We have today in our presence the Reverend John Wagner with us. He's a minister who had in the past, when Carlin lived in Columbia, was ministering to her on occasion. And he is going to come read the scriptures and then to pray, please, Reverend Wagner. I'm going to be reading a portion from Psalm 90, the only psalm penned by Moses, the man of God. Psalm 90. Let's hear the Lord's word. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hast formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God. Thou turnest man to destruction, and sayest, Return, ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight, or as but as yesterday, when it is past, and as a watch in the night, thou carriest them away as with a flood. They are as asleep. In the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up. In the evening it is cut down and withereth. For we are consumed by thine anger and by thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath. We spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are threescore years and ten, and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away. Who knoweth the power of thine anger? Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. May God bless the reading of his word to our souls for his name's sake. We bow our heads in prayer. Let's seek the Lord together. Our eternal God and Father in heaven, We have been brought by divine providence to this day, to this hour, and to the great need we all have of the word of God to come and bring its truth with power to our souls. We have read even now that thou art God eternal from everlasting to everlasting. We gladly acknowledge there is no other God beside thee. Thou alone art the one who gives life, who sustains it, and who takes it. We rejoice, Lord, this day that we have come before the God and King of all the earth, who does according to his will, and none can stay thy hand or say unto thee, What doest thou? O our God, as we Think upon the occasion of Carolyn's passing from this scene of time. Even at such a young age, we are reminded, even as Moses prayed in this psalm, how life at best is very brief, like the falling of a leaf. Today the grass flourishes, tomorrow it's cut down. Lord, what is our lifetime compared to thine eternal being? But a brief second of time, as it were. Though our God, as we come to ask for thy help this day, we pray that we will take to heart what the Spirit of God said through Moses to us all in every age, teach us to number our days and that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Father, thou hast told us again this morning that our days are numbered. We have been made to see afresh that everyone in this room has an appointment with thee. The time is fleeting. For Carolyn, that time is over and she has gone out into thine eternity. We are here, Lord. And we pray that as we take that to heart that our days are numbered. Thou wouldst come again and show us how much we need to be taught that again and again, and yet here is today a living example in this funeral service to remind us how brief this life is. We pray, Lord. We pray for Cam especially. Thou who art the God of all comfort. Thou who dost come in thine own peculiar ways to bring peace where there might be turmoil, to bring joy where there's sorrow. Draw near to thy child, we pray. Speak to her as she reads the scriptures, as she calls upon thy name in prayer. When all the Distractions are removed and everyone returns to their normal routines of life. Remember Cam, we pray. In the hard days, the difficult days, when she's nothing left but memories, remind her again and again that thou art a God who doest all things well. Thou hast never made a mistake and never will. Thou art too loving to cause one needless tear. and too wise to make one mistake. So draw near to her, we pray. O Lord, speak to us all this day from thy word. Minister grace to the preacher. May he sense the Lord's Spirit filling him, controlling him, giving him that freedom that can only come from thee. And may this all be a fresh call for us to bring our hearts unto wisdom. Bring them unto Christ, who is the wisdom of God incarnate. It's in his name that we pray. Amen and amen. I would invite you to take the hymnal once again. We're going to sing the words of 347, 347. And once again, I would invite you to stand as we hear the music and to sing your best and to sing thoughtfully the words, may they minister to your heart, to all of our hearts today. Be still my soul, the Lord is on thy side. 347, let's stand to sing please. Be still, my soul, the Lord is on thy side. ♪ Bear patiently thy cross of grief or pain ♪ ♪ Lean to thy God to honor and provide ♪ ♪ In every change, be faithful, will remain ♪ Be still, my soul, thy best, thy help, my friend. Through thorny ways, lead to a joyful end. It's still my soul I long to undertake, To guide the future as he has the past. I hope thy confidence left nothing shame, ♪ All now mysterious shall be bright at last ♪ ♪ Be still, my soul, the waves and winds will blow ♪ ♪ Its voice will rule them while we dwell below ♪ Be still, my soul, the hour is hastening on, And we shall be forever with the Lord. When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone, Sorrow or joy, God's purest joys bestow. They sail by storm, When change and tears are past, All safe and blest, We shall meet at last. It's never an easy time when we are brought in the providence of God to assemble for such occasions as what brings us together today. When the Lord made the world, there was not the original experience put into that world of death. And in many ways, death is the most unnatural experience that we go through in this life. It is completely counter to the world that God made good, and God made very good. And so as we assemble, there is much conflict. We try to make the best of it, We treasure memories that are precious, and so we ought. But on a day of much frivolity, on a day where everyone wants to make a celebration out of everything, We must always bear in mind that it is difficult to celebrate what God never intended to happen in the first place. Death is difficult because God did not make it to be so. He did not make the world to be such that men and women and boys and girls should die. It is sin that brings us to these occasions, sin sin that is thought of so lightly today, sin that people give very little thought to. It is sin that brings our sorrows and our hardships. Sin. I got to know Carlin when she moved to Greenville last year. I always say that If you're going to describe yourself as outgoing or describe someone else as outgoing, one of the kind of tests for that is if someone can walk into an elevator and strike up a conversation with others in that elevator and it not be awkward. If you can do that, you're outgoing. And there are very few of us that are able to do that. But Carolyn, though I never saw her enter an elevator, I'm quite sure she was that kind of a person. Her mother told me that in just the matter of months that she has been here she was already known by name and she knew the names of those that were in the local by-law. They knew her and she knew them. She had an actual interest in people. And often those that spend a life in hospitality, in service to others, they have to have that. They have to have an interest in people. They have to remember names. They have to remember orders. If you have regulars, you have to recall to remembrance and make them feel that their custom is appreciated and valued. And Carolyn had all of those gifts. She was naturally warm-hearted. I say that without any hesitation. She was warm-hearted. Some people pass through life and they can manage to get from one year to the next and they never pass a compliment to others. They never consider a word of encouragement to other people. That was not Carolyn. she was always full of compliments. She particularly, from my experience anyway, she would pour out those compliments to my wife. She always wondered how someone could, with such young children, three young children, always look so put together, always look like they have it all together, and she would compliment her in ways in that fashion that came very easily to her. There was a warmth in her, and in that we thank the Lord for the reflection of the image of God that is in every man. But beneath that kindness, there was trouble. There was difficulty. There were things that perhaps none of us here today fully understand, and that's okay. We're not meant to always understand. One of our foolish thoughts about ourselves is that we should always know. We should know why. We should know how. We should be able to understand what people are going through. We should be able to help them. But that's not always the way. It's not. And we can be angry. We can be angry at those that we try to help but we fail to help. We can be angry at ourselves because we were unable to help in the way that we sought to and tried to. But there are just some things we're unable to do. We are not God. We are frail children of the dust. And we should never forget it. None of us have divine power. None of us are able to do what only God is able to do. And the Word of God is very clear on that. It is very clear on the fact that men are unable to do certain things. And the glory of the gospel is when we come to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ is that we see in Him someone who was able to do what others are unable to do. When Carla moved to Greenville, it was with a desire, in one sense, to follow through on a decision she had made about two years prior. She professed faith in Christ. And in part, her desire to move to Greenville was to follow through on that profession. Did she change overnight? None of us do. Did she show interest in things that for years she had neglected and ignored? I think so. She would come to see me and she would bring with her a devotional book, a Christian devotional book made up of little excerpts of sermons from the great 20th century preacher, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones. A book that had been given to her by a dear man within our congregation and she treasured it and she read it. She had an interest in something that for years she had neglected. She came to church with a measure of consistency And when she was unable to be there in person, she often, though no one knew about it perhaps, she would watch on the live webcast. She would talk to me about what I had said, what I had preached on. She would ask questions. She would talk in terms of, the Lord has brought me here, I know it. She would talk in terms of one that has and is trusting in the Lord. And she wanted to be an encouragement to her mom. Being here in Greenville, being very close to her again, she would come very often to lunch, bring lunch to her mom, bring flowers and other gifts, just little gestures of her appreciation that down through the years, this person, her mother, had always been there, always supporting her through thick and through thin, through high and through low. Not long ago, she received some devastating news about her health, and it was very difficult for her to take. And I would exhort all of us here today, whatever your relationship was to Carlin, to treasure what you can. As a minister of the gospel, I'm very well aware that life never goes according to plan, and it is very brief. There was a man in the Scriptures, and while we are told nothing about his childhood, I imagine in all probability his childhood was very normal. Whatever a childhood would be like in the first century in the Middle East, I'm sure his childhood was somewhat like that. But when we're brought and introduced to this man, we don't see the childhood. We don't see a little boy playing with his friends and with his toys. We don't see a happy home. We do not see all the joys of childhood that are so often treasured by us in our memories. We're brought face to face with a man who is in despair. As I thought about today and leaving a message with you today, my mind was drawn to a very unusual passage. I think it is unusual in terms of applying it to the context in which we are in today. It is found in Mark chapter 5. There are other gospels that account this record as well, but I could not get away from Mark chapter 5, and I'm not going to read the whole narrative that is here. But the Lord is conducting His ministry, and as often was the case, He is confronted with an individual who is in despair, utter despair. This person is the image of despair. And so when you read it, and I commend it to you for your reading, when you read it, you realize that nothing is new. Individuals down through millennia have struggled. It's not always going to go to plan. People imagine that it should. And I tell people, especially God's people, I tell them, just read the first book of the Bible carefully. Read it and you will see as it's a history of centuries of family life. That's really in part what the book of Genesis is. It is the coming together of families, God bringing the whole history of redemption together through families, through individuals. But the whole book really is about families. And when you read it, it's not all happy families. siblings that strive together, sorrow from one household to another, whether it's Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers, on and on and on it goes. There is no avoiding the distress that occurs in family life. And what I want to leave with you is very simple, just three questions that come to mind when I read Mark chapter 5. The first question is, is there hope for the hopeless? Is there hope for the hopeless? We are told in verse 4 of Mark 5 of this man that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him and the fetters broken in pieces, neither could any man tame him. This is an awful scene. Here's a man, his parents no doubt had dreams and hopes for him, but now that he is of age, such is the hopelessness of his condition that people are actually trying to chain him, possibly to protect the man himself, or perhaps to protect the neighbourhood, the society in which he lived. But whatever way you look at it, it's a scene of utter tragedy. You try and put yourself there. You try and be apparent to this individual. You try to imagine the scenes as you watch on. as an individual, as a parent, as a family member, as a friend. You watch those gathering around members of the community trying to chain this human being. It's a hopeless case. Even the chains could not tame him. I ask another question. Not only is there hope for the hopeless, but is there a friend for the friendless? Is there? In verse 3, we are told, he had his dwelling among the tombs. He had his dwelling among the tombs. People don't live in tombs. There are no friends there. He lived among the dead. He lived in the place where people would bury their dead. He had no friends. No one else is going to spend time there, obviously, but this is where he finds himself. He finds himself without a friend in the world. We live in a society that is As connected as it seems to be, it is a very lonely place. You can have 3,000 friends on Facebook and you can be the loneliest person on the planet. You can be immensely popular online and yet not a soul, really, that you connect with or have any sense of friendship with. That's the reality today. And the third question I ask here is not only is there hope for the hopeless, is there a friend for the friendless, but is there life for the lifeless? We're told in verse 5, always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones. What kind of life is that? always, night and day. This isn't a man going hiking. This isn't someone with an interest in the outdoors. This is someone who has no life. He lives night and day, always, in the mountains and in the tombs. He cries there. If you were to walk past where he was, you would hear the wailing at times, the sorrow You'll see the scars, perhaps, if you get close enough, where he has cut himself with stones such as his despair. As much as things change, they stay the same. The sorrows of our modern day, the sorrows of the 21st century, were alive and well in the first century also. This was no life. No hope, no friend, no life. And the answer to all of these questions was clearly not found in all the friends and the family and all that individuals endeavored to do for Him. The only answer to these questions is found in Jesus Christ. I hope that's not cliche to you. I hope you understand the weight of that. There is only an answer for the sorrows, the struggles, the difficulties of life in Jesus Christ. It's not that other people can't help at times. Sometimes they can. But our help is always limited. And there are cases and there are times when we find that our best effort fails utterly to achieve anything. And the only answer is found in Christ. Christ gave hope to this man. We read in verse 15, they come to Jesus and see Him that was possessed with the devil and had the legion sitting, clothed and in His right mind. Clothed and in His right mind. Here people come and they see this individual that they recognize and he is now clothed and in his right mind. There's been a change here. Hope has been given to him who once would roam around the mountains and in the tombs without any clothes on. But now there's been a change. Christ had given him hope. He put on clothes. He's ready to face life again in a fresh and new way. Christ not only gave hope to this man, he became a friend to this man. Because we read in verse 18 that this man prayed Christ, that is desired Christ, longed Christ that he might be with him. He wanted to spend time with Jesus Christ. He saw in Jesus Christ a friend. He saw someone that he wanted to spend his time with. He saw someone that he wanted to spend the rest of his life in close proximity to. He wanted that. He desired that. He longed for that. What a difference. Once isolated, once hopeless, Christ became a friend to this man. And then Christ gave life to this man. He gave a life to him because in verse 19, when he's desiring to spend time with the Lord Jesus, Jesus says, look now, go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee and hath had compassion on thee. You have a life. You have a life now that has a purpose, that has significance, that will make a difference. Go back to your community. Go to your family. Return to your friends and tell them what the Lord has done for you and how compassionate He has been to you. The Lord is compassionate. When we meet people that we can no longer do anything for, when we meet people that we have determined are hopeless cases, Jesus Christ does not take that opinion. I don't know where you are today. I don't know your thought patterns. I don't know how you're feeling in relation to Carlin. I don't know how you're feeling in relation to your own life. But I declare today, again, on the authority of God's Word, that the answer for every last one of us is Jesus Christ. We may manage to hold things together. We may be those who live a clean life, a respectable life. Oh, we're not like those who have to be chained. We're not like those that live among the dead and in the mountains and in the tombs. We're not like those who have no hope. We have power, we have strength, we have might, we have ability, we have it together. There were people like that in Jesus' day. And Jesus didn't have much time for them. Because if there's one message that is clear, it is, to a greater or lesser degree, we are all utterly lost. What we're dealing with is just a matter of degrees. Some may be lost and manifest it in very tragic ways. But just because you don't manifest that in your life, just because you hold it together doesn't make you any less lost. You're lost. And God sent His Son to be the Savior of sinners. It is my desire that we would all understand we're just like this man here. It may not manifest itself outwardly in the same way, but we're just as lost. And the only one who can help us is Jesus Christ. Maybe you don't see it. May God help you to see it. May God help you today to see just how lost you are. May He be gracious enough to open your eyes to understand just how lost you are. And may He mercifully condescend to you as He did to this individual here. Carlin so desperately wanted to live the Christian life she did. That opportunity was not given to her, and we simply leave that with the Lord. But in every passing, there is a sober warning, and it has already been pronounced to us from the Word of God. Life is very brief. And may God teach us all to number our days, to apply our hearts to wisdom, wisdom You may think wisdom is having a job, employment, making ends meet, nice retirement. No, no. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And a man may find himself hanging on the cross, dying for his sins, for his crimes. And yet even there, at the last moment of his life and his existence, where he has no opportunity to say sorry, no time to tell everyone how he has regrets, he cries out to Almighty God in the person of Christ, Lord, remember me. Just remember me. And Jesus replies with the same compassion that we find in Mark 5, today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. May you cry out today, Lord, remember me. May the events today And the sorrow that we feel be a sobering warning and reminder to us that time is short. Prepare to meet thy God. We are going to close by singing the words of another hymn. It is 493, hymn 493. When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, may you think of the words today. 493, when we hear the music, we'll stand again and sing all of the verses. Peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll. Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well No Satan should bother, no trial should come. Let this blest assurance control, and Christ has regarded my helplessness faith and has shed his own blood. It is well with my soul. It is well. It is well. I sing o'er the bliss of this glorious night. ♪ I say not in part but the whole ♪ ♪ Is nailed to the cross ♪ ♪ And I bear it no more ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪ It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. ♪ And, Lord, face the day when the fates shall be sighed ♪ ♪ The clouds be rolled back and the stars be seen ♪ shall resound, and the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul. It is well. It is well. With my soul. With my soul. It is well. It is well. We pray that Thou wilt give grace. Give grace to those here today that are lost and can't see how lost they are. Give grace today to those of Thy people that we may all be sobered and helped and sanctified through even the experience of our sorrows. Give grace to the family. Draw very near. Continue to support and uphold them and minister to their hearts. Go with us to the committal, we pray. May the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God our Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit be with all thy people now and evermore. Amen. ♪ ♪ Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Okay.