- ¿3.95? - Sí, 3.95. - ¿3.95? - Sí. - Evin salió. Eso es 3.95. - Apenas estamos recibiendo las notificaciones. Finalmente tenemos las notificaciones que se van a dar.
En todos nuestros servicios, abrimos vuestros boletos. Hoy es el 13 de julio y nuestros servicios de la mañana son de las 10.30 de la tarde a las 4.30 de la tarde. El servicio de la tarde es de las 5.30 de la tarde y el servicio de la tarde es de las 2.00 de la tarde. Y luego, creo que…
Voy con Mo, pero creo que terminamos con el piso 23, así que somos el piso 23.6. "Sin duda, Dios y mercurio me seguirá todos los días de mi vida y me desnudaré en la casa del Señor para siempre".
Solo es un año para hoy, 152. Hemos hecho un cambio para la segunda mitad del año, estamos realmente haciendo un "push".
Y así que el siguiente sábado tendremos un maratón de maratón de sol, de las 9 a las 4 p.m. aproximadamente.
Y luego, en el 26 de julio, que son dos sábados de ahora, vamos a tener un día de trabajo de la iglesia.
Y luego tenemos todos los cumpleaños y aniversarios en la parte superior.
Y luego, por supuesto, tenemos el recorrido de los hombres con Steadfast, el 14 de agosto a los 16 de agosto.
Luego, un par de semanas después, el 27 de agosto a los 31 de agosto, tenemos el Felicidad de los Bajos de Fierro.
Y luego tenemos el viaje de misioneros de la ciudad de México, el sol ganador, el 8 de septiembre a las 12 de agosto.
Así que, sigan cantando por eso. Creo que un par de personas de nuestra iglesia van a estar allí también.
Y luego, en la parte de atrás, tenemos todos los precios.
Además de los precios, sigan cantando por Texas.
Curvilles se están volviendo con la lluvia de nuevo.
Y así que, por suerte, ahora están preparados, pero todavía es peligroso tener esa mucha agua.
Y luego, el único otro anuncio. Creo que mi cerebro estaba pensando en algo más.
Pero, si me recuerdo, me lo diré.
Pero, si no hay otro anuncio, vuelvan sus diálogos a la página 271.
271
271 y vamos a estar en el capítulo 11 del libro de John,
lo que estamos leyendo hoy, el capítulo 11 del libro de John.
La página 271 "Duelando en Bula Land"
la canción 271 en nuestro Songbinders.
Y como dije esta mañana.
Y en la segunda página, cuando, al final de las escenas donde dice "Den Said"
vamos a volver al coro de la canción, que está en la primera página, donde dice
"Den Said"
"Among the heathen the Lord hath done great things for them"
vamos a volver al coro donde dice eso.
En la p. 126
"Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha."
"It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick."
"Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, 'Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.'"
"When Jesus heard that, he said, 'The sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.'"
"Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus."
"And when he had heard, therefore, that he was sick, he abode two days in the same place where he was."
"Then after that he sayeth to his disciples, 'Let us go into Judea again.' His disciples saying to them,"
"'Master, the Jews of late have sought to stone thee. Goest thou thither again?'"
"Jesus answered, 'They are not twelve hours in the day. If any man walketh in the day, he stumbleeth not because he seeeth the light of this world.'"
"'But if a man walketh in the night, he stumbleeth because there is no light in him.'"
"'These things said he, and after that he sayeth unto them, 'Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him out of the sleep.'"
"'Then said his disciples, 'Lord, if he sleepeth, he shall do well.' Albeit Jesus faked of his death,'"
"'but they thought that he had spoken of taking rest and sleep.'"
"'Then said Jesus unto them plainly, 'Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there,'"
"'to the intent that ye may believe. Nevertheless, let's go unto him.'"
"'Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, 'Let us also go, that we may die with him.'"
"'Then said, 'Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.'"
"'Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off.'
"'And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.'
"'Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him. But Mary sat still in the house.'
"'Then said Martha unto Jesus, 'Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.'
"'But I know, even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.'
"'Jesus saith unto her, 'Thy brother shall rise again.'
"'Martha said unto him, 'I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection of the last day.'
"'Jesus said unto her, 'I am the resurrection and the life.
"'He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
"'And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
"'Believest thou this?' she said unto him.
"'Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into this world.'
"After she had so said, she went her way and called Mary her sister secretly, saying,
"'The Master is come, and calleth for thee.'
"As soon as she heard that, she rose quickly and came unto him.
"Now Jesus was not yet come down to the town, but was in that place where Martha met him.
"Then the Jews then, which were with her in her house and comforted her,
"when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying,
"'She goeth unto the grave to weep there.'
"Then when Mary was come where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him,
"'Lord, if thou hast been here, my brother had not died.'
"When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which came with her,
"he groaned in the spirit and was troubled, and said, 'Where have ye laid him?'
"They said unto him, 'Lord, come and see.'
"Jesus wept, and then said the Jews, 'Behold, how he loved him!'
"And some of them said, 'Could not this man which opened the eyes of the blind
"have caused that even this man should not have died?'
"Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, cometh to the grave.
"It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
"Jesus said, 'Take ye away the stone.
"Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him,
"'Lord, by this time ye stinketh, for ye hath been dead for days.'
"Jesus saith unto her, 'Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldst believe,
"'thou shouldest see the glory of God?'
"Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid,
"and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, 'Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me,
"'and I knew that thou hearest me always,
"'but because of the people which stand by, I said it,
"'that they may believe that thou hast sent me.'
"And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice,
"'Lazarus, come forth!'
"And he that was dead came forth bound hand and foot with grave cloths,
"and his face was bound about with a napkin.
"Jesus saith unto them, 'Loose him, and let him go.'
"Then many of the Jews which came to marry,
"and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.
"But some of them went their ways to see the Pharisees
"and told them the things that Jesus had done.
"Then gathering the chief priests, and the Pharisees the council,
"and said, 'What do we, for this man do with many miracles?
"'If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him,
"'and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.'
"And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year,
"said unto him, 'Ye know nothing at all,
"'nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people,
"'and that the whole nation perish not.'
"And this spake he not of himself,
"'but being a high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation,
"'and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one
"'the children of God that were scattered abroad.'
"Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.
"Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews,
"but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness into a city called Ephraim,
"and there continued with his disciples.
"And the Jews' Passover was nigh at hand, and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem,
"therefore before the Passover to purify themselves.
"Then sought they for Jesus and spake among themselves as they stood in the temple,
"'What think ye that he will not come to the feast?'
"Now both the chief priests and Pharisees had given a commandment,
"That if any man knew where he was, he should show them that they might take him."
Let's have a quick word of prayer.
Dear Father God, thank you for this day.
Thank you for all that you've given us, Lord.
I just pray that you would be with us here tonight as we hear the word of God preach, Lord.
I pray that you help us to understand the word that the pastor is going to lay on us, Lord.
And I pray that you fill him with your Holy Spirit,
helping to preach a blood and accurate sermon.
In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Amen.
John 11, John 11. And the title of the sermon this afternoon or this evening is "Funerals in Light of the Bible."
Funerals in Light of the Bible. And there's two reasons I'm preaching this.
Number one, I've not heard a lot of, I've heard mention of certain things the Bible says about funerals
and burials and cremation from pulpits, but always in the context of another sermon.
I don't know that I've personally, I'm pretty sure somebody's preached it.
I just never personally have heard a sermon specifically on funerals.
Number one. Number two, the reason that I'm preaching is not necessarily because I've not heard one,
but that is a good reason. You know, it's always good to bring up what the Bible talks about.
But in the last couple of years, I'm not, I wouldn't say I'm an expert,
but I would say I'm pretty well versed in the funeral business from a pastoral view
because I have been to a lot of funerals.
You know, one of the things that a lot of people might or might not know about our church
is that when I joined Spring Crest back in like 2013,
the majority of the congregation was split down the middle,
and you had the majority being people that were born in the late 1930s to early 1940s,
and then the rest of them were basically my age, which is about 1980, late 70s to mid 80s.
You didn't really have a good mix or balance with a lot of young people and old people and all that stuff.
We just had like middle-aged families or just really older families.
And so one of the things that comes with that is a lot of death.
And then COVID hit in 2020, which only accelerated the entire process.
And the reason that I'm really bringing this, I mean obviously we're going to talk about funerals from a biblical perspective.
We're going to touch on John 11, which is one of the most famous chapters.
And obviously you always want to start somewhere where Jesus started.
Jesus went to a funeral of sorts and they were mourning Lazarus' death and even Jesus wept.
But as I've been to a lot of funerals, especially when you think about the fact that a lot of these funerals were from
brothers and sisters in Christ here at the church, what I've noticed though is that even with all that,
number one, people might not know how to act in a funeral, but they don't know what's expected at a funeral.
And then even from a pastoral standpoint, a lot of pastors don't even know what to really do at a funeral.
And what I mean by that is, as I showed up to these things, other people gave me their experiences of like,
well, you know, we didn't really know who to reach out to, or if they did, you know, they didn't preach the right thing.
As a matter of fact, I recently went to a funeral just two weeks ago, or I mean, sorry, less than a month ago,
or about a month ago, and the guy who gave the preaching didn't even preach about the deceased,
and didn't really preach a Gospel message either.
And so I just thought, well, why not preach on it from the Bible,
and just give some instruction on how to deal with a funeral.
Because a lot of people have weird ideas about death and how to celebrate death or not celebrate death.
I know when I was growing up I was like anti-funerals just because, you know, things have happened
and you can use that verse, "Let the dead bury the dead."
But that's in a whole other context.
But let's just get into the message here. Let's not over complicate this thing.
First thing I want to do is just let's just go over John 11 and set the stage.
The majority of this chapter is about the death of Lazarus and the resurrection of Lazarus.
It's one of my favorite chapters because there's a lot of foreshadows in the Bible.
But the book of, I mean the chapter of John 11, the death of Lazarus is like the most
or it's the closest foreshadow of Jesus Christ rising from the dead before he actually goes.
I mean literally he raises Lazarus from the dead and within a few days,
I'm talking like six, seven days, maybe even a week, Jesus is crucified.
So I mean this is kind of a preparation, almost like a really strong foreshadow
of getting them all prepared for what is to come.
But there's a couple of big major things we see there.
Go to verse 9, it says Jesus answered, "Are not there twelve hours in a day?
If any man walk in the day, he stumbleeth not, because he seeth the light of this world."
And Jesus is both literally speaking, but he's also what?
He's also speaking symbolically of the fact that he is the light of the world, right?
And that he's about to be out of the world and darkness will rule.
It says, "But if a man walketh out in the night, he stumbleeth, because there is no light in him."
Verse 13 says, "Howbeit Jesus spake of his death."
And the reason I'm talking there is because the disciples didn't always get what Jesus was talking about.
And Jesus is saying, "Hey, Lazarus sleepeth."
And they're thinking he's just taking a good nap, and he's like, "No, I'm talking about his death."
It says, "But howbeit Jesus spake of his death, but they thought that he had spoken of taking rest and sleep."
And I like this. "Then said Jesus unto them plainly, 'Hey, Lazarus is dead.'"
Just in case you didn't get it. You know, one of the things I love about Jesus
and I love about the Word of God is that it's a very plain book
in the fact that not plain like dull, plain like in your face, it's very direct.
It doesn't, you know, walk around on eggshells.
As creatures, it's not our duty to walk around on eggshells
about the topics that we might or might not like.
Pastor Cobb and I were talking about the sermon earlier,
and now that is an actual tough sermon to bring about tithing
because people have all kinds of opinions and thoughts about it.
For all I know, funerals might be the same way
because, you know, you've got all kinds of different customs
and heritage and familial, you know, traditions.
I mean, you've got things like the Vikings and, you know, the Aztecs,
and I'm just thinking of all these weird religions,
and everybody does it different, you know, the Egyptians did it different,
but the Bible tells us exactly how it should be done
and why it's done this way, right?
And then I just thought it was interesting in verse 16.
I'm not going to elaborate too much, but it says then it said,
"Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples,
let us all go, that we may die with him."
And, you know, we know that obviously Thomas was doubting Thomas,
so he kind of makes some interesting statements in the Bible.
But then let's go there to verse 21.
It says, "Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord,
if thou hast been here, my brother had not died,
but I know that even now whatsoever thou will ask of God,
God will give it thee."
Jesus said unto her, "Thy brother shall rise again."
Martha said unto him, "I know that he shall rise again
in the resurrection at that last day."
And I love this because, you know,
a lot of people like to argue the Old Testament.
Is Jesus living in the New Testament or in the Old Testament?
Jesus is living in the Old Testament, right?
He is the testator for the New Testament.
We read the New Testament and Jesus is in there,
but the people that he's interacting with only have what?
The Old Testament.
The Gospels aren't even written
because Jesus hasn't lived out his life yet.
And we see that Martha knows what?
She knows of the resurrection.
So they understand the Bible.
It says, Jesus said unto her,
"I am the resurrection and the life.
He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
He that believeth, thou this."
And she said unto him, "Yea, Lord,
I believe that thou art the Christ."
I love the way she answers specifically.
She says, "I believe you are the Christ,
the one we've been waiting for, right?
The Son of God, which should come into the world."
So when people want to argue that the Old Testament
wasn't maybe very clear or that it was different,
that's a lie because Martha clears this up right here.
She's like, "I know you're the one that we've been reading about.
I know you're the one that should have come.
I know you're the one that's going to take care of everything."
And of course, she's thinking in different terms.
She knows that Lazarus will rise again on that second coming.
What she doesn't know is that Jesus is preparing to raise him
from the dead when, right now and then.
And so we go down to verse 33.
A couple of things that really stand out also is Jesus went.
Now, I've heard a lot of things.
That's not the purpose of this sermon,
but there is some truth to the fact that funerals in olden times,
and even now, some of them can take a long time, right?
The mourning process can be a long process for some people, other people.
Here in the U.S., we don't have necessarily that custom.
Like, if someone dies, we try to get the thing done right away, right?
We try to get the funeral service, the memorial service, the burial,
all within a couple of hours, unless there's like a transference of bodies.
But there are traditions, even in Mexico,
because of the Catholic traditions, people will mourn the dead,
not only when they pass away immediately,
but also they'll mourn the dead like every year,
you know, you have the day of the dead,
and it's just like this never-ending funeral.
But here Jesus is coming four days later,
and when he gets there, and verse 33 says,
"When Jesus therefore saw her weeping,
and the Jews also weeping which came with her,
he groaned in the spirit and was troubled,
and said, 'We have laid him.'
They said unto him, 'Lord, come and see.'
Jesus wept."
And of course this is when we were kids,
everybody loved that verse because it was,
you know, you'd always have fun with,
this is the shortest verse in the Bible, right?
The smallest verse, Jesus wept.
But a couple of things to stand on here,
I'm going to touch on them later,
but I think that Jesus is not just weeping
because Lazarus is dead and all that,
but I think Jesus is just recognizing the fact
that there's so many lost people in the world.
Because I mean, honestly, everything that Jesus did
on this earth is leading to what?
To the fact that it's the Gospel message, right?
It's the message of recognizing there's a lost world
and that people need to get saved.
And funerals, in light of the Bible,
like the reason we celebrate funerals the way we do
in an Americanized version,
is from a biblical perspective
because they're a reminder of a bunch of things.
They're a reminder that we're all going to die.
They're a reminder that if you died in Jesus,
you have hope for eternal life.
They're a reminder that we come to the house of mourning
to get closure.
There's actually a lot of Biblical credence
to why we do funerals the way that we do them today.
The thing is, because funeral homes don't want to
step on anybody's toes, and instead of the church
running the funerals, you got this commercialized,
industrialized way of disposing of bodies,
it's gotten all mixed and mingled.
And we've gotten away from the main message.
The funeral is to represent the Gospel message.
And if we had a funeral like it was done back in the day
where the church took lead,
then we would preach the Gospel.
Because when are people most vulnerable in time of need?
Think about what a great time to preach the Gospel message
than when people are actually thinking about their own death.
They're thinking about the fact that they're not going to live forever.
Because whether you're 23 or 45 or 88,
nobody's in a hurry to get to the other side,
even though we know the other side is better.
That's the way God wired us, right?
You know, Pastor Cobb is wanting to stay here as long as he can,
just like I'm wanting to stay here as long as I can, right?
People would say, "Oh, he's closer."
I don't know that he's necessarily closer,
because we're all just one breath away from meeting our Maker, right?
And so here we see that Jesus has compassion on the people.
Obviously He understands that Lazarus is dead and people are mourning,
but I think it's much deeper than that. I'll show that.
And then right there in verse 41, let's just close out this first chapter right here.
It says, "Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead laid."
And of course, this is a very clear picture of the fact that Jesus would soon die and be resurrected, right?
And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard me."
Where does the power to raise someone come from?
From Jesus, from God the Father and the Holy Ghost, right?
From God Almighty, as it says, "And I knew that Thou hearest me always,
but because of the people which stand by, I said it, that they may believe that Thou hast sent me.
And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!"
And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes,
and his face was bound with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, "Lose him, let him go!"
And many of the Jews which came to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did,
what did they do? They believed on him.
Which is also indicative of what the modern day Jew, which is they wanted to see a sign.
Now these Jews here, this group specifically, saw this and they believed,
but we also know that there's many Jews that heard of this and didn't believe, right?
And so, of course, we see the closing of this.
It's a clear picture of the power of Jesus, the fact that he has the power to give life,
to remove it. He is the resurrection. He is the life.
"No man cometh unto the Father, but by him," right?
So I think that's pretty clear in John 11.
There's probably a ton of other stuff that I could draw from,
but I don't want to distract from the fact that we're just talking about funerals.
And I know this is maybe not the greatest subject,
but it is a subject to cover in the Bible.
And actually, if you think about it, it's actually an important subject,
because everybody gets it wrong when they're talking outside the Bible.
Growing up, I watched movies and TV shows,
and every time that there was a death and there was a funeral scene,
it was all over the place.
They had all kinds of weird traditions.
They had all kinds of things.
People say all the wrong stuff.
Even today, people will say all kinds of weird stuff.
"Oh, you know, Jesus took one of our angels,"
or "God did this."
Nobody really reaches to the Bible to see what needs to be said.
So the first point I have for you today
is that Jesus himself attended a funeral
and he wept, he mourned.
And there's nothing wrong with a funeral attendance.
As a Christian, I think we should attend a funeral
if someone that we love died.
Because some people are like,
"Oh, I don't know, I'm not going to go."
People get weird ideas.
Biblically, there's something, not just closure,
but there's something like...
I'm looking forward to coming to me,
but basically there's just something that comforts the soul
when you go to a funeral.
You get that completion and that understanding
of the next thing to come in your eternal life.
And Jesus knew that.
I mean, this is God Almighty.
Remember when He said,
"Hey, I want to go with you, but let me bury my Father first."
He said, "Let the dead bury the dead."
But notice He didn't say, "Let the living bury the dead."
And it's not a contradiction.
Obviously, in that context, He's making a different point.
But here, I mean, Lazarus was His friend,
and He lost His friend, and He went, and He mourned.
And then, of course, Jesus is the only one
that could bring anybody back to life.
Obviously, He changed the course of Lazarus' life
and the direction of the next whatever,
how many years He lived, right?
We see this.
So funerals are not unbiblical.
I mean, they're just a time of mourning.
It's a good time of reflection.
It's a time that points to Christ.
Even Jesus just stood at the tomb and mourned.
I've done more funerals.
I think, I forgot to tell you, pastor,
but I might be doing a wedding this Friday.
I haven't gotten confirmation.
Those details are still forthcoming.
But I've never done a wedding.
If I do the wedding on Friday,
it might be the first wedding I've ever done.
But you know what I've done?
A ton of funerals.
Everybody's ministry is different.
Now, I'm not like Joel Holstein,
that just folks on one thing,
"Oh, I only do death funerals. I never do life."
No.
But aren't those the big events in life?
People get married, people have children,
and then people die.
I mean, I'm dumbing it down.
There's other stuff in between.
But those are the main things that people look at.
And if you want to go there, go to Matthew 9.
Go to Matthew 9, but I'll read for you.
In Hebrews 4, verse 15, the Bible says,
"For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched
with the feelings of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin."
And you say, "Why bring up these verses?"
Well, I think it's important to point out that Jesus was human.
He was 100% man.
There is no demigod with Jesus.
You know, the biggest difference between Jesus
and comic book characters, number one, well, Jesus is real.
But number two, the world's trying to convince you
that there's this like mix of like these people
who are half man, half God, which is kind of stupid, right?
They're not 100% one way
and they're not 100% the other way.
Whereas Jesus, when he came into his earth,
he was 100% man.
He felt the things that you and I felt.
He suffered the things that you and I did.
He had to go through the same processes of growth,
the growing pains, but he was also 100% God, right?
And he was tempted like as we are yet without sin.
sin. Entonces, cuando él apareció, no fue un peor que apareciera en un funeral, no fue un peor que se muriera, no fue un peor que se llenara, no fue un peor que se levantara de la muerte. En Euclesiastes 3,
estás allí en Matías 9, pero en Euclesiastes 3, la Biblia dice, "A todo, hay una temporada, un tiempo y una propuesta bajo el cielo, un tiempo para ser nacido, un tiempo para morir, un tiempo para plantar, un tiempo para apretar lo que se plantó, un tiempo para llorar, un tiempo para risa, un tiempo para morir, un tiempo para bailar, y por supuesto que podríamos ir más profundo,
pero básicamente toda esa cosa es que hay una temporada para todo, y así no lo veo como un negativo que he hecho un montón de funerales,
eso es solo la temporada que estamos o que estuvimos en Spring Crest, ¿verdad?
Me refiero a que el hermano Bobby estaba en sus 90s, el hermano Harold estaba en sus 80s,
el hermano James cuando tenía que hacer su funeral de papá, creo que su papá estaba en sus 90s,
el hermano que yo no sabía, que vino a esta iglesia, se le olvidó el nombre que hice hace un par de semanas,
él estaba allí en su edad, la mayoría de las personas que se han pasado han estado allí en su edad,
y era el momento, el hermano Tommy, estoy intentando no olvidar a nadie para que nadie se sepa,
pero todo el mundo que hemos perdido ha vivido una vida larga, y era el momento de ir.
Matías 9, entonces en el versículo 35 dice, "Y Jesús salió por todas las ciudades y los pueblos, enseñando en sus sindicatos y prestando el gospel del reino,
y curando cada enfermedad y cada enfermedad entre los pueblos. Pero cuando vio a las multitudes,
fue movido con compasión en ellos porque se desmantelaron y estaban desgastados afuera, como un heredito sin hereditario.
"Entonces dirá a sus discípulos, 'La lavaria es plenamente, pero los trabajos son pocos. Por eso, bendiga, el Señor de la lavaria, que enviará los trabajos a la lavaria".
Cada vez que leo a John 11, pienso en esta escritura.
Dice en la Biblia que Jesus gronó, ¿verdad? Y que estaba en problemas.
Y Jesús no es como nosotros, en el sentido de que, sí, él es humano, pero recuerda, él también entiende su misión en la vida, ¿verdad?
Él sabe que va a morir por los triunfos del mundo. No creo que solo esté mostrando un funeral y que está gronando en problemas
porque la gente está triste de que Lazarus murió. Eso no añade con los Gospels.
Lo que creo es que él... Esto se alinea más con Matthew 9 aquí, donde está mirando y realiza que la gente...
Porque eso es lo que sucede conmigo cuando vengo a un funeral. No estoy diciendo que soy como Jesús, por lo que estoy diciendo.
Puedo entender eso. Cuando vienes a un funeral y escuchas algunas de las cosas que la gente está diciendo y que son tan malas,
tu corazón se rompe por ellos porque no entienden lo simple que es solo de ser salvado.
Sabes, tienen todo tipo de ideas extrañas que no tienes idea de a dónde se spawn, pero no tiene nada que ver con la salvación.
Todo es de trabajo y todo es extraño. Bueno, sé de dónde viene, pero no viene de la Biblia.
El segundo punto que tengo para hoy es que, primero, Jesús atendió un funeral en la web.
El segundo punto es que la muerte no es el final para el creyente.
La hermosa cosa de la mayoría de los funerales que he hecho, probablemente todos, es que sabemos que las personas que han muerto se han salvado, ¿verdad?
Y no es el final. Y así que cuando llegamos allá y nos asustamos o hablamos con las personas,
siempre deberíamos enfatizar, ¿qué? el gospel, el hecho de que están en el cielo para siempre.
Y no es algo extraño. Creo que como cristianos, tenemos que ser firmes.
Incluso cuando las personas son sensibles, tenemos que ser firmes.
Solo tenemos que ser tactful sobre ello, ¿verdad?
Yo no soy uno de esos que va a ir por detrás y si alguien dice,
"Oh, bueno, Dios tomó uno de los mejores, un ángel de nosotros, porque necesitaba más ángeles en el cielo."
No, la Biblia dice que nos quedamos más bajos que los ángeles, pero que los ángeles ministerian a nosotros.
Así que, ¿por qué quiero comparar?
Dios nos hizo por una razón específica, Él amaba el mundo tanto que le dio a su solo hijo,
que quien sea un creyente no debería percibir su vida, ¿verdad?
Y también tenemos que realizar que la muerte es un punto de detenimiento temporario,
la muerte física para el salto, ¿verdad?
Estamos aquí y cuando digo temporario, la Biblia dice que es el brillo de un ojo, ¿verdad?
Así que, ¿qué hacemos en un funeral?
Bueno, en un funeral deberíamos prestar la Biblia, la Resurrección de Jesucristo.
¿Ves? Cada funeral que he ido a, la única cosa, y si me pongo a hacer,
me aseguro que la Biblia está ahí.
Eso es nuestro propósito. Y no es solo el propósito del pregador.
Si eres un creyente salvado y estás atendiendo un funeral,
es tu responsabilidad prestar la Biblia.
Ahora, eso significa, y esto es por eso que estoy diciendo,
obviamente estás en una situación en la que las personas están hurtadas,
pero no deberías arreglar sus mentiras raras con tus mentiras,
no deberías arreglar la Biblia, que es lo que pasa.
Tienes estos mentiros raros.
Hay otros en los que tienes un mentirero raro
y él tiene algunas mentiras raras
y nadie realmente los llama.
Pero los llamaremos.
Hay formas de hacer eso.
Cuando mi madre en la ley murió en 2022,
le pedí a hablar en el funeral.
Fui el único hijo en la ley que habló.
Me casé con mi hija en 2022.
Estaba casada hace 11 años.
Estabamos viajando por 11 años.
Nadie más tiene ese tenor.
Soy el profesor tenor
de la familia Long en esa parte de la familia.
Y dije que quería hablar.
Y no solo eso, quería hablar porque
Teresa era como una madre para mí.
Lo amaba mucho.
Lo amamos hasta este día.
Lo amaba a mis hijos.
Pero también tenía un sentimiento.
Nunca he hablado con ese chico.
Pero cualquier vez que vas a las escuelas que no son King James,
que no son baptizedes,
me di a mi esposa y le dije,
"Quiero que me ayude y pueda dar el gospel claro,
porque siento que este chico se arrepentirá de sus pecados".
Me acuerdo diciendo eso.
Y cuando me llegué allí,
me di un mensaje de gospel claro.
Antes de eso, mi esposa había hablado de su madre,
su hermana había hablado,
y ellos preciaban el gospel.
Yo precio el gospel.
Nunca lo olvidaré.
Cuando el pastor de esa iglesia se arrepentió,
que se turnó que él es un heretico,
y se arrepentió por eso,
él creyó que se arrepentían sus pecados,
nos arrepentimos tanto,
que no podíamos enseñar el gospel
"crap", como su versión del gospel
que es un montón de "crap", ¿verdad?
Turnó que él era el diablo,
y lo que hicimos fue plantar
la semilla de salvación que no podía destruir.
Recuerdo que cuando se quedó ahí,
era como, bueno, todo el mundo tomó mi thunder,
o algo así.
Y todo lo que hizo, a su crédito,
y a su,
creo, profesionalismo,
como un ser humano,
es un piezo de mierda en cuanto al Gospelo,
al menos habló de mi madre en la ley.
Y ya se le contó un par de historias
que se llevó de la familia, y eso fue todo.
Lo que es genial, porque ¿sabes qué podría haber hecho
si ninguno de nosotros hubiéramos reto para el Gospelo?
Préparse de algún tipo de mierda,
confundir a todo el público,
y luego la gente se iría al mal en un vaso.
Puedo garantizarte una cosa,
nadie dejó ese hogar de funeral confundido.
Y había al menos 600 personas allí.
¿Me entiendo?
Hay mucha gente allí, o tal vez no.
No, hay probablemente más de 1.000
que están viendo en línea.
Ella tenía un gran seguimiento, ¿verdad?
Así que sabemos que Jesús asistió a un funeral,
y luego sabemos que, ¿qué es eso?
Que la muerte no es el final para el creador.
Vas a I Corinthians 15,
pero lo voy a leer para ti en I Thessalonias 4.
I Thessalonians 4, la Biblia dice,
"Pero no te haré ignorar,
brethren, concerning that which are asleep,
that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope."
Así que deberíamos ir a los funerales,
porque somos la esperanza, ¿verdad?
¿No es interesante el modo en el que Jesus lo dió
justo antes de ir a Lazarus?
Él dijo, "Hey, ¿no son 12 horas en un día?
Y si caminas en la oscuridad, entonces te atrapas,
pero si estás en la luz, no te atrapas."
Dice, "For we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with him.
For this we say unto you by the word of our Lord,
that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord
shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout
and with the voice of an archangel and with the trump of God
and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord of the air
and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.
Where do people need comforting?
At a funeral.
Literally, there's no better place to comfort people with these words than at a funeral.
And by the way, we don't believe this magic, secret, rapture crap that people throw around.
I mean, literally, the Bible says the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God.
I mean, that kind of destroys the pre-tribulation rapture,
but that's a whole other sermon. Let me not get distracted.
But in 1 Corinthians 15, the famous chapter that says there in verse 51,
"Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, in the last trump,
for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible.
And we shall be changed, for this corruptible must put on incorruption,
and this mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption,
and this mortal shall have put on immortality,
then shall we shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
"Death is swallowed up in victory, O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord,
for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."
Hey, we shouldn't be unmovable even at a funeral.
You know, and one of the things I've noticed from when I was growing up to now
is that when I go to funerals, man, the decorum's just kind of gone out the window.
Everybody kind of does whatever they want.
They play whatever weird music they're playing.
You know, it used to be, I remember I went to a few funerals as a young child
and they all felt like they were the same.
There was a very distinct order.
There was a very distinct, like, way of respecting the dead.
People were very respectful.
Everybody dressed up, even if they didn't have their best,
that, you know, they would at least wear something respectful.
Now I've been to funerals where people, like, show up
in flip-flops and a tank top and, like, torn shorts.
I wish I was exaggerating.
You know, people just show up looking however they want to.
You say, "Oh, you're judging?"
No, I mean, do whatever you want,
but other people are suffering, show a little respect.
And as Christians, wouldn't it be smart for us to show up
and not only portray or give the gospel,
but also portray that we understand
that they're going through a tough time,
so that we can have the opportunity to give them the hope.
So we can say, "Hey, death, where's your sting?"
Right there in John, you don't have to turn there,
but in John 11 says,
"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life.
He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall ye live.
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die,
believeth thou this."
Here's one that people might not like.
So we know Jesus attended a funeral and even wept.
We know that death is not the end for the believer.
Point number three is cremation is not a Christian practice.
You know, I've heard this from pulpits before.
I have heard that.
But I've not heard a lot of scripture behind it.
And so what I want, I mean, the whole goal of this sermon
is, number one, it's just I've got enough experience.
I can pull from things.
But also, the Bible does speak on it.
But rarely when I've heard pastors preach on the fact
that cremation is a pagan or has pagan roots.
But I've not yet had a lot of preachers
give a lot of scripture behind it.
And if you go there, go to Genesis 3 verse 19.
Let me give you some good scriptural foundation for this.
Because the burning of bodies in scripture
is usually associated with what?
Judgment and dishonor.
It's not a Christian burial.
And if you ever notice, Christian burial
is a term that we use where today
people recognize that when you bury someone
you give them a proper Christian burial.
Even books and movies
and modern media
will reference what?
A good Christian burial, right?
Because the burial is what?
Is a picture of what? The resurrection.
Cremation really erases that picture.
Now the soul is intact
even if you cremated a saved Christian
but you're removing the opportunity to do that.
Why do we baptize people?
Because it's the first sign of
obedience to those that believe but also
it's what, symbolic to the congregation
to those watching.
And what do we say? Buried in the likeness
of his death, raised in the likeness
of his resurrection or buried in the likeness
of his death, raised to what?
Newness of life, right?
We picture the death, burial
and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Well, I mean, when you're at a funeral
you don't have to picture it, it's there.
Right? Like the death,
the bodily death is there.
In Genesis 3, 19
the Bible says, "In the sweat of thy
face thou shall eat bread
till thou return unto the ground
for out of it was thou taken
for dust thou art and unto
dust shalt thou return."
So obviously the Lord already had set
this in stone. I mean, even Job
makes mention of that, Ecclesiastes
makes mention of that. In 1 Samuel
31, you actually go over to 2 Kings,
go over to 2 Kings, but I'll
read for you real quick these verses. In 1 Samuel
31, verse 12, the Bible says,
"All the valiant men rose up and went all night
and took the body of Saul
and the bodies of his sons from the wall of
Bethshan and came to Jabesh
and burnt them there
and they took their bones and buried
them under a tree at Jabesh
and fasted seven days."
Note, you know,
this was done to the desecrated corpse
after the pagan
mutilation, right? Remember they took the bodies
and basically paraded them around
and it was
somewhat of a dishonor because Saul had
just gone about it so wrong.
But what was the goal? The goal was to recover the
bodies and just do
as right by King Saul and his kids
as possible. Right? In Amos 2
verse 1 the Bible says, "Thus saith the Lord
for three transgressions, for the three
transgressions of Moab and for four
I will not turn away the punishment there because
he burned the bones of the
king of Edom into lime."
Genesis 50 verse 25
we see here about the
bones of Joseph, even Joseph
made a prophecy that was important
it says in Joseph took an oath
of the children of Israel saying God will surely
visit you and ye shall
carry up my bones from hence.
Why would, why would you take the
time not only to prophesy about that but then
make sure that you know then Moses made
sure that that happened in verse 19 of
Exodus 13 it says
"And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him
for he had straightly sworn the children of
Israel, saying, 'God will surely visit you and
he shall carry up my bones away hence with you.'"
Because God said these things in order.
It's kind of what I said this morning.
I mean obviously this is a picture.
God wants to show us that there's an
incorruptible body that's going to be
I mean that's a corruptible body that's going to be
incorrupted. There's all these symbolisms
and pictures but also even if you didn't have
the answer that God does whatever he wants.
Right? I mean obviously within the
confines of God but God is God.
But go there to 2 Kings, we are going to be
there a little bit so please turn there.
2 Kings 23. I need to get some lozenges,
my mouth is really dry this afternoon but I
got water. In 2 Kings 23 verse 17 when
speaking of Josiah, he takes over his king
and what does it say? He's cleaning house.
I love Josiah because Josiah comes in and he
starts to clean house. He's like fornicators
out, adulterers out, you know what I'm saying?
He's like you false religion guys out, you
repenting your sins out. He's just, he's
knocking them all out. And it says in verse 17
then he said, "What title is this that I see?"
He went to like, he was digging up the bones.
He's so mad he's digging up the bones
in the cemetery of all the bad guys.
But he runs into some titles on the headstone
he says, "What title is it that I see?"
And the men of the city told him, "It is the
sepulcher of the man of God which came from Judah
and proclaimed these things that thou hast done
against the altar of Bethel." And he said,
"Let him alone." "Let no man move his bones."
So they let his bones alone with the bones of the
prophet that came out of Samaria and all the houses,
also the high places that were in the cities of
Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to
provoke the Lord to anger. Josiah took away and
did to them according to all the acts that he had
done in Bethel. And pay attention, and he slew all
the priests of the high places that were upon the
altars. What did he do? Did he bury them? No, it
says, "And burn man's bone upon them and return to
Jerusalem." And the king commanded all the people,
saying, "Keep the Passover unto the Lord your God, as
it is written in the book of this covenant." Surely
there was not hold in such a Passover from the days
of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the
days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of
Judah. But in the eighteenth year of the king
Josiah, wherein the Passover was hold in to the
Lord in Jerusalem, moreover, the workers with
familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images,
and the idols, and all the abominations that were
spied in the land of Judah and Jerusalem that Josiah
put away that he might perform the words of the law
which were written in the book that Hilkiah, the priest
found in the house of the Lord. You know what Josiah
is doing? He's just obeying the Lord. And if we look,
if you go back to the Old Testament, we're not going
to go there for the sake of time, but literally some
of the punishment when the Bible says, you know, that
some of these people should be stoned, but also some
of the punishment that was unto death was that they
should be burned. You know, burning or cremation or
anything like that is a dishonorable burial, right?
It's a dishonorable way of disposing of the dead. God
didn't set that in stone. As a matter of fact, just
read the Old Testament, all the saints were properly
buried and it was a big deal. I mean, remember, I might
get them wrong because it's Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
but I always forget which one, but I think it was
Isaac when his wife died, you know, they mourned her
for quite some time, right? But they all make sure
that they had the proper burial and they were buried
with so-and-so and they went all the way back and took
them to the place of their burial. They didn't just
randomly bury them anywhere. They buried them in a
specific place for a specific reason and they mourned
a specific way. Let's go to the point number four.
Burial is a testimony of the hope of the resurrection
or of resurrection hope, right? It's a testimony,
the fact that we have a hope of the resurrection.
So number one, Jesus attended a funeral and wept.
Number two, death is not the end of the believer.
But what's the second part, the one I'm talking about,
which is that it's the hope of our resurrection.
But in between all that, we squeeze in what?
That the reason we do Christian burials is because
cremation is not a Christian practice.
And I can prove this to you because most pagan
religions have burnings. You know, the Vikings have
this really famous burial where they'll put people
on a ship, or they used to, and they'd fill them in
with all the things, they'd fill them all with their
treasures and their swords, because they're going to
go into Valhalla, and then they'd shoot the, you know,
they'd throw the, or I mean, they'd send the boat out
into, like, as far out as possible, and then they'd
shoot arrows and basically light them on fire.
Because they're thinking the quicker we get them
burned up, the quicker they're going to be in wherever
they're going to be. Obviously, that's not the case.
Probably in hell, right?
But if you look at the Bible, every faithful saint
that we can think of, and I might get some wrong,
was buried, not burned, right?
Jesus himself was buried.
So funerals have a proper place and a proper time.
That's why we don't believe in cremation.
I know people argue, and see, we shouldn't argue
things based on what the world thinks.
A lot of people are like, "Well, cremation is cheaper,"
or this and that.
Look, if it's biblical, you should just do it.
The Lord is going to provide.
I went to a funeral just recently.
Who was it? Whose funeral did we do here, Pastor?
Just recently.
It was the one that we did.
Oh, brother, sister, Jan.
Jan Bobbitt.
And her casket was a wooden casket.
It wasn't one of those fancy...
I hadn't seen a wooden casket, I don't think, ever in my life.
I thought Brother Todd was brilliant,
because I've always wondered why people spend
so much money on caskets,
because it's going to go on the ground, and the whole purpose is
"from dust you came, dust you go back".
Personally, that's always been weird to me,
that people spend so much money on caskets,
and this might actually be offensive to some people,
because people get weird about death and all that stuff.
But, I like, and I'll tell my wife,
like, I'm dead.
I don't care what my casket looks like.
I don't care if it's fancy or not.
How do I, there's nothing for me to worry about.
I'm in heaven.
Sister Jan's in her mansion,
hanging out.
Brother Todd, I give him credit.
Actually, I think it's a testament to his faith
that it was just a simple wooden casket.
What else do you need?
So the body keeps a little bit longer.
For what?
All it is is dust.
It's just waiting to be turned into dust.
Go ahead and let it fertilize the next thing
so that we can move on with life.
I've never gotten that,
but I didn't mean to go out on attachment.
I remember when I saw it,
that's why Brother Mo is probably remembering,
because I remember pointing out to him,
I said, "Man, that's a wooden casket."
You know, like in the olden movies,
you saw those cowboy movies and they have a wooden casket.
I was like, "That's great, because that's it.
Once she's buried, you move on with life."
But if you go, you don't have to go there.
Go over to Psalm 90.
But in Genesis 23, verse 19, it says,
"And after this Abraham buried Sarah's wife
in the cave of the field of Macphela before Mamre,
the same as Hebron in the land of Canaan."
In Deuteronomy 34, verse 5,
"And Moses, the servant of the Lord,
died in the land of Moab,
according to the word of the Lord,
and he buried him..."
And who buried him?
The Lord.
"And he buried him in the valley of the land of Moab
over against Beth-Pior,
but no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day."
You know, even God Almighty took time to bury Moses,
even though Moses is already in heaven.
The body, so there's a significant...
Look, if God's burying a body,
then burials and funerals are pretty important
in the grand scheme of the things of life.
And they should be done the way that God did it.
I'm not here to preach exciting sermons all the time.
I'm just here to preach the Word of God,
and this is just something we all got to deal with at some point.
Matthew 27 says that when Joseph had taken the body,
he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb,
which he had hewn out in the rock,
and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher and departed.
We were talking about Jesus himself.
He had a tomb, right?
And we need to know these things,
and we need to know it's important because I remember as a young man,
there was a Korean lady that worked with us.
Maybe you guys remember her, Pastor.
Back in 2007 to 2009, it made news here in Houston.
There was a young Korean lady who got stabbed 111 times by her jealous husband
because they had divorced each other here in Houston, and we knew her.
I'll never forget, I knew her.
I was a lot younger, my mentor was the one that we all worked together.
So I went to the funeral and at that time I didn't have a lot of money, I just knew you wore black.
But I remember feeling really embarrassed because the only black shirt I had said "Heartwrap Cafe".
I remember it became a point where somebody called it out, rightfully so.
I probably should have just worn something else because that's how much has changed.
Back then somebody got offended because I wore this shirt that represented the world when people were mourning.
And, you know, everybody's dressed in like black.
And now today people just show up however they want, right?
I wish that somebody would have preached something like this to me when I was a young man.
So I would know, hey, put some thought into this, pick up the phone and call somebody.
Be like, hey, how should I show up?
There's nothing wrong with trying to figure this stuff out, right?
You know, there's funerals that are coming up in your life.
Everybody's going to have to go to a funeral.
Look to the Bible to get the answers.
And if you don't know, call somebody.
Because you don't want to just be like the world.
We want to stand out.
We want to be able to be a beacon of light everywhere we go.
And some of the darkest moments of people's lives are when someone dies.
Because they have no hope.
I know of families.
I literally, this is a close family friend of my dad's.
They lost their son in 2009.
You can go to their house today and you can still see the shrine to their son.
They've never let it go because there's no hope.
Because there's no proper burial, there's no proper closure.
That's the purpose of a burial.
That's what God meant by saying let the dead bury the dead.
Once it's done, move on.
Now, I'm not saying you're not going to remember.
I mean, Pastor Cobb alluded to the fact that at some point in his life
he's lost two of his male children.
There's only two boys, he lost them, right?
But you don't see Pastor Cobb dragging around
and every day wearing a picture of his kids and talking about it all the time.
He's lived life.
Because that's what God intended for him to do.
That doesn't mean he can't miss them.
We also just can't make a pedestal to the dead.
And people, the Bible says in, I didn't pick those verses,
but the Bible says because you made a covenant with what?
With death, God's going to come after you.
Most people worship death more than they worship life.
I mean, as a matter of fact, actually I shouldn't say most,
like I shouldn't say like it's a weird thing.
Like everything, turn on the TV today.
Actually, just look up all the movies that are out there.
Probably most of them have to do with death, right?
There's more movies about demons and vampires and, you know,
scary people and horror and nightmares and whatever
than there is about life and hope and eternity and all that stuff.
I just guarantee you, right?
I mean, that's just the way it is.
Go to the book section, the non-fiction, it's probably mostly horror.
You turn on the TV and probably 99% of your documentary
is all about serial killers and unsolved mysteries
and murder mysteries and all that stuff.
I mean, it's just insane.
Let's go over the final point.
Well, two more points, but they're basically one on top of the other.
So we see here that Jesus attended a funeral web.
We also see point number two that death is not the end for the believer.
Number three, cremation is not a Christian practice.
Number four, burial is a testimony of the hope of a resurrection.
And number five, funerals are for the living.
Funerals are established by God.
People always ask, I guess nobody really asks about this,
but if they did I would answer the same way that I would answer.
I get a lot of people that are like,
"Do you need a marriage license? What about marriage? What about this?"
Weird questions about marriage.
And then the other question I get in marriage is like,
"When can I divorce my wife or husband because of this or that
or because of adultery?"
And, you know, I didn't get married or the excuses they'll give me is like,
"Well, I think I can divorce so and so because I didn't get married in the church.
I got married at the court. Have you ever heard that one, pastor?
I got married at the court."
I'm like, "Look, humans wouldn't come up with the idea of marriage
if left to their own devices.
Marriage comes from God whether the city of Houston is giving you marriage
or you're getting married at church."
And you know what?
Humans wouldn't come up with a proper burial
and a proper mourning if it wasn't from God.
Because, you know, humans come up with all kinds of weird ideas.
I mean, you don't believe me,
just go down to your local cemetery after this sermon.
There's a bunch of them around here.
Some of those altars and some of those headstones are weird, right?
I mean, the Catholics literally build an entire little steeple house
and it's filled with all the pictures of the dead
and they leave oranges.
You know, the Chinese will go and they leave oranges and money and candles
because, you know, what if that dead person comes back?
At least they have something to hope.
I mean, it's weird without Christ.
Just all kinds of weird things,
but the Bible gives us specifics of what a funeral should be like.
The funerals are for the living, right?
What's the funeral? What's the purpose?
Well, first of all, it's a reminder that we're all going to die,
which is good because we have a tendency to be arrogant.
And I guarantee you, if you ask Donald Trump, he's living forever.
If not Donald Trump, for sure, Elon Musk.
That's literally his life's goal, is to live forever.
If you don't believe me, just do enough research on him.
Literally, Elon Musk is trying to get you a chip in your brain
because he wants you to live forever.
Because they think they're going to overcome that, right?
Funerals are not for the dead, the dead are where the dead are.
Whether they're in heaven or in hell.
So it should be a reminder to get things right with God.
If you're saved and you're not living godly,
then it should be a good reminder.
And if you're not saved,
what's a good reminder that tomorrow's not promised
and today is the day of salvation, the Lord says, right?
Ecclesiastes 7, turn there real quick for the sake of time.
We're wrapping up, but turn over to Ecclesiastes 7.
This is actually where I go when I'm doing a funeral.
I go to Ecclesiastes 7.
I know everybody has their Pastor Kovlike's Job.
I don't think there's any wrong as long as you're using the Bible,
but for me this really stands out.
And in Ecclesiastes 7, the Bible says,
"A good name is better than a precious ointment,
and the day of death is better than the day of one's birth."
I always like going here because it's really hopeful,
because it's contradictory to the world.
The Bible says, "Hey, the day of death is better than the day of one's birth."
You know why?
Because the day that you die physically, if you're in Christ,
you just start eternal life.
I mean, I know we started it the day we got saved here,
but we just don't understand that concept.
But once we're up there, it's going to become evidently clear
what eternal life is, right?
It says, "It is better to go to the house of mourning
than to the house of feasting,
for that is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to heart."
Hey, you know what?
I'm glad I've been to a lot of funerals because I keep reading this verse
and the Bible says it is better to go to the house of mourning.
Man, I've had it good.
According to the Bible, it's better for me to go to all these funerals
than to go to all these weddings.
I'm not being exaggerated, literally.
I mean, unless I'm reading weird English,
that's what the Bible says.
It says, "Sorrow is better than laughter,
for by the sadness of the countenance, the heart is made better."
You know what?
I miss my mother-in-law, and I know my wife does too,
but it's weird.
There's this sweetness about missing her.
The memories we have with her, the legacy she left, right?
It's our flesh that wants to say, "Oh, we wish Mimi was here."
But when we think about it, the legacy she left
gives you this nice, warm feeling.
It says, "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning."
Man, there's wisdom going to the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise
than for a man to hear the song of fools.
For as the crackling of thorns on her pot
so is the laughter of the fool.
This also is vanity.
Surely oppression makeeth the wise men mad,
and a gift destroyeth the heart.
What does it say?
Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof,
and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
Better is the thing thereof than the beginning.
And that doesn't just apply to life and your goals.
Literally, isn't it better to know that once we die
we're going to be with the Lord?
Who remembers the day of their birth?
How excited were you day one?
I mean, when you think back, being covered in all the blood
and all the ambiatic fluid and everything,
you think back, that was a great day.
None of us remember that day.
But you know, the minute we go onto glory,
what a day it shall be, right?
When we all get to heaven,
what a day of rejoicing that will be.
You're there in Psalm 90, in verse 10
the Bible says the days of our years are three score and ten.
Hey, God says we're only allotted about seventy years.
He says that if by reason of strength
they be four score years,
yet is their strength labor and sorrow?
For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
Who knows 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.
Hey, Pastor Cobb, you're in bonus time.
You know that, because you've read the Bible, right?
Hebrews 9, verse 27 says,
"And it is appointed unto men to die once,
but after this is judgment."
But I love verse 28, it says,
"So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many,
and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time,
without sin unto salvation."
Why without sin?
Jesus didn't sin, yeah, but he took on the sins of the world.
He paid it all.
So I think if you ever have a chance to go to a funeral or you're going,
you need to remember this sermon and just be that blessing to those people.
I don't even shy away.
I've done a couple of funerals where I didn't know the people.
I was like, well, if I'm called to preach the gospel, let me just do that.
That's what I did.
I've literally been to two funerals where I didn't know the person.
I've never met them.
I didn't know who they were.
I never had any interactions with them.
I just didn't know who they were.
Let me give you the last point and we'll close out.
The gospel must be preached at every funeral.
And this is a real easy point because we love the gospel.
What a better time to talk about eternal life than when we face death, right?
Romans 6, 23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Right?
"That if thou should confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus shall believe in thine heart, the guy that raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
"We love John 3.16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life."
Go to Matthew 5, that's the last place I'll have you turn.
I've got about five minutes.
But in conclusion, I mean, Jesus was born at a funeral.
Burial is a biblical practice and it's rooted on the fact that there's a hope for the resurrection.
Cremation is not biblical.
Funerals are opportunities to preach the gospel boldly to the living.
By the way, though, if anybody's listening here, this is not a judgment sermon
because people have lived life and not everybody knows everything from the Bible.
So if you know someone who's cremated, because that's the other thing,
people have these weird ideas even after salvation.
They're like, "Well, if the body's cremated, could they ever go to heaven?"
"Well, if the body returns to dust, could it ever go to heaven?"
That's not the body that's going to heaven anyways.
The Bible says it's an incorruptible body, so don't worry about that.
What's done is done. Move on.
If you went to a funeral and it was weird and you didn't do all that,
there's nothing you can do about the past.
This is for the future, for when you face these things coming up in the future,
just so you know what the Bible says.
Our duty is to just preach the Bible, the Word of God.
It's not here to beat you up about what could have or could have happened
or should have or should have happened.
What's done is done, right?
I mean cremation, I know people that are Christians who cremate their families.
I don't agree with it, but I'm also like, you know, not going to beat them up about it.
It is what it is.
We'll go there in Matthew 12, I mean Matthew 5 verse 12.
And it says, "Wherefore, as by one man's sin entereth into the world, and death by sin,
and so death passeth unto all men that have sinned."
And by the way, is that Matthew 5?
Did I get that wrong?
Let me know.
I'm wrong, right?
Yeah, I think it's Romans 5.
If I remember, that's Romans 5.
That threw me off.
See, this is why you should read your Bible, because whenever you get your notes wrong,
you know you're in the wrong place.
Romans 5...
Nope.
Oh, no, wait.
Yeah, it's Romans 5.
I don't know where I got Matthew.
Matthew 5 is the B attitude, so that kind of threw me off.
I was like, "That's weird."
"Wherefore, in Romans 5, verse 12, wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world
and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned, for into
the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no law.
Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over to them that had not sinned after
the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
But not as the offence, so also as the free gift.
For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the
gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath bounded unto many.
And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift, for the judgment was by one to
condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification.
For if by one man's offense death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance
of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ.
Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so
by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
For us by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one many
shall be, shall many be made righteous.
Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded grace
did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ.
Hey, it's a great reminder of the gospel.
It's a great time to just go out there and preach the gospel or talk to people about
the gospel and to just deal with it.
I know this is not your typical sermon, but honestly I was just like, why wouldn't I preach
on it?
Why would God have me go to so many funerals and then not even at least address it?
I mean, I have all this experience, if you want to know about funerals, just, I mean,
I literally, maybe I've done a dozen, almost a dozen funerals.
I can't even think of everybody's names, but I've just done a ton of funerals.
I mean, I've been to funerals with you, Pastor, where you and I tagged team.
I mean, and I don't, that one was not Brother Bobby, but Brother Bobby's nephew.
Yeah, Bobby's son.
I mean, we've done, I mean, we've just done a ton.
We did Bobby here, then we went to the funeral home over there.
I'm just, let me not, we're not, this is not a talking session.
I'm just saying, this is a good sermon for you to just have some decorum
for you to know how to comport yourself.
And let me just say, I didn't know how to do it all.
I'm so glad Pastor Cobb was there when I did my first funeral.
He's like, hey, here's how it's going to go.
Here's what I think you should do.
I'm so glad he did.
Now I feel like I'm an expert, but I wasn't like that when I first started.
You know, it just it didn't quite work out that way.
You know what the most common statement is?
He lives just like himself.
So for those of you that didn't hear this, Pastor said,
what people don't know what to say, the most common statement at a funeral
is they'll look down at the body and be like, he looks just like himself.
So, but you get closure and, you know,
I've already talked about the experience with my kids in another sermon,
so I didn't want to touch it again.
But I hope that this was helpful.
The big thing is that we're all facing death, a physical death.
But you know what?
We're not all facing an eternal death.
And if anything, going to a funeral is a good reminder of all of it.
So let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you so much for today.
Thank you for your blessings, Lord.
Thank you for teaching us what a proper funeral is, what proper burial is.
And Lord, it should be important to us.
I mean, literally it says you buried Moses.
And then we get to the New Testament and Jesus not only went to a funeral
and saw someone buried, but then also he was buried properly
so that when he resurrected, he resurrected to his body,
which obviously would carry the nail pierced hands and the nail pierced feet.
We would see the scars of the sacrifice that he made for us.
So thank you for the reminder that we will all die at some point in our life, physically,
but we will not all die spiritually.
Lord, just continue to bless our church, continue to help us to grow
and fight the good fight.
Help us this week as we go about our business.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
I'm sorry, we have, I'm still getting used to it.
We have a closing hymn and it is 396.
I'm sorry. I always mess you up.
Turn in your hymnals to 396.
396 in our hymnals.
That's 396.
He keeps me singing.
It's on 396.
Amen.