This sermon reflects on the preciousness of Scripture, focusing on John 17 where Jesus expresses His desire for believers to be with Him and behold His glory in Heaven. It emphasizes the joy and completeness of salvation, the hope of being reunited with loved ones in Christ, and the importance of finishing the Christian journey with joy and faith. The sermon also touches on the comfort of knowing that God is sovereign over life and death, and His ability to raise up others for His purposes.

Here's a thought on John 17. You know, as far as the preciousness of the Scripture, and I was just incredibly comforted one night, couldn't sleep, with those words in John 17, Father, I desire that those whom Thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. That that would be the Lord's desire. Why would He desire that? How is it that He desires us to be with Him, the likes of us? That that is His desire. He desires that. And when we think about any hesitation or any reluctance about the Hereafter, or any prayer against it or something like that, we may be praying against the Lord's prayer. I mean, ultimately, He's praying His people into Heaven. And that He wants us to be with Him is just incredible that He wants us to be where He is. And I remember one time we were staying with my parents, and they said, why don't we keep the children and you and Terri go to the motel. And it was enjoyable to get alone, but in another way, you know, we missed the children. We wanted them to be with us where we were. And that must be infinitely more with the Lord. And then that He says that He wants us to be with Him where He is, why? That we may behold His glory. I mean, what is it going to be? This display of God's glory, it must be way beyond our imagination. And it's going to be so great that that's going to be part of the penalty for the wicked. They shall be banished from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. They're going to miss, shall I say, they're going to miss the show. And that is going to be part of their regrets. But we will see Him like He is and see His glory and be forever with Him. It's just, I think, some of the most precious words in Scripture. We just, I can say since I've learned about this cancer, I've come to appreciate more of what the Lord did on the cross. I mean, when He accomplished redemption, when He put away our sins, when He secured immortality for us, it's just shouting ground. But in the end, the Lord is going to be with us and He's done it so well that He is going to make in the end everything well. Everything's going to be okay in the end. All things for us, like it says of David, David recovered all and here we are. We will recover all. And the Lord has so abolished death that He's just made for us. Death is just called sleep. I said to Terry, we've said goodnight many times to one another and then we go to sleep. And so, we've done it many times and the Lord calls it sleep. Nothing too bad about sleep. A complete salvation, a full salvation, even the body is included. I can remember as a new Christian, when it dawned on me, when I saw that the Lord is going to raise our body up, going to glorify our body too, I mean, that seemed so kind of the Lord to be that thorough, that complete, that salvation, that full. Yeah, you've asked me these questions and I give these responses, you know, and in a way, it's nothing new. We all know these things. Every Christian, it's nothing new. I don't have any special insight. When you know whether the Lord gives you the 12 years or whether He doesn't, that day is going to come when your family and your friends, the ones that survived you, are going to gather together or even in years to come. This is a reality for each one of us. Our family that goes on beyond us, our children and their children, they're going to gather together and they're going to remember Dad. They're going to remember Grandpa. They're going to remember their pastor. They're going to remember their friend, their husband. And I mean, what I'm wondering in this question is, you know, what just comes in, what rushes into your mind when I ask you the question, how do you want to be remembered? I think every Christian would like to be remembered as a lover of Christ. I mean, you know, seven or eight years ago we started this farming, this produce farming, and here's some pictures of me standing beside the tractor or something like that. You don't want to be remembered for that. You don't want to be remembered for that. It's just nothing. You want to be remembered as a follower of the Lamb. And, you know, you want to be remembered that your life was all about Him. And the different descriptions in the Bible, oh, Barnabas was a good man, full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. All those things could be said. Yeah, there you are. It's something, isn't it? Really, that's all we have. All we have is the Lord. I mean, when we're in a world where sin and death is reigning and it's just going to peel, strip away from us our most intimate relationships, I mean, our life, our children. Everything's going to be stripped. And that's really all we have is Christ. Colossians 3.11, Christ is all. But you want to be able to say goodbye to your loved ones with everything clean, everything clear, and no regrets. No bad feelings, no bitterness. That's got to be big. It's not hard at all thinking about going to heaven. Philippians 1, that's gain. What's hard is the thought of saying goodbye to earth. And Paul said that too. I have a desire to stay and for fruitful ministry. And it is strange, a strange reality admittedly in the last three months that no more, like the old Puritan said on the gallows, farewell sun, farewell moon, farewell stars of light, farewell to this and that and everything. It's just you cannot describe it. You can't sum it up. Life is so precious. And your relationships and friendships are so precious. There is no way you can sum it up. But all you can do is just fall into the arms of Christ and say, Lord, Your will be done. He's destined us not for wrath, but for glory. And I said to Terri, will you promise me if I die before you to not weep too much because we sorrow not like those who have no hope. I told her, I want you to go on rejoicing in Christ. That's what I want. And you think of Paul, he says that I may finish my course with joy. That's amazing. He could have said other things with peace, with love. Probably there's verses in the Bible that would bring that out too. But it stands out in Acts 20 that I may finish my course with joy. It's a pretty good test apparently as to how we could finish our course. He didn't talk about dying with remorse and grief and regrets and all of that. But finish my course with joy. You know, one other thing that has occurred to me too is like in 2 Samuel 7, the Lord tells David when your life is completed, you'll lie down and I'll raise up another. It just amazed me all the more thinking about God being so powerful that it doesn't bother Him to take one away, perhaps in the prime of life, and raise up another. It's like the Lord isn't wearied by building men. He delights in building men. You think of some great man of God. Here's a John Calvin. Why, at age 58 or whatever he was, look at all the flow of life and truth that was coming out of him. And the Lord could have healed him, but He didn't, especially with the Lord Jesus who was the perfect servant. And yet, He was cut off at an early age out of the land of the living. But the greatness of God in just easily raising up other men, in building other men.