Right now, if you would open
with me to Matthew chapter 24. We're gonna take our text from
the book of Genesis this evening, but just two verses. So I'm gonna
read these verses of Matthew chapter 24. We'll read the first
14 verses. And Jesus went out and departed
from the temple And his disciples came to him for to show him the
buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, see
not all these things. Verily I say unto you, there
should not be left here one stone upon another that should not
be thrown down. And as he sat upon the Mount
of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, tell
us, when shall these things be? And when shall be the sign of
thy coming and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered
and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For
many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive
many. And you shall hear of wars and
rumors of wars. See that you be not troubled.
For all these things must come to pass. But the end is not yet. For nations shall rise against
nation and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be famines and
pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places. All these are
the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up
to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and you shall be hated of
all nations for my namesake. And then shall many be offended,
and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And
many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because
iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he
that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved, and
this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world
for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come. We'll end our reading there.
Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, how thankful we are
to be able to come before the throne of God Almighty and call
you our father. What a miracle of your grace,
your love, your power, that you could cause sinners such as us
to be born again and be able to call you our father. And fathers,
dear children, we come before you seeking a blessing from your
storehouses of grace. Father, I pray you'd bless us
tonight as we look into your word. Father, I pray that you
would be our teacher, that you would enable me to rightly divide
the word of truth, that you'd enable me to preach in the power
of thy spirit, not in the weakness of human intellect and oratory,
but Father, that you would be our teacher, that you would be
the one to speak to each heart here, and Father, teach us more
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Show us Him and give us faith
in Him Teach us by thy word so that we will be able to face
these end times with a much calmer, peaceful attitude. And what we
pray for ourselves, Father, we pray for your people all over
this world, wherever they're meeting together this evening.
Father, bless your word. Cause your word to go forth in
power and shine as a light in a dark place, in this dark, dark
world. And Father, we forget not to
pray for those who are recovering from surgeries and in sickness
and times of trouble. Father, we pray you'd be with
them, that you'd comfort their hearts, and as soon as it could
be thy will, Father, that you would be pleased to deliver.
All these things we ask, and we give thanks in that name which
is above every name. In the name of Christ our Savior,
amen. All right, now, if you would
open your Bibles with me to Genesis chapter 49. Genesis chapter 49, I've titled
the message this evening, The Last Days. Genesis 49, verse one. And Jacob
called unto his sons and said, gather yourselves together that
I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together and
hear, ye sons of Jacob, and hearken unto Israel your father. Now
this is a very touching scene. Jacob knows he's dying. He gathers
his children together around his deathbed so he can talk to
them before he dies. He's gonna bless his sons. That's
what they did in those days. He's gonna bless his sons and
tell them something that will happen to their tribes, their
descendants. And he tells them, I'm gonna
tell you what's gonna happen in the last days. Now, when the
scripture talks about the last days, almost exclusively, it's
talking about the days between Christ's birth and his second
coming. Now, there are times, if you
look this up, you'll see the old prophets talk about the last
days or the latter days, and they're meaning something that's
gonna happen to the nation Israel in the not-too-distant future,
but usually, the last days in scripture refers to those days
between Christ's birth and his second coming. Now, many of us
happen to think that we could be in the final days of the last
days. I don't know, but I sure hope
so, don't you? And we may think we're in the final days of the
last days, but you can't be too sure about that. You know, the
Lord told us no one knows when he's going to return. And even
if we are in the very last day, you have to remember what Peter
told us. He said one day is what the Lord is a thousand years.
A thousand years is just one day. So, you know, by our reckoning
of when the Lord's gonna come, we just don't have any idea.
But this is what we do know. We don't know when the Lord's
gonna return, but we know he's returning. Now that's what we
know. We know he's returning. And that's
exactly what Jacob is telling his sons here. Jacob is telling
his sons the message of the whole Old Testament. He's on his deathbed
telling this message. Someone's coming. Christ is coming. When Jacob blesses Judah, he
says, Judah, the Messiah is gonna come through you. Look down at
verse 10. He says, the scepter shall not depart from Judah,
nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come. And unto
him shall the gathering of the people be. Now you know how people
are. We're much more concerned about
the events that we think are gonna happen than the real message
of scripture. Someone could have heard what
Jacob said there to Judah and said, hold the horses, stop the
presses. You mean to tell me Israel's
gonna have a king? Now where are these kings coming from?
Who are these kings gonna be? How can I tell who's supposed
to be king? Who are these kings that are
just so caught up in who's gonna be the king? And that's not the
issue. The issue is Christ the king
is coming. You see, that's the issue, Christ
is coming. And Jacob tells us, what is Christ
gonna do for his people when he gets here? Christ the King
is coming and he's gonna save his people. He's gonna call his
people to himself. He's gonna gather them all together.
And you see that Christ is the issue. Israel having kings, Israel
going how many ever years later and settling in Canaan, all those
things are secondary issues. That's just things, events that's
gonna happen to bring about the event. Christ is coming. Christ is coming in the flesh
to save his people from their sins. All these specific events,
Jacob, you know, tells him some of these specific events, so
what happened between now and Christ coming, but they're not
really important, really. One of the meanings of this word
end, or the last days, it's the issue. It means the issue. There is one event that's the
issue. Now other events are secondary, but there's one event that's
the issue. And the issue is who Christ is
and what is he gonna do for his people when he gets here. See,
what really matters is Christ is coming. And this is what Jacob's
telling his sons on his deathbed. Now look for him. Look for him. And the same thing is true today.
You know, when most people study the end times, All they're concerned
about is the events that are gonna happen surrounding the
end time and when the Lord returns, you know, and they're looking
for fantastic cataclysmic events, you know, that are just gonna
be happening. I mean, somebody that's so caught up in this thing
can just read the paper and they can just find any reason to think
the Lord's coming today. They see trouble in the Mideast
and people always think, oh, the Lord's coming now because
of the trouble in the Mideast. Somebody told me recently people
are saying there's gonna be this solar eclipse and that means
the end of the world's coming. I mean, I don't know. There's
been a lot of solar eclipses and the Lord's never coming. I mean,
I don't know. I don't think that's really related, but you know,
they're looking at all these events. And what we ought to
be concerned with is who's coming. That's what we need to be concerned
with because Christ is the issue. Christ is all that matters. And
the events that happen between now and then, You know, I mean,
they're gonna affect us, but really they don't matter. They
just don't amount to much. What matters is Christ is coming. And I tell you, I want to be
looking for him. He told us to look for him, didn't he? I wanna
be looking for him. So tonight, I wanna be like Jacob. And I wanna tell the family,
now y'all draw near. Let's gather together, gather
around, and let me show you four things. that the scriptures tell
us about the last days. First, look at Numbers chapter
24. The last days will begin when
Christ is born in the flesh. Numbers 24. Verse 14. This is Balaam, the
false prophet speaking, but he's saying something that's true.
He says, and now behold, I go into my people, come therefore,
and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people
in the latter days, in the last days. And he took up his parable
and said, Balaam, the son of Beor has said, and the man whose
eyes are open has said, he has said, which heard the words of
God and knew the knowledge of the Most High, which saw the
vision of the Almighty falling into a trance, but having his
eyes open. I shall see him. He's talking about Christ there.
I shall see him, but not now. I shall behold him, but not nigh.
There shall come a star out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise
out of Israel and shall smite the corners of Moab and destroy
all the children of Shad. And Edom shall be a possession
of Seir. And Edom shall be a possession. Seir also shall be a possession
for his enemies. And Israel shall do valiantly.
Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion and shall
destroy him that remaineth of the city. Now, Balaam is a false
prophet. He's a man for hire. The king
of Moab was trying to pay Balaam to curse Israel. And that was
Balaam's intent. He was gonna curse Israel so
he could get this money from the king of Moab. But the Lord
never would let him do it. He never would let Balaam curse
his people. Instead, The Lord made Balaam
bless his people. And part of this blessing that
he gives to Israel is this is how God is gonna bless his people.
God's gonna bless his people by Christ coming into the flesh.
He's coming. It's far off yet, but he's coming. Christ the king is coming. Balaam
says his name is the scepter. He doesn't just hold the scepter,
his name is the scepter. He's the king. This is the same
scepter that Jacob prophesied about. He's coming. Christ is
coming to rule for his people. He's gonna destroy every enemy
so his people dwell in peace. They have nothing to fear. Now,
Balaam says, now I'm gonna tell you what's gonna happen in the
latter days. Those last days begin when Christ comes in the
flesh as the sovereign savior of his people. You know, most people in the
world, when you talk to them about the last days, They get
kind of fearful, don't they? They think all these fearful
things are gonna happen. I wanna tell you what, the last day's
got a mighty good beginning, don't they? They begin with Christ
coming in the flesh. And all these other events, these
events that happened to national Israel in the Old Testament,
all those events that happened between now and when Christ is
born in Bethlehem, they pale in comparison to God the Son
being born in the flesh. to God the Son being born as
Mary's baby boy. Israel one day is gonna be set
free from bondage to the Moabites, but that can't compare to what
Christ is gonna do. He's gonna set his people free
from the power of sin. That's what he's coming in the
flesh to do. Now that's how the last days begin. Sounds pretty
good to me, don't you? All right, now look at Isaiah
chapter two. In the last days, the church
is gonna be established. Isaiah two, verse one. The word
that Isaiah, the son of Amos, saw concerning Judah in Jerusalem,
and it shall come to pass in the last days. Now this is what's
gonna happen in the last days. That the mountain of the Lord's
house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and
shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow into
it. many people shall go and say
come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house
of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we'll
walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the law and
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Now Judah and Jerusalem you know
this in the Old Testament are pictures of spiritual history.
Zion and Judah and Jerusalem they're pictures of the church
of God. And this is what Isaiah said
God showed him. In the last days, God's church
shall be established. It shall be. And God's people
from all over the world are gonna flock to it. Now in these last
days, the church is gonna be established. It's gonna be established
so that it cannot be moved. The gates of hell cannot prevail
against it. It's gonna be established on
the top of the mountain of God. Zion's the mountain of God. It's
gonna be established in that mountain. If the enemy's gonna
move the church, they're gonna have to move the mountain first.
If the enemy's gonna move God's church today, they're gonna have
to move God first. That's how established God's
church is. And Isaiah says that God's church will be exalted
in Mount Zion above the hills, above the hills. Now, all surrounding
Jerusalem is mountains. And the smallest of those mountains,
the shortest of those mountains, is Mount Zion. Really, nobody
thought Mount Zion was anything special. It's the smallest, it's
the shortest one. You know, they didn't think it
was anything special. But God thought it was special. God made
it special, didn't he? God made it special because he
made Mount Zion to be a picture of his church. And that little
mountain, is gonna be exalted above all the other ones. All
those other mountains that people were impressed with, Zion's gonna
be exalted above them. See, God makes his church worth
seeing. He makes it something special.
The gospel that's given in Mount Zion, oh, that's exalted way
above the law given on Mount Sinai, isn't it? Mount Sinai's
a bigger mountain, it's so impressive. You think of the impressive things
that went on there at Mount Sinai. Mount Zion is exalted above it
because God's grace is always exalted above the law. The grace
is always better than the law. The gospel of Christ is exalted
above every other so-called religion. All these other so-called mountains,
Zion is exalted above it. And there's coming a day when
everybody's gonna see that. Not just believers. Isaiah talks
about all of the believers, all God's people flowing to this
mountain. They see it now. But this coming
day, the whole world's gonna see it. God's gonna exalt his
church above everything in the earth. And that's comforting to hear,
isn't it? You know, it's a good thing that the Lord is gonna
be the one to establish his church. It needs to be established. Because
it's always under attack. Always, and it always will be. People will attack the church,
and they have from the beginning of the early church, they've
tried to attack the church by sowing discord among the brethren. They get into the church and
try to split the church from the inside out. They attack preachers. They call them all kinds of names,
false prophets and heretics and antinomians who live by the law,
not by faith, and they're trying to draw people out of the church.
They're trying to get that church to be split up by making them
dislike the men who are preaching Christ to them. I mean, they're
just doing everything that they can do to harm the church. They just, people get so apathetic
about it. They just don't care about it.
It's just, they're lukewarm about it. And we worry. But you know what? That's been
going on from the time of the early church. I mean, that's
been going on from the time the apostles were preaching to people. You think of that. Well, it's
gonna continue all throughout the last days, too. Now, be disappointed
when you see it, but don't be shocked, because it's gonna happen
all throughout the last days. And the church being under attack
like that, the word I thought of is aggravation.
I mean, it's grievous to the souls of God's people that the
church is coming under attack like that. But now, take comfort. you take comfort, those enemies
of Christ will never be able to destroy God's church on the
earth, never. All throughout history, the harder
men have tried to stamp out God's church, the more the church has
flourished. And that's gonna be the way it
is all throughout the last days. The enemies of the church will
always be active, always. But this is God's promise to
us. The spirit of God's always gonna be active too. The spirit
will move people to say, come, come with me. Let's go to the
mountain of the Lord. Come, let us go up to the house
of the Lord. Let's go hear from God. And I
don't care what the enemies of the church do. God's gonna keep
calling out his people through the preaching of Christ from
the local church. He's gonna keep doing it till
the end of time. That's why what we do here is
so important. to all of us, because this is
the place God's given us. You know, when I talk about the
church, it's the church all over, you know, the whole world. There's
one church, one church in heaven and earth where all believers
put together, and the local church. This is the place God's given
us to hear from God, to know Christ, to be able to worship
Him. And Lord, He made this promise that people from all over the
world are going to flow to it. They're gonna float to it. It's
very interesting, as I was preparing this message this week, I got
an email from two different people. One of them, I don't even know
where he lives. The other one, he told me the city that he lives
in. And they live in a place where there's no gospel preached.
And they have to listen online. Now, I hate that for them. Being here tonight is a lot better
than having to listen on the Internet. I hate that for them.
But you know what? Sounds to me like these people
know the Lord. And they're looking to hear from
Him. They're looking to hear the Gospel. And somehow, I don't
know how on God's green earth that they found it, but they
found this little place in Ashland, Kentucky to listen and hear of
Christ from. Isn't that something? That's
God keeping His promise. He draws His people. to the preaching
of Christ. And when he does that, when he
calls his people to himself through the preaching of the gospel,
and they come, you know what they find? Earl, they find peace. Look at verse four here in Isaiah
two. And he shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke
many people. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift
up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war
anymore. In God's church, the battle's
finished. The war's over. There's gonna
be no more war because Christ has defeated every enemy. Christ
has made peace for his people with the blood of his cross.
He took his blood behind the veil to the father and placed
it on the altar and made peace. There's atonement for sin and
there's peace. The Lord Jesus Christ has already
defeated every enemy. There ain't no need for us to
learn warfare. We'll just take all our instruments
and all our weapons of war and we're gonna turn them into plows
and hoes and pruning hooks and stuff we can use to farm with
because we're at peace. There's no more war. That's what
we find when Christ draws us to himself. Now the world's always
gonna be full of wars and rumors of wars. I don't know that there's
any creature on God's earth that's more fierce and warlike than
man. There's always gonna be wars
and rumors of wars. But God's people will always
have peace. They'll have peace in the heart.
And all the attacks of the world are never gonna be able to destroy
that. And all through the last days, the Lord's gonna be the
one speaking to his people. speaking to the hearts of his
people. Now he's gonna do it by men, but the Lord's gonna
be the one speaking to his people. Hebrews 1 says, God who at sundry
times and in diverse manners, spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his
son. He's spoken to us by his son,
by the written word, by the incarnate word. And I'm telling you this,
when Christ speaks through his word, the church, all believers,
they're going to be established. That's how they're established,
is by the preaching of Christ, by the preaching of the word.
All right, number three, what will happen? Now, what's going
to happen? We know that there's going to
be days, the last days of this earth. What's going to happen
to the world in the world in the last days? We'll look at
Matthew chapter 24. You know what's going to happen
in the world in the last days? The same thing that has happened
throughout all human history. Men are not going to change.
Men are going to keep doing every crazy simple thing that they
always have done. And they're going to be totally surprised
when the Lord returns. Look at Matthew 24 verse 36. But of that day and hour knoweth
no man. No, not the angels of heaven,
but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were,
so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the
days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered
into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them
all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." Now we
know from scripture that before the flood, people were as wicked
as they could be. God looked down and he saw that
the imaginations and their thoughts were only evil continually. And God determined he's going
to destroy man from the face of the earth. And he told Noah,
build an ark. Noah, I'm sending flood. Build
an ark. And everybody's in that ark. When I send a flood, they'll
be saved. And Noah spent all those years
building that ark. Scripture calls him a preacher
of righteousness. While Noah was building that
ark, he is preaching Christ. He's preaching Christ our righteousness.
saying, get in the yard, get in the yard, get in Christ. He's
our righteousness. And nobody believed him. Nobody
outside of his family believed him, not a single solitary person.
And suddenly the flood came and destroyed everybody that was
not in the yard. And it was a total surprise to
him, even though God sent a man to warn him. Our Lord says the
end of the world, the second coming of our Savior is going
to be the same world. It's going to be the same because
man's nature hasn't changed. You know, the imaginations and
thoughts of men's hearts are only evil continually today,
just like they were in Noah's day. Man's nature has not changed. It might seem like men are worse.
It might seem like we've found new ways to sin. We keep inventing
new ways to sin. But man's just as depraved, just
as wicked, just as awful, just as black in sin as he ever has
been. Well, that's what man's going
to keep doing throughout the last days. Man's gonna keep sinning
in every imaginable way. And I'll tell you that the worst
sort of sin that's gonna be going on in that time, in those last
days, is sin done in the name of religion. Look at 2 Timothy
3. 2 Timothy 3. Verse one, this know also that
in the last days, perilous times shall come. As we read down through
here, you'll see this. Paul's not talking about physically
perilous times. He's not talking about politically
perilous times. He's talking about spiritually,
religious perilous times. For men should be lovers of their
own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient
to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce
breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that
are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God. And here's why I say this is
not just talking about the world politically. They have a form
of godliness. All this, without natural affection,
truce breakers, false accusers, traitors, they have a form of
godliness. but denying the power thereof.
From such, turn away." Turn away. Now, what are believers to do
about this? This is religious wickedness that's going on throughout
these last days. You're gonna be surrounded by
it. Now, what is a believer to do with that? Paul tells us here,
turn away from them. Turn away. Turn away from false
religion. Turn away from someone who's
that self-righteousness cloaked in religion. The examples are too many to
give. There's so many of them. Turn away from them. Don't get
caught up in that and turn to Christ. Turn away from anyone
who's trying to get you to trust in Christ plus something you
do. Something you've got to do to make this thing effectual.
Something you've got to do to make this faith real. Turn away
from them. and turn to Christ alone. Well,
that's what the world, men, that's what they're gonna be doing in
the last days. Well, what's a believer to do
in the last days? Look down at verse 13. But evil
men and seducers, they're gonna wax worse and worse, deceiving
and being deceived. But continue thou in the things
which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing
of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child thou hast
known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture
is given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness
that the man of God may be perfect, mature, throughly furnished unto
all good works. That's what believers are supposed
to do. You continue in this word. You continue in the gospel, you
continue growing in dependence on Christ. Brother Henry used
to talk about continuing in the old paths. Boy, lots of things new in the
world and new ways of doing things, new technology, new equipment,
new machinery. The way God saves sinners, the
way God speaks to sinners, the way God feeds his sheep, will
never change. Stick to those old paths. Stick
to those old paths. Continue in the Word. I don't
know how many of them are left, but isn't that a good way to
spend these last days? Continue in the Word. Continue in the
Gospel. Continue looking to Christ. Now
look over 2 Peter chapter 3. I'll show you one more thing
that's going to be going on in the last days that our Lord already
talked about. People are gonna deny that God
exists. If God doesn't exist, then Christ
can't be coming back any. They're gonna deny Christ's return
just as strongly as those people in Noah's day denied there was
gonna be a flood. They said, well, there's never
been a flood, so there's never gonna be one. People say, well,
Christ has never come back the second time, so he's never going
to. Bad logic, isn't it? Well, look what Peter has to
say about that. 2 Peter chapter three, verse one. This second
epistle, beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I stir
up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that you may be
mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets,
and of the commandment of us, the apostles, of the Lord and
Savior, knowing this first, that there shall come in the last
days, this is what's coming in the last days, scoffers walking
after their own lust, and saying, where is the promise of his coming?
For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were,
from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant
of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the
earth, standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the
world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. But the
heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are
kept in store, preserved under fire against the day of judgment
and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years, and a thousand years are as one day. The Lord is not slack
concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. But the day of the Lord, the
end of the last days, the day of the Lord, when Christ returns,
will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass
away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent The earth also and the works that are therein shall
be burned up. Now, that's what's gonna happen
in the last days. That's gonna be the last day
when Christ returns. Now, what's a believer to do
with this? With this knowledge now? Christ is coming. I know
the world is gonna wax worse and worse. Men are gonna deny
that God exists. Men are gonna deny that Christ
is coming back. But you know better. You've been
told better. Christ is coming. Now, what is
a believer to do with this? Well, Peter tells us, verse 11,
seeing then that all these things should be dissolved. What manner
of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
looking for and hastening into the coming of the day of God,
wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the
elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according
to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein
dwelleth righteousness. I'll tell you what the believers
to do with these things. Live like we're leaving this
place. Christ is coming back. And when
he does, he's gonna burn this world out. Don't get too attached
to it. I mean, take care of what God's given you, but now don't
get all bent out of shape about it. God's gonna burn it all up.
You know what we're looking for? We're looking for Christ to return.
And when he comes, we're gonna be with him in new heavens and
a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness. Now, just look for him. Just
get ready to leave this place. And that brings me to my last
point. What about my last days on earth? You might be thinking,
what about your last day? What about my last days on earth?
Earl and I were talking about this before the service, about
a dear brother who's with the Lord now, who told me when he
was dying, he said, well, I don't really want to die right now.
He said, I've always imagined that I'd live until Christ returns. He said, I just love to see him
coming in the clouds. He said, I just think that'd
just be spectacular. He said, but either way it's
okay, because either way I'm gonna go see the Lord. He knew
his last days on earth were here. He was dying. Now what about
when that's me? What about when I know I'm in
my last days? Like Jacob was. Jacob knew he
was in his last days on his deathbed. What am I to do when I know I'm
in my last days? Well, there are several scriptures
that give us real good teaching on that subject. First of all,
let's not pretend we're gonna live forever. Now, I know I'm
gonna die. I know I'm gonna die. Sin is
in me. I am sin. Sin demands death.
I know I'm gonna die. And since I know that I'm gonna
die, Bob, you know how I like to live. I like to live the words
of David. Psalm 90 verse 12. Teach us to
number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. That's
how I'd like to live. How many days I got left, that's
how I'd like to live. Apply my heart to wisdom. Apply my heart to seeking Christ.
Now, a believer should face death. I mean, we know our bodies are
gonna die. I mean, there's no doubt about that. So we should
face death. But I tell you what, now I know
I'm gonna die, but I also know this without a doubt, I have
life in Christ. Because of Christ, I have life. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15
verse 22, for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall
all be made alive. If you have life in Christ, that
takes the fear of the death of this body away, doesn't it? This
body's gonna die, but I have life in Christ. A believer should face death
knowing this, the death of this body, it's not the end, and it's
not defeat. No, it's not defeat. Isaiah said,
he's talking about Christ coming, Isaiah 25, verse eight. He said,
he'll swallow up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away
tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of his people. So
he take away from off all the earth. Now, how do I know that's
going to happen? Isaiah said, for the Lord has spoken it. That's
what God said. He's going to swallow up death
in victory. He's going to wipe away all tears.
The death of these bodies is not defeat. It's victory. It's victory. Now, if you would look with me
at Joshua chapter 23, I want to close I always try to find somebody
smarter than me on any subject I'm talking about and learn from
them. I want to close with what two
of the fathers had to say about this subject of death when they
felt like they were on death's doorstep. And we'll let them
speak to us and teach us. First is Joshua chapter 23, verse
14. And behold, this day I'm going
the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts
and all your souls that not one thing failed of all the good
things which the Lord your God spake concerning you. All are
come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof."
That's what Joshua said on his deathbed. Every believer, all
of us, should be able to say the same thing on our deathbed.
And if we're being honest, it really is true. The Lord's kept
every promise to me. Every promise of mercy and grace,
God Almighty's made in this book, he's kept them to me. There's
not one promise of God's word that's failed. I've lived trusting
Christ and I can die trusting him. I'm ending just like I began. It's trusting Christ, trusting
Christ. That's what he's saying. Then
look at Job chapter 19. Old brother Job told us about
another promise. I'm trusting in that promise. I love this. Job speaking of
Christ's second coming before Christ even came the first time.
Look what he says, Job 19 verse 23. All of my words were now written
Oh, that they were printed in a book, that they were graven
with an iron pen, and led into rock forever. I want people to
know this. After I'm gone, I want them to
know this. I know that my Redeemer liveth,
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And
though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall
I see God, whom I shall see for myself. And mine eyes shall behold,
and not another, though my reins be consumed within me. Job said,
I'm gonna die. He thought, and he felt this
way, he thought this, he thought he was gonna die at any moment,
and he said, but I'm gonna be raised from the grave. I'm gonna
die and you're gonna bury me, but I'm gonna be raised from
this grave and on this earth in my flesh with these eyes.
Now this is gonna be glorified flesh, this is gonna be perfect
flesh, this is gonna be perfect eyes, but in my flesh and my
eyes, when you see me, I'm gonna look like me, with in this flesh,
I'm gonna see the Redeemer. That's a good way to die. That's
a good way to live. That's a good way to live. But
that's a good way to die. I had a dear friend. His wife
was ravaged with disease. She was dying. Her body just
kept losing weight, losing weight. Oh, she was so sick, so, so,
so sick. And on her deathbed, she looked
up at him and she said, I feel sorry for you. He said, why? And she said, I'm
going to see the Lord. You got to stay here. I know
my Redeemer lives. I hope that's helpful to you. I know there's some of you here
awful young, and you think that's the wrong way away. Well, maybe
you'll remember when it comes time. The Lord's able to make
that happen. I remember a message Henry preached
35 years ago. I remember it like it was yesterday.
Maybe the Lord will help you remember. And those of us who are a little
closer, Maybe Lord will give us some
wisdom to live wisely in these last days. Trust in Him, look
into Him. All right, I hope that'll be
a lesson to you. Let's bow together. Our Father, we thank you for
your word. We thank you for your instruction,
your gracious and your kind and loving instruction that you've
given to us on this subject that's so fearful to the flesh. the
last days, facing the death of these bodies. Father, we're so
thankful for your gospel. We're so thankful for your grace
and your mercy that's promised us in Christ. Lord, cause us
not to fear this event, but cause us to look forward to it. Look
forward to it in hope, look forward to it in faith, look forward
to it in confidence, knowing that like our brother Joe, we're
gonna see the Lord. We're gonna see our Redeemer.
Father, until then, until the last of our days or until the
final days of these last days, whichever may come first, Father,
I pray you'd give us the grace and the wisdom, the fortitude,
the dedication, the continuing in faith to continue looking
to you, to continue to depend on you and trust in you. Father,
that you might keep us faithful to continue preaching Christ
to our generation as you kept Noah faithful preaching to his
generation. And we'll leave the results to you to call out your
people to yourself. Father, we thank you. As you
bless your words, it's been preached to your glory and to our good.
For it's in Christ's name, for his sake we pray, amen. All right,
let's close by turning to hymn number 236, Well, Stan is saying, if I got
that number right, amazing grace. I do, amazing grace.