My family and I met Dee around
25 years ago, and the occasion of that meeting was the worship
of God. At Laird Street Baptist Church
in New Caney, Texas, Dee was stationed at Fort Hood, which
was over three hours from the church building there. Yet we
would worship the Lord together there with Dee. many times over
the next several years. I'd lived in Texas all my life
then, but the Lord would be moving my family and I away from Texas. It could have been anywhere,
but there was a small church in Franklin, Tennessee that needed
a pastor. The Lord would also be moving
Dee away from Texas. Could have been anywhere. but he met a pretty girl that
happened to be a member of the church that I would pastor for
the next 20 years. They were married, and I was
Dee's best man, and we worshipped God. And over those 19, 20 years,
we worshipped in a dilapidated house in Franklin,
Tennessee, in a taekwondo facility, in a common room at an apartment
complex, and eventually in this beautiful building. On special
occasions and on regular days that are long forgotten, we worship
God together. That was Dee and me. We worship
together. Dee often preached here in my
absence and over the years and teaching the Bible class when
I was here. And the Lord blessed him to faithfully
preach the gospel whenever called upon and the Lord gifted him
to do so clearly and boldly and in a way that honored Christ
and fed his sheep. Several pastors around the country
would also have Dee come and preach for them over the years.
Needless to say, our hearts are tightly knit. And D being gone from here now,
mine could never go unscarred by the loss. But D was very clear about one
thing regarding this day before he breathed his last. On this day, like the first day
I saw him, and all the times I saw him in between then and
now, we would worship the Lord today. And God being with us,
we will worship the Lord today. This room is full today because
Dee was an extraordinary person. But what many of you may not
know is why. Dee was greatly blessed of the
Lord. The Lord gets all the glory in
who Dee was. The Lord loves D and always has
and so because of that D loves the Lord While he was here D loved the
gospel he heard The gospel he preached the gospel He worshipped
with a gospel church D lived the gospel And he was very clear about today
that that you would hear the gospel. So turn with me please
to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians 4.13 1 Thessalonians
4.13 There may be a small Bible there if you didn't bring one
with you. First Thessalonians 4.13, but
I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which
are asleep. And that's what this message
is. I don't want you to be ignorant concerning D, a believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is this morning asleep, and for this reason, that you
sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if 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 the Lord, that we which are alive and remain
unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep,
we shall not precede them. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, With the voice of the archangel and
with the trope 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 in the air. And so shall we ever be with
the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another
with these words. The apostle is going to make
something very clear here. You're not going to be ignorant
about this once you see this. You're not going to be ignorant
about it. He's going to make it very clear. And it's going to make
it so that these believers, this church, will not sorrow as others do. They're not going to sorrow the
same. This church in Thessalonica, it doesn't say they won't be
sad. but not as those who have no hope. Because of what Paul's
gonna tell them, we can't do that. As believers, we can't
do that. We can't sorrow like that. We
can't sorrow that way. When D died, we could not say
he was taken too soon. We can't say that because we
know better by God's grace. We know who took D, and we know
that he doeth all things well. We could not say how tragic because
we know why the Lord took Dee, we know who took him and why.
We could not say Dee lost his battle with cancer because we
know what really happened. Nobody wins or loses their battle
to cancer. When you have cancer, it's not
a good time to ignore God. What you're going to do if you
get cancer is you're going to lay there and wait and see what
God's going to do. That's what you're going to do.
And if you've said these things, I'm not mad at you. I just want
you to know who God is. That's what we're going to do.
We're going to wait on him. We're going to see what God's going to do.
He says, I kill and I make a life. So we're going to smile a lot today. We might laugh a little bit.
And many of the tears you see will be tears of joy because
the Lord said in his word that precious in his sight is the
death of his saints. And so this is precious to us
too. We will and do sorrow. I'm gonna
miss my brother. I know that the family's gonna
miss their father and husband and brother and son. Our Lord wept at the grave of
his friend and we will weep also. But the difference in the way
we sorrow and the way the world does is what? Hope. Hope. And what is this powerful hope
that changes everything? What is this blessed hope that
makes all the difference? What is it on the occasion of
the death of our loved ones that makes us certain and not ignorant
and hope rather than despair? Look at verse 14. He tells us
plainly what it is. Christ and what he did on Calvary. Christ who died and rose again. He's the difference. He's the
hope that we have this morning that causes us to sorrow differently.
And this is not, I hope it doesn't rain today. This is a sure and
steadfast hope by grace through faith in the Son of God, Christ
and what he accomplished on Calvary. And I say accomplished because
look at the text. Because Christ died for these
believers who have died that he's talking about, they are
dead in him. Because he died and rose again, they're not just
dead, they're dead in him. This passage says that they're
asleep because that's the truth. It also says that they're dead
in the same passage. Well, are they asleep or dead?
Yes. The scriptures speak of believers dying also in the sense
that this body that we live in now must die. This corruptible
must put on in corruption. Flesh and blood can't inherit
the kingdom of God. But in the truest sense, D is
asleep. Well, why do you say that, Chris?
Well, because the Lord's gonna wake his body up. Dee is already with the Lord.
To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
But the Lord, Dee's body will be raised incorruptible because
the Lord has redeemed his people, body and soul. 1 Corinthians
15, 52. And look what that looks like
in verse 16 of our text. Look at 1 Thessalonians 4.16. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Don't worry about D, because Christ died for D and
rose again. D is always Will be, has been,
is, two words at the end of verse 14, with Him. Right there in the text, with
Him. That's heaven. That's heaven. Not mansions on
hilltops, not streets of gold. How many of you paid any attention
to what the road was made out of when you drove in here today?
What material it was made out of? That's what gold is in heaven. It's just something to walk on. The glory is Christ. The glory of heaven is a person.
Paul said in Philippians 123, I'm in a straight betwixt two,
having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far
better. What is it to depart this body,
this life, this death, and go to heaven? It's to be with Christ.
It's to be with Christ, and willing rather to be absent from the
body and to be present with the Lord. Now, that happened on Calvary. Now think with me. If we believe,
if God has given us faith that Christ died and rose again, we're
with Him and He's gonna bring us with Him. We're never gonna
be not with Him. That happened on Calvary because
he died and rose again. It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me. If we believe that Christ died
and rose again as the scriptures reveal that, then we know that
when the Lord said in John 14, I go to prepare a place for you,
he's talking about the cross. And look what he said about that.
John 14 one, I'd have you turn there, but I want to be brief,
but I want you to hear me now. D wanted you to hear the gospel
and I do too. And the gospel is Christ. That
he died and rose again is our hope. And because we have that
sure hope in him, we don't sorrow as others. Listen to what the
Lord said. This is on His way to the cross. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to 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." That's glory. That's heaven. That's his promise
to his people. You're going to be with me. That's
everything. That's glory. Where Dee is now
though happened on Calvary. I go to make sure that there's
a place for you with me. That happened on the cross now.
Christ did not die to make salvation available to you. He didn't die
to appeal to your will. Christ died to make sure that
one of the many places in glory where sinners dwell face to face
with the Son of God and behold His glory belonged to deep hearts. and a place belongs to every
single one for whom Christ died. Well, wait a minute, Chris, did
Christ die for me? I don't know, do you believe
on the Son of God? Do you believe on the Son of
God? The hope that we have makes all the difference. And it is
that though we are by nature the children of wrath and all
of our very best works are filthy rags in the sight of God, yet
Christ, the spotless lamb of God died for me on Calvary and
he himself is all my righteousness. He himself is my sin offering
unto God. And so when we die, we die in
him and we have hope. The hope that we have makes D's
death a triumph and not a tragedy. And that is that his precious
blood, the precious blood of Christ was shed and that it's
sufficient and effectual to wash away all of the sins of those
for whom he shed that blood. Christ crucified his salvation. Not your decision, not your will.
And look, if you've been told that, If you've said that, if
you believe that, if you believe salvation is up to you, I'm not
mad at you. I just want you to know who God
is. Salvation's of the Lord. His death is a triumph because
look at verse 16 again. The Lord's coming with a shout.
That's a shout of victory. That's a shout of triumph. That's
a shout of joy because Him who for the joy that was set before
Him endured the cross, despising the shame, sat down at the right
hand of the majesty on high. And He's going to come for us
with that shout of victory and triumph and joy. The Lord himself shall descend.
The Lord himself shall shout and take possession of those
that he redeemed with his precious sin-cleansing blood. What this
text makes so clear is that our hope is what he did and what
he's gonna do. Listen to his promise in John
6, 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. and him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the father's will, which has sent me that of all
which he has given me, I should lose nothing. Here's our text,
but should raise it up again at the last day. That's what's
gonna happen to D and all who die before the Lord comes. Second Thessalonians 2.13, listen
to this scripture. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth, wherein do he called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Wait a minute, Chris, God chose
sinners to salvation before the foundation of the world? How
do I know if he chose me? Do you believe on the Son of
God? Now I'm talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's
who we quoted, and that's the words in our text this morning,
the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what that word Lord
means? You can look it up for yourself, but I looked it up
for you. That word Lord means he owns you and he has the power
of deciding. That's word for word. That's
the Greek word for Lord Jesus Christ. He will do what he will, when
he will, with whom he will. That's who we're talking about.
And if he died, if we believe that he died and rose again for
D, in other words, D died in him, we're not sad. We're not sad about that, are
we? We're gonna worship the Lord for that. We're gonna praise
his holy name. We're gonna praise the Lord eternally
with D a lot better than we could ever do now. But why don't we
start right here? Paul said to him, be glory both
right now and forever, and forever. You see what glory is again in
verse 17? With the Lord. So shall we ever
be with the Lord. Heaven is described over and
over and over that same way, with Christ, with Christ. Now,
if you don't have any use for Christ today, You wouldn't thin
either. You wouldn't thin either. Christ is salvation. Christ is
heaven. If you've got no use for him
now, and I'm talking about the Lord. I'm talking about the one
that owns you. And will do what he pleases with
you now. He's gracious. He delights to show mercy. but he's God. His mercy is sovereign
mercy. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. And whom I will, I'll harden. I recommend bowing. I recommend bowing. I recommend
coming to him like the leopard did in Matthew chapter eight,
saying, Lord, if you will, You can make me whole. This thing
doesn't hang on my will. It hangs on your will. If you believe not on the Son
of God, then I've got two other words for you at the end of verse
13. No hope. No hope. for those whose trust is in their
own works, their own will, their own decision, their own way.
No hope, nothing but sorrow. You're gonna be dead soon, like
D's body is lifeless this morning, but you're gonna be dead in every
way forever. But verse 18, If you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, if your hope is in the truth that
Christ himself and his sin atoning death is salvation, not a decision,
not walking in an aisle, not a Jesus that tries and can't,
wants to but you won't let him, but the victorious son of God,
the just God and the Savior, then you can rest in him. You
can rest in him and his gospel today. Death has no stain, the
grave no victory. The one who shouts in our text
is the victor, and to him go the spoils. What does the victor
want? He's worthy of all glory and
honor, anything he desires. Would you agree with that? the
one who victorious in His death, the very captain of the salvation
of sinners. He deserves all glory and honor
and anything He wants. What can be done for Him from
whom life-giving virtue has flowed, has gone out to a multitude of
sinners that no man can number. Here it is, Father, I will. that those whom you have given
me be with me where I am. That's the spoils. That they may behold my glory. That's what happens when believers
die. The one who made them and purchased them with his own blood
takes them home And so shall they ever be with the Lord. And
so shall thee ever be with the Lord. That's why we worship today. That's why we rejoice. Amen. Where's my wife? Thank you. Be thou my vision, Lord of my
heart. Naught be all else to me save
thy power. Thou my best thought. by day or by night. Waking or sleeping, thy presence
my light. my wisdom and thou my true word. Father, I thy true son. Thou in me Riches I will heed not, nor man's
empty praise. Thou mine inheritance, now and
always. Thou and thou alone, the first
in my heart. High King of Heaven ? My man, my victory won ? ? May
I reach heaven's joys, all bright and sun ? ? Heart of my own heart,
whatever befall ? ever before. Still be my vision, oh, Good morning. My father impacted
so many people. To some, he was a friend, a brother,
a son, a husband, and even a coach. But I was blessed enough to call
him dad. He was one of the most likeable people I've ever known.
He was kind, lighthearted, and he always gave people the benefit
of the doubt. He was my greatest mentor, and he strived to make
me the best man I could be. He let me make mistakes, but
he was always there to pick me back up. The most important thing
to him was making sure me and my sister heard the gospel in
this very building. When he found out about the diagnosis,
he said, the greatest honor would be if the Lord was pleased to
use me to save my children. When my father knew that his
time was limited, he sat my family down to talk to us. He made us
promise that we'd always be right here where the gospel was preached.
Today, I am happy and grateful that my father is no longer suffering
and he is home. All right, there'll be a graveside
service at 1230 today, and it's limited pleas to immediate family
and the church family here. So if anyone needs directions
to the graveyard, just ask me or some of the family. And so we'll see some of you
there. I wanna thank everybody for coming. This was D's desire
to see all of his friends and family, everybody that he loved,
to gather together and to worship today, not to be sad for him.
He didn't even want his body to be here because he didn't
want to be a distraction from the gospel. That's why D was who he was,
because of his Savior. So let's remember that today
and remembering D. Let's remember God's grace upon
him. We saw the grace of God in D And because of that he was beautiful
All right, you're dismissed