Funeral Sermon: Receiving What God Has Promised (Hebrews 10:23)

 

Brian, LaDonna, Curtis, and Bonnie, family and friends of Bev:

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen!

[Intro]

Each stanza of Just as I Am, without One Plea begins with the memorable adverb “just,” and the doctrine of justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ warrants the singing believer’s attention. This is the doctrine that the Church stands or falls, and this doctrine is reinforced stanza by stanza. This is the doctrine that Bev believed. In her last days, she was uttering in her mind this truth from this hymn:

Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because Thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come. (LSB 570, stanza 5)

You see, Bev believed Christ’s promise and she was ready to receive the comfort of her faith. O Lamb of God, I come, I come. Bev lived her life in this sure and certain hope. Today, she has received what God has promised. On Tuesday, March 23, the Good Shepherd held out His hand to Bev as He led her to paradise as she joined the Church Triumphant in heaven with all the saints and angels.

Yet, today, we are all witnesses of the wages of sin, which is death. No one likes death, since death is a form of separation. And, like any separation, we grieve. But with Bev, we know that although we grieve, we grieve in a sure and certain hope that we will see her again, since God is faithful as He keeps every promise.

Throughout her earthly life, her faith in Christ led her all of her days. She was a “go-getter” and she was a “fighter.” She was also full of spunk. Throughout most of her life, she couldn’t just sit still. Even while pregnant, she could be found milking cows as she assisted her husband Halbert on the farm.

For Bev, her family meant everything to her. She loved her children, her grandchildren, and her great-grandchildren. She loved her entire family. She also loved singing hymns at church. Even in her last days, as I was singing hymns to her, she was singing right along.

She lived her life with her confirmation verse seemingly always in mind from Hebrews 10:23, which says, “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”

Bev lived out her life with confidence knowing that God is always faithful. Today, she is living out this hope with her fellow saints in heaven.

[God is Faithful]

Bev’s confirmation verse is packed full of God’s promises that we have now – in part – but we will fully have in heaven. Again her confirmation verse: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).

These promises include rest with God, eternal salvation, eternal redemption, eternal inheritance, the remission of sins, life with God, healing, holiness, and access to the heavenly Jerusalem. All of this is a sure hope because the God who promised is always faithful.

Nothing strengthens our hope for heaven more than the fact of God’s faithfulness. So as long as we remain holding fast the confession of our hope without wavering, there is nothing that can deny our access to God. This access to God is not a difficult one. All it takes is faith and hope.

However, this faith and hope is only found in Jesus Christ. He teaches us in John 10 that He is this gate of righteousness. He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep… If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture… I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:7, 9b, 10b).

By grace through faith in Jesus, He alone provides access to eternal life. He became Emmanuel — God with us — so that everyone who would believe in Him would have eternal life. He accomplished this by means of His blood, shed on the cross for you! Through the shedding of His blood and His sacrificial death, Jesus has opened the way to salvation. He has opened the way to heaven.

We may think that we should do something to earn salvation, but there is nothing we could do, besides belief in Christ. For some, this is a difficult task, since we feel we must earn our way to heaven. But God is not like us. He does things that we would never expect! Again, all it takes is faith and hope in Jesus Christ.

As long as we hold firm to this confession, heaven is a guarantee. In our life now, we will have speed bumps and pitfalls in our faith life, sometimes even worse, but any turmoil cannot affect our hope.

You see, nothing strengthens our hope for heaven more than the fact of God’s faithfulness. Through Christ, our hope is sure and certain. He promised the eternal crown of glory, and He will place it on our heads, as He has already with Bev.

Through Christ’s love for Bev and you, He has laid down His life in order to destroy the power of death upon all believers. Through His death and resurrection, He has opened the gates of righteousness to all believers. This gate was opened for Bev at her baptism as she was adopted as a child of the heavenly Father. Then later on her confirmation day, Bev affirmed her faith in Christ and she never wavered, since she knew the One with the promise is faithful.

Today, due to her faith in Jesus, she has received what He has promised. She has received the full inheritance. Her sin has been removed as she is wearing the white robe of Christ’s righteousness, which was made white in the blood of the Lamb. She no longer hungers or thirsts, as she is completely satisfied at the heavenly banquet. She is at complete peace as she no longer suffers any hardships of this fallen world. She is forever singing God’s praises with her fellow saints and angels in heaven!

We, too, have this same promise, so “let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23). Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

T SOLI DEO GLORIA T

Beverly Becker's Obituary: https://hantge.com/obituaries/beverly-ann-becker/