Thank you, Mark. Thank you. Would you turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians? 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians 5. We'll read a few verses in just a moment. When Teresa called me, March 27th, I believe it was to be exact, the first time, to tell me about her dear mother's circumstances, Charlotte, and being under hospice care, and that the time of her departure seemed near, I expressed my sympathy to her.

And Teresa said this to me. She said, thank you, Larry. But mom is one of Christ's sheep and has a good hope through grace. She will soon be with Jesus Christ. That deserves a C law. Paul, stop. Think about that. She will soon be with Jesus Christ. And how can it get any better than that?

When we stopped our phone conversation, I told Robin what she said. And I said, she's given me some good thoughts for the message. Because she was exactly right. And I'll thank you, Teresa, Merle, for this honor of bringing the message today. I appreciate it very much. I consider it an honor.

We've all heard, I imagine most of us have heard of Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers. He suffered much of his life with ill health. And when he died, his wife, Susanna Spurgeon, soon after the death of her famous husband, she wrote these words concerning scripture that was such a comfort to her. She said these words just came to her again and again, and God blessed them to her heart. We're going to read the verse here in 2 Corinthians 5 in just a moment, but these were the words, absent from the body, present with the Lord. And Mrs. Spurgeon, Susanna Spurgeon, wrote this. She said, a dear friend wrote thus to me the other day, And she said, oh, when I think of him, that is her departed husband, Charles, she said, when I think of him as able to praise his savior without fatigue or pain.

No longer limping, Spurgeon suffered with gout terribly, among other things. No longer limping or leaning on his staff, with no cough, no faintness, no swollen fingers or ankles, away from the fogs and the mist, where no heresies distress his heart. When I think of him thus, my heart fairly leaps for joy."

And we can say that concerning the departure of every child of God. This is the text, the entire text, here in verse 8 of 2 Corinthians 5. that God used those words of to bless her grieving heart. Paul writes, we are confident. We are confident. I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Notice Paul says we are confident. Paul was confident, but not just himself. He said we are confident. Those to whom he wrote. They were included in that.

And not only they, but every child of God, every believer, everyone here, every believer who's ever been, has grounds, a very solid foundation to be confident. Confident and to such a degree that we're willing. We're willing, only a believer can do this, by the grace of God. We're willing to be absent from the body, just leave this world, like our dear departed sister, because upon leaving this world, we're going to be present in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what a confidence, what a hope.

This was true of Charlotte. Last Wednesday, or Wednesday before last, rather, on April the 1st, Her great God and Savior came to her, came to Charlotte, and took her home, and she'll be there forever. Forever. That wasn't the doctor's call, was it, Mark? We talked about that. That wasn't as much care as hospice gives, and I've experienced some of that with loved ones of my own, but it wasn't their call or the doctors or anyone else that cared for Charlotte in her last hours, the time of her departure was up to the Lord Jesus Christ. That was his call. He made that call. That's exactly what he said.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. They will hear his voice in time. When he calls them by his grace out of darkness into his marvelous light, they will follow him. And God says concerning those sheep, these are they which follow the lamb, whether so ever he goeth.

So, when their life here below is over, they'll hear the voice of their great shepherd yet again, calling them to be with him where he is, and they will follow him to the Father's house, where God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, where there will never be a pain of any kind, not pain in body, pain in mind, pain in heart, where the former things will all be passed away, gone forever." There's no crying in heaven. There's no weeping in heaven. The former things he that sets upon the throne said, the former things are passed away. But this will never pass away. This will never cease.

Seeing Jesus Christ, loving him with an unsinning heart. Again, that deserves a C law, doesn't it, Bill? I think that word means pause, think about it. An unsinning heart. Mark, we can just imagine what that might be like. We have no idea until we have one.

But that will never cease. And loving him, Christ, perfectly. Worshipping him, and I've never done this in my life, worshipping him as he deserves to be worshipped. Without any distractions of any kind. That will never be over. but I think it will increase, increase as eternity rolls on. I like this hymn. You that have heard me preach very much at all know I quote a lot of hymns. Face to face with Christ my savior, face to face what will it be? When with rapture I behold him, Jesus Christ who died for me. Only faintly now I see him, with the darkling veil between.

Oh, but a blessed day is coming when his glory shall be seen. What rejoicing in his presence, when our banished grief and pain, when the crooked ways are straightened and the dark things shall be plain. Face to face, oh blissful moment. Face to face to see and know. Face to face with my Redeemer, Jesus Christ, who loves me so. Face to face I shall behold him, far beyond the starry sky. Face to face in all his glory, I shall see him by and by. We are confident of that.

That is every believer. I read this the other day. I read a lot of things about my former pastor and yours. But he said this, Don wrote, where God rules, there are no accidents, preventable diseases, untimely deaths, stray bullets. That sounds just like it. Or arrows that missed their mark. Not where God rules, and God rules everywhere. The immediate context here in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 of the verse we just read, let's read it in its immediate context beginning at verse 6.

Again. Therefore, we are always confident knowing that while we are at home in this body, we are absent from the Lord. We walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore, we labor. We labor. That is, we make it our aim, our ambition, our goal, that whether present or absent, whether we are living or whether we die, we may be accepted of Him.

Accepted of Him. When I read that and was preparing this and thinking about it, I kept looking at those words, that we may be accepted of Him. And I couldn't help but think what strange talk that is to most folks in our religious day. Because in most churches, and I don't take any pleasure in this, I wish it wasn't so, but in most churches and in the minds of most people today, we are told a far different story. It's not how we may be accepted of Him, but it's up to us to accept him.

Will you accept Jesus? I challenge you, find me anywhere in the Bible where it uses such language. Jesus didn't do it, the apostles didn't do it. Accept Jesus. Will you allow him to save you? Hmm. That's a different tune. Or will you let him into your heart, or will you make your decision for Jesus? That is so dishonoring to my God and Savior. And that gives sinners who do such a thing a false hope. Hmm. Is that all it means? Is that all that is required to be accepted of Him? Is it really that easy? No, no it's not. The question is not, will I accept him, but will he accept me? Did we not just read that?

To be accepted of him, Paul said, strive, make it your goal to be accepted of him. And the Lord himself said in his high priestly prayer before he went to the garden and was betrayed and then soon after that crucified, He's speaking to his heavenly Father. And he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy son may also glorify thee, as thou has given him power over all flesh that he should give, that he should give.

You can earn it. You don't have it coming. Nothing you've ever done can merit it, you or I, but that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. That doesn't sound like anybody making the decision for Jesus to me. And this is life eternal. This is, again, our Lord speaking. This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. Salvation is knowing whom I have believed. Salvation is knowing Jesus Christ. Salvation is having a personal experience with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's exactly what it is. My decision won't do that. It just won't do it. My acceptance won't produce that. Oh, but his decision will. His purpose will. His acceptance of me will. The great work of salvation is not as easy as ABC. That's the language of religion.

That's the misguided thinking of the mind of a natural man, that man who has not been born from above. All of that, those concepts of God, of Christ himself, can't be any more wrong if they are just a product of a natural man's thinking, a man who has not been born from above. But the natural man receiveth not, the natural man, the man that doesn't know God, that's not been born again. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. He can walk out, he can be baptized, he can learn doctrine, he can do all that, he can be a five-pointer, but he can't know the things of God because only the Spirit of God can reveal them to him. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, For they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

And again, these are the words of Jesus Christ himself. It is the spirit that quickeneth, that makes alive, that gives life, that raises dead sinners. It's the spirit that quickeneth the flesh prophets zip. Nothing. The flesh prophets nothing. The flesh can walk the aisle, the flesh can say a prayer, but as far as coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, the flesh profits nothing.

You got a Bible, read it and see if that's not what it says. I'm not making this up. In Matthew chapter 19, the disciples heard the Lord speak of the utter hopelessness of a sinner's salvation that won't bow to Him as the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what happened with the rich young ruler. And our Lord said, mm, as that young man went away sorrowful, the Lord would not give him a false hope. He wouldn't bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. He wanted to go to heaven, but he didn't want to bow to the Lord Jesus Christ, so the Lord sent him away.

And you know the story well. And the disciples, upon seeing that and hearing what our Lord said, they asked this question, well, then who can be saved? Who can be saved? You ever ask yourself, you ever give that any serious consideration? Who then can be saved? And Jesus, looking upon them, said, with men it is impossible.

Could language be plainer? With men, it is impossible. Oh, but he didn't stop there. Thank God he didn't stop there. But not with God. With God, all things are possible. If your salvation, if your profession of faith, your salvation, was as easy as A-B-C, If it was all you're doing and depends on your acceptance of Christ instead of his acceptance of you, you had better pray that God would do the impossible for you because he's the only one who can. Oh, God reveal your son to me, a real sinner. Oh, how rare they are. A real sinner needs real grace. Grace that abounds where sin abounded. Grace that rains where sin once rained. Grace that reaches deeper, as dear Judy used to sing, and Ruth. Grace that reaches deeper than the stain has gone. And that can only come from one source.

One person. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. When folks were wondering, about John the Baptist, whether he were the Christ. You know, he was causing a stir and a lot of folks come out to see what all the fuss was about. And then the novelty soon wore off. But they said, are you the Messiah? Are you the Christ? And John said, no. How many times I gotta tell you people? He said, no, I've told you.

There cometh one after me, John said, mightier than I, mightier than I. Sinners need someone mightier than the preacher, mightier than the priest, mightier than the church. They need the only one who is mighty to save, who is able to save to the uttermost every sinner that comes to God by him. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved." Old Charles Spurgeon made this statement. I have a great need of Christ, and I have a great Christ for my need. I like that.

An old preacher told this congregation one morning, Preaching to him, he was more concerned about God's glory than man's. He was more concerned about their eternal souls than to tell them lies. He told them the truth. And he said, if you cannot say with Paul, but by the grace of God, I am what I am, you are not a Christian.

Ooh, that's exactly right. If what I claim to know or experience of dead is all my own doing. If I can say what I am, required a miracle of God's grace. I am what I am. If I'm a believer, it's God's grace. If I've come to Christ, it's by God's grace. If I've repented of my sins and believe on Him, it's all by the grace of God's Son. I am what I am. If not, I'm not a believer.

You remember when that poor leper came to our Lord Jesus Christ and he kneeled down I said, Lord, if you will, if you will, if you will, preachers all over this town and mine and coast to coast will be begging, saying, will you, will you, will you, will you come up here, will you, will you open your heart, will you? The leper seemed to know his will wouldn't get it done. He was willing to be healed, that wouldn't get it done.

He kneeled before the Son of God and said, if you will, if you will, you don't have to. You don't have to, but if you will, you can make me clean. He knew, as Moses was told by God himself, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion upon whom I will have compassion. So then it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but it's of God that showeth mercy.

And people hear that and say, ooh, I can't stand that. You mean God's not trying to save everybody? Ooh, I just can't stand that. We just can't have that. Why not? God didn't say, I will not have mercy. I will not have compassion. He said, I will have mercy. I will have compassion, but it's mine to give. And he only gives it through his son.

The beggar begged Jesus Christ, oh, if you will, if you will, will you make me clean? Will you make me clean? When's the last time you talked to anybody whose attitude was that, Bill? How can I be just with God? Oh God, be merciful to me. How long has it been since you talked to anybody and said, I'm the sinner, what must I do to be saved? Lord, if you will, can you imagine the desire, the anguish, the concern, the earnesty, the sincerity behind that? Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. If you don't, I'm doomed.

And oh my soul, Just no sooner did that leper get the words out than Jesus Christ was reaching forth and did something nobody else had done for I don't know how long he touched him. Oh, he touched me. And just as he touched him, I will. I delight to show mercy. I'm not willing that you perish. I delight to show mercy, but you must come to the fountain of mercy, the source of grace. And he said, I will be thou clean.

And just like that, just like that, that cankerous, outcast leper was made perfectly whole. The leprosy departed from him. That's what the grace of God does. And he was cleansed. Oh, perfect redemption. the purchase of blood to every believer, the promise of God, the vilest offender, you're looking at one, the vilest offender who truly believes that very moment from Jesus, a pardon receives. Isn't that good news? Isn't that why the gospel is so glorious?

Praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord, let the people rejoice. Oh, come to the Father through Jesus the Son and give him the glory. Great things he hath done. Wherefore we labor that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him. The literal translation of that word accept is this, that we may be well pleasing to him. Mark, that doesn't sound any easier, does it? Well-pleasing to him? How can I be accepted by God? How can I be well-pleasing to him? I mean, is God that easy to please? Will he accept just anything?

You've probably heard me tell the story. If not, I'll tell you again, or for the first time. When I was a boy at home, like, Mark told us about Merle and Charlotte, old-fashioned, stopping the school bus and so forth. My father was old-fashioned. He believed in disciplining his children. Imagine that. But if he told me something to do, myself, my brothers, we had chores. And if I didn't do them, my father would say, son, you've not done what you were told, or you haven't finished the job I gave you to do.

And I'm not going to tell you again. And I remember going back to do it and I'd be saying under my breath, man, my daddy's hard to please. There's just no pleasing that man. Do you know how hard it is to please God Almighty? You know how hard that is? He said, you want to please me, God said, then it's got to be perfect. These are his words. It must be perfect to be accepted. That's what he said.

So how can a sinner be accepted before God with such a standard as that? What reason did Charlotte have? What reason did she have for a good hope why God should allow her to enter heaven? What did she do to be accepted by a God that demands perfection? What did she do that was perfectly pleasing to God?

As Mark already mentioned in the brochure of this day's service says, she was a loving wife to her husband Merle, a precious mother to her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren. She was a faithful member of this church. She was here before Don got here, and Don was here 40 years, 46 years ago now. And she was a dear, dear friend. everyone into whatever relationship she stood to you, she was precious to you.

All those things, as commendable as they are, not one of them, all of them combined was a reason that God accepted Charlotte Hart. There is only one reason God accepts anyone or finds them well-pleasing in his sight. Remember when Christ was baptized by John the Baptist in Jordan? came up out of the water, the heavens departed, and God spoke and said, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased. And everyone who is in Christ's Son that's been united to him, that believes on him, they are well pleasing in him. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who had blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he, that is God, has made us accepted into beloved. What about that, Dave? Accepted into beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Remember when Rupert During the conferences here, Rupert Reibenbach would sing, In the Beloved, excepted am I, Risen, ascended, and seated on high, Saved from all sin through his infinite grace, With the redeemed ones accorded the place. I would like to be able to sing that, Diane, instead of just reciting it.

But Lila, I was sent, Lila, Emily's daughter, Regina's granddaughter, she's a pickle. I was sitting outside with her yesterday at their house, Rob and I stayed there, and on the swing, and I said, you know any songs? And she started to sing me one, and once I got the note, I started to sing with her, and she said, you need to go take a pill.

I said, appeal. She said, you sound hoarse. And I did. I said, give me another opportunity. So I sang again. And then finally she said, Regina and Robin were sitting up on the porch. We were out in the yard on the swing. And she said, you need to go up there where she is and send her down here to take your place.

Oh, in the beloved, how safe my retreat. In the beloved, accounted complete. Who can condemn me? In him I am free. Savior and keeper forever is he. Into Beloved, God's marvelous grace, calls me to dwell in this wonderful place. God sees my Savior, and then he sees me. Into Beloved, accepted and free.

Last weekend, I'm sure with many of you, I watched the news about the American pilots that were shot down over Iran. One was rescued pretty quickly, and as you know, the other, being ejected some distance from there, wasn't near to be found, and he was deep inside enemy territory and was pretty severely injured. And then the Iranian army, they wanted to find him before the Americans, didn't they? They offered a reward to anyone that finds him, and they were out looking for him. find him, what was it, $60,000 or something or other? And I looked at Rob, and we were watching it together, and I said, let's pray for that young man, because I hate to think what will happen to him if the Iranians get to him before the Americans.

And it seemed like each thing they said reminded me of something that the Lord Jesus Christ said. I listened to the reports from military intelligence and high-ranking generals, and they said it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. They used those words. Another said it was like trying to find a single grain of sand on the beach. They referred to the mission as a mission impossible made possible.

And I thought of the Lord Jesus Christ, the captain of my salvation, who said this, I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the will of the father which had sent me that all of which he had given me, I should lose nothing. The mission of the Good Shepherd wasn't something he attempted. Glory to his name, it was something that he accomplished. He told his disciples just a few days before his crucifixion, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished. And then after that, as he hung up on the cross, knowing all things were accomplished, he said, it is finished.

And I think my soul mission accomplished. Man of sorrows, what a name. For the son of God who came, ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah, what a savior. Left it up was he to die. It is finished was his cry. Now in heaven exalted high. Hallelujah. What a savior. Tell Leela I did a little better today, would you, Grandma? Mission accomplished.

In the rescue for that pilot, they said that they sent out a hundred more jet fighters, I think, and helicopters. There were hundreds of personnel involved in the search for that man. But Jesus Christ, he had no one to help him. He said, I've trod the winepress alone, and of the people there were none with me. When he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

Another thing, and I'm wrapping this up, another thing I heard several times from different military persons on the news, they said, this is our motto. This is our pledge to one another. And to that pilot, that down pilot we're looking for, we won't leave him behind. That's our promise. No man will be left behind. It's on the brochure, I believe, the words of Christ.

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 ye may be also. No one will be left behind, not his sheep, not his chosen, not his redeemed. He himself said this, Father, I will also whom those that whom thou has given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou has given me for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world.

That's what happened to this dear lady. You kept talking about her, Mark, and I thought, classy, classy. When I first came here and met Charlotte, I thought, man, that lady, she must be the president of a bank or something or some chief financial officer for some corporation. No, seriously. But she was a classy, classy lady. But on the 1st of April, Jesus Christ, the captain of our salvation who loved Charlotte with an everlasting love and had redeemed her with his own precious blood came to her because it was time for her to be with him where he is and she's absent from the body and now present with the Lord.

One more thing. After the successful search and rescue of that pilot, they reported that it was such an extraordinary feat Nothing like it in military history, I think they said. Everything had to go perfect, Mark, before they found him. And I think it was Pete Hegseth I was watching. He's the United States Secretary of Defense. And he said, I and others stand in awe. We stand in awe of this mission. And I believe that as we learn more in the days ahead of what was involved, we will even stand more in awe.

Children of God, isn't that true in a far greater sense concerning our great God and Savior? He, not by the blood of bulls and calves, but by His own blood, entered one time into the holy place and obtained eternal redemption for us. Oh, we stand in awe of that. We see through a glass darkly, but we see enough and have experienced enough of His mercy to stand in awe of our Lord Jesus Christ. When I think that God, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in that on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin.

Oh, but can you imagine the awe the wonder when we are gathered around the throne with our great, good, and faithful shepherd, and he says, Father, I and all those that you gave me, I've lost none. And he presents us to the Father without a spot or a blemish or any such thing. We will stand in awe of him always. throughout eternity. When He comes, our glorious King, all His ransomed home to bring, then anew this song we'll sing. Hallelujah. What a Savior. Will you be there? Will you be there? Will you be singing that song of praise to the Redeemer? Do you know Him? That's all that matters. That's all that matters. God bless you. Teresa, thank you once again for this blessed honor you've given me. God bless you.