I'd like to direct your attention
to the Old Testament book of Job chapter 16. And I'll look
at just one verse here, the last verse of chapter 16. And use
it as our text this morning. Job chapter 16 verse 22. Here Job said, when a few years
are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return. One of the things that I've tried
very hard to stress to my children who are all grown now, but one
of the things that I've tried to express to them is the brevity
of life. When I was in my 20s and in my
30s, I can remember how my father would often express to me how
quickly and swiftly his life had passed. I didn't see it then,
but I definitely see it now. When my father was dying at home
under hospice care in 1996, he and my mother lived across the
street from a grade school. And my dad would hear those children
playing out on the playground at lunchtime. And he would just
smile and he said, you know, it seems like just yesterday,
he was 78 at the time. He said, but it seemed like just
yesterday, I was one of those children out there playing on
that playground. And I know exactly what he means,
just yesterday. James asked this question. He
said, for what is your life? That's a very good question.
What is your life? How would you answer that question?
For what is your life? James said it's even a vapor
that appears for what? For a little time. Just a little
time. And then vanishes away. My life
now seems but a few years. Job said, when a few years are
come, and I don't care if you live to be 100, it's just a few
years compared to eternity. Now, I'm 63 years old, and 100
years doesn't seem that long, doesn't seem that old. I suppose
that's all relative. And I don't guess there's probably
a subject more unpleasant to talk about than the subject of
death or dying. But the Word of God talks a great
deal about death, with good reason. In 2 Samuel chapter 14, the scripture
says, For we must needs die, and we are as waters spilt on
the ground which cannot be gathered up again. If man hadn't sinned,
he would have forever lived with his wife by his side. But he
did sin, and he must die. Because God, being the just God
that He is, declares, the soul that sins, it shall die. It has
to. It has to die because of who
God is. God's holy and just. And He can by no means clear
guilty men and women. The law says the sinner that
sins must die. Job declared in chapter 7, he
said, is there not an appointed time to man on the earth? In
chapter 14 verse 1, we see that Job understood that man that
is born of woman is a few days. This is what he said. Man that's
born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth
as a flower, and is cut down, and he fleeth also as a shadow,
and continueth not. David, talking about dying in
Psalm 89 verse 48, said, What man is he that liveth, and shall
not see death? Shall man deliver his soul from
the grave? Paul declared death certainty
in Hebrews 9, saying, It's appointed unto men once to die, and after
this, the judgment. So we see that the Word of God
talks about death. We ought to talk about it. It's something that we will all
experience unless Christ returns before we die. And God's Word
is plain and God's Word is direct when it comes to death. From
our text, I'd like to give you four reasons this morning to
look death square in the face. Once again, read with me our
text here in verse 22 of Job 16. Job said, when a few years
are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return. Now my first point is this. Death
is inevitable. It's unavoidable for all of us. Every single one of us are going
to die. None of us are going to get out
of this world alive unless the Lord returns. And this is something
that everyone of age would and should understand. We should
even talk to our young ones about death. Death, oh, it's coming
for all of us. The folks don't have trouble
believing that everybody's going to die. Everybody knows that. But with most, dying is one of
those things that the majority of folks thinks happens to everybody
else. You know what I'm talking about?
Everybody dies. I know everybody dies. Just not
me, not now. Someday, yes, but not now. That's
something somebody else does. But sometimes death gets close.
And it gets close enough to us that it shakes us a bit. It hits
close to home. And more than those that we don't
know, the loss of a friend or a loved one hits closer to home. And we're again reminded of just
how vulnerable and how impotent and how weak that we really are
by nature. I've had friends and acquaintances
this year that died who were younger than me. And that gets
you to thinking about your own impotence and weakness. You know,
when folks die that are younger than you are. And the older you
get, the more that seems to happen. You know, when I was young, I
just never thought about dying. Never gave it any thought. Only
old people died, I thought, and I'm surely not old. When Teresa
and I got married, we were both 26 years old, and I still thought
I was 10 foot tall and bulletproof. And I didn't have the concern
or the time to think about dying. You know why? It's too busy living.
Too busy trying to live and too busy making a living. Didn't
have time to die. Then a few years passed and we
settled down a bit, do what most young couples dream of doing.
We purchased a home, we started a family, those children grew
and started to school. And it was then that I began
to think about their future, their education, my own personal
responsibilities, and I wanted and needed to start planning
for those things. Does it all sound like your life? So in planning, preparing, and
wanting the best for those whom we love, you begin to consider
more of what lies ahead. You begin to think about things
that you didn't normally think much about. And then at some
point in time, all the things that I used to not give any concern
or care about, I started to think about, like making money and
saving money, employment, career, retirement, financial security,
health care, all those things. thinking and considering our
age and brevity of life. And then you turn around a couple
times and you look up and life is just almost over. Just like
that. It's a vapor. It appears for
just a short time, just a little while, just a few years. And
then it vanishes away. It seemed like it took forever
for me to get 16 in order to drive a car. And then it seemed
like it took me forever to get 21 so that I could call myself
an adult and maybe go places that I had no business going.
But after 21, I'm going to be honest with you, they've kind
of just flown by pretty quickly. Hadn't taken me long to get where
I am right now. I had someone just this week
tell me about somebody that they knew that had died and passed. And the first thing out of my
mouth was, how old were they? I guess that we somehow think
that it's more tragic, and I suppose in some ways it is more tragic
for a younger person to die than an older one. But death is no
respecter of persons. It comes for the old and it comes
for the young. What difference does it make
if the one deceased is rich or poor? The real issue is not what
they had, but who they knew. You see, in the matter of salvation,
it's all about who you know. Christ. Do I know Christ? Do I know the one and only mediator
between sinners and God? I need to know Him, because He's
the only mediator. Just one. I have no one else
as a go-between. Did Christ put away my sin? That's
the issue. That's what you should be concerned
with this morning. What about your sin? God's going
to punish it. God's not going to just excuse
it. Sweep it under a rug. He can't. And before Job ever
said, when a few years are come, then I shall go, he had already
proclaimed what few people at that time knew, what few people
today know. He had professed, he said, naked
came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The
Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name
of the Lord. You know, you and I come into
this world with nothing, and that's where we're gonna leave,
with nothing. And everything that I have in
this life, God gave me. And everything that I leave behind,
the Lord took away. And it was all His to give and
it was all His to take. The earth is the Lord's in the
fullness thereof. The Lord gives, the Lord takes
away. And what does the child of God say? Blessed be the name
of the Lord. And that, my friends, is the
one issue in the hour of death. How old you were, it's not going
to matter. How much money you had will not matter a hill of
beans. Your popularity and social status
be of no concern. The only issue will be, is Jesus
Christ your substitute? Is He alone your sacrifice, your
surety, your Savior? Do we, the sinners that we are,
know Him? Know Him in a saving way? Are
we trusting in Him to do everything for us that God requires of us?
Did Christ put away our sin? In the hour of death, faith in
Christ is the one thing needful. What think ye of Christ? My second point, well, we've
pretty much already dealt with, and that is that death is a journey
that's not only coming for all of us, but friends, it's coming
for all of us very soon. Job said, when a few years are
come, I shall go. You can read it in years, months,
days, hours, minutes, it doesn't matter. It will be few. There
was once an old peddler who sold his goods from door to door,
house to house. Upon leaving one house en route
to the next, peddling his household goods, he would cry aloud so
all could hear, who's next? Who's next? Who will be the next? And one day, just as he always
did, he was going between houses, and about that time, a funeral
procession passed by. And as he sounded out the question,
who's next? As if to ask, who will be the
next one appointed to die? That's a good question. You know
that death is an appointment. It's appointed unto men once
to die, but after this, the judgment. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
5. I won't turn to any other place, but look here with me.
2 Corinthians chapter 5 and look at verse 10. Paul said here, 2 Corinthians
5, verse 10, he said, For we must all appear before the judgment
seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in
his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good
or bad. Now if a man stands before God
to be judged in and by his own personal work of righteousness,
If I stand before God and try to appease God with a work of
righteousness that I've done, that man's going to be judged,
it says here, according to that or according to what he had done,
whether it be good or bad. Now that tells me right there
that I don't want any part of that. Because there is none that
doeth good. No, not one. There is none good
as God defines it. How does God define good? One
word, perfection. Perfection. It has to be perfect
for God to accept it. That rich young ruler, talk about
him all the time, he came to the matter, what good thing must
I do to be saved? And the Lord Jesus said, if thou
would be perfect. Because you see, perfect is what
you have to be in order to be saved. He said, I want to be
saved. What good thing should I do? The Lord said, nope, that's
not going to do it. You'd be perfect. You're going
to have to be perfect And all that any of us has done has been
bad. God says so. There's none righteous, no, not
one. The thoughts of our hearts are
only evil continually. Genesis 6, 5. Now I don't want
to be judged according to what I've done in this flesh, do you?
That's why Paul's very next words were this, knowing the terror
of the Lord. We persuade men. Persuade men
of what? The salvations of the Lord. That's
what we do in preaching. We persuade men that it's not
of Him that willeth, not of Him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. Can I persuade you of that? To
persuade men that it's not by works of righteousness that we've
done, but according to His, God's mercy He saved us. Are you at
all persuaded that's so? To persuade men not to trust
in their works, to not trust in their filthy righteousness,
Not to trust in their own will, worth, or way. To persuade men
to trust totally and completely on the work and the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, can I persuade you of that?
It's so. Knowing that every man and woman
are going to stand before God in judgment, we persuade sinners
of the terror of the Lord. There's nobody afraid of the
Lord anymore. Why? Because we made Him a little
sissy Jesus. A wheelchair Jesus. He's trying
to do something. He wants to do something. Oh,
won't you just give Him your heart? For years, God was portrayed
to me as the little old man wringing his hands on the portals of heaven
going, Oh, won't somebody just let me save? And you know what
that did to me? That made me have no concern
at all for God. I didn't care about that God.
He didn't worry me in the least. If He sent me to hell, well,
I'd just make Him send me back. But that's not God. That's not
God. My God's in the heavens. He's
done whatsoever He's pleased. Whatever the Lord pleased, that
did He. The word terror in that verse means fear. We persuade
men of the terror, the fear, the judgment, the wrath of the
Lord that awaits those who endeavor to provide what they think perfect
righteousness to be. Those who cry, Lord, Lord, haven't
we done, are the ones that come up infinitely short every single
time. God says thou art weighed in
the balances and are found wanting. Daniel 5.27. We've all come short
of the glory of God. Way short. Paul says we persuade,
we convince. That's what the word means. We
convince men to trust in Christ alone for all their righteousness,
holiness, perfection, and all that God requires. Look to Him. The child of God knows what they
weigh, and it's not enough. We weigh and we're found wanting.
May God make you wise unto salvation. Who is so fit to live on earth
as the man made fit to live in heaven? Who has the brightest
eye on earth but the one that has seen Christ, the one who
has prepared a place for them in heaven's glory? Who in this
life has lightness of heart but the man and the woman that's
been delivered from their sin and found mercy through the blood
of Christ? Who can go to bed at night in
peace and wake up with joy but the man or the woman who's reconciled
to God by the death of God's Son? Who has the best of this
world and the world to come? Is it not those to whom death
has become a changed thing? Death is no longer a dreadful
thing to me. It's not. To the believer, death
is but a promotion unto life. Eternal life, spiritual life,
a glorified life without sin. Death to the child of God is
a glorious departure from mortality to immortality. It's a glorious
journey from corruption to incorruption. Paul said, for I am now ready
to be offered in the time of my departure is at hand. I've
fought a good fight. I've finished my course. I've
kept the faith. Henceforth there's laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
Judge, shall give me at that day, and not only to me only,
and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearance."
Child of God, your departure's coming, and it's coming very
soon. You say, well, but I'm only 30 years old. Very soon,
very soon. It'll be here before you know
it. Just a few years to come. And then my third point is this.
Did you notice from the text that the journey called death
is a one-way journey? It's a one-way trip. It's a non-return
trip. Job said back in our text, verse
22, Job 16, when a few years are come, then I shall go the
way whence I shall not return. All who die and leave this world
are going to go out and meet God and they shall not return.
There's no such thing as reincarnation. You're not going to come back
as someone else in another time. Perish the thought. And if you're
lost and if you die, let me just let you in on something. You're
not going to a place called purgatory. Not going to a place to suffer
until you're able to yourself expiate or do penance for all
your sins and then somehow catch a connecting flight on to glory
after you pass that test. That's the most ridiculous thing
I have heard. No coming back. One of these
days I'm going to walk through that door back there and I'm
not coming back. That's what Job was saying here.
He said, I shall not return. It'll be too late for me to try
to straighten out the mess that I've made. It'll be too late
to take back all the words that I've said. It'll be too late
to undo the deeds that I've done. And when your time comes, you're
not going to return to your job and your friends and your family,
you're just not. Our life is like waters spilt
on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. Job says,
I shall not return. And you know what? The people
of God don't want to. You know when men and women die,
people immediately say things like, they're better off. Whether
they know God or not. Regardless of how they live,
it doesn't matter. They're better off. Are they? Oh, are they? What about this? They wouldn't
come back if they wanted to. Well, that's true concerning
the child of God. They wouldn't. They are better
off. They wouldn't come back if they
could. But for the unbeliever who has not Christ? Oh, that's
not so. That's not so. They're not better
off. And they cannot return. And that
brings me to the fourth and final thing. Oh, that God would show
you this. What is your destination? Will
it be endless bliss or will it be ceaseless woe? What is your
destination? Will it immediately be with Christ
in paradise? Today, he told that thief, you
shall be with me in paradise. Or will it be on the other side
of that great gulf which is fixed and cannot be crossed? That place
whose inhabitants face the eternal wrath and judgment and justice
of God. It need not be there. There's
still hope for you. If you're listening to my voice,
and your heart is beating, and you're breathing, there's still
hope. There's still hope. Death has not yet called on you.
There's still time to look to Christ and live. Today, right
now, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. Have
you heard this gospel we preach? Have you heard it with spiritual
ears? Have you heard what I've been trying to tell you all these
years? Do you believe on the name of
the Son of God? That's how you know if you have
eternal life. Who was God grieved with for
40 years? Was it not them that sinned?
What was their sin? They hearkened not to the Lord.
They didn't believe the Lord. They grumbled, they complained,
they griped, having no faith in the God that had delivered
them. And what happened to them? They
died. Their carcasses fell in the wilderness.
Hebrews 3.17. And who was it that God swore
would not enter into His rest? Was it not them that believed
not? Salvation is always connected
to faith in Christ. It's then that the writer of
Hebrews says, so we see that they could not enter in because
of unbelief. Unbelief is the only thing that'll
keep you out of eternal communion and fellowship with God Almighty. Oh, but if you believe in Him,
trust in Him, lean on Him for everything, you can look your
future in the face with joy because your redemption draweth nigh. Can you, by faith, see your new
body and your redeemed soul together and both perfect? I'd love to
think about that. One of these days, I'm going
to be without sin. Can you see Christ acquitting
you and saying, Come, ye blessed of the Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you before the foundation of the world? For you and I,
the years grow shorter. Hours, days, weeks, months, years
pass at an increasingly fast rate. But there's one thing that
never grows shorter or passes more quickly, and that is God's
love for His elect in Christ. Saturday at the hospital, I was
talking to Betty's two daughters, Rhonda and Judy. And they had
told the hospital that Betty had a living will. Most of you
know what that is. That simply means that if Betty
died while she was in the hospital, that she did not desire to be
resuscitated and kept alive by life support. As they discussed
that briefly with the doctor, I thought to myself, why would
a believer, a chosen child of God, want to hang on and hang
on to life in this world of sin when God has given to them eternal
life and that life is in His Son? I'm like Betty, where do
I sign? Don't hook me up to nothing,
keep me around here any longer. I'm ready to go. An old saint
once said, in all that I've read, studied, and even preached, he
said, there's but one scripture that I dare not let go when death
approaches. And the passage he spoke of was
where the Lord Jesus said, whosoever cometh to me, I will in no wise
cast out. Job said, with assurance and
certainty, when a few years are come, it won't be long now, then
I shall go the way. There's a way that seemeth right
unto man, but the end thereof is the ways of death. But there's
another way, a narrow way, a way that leads to life, and that's
the way I'm going. Christ is the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh to the Father,
And you know what? I shall not return, and neither
shall I want to. It'll be then that I'll be face
to face with Christ my Savior. Faintly now I see Him with the
darkling veil between, but a blessed day is coming, and it's coming
soon, when His glory shall be seen. Face to face, I shall behold
Him, far beyond the starry sky. Face to face, in all His glory,
I shall see Him by and by. God's glory shines no brighter
than when it shines in His saving love of His people, saving them
from their sin in and by and through the perfect work of righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're here this morning and
you're trusting in Christ as your all and in all, thank God. Thank God. He didn't have to
save you. He could have left you to yourself.
but in mercy and in grace. He loved you and He called you,
chose you and His Son, and revealed Christ to you through the preaching
of the gospel.