Memorial Service for Bill Borders

Q: What does the Bible say about salvation in Christ?

The Bible teaches that salvation is by God's grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ. According to the Apostle Paul, God has chosen believers to salvation from the beginning through the sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:13). This doctrine emphasizes that salvation is not based on human effort or merit but is entirely the work of God's grace operating through faith in Christ. Ephesians 2:8-9 underscores that we are saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Thus, true salvation comes from acknowledging our unworthiness and relying solely on the grace of God.

Q: How do we know heaven is a real place?

Heaven is described in Scripture as a real place prepared by Christ for His people. In John 14:2-3, Jesus explicitly states that He goes to prepare a place for His followers. This declaration assures believers that heaven is not merely an abstract or metaphorical concept, but a literal location that exists in God's eternal plan. The Bible describes heaven as a place where God's glory dwells, free from sin and filled with eternal joy (Revelation 21:4). Additionally, Paul references heavenly places in Ephesians 1:3, affirming the tangible reality of this promised abode for those who are in Christ. Therefore, believers can be confident in the assurance of a physical, glorified existence in heaven.

Q: Why is the resurrection of Jesus important for Christians?

The resurrection of Jesus is crucial because it confirms His victory over sin and death, ensuring eternal life for believers. The resurrection serves as the foundation of Christian faith, demonstrating that Jesus has conquered sin and death. Paul asserts in 1 Corinthians 15:17 that if Christ has not been raised, then our faith is in vain, and we are still in our sins. The resurrection not only validates Christ's claim to be the Son of God but also guarantees the future resurrection of all believers as part of God's redemptive plan (1 Corinthians 15:20-22). It signifies hope for eternal life and the promise of being transformed into Christ's likeness in fullness (Philippians 3:20-21). Without the resurrection, the entirety of the Christian faith would collapse, affirming its central importance in the life of a believer.

And how, as ministers of the
new covenant of God's grace in Christ Jesus our Lord, the Apostle
Paul said, we are unto God, we are unto God a sweet fragrance
of Christ. Among those who are being saved
and also among those who are perishing. We are an aroma from death to
death to those who are perishing, a fatal odor. And to those who are being saved
by that same grace, we are a sweet fragrance of life to And then he asked this question, and who is sufficient for such
a task? O Savior, now in all my need,
be near, so very near to me. And let thy word thy people bless. to find their faith and hope
in thee. I give thanks to our Lord for
Bill Borders, a dear, devoted, and faithful brother. In the words of the Apostle Paul,
I say tonight, Dear Bill, I am bound to give thanks to God always
for you. beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of his Spirit and belief of his truth." Bill was indeed blessed of God
with the knowledge of the gospel and with a love for that gospel
and a love for God's people. And he graciously adorned the
doctrine of God our Savior. He adorned that gospel by his
life, by his attitude, and by his faithfulness. He did indeed
adorn the gospel. And his dedication and his faithfulness
to the gospel and to this church and to this congregation will
be remembered by us and spoken of by us for years to come. they said of Abel, he being dead,
yet speaketh. And Bill yet speaketh, and is
spoken of. He is God's workmanship, and
I do give thanks to God for him. And I say tonight to Nan, and to Debbie, and to Gary, and
to Shelly and Brian, to Ethel, and to all of Bill's brothers
and sisters in Christ Jesus. We have cause to be sorry for. I'm sorry for. You are. We have
cause to be. It is difficult. I told the men
in the study last Sunday before we came out here to have a memorial service for Bill's
brother-in-law, Arthur Young. It's very difficult to lose such
a close friend. And it's difficult to say goodbye,
even for a while, to such an important person in our lives.
He is an important man. And I don't have words to adequately
express my love and regard for him or to express how much indeed
he will be missed. But I can tell you this, we have cause to be sorrowful,
but we have cause to rejoice, Gary. We have cause to rejoice
like no other people on earth. Can you realize what we have
here? Can you understand what we are dealing with? God Almighty, God Almighty, not
some idol fashioned by Jehoiachin's penknife, not some god of imagination,
some image, but God Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth,
the living God, before this world ever began, before he ever laid the foundations
of this earth, according to his own testimony, right here in
his He set his love on this man.
He set his affection on this unworthy son of Adam. That's
right, before the world ever began. He said, I've loved you
with an everlasting love. He said, before I formed you
in the belly, I knew thee. Before you came out of your mother's
womb, I knew thee. And I sanctified you, and I made
you my child. Isn't that what he said? Before
you knew him, God knew him. before his mother knew him, God
knew him. And God Almighty, think about
this now, the living God, the eternal God of ages, the Creator
of heaven and earth, God Almighty. I'm not talking about this little
impotent God that people go down to the church house on Sunday
to play games with, I'm talking about the living God, the living God. sent his beloved Son, Jesus Christ,
into this world, born of the virgin's womb, made in the likeness
of sinful flesh, took on himself the form of a servant, and lived
under the law of the Almighty God to work out for this sinner
a perfect righteousness so he could see God. Think about that. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten And his son not only lived on this earth
under the law of God a perfect, obedient life, but he went to
a cruel cross and there he suffered anguish and agony and death to
redeem our souls, to justify God and enable him to be just
and justified. God sent his son to redeem this
man. God gave the glorious prayer
of heaven to rescue a sinner from the dunghill of sin. Think
about that. And then in the fullness of time,
God was pleased to send his gospel, like he did when he sent Philip
to the eunuch and Peter to Cornelius and Paul to Lydia. He was pleased
to send his servant to preach the gospel to Bill thirty-odd
years ago, and to call him out of the darkness of religious
tradition, call him away from dead works and out of self-righteousness,
to reveal Christ in his heart. God did that. God did that. And Almighty God, through these
thirty years, has kept him from falling. kept him from apostasy,
kept him from an indifferent heart, kept him from turning
back like Demas of old, and gave him blessing upon blessing upon
blessing so that he could say, I am what I am by the grace of
God. God did that for this sinner. And a few days ago on Saturday afternoon at ten
minutes after three, was it? God told him to come on home.
Come on home. Come to the place that I've prepared
for you. Come to glory. You realize what
I'm saying? If we could just understand,
if we could just lay hold of the greatness of the gift of
God that scripture calls Christ's unspeakable gift, unsearchable
riches, incomprehensible glory. And that's what we're talking
about, that Bill has entered into that unsearchable, incomprehensible,
unexplainable, unspeakable glory by the grace of God. Think about
it. To see the Lord Jesus face to
face, no man can look on God and live, but this man can, because
he's in Christ. To be perfectly conformed to
the image of Jesus Christ, to know as he has been known, to
see, not through a glass dimly, but face to face. He's been taken to eternal youth,
eternal joy, eternal peace, eternal rest. My, my. God said, Behold now, the tabernacle
of God is with men. That can't be. That can't be. Why, he said, your sins have
separated you and your God. God dwells in a light to which
no man can approach. I tell you, my heart, my soul,
my mind is so overwhelmed, so completely overwhelmed at what
we are seeing and what we are experiencing here. Watching sons
of Adam chosen by God, loved by God, redeemed by God, called
by God, washed by God, accepted by God. away from this valley
of tears and darkness and sin, right into the presence of God,
to dwell forever. It's no small thing. He said,
Preacher, what do you know about such mysteries? Well, I know
what he said about them, and his promise never fails. I've been in touch with the one
who does know. Somebody said, oh, if somebody
just come, if somebody just come down from up there, just come
down here where we are and speak our language and tell us about
it. He did. He did. But some of you won't hear him. He said, let another come in
his own name. You'll hear him. But I come in my Father's name.
He came. What did he say about it? Well,
he first of all said, Heaven's a place. He said, Heaven's a place. He
called it a place. He said, I go to prepare a place.
You know what he said? Heaven's not a misty, uncertain, something floating out yonder
that is really nowhere. It's a place. He said, I go to
prepare a place, and if I go to prepare a place, I'll come
back for you. He said, rejoice that your names
are written in heaven. They're written in heaven. He said, we're blessed with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Paul said, I was caught
up into the third heaven. I heard something. I heard something. It's a place. It's real. It's
a place. Tom read a moment ago, if our
earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, as Bill's has been
dissolved, we have a building in a place, not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens. Our preachers are so shifty and can't understand them, what they
say, he doesn't know, and I don't know, and you don't know, but
our Lord speaks plainly, he said it's a place, it's a place, and
it's up. While they were observing, Jesus
was taken up into heaven. Enoch walked with God and just
walked into heaven. Elijah waited on a chariot, and
Jerrion rode into heaven. But it's a place. It's a place. And I'll tell you
this, I know this about him. My Lord said it's a place. And
my Lord secondly said this, that he was the way there. He's very clear on that. He was
talking to his disciples shortly before he went to the cross.
And he said to them, they were troubled that he was leaving
them. And he said, now, you let not your heart be troubled. You
believe in God, you do believe in God. You believe in me. In my Father's house are many
dwelling places. That's what that word is, dwelling
places. If it were not so, I would have
told you, I'd go to prepare a place for you. I'd go to the cross
and pay for your sins. I go to the grave as your scapegoat,
I rise as your justifier, I ascend to behind the veil as your mediator,
and that's the preparation." Some preacher said it took God
six days to prepare the world. He's spent 2,000 years preparing
a place. That's foolishness. God speaks and things come into
being. The preparation here is his obedience
and his death and his intercession that we might go to that place.
I go to the cross to prepare a place for you. You've got no
right there. You've got no title there. You've
got no claim there. You can't stake a claim. You
can go out to the West somewhere where nobody lives and stake
a claim, but you don't stake one there. He did. See what I'm saying?
He represented every one of his people. He said, I go to prepare
a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place,
I'll come back the same Jesus which is taken up from you, and
the heavens shall so come in like manner as you've seen him
go. And where I am, there ye may be. And Thomas said, well,
we don't know where you're going. We've never been there. We don't
even know where it is. How can we know the way? And Jesus said, I am the way. I am the way. No man cometh to
the Father but by me. His obedience is our righteousness
before God's law, not our works. Our righteousness is a filthy
rag. We've never prayed a prayer. We've never given a gift. We've
never done a deed with which a holy God could be pleased,
except under the blood of Christ Jesus. That's just fact. There's none good, no, not one.
None righteous. His obedience is our righteousness.
His blood, his death is our atonement before justice. He satisfies
justice. Somebody said, I just want justice.
No, you don't either. You want mercy. You want him
to satisfy the justice and give you the mercy. His presence is
our intercession before the throne. His suretyship is our guarantee
in the everlasting covenant for acceptance with God. I'm the
way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. Adam lost three things in the
Garden of Eden. He lost life. God said you'll
die. The number one place to get it
back is in Christ. Adam lost the way to God. God
put him out. Put him out of the garden, out
of his presence, and put flaming swords at the gate and said,
don't you come back. Christ said, I'm the way back.
And Adam lost the truth. He believed the devil's lies
and didn't believe God. And the only way that any son
of Adam can ever lay hold of the way, the truth, and the which
Adam lost is in Christ Jesus. I'm as certain of that as this
Bible is the Word of God. Heaven is a place, real, reality,
and Christ is the way. And I'll tell you something else
I know about it. I know according to God's Word that believers,
disbelievers, when they die physically. They
don't die spiritually. They have life in Christ. He
said they'll never die. They have eternal life. But when
a believer dies physically, he goes immediately to heaven. Immediately. Churches and preachers have made
fortunes, literally fortunes, on poor untaught, unlearned,
ignorant religionists, talking to them about purgatory, soul
sleep, temporary abiding places. Our Lord said to that thief who
died next to him on the cross and pled for his mercy, he said,
Ã¬Today, today thou shalt be with me in paradise.Ã® Who do you believe? Our Lord said, at death the body
goes to the dust from which it came and the soul to God who
gave it. Who do you believe? The Apostle
Paul said to be absent from this body is right then to be present
with the Lord. I have a desire, he said, to
depart and be with Christ, which is far better. When a believer,
I watched Bill Borders leave this body. Last Saturday afternoon
at 310, I watched him leave, didn't I? I watched him breathe. That last breath, I had my hand
on his shoulder, and he said, and went to glory. Peacefully,
the presence of God was in that place as he called one of his
children home. I believe God, and it shall be
exactly as he said. And all of the intellectualism
and modernism and liberalism will never change my mind. I
believe God, and therefore I've spoken. I'll tell you something else I know
about heaven. I know that believers have a
heavenly body. That scripture that Tom read
a moment ago from 2 Corinthians 5 needs to be heard. Another thing that people have
done, they've preyed upon our ignorance. Fortune tellers and
all these sort of folks, you know, have an idea that when our loved
ones die, they're floating around here somewhere in the body, breaking
mirrors and rattling attic boards and shaking doors and that's
foolishness. They won't wonder about here.
They have no interest in this world. They're with Christ. They have no contact with this
world whatsoever. Can you imagine one of them ever
standing in the presence of the King of Glory and coming back
down here to look around? Can you imagine? Can you imagine
them ever hearing the heavenly choir, and then come listening
to us sing? Can you imagine them ever hearing
him who speaks, and his voice as many waters, and his eyes
as the flame of fire, and his countenance the glory of God,
looking on his face, and then coming back down here to hear
me preach? No, sir. They don't wonder about
in ghostly forms. If this earthly house be dissolved,
I have a building, not made with hands, a house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens. In this body of flesh, with its
impurities and afflictions, I groan. Earnish the desiring to be clothed
upon with my house from heaven. If so be it being clothed, I'll
not be found naked." And they're not naked, they're clothed upon.
They're not disembodied spirits flitting around yonder somewhere
with no true form. They conform to the image of
God's Son. That's what the Word of God says. That's what the Word of God says. And then I know something else
about heaven. I know this. I know that those
who have gone on to glory in Christ, because of Christ, through
Christ Jesus. Now, God's not selling lots. Somebody said one time, what
kind of mansion you have depends on what you sent up there. Your very presence there will
depend on whose they are representing you, not what you say. Who is that? Christ. He's all I need. In him we're
perfect. They're perfect in him. There's
no degrees of glory. That's another way that preachers
have used to con people. Get them to work and give and
tithe and sow in, all these things, so they'll get a reward. Christ
is our reward. God said to Abraham, I'm your
reward! Bill's like Christ, he's not
interested in yo-yos and silly little old crowns with stars
in them. I'll tell you who wears the crown
in glory, he does, Christ does. And all of his people are loved
the same, glorified the same, made like him. Isn't that what
the word says? That's what it says. When he
hired the laborers, he paid them all the same. Whether they worked
one hour or twelve hours, he paid them the same. Yes, sir,
they retained their identity, too. Job said this. And Job 19, he said, I know my
Redeemer living, and he shall stand at the latter day upon
this earth. And he said, and I shall see him, not another,
I shall see him. These eyes shall behold him,
not another, I shall see him. And Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians
13 this, he said, now we see through a glass dimly, but We'll
see face to face. Now we know in part, then we
shall know as we have been known. We'll be the same day. Bill Borders,
with Bill Borders here, and he's Bill Borders in glory. Oh, he's
perfect. His countenance is perfect. He's
like Christ, but he's still Bill. And I'll tell you why I know
that. Another reason I know that is because people in glory, they
sing a song. And you know what that song is?
It's the song of praise to Christ in which they say, unto him who
loved us, who's us? Us. And washed us from our sins. Our what? Our sins. Our sins where? Our sins on earth. Our sins in the flesh. Our sins
as men. Unto him who loved us and washed
us from our sins. and made us kings and priests
unto God. How in the world can I praise
him for saving me from my sins if I'm not me, if I'm somebody
else, or something else? See what I'm saying? You say,
well, we know each other in glory. I know you now, and I'll be a
lot smarter then than I am now. Well, of course we will. Moses
and Elijah came down here and sat and talked to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Moses was Moses and Elijah was
Elijah. And they sat and talked to the
Lord Jesus Christ about his death on the cross. And they went back
to glory. David said concerning his son
that died, he said, he can't come back to me, but I can go
to him. And you know something? You read
the book of Job. Read the book of Job. It says
Job had ten children. I think the numbers was five
hundred oxen, a thousand she-ashes, and five hundred camels. After
all this trial was over, God blessed him and gave him twice
what he had before. Double. Everything was double.
He gave him five hundred oxen, So he gave him a thousand oxen,
two thousand she-ashes, and a thousand camels, exactly double. Now he
had ten children. Did he give him twenty? No, he
gave him ten. That makes twenty. Uh-huh. You read it carefully. He doubled
everything he had. Those oxen and she-ashes and
camels were gone, so he gave him double. Those children weren't
gone. there with God. He had ten on earth and ten in
heaven. That's right. I wish we'd buy us a Bible and
find out what God's saying. I'm determined to tell these
people here what God's saying. I told this man, and he loved
it and believed it. There's damn peace in it right
now. Because it's a foundation you
can stand on. You can stand on the Word of God. Christ is the
object of faith. He's the source of faith. He's
the fountain of grace. And the Word of God is the foundation.
I believe because God says it, not because I think it. God says
it. You say, well, if we know each
other in heaven, we have a memory of the earth in heaven, will
we be married in heaven? Christ said no. No. You do err, not knowing the power
of God, and you don't know the scriptures. In heaven, there's
neither marriage nor giving in marriage. We're going to be a
wonderful family in Christ, just like we are here, God's family. Well, will my baby be an infant?
Of course not. Would you want him to be? I want my baby to be like Christ,
full grown, mature. Huh? Mature in Christ. That's the goal. To be like Him. Not to be a helpless infant,
but to be like Christ. We've got to leave our emotionalism
and sentimentality and old traditions and customs and get back to this
book. Because that's where the joy
is. And that's where the hope is. And that's where the rest
is. To believe God. Abraham believed
God. And it was counted to him for
righteousness. Yes, sir, we retain our identity. Christ redeemed
us soul and body. He said one day the graves are
going to open. He said, Preacher, will we have
a body of flesh in heaven? Yes, sir, that's what the Word
says. We'll be like Christ. When our Lord arose from the
grave, He appeared to his disciples. Well, they'd seen him die on
that cross, and they'd seen him buried. And when he came through
the door, they thought they'd seen a ghost. That's what they
said, thought they'd seen a ghost, a spirit. And he came walking
across the room, and he said, don't be afraid. He said, reach
out and touch me. Touch my hands, touch my feet,
my side. A spirit hath not flesh and bones,
as you see me have. And then he said, children, you
have something to eat? And they said, some fish and
honey. He said, give me some of it. And he stood there and
ate before them. That's his glorified body. And
that's the body we're going to have. And there's going to be
a new earth and a new heaven. God's going to destroy this old
earth and old heaven because sin has contaminated both. And
he's going to make a new earth and a new heaven. And that holy
city of Jerusalem is coming down out of heaven, the scripture
says. What would be wrong with this
world if God took all the sin out of it? Nothing. It's a beautiful
world. My God made it. It's a beautiful
world. Trees and streams and mountains
and valleys and people. And someday it's going to be
populated by new people, all like Christ. The new heaven and
the new earth. That's what it says in Romans
8. The whole creation groaneth and travaileth until now, awaiting
the redemption of the bodies of God's people. And then there'll
be a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
That's right. You see, we were made in the
image of God, and though sin has taken us so far down, We
still, in some measure, retain that image. That's right. And in Christ, we're going to
be conformed to his image someday. That's right. To die no more. I'm going home to die no more.
My heavenly home is bright and fair. No sin, no sorrow will
enter there. I'm going home to die no more.
Isn't that wonderful? I'll tell you what riches we
have in Christ Jesus. There's no peace and rest in
religion. No peace and rest in religious
ordinances. No peace and rest in religious
works. But I'll tell you, Christ said,
my peace I give unto you. Come unto me, I'll give you rest.
Find your righteousness and hope and wisdom and life and truth
in me by faith. Well, I know one more thing I
want to give you, and I'll close. I know this. One of us are going home next.
Isn't that right? Out of this vast host of people
here tonight. This congregation will never
assemble like this again. Never, never, never. Never again. Old Richard Baxter said, I preach
as a dying man to dying men. I preach as one who may never
preach again. You here as one who may never hear again. One
of us will be next. I pray to God from my heart that
you can die in Christ with a sound and solid confidence and hope
as I watch this man die Saturday. And I hope your preacher can
stand before you with the same confidence before your body and
say the same things I've said tonight. You know, David said,
Lord, teach me to number my days that I may apply my heart to
wisdom and help me to know How frail I am, help me to know. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found, call upon him while he's near. And this salvation is not found
in conferring with human authorities. It's found in Christ Jesus, by coming to him. going to him, seeking him, and
allow him, not some man, to speak peace to your heart. I want us to sing a closing hymn
tonight entitled, Bless Me, the Tithe It Binds. It's number 187,
Our Hearts in Christian Love, number 187.

Memorial Service for Bill Borders

What does the Bible say about salvation in Christ?

How do we know heaven is a real place?

Why is the resurrection of Jesus important for Christians?

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Memorial Service for Bill Borders

What does the Bible say about salvation in Christ?

How do we know heaven is a real place?

Why is the resurrection of Jesus important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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