Dave Farrar Funeral

Funeral Opening Prayer and David Farrar’s Testimony

And gracious, and may the testimony of David, but most of all, may the words of the gospel, our God, give faith, our Lord, in you. And so help us, our God, bless us this occasion, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

David Stone Ferrer, 89 years old, gonna be 90 on November 20th, passed away at his home in Westboro, surrounded by his beloved family. 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 Lord on September 24th.

David was a 1952 graduate of Westboro High School, a 1963 graduate of Kentucky Wesleyan College. He also earned his master's degree in counseling psychology from Assumption College. He lived all his life in Westboro, working at the Bay State Abrasives Company for over 30 years, serving as a call fireman on the Westboro Fire Department for 20 years, and he also drove a bus for the Westboro Senior Center for many years.

But he'd be the first one to tell you, 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. The Lord gave David rich spiritual gifts, the gifts of repentance and faith, the gift of helping, the gift of encouragement.

In my mind, he truly was the spiritual son of Barnabas, the son of encouragement. Above all, the gift of love. David was a man with a gracious spirit, tender heart, loved by all who knew him. 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.

The Lord gave David a servant's heart, made him a man of prayer, a man of the Bible, and a lover of God's people. David had only one goal in life, and that was to glorify 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 10 or 12 or so.

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. Sometimes when I'd have a difficult task before me as a pastor, I'd send David because he would be very direct to people, but they'd never take offense because of his nature.

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 Lord, and even as he lay dying, he said, I have a magnet in me that draws me to others, and isn't God good to us?

He was zealous about proclaiming the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. He was a great listener and a passionate soul winner. He loved worshiping God with the saints, leading men's Bible studies, visiting, counseling, speaking to people about their souls, about the saving work of Jesus Christ.

And just in recent weeks, he was laying there in that hospital bed in his house. They had, I think, over 175 people come through, and David would be ministering to them. The Lord blessed David with a large family, all dearly beloved.

He survived by, of course, Vida, wife of 51 years. He leaves three sons, three step-sons, Kevin Ferrer and his wife, Deborah, David Ferrer, and his former wife, Kathy, Scott Ferrer and his wife, Cynthia, William Martin and his former wife, Pamela, James Martin and his wife, 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. He loved them all, and David was pre-deceased by his first wife, Shirley Thompson Ferrer, over 50 years ago. And so, he leaves a wonderful legacy, but most of all, again, his testimony of his faith and love for Jesus Christ.

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. Well, at this time, we have, we're going to sing a hymn, Amazing Grace.

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 Amazing Grace, hymn number 460, please. And so, let's turn there and let's stand. We can sing out better when we're standing, please.

Amazing Grace. And Alan will, Alan.

McDonnell will help us, please. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wreck like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see. It was grace that taught my heart, and grace my fear.

How fresh did that grace appear. The hour of my death has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home. The Lord has promised good to me. His word, my hope, secure my shield, and portion me as long as life, and when this flesh and heart shall fail, and mortal life shall see, I shall possess within the veil, a life of joy and peace.

Ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun. No last day to sing God's praise, than when we first begun.

Amen. Please be seated. We have special music. This is entitled One Thing, sung by Cindy Farrar.

This was written by Vida, and this is being sung this morning at David's request. So, David's son,.

Scott's going to come up for us and read Psalm 23. Thank you, Scott. Good morning, everybody.

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.

I just really appreciate it. My dad was a wonderful man, and I think you know that. I know he deeply loved you folks, and I know in return you deeply loved him. We will miss him very much, but we know the promises of scripture, it's only temporary.

We don't grieve as one who has no hope, and so we rejoice in that. So, I will read now Psalm 23, probably the most familiar piece of scripture in all of the Bible. It's a psalm of hope, a psalm of provision, and guidance for God's people in times of need.

So, it's found in the back of your bulletin, Psalm 23, a psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul.

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil, 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 Lord forever. Let's pray our Lord's prayer together, please. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen. Next in your red hymnal, hymn number 629, What a Friend We Have in Jesus. Let's stand, please.

Take it to the Lord in prayer. Weak and heavy laden, Cumbered with a load, he is still a wreck. Take it to the Lord in prayer. To thy friends despise, forsake thee. Take it to the Lord in prayer. In his arms he'll take and shield.

Christ’s Promise of Resurrection and Life in John 11

Now David's son, David, will come and read for us a passage.

From John chapter 11. Good morning. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother.

Would have not died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.

Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into this world.

Revelation 20, the Millennium, and the Intermediate State

I've asked our associate pastor, Jason Austin, if he would come and read for us Revelation chapter 20. There's 11 verses in this chapter in which John recorded a rather difficult passage to interpret, Revelation 20, and he speaks about the millennium.

So Revelation 20 verses 1 and following. 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. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan and bound him for a thousand years.

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. 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. 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 worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands.

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. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.

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. 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, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.

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. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are, 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, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened, 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.

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. 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. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. Indeed, we base all of our hope on what you revealed to us, our Father, regarding our salvation in Jesus Christ and the glorious future that awaits us as your people.

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. May you stir our hearts with affection, our God, and instill within us a fresh, renewed hope of what lies before us.

And so, bless your word to us, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. It may seem rather unusual to bring forth a funeral message from this passage of holy scripture. I thought it rather strange when I considered it earlier this week, but was persuaded to do so.

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.

And so, I thought it would be fitting to address this to depict or describe what our brother David Farrar 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.

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. 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.

This passage communicates to us one of the final chapters in God's book, the 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, Revelation 21 and 22, describe the glorious life of Christians in the new heavens and the new earth.

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. 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 Lord Jesus Christ.

He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, in which the Lord graciously shares his reign with his people, those who had believed on him and served him in this life. Blessed is the one who had part of the first resurrection, the reign with Christ.

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 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, 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.

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. And the people of Israel would sing this song of David in their corporate worship, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth, who have set your glory above the heavens.

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, the stars, which you have ordained, what is man that you're mindful of him? And the son of man that you visit him, for you've made him a little lower than the angels, and you crowned him with glory and honor.

You've made him to have dominion. See, Adam and Eve were co-regents with God, reigning on his behalf. You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands. You've 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.

O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth. And of course, Psalm 8. God had placed our parents, Adam and Eve, in a beautiful luxuriant garden over which 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.

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 God had made.

And in doing so, they would bring great glory to their God and great pleasure and abundance of life for themselves. We both read and feel the consequences of their great fall into sin, as recorded in Genesis chapter 3.

Rather than choosing to love and serve God, the serpent tempted Adam and Eve to love and serve themselves foremost, rather than their creator who had been so kind and so gracious, so good to them. 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. It exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshipped and served the creature, rather than the creator who's blessed forever, Romans 125.

And so they incurred for themselves and for all their posterity, including you and me, alienation and condemnation from God. And from their sin onward, they ceded the nations of the world to the authority of Satan.

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 is 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.

Satan is the god of this age. He's in control of all those that are outside of Jesus Christ. 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.

God would not allow his creation to exist alienated from his presence and the true life that he brings to his people. 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.

And this sovereign God purposed to reconcile the world to himself, to bring the world back into a willing submission, subjection unto himself. 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 god and they would be his people.

The first promise of the coming kingdom in which God would reconcile the world to himself was set forth soon after their fall into sin. God declared to the serpent, the Satan, his purpose in Genesis 3 .15, God declared his defeat and downfall.

It would occur. I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. 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.

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. 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.

This 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.

And we read of their rejoicing in Revelation 5 of Christ entering into his reign upon his resurrection and ascension from the grave. 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 God and we shall reign on the earth.

The Bible in both the 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 Son of God, Jesus Christ.

And so even now Jesus Christ reigns as the blessed and only potentate, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, 1 Timothy 6 15. In the time we have remaining, I would like to set forth the highlights of this history of redemption, the story of the Bible, which is perhaps quite ambitious for us, but I think it would be good and important.

From Creation to the Fall: Humanity, Sin, and Satan’s Dominion

Early in the chapters of Genesis we read of the people of the world increasing greatly in numbers and greatly in their sin. 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, 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. 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.

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 Genesis record records that the wickedness once again soon became pervasive and the nations of the world corrupted themselves terribly. 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.

God began to reveal to his people how he would bring forth this Redeemer in history to save them from their sin. And so God revealed in the days of Noah that the lineage of this promised one would come through one of Noah's sons, Shem.

Out of Shem the deliverer would arise. But then God called forth Abram from the nations, from among the nations, to come unto him through faith. For Abram would be the progenitor of the people of God through whom the promised king would arise.

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 I will show you, and I'll make you a great nation. I'll bless you.

I'll make your name great. 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. So God chose Abram, later changed his name of course to Abraham, for he would be a father of many nations.

And so the kingdom would be extensive worldwide. And so God said to him, no longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be called Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.

I'll make you exceedingly fruitful. 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 God to you and your descendants after you.

And so God chose to bless Abraham, and he did greatly. 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 Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him.

It was to be a family characterized by faith and obedience to God. And although God gave special promises to Abraham's physical descendants, Ishmael, Esau, the nation of Israel, God's promises were more specifically given to his spiritual descendants, primarily to a seed, Paul says, of Christ.

His spiritual descendants who had the same faith as their father Abraham, who ordered their lives according to the will of God like Abraham. God had promised that it would be through Abraham that the Redeemer would come forth, and so it's narrowing down, Shem, and now through Abraham.

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 Isaac, not Ishmael, and then to Isaac's son Jacob, who was renamed Israel.

But it would be through Jacob, not Esau, that the Redeemer would come forth to save his people. 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 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. 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.

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. 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. 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. Romans 7 .10. But while God brought his people into Canaan as he had promised Israel's fathers, the people of Israel showed themselves under the judges.

The period of the judge is 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.

Sadly, of course, the people chose Saul to be their king. But after his abysmal failure, God himself chose David to be his king, who would reign over the people of God on God's behalf. He was a man after God's own heart.

And David is set forth as the ideal kind of king which 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. 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.

So again, the purpose of God is narrowing down. And now it's narrowed down to a promised son, a future son of David. Well, this promise of a glorious son of David was anticipated and projected on every son of David that came to rule over Israel, 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, through whom the promised kingdom of God would be inaugurated and realized.

And so we could read numerous portions of scripture, but Isaiah 9 declares it, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. Speaks of the incarnation of the son of God. The government will be upon his shoulder.

His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there'll be no end. 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 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. 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 New Testament, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. And so with the coming of Jesus Christ, the long-promised, anticipated kingdom of God had begun to be realized.

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. 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 Jewish expectation of that day.

The promised kingdom of God is spiritual in essence. 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.

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. Israel had been a false vine. Jesus said, I'm the true vine.

There are many parallels. Jesus is the true Israel, the true and faithful son. Jesus Christ was obedient to his father throughout life, his act of obedience. And he was obedient even unto death, even though it resulted in his crucifixion, his passive obedience.

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. God exonerated his son, vindicated his son, and raised him from the dead.

And as a result, the Lord Jesus could be trusted with all authority in heaven and earth. God couldn't trust you with that kind of authority or me. 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.

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 Lord to the glory of the Father.

Philippians 2. And when 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. So we read of Christ, according to Peter, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to him.

And that includes the devil and all his minions. Christ had bound the strong man and has been spoiling his house, this world ever since, causing his kingdom to be comprised of people from all nations and tongues.

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. Amazing!

We had read Psalm 8 earlier in which David was amazed at the blessing that God had bestowed upon humanity, but the writer to the 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.

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 Old Testament, Psalm 8, what is man that thou art mindful of him or the son of man that you take care of him?

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, you put all things in subjection under his feet. But then the writer said this to these Jewish Christians, for in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that's not put under him, but now we do not yet see all things put under him that is under mankind.