[0:00] Gather today, dear friends, on a very sad and solid case. And yet, you're glad. A paradox perhaps, but nevertheless definitely true.
[0:15] There is sadness. There will be sadness always at earthly loss. And perhaps enhanced by the depths of the love and affection with which the departed one has been held.
[0:35] That sadness comes very, very close indeed to the very partner that life swotting specially today. And the Lord be with us.
[0:49] And to us all, there is a very deep sense of sadness. The Lord understands this, my dear.
[1:00] Our beloved friend, the Lord's servant was loved. Very, very dear. And very, very deep. By so many.
[1:12] How and why. It's been my privilege to know him now over 40 years. And I gather now we shall cherish the memory of the fragrant season we spent under his ministry and in fellowship with him.
[1:30] I'm not eulogizing the creature, my dear friend. I know my dear friend well enough to know he would say he don't sound well about me. But magnify my master and that's what I will do.
[1:42] But the grace that was manifested in one of his children. How far he has been used as God will never be known here ever.
[1:55] But those things that he loved so dearly. Yes, he was a man that loved the truth.
[2:07] He wasn't a man of beliefs. He was a man of convictions. He was not ashamed of them. He never withheld them as the Lord directed him in his eyes.
[2:24] He went hither and thither, seeking to proclaim the glories of a risen cross. And he had been given to know and love.
[2:36] I can remember many seasons sitting under his ministry. One has come this last few days with very bright fragrance and that's many other.
[2:53] I remember him speaking some years ago now at Highland Chapel on the Easter Monday. And his theme was substitution.
[3:05] Speaking from the incident of Abraham and I. I remember it because I've been trying to bleed a little as a lamb. The previous Lord's day and the same thing.
[3:19] But I remember one thing he said. And I pass it on. Because of what it means to him now. He told him and he said to the congregation.
[3:34] What is substitution? And he stopped a moment. As you know, he often did. And then he said, I know that you shall answer.
[3:46] Jesus stood in our place and room and stayed. Yes, yes, it's all right. But I'd like to go a little deeper than that. What is substitution?
[3:59] My Lord has seen him standing there with his arm right and saying, Please, this! Jesus can come to me! That's it.
[4:13] Where child's free gets to God. Jesus and him. Through the redeeming blood of the cross, He gathered his child out of these scenes of us, scenes of the world.
[4:32] He equipped him, called him so. In so many, many ways. Many of you here today, A positive, I know under his meaning.
[4:48] And under his teaching. And I'm very, very glad today that Some of you brethren here in the front row are killed. I know how you love these teeth.
[5:04] And how you will cherish the memory of it. And in the wildest sea. Ah, my dear friend, We've lost A servant of God.
[5:20] We've lost one Who was unable to speak and to write. Oh, he decided to do anything he could.
[5:31] To magnify his master. And to be used as he was sovereignly pleased For the extension of his queen. Yes, sovereignly.
[5:45] We mourn today. There he is. That's for the I can hardly believe it's God. Amen.
[5:58] But I want to remind you, my dear friend, That there is something more deeper. I'm not underestimating the side of God knows. But there's something deeper.
[6:13] I want you to look after me. I want you, my dear sister, To look after me. Your beloved belonged to his master Before he belonged to you.
[6:28] He belonged to his blessed saviour and redeemer Before he belonged to any of us. And out of that amazing love Of possible understanding He came to redeem his child From the ruin of the fort.
[6:50] Equipping him and using him as I have said. But as though he spoke it personally The child's breathed as he spoke it To his disciples of old And he said, I go to prepare a place for him And if I go and prepare that place I shall come again to see him And in the early hours of Wednesday morning last The master, the master, the saint Called, the child, come over And he was not For the Lord too What he is entering into now None of us adequately know But we know this from the inspired revel That he sees his heart Sees his heart
[7:53] To heart Oh, my dear friends That is the end Of a redeemed soul How stands the coach My soul with thee For heaven And I credentious Clear As thou the proof with it It's not a solemn reality We're here to die In the midst of death We're here to die In the midst of the living For it's but the frail tabernacle That we lay back Into mother earth From whence it came He is not here He will Absent from the bar Present with the Lord This is grace, my dear friend In the consummation If there is joy In the presence of the angels of God
[8:55] Over one sinner brought to repentance And there is There's joy in heaven today In the gathering of the redeemed song of hope Where sorrow cannot come Where sin cannot end Nor the defiled can end there Through any temptation Through a never ending eternity Through a never ending eternity To see the pride of him who loved Him who suffered blood and died Him who in the consummation Of his sovereign and eternal purpose Now gather his child Hope I remember hearing Some years ago now An aged servant of God Saw this At a funeral service
[9:56] He said You know death Separates All people Of the earth To the ungodly It means Leaving home To the godly It means Going home And that's it Where do you and I stand Where do I stand My dear It's not a matter of profession It's not a matter of belief It's a matter of a mean with divine seal Of the witness Of redeeming love and grace You'll never understand I'd often say to my auntie of people I wonder whether we then We get home to glory We shall understand Such a mind-seeing grace But never learn Never learn Is the portion yours
[10:56] In the sweet anticipation Of an inheritance That he's laid up in strong That's where Charles Bridges to go Not that they call him by that name No, they call him by a new name But that's where And with all the sadness And the sorrow in the depths Of it that we feel so much today In this great loss That we have sung from our memory This is one of us He would bring back And you've got a little grasp Of what he now beholds As I quoted Now he can see and hear and know And all that he desired and wished And every power is finding sweet and white In that eternal world
[11:57] That's yours That's yours That's yours Our reasons have a solemn meaning My dear The hour and article of death You cannot put it off When the appointed time comes As well as we are with the time As we are with the time As we saw the matter For all that the Spirit of God Might bear witness With our spirits That is well in our souls For only thus Shall we have the sweet assurance Strong Only thus Shall we be able to rest As the apostle said It's not some wild fancy of the mind Not some metaphor we speak But a living reality The amazement is That Christ Jesus Came into the world To save sin My beloved brother in the Lord Was a sinner Saved by the
[13:00] Equipped in the sovereign purpose Of God and youth And now his earthly service is ended And his master has said Well done Good and faithful soul For our believed souls Enter now Into the joy Of God Oh my dear And the Lord sanctified The attraction To never hear his voice again We shall be able to read Some of his writings Though many are unfinished And still He Being dead Still Breaks me And may the reality Of his eternal End Dwell in our minds and hearts To the comfort And the sweetness
[14:02] Of our own song And may we Who found And prepare me Me Gracious God To stand before I My spirit Must the world For For it is all A grace For the Lord God To receive That grace That grace That is me That understanding In which we are so dependent And may he Drop the sweet Portions Of his word To our song That we may be nourished And fed With heavenly peace And grow In grace And in the knowledge Of him The blessed Sweet And glorious Redeemer Who saw People Come down Suffer
[15:04] Grow Agonize Believe in God But suffer Up and down Into eternal We sing together The second Pim On the Pim I just live Equal in our Ports Into the higher Rates Hearts Have Fire Around The throne The door Of their Glorious King They drink Full Brots Of this Unknown And Hallelujah Shaken In number three Thank you