I'll just read three short passages
of scripture. 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. And then from the book of Job,
for I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the
latter day upon the earth. and though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I
shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another,
though my reins be consumed within me. We brought nothing into this
world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. The Lord gave,
and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Let us pray. Almighty, most merciful and eternal
God, we do desire to bow before thy great majesty and to call
upon thy great and holy name. We desire that the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God our Father and the sacred
fellowship of the Holy Spirit may rest and abide upon us in
this service. We do pray, O Lord, for the family
of our dear departed sister. We pray that thou would be with
them in their loss and support and sustain them and undertake
for them. Lord, we are very thankful that
we sorrow not as others that are without hope. We're very
thankful for the life and witness of Ena Field. And we pray that
thou would be with us in this service. We pray that our sins
may be forgiven. For Lord, we're all sinners,
born in sin and shaped in iniquity. Gracious God, do incline thine
ear. We do thank thee for the sacred
glories of Jesus Christ, which brings such hope to this service
through his precious grace. We ask in his name and for his
sake alone. Amen. Let us now sing the first hymn
on the hymn seat to the tune Blessedness. Jesus my all to
heaven is gone. He whom I fix my hopes upon. His track I see and I'll pursue
the narrow way. Tell you my view, Mrs Field chose
all the hymns for this service and this was one of her most
favourite hymns. Hymn number one. To heav'n it shall Be near, my
fix, my couch, the throne each track I see, and I'll pursue
the narrow way till, if I do, ? The way, the path ? ? The way,
the path ? ? The way, the path ? ? The way, the path ? ? The
way, the path ? ? The way, the path ? ? The way, the path ?
? The way, the path ? ? The way, the path ? ? The way, the path
? ? The way, the path ? ? The way, the path ? ? The way, the
path ? ? The way, the path ? ? The way, the path ? ? The way, the
path ? ? The way, the path ? ? The way It's highway of holiness,
A narrowful for it has the feet, This is the way I long and sought,
And only God I found is right. My grief, my burden, long has
been, Because I could not change from sin. The more I struggle against his
hand, I slip and stumble, but the more Till late I heard my Saviour
say, Come hither, soul, I am away. O'er the land of the free and
the home of the brave? Nothing but sin I needy can give. Nothing but love shall I wish
me. ? Then will I tell ? ? To Jesus'
crown ? ? What love is shaken ? ? I have found ? ? Joy to life
redeeming birth ? ? The Savior of the nature born ? I'll read together from the Holy
Word of God in Psalm 90. Psalm 90. Lord, thou hast been
our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought
forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even
from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Thou turnest man
to destruction, and says return ye children of men for a thousand
years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past and
as a watch in the night thou carriest them away as with a
flood they are as asleep in the morning they are like grass which
groweth up in the morning it flourisheth and groweth up in
the evening it is cut down and withereth, for we are consumed
by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set
our iniquities before thee. Our secret sings in the light
of thy countenance, for all our days are passed away in thy wrath. We spend our years as a tale
that is told. The days of our years are threescore
years and ten, and if by reason of strength they before school
years yet is their strength labor and sorrow for it is soon cut
off and we fly away who knoweth 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 Return, O Lord, how
long, and let it repent thee concerning thy servants. O, satisfy
us early with thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all
our days. Make us glad according to the
days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we
have seen evil. Let thy work appear unto thy
servants, thy glory unto their children, and let the beauty
of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish thou the work of
our hands upon us. Yea, the work of our hands, establish
thou it. May the Lord bless the reading
of his own precious word. Firstly, I would like to extend
our loving sympathy to all the family in the loss of a mother,
a sister, and may the Lord give you to realise which we have
done here so blessedly that our dear sister is now in glory. She's now passed from time into
eternity to be with Christ. which is far better. She wrote
down just a few things or rather she gave me lots of pieces of
paper and I joined together what some of the things that have
happened in her life. She said she was brought up in
the Church of England. She said I had a very strict
upbringing in the Church of England, went to church morning and evening
on the Lord's Day and Sunday school in the afternoon. I was
confirmed in the Church of England when I was 13 years old and often
feel this was the beginning of the work of grace in my heart.
That day was such a special day to me. I had such a wonderful
sense of peace given on thinking on the matter this word has been
made very special to me. Neglect not the gift that is
in thee which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on
of the hands of the presbytery. During the Second World War,
Ina joined the Women's Land Army and she worked on a dairy farm
at Barkham in Sussex and it was there she met Jabez, her husband.
He had been brought up to chapel, actually at Pickhill Chapel He
lived nearby there, Pick Hill Chapel and Black Boys Chapel.
Pick Hill is a branch chapel of Black Boys. So there's a service
morning and afternoon at Black Boys and a service in the evening
at Pick Hill. We married in 1950 and lived
in Pick Hill. After some time I told him I
did not like going to a place of worship, not going to a place
of worship on the Lord's Day. there was a little chapel nearby
that they could easily walk to. That, of course, was Pick Hill
Chapel. She said, I'm going to chapel tonight. Well, she had
a cold. And he said to her, you can't
go there with a cold. He said, they won't want to see
you with a cold. And so that persuaded that Sunday. But the next Sunday, she said
to him, I'm going to chapel tonight. And so he went with her. and that really was when the
Lord began to work in both of their hearts under the ministry
of my late grandfather Jabez Field and both of them were quickened
into life by the Holy Ghost. They were brought to saving faith
eventually in Jesus Christ and eventually they began attending
not only Pickhill Chapel but Black Boys in the morning and
afternoon She found it very strange at chapel, completely different
to the church. She had many difficult trials,
but the pastor and his wife were so kind to her. And gradually
the Lord was moving in both their hearts, neither of them spoke
to each other on spiritual things. In the providence of God, her
husband became the head stockman at Scotney Castle. So that brought
them, of course, to Lambethurst. and that they began attending
the chapel here, that was in the late 1950s. And the Lord
began to deepen the work of grace in her heart. She was in the
woodshed, they lived in a cottage on Scotney Castle, on Scotney
Farm. She was in the woodshed one morning
and the Holy Spirit breathed these words into her heart, that
he might make thee know that man does not live by bread only,
but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God does
man live. And she thought perhaps the Lord
does have a favour to me. She told me at that time, for
about three days, she said I was so overcome with the love of
God, She said, I could hardly do my work. He said, I did do
my work. He said, I don't know how I'd done it. But all she
said, the love of God was so shed abroad in her heart and
Christ was made so precious to her soul. And one old minister that used
to preach here at the chapel often spoke of the Scottish Highland
maid that the minister spoke to, that's the Scottish minister
of course, and counseled her pray to the Lord, show me thyself. And the Lord did so and she felt
her need as a poor sinner before a holy God. He then counseled
her, Lord show me thyself. She then had a view of Christ
as her precious saviour. This was made very special. She
greatly felt her need of the Lord's inward teaching and Christ
was made exceedingly precious to her. Eventually she was so
burdened regarding baptism and her husband, neither of them
spoke to each other on spiritual things but he himself was very
burdened too but they didn't discuss it and it happened and
they'd both been praying that if they were to be baptized that
they could go together and they both went on the same day to
see the deacon and they felt what a wonderful thing it was.
What really moved Ina to be baptised, the final thing, was that they
had a lot going on at the farm and they were late to chapel
that morning and they walked in in the first hymn and they
were singing the hymn, Come ye sinners poor and wretched, it's
the last hymn that we will sing today. and the actual line of
the hymn that they were singing, if you tarry till you're better,
you will never come at war. She ventured forward and her
husband completely separate from her did as well and they were
baptised together. They had both been praying that
that would be the case. It's wonderful when you see the
Lord's overruling grace, his hand in bringing them together
Javis had left chapel, he no longer went to a place of worship
and yet Ina went to church and she was the means of bringing
him back to chapel. It was her insistence that she
wanted to be somewhere on the Lord's day and that was of course
all in the wonderful providence of God. I was thinking of that
word in the Romans, the wages of sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. The wages of sin is death. And that is why we're here today.
Ina lived a very long life, 95 years old, but death came. I often think,
I buried a gentleman many years ago now, and he was in his late
90s. And I thought of that chapter
in the book of Genesis. It goes through the generations.
And in each verse it says, and he died. Some of them lived literally
hundreds of years, and he died. And it will be each one of us.
The time will come when we shall die. The Lord says in his word,
as it is appointed unto man once to So after death, the judgment. It's a solemn thought. Ina was
prepared, graciously prepared by the Lord. The Holy Spirit
entered her heart, quickened her soul into life, just like
the Lord said to Nicodemus, you must be born again. And she was
born again. She was brought to know the Lord
Jesus Christ as her own savior. and she followed him and she
loved him and she often expressed her love to him. What a wonderful
mercy, what wonderful grace that we see in the Lord's dealings
with her and her husband. She was baptized here in May
1963 and so a very long membership and I believe we can really truly
say that she was a mother in Israel. Right up, well into her
old age, I would go and visit her, and we would often talk
about the congregation, and she was praying for this one, and
she was praying for that one, and she was praying for another
one. Chapel was her life. It literally
became the center of her life. She loved her Lord and Savior.
She loved the house of God. She loved the ways of God. You
know, we sing that very well-known hymn often, and may it be your
prayer. Prepare me, gracious God, to
stand before thy face. Thy spirit must the work perform,
for it is all of grace. In Christ's obedience clothe
and wash me in his blood. So shall I lift my head with
joy among the sons of God. Let us now sing the second hymn
on the hymn sheet to the tune Salem's Plain. Join all who love the Saviour's
name to sing his everlasting fame. Great God, prepare each
heart and voice in hymn forever to rejoice. The second hymn on
the hymn sheet. ? Happy birthday to you ? To sing His everlasting praise.
Praise God with every heart and voice, May him forever to rejoice. God be praised. God rest ye merry, gentlemen. Sing, O sing, sing, Cherubim,
thy song forever be. Sing in my precious open praise,
I hear thy faithful song sustain. From Him my family's gold is
free, Spread Him my soul shall ever be. Him I who daily vow to love,
Of Him I so delight to adore. How can I cast my every care? Like him I shall, and God shall,
love him. Take Him for strength and righteousness
Make Him thy refuge in this place Love, we have love, for us we
join, And in it ever we'll sing and join. ? Praise Him in heaven ? ? Great
the stars ? ? To Him your highest praise be hushed ? Teach me to touch your ev'ry
hand, And make your sick forever bend. Would you please be seated? The word that has rested upon
my spirit is in the first three verses of the gospel according
to John chapter 14. John 14 verses 1, 2, and 3. 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. These verses were made exceedingly
precious to Ina. The amount of times that she
mentioned them to me, she believed the Lord breathed them into her
heart. And right to her end, this was her hope. The reason
why the Lord Jesus speaks in this way is because he was just
about to leave his disciples. He was just about to go to be
crucified, to suffer, bleed and die for the sins of his people. And so he was to leave them.
But not only to leave them while he was being crucified, but afterwards
he would leave them, he would return to glory. He would enter
into heaven. And it caused the disciples much
perplexity because he said that he was going from them. And to calm their mind and their
hearts he speaks these wonderful words of grace unto them. Let
not your heart be troubled. Is there any here today that
as you've come to the house of God that your heart feels troubled? You maybe feel troubled because
you're in the presence of death, troubled because you've lost
a loved one, and there are many things that cause trouble of
heart. There may be a realisation of what we just said, the wages
of sin is death, and that troubles your heart, because you realise you've got
to die. It says in the book of Ecclesiastes,
there is a time to be born and there is a time to die. And it's
God that has appointed that time. God appointed the time when you
would be born and where you would be born. And God has appointed
the time where you're going to die. Whatever age you are, whether
you're young or whether you're old. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. Speaking to the disciples,
believing in God, his heavenly Father, he says, believe also
in me. We read here in John's Gospel,
God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him shall be saved. Shall be saved. And if the Holy
Spirit gives you faith to believe, and that will comfort your heart,
that will calm your troubled mind. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. How many
here have come to the house of God today, and you say, I believe
in God, but you don't know Jesus Christ. You believe in God. But you don't know Jesus Christ.
You believe there is a God. You believe he's the eternal
God. You believe he's the creator of the heavens and the earth. You believe he upholds all things.
You believe in God. It is he that has made us and
not we ourselves. Jesus says here, believe also
in me, in his glorious person. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
center of the gospel. He's the sum and substance of
the gospel. The son of man, he's called.
Why is he called the son of man? Because he is the son of God.
He's called the son of man because the son of God became a man.
And that is the profound mystery that there is in Jesus Christ.
He's the Son of God manifest in the flesh. He lived as a man
here upon earth. It's a profound mystery. The
apostle said to Timothy, great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh.
In the glorious person of Jesus Christ, we see God and man in
one person. We see how the Apostle puts it
in the Hebrews, who is able to save to the uttermost all that
come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth. He's able to
save to the uttermost, and that word uttermost means eternally,
because he is the eternal Son of God. In the book of Psalms, David,
the Psalmist of Israel, speaking prophetically, he says, I've
laid help upon one that is mighty, That is, the Lord Jesus Christ
is that one that is mighty. He's mighty to save. He's mighty
to redeem. And as a man, here upon earth,
the reason that we must die is because we've sinned. There's
a definition in the first epistle of John of what sin is. Sin is
any transgression of the law of God. That's the holy law of
the Ten Commandments. And if we break any of those
Ten Commandments, we have sinned. The Bible says we have all sinned
and come short of the glory of God. We're the sons and daughters
of Adam. We were born in sin. That's what
we received from our parents, a sinful human nature. That's
why we're all going to die. Because we've sinned. We've sinned
against God. Now, the only place of deliverance
from the curse of the law because it says in the word of God, curse
it is every man that doeth not all things that is written in
the book of the Lord to do them. The Lord said to Adam and Eve,
he said, the day that thou eatest of that fruit of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt surely die. Eve took of
the fruit and she gave to her husband and their eyes were opened
and they fell into sin. And now we're all born sinners
because of Adam's sin. Therefore we are born in sin,
we're shaped in iniquity. But there's a door of hope. One hymn writer says, a door
of hope is open wide in Jesus' bleeding hands and side. Believe
also in me, says Jesus, let not your heart be troubled you believe
in God, believe also in me. You think of those wonderful
words of grace concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all sin. Let not your heart be troubled.
The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. You believe in God, believe also
in me. That precious blood of Christ
has satisfied all the demands of divine justice. That precious
blood of Christ has made a new and living way into the holy
place. That precious blood of Christ
cleanses from all sin. Let not your heart be troubled.
Oh, that the Lord, by His Spirit, may seal into your heart the
precious blood of Christ. This is what our dear sister
Ina, she knew these truths in her heart by sacred experience. She knew herself to be a sinner
and she knew Jesus was her savior. Believe also in me. Now, there's
something else here. 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. You see, these troubled disciples,
he was saying, I'm going to prepare a place for you. I'm going to
prepare a place for you. Those eternal mansions 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. What a wonderful, precious
truth we have here before us. And every believer, in fact,
it speaks in Holy Scripture, the believer sleeps. The believer
sleeps. Death. Why is it called sleep
to the believer? Because they'll rise again. They
will rise again. We've read in the beginning of
the service, I am the resurrection and the life. Whosoever believeth
in me shall not die. Christ is the resurrection and
the life. Christ is the way to God. It
says here in verse 6, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again. This is the
hope of every believer. I will come again and receive
you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. We cannot even begin to describe
those everlasting mansions of glory. And as the apostle says,
to be with Christ, which is far better. Heaven is Christ, Christ
is heaven. that's what it is, Emmanuel's
all the glory. Those lovely verses based on
Rutherford's last words, the bride eyes not her garments that
she's in heaven but her dear bridegroom's face I will not
gaze on glory but on my king of grace not on the crown he
giveth but on those pierced hands where glory glory dwells in Emmanuel's
land, our dear departed sister is now in glory. She now sees
Christ face to face. She now enjoys that sacred joy. It says in the Holy Scriptures,
they shall enter into the joy of the Lord. And that is what
she's enjoying. So this service, my beloved friends,
Yes, we each need to be warned that we're going to die, that
we need to be made ready, but we come in thankfulness that
our late beloved sister was made ready. She was fully prepared
and she's now in glory. She's with her savior. Gone are
all the tears and all the sorrows, all the pain and all the grief,
it's all gone. And now she enjoys peace, perfect
peace. May the Lord have his blessing. Now we'll sing the third hymn
on the hymn sheet. This is the hymn that was made
so special to Ina, which constrained her to be baptised. The tune is Lorde, 677. Come
ye sinners poor and wretched, weak and wounded, sick and sore.
Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, joined with power. He is able. He is willing. Doubt no more. The second hymn
on the hymn sheet. ? We can move and sing as one ?
? Jesus, heavenly, stands to save you ? ? Full of pity, joy,
and love ? He is able, He is able, He is
with me at the door. O'er the ramparts we watched,
were so gallantly streaming? Lord of fitness, only Thee. Lord of fitness, Thee requireth,
This to fail Your will of Thee. This he gives you, this he gives
you, Jesus, in this rising day. God be with thee, salvation,
lost and broken, tired and old. If you tarry, tell your letter,
you will never come back home. Please be seated. I'll just mention, friends, that
the postcode for Pickhill Chapel, if any of you would like to write
it down, it's TN210JP. Gracious, merciful, and eternal
God, we lovingly commend to you, the dear family, each one of
them, and pray that thou would bless them with those rich spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus and touch their
hearts with that sacred love that thou did shed abroad in
Ena's heart. Oh do hear us Lord and be with
us now as we go to the grave and may the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the sacred
fellowship of the Holy Spirit, rest and abide with us each,
both now and forevermore. Amen.