that your view? That strengthening yourself in the Lord your God is rehearsing the writing of Scripture? It's mulling it over in your mind. It's speaking it to yourself. When David was going through difficult times, he began speaking the Word to his soul. He didn't let his heart speak. He spoke God's Word to himself. Why so downcast, O my soul? Put your hope in God. It doesn't mean we don't grieve. It doesn't mean that we don't miss the dear brother. It doesn't mean that as we look at the table and we see one empty chair, that we don't feel some emptiness inside. But we know where the brother is who died in the Lord. I found this quote This week, I'm going to read this. It's by Stonewall Jackson. He says, I have been called to pass through the deep waters of affliction, but all has been satisfied. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. It is his will that my dearest wife and child should not longer abide with me. It is his holy will. I am perfectly reconciled to the sad bereavement, though I deeply mourn my loss. Oh, the consolations of religion. Listen to this. I can willingly submit to anything if God strengthens me. That's the heart of a believer. That's the believer's cry. Though in deep mourning I can submit to the will of my God." Isn't that we find Christ the same way in the Garden of Gethsemane? Sweating, as it were, great drops of blood. Father, if there's any other way, take this cup from me. Let it pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but Thy will be done. It was God's will to take this dear brother. to take Him to Himself. It was God's will to give Him. It was God's will to take Him. And all that we can say, as those who are the redeemed of Jesus Christ, is to lift up our voices, even in the midst of sorrow and grieving, and say, blessed be the name of the Lord. That's the Christian worldview. And that's the view that honors and glorifies and prays the God of heaven and earth, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that that's your view, lest you be hopeless. Look to Christ, for He is the only hope of the nations. Amen. Shall we pray?