Good morning. Thank you all for
coming. This is an appropriate time for
us to try to comfort and encourage one another. The loss of our
dear brother. But nothing that we can say will
speak peace to the soul. Only only God's word can do that. So I'd like for you, if you would,
if you have a Bible there, we're going to read from second Corinthians
chapter five and ask the Lord to comfort our hearts with his
word in a way that only he can do. Second Corinthians chapter five,
beginning at verse one, for we know what a What a great comfort
it is to be sure. This is the sure promises of
God's Word. We know that if our earthly house
of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we
groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with our house,
which is from heaven. earnestly groan for that day
that he experienced just a few days ago. Verse three, if so
be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. All to be
clothed in the righteousness of Christ. For we that are in
this tabernacle do groan being burdened, not that we should
be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed
up of life. Reminds me of what our Lord said
in John chapter 14, when he said, let not your heart be troubled.
Oh, you believe in God, believe also in me, for in my father's
house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go and prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there you may be also. And Thomas said, Lord,
we don't know where you're going. And the Lord said, Thomas, you
know, I am the way, I am the truth and I am the life. No man
can come to the father, but by me. Verse five, now he that hath
wrought us for the same self thing is God who also hath given
us the earnest of his spirit. This is a work of grace in the
heart that the Lord does for his people, preparing us to meet
him in glory. Therefore, we are always confident,
knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent
from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by
sight. And we are confident, I say,
and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present
with the Lord. Wherefore, we labor, that whether present or
absent, we may be accepted of him. Wayne knew that all of his
acceptance with God was to be found in Christ, in the beloved. What hope and encouragement we
have had from our brother over these many years. I want us to
have a word of prayer and then Tom's going to come and and lead
us in number 340, nearer, still nearer. What great comfort we
have, Anne. Wayne is in the presence of his
Lord. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, we thank you for the precious promises of your word.
We thank you for the faith that you give to your people to rest
all the hope of their immortal souls and all their salvation
on thy dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ, our sin bearer, our substitute,
our surety, the one who satisfied all the demands of thy holy law,
and the one who stands in our stead and presents himself on
our behalf. Lord, we thank you for the encouragement
that our dear brother has been to us for so many years. We ask,
Lord, for your comfort and for your peace. And we pray, Lord,
for those who remain strangers to your grace, that you would
speak to them and cause them to find their hope in Christ. For it's in his name we pray.
Amen. Number 340, Tom, you come and
lead us, please. Let's all stand. close to thy heart. Draw me, my Savior, so precious
thou art. Fold me, O fold me, close to
thy breast, Shelter me safe in that haven of rest. Shelter me safe in that haven
of rest. ? Not as an offering to Jesus my
King ? ? Only my sinful, half-contrite
heart ? ? Grant me the cleansing, thy blood to drink ? ? Grant me the cleansing I love,
love in heart ? ? Nearer, still nearer, Lord, to be Thine ? ?
Sin with its follies I cleanse, cleanse, cleanse ? Give me but Jesus, my Lord, crucified. While life shall last, Till safe
in glory my anchor is cast, Please be seated. Caleb's going
to bring special music. On a hill far away Stood an old
rugged cross On the cross hung the substitute lamb It was on this old cross that
the chosen of God was forever redeemed by His hand. Turned my mind to repent and
believe. calls my heart to rest only in
thee. May Christ, my only plea, have
mercy on the sinner. God's purpose stand sure, knowing
whom that are His, fulfilled in the person of Christ. it is finished was his cry as
he lifted up his eyes redeeming all for those whom he died turn
my mind to repent and believe calls my heart to rest only in
thee. May Christ, my only plea, have
mercy on the sinner me. As ordained before time, The
Lamb that was slain arose over death, hell, and the grave. As my surety He stands, salvation
complete, all my sin is forever forgave. Turn my mind to repent and believe. Cause my heart to rest only in
Thee. Make Christ my only plea. Have mercy on the sin. Thank you, Caleb. We're going
to be looking at a passage of scripture in First Thessalonians,
if you'd like to turn with me there, First Thessalonians chapter
four. In all the memorial services
I've spoke at over the years, I've never looked up to see what
the word eulogy means. And I looked it up and translated
the word eulogy defined in the dictionary says, a speech written
in praise of a person. I stand before you absolutely
confident that our brother Wayne does not want us to give a speech
in praise of him. But he wants us to talk about
the one who is only worthy of all our praise and all our worship. His Lord and our Lord, what a
faithful brother he was. I remember when we first started
25 years ago, I met Wayne and St. Pete, Wayne and Ann and David.
And I don't know how long you all drove over here. Several
years. They drove from St. Pete every
Sunday. And then they finally moved here. And for years, Wayne
was the first one here. getting everything spruced up
and getting the church ready for services. And every time
any one of you ever talked to Wayne, it was look to Christ. Oh, I've
got to have Christ. I spoke to him on his birthday
just a few weeks, a couple of weeks before the Lord took him
home. And as we told me, There's a correlation between the fear
of God and faithfulness. Wayne, if he said it once, he said it
a thousand times, oh, that the Lord would keep me, that he would
just keep me. I've got to have the gospel.
He listened to our conference just a couple of weeks ago, listened
to every message, and rejoiced in it. What a faithful brother,
what an encouragement he was to every one of us to just keep
looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. And God kept him faithful. He
was faithful to the end. He was afraid that he wouldn't
be. He was afraid that if the Lord took his hand off of him,
he'd fall away. But our God is faithful. And he kept weighing. And he
was a faithful husband. You were the love of his life.
He was always concerned about your needs. You know, I've got
to do this, got to do that. Always concerned for you. And David, he was a good father. And he was thankful for you.
He told me many times, you know, David sets up, after he wasn't
able to come to services anymore, David was the one that set up
the TV so that he could watch the services. And he was so thankful
for that. Wayne knew that the Lord Jesus
Christ was all of his righteousness, all of his wisdom, all of his
sanctification, all the hope of his salvation, that if the
Lord Jesus didn't stand in his stead before God Almighty, he
would have no hope. that if Christ didn't put away
his sins, if the Lord Jesus Christ was not successful in satisfying
God's law, he had no place else to go. He rested all of his hope
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what faith is. That's the spirit of every believer.
And what a great encouragement he was to all of us. He was always a mercy beggar. He told me, I preached over it
in St. Pete one night, and he told me
that he had heard a sermon by Henry Mahan, similar to the one
that I had preached, and the title that Henry gave it was
The Way Up is Down. And he brought up that to me
many, many times. He said, I didn't hear it when
Henry preached it, but God gave me ears to hear. And he wanted
to know more about the way up was down. And what a humble,
faithful man he was. What a dear brother he was. First Thessalonians, do you have
your Bibles open? Chapter chapter 4 verse 13. But I would not have you to be
ignorant. We're not without understanding,
we're not without knowledge, we're not without hope. We have
a sure hope. We sorrow, but not as other men
sorrow. We sorrow that we have to be
here in this world without our brother, but we're not sorry
for him. The people of God have a little
tinge of jealousy for him, don't they? Don't they? We just, you
know, Wednesday morning, week ago, he slipped into glory and
he discovered that he had always been there, standing in the Lord's
presence and receiving the fullness of his reward. I would not have
you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep. That's what the Lord calls death. You know, I made the statement
that we've lost our brother. We haven't lost him. We know
exactly where he's at. And he's asleep right now in
the flesh, in his body, in this world. He's asleep in his spirit. He's we know in eternity he's
with the Lord. That you sorrow not, even as
others which have no hope. Oh, to leave this world without
Christ is to have no hope. And the Lord said himself, what
does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his
own soul? What would a man give in exchange
for his soul? The world's pursuing the world,
and that's all they end up with is just the world. Wayne reminded
us of the importance of knowing that there was a much greater
pursuit for us than anything this world has to offer. But verse 14, if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, even so them which sleep in Jesus,
God will God bring with him. We believe the Lord Jesus Christ
is the firstborn among many brethren that God almighty rewarded him
for his faithfulness. And then he said that as he was
raised from the dead, so shall you be. That was Wayne's hope
that there was It was hope in the resurrection because of the
Lord's resurrection. Verse 15, for this we say unto
you by the word of the Lord. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God and every word of God is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness
that the man of God might be thoroughly furnished unto all
good works. Wayne believed this book was
God's word. Didn't have to have it defended.
Didn't have to have it, you know, just tell me what God said, preacher.
Just tell me what the Lord has to declare. By this we say unto
you, by the word of the 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 the archangel and the trump of God and the
dead in Christ shall rise first. Now, the scripture speaks of
death in two different ways. It speaks of it in time, and
that's what this passage is in reference to. This is our experience
in time. But we know that when we leave
this world, the scripture says, time shall be no more. And we
can't comprehend what that means. But Wayne stepped out of time
last Wednesday, stepped into eternity. And we're here stuck
in time waiting for that. Verse 17, then we which are alive
and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with
the Lord. Comfort one another with these
words. Oh, what comfort these words
are. God gives you faith to believe on Christ and to believe God's
word. It's the only comfort there is.
As I said earlier, it's right for us to try to encourage one
another and comfort one another and be there for each other and
rejoice in the good memories we have of our brother, but none
of that can speak to the soul. None of that can give us any
hope. Truth is, there's gonna come one day very soon when they're
gonna be having a service just like this for each one of us.
And the words of man are not sufficient in that day. The only
thing that matters is what God says and what hope we have in
him. Turn with me over just a few
pages to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. This chapter begins by declaring
the gospel, how that Christ died and was buried and rose again
according to the scriptures. And the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the proof that God gives to his people that
God satisfied. Nothing we can do to add what
Christ has done. He did it all. He's satisfied
everything that God requires. And so faith is looking to Christ
for everything that God requires of me. And then the Lord concludes
this chapter in verse 50. Now this, I say, brethren, flesh
and blood cannot enter into the kingdom of God. This mortal body
has to be has to be returned to the dirt and has to be returned
to the earth. It can't enter into glory. Only the Spirit that's found
in Christ, the new man, the new nature that we have in the Lord
Jesus Christ is able to enter into glory and the new body that
the Lord gives us to be with him. He says, flesh and blood
cannot enter into the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption
enter in corruption. We're saved not with corruptible
seeds such as silver and gold, not with our will or with our
works, we're saved by the incorruptible word of God. the declaration
of who Christ is and what he has accomplished. Behold, I show
you a mystery. And when the Bible speaks of
a mystery, it's not talking about something that's mysterious or
weird or strange. It's talking about something
that's hid. This gospel is hid from the natural man. Our Lord,
when he was praying to the Father, he said, Father, I thank thee
that thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent
and revealed them unto babes. Unless God makes you to be a
babe, you'll never see the kingdom of God. Suffer the little children to
come unto me, for such is the kingdom of God. That's the problem
that men have in their pride. They don't want to be a dependent,
humble little child pleading with God for mercy. But that's
what God makes every one of his people to be. And that's the
example that Wayne was to us. A humble child always begging
for mercy. 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 at the last trump. For the trumpet shall
sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be
changed." Oh, that's our hope, isn't it? Lord, change me. For this corruptible must take
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death
is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the
law. Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. The law of God can only condemn
us. It can only judge us guilty and
hell-deserving. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. He's
the only one that satisfied the demands of God's law. You and
I have never been able to keep one of God's laws, not one single
time. Wayne believed that. He believed
that. He believed that Christ was his
perfection before God. And that's what God requires.
He requires absolute perfection. As much as we were encouraged
by Wayne and thankful for Wayne, God wasn't looking to his faithfulness
for the hope of his salvation. Wayne wasn't looking at his faithfulness
for the hope of his salvation. Lord, remember when the Lord
separates the sheep from the goats? Lord, when did we do these
things? We're not taking notice of what,
Lord, it's what you've done. It's what you've done. The Lord Jesus Christ got the
victory by keeping the law of God and satisfying God's justice
and putting away the sins of his people by the sacrifice of
himself once and for all. This is who Wayne would have
us talk about. I'm sure of it. I've had many conversations with
this dear brother. He wouldn't want us to eulogize
him. Give some flowery speech about him. He would want us to
talk about his Christ and. Verse 58, therefore, my brethren,
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. In the Lord. What a faithful, humble servant
our brother was. What he did was unto the Lord. He did it with all of his heart.
I'd like for us to look at one more
passage of Scripture, if you wouldn't mind turning with me.
2 Samuel. 2 Samuel. Chapter 23. We're seeking to
comfort one another with these words. You know, memorial services
aren't for the deceased. Wayne doesn't have a clue what's
going on here, doesn't care. He doesn't have any memory of
anything that he experienced in this world. That's the way
it is. We enter into glory. And this
isn't, this isn't for, this is for us. This is, this is for
our encouragement and for our hope and for our faithfulness. David, when he speaks, David,
the King of Israel, when he speaks, he speaks prophetically as the
son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ. And David's last words
are found in 2 Samuel chapter 23 at verse 5, when David says
about himself, he says, although my house be not so with God.
David looking at the tabernacle of his flesh and thought, my
life is not what it ought to be, not what I want it to be. Oh, Lord, don't look at my life
and my home. Oh, David had problems just like
we all do. His children and grandchildren. He grieved many times over the
trouble that he had in his home. And he said, although my house
be not so with God yet, here's my hope. My hope is not in my
faithfulness. My hope is in that he has made
a covenant. Now a covenant is a promise,
an agreement between two people. And there's two covenants spoken
of in the Bible. There's the covenant of works. That's what
Adam was put under in the garden. God said, you do this and you'll
live. And if you don't do this, you're going to die. And Adam
wasn't able to keep his side of the bargain. And Adam disobeyed
God and Adam died. And we all died spiritually in
Adam. But there was another covenant,
a covenant that was established before the covenant of works. It's called the covenant of grace.
It was established before Adam was ever made, before the world
ever came into existence, before the moon and the stars were ever
put into the sky. It's an eternal covenant. It's
a covenant that God the Father made with God the Son. when God
the Father promised to give to His Son a bride. And He elected,
according to His own will and purpose, a particular people
in that covenant of grace. God did that. He had the right
to save who's, He said, I'll have mercy upon whom I will have
mercy. We don't serve a God who's in
the heavens wringing His hands, wishing that men would let Him
have His way. We serve a God who is absolutely sovereign and
omnipotent, who, according to His own will and purpose, chose
a particular people before the world began as a bride for His
Son and said to His Son, You redeem them. And the Son entered
into this covenant relationship with His Father and promised
to do everything necessary to redeem the ones whom the Father
had chosen. And the Holy Spirit entered into
that covenant promise and promised to come through the preaching
of the gospel and make those whom God chose and those whom
Christ died for, to make them willing in the day of His power
and to give them faith to believe on Christ. Is it possible that
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit would
be like Adam, not faithful to keep their promises? No. No. That's why the hope of our
salvation is not hung on our promises to God. It's hung on
his promise to himself to save his people. That's what David's
saying. Although my house be not so with
God, yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant. And
that everlasting covenant is ordered in all things, everything
necessary to ratify that covenant and to fulfill the conditions
of that covenant the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished on Calvary's
cross. And when he bowed his mighty head and said, it is finished,
everything necessary for the salvation of God's elect was
accomplished. He didn't die in order to make
an offer of salvation. He died in order to accomplish
the salvation of his people. That's what he did. This is Wayne's
God. This is who his hope was in.
It's the only God there is. Any other God that's depending
on us to do something is no God at all. The Holy Spirit, according to
Wayne's testimony, 25 years ago, he heard the gospel. The Spirit
of God gave him ears to hear and made him so that he could
not live without Christ. And he he would do whatever he
had to do to be a part of his church. For years, they drove
from St. Pete, and then Wayne would drive
when he could. And when he wasn't able to drive,
he'd get an Uber and come to church. Got to hear the gospel. And in the last year or so, he
watched every service. Why? Because that covenant was
his hope. Not his promise to God, but God's
promise to him. That was his hope. David goes
on in this verse to say, this is all my salvation. This is all my desire. This is
the only hope I have. I can't look anywhere else. And the last phrase in verse
23 is, though he make it not to grow, you know, Wayne, just
like the rest of us believers, he He grieved over the lack of
spiritual growth that he saw in his life. He really did. He was always just lamenting
over how unfaithful he was. And yeah, it was just, you know,
that's every believer's experience. When God makes you to be a sinner,
you believe yourself to be the chief of all sinners. And Wayne
would have said, oh, I don't see any growth at all in my life.
We did. He didn't. The same thing's true
of every child of God. We don't we don't look to the
evidences of faith in our life for the hope of our salvation.
We do as our brother Wayne did. We look to Christ to have accomplished
everything necessary for us. And we hang all the hopes of
our immortal soul on his glorious person and on his finished work.
And he's the one that Wayne would have us to praise here today.
Amen? Amen. Tom, we're going to close with,
it is well with my soul. Wayne loved this hymn. Let me,
let me, before we do, let me, because some of you may not know
the story behind this hymn. Horatio Spafford wrote this hymn
back in the late 19th century. And he was an attorney in Chicago. And he had four daughters. And he sent his wife and four
daughters on a ship to go on a vacation in Europe, where they
were from, in England. And he said, I'll follow you
in the next week or two. Well, the ship had a shipwreck in the
North Atlantic, and not knowing the fate of his wife or of his
daughters, he got an email. He got a telegram from his wife
in England saying, survived alone. And Mr. Stafford went to New
York and got on a ship to join his wife and grieve with his
wife over the loss of his daughters. And somewhere in the North Atlantic
where his four daughters perished, he walked the decks of the ship
and wrote the hymn that we're about to sing. The Lord Jesus Christ was his
hope in the depths of his grief. And he's the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He is our hope right now. Let's stand together. Tom, you
come lead us, please. What's the number? Oh, it's on
the inside of the spiral hymnal, the spiral hymnal. Inside of
the back cover. When sorrows like sea billows
roll, Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well,
it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. Though Satan should buffet, though
trials should come, this blessed assurance untold
that Christ hath regarded my helpless estate and hath shed
his own blood for my soul. It is well My soul, it is well, it is well
with my soul. My sin, O the bliss of this glorious
thought. My sin, not in part, but the
whole. is nailed to the cross, and I
bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
O my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. For me, be it Christ, be it Christ
hence to live. no pain shall be mine for in
death as in life thou wilt whisper thy peace to my soul with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. The tort is for thee, for thy
coming we wait. The sky, not the grave, is our
goal. O trump of the angel, O voice
of the Lord, Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul, It is well with my soul, with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. Oh Lord, haste the day when the
faith shall be sight. The clouds be rolled back by
the scroll. The trump shall resound and the
Lord shall descend. Even so it is well. It is well with my soul It is
well, it is well