Well, let me just say good evening to you all, and I bring greetings from Grace Baptist Church in Carlisle. It's such a delight to be with you. And as I say, probably every time I come to visit you, how much we appreciate you. We pray for you. We really do. And especially as you're going through this time right now without having a pastor. We know what that's been like. God's been so gracious to us. You saw it recently. I think you saw John, Pastor John, Pastor Simon. The Lord's been good to us. And so we pray the same for you as well. And just want you to know that you are in our prayers. We do care for you and appreciate you so much. The slideshow with pictures of various phases of your life comes to an end. And the minister steps into the pulpit. It's your funeral. The church is packed with friends and relatives, some you haven't seen for years or haven't seen you for years. And there's your old neighbor, one that you remember when you were first married. They lived in that town where you lived. And there's Susie, one of your co-workers. And Bob, your old golfing buddy is there too. And the minister begins by telling everyone assembled, we're not going to speak of death today. Instead we will only speak of the life of our beloved friend. Sounds good, right? And we all know that funerals can be difficult, certainly. They can be a hard time and no one wants to add to the sorrow loved ones feel at this time. And we certainly don't want to make this day worse by thinking of death or dying or what might happen when we leave this world. And let me just pause here though and say to you that there's absolutely nothing wrong with recalling memories that we have. Because you know it's God that gives us the minds that we have. It's God that's given us the ability to recall memories. and we have that when our loved ones die. We can recall events and precious moments and admirable characteristics of our loved ones. I remember my grandma Garmin, I always think of her and it's funny because you may not know what this is but when we would leave they had a vestibule, just a little enclosure before you left the house and I can always remember my grandmother's bear hugs. I mean that woman just Mmm, great bear hugs. And you want to remember about my grandfather, my grandpa Garmin, I remember him sitting on the couch with the Bible open. That's the picture I have of him always ready to talk to you about the Word of God. And maybe you have similar memories as well. These are good memories and you may have them too. But if this life is the only thing mentioned at a funeral, that is a sad state of affairs. If there is more said about the deceased than the saving power of Jesus Christ and the hope of eternal life, that is a serious problem. And many funerals today, even in Christian churches, only want to focus on a celebration of the deceased's life. eulogy after eulogy and perhaps an open mic. I mean, you know what I'm talking about. You've been to funerals like this. I had an uncle who was a Christian man. He was saved later in his life and at his funeral there was an open mic and one of his high school buddies stood up and talked all about the sin they had committed as young people and the congregation laughed. I had a neighbor who died recently, he was an unbeliever. He was cremated. No funeral, no service, no memorial, no burial. My wife Carol had an uncle, a Christian man who died recently and exactly the same thing. And we see this becoming more and more popular within our society. It just seems like we want to get it over with. We don't want to think about death. We don't want to think about dying. We don't want to think about the afterlife. And as a society, and I would say even within the Christian church, there is an effort to suppress the reality of death. Why don't we want to face death for what it is? Why does the church, and I'm using the big C here, the church universal, why does the church at Christian funerals shy away from the reality of death, the cause of death, and the inevitability of death? And you know there are so many other questions surrounding this topic. Is there soul sleep? And what happens to my body when I die? Is there really life after death? Is all we need to go to heaven is to die? Is that it? Does death bring hope? So many questions, so much confusion surrounds this topic. But I do want to say to you, if you are a Christian here tonight, a believer in Jesus Christ, your hope and comfort regarding these questions is not to be found in the memories. regarding your loved ones or the wisdom or words of men, but it's to be found in Holy Scripture, in the infallible words of God. And to that end, let's turn together and read 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. I'm going to begin at verse 13 and read through verse 18. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, beginning at verse 13. There are two things that I want you to think about. as we read through this. Sometimes you hear a preacher and you say, boy, I wish I really knew what his point was, right? What's he trying to get at? So I'm going to tell you right now, and then you can sit back and take it easy, right? Two things. First is this. We have true hope if we are in Christ. Secondly, we have no hope if we're outside of Christ. That's it. That's the simple message this evening. Let's read 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 13. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and even so, through Jesus God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you, by a word from the Lord, that you who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. And then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we always. be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words. And we see in verse 13 there that the apostle knew, as he wrote to the believers in Thessalonica, that they, just like many today, were confused about these things, about death, about resurrection, about what happens to our bodies about Christ's return. And Paul is quick to say that he wants believers to be in the know. The ESV says uninformed. He says I don't want you to be what? Uninformed. The King James Version says he doesn't want you to be ignorant. He doesn't want anyone to be in the dark about those who have already died and been buried. There is a need for instruction and we need to be sure that we have a firm grasp on these issues as well. I remember when I was in high school, I had to take French. So I had two years of French. French 1, French 2. Well, this woman that taught French, she was a rookie, first year teacher. We didn't treat her very well. It was not a good thing. I'm telling you that right now. It's not a good thing. And she was a horrible teacher. We learned almost nothing. I don't know how we passed. Somehow, we got through. Well, the next year we come to school, she wasn't there. They fired her. And they brought in a new teacher. And this woman was sharp. She knew her stuff. She walked in there and she started going, bonjour, whatever, whatever, I don't know what she said. And the whole class looked at her. I never felt so sorry for a teacher in my life. She was like, these people don't know. They don't know. And she was anxious to change this situation. She was anxious that we remain no longer ignorant. I think she was especially anxious that Philippe would understand and know Paul. is anxious that you know. He wants you to understand. He wants you to be informed. And why do we need to be informed that you may not grieve? I mean, is Paul saying don't grieve when death comes, just celebrate? Well, there's so much more going on here and the Apostle introduces us to a higher plane, to a greater plateau, to a more glorious way of thinking. He wants to inform, to instruct his readers so that they will not grieve as those who have no hope. And this hope Paul is speaking of is more than enough to balance our griefs. Look at it again in verse 13. And I'm going to say there's two conclusions that we can come to here, or maybe two assumptions that are very clear from the text. And the first one is this, you are going to grieve. You're going to grieve. And rightly so. It is how God made us, human beings with emotions, and when a loved one dies, it's appropriate, it's right for us to grieve. Even Jesus wept at the death of Lazarus, remember that? John 11, 33 says, when Jesus saw her weeping, who was it? It was Mary. He was deeply moved. Verse 35 says, Jesus wept. Verse 36, see how he loved him. That's the first assumption or conclusion, you're going to grieve. The apostle is giving you that much. And then secondly, the second conclusion is, this hope in grief isn't for everyone. It's not. Look at verse 13 where it says, "...but we do want you to be informed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope." So there are others, there are people who during this time grieve without hope. All will be sad, grieve, and mourn at the death of a loved one, but only some, only some will have hope in the midst of sorrow. And since that is the case, we have to ask, who has this hope and why? And we're told right there in verse 14. This hope is for those who believe. For since we believe, we believe what? The gospel message. Jesus died. He rose again. He will bring his children, his believers with him to reign, to be with him in heaven. Now we read from 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and I'd like to go back there, and you can turn there if you'd like to. This is not the past, not the verses that Joel read. but the very beginning of 1 Corinthians 15, because this is the gospel right before us. And Paul says it, he's speaking again, 1 Corinthians 15, let me read verses 1 through 4. Now, I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preach to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved. If you hold fast to the word, I preach to you, unless you believe in vain. For what I deliver to you is of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures." That's the gospel. That is the gospel right there. You say, well, what's the gospel? Well, it's the fact that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and He didn't remain in that tomb. He was raised. And he was brought to the seat beside his father, and he's reigning and ruling. That's the gospel. And Paul says, it's of first importance. It's by which you are being saved. And we kind of move past it there, but also in verse 13, he says, we don't want you to be uninformed brothers. So there we have brothers, those are believers. Verse 14, since we believe, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. He died on the cross to cover the sins of those who believe. He didn't remain in the grave, he rose again. 1 Corinthians 15 17 says if Christ had not been raised your faith is futile and you remain in your sins. Do you see how important the resurrection is? It has to be there and it is true and it occurred and it's part of the gospel and God will bring those who have fallen asleep. What does our text say? It says through Jesus. That's what's going to happen through Jesus. his saving merit. I want to ask you this evening, do you believe? I really mean, I want you to answer that question, do you believe? Of all the questions I've asked in this message, none is more important and that's the only question that you and you alone can answer. Now, perhaps there's someone here who said, okay, I'm going to take that seriously. You're here this evening, you answered truthfully from your heart, and you're sitting here right now saying, I do not believe. I don't. And God's word has something to say to you about that. And listen as I read John 3, 36. He who believes in the Son has eternal life, and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God abides on him. Unbeliever. You will not see life. Some of you say, what do you mean I'm not going to see life? How can that be? I mean, my life is great. I mean, if you want to think about my funeral, people might talk about I was a great father and I was a wonderful wife. You know, as a child, I really tried hard to obey my parents. I was charitable. I was actually pretty successful. I had a good life. What do you mean I won't see life? Well, life does not end with death. It's just the beginning. And all those things may be true that I just mentioned. You lived a good life. But the verse I just read from John 3 is directed to the living. He's not talking to the dead. He's directed to the living. And if you're in this room right now with a pulse, if you're breathing, and if you do not believe, I'm telling you, you will not see life. Life beyond the grave. Eternal life. You won't see it. And not only that, that's not where John 3.36 ends. It goes on to say that the wrath of God abides upon you. Why is that? Because in Adam all die. Do you know that? That back in the garden when Adam sinned, he acted for all his posterity. That means that every single person in this room, we are guilty. And we need a Savior. That's the reason all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And I tell you plainly tonight, I'm serious, with a real concern for your soul. If you do not believe in Jesus Christ, you have no hope. You will not see life. And for eternity in hell, the wrath of God will be upon you. 2 Thessalonians 1.9 speaking of this eternal wrath says this, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, that's bad enough, but it says away from the presence of the Lord. Do you know one of the worst things about being in hell is that you will be away from the presence of the Lord? Well you say, I don't care about that, I don't really care about God. Do you know that no one lives without God? No one ever has and no one ever will. If you're sitting here in your unbelief this evening, He gives you the very breath that you're breathing right now. Do you know that? The very breath that you are breathing. His kindness surrounds you and sustains every moment of your existence. And the scripture says that the sun rises on the evil and the good and He sends rain on the believer as well as the unbeliever. Umbrellas and sunscreen is not just for the believer, right? We saw rain, didn't we? Thank the Lord for the rain. But it fell on... That's God's common grace to you, even if you're an unbeliever here this evening. But in hell, you are going to be separated from that goodness, that common goodness. In hell, all that will be taken away. Everyone you love, everything you value will be removed from your experience. and there is a banner and it's flying over the gates of hell. Do you know what it says? Abandon all hope ye who enter here. You have no hope. If you're an unbeliever here tonight, you have no hope. Did you know Jesus died to appease the wrath of God for those who believe? 1 Thessalonians 1 says, And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. Jesus delivers us from the wrath to come. You may be listening tonight as an unbeliever and you're thinking, you know, this kind of logically makes sense. I kind of understand what you're saying. I mean, I don't want God's wrath to be on me. I don't want to spend eternity in hell. But don't fool yourself. It's not your reason that needs convincing. It's your heart that needs renewing. You must be born again. Sometimes in life, we get warnings, don't we? You see that road sign pops up, and it says, road work ahead, right? We're all OK. Now what's going to happen? You probably pay attention to it. I mean, I do. I don't want a head-on collision with people coming the other way. Last week, Carol and I were on the Skyline Drive. And if you've ever been down there, a lot of sweeping curves. You don't have a big, long sight distance. We were riding the motorcycle, and these signs kept popping up. It said, Flagman ahead, be prepared to stop, road work ahead. We went through four of those. I never saw any flagman. I never saw any road, I don't know if they're all at the lunch, I don't know what was going on. But after a while I just thought, eh, I don't know if these warnings mean much of anything. We might find that in our world, there may be warnings that don't mean much. But let me tell you tonight, this warning about your soul from God It's true, and you need to hear it. Don't complain or ignore God's warning to you today. It is in His love and mercy that He warns you. Now we're going to sing later at the close of our service a hymn, and I want to just read one of the verses. This is hymn 393, and verse 3 says this, Come ye weary, heavy laden, bruised and broken by the fall. You know what that is? That's Adam. That's all his posterity. Bruised and broken by the fall, that's every one of us. That's our condition. But tonight, if you're an unbeliever, this verse goes on to say, if you tarry till you're better You'll never come at all. You're never going to be good enough. It's not your good works. It's not your good life. If you tarry till you're better, you will never come at all. Not the righteous, not the righteous sinners Jesus came to call. That's why Jesus came. That's why He died. Some of you might be thinking, I saw on the bulletin field that you titled this sermon, We should encourage one another with these words, and so where's the encouragement for the believer? And let's just think about that a little bit together. And I want you to look at verse 15 here, and notice that what we have here tonight is a word from the Lord. Look at this, for we declare to you by a word from the Lord. And Paul confirms what he's saying. He validates it by the highest authority. Our God, who cannot lie, has promised these things. Let me just read again verses 15 to 17. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. What do we know from the word of the Lord? Well, verse 16 tells us that Jesus is going to return. And who is it? It is the Lord Himself. Do you see that? The same Jesus that ascended into heaven is coming back. It is Him. He's not sending someone else to do this work. I mean, think about the Secretary of State. He goes all over the world. He's doing different things. We might pay some attention to that, but when the President is sent, the whole world pays attention. Jesus is coming. It is Him, the Lord Himself. It's not sending someone else, and what a blessing that is. It is Jesus Christ returning. Not sending anyone else to claim his children. He is doing it himself. The Lord himself will descend. And what will it look like? And I think it's amazing here. Paul gives us amazing detail here. Look at this. The archangel, there's going to be the... You know, he is the Lord of hosts. He is the Lord of angel armies. All of these at his command. And then the trumpet blast is going to come. This is our king, our sovereign Lord coming for us. Mighty king and conqueror. Death could not conquer Him. The grave could not hold Him. And death will not conquer us if we are in Jesus Christ. Now I'm going to take you back to 1 Corinthians 15. I have to have you look at it with me because it's just, these verses are just so amazing. It's what Joel read to us and I would just like to read again verses 54, just verses 54 to 56 of 1 Corinthians 15. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. You know, Satan thought that was all taken care of in the garden. He thought that was all. But no, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting? the sting of death is sin, the power of sin is the law. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And Christian tonight, that describes your hope. That describes your future. Jesus is returning And if we are already dead, our bodies and souls will be reunited. And if we are living, we're going to be caught up together in the air to meet the other saints with Jesus. To meet the Lord in the air. You know, I think it's so interesting that Paul puts so much detail in here about all the things that are going to happen. The archangel and Jesus descending and our bodies be reunited to our souls and those that are alive are going to be caught. All kinds of detail. And then what does he do? The detail ends. Interesting. And he says this, so we will always be with the Lord. Interesting. Don't you kind of wish more detail at that point? Don't you kind of, what's it going to be? Okay, we're ascending, we're going, tell us more, tell us more about heaven. But you know, we're going to always be with the Lord. What more do we need to know? What more do we need to know? Have you ever heard the phrase, he's so heavenly minded, he's no earthly good? Do you ever hear that phrase? Some of you young people think I'm an old man, you have no idea what I'm talking about, right? No. Okay, a couple of you do. You know, I really think that that is a lie from the devil. It's those who are heavenly minded who are really of earthly use. doing the will of our Father in Heaven. You know, we need to be more heavenly minded, don't we? We need to be more heavenly minded. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. We need to be more heavenly minded. And this move is a permanent move. We're always going to be with the Lord. You know, sometimes in our life we have a larger house because we've got a bunch of kids, and so we need a little bit more room, a bigger house, and those kids get married, and you push them out of the house, right? And then you say, well, maybe I should have a little smaller house. And then maybe you say, well, now I think maybe I should go somewhere with a homeowner's association, Moe's McGrath's and Trim's and Bush's. And then you might get into independent living, and then there's, I don't know, personal care or skill. We're moving. All of us are moving through our, but you know, When we get to heaven, it's permanent. We're there. There's no more moves. We will always be with the Lord. John 10.28 says this, I give them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. Now look parents, if you are on a busy street and you've got your child with you, what are you going to do? There's a busy street and cars are going back and forth. What do you do? You grab a hold of their hand, don't you? Now let me ask you a question. Who's holding whose hand? I guarantee you, you are holding their hand. You're probably holding their hand, their wrist, their elbow, right? You got a hold of them. You're not going to let go of them. And do you know what? No one, if you are in Christ, can snatch you away because He's got you by the hand. And when the Lord has you, He will not let go of you. You will always be with the Lord. Well, believer, what are we to do with all this? What are we supposed to do? This is a word from the Lord. Verse 18 tells us pretty clearly, doesn't it? We're supposed to encourage one another. Encourage one another with these words. Comfort is often a word used instead of encourage. That's good. You know, when we comfort each other, we encourage each other. Did you ever know that? And when we encourage each other, we're comforting each other. So they're very akin there. encourage one another with these words. What words? The return of Christ, the prospect of heaven, and being with the Lord forever. My hope. You know, that's what we've been talking about tonight. What is your hope? My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. And the last verse of that hymn, when I shall launch in worlds unseen. That's what we're talking about. Launching into worlds unseen. Oh may I then be found in him, dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ, the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. What will your funeral be like? There will be grieving, yes. But will there be hope in the midst of grieving?