Beloved family in Nora, we are gathered here at the solemn occasion of the funeral of your beloved mother, grandmother, and sister. Hennie Nora has been a member of the Free Reform Church in Hamilton for many years. And prior to that, she and her husband were members of the Free Reform Church in Toronto, In the 90s, they came over to our congregation here in Hamilton. And they lived in an apartment downtown. And that's also where her husband, Jack, passed away in January 2005. And Henny was there for more than 19 years a widow. We extend our sympathy and our condolences to the family. but also to her friends, because the last year she lived in Wellingstone homes, and there she had several friends, good friends. She would associate with them throughout the week. And for them, it is also a sudden and a great loss that Henny was taken out of this life. But especially, it is a great change for the children, who always, as long as they remember, had their mother with them. And they remember so many aspects of her life, of her care, of her concern. And now that is all bypassed. Although you had your mother for a long time, she was 92, and yet we can never miss a loved one, especially in her situation. She was quite sharp and able to communicate very well. It's a big loss for you, and also for you as grandchildren. A loving grandmother, Oma, passed away. But in these moments, we also remember her brother-in-law and sister-in-law in Brampton, but also a sister and a sister-in-law in the Netherlands. It's difficult for them to be present. And we think also of grandchildren who would have loved to be here, who live on the West Coast and also on the East Coast, and are unable to be here with us at the funeral of their grandmother. The last period of her life, Henny had a difficult time swallowing. There was something wrong with her throat. And although it was not cancer, it was unclear what she had. Because she had this hard time swallowing, she therefore did not eat much. and so she lost quite some weight, and that caused her body to become weaker. And last Friday evening, she was scheduled to go to her friend, Mrs. Bertha Kryanoff, but she never came. The following morning, her son Andrew phoned but did not receive a reply. He went to her apartment and found her lying on the floor. She could still speak, and she desired some water. But quite soon after that, she passed away in the arms of her son, Andrew. It's a great loss, and it's very difficult also for Andrew, and as well as the other children, especially when we live somewhat at a distance from mother. Hennie Nora was a quiet woman. She never wanted to assume much about herself, but she longed for the Lord. And the psalters we are singing in this worship service were also chosen by her that she wanted to be sung at her funeral. As children, you have had your mother a long time with you. She was a grandmother and also a great-grandmother. but now the end has come. And therefore, at an occasion like this, it's good to reflect upon the fact that all of us, we will leave this life. Scripture speaks about the evil days and what is meant by the evil days. Those are the days of sickness, the days in which you cannot function optimally. when your mind is not set and not ready and not attuned to think about spiritual matters. Those are the evil days. You have so much to consider your own body with pain and discomfort. And so scripture tells us we should seek the Lord not in those last days, those evil days, but in our healthy days. Seek the Lord before the evil days come, before your health is compromised, and before your body becomes a burden, and you can have a hard time breathing, or you can lie awake at night with pain. And so we are exhorted to seek the Lord before these evil days come. And why should we seek the Lord? Because we all need salvation. And salvation is only found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's one thing we need. Ultimately, the only thing we need in life is his salvation. We can exert ourselves to gain so many other things and acquire matters we find very important, but really which are not important at all. There's one thing needful, one thing important. and that is to belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, with your life, with your heart, with your soul, with your mind, with your energy, with all you have, that the Lord Jesus actually becomes the aim of your life, and that you are focused upon Him, that your ongoing prayer is, Lord, what will Thou have me to do? and teach me to do Thy will, O Lord, in life. Guide and lead me, that I may love Thee above all. For all these matters we cannot just bring forth on our own. These are matters the Lord, through His Holy Spirit, teaches. Like it says in Ezekiel, that the Lord will take away the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh, that he will pour out his Spirit, and by his Spirit we learn this secret of living for the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's essential. You see, it's not about assuming that it's all well with us. It's not about presuming that the Lord Jesus died for our sins, and then we can just rest on what we presume, and that God is there to help us and to sustain us in all matters of life, and that's it. You see, the Lord is not there for us. We are there for the Lord. And how is it in your and my life Are we there for the Lord, or do we expect the Lord to be there for us? He must be the aim of our life. He must be our everything. And it says here in our text, it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment. Because the reality of your and my life is that sooner or later, one thing can be said of us. He died. She died. We read about the saints in Scripture, and we read as a chorus repeatedly, and he died. And he died. He gave up the ghost. Young people grow up. become middle-aged, become old, and they die if they have not been taken away at an earlier stage in this life. Or it can be that someone is taken out of this life in his youth. But one thing is for sure, we will all leave this life. And it's not something morbid to think about. It's not something depressing to think about. It's very liberating. It's very comforting to think about this reality that we are appointed to live this life, and then there will be judgment. That means then we will have to appear before God and give an account of our life, how we have lived, how you have lived and how I have lived, what we have said, what we have done, what we have failed to do. Because we enjoy God's sunshine. We enjoy early spring weather. We have eaten today. Who made that food? Food is being prepared for us for a light luncheon. But who, where does that food come from? Where does your body come from, your hands, your thinking capacities? It's all gifts of God. We didn't do that. God does it. And God is going to ask us to give an account of how we have dealt with all the blessings he gives. And what a liberation, where we may know that the Lord Jesus is our Savior, is our Redeemer. It's an appointment. The scripture speaks about it is appointed, appointed unto men once to die. And God makes this appointment. Many appointments you can cancel, but you can't cancel this one. It's God's prerogative to determine when we are born and when we leave this life. and we cannot cancel that, it is appointed. And that's an appointment that you cannot cancel. And I have this appointment, and you have this appointment, all of us. Now, when you have an appointment, you often have to prepare yourself, not always, When you're meeting someone, you don't have to prepare yourself often for that. But if you have an appointment, let's say, you have to write an exam. At that date, you're expected to be there at this, this, and this time. But you prepare yourself for this exam, for this appointment. Or you can have another appointment, a test. You have to appoint with a doctor. And then you have to prepare yourself. What are you going to ask the doctor? So you prepare yourself. That's an appointment. But what about the appointment that we have with the Lord, that we are going to die? The funeral service here calls us to prepare ourselves for this one major appointment. And the appointment is that we're going to leave this life. It can happen suddenly while you ask for some water, and you receive some water from one of your children, and then life flows out. Or it can be a long protracted sickbed. It's also possible. But whatever it is, we are going to leave this life. And then it's not over. Then it actually starts. Then the afterlife starts. And then we are set to meet God. And that's something we cannot imagine. The holiness of God, the three times holy, majestic God, who is too holy even to look at sin, who hates all manner of sin. And we have to appear before him and give an account of our life. Well, our life is below par. My life is, my ministerial life is, and also your life. For there's so much we've left undone. So much we should have done. So much we did clumsily and not correct. If the Lord would enter into judgment with me or with you, where could we stand? We cannot stand. But there's one who stands in between, and he is our comfort. And when you learn to belong to him now in this life, then he will be there at that time when you're appointed to stand before God. He will be there to receive you, to speak on your behalf. And he will say, Father, I have done what he should have done. And I have covered all the sins that he has committed throughout his life, the sins of youth, the sins of ignorance, the sins even that were done deliberately. I have paid for him. And that is ultimately glorious. And that's why this meditation is not morbid, but it's glorious. Because it speaks about redemption and salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because when we appear before God, we will be summoned to give an account of our life. We will have to give a payment for everything we've done wrong. And I can never do that. And when he interposes the Lord Jesus, that makes every difference, that is such a relief, that's life, that gives comfort, that gives perspective, that gives hope, that makes you walk through life with a bouncy step, because I know my Redeemer liveth. That's essential. That's what we all need to know. And so the Lord Jesus is referred to as a substitute, someone who pays for our sins. And there's no other way. If we have to pay for our sins, if we do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as our substitute, as our redeemer, then there's no hope. then we will be referred to the place of outer darkness. And that is a grave reality, a place of which hardly anyone thinks he will be there, because hardly anyone can imagine that he will be in hell. But the majority of people, they believe that they will go to some heaven, They don't know what they'll do there. They imagine all kinds of things about heaven. But that's the reality, that many in those days will be cast away. And that makes it so serious. You've only one soul to lose and one soul to gain. and we will exist forever. It's quite a thought. A thought I can't handle. I can't imagine to live forever and ever and ever. We don't understand that. But this is what the Lord reveals in his word. And the way how we live on earth will determine where we will be after this life. If we go through life without a Redeemer, without a substitute, without the Lord Jesus as our King, as our ruler, then we will have to pay for our own sins. But we can never do that. And then we are cast out forever into hell. But when you do have this substitute, And when you do know the Lord Jesus as your kinsman-redeemer, then you don't have to pay for anything. And He paid for it all. This chapter, Hebrews 9, displays to us the perfect payment which is given through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. A comparison is made here between the high priest of the temple and the Lord Jesus Christ. The high priest had to enter the Holy of Holies every year again. Continually throughout the year, sacrifices were needed. But that shows us that these sacrifices were never sufficient. In the temple, they always had to bring new sacrifices every year again and every day again. But here in this chapter, and in the whole book of Hebrews, the emphasis is upon that one sacrifice that the Lord Jesus brought on Calvary. And that's enough sufficient No other sacrifice is needed, no other sacrifice is allowed. The book of Hebrews explains to us there's no other book so beautifully, the high priestly work of Christ, that he entered once into the inner sanctuary with blood, his own blood, and so he saved. He saved his blood is enough, fully sufficient as the perfect payment for sin. And just as it is appointed unto man once to die, and then the judgment, likewise Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And then he arose on the third day. He ascended into heaven. And there He intercedes for His people. And who are His people? Those are the ones who learn to bow before Him, who confess that they are sinners, who confess that they need a new life in Christ. And they look up to Him as the mediator to have access to God the Father through the Son, the Lord Jesus. And so our text speaks about an appointment that we all have. But the Lord Jesus also had this appointment. He knew that his appointment was coming. He knew when it would happen. He knew how it would happen. He knew where it would happen. He knew where he would suffer, where he would suffer excruciatingly. And yet he never avoided those places. If you would happen to know a place where you would suffer, you wouldn't go there. But the Lord Jesus went back to Jerusalem. He spent the nights in the Garden of Olives. But he knew that there he would once terribly suffer. pleading if it would be possible that this cup would be removed from him. He knew it all, and yet he never hesitated. He walked ahead of his disciples because he was moved by love for his people. He was moved by love that sinners will be saved and reconciled to God. How he was pressed to bring this sacrifice. to bring himself as a ransom price for the sins of his people. And so the Lord Jesus gave himself freely into the judgment of God. And it was fearful, because it is fearful to fall into the hands of the living God. And that's what happened to the Lord Jesus on the cross. Because there the Lord Jesus was forsaken. God forsook him. He had to be there alone in outer darkness. He bore the judgment of sin. And then God the Father accepted this payment and received this ransom price. And the evidence of this all is that he arose and that he ascended into heaven. that he is now in heaven. And what must we do then if we realize I have no substitute? Because basically I live for myself and for what this world has to offer. And I want to enjoy as much as I can of this life. And then hopefully later on things won't be so bad with me. And that's how I live. But you are falling short. You do not have a substitute. You are not fit to meet God. And therefore, it is appointed unto man once to die, and then the judgment. What needs to happen to you is you need to be incorporated in Christ. Incorporated, that's the Latin word corpus. That means body. Incorporated in Christ, that you become flesh of his flesh. that you become engrafted into Christ, and that his Spirit lives in you, and that his Spirit brings forth life in your soul, and that life is a life of love. It's a life of self-denial. It's a life of looking to Him. In all your circumstances, in days of grief, in days when you suffer loss, and when you need comfort, when you need your head to be lifted up, when you need a sight upon eternal life, it's all in Christ Jesus. It's all in Him. And that implies, then, that you learn now to lay down your entire life before the Lord Jesus. That is faith. Faith is not a reasoning or a presumption. Faith is self-denial. It's surrender. and that you beg the Lord God to look upon you through the finished work of his Son, and that you beg God to live in you with his Holy Spirit to grant you that heart of flesh no longer a stone, no longer selfish, obnoxious, but that you have a heart that beats for him because the love of Christ constrains you. That's being incorporated. And then you learn to rest upon that finished work of this substitute, upon his blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. So you need his blood to be sprinkled upon your life. And this payment, it's offered now to each and every one of us here as we are gathered here. It's not far away. It's not unattainable. The Lord is close to you. and he's watching you, he is looking at you. What are you doing with your life? And that's why at this funeral service, when death is staring us in the face, the gospel tells us that the Lord Jesus conquered death and he shed his blood as a full payment for sin. Now, I think we may all know this. Most of us are raised in a church, you will know this. And yet, it can be so remote from us because we're not serious about the Lord in our lives. And that's what needs to happen. You know, we're people who like to work, to be diligent, And that's also in spiritual things. We want to do things for God, and then plead upon what we've done, that we've behaved ourselves so well, and that God would accept that as a payment for sin. We want to make ourselves acceptable to God, that I've prayed lots, and that I've read the Bible a lot, and that I've gone to church many times, and we use that all as a covering for our sins. But it's no covering. It's all in vain. It's useless. We need the blood of the Lord Jesus upon our lives. His is the perfect payment. He is altogether lovely. And you know what's so liberating? You may come to Him as you are. with all your failures, with all your sins, with everything that's mixed up in your life, the things that bother you, you may at this moment drop everything and fall on your knees and call upon the name of the Lord that you need Him in your life. You may come as you are. as a lost sinner before Christ. And how can you know that the Lord will hear you? You may know that because he is now in heaven, and he is praying for all those who come unto God through him. He is the intercessor. For all those who now bow their knees say, Lord, I also must die. It can be this year. It can be next year. It can be in 20 years. But I'm going to live this life. And that will be the all-decisive moment when I appear before thee. and therefore I need to learn to know thee now, that now thou dost take control of my life." And so there's no impediment now for a sinner who comes to God through Christ. You don't need any sacrifices. You don't have to meet any conditions. You don't have to earn your acceptance with God. All you need is to realize that your sins rightly deserve God's wrath, but that his sacrifice is more than enough to satisfy the wrath of God. That's the guarantee. So great is the love of this God. that he's willing to accept you, a poor and needy sinner, and accepts you on the basis of the work of the man of sorrows. That's the pure gospel. Blessed to have him at the center of your life, that you feed upon his word, that you have to unburden your heart before him in prayer, and that you learn to live as he wants you to live. And for such people, It is still appointed once to die. But when they appear before God, they will not enter into judgment. Because the Lord Jesus said in John 5, verse 24, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. He will not come into condemnation. that's the only comfort in life and in death. Blessed gospel. He is a full and complete Savior. Oh, look then to him, and this is what your beloved mother and grandmother would have wanted for every one of you. She and Jack understood the need to bow for a sovereign God. I talked to them often about that when your father was still alive. They knew the necessity of laying low for a God who is willing to save to the uttermost, and therefore, Let us make our salvation and election sure in the Lord Jesus. This is what your mother would have wanted for her total offspring. Amen. Shall we pray? Blessed Lord and Savior, we humbly thank Thee for this precious gospel. that there is life for every one of us in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that we may come as we are so that it would not be just some lip service, but it will be a heartfelt, experienced religion. O Lord, we pray Thee, wilt Thou lead us that we may belong to Thee, for this life and the life to come. What else will life bring? What good will it do us if we gain the whole world, but we have damaged our soul? Then we'll have to perish forever. And we have known the way and not have walked on it. Such will be more guilty than those who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah. And therefore, Lord, we pray Thee for Thy Holy Spirit to work in our hearts. We may now have certain impressions. We're now seated in church. And after this, we have our conversations again and a light luncheon, and we talk about all kinds of things. But give, Lord, that the words of our meditation will stay with us, and give that it may be that at least for some of us it will be tonight that we bow our knees before Thee and that we need Thee in the totality of Thy person to be our God, our Savior, our Redeemer. Lord, will Thou give spiritual fruit from this funeral service. Go with us now as we go to the cemetery. Make all things well. Be with the family, strengthen them, and look upon us all in grace. For Jesus' sake, amen.