Dave Farrar Funeral

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and gracious, and may the testimony of David, but most of all may the words of the gospel our
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God give faith our Lord in you. And so help us our
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God, bless us this occasion we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
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David Stone Ferrer, 89 years old, gonna be 90 on November 20th, passed away at his home in Westboro, surrounded by his beloved family.
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He was born in Worcester on November 20th, 1934, but more importantly born again in March of 1982 and was escorted by the angels into the presence of the
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Lord on September 24th. David was a 1952 graduate of Westboro High School, a 1963 graduate of Kentucky Wesleyan College.
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He also earned his master's degree in counseling psychology from Assumption College.
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He lived all his life in in Westboro, working at the Bay State Abrasives Company for over 30 years, serving as a call fireman on the
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Westboro Fire Department for 20 years, and he also drove a bus for the
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Westboro Senior Center for many years. But he'd be the first one to tell you
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David was a sinner, saved by the grace of God through Jesus Christ in 1982, and from that time on he bore the stamp of godliness in his life.
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The Lord gave David rich spiritual gifts, the gifts of repentance and faith, the gift of helping, the gift of encouragement.
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In my mind he truly was the spiritual son of Barnabas, the son of encouragement.
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Above all, the gift of love. David was a man with a gracious spirit, tender heart, loved by all who knew him.
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He was, of course, a family man, a godly servant leader with a deep love for his wife, for all his children, grandchildren, great -grandchildren, nieces, nephews, large family.
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The Lord gave David a servant's heart, made him a man of prayer, a man of the
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Bible, and a lover of God's people. David had only one goal in life, and that was to glorify
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God and to enjoy him forever. He fulfilled that one goal in a myriad of ways. At different times he served as an elder at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, at Emanuel Chapel in Upton, and then here at First Baptist Church for I don't know how many years, perhaps the last ten or twelve or so.
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It was his joy and delight to encourage, serve, and help others, and he would do it in a manner, even when directly, so as not to be offensive.
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Sometimes when I'd have a difficult task before me as a pastor, I'd send David because he he would be very direct people to people, but they'd never take offense because of his nature.
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And so he was always sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, not only in his words, but in the way he lived. He knew his own weaknesses and speak of them, cast himself upon the
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Lord, and even as he lay dying, he said, I have a magnet in me that draws me to others, and isn't
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God good to us? He was zealous about proclaiming the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ.
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He was a great listener and a passionate soul winner. He loved worshipping
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God with the saints, leading men's Bible studies, visiting, counseling, speaking to people about their souls, about the saving work of Jesus Christ.
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Just in recent weeks, he was laying there in that hospital bed in his house. They had,
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I think, over a hundred and seventy -five people come through, and David would be ministering to them.
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The Lord blessed David with a large family, all dearly beloved. He survived by, of course,
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Vida, wife of 51 years. He leaves three sons, three step -sons,
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Kevin Ferrer and his wife Deborah, David Ferrer and his former wife Kathy, Scott Ferrer and his wife
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Cynthia, William Martin and his former wife Pamela, James Martin and his wife
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Tamara, Richard Martin and his wife Kathy, and Donna Martin, widow of Roger Martin, who pre -deceased him, and David leaves 21 grandchildren, 16 great -grandchildren, many nieces and nephews.
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He loved them all, and David was pre -deceased by his first wife, Shirley Thompson Ferrer, over 50 years ago.
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And so, he leaves a wonderful legacy, but most of all, again, his testimony of his faith and love for Jesus Christ.
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And later in the service, we'll give you opportunity, if you would like to say a word regarding your relationship with David or memory of him, and that'll be toward the end of the service.
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Well, at this time, we have, we're gonna sing a hymn, Amazing Grace.
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Every, all the hymns, or the hymns we'll be singing are out of the red hymnal in front of you, and so we'll sing
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Amazing Grace, hymn number 460, please. And so, let's turn there and let's stand.
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We can sing out better when we're standing, please. Amazing Grace, and Alan will,
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Alan McDonald will help us, please. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.
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I once was lost, but now was blind to see.
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It was grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.
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How fresh did that grace appear, the hour
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I first believed. Through mess, toils, and snares,
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I have already come. His grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.
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The Lord has promised good to me.
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His word my hope secures. He will my shield and portion be, as long as life endures.
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And when this flesh and heart shall fail, and mortal life shall cease,
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I shall possess within the veil a life of joy and peace.
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When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, leave no last day to sing
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God's praise than when we first begun.
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Amen. Please be seated. We have special music.
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This is entitled One Thing, sung by Cindy Farrar.
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This was written by Vida, and this is being sung this morning at David's request.
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So David's son, Scott's going to come up for us and read Psalm 23. Thank you,
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Scott. Good morning, everybody.
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My name is Scott Farrar. I'm the youngest son of David Farrar. I just wanted to express on behalf of my family our deep appreciation for your love and care for my dad, expressed last night at the calling hours and this morning as I look across this congregation.
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I just really appreciate it. My dad was a wonderful man, and I think you know that.
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I know he deeply loved you folks, and I know in return you deeply loved him.
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We will miss him very much, but we know the promises of scripture, it's only temporary.
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We don't grieve as one who has no hope, and so we rejoice in that.
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So I will read now Psalm 23, probably the most familiar piece of scripture in all of the
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Bible. It's a psalm of hope, a psalm of provision and guidance for God's people in times of need.
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So it's found in the back of your bulletin, Psalm 23, a psalm of David.
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The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.
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He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul.
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He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
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I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
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Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil.
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My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the
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Lord forever. Let's pray our
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Lord's prayer together, please. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
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Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
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Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
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And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
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Amen. Next in your red hymnal, hymn number 629,
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What a Friend We Have in Jesus. Let's stand, please. What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear.
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What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.
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Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear.
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All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
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Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
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We should never be discouraged.
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Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
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Jesus knows our every weakness.
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Take it to the Lord in prayer. Are we weak and heavy laden?
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Cumbered with a load of care? Precious Savior, still a refuge.
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Take it to the Lord in prayer. Do thy friends despise forsake thee?
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Take it to the Lord in prayer. In his arms you'll take and she'll be.
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Thou will find a solace there. Please be seated.
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Now David's son, David, will come and read for us a passage from John chapter 11.
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Good morning. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would have not died.
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But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.
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Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him,
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I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus said to her,
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I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.
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And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
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Do you believe this? She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the
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Christ, the Son of God who is coming into this world. I've asked our associate pastor,
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Jason Austin, if he would come and read for us Revelation chapter 20.
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There's 11 verses in this chapter in which John recorded a rather difficult passage to interpret,
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Revelation 20, and he speaks about the millennium. So Revelation 20 verses 1 and following.
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Revelation 20. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
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He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.
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And he cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him so that he should not deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished.
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But after these things, he must be released for a little while. And I saw thrones and they sat upon them, and judgment was committed to them.
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Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshipped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands.
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And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.
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This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.
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Over such, the second death has no power. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years.
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Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth,
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Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.
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They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.
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The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are.
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And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away.
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And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened.
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And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books.
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The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.
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Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, and anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
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Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. Indeed, we base all of our hope on what you revealed to us, our
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Father, regarding our salvation in Jesus Christ and the glorious future that awaits us as your people.
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We pray now, Lord, as we consider the truth of your word that you would illuminate our minds to the truth that's in Jesus Christ.
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May you stir our hearts with affection, our God, and instill within us a fresh, renewed hope of what lies before us.
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And so bless your word to us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
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It may seem rather unusual to bring forth a funeral message from this passage of Holy Scripture.
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I thought it rather strange when I considered it earlier this week, but was persuaded to do so.
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We see, of course, that John describes the intermediate state as well as the end, the final judgment of mankind, but the intermediate state of Christians after they pass from this world into the presence of God.
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And so I thought it would be fitting to address this to depict or describe what our brother
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David Farrer is currently experiencing. And I believe here in Revelation 20 it really sets the stage of our destiny of those who are in Jesus Christ.
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And so his passing from this world in the presence of his Lord and Savior commenced an existence of presently reigning with Christ in his kingdom.
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That's what's expressed here. And although his body has died, his soul now lives and reigns with Christ for a thousand years as we'll attempt to show.
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This passage communicates to us one of the final chapters in God's book, the
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Holy Bible, that we might describe as really the history of redemption. After the final judgment of all mankind before us, in these words, the following two final chapters,
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Revelation 21 and 22, describe the glorious life of Christians in the new heavens and the new earth.
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And it's set forth as a new creation which is a greatly enhanced and expanded paradisal garden and world from that garden paradise of the old creation that was marred and defaced by human sin.
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And so although Revelation 20 does not depict the final state of all things, it does reveal to us the present state of the world under the reign of the
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Lord Jesus Christ, he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, in which the
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Lord graciously shares his reign with his people, those who had believed on him and served him in this life.
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Blessed is the one who had part in the first resurrection, they reign with Christ.
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And so I'd like us to trace in broad strokes the history of redemption with its promise of the mediatorial kingdom of Jesus Christ in which his people reign with him, in which we see realized the divine purpose that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation, 2
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Corinthians 5 19. Of course the history of redemption begins with the display of God's glory and his goodness, wisdom, and power in creating the earth and the heavens,
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Genesis 1. We exclaim as the angels in heaven, you are worthy O Lord to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they exist and were created.
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And David long ago, King David expressed the wonder of God's goodness and mercy to all mankind that he had set before man, gave to man when he created him in the beginning.
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And the people of Israel would sing this song of David in their corporate worship. O Lord, our
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Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth who have set your glory above the heavens when
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I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, the stars which you have ordained.
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What is man that you are mindful of him? And the son of man that you visit him, for you have made him a little lower than the angels and you have crowned him with glory and honor.
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You have made him to have dominion. See, Adam and Eve were co -regents with God, reigning on his behalf.
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You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands. You put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the sea.
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O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth. That of course is
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Psalm 8. God had placed our parents, Adam and Eve, in a beautiful, luxuriant garden over which
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God was pleased to grant them to be his co -regents, reigning over the garden on his behalf, fulfilling the will of God in his creation.
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And there they would experience and enjoy a blessed relationship with their creator, even as they were to expand and extend their life and the quality of the garden throughout the world which
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God had made. And in doing so, they would bring great glory to their God and great pleasure and abundance of life for themselves.
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We both read and feel the consequences of their great fall into sin as recorded in Genesis chapter 3.
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Rather than choosing to love and serve God, the serpent tempted Adam and Eve to love and serve themselves foremost.
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Rather than their creator who had been so kind, so gracious, so good to them.
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And the result of their sin plunged the whole world into darkness and death. And in choosing to serve themselves, they subordinated themselves into the subservience and bondage to Satan.
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It exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator who's blessed forever.
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Romans 1 .25. And so they incurred for themselves and for all their posterity, including you and me, alienation and condemnation from God.
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And from their sin onward, they ceded the nations of the world to the authority of Satan.
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He's been, through history, the false god of the nations, the ruler of this world. It is said of us all that of our minds, the god of this age has blinded who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
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Satan is the god of this age. He's in control of all those that are outside of Jesus Christ.
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But glory and praise to God that God would not leave this world in its sin and permit its people to languish in their misery and their servitude to sin and Satan.
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God would not allow his creation to exist alienated from his presence and the true life that he brings to his people.
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And so even with the entrance of sin into God's world, God, of course, continued to rule over creation, his world as its king, the absolute sovereign ruler as its creator.
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And this sovereign God purposed to reconcile the world to himself, to bring the world back into a willing submission subjection unto himself.
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He did so by revealing his intention early on to send forth to the fallen race a savior, a ruler who would defeat the god of this age, the devil, and rescue and deliver his people from his dominion and bring them into a mediatorial kingdom, which is a realm in which he would again become their
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God and they would be his people. The first promise of the coming kingdom in which
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God would reconcile the world to himself was set forth soon after their fall into sin. God declared to the serpent, the
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Satan, his purpose in Genesis 3 .15, God declared his defeat and downfall.
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It would occur. I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed.
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He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. This was a foretelling, of course, of Jesus Christ who would depose the universal and powerful reign authority of Satan.
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He shall bruise your head and the means by which this seed of the woman would accomplish this conquest and you shall bruise his heel, which speaks of Christ's suffering and death on his cross.
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And by this promised one who would come, God would deliver his people from their sin, bringing them out of the kingdom of Satan into which they had sold themselves and deliver them into his glorious kingdom over which he reigns on behalf of his father.
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His kingdom would be comprised of people from all over the world, all the nations, who rejoice in the sovereign authority of their king over all the forces of evil in this life and death through which he has secured their salvation.
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And we read of their rejoicing in Revelation 5 of Christ entering into his reign upon his resurrection and ascension from the grave.
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They sang a new song saying you're worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals for you are slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation and made us kings and priests to our
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God and we shall reign on the earth. The Bible in both the
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Old and New Testaments is the record how God has brought and is bringing into realization this mediatorial kingdom of God, kingdom ruled by a mediator, the
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Son of God, Jesus Christ. And so even now Jesus Christ reigns as the blessed and only potentate, the
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King of kings and Lord of lords. 1 Timothy 6 .15 In the time we have remaining,
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I would like to set forth the highlights of this history of redemption, the story of the
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Bible which is perhaps quite ambitious for us but I think it would be good and important.
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Early in the chapters of Genesis we read of the people of the world increasing greatly in numbers and greatly in their sin.
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It was not long after when God could say then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
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Genesis 6 .5 Sin was extensive and pervasive in the human race and so God purposed to bring his judgment upon the world and wash it clean of its pollution through means of a flood.
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God said I'll destroy man whom I've created from the face of the earth both man and bees, creeping thing and birds of the air for I'm sorry that I have made him.
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But thankfully Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God saved Noah and his sons and their wives delivering them through his judgment upon the world through this worldwide flood but sadly sin continued into this rather new creation after the flood through Noah's family for the
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Genesis record records that the wickedness once again soon became pervasive and the nations of the world corrupted themselves terribly.
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We read of the Tower of Babel. But thankfully God purposed to bring into realization his promised mediatorial kingdom, a kingdom inaugurated and ruled by his mediator.
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God began to reveal to his people how he would bring forth his redeemer in history to save them from their sin.
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So God revealed in the days of Noah that the lineage of this promised one would come through one of Noah's sons,
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Shem. Out of Shem the deliverer would arise. But then
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God called forth Abram from the nations, from among the nations to come unto him through faith.
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For Abram would be the progenitor of the people of God through whom the promised king would arise.
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And so God said to him get out of your country. Get out of those Gentile nations. From your family, from your father's house to a land
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I will show you. And I'll make you a great nation. I'll bless you. I'll make your name great.
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You should be a blessing. I'll bless those who bless you. I'll curse those who curses you. And all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
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So God chose Abram. Later changed his name of course to Abraham for he would be a father of many nations.
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And so the kingdom would be extensive worldwide. And so God said to him no longer shall your name be called
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Abram but your name shall be called Abraham for I have made you a father of many nations. I'll make you exceedingly fruitful.
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I'll make nations of you. Kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you and their generations for an everlasting covenant to be
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God to you and your descendants after you. And so God chose to bless Abraham. And he did greatly.
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God said of Abraham I have known him in order that he may command his children and his household after him that they keep the way of the
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Lord. To do righteousness and justice that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him.
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It was to be a family characterized by faith and obedience to God. And although God gave special promises to Abraham's physical descendants,
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Ishmael, Esau, the nation of Israel, God's promises were more specifically given to his spiritual descendants primarily to his seed
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Paul says of Christ. His spiritual descendants who had the same faith as their father
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Abraham who ordered their lives according to the will of God like Abraham. God had promised that it would be through Abraham that the
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Redeemer would come forth. And so it's narrowing down. Shem and now through Abraham.
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And so his descendants were to live in holiness before their God. The promise of God's covenant with Abraham was declared to be passed on to his son
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Isaac. Not Ishmael. And then to Isaac's son Jacob who was renamed
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Israel. But it would be through Jacob not Esau that the Redeemer would come forth to save his people.
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God chose Jacob. He loved Jacob in Christ. But then later the promise was more specified and that it would be through Jacob's son
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Judah not the other sons of Israel. It would be through Judah the promised prince would be born who would deliver and rule over his people.
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Genesis 49. But it was later after God had delivered the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt and constituted them a visible physical nation, ethnic nation that God revealed by what standard he would rule his people through which they were to order their lives.
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And so God gave them the Ten Commandments there at Mount Sinai through Moses to which his people were to live in faith and obedience.
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Moses was both a prophet and a priest. Moses himself prefiguring the promised Messiah to come. If they would order their national and private life according to God's law, all the promises of God to the patriarchs would be realized and enjoyed by them.
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This of course they failed to do right from the outset. And so the law that promised life to them became the means of their aggravated condemnation and death according to the apostle.
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Romans 7 .10. But while God brought his people into Canaan as he had promised
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Israel's fathers the people of Israel showed themselves under the judges, the period of the judges totally incapable of ordering their lives according to God's law and so God revealed to them that they would need a leader, a king who would lead them and enable them to order their lives in faith and obedience and thereby receive the blessings that God had promised them.
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Sadly of course the people chose Saul to be their king. But after his abysmal failure
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God himself chose David to be his king who would reign over the people of God on God's behalf.
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He was a man after God's own heart. David is set forth as the ideal kind of king which
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Israel needed in order to live before God. But David too failed sadly, revealing himself to be unworthy of the essential need of his people.
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Nevertheless God came to David and promised him however that one of his descendants would be the promised one who would come to establish and reign over an eternal kingdom.
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So again the purpose of God is narrowing down and now it's narrowed down to a promised son, a future son of David.
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Well this promise of a glorious son of David was anticipated and projected on every son of David that came to rule over Israel.
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But who brought great disappointment and degradation to the nation, every one of them. And so the prophets over time increasingly declared that God himself would send his son who would also be the promised son of David to whom the promised kingdom of God would be inaugurated and realized.
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And so we could read numerous portions of scripture but Isaiah 9 declares it, for unto us a child is born and unto us a son is given.
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Speaks of the incarnation of the son of God. The government will be upon his shoulder, his name will be called
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Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.
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And so that was his deity. But upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it, establish it, for the judgment and justice from that time forward even forever the zeal of the
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Lord of Hosts will perform this. He'll be the incarnate God but he'll also be the descendant of David, the promised son of David.
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And of course the birth of Christ was the onset of the realization of all of God's Old Testament promises. We read of the opening of the
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New Testament, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
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And so with the coming of Jesus Christ the long promised anticipated kingdom of God had begun to be realized.
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John the Baptist announced the kingdom is at hand, Jesus began to teach that, but then he declared that the kingdom was there, wherever he was, the kingdom was present.
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And so the Lord Jesus, however, in the gospel accounts of him and his teaching revealed a kingdom that was not in accordance with the
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Jewish expectation of that day. The promised kingdom of God is spiritual in essence.
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It's a life lived in faith and obedience to God's law. Jesus Christ is shown to have ordered his life in this manner from birth to his death on the cross.
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He was the faithful son of God compared and contrasted in a number of ways with Israel who showed itself to be the unfaithful son of God through Old Testament history.
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Israel had been a false vine. Jesus said I'm the true vine. There are many parallels. Jesus is the true
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Israel. The true and faithful son. Jesus Christ was obedient to his father throughout life.
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His active obedience. And he was obedient even unto death. Even though it resulted in his crucifixion, his passive obedience.
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And it was due to the complete compliance of his life to the law of God that the death he died on the cross could not hold him in the grave.
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God exonerated his son. Vindicated his son and raised him from the dead. And as a result, the
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Lord Jesus could be trusted with all authority in heaven and earth. God couldn't trust you with that kind of authority or me.
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He could trust his son, however, because his son never once was self -serving. But his entire life was lived for the glory of his father and for the betterment of those about him.
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And therefore God also highly exalted him, gave him a name above every name that's named, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
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Lord to the glory of the father. Philippians 2. And when
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Christ ascended into heaven, he was exalted over Satan himself. So that Satan could no longer keep the nations in darkness and bondage to himself.
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So we read of Christ, according to Peter, who had gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to him.
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And that includes the devil and all his minions. Christ had bound the strong man and had been spoiling his house, this world ever since, causing his kingdom to be comprised of people from all nations and tongues.
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And that's the history of this kingdom these last 2 ,000 years. But Christ not only wrought and earned kingdom authority and glory for himself, but he also obtained glory on behalf of his people.
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Amazing. We had read Psalm 8 earlier in which
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David was amazed at the blessing that God had bestowed upon humanity. But the writer to the
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Hebrews picks up this same passage in Psalm 8. He cites it to show that Jesus Christ had obtained for his people that which they could not do for themselves.
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So the writer to the Hebrews wrote, for God has not put the world to come of which we speak in subjection to angels, but one testified in a certain place, quote in the
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Old Testament, Psalm 8, what is man that thou art mindful of him or the son of man that you take care of him?
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You made him a little lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honor. You set him over the works of your hands.
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You put all things in subjection under his feet. But then the writer said this to the
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Jewish Christians. For in that he put all in subjection under him. He left nothing that's not put under him.
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But now we do not yet see all things put under him. It is under mankind. But we see
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Jesus who is made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor.
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He's reigning. He's ruling so that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
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For it was fitting for him, Jesus, for whom are all things and by whom are all things and bringing many sons to glory, glorification, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
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For both he who sanctifies those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason he's not ashamed to call them brethren, saying,
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I'll declare your name. This is prophetic, taken from the prophets of Jesus speaking to his father.
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I will declare your name to my brethren, referring to Christians. In the midst of the assembly, the gathering in heaven,
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I will sing praise to you. Jesus Christ is going to sing unto the father in the presence of his people.
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And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, another Old Testament passage. Here am I and the children that God has given me.
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And so Jesus Christ shares his glory with his people. Amazingly, those who are his disciples, true
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Christians, do not live their lives driven by self -will as they formerly did before conversion, insisting on being their own lords, but rather they've embraced
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Jesus Christ as their savior and lord. They seek to do the will of God in their lives.
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They believe and follow the instruction of Jesus when he said, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself.
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There's room in God's universe for only one lord, one God, and it's not you, it's not me. It's Jesus Christ.
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Those who desire to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.
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And what are the implications if you fail to do so? And what are the blessings if you choose to do so?
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For whoever desires to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
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For what is the profit of man if he gains the whole world and is himself destroyed or lost? And when
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Christ ascended into heaven and was enthroned over the kingdom of God, he gave the gift of the Holy Spirit to move and enable his people to follow him in the same course that he lived.
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One of faith and obedience. Not perfectly, no one does in this world, but consistently that's the direction the course we take in faith.
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And so true believers live as his disciples in faith and obedience to him in joint fellowship with him and with one another as well.
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We do first enter into our relationship with God through Christ in a spiritual resurrection from sin and death onto life and righteousness.
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Jesus declared that in John 5. The hour is coming and now is when people in the world will hear the voice of the
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Son of God and live. He's talking about a spiritual resurrection when an unbeliever becomes a true believer in Jesus Christ.
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It's a spiritual resurrection. Life from the dead. Paul talked about that also in Ephesians 2 and 1 and following.
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I believe this is the first resurrection spoken of in Revelation 20, 4 and 5. The one who's blessed, who takes part in that first resurrection.
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And upon our death we are highly exalted. Revelation 20 and given authority to reign with Christ over his kingdom.
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Now in this life Christians presently enjoy a measure of their reign with Jesus Christ in this life.
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It's a reign of God's grace in and through us. Paul wrote that Christians are seated together with Christ in the heavenlies.
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Christ is sitting on his throne and we share in that glory. But the reign we enjoy now, of course, is a reign of grace in which we can reign in life unto righteousness and see sin defeated in our lives.
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Paul wrote of this in Romans 5 for if by one man's offense death reign through one
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Adam, much more those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through one
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Jesus Christ. Christians are reigning by grace. More where the law entered that the offense might abound, people might see that they're sinners, but where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.
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Why? So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ.
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Christians are reigning now with Jesus Christ in grace, in the realm of grace.
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Now the Lord has given his people different arenas of life in which they're to live out their faith and obedience, conforming their thinking and living to his moral law.
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And so he's given us, say, family, including our marriages and our children, the workplace, communities in which we live, and of course local churches where we live and serve.
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And in these arenas of responsibility we're to display the glory of God through our faith and obedience to Jesus Christ, our
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Lord and Savior. And the Lord has promised that the one who's been faithful in the few things he has entrusted him in this life, he'll bestow much greater responsibility and authority when he passes from this life into his presence, into the presence of God, and most fully, of course, upon the day of the resurrection and our exoneration on the final day of judgment.
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David Pharaoh was a faithful man. He was faithful in ordering his life in marriage.
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He was faithful before God in his relationship with his sons. He was faithful in the workplace, his community, and most certainly he was faithful in the
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Lord's churches in which he served. And now, although David's body remains united to Christ and soon to be in the grave, his soul is with the
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Lord, and he's been glorified in such a way that he's been granted much authority, even as he shares in the present reign and rule of Christ.
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How that looks, how that plays out, I have no idea, but it's a reality. The Word of God teaches us, blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.
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Over such, second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years.
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Amen? Glorious Word. Let's pray.
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Thank you, Father, for your Word and the glorious record we have of your dealings in history and the promise of a mediatorial kingdom through Jesus Christ of which we have entered our
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God through the new birth, born again so we can see the kingdom of God and enter the kingdom of God through faith and repentance from our sin.
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And our Lord, we only lament that we are not more faithful, more obedient than we are, but we thank you, our
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God, that you are guiding us and helping us and you will see us unto the end because you're faithful.
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Whatever you've begun, our God, you will complete and we thank you, our God, that you've completed this in the life of our brother
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David. We pray, our God, you would help us take these matters to heart to be able to go forth from this place resolved, committed to live for Jesus Christ, our
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Lord and Savior in all the arenas of life in which you've given us and may we be faithful even unto the end for we know it's the one who believes unto the end who overcomes through faith.
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You will grant to sit down in your throne, Lord Jesus, just as you overcame and the
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Father enabled you to sit down on his throne and we'll thank you,
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Lord, and praise you with this certain hope, our God, your promise that most certainly will be realized for those that have fled to Jesus Christ in faith and repentance.
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We pray, Father, in Jesus' name, amen. I believe we have a hymn now, don't we?
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Do we have a hymn? Yes. Come on up, Alan. What number is it?
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691. Red Hymnal. Let's stand, please. When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roam, whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.
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It is well with my soul.
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It is well, it is well with my soul.
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Though Satan should moffet, though trials should come, let this blessed assurance control that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and has shed his own blood for my soul.
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It is well with my soul.
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It is well, it is well with my soul.
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My sin o 'er the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it, praise the
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Lord, praise the Lord all my soul.
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It is well, it is well with my soul.
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It is well, it is well with my soul.
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O Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll, the trumps shall resound and the
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Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul.
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It is well, it is well with my soul, with my soul.
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It is well, it is well with my soul.
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Please be seated. That hymn, of course, was written for Christians, and only a true
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Christian can sing that hymn with faith and conviction, it is well with my soul. If you're not in Christ, I would urge you to consider the state of your soul so you can sing that, words like that hymn with faith and confidence and peace and joy.
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If you're outside of Christ, but you know you need him, you come see me, we'll help you as the
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Lord helps us. And so we don't want anyone to go forth from here without at least the opportunity.
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You cannot say no one cares for your soul because there are people here, family and friends and certainly this church, if we can assist you and serve you.
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We want to give opportunity for anyone to say a word regarding their relationship with David, memory perhaps, and we're going to start, and you can do so right from standing up there in the pew, you don't have to come up here, but we're going to begin with David and Vida's long -term friend
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Leonard Goldstrom, who was David's pastor years ago. Leonard, come on up please. Vida asked me to start this time of remembering
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David, and as we have heard, David's life was really a life where he wanted to glorify
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God and enjoy him forever. I can say that I'm David's friend because David pursued me.
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I was a pastor, it was almost 30 years ago, David came to the church there in Upton and of course as a pastor, a young pastor just out of seminary
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I was busy. But David would call me and he said, let's have breakfast. You've probably never heard that before, right?
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Yeah. Let's have breakfast. I said, well, you know, I'd kind of try to put him off a little bit. I'm busy, I've got a lot to do today.
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He said, you still have to eat. I was like, right. You're right, you're right David. So we would go to breakfast.
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David would always ask me three questions. How are you doing? How can
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I help? How can I pray for you? Why do you think
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David was such a good friend? Well, the reason is because he had a great
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Savior. David would be the first to admit that he was a sinner just like the rest of us, almost the greatest sinner as me.
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But the Lord intervened into his life. David was not perfect.
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But I think he was a lot like Job, a blameless man, an upright, one who feared
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God and shunned evil. And he was an example of that in his life. Of course, the two words that I've heard mentioned more recently is that David was an encourager and an exhorter.
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He loved people. He wanted to help them. In fact, as we've heard, he did that right up until his dying day.
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He wanted to help people. He loved God's Word and he believed that God's Word was the truth that we all needed to hear.
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And so David glorified God and we can now rejoice that he is enjoying
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God forever. I can assure you that David would not want to trade places with any of us today because he is enjoying the riches of Christ in all their fullness.
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That riches, as you've heard, would make this world to be as nothing. This world has nothing to offer us compared to what is ours in Christ.
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Now we all still miss David, but one day as all those who belong to Christ, we will join with David around the throne of grace, giving praise and glory to the
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God who loved us, the God who gave himself for us. And so I with you,
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I thank God for David. But most of all, I thank
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God for David's Savior who made David to be what he was, a sinner saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus alone.
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Thank you. All right.
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Is there someone that would like to say a word? Yes, Tracy.
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Stand up, please. Someone else?
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Yes. Thank you.
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Someone else? Yes, ma 'am. Someone else?
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Amen, Ross. Anyone else? Yes. Anyone else?
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Yes. Amen. Anyone else?
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I have known David for over 60 years. There's a date listed in his obituary of when he came to Christ.
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He knew the Lord before that. He manifested the behaviors of God.
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He may have had some finishing work done on the date that was mentioned. David ministered to me in a way that I admired.
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And as I finally grew spiritual, I was a late bloomer. But I did come around and there was dad again.
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Father Dave, he jokingly in the last month of his life referred to me as his fourth son all the time.
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I really didn't know that he could serve to do what
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I needed to help. He was there. He was always present in my life.
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Good and bad was there. But he was a constant in my life.
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And I knew he was a man of God. So God has a way of sending people into our lives when we need it.
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He sent somebody else.
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And my first was David Ferrell. He sent another man.
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He was the second. But he was gracious and kind and took care of me. And helped me on my journey.
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Something that I noted today as I look around this room. In the last month, I got to meet three really neat guys when
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I was visiting David in the last month. I don't do well with names. There's one that sticks out.
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I met a Leonard. And I recall that as David was dying and doing all take that as a power possession.
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We died. I made some notes. It was a precious time for this family.
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One of the ones that got to visit with him in the last month. But I just wanted to acknowledge our heavenly father, our lord, and say and thank him publicly for sending a dad to me in a way that I needed and I didn't get.
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He filled that need twice for me. And he also helped me to meet this beautiful family of God here and in this place.
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And I am truly grateful for that. Amen. Thank you. Anyone else?
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Yes ma 'am. Any final word?
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Let us stand for the benediction please. And the family again on their behalf, they thank you for being here.
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And our reception is planned, prepared downstairs in the fellowship hall.
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We hope that you'll stay and be able to visit. Let's ask God to bless that occasion, the food, before we depart.
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Thank you again our God for your kindness and mercy to us in Jesus Christ. And we pray our
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God that David's testimony and legacy would continue. We pray.
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Help us all our God to go forth from here committed, as committed disciples of Jesus Christ.
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Thank you God for the glorious promises that you've given to us in him. We pray our
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God that you would bless the food to us now as we go downstairs and bless the fellowship of these people together.
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May your grace be with the family, comfort them, and particularly help Vida in these coming weeks and months.
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We pray these things Father in Jesus name. Amen. And now may the
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God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you what is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever.