10.18.25 Kirby Mercer Funeral (Home for the Christian)
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Transcript
Intro
Intro
Welcome to Victory Baptist Church and the homegoing service for Bro. Kirby Mercer
On behalf of friends and family, we’re thankful you came today to support the family and honor the memory of Bro. Kirby
We will not be long today, but our desired intent is that the Lord would be glorified through the life of one of His saints...
There are many things that can and will be said about Bro. Kirby, but to name a few:
What I know about Bro. Kirby:
Faithful to church when health allowed (and him being at church when many times he should’ve stayed home)
Good spirit to the end (still smiling lying in a hospital bed - trusting the Lord)
Love for his church and his wife
Love for the Lord
I. Honoring Bro. Kirby
I. Honoring Bro. Kirby
Bro. Kirby was a man who would speak out for Christ...
He had an opportunity not long before he passed to speak to a group of veterans…
He told me that he stood and told those veterans that he would serve his country all over again, but ultimately the best life to live is following Christ…
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The last thing Bro. Kirby told me just days before he passed away was, “Pastor, I’m not afraid of dying.”
He understood what the Bible says about death for the Christian…
This life is only a temporary dwelling place before we get home...
Home for the Christian is:
1. Heaven
1. Heaven
1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. 4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. 5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
Notice the words:
Eternal in the heavens
Confident and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord
Jesus said:
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 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. 3 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.
Heaven is a prepared place for the children of God
Heaven is a place of dwelling with God
This earthly dwelling is temporary, but Heaven is eternal...
2. Home for the Christian is a Changed Body
2. Home for the Christian is a Changed Body
20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
No more aches, pains, sciatica, arthritis, cancer...
3. Home for the Christian is a Place of Perfection
3. Home for the Christian is a Place of Perfection
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
Incorruptible
Undefiled
Fadeth not away
Reserved for you!
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
a.) A Place of Perfection because of who is there
17 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.
Conclusion:
“I Call it Home”
Somewhere beyond the grave there is a land
that Jesus went to prepare, by His own hand
and for the saved by grace, there is a resting place
And in a few more days, it will be mine
Some call it Heaven, I call it home!
Some call it dreaming, let me dream on.
Some call it paradise, somewhere beyond the skies.
Some call it Heaven, I call it home.
Someone said you cant go, back home again
And things will not ever be, as good as they’ve been
Well I’ve got good news for you, when Heaven comes into view,
One glimpse and you’ll know the best, is yet to come
Some call it Heaven, I call it home!
Some call it dreaming, let me dream on.
Some call it paradise, somewhere beyond the skies.
Some call it Heaven, I call it home.
Question: Can you call it home?
If you died right now, are you 1,000% sure you would go to Heaven?
11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
How can you know?
One of Bro. Kirby’s favorite passages:
1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
3 - Except a man be born again...
15 - “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
It’s really very simple:
Admit Your are a Sinner
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
If someone followed you around and video’d your entire life. Every thought, action, desire and intention… would you be okay with them showing that on a big screen to the entire world?
2. Sin Must be Paid for
Romans 6:23 (KJV 1900)
23 “For the wages of sin is death…”
There are two deaths… a physical death and a spiritual death
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
3. Jesus Paid for our Sin
Romans 6:23 (KJV 1900)
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
If I said this pen was a gift… it is not your gift until you accept it.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Someone - I believe in a physician when I put my case into that physician’s hands, and trust him to cure me. I believe in a lawyer when I leave my case in his hands, and trust him to plead for me. I believe in a banker when I put money into his hands, and allow him to keep it on my behalf.
I believe in my Saviour when I take Him to be my Saviour, when I put my helpless case into His hands, and trust Him to do what I cannot do for myself—save me from my sin.
Would you trust the Savior to do what a Savior does? Save you from your sin?
