Beloved family and friends of Janice Allmer, the only comfort that we can have is going to the word of God, not speculating about what happens to a person when they die, but going to hear from God himself in his word. That is the only comfort that we can have is to know the truth that is in Jesus Christ. Jesus said that his people would be sanctified by the truth. And he said, thy word, speaking to his father, thy word is truth. It's through the patience and the comfort of the scriptures that we have hope. So when we come to a time of a funeral service, the funeral service is not geared to the dead. The funeral service is directed to the living. For the dead, it's too late. Whether they're a believer, they're going to be with the Lord. Whether they're an unbeliever, it's too late. Salvation is now. Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ is now. Forgiveness is now. Reconciliation is now. When you die, it's too late. The question is then, when somebody dies, whether or not they were trusting in the only Savior, Jesus, or they were trusting in themselves, their church membership. That they were catechized, that they were confirmed into the church, lifelong membership. They give to the community, whatever it may be. They're trusting in that, they're relying upon that. They think that they're okay with God because they say they're a good person. You don't understand what good is. Jesus said to the rich young ruler, why do you call me good? There's one good, that is God. But if you want to enter into life, obey the commandments. The rich young ruler said, which ones? Jesus started with the second table of the law. Honor your father and your mother, do not murder, do not commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, don't covet. Oh, all those things I've kept from my youth. What do I lack? Jesus said, if you want to be perfect, sell all that you have and give to the poor and come follow me and you will have treasure in heaven. And he went away sad because he had much riches. Was Jesus saying that a man could obtain eternal life by perfect obedience to the law? Jesus kept the law perfectly. He's the only one who has kept the law perfectly. And if a man kept the law perfectly, he would be established in righteousness. But here's the problem that we all come into this world dead in our trespasses and sins and at war with God. And we're haters of God going our own way and will not desire, have no desire for God to rule over us. And because of sin, we're deceived. And we think we're good people and we think we're right in the sight of God. And we're trusting in anything and everything but the Lord Jesus Christ. It's an amazing thing, isn't it? How sin blinds the mind. I know I was there for 26 years as an unbeliever. I know what a blinded mind is like. If you told somebody to climb Mount Everest and God would save you, you know how long the line would be? People would line up to climb the mountain because, you know, I did this. And yet the promise of the gospel is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Jesus, in dealing with the Pharisees here in John 5, were disputing about a man that he had raised up who was infirm, and Jesus told him to pick up his mat and go to his home. And the Pharisees began to grumble. You know, there are six other days to do that work. Let the work of God be done on those other days, but not on this day. But the man was told by Jesus, pick up your mat and go to your home. And he was immediately healed. So he did what Jesus called him to do. And so there was the contention then between the Pharisees and the scribes. And as you know, as you read scripture, the Herodians, teachers of the law, there was a constant confrontation as they were coming against the true and living God face to face and hating him and their souls. So Jesus began to tell them that the Father is working. And as the Father works, so the Son works. Here's a rub here that Jesus gives. If you do not honor the Son, if you do not give honor and glory and praise and thanksgiving to the Son, you do not honor the Father who sent Him. People today think that they can worship God without worshiping the Son. You are sorely mistaken. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by him. There is only one entrance into the kingdom of heaven, and his name is Jesus. And if you don't come to him, you perish. There is no other way. There is no other entrance. Man wants to come up with a million different ways to God, and the scriptures are plain. There is one way, and his name is Jesus. You must come to Jesus. It's the Father who sent the Son into this world to redeem those that were given unto Him from before the foundation of the world. To work in them, to hear the gospel, to believe on the gospel, and that's the work of the Holy Spirit. To cause them to believe the good news of the gospel. So if you don't honor the Son, then you dishonor the Father who sent Him. And Jesus, notice what he says in the text. Most assuredly, truly, truly, verily, verily. In other words, get your ears ready to hear this. This is emphatic here. He says, I say to you, uses the present tense here in the Greek text, meaning I continually am saying to you this. He who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life. He who hears. Not simply with the outward ear. You see, we do hear with the ear, the outward ear, but it's the words that go deep into the soul. And as the words go down into the soul, it makes a change in the heart of man. And that's the work of the Holy Spirit, who plants the seed of the Word in the heart. But He cultivates that heart and prepares that heart to believe on Jesus, to embrace Christ as the prophet, priest, and king, as the only Savior, to abandon all else and run to Jesus, He who hears. Notice how important it is today that we hear the Word of God. This is what Paul's argument was in Romans chapter 10. How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they be sent? Paul told the Ephesians, if indeed you have heard him as the truth is in Jesus. Jesus sent out his disciples. And as he sent them out, he told them, he who hears you, hears me. And he who hears me, hears the one who sent me. Spin that around. He who doesn't hear you as you preach the Word doesn't hear me. And he who doesn't hear me doesn't hear the Father who sent me. And that's why Jesus and John said that those who are of God hear God's Word. Those who are of God, the Holy Spirit works in their heart. They're demonstrated that the Holy Spirit has done His work. They manifest the work of the Spirit by believing, by hearing, and by believing. And this is what Jesus said. He who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life. It's present reality. And it's interesting too, when Jesus speaks this, he speaks, the Greek text is what's called a present tense. It means a continual action. So the one who continues to keep on hearing and the one who continues to keep on believing has everlasting life. It's not a been there and done that. It's a continual keep on hearing the Word of Christ. You hear Him speaking through His Word. You hear Him continually beckon to His people, come to me. Are you weary? Are you heavy laden? I will give you rest. Come to me, find rest in me. Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy, my burden is light, and in me you find rest for your soul. The people of God hear that. They hear, you are forgiven. That your sins have been cast as far as the east is from the west, never to be remembered against you again. The people of God hear that. They hear 2 Corinthians 5, that we have been reconciled to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. They hear we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 5. They keep on hearing Christ speak to them in this way. Are you hearing that? Are you hearing Christ speak to you? Are you believing His Word? Are you embracing Him? Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross of Christ I cling. Naked come to Thee for dress, foul I to the fountain fly, wash me, Savior, or I die. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. Is that your song? Is that your theme? Are you embracing Jesus? There's no other hope. There's no other salvation. There's no other joy. There's no other peace with God, except Jesus Christ. The one who has everlasting life, what he's referring to there is not simply a duration of life. Yes, indeed, it goes on forever and ever and ever. What a wonder! Something that we have not experienced in this temporal fallen world in which we live. But the promise is given that there is life that goes on forever and ever. And Solomon has written in Ecclesiastes that God has put eternity into the heart of all men. You may be here this morning denying the existence of God. You may be one denying the truth of God's word. Fighting against God, it's futile. It's a vain attempt. You cannot win. It's a fight you cannot win. And yet God has put eternity into the heart of all men. And even the rankest pagan will demonstrate that eternity is in the heart of all men. When he cries out for somebody who has committed a crime and he doesn't see the justice rendered on this earth, he knows there's got to be more than just this life in which we live. There's a judgment coming. So everlasting life is more than just a duration, it's a quality. It's a bliss and a wonder and a joy inexpressible and full of glory. Inexpressible glory. We are going to be made, as those who believe on Jesus Christ, we are going to be made like unto the glorious body of Jesus Christ. It's a glorified body. This mortal puts on immortality. This corruptible puts on incorruption. Death is going to be swallowed up in life. And we will ever be with the Lord. And what a quality of life that will be. In a kingdom wherein righteousness dwells. No more sin. No more sin here in my soul. Not just out there, here, here, me. No more sin here. No more fighting against sin here. No more battle here. Perfectly then, living consistently of who I am in Jesus Christ. Oh, what a day that will be. It's a day that I long for, and every believer in Christ longs for that day, and it's coming. This is the everlasting life, this quality that we have. To love God with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. You know, you know, everyone in here knows we don't love God that way. Believer and unbeliever. The unbeliever hates God. The unbeliever has nothing to do with God. He doesn't want God in any of his thinking. But the believer doesn't even love God with all of his being. And if it wouldn't have been for Christ loving the Father with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength, we would be damned, and rightly so. The everlasting life, going on forever. And notice what he says, and shall not come into judgment. What he's referring to there is the judgment bar of God, being brought before God, and being judged for your sins. Why is that? Why will the believer no longer be judged? Because Christ bore the judgment for all of his people on the cross. When Christ was on the cross and the inexpressible anguish, pains, and terrors that he suffered because of the wrath of God that came against him, the one who knew no sin was made sin for his people. When that happened, he bore the sin of all of his people. He absorbed the sin of all of his people. And now we have the promise, no more judgment. God's going to judge. God's judging right now. Fornicators, adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites, they are all under the judgment and condemnation of God. God judges men in this life and he will judge men in the life to come. But for the believer, you've escaped the judgment of God because of Christ. He's perfectly fulfilling all the stipulations of God's law in your place. He's going to the cross and laying down his life. that you might then have an atonement, a covering, your sins covered because of the work of Christ. He rose from the dead as a declaration by the Father that he'd receive the work of the Son on behalf of his people. And now Christ, our Lord, sits at the right hand of the Father. We call that his session. He sits now at the right hand of the Father, ruling over all things for the glory of his Father and for the good of his church. We have the confident expectation. We have that hope. And that's what hope is. Hope is not wishful thinking. Biblical hope is a confident expectation of God bringing to pass all that He has promised in His Word. Are you believing the promises of God? Are you believing and have hope in Jesus Christ? Is your trust in Him? Is your confidence in Him? If it is, then you have everlasting life right now. It's present tense. It's a present reality. The beginnings of eternal joy. You have everlasting life now. You've been united to Jesus Christ. You've passed from death into life. Notice the two, death and life. If you're believing on Jesus Christ, you have life. and that everlasting. If you're not believing on Jesus Christ, you abide in death right now, which is your best life. Get all that you can. Enjoy everything that you have and that you can in this life, because this is your best life. After this, it's only eternal torment. And this is what Jesus says. Notice, Moses, surely I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. He's speaking about regeneration. He's speaking about the Word of God being preached, the Spirit of God working through an instrument of a man who brings the Word, and he regenerates souls. They hear the Word of Christ. They hear Christ speaking through the Word. And he gives them life. And they believe. And they run to Jesus Christ. And Jesus says that life is in him. And the Father has granted life to the Son and has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of God. Verse 28, he says, don't marvel at this. For there is an hour coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice. All who are in the tombs, all who are in the graves, all those who died at sea, all those burned in a fire, all the ashes of men, God, by His spoken word, will bring all the bodies of all mankind out of the graves, being united to their souls, and they will all appear before this great judge, Jesus Christ, the one who sits on the throne. He has been given all power, all authority to rule and execute judgment, and He will. Today is the day of salvation. The gospel comes to you today and says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. God so loved the world, He loved the world in this way. He gave His only begotten Son. And if you do not come to Christ, if you do not believe on Christ, you are spurning God's most glorious gift in His Son, Jesus Christ. And Christ, in the call of the Gospel, is given to you. So He says, come. Come and believe. Come and trust. Come and escape the condemnation that is coming. And notice, lastly, he says, and they will come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. All men standing before Christ, the great judge separates the sheep from the goats and those that rose from the dead who did not believe on Christ, did not obey the gospel, did not believe, spurned, plugged their ears, laughed, mocked, marginalized the word of God, they will go away to everlasting damnation. But the righteous enter into life. Where will you be on that great day? Don't deceive yourself, don't bury your head in the sand. Don't try to reason around the truth of the gospel. If you don't believe the word, you can't explain anything in life. You have no reason for living. You have no understanding what life is. You don't know what death is all about. You don't know what your own person is on about. We are created as God's image bearers, and if you don't understand the truth of God's word, you have no justification for your life. You can't explain language, you can't explain vocation, you can't explain family, you can't explain government, you can't explain education, you can't explain life, you can't explain death. You have no comfort. And that's why men give themselves over to drink, to drugs, to all kinds of activities to numb the mind, and yet the judgment keeps coming. I love this analogy. Our lives are like an hourglass. And when you come out of that womb, it's as if, just using an analogy, it's as if God turns that hourglass upside down and the sand begins to fall. And each one of us are allotted a certain amount of sand. Some this many days and years, and some this many days and years. But when that last sand ticks through, your soul departs. Where will you go? Will you go to be with the Lord, or will you go to hell to suffer judgment? The promise of the gospel is clear. Moses set before the Israelites life and death. And he simply says, choose life. Why would you die in your sins? Why would you go to hell and suffer the condemnation forever and ever and ever? Why? Why would you do that? Choose life. Choose Christ. Run to Christ. while there's still time. Today is the day of salvation. Amen. Shall we pray?