Alright, turn back with me if
you would to Psalm 90. Psalm 90, our text specifically
is going to be verses 9-12. It says, for all our days are
passed away in thy wrath. We spend our years as a tale
that is told. The days of our years are threescore
years and ten. And if by reason of strength
they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow. For it is soon cut off, and we
fly away. Who knoweth the power of thine
anger, even according to thy fear? So is thy wrath. So teach us to number our days
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. I thought about
this after I read an article that my father wrote. And it's going to be in our bulletin
Sunday. It's called, And He Died. And he talks about reading obituaries.
And it says a couple things, but then it says, and he died. And that's it. And I got to thinking about this
life. We are born into this world,
and we spend the first few years of our life learning and growing,
And the first few years are lost years. And what I mean by that
is, we don't remember them. Sophie won't remember hardly
anything that has happened to her so far in this life. Maybe
by pictures, she'll see some video, but it's lost. It's gone. Totally gone. No real
recollection. And then we spend the next few
years learning about the painful reality of life. You know, our
kids are sheltered at home and then we send them off to the
dreaded kindergarten. And they find out that other
people can be very mean. And they find that this life
is wrapped around work. Everything in this life is not
about playtime and snacks. It's all about work. Work at
school, work at home. Homework. And then around the
age of 12 or 13, we begin to change physically. And we start to enter into our
own lives. I want to drive my car. You know, I want to get my own
knowledge. My dad doesn't know anything. I got my own knowledge. We graduate from high school. I graduated from high school
at the age of 17, and I'm 36 years old. This November, it'll be 20 years
ago that I graduated. I know that doesn't sound like
a lot to some people. 20 years ago. It seems like I walked across
that stage yesterday. I have lived longer since that
day than I lived up to that day. And it was yesterday. I mean,
really, a lot of stuff has happened, but it hasn't been that long. What that means is, tomorrow,
I'm going to be 56 years old. Tomorrow. And at that point, I will not
have another 20 years promised to me. There's actually no promise of
tomorrow. But if the Lord sustains us and
gives us a full life, verse 10 here in our text says, The days
of our years are threescore years and ten. Seventy years. Brother Dwight, how old are you?
Seventy. Okay, you're done. If by reason of strength they
be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow. What it means is it's all downhill
from here. You're going to get more frail.
You're going to get more weak. The troubles are just going to
pile up. For it is soon cut off and then
we fly away. Seventy years. Now I'm 36. Everything that happens to me
from here out is downhill. That's the truth. It's just the
truth. It sounds so sad and morbid,
doesn't it? But it's the truth. I'm on my
way out. It's just the truth. The natural mind thinks that
his prime is 65 years of age. That's what the planet thinks,
in America anyway. Not in strength, but in life. I'm going to keep working, and
I'm going to keep working, and I'm going to keep getting, and
I'm going to keep gaining until I'm 65. That's what I'm going
to do. We're going to push to 65. Retirement age. And then I'll
stop, and I'm going to take a break, and I'm going to smell the roses
when I reach the peak of the good life. That's what we think,
isn't it? It really is. I've thought that
my whole life. Now I've come to realize I'm
never going to retire. Brother Scott Richardson, bless
his heart, he used to just crawl up there and he'd just slump
down on the pulpit and it was such a blessing when he would
say anything, read scripture. The hard reality is At the age
of 65, man only has 1,825 days left to live. Maybe. Five years. Now turn with me over to Luke
chapter 12. Luke chapter 12, look at verse
13, it says, And one of the company said unto
him, unto our Lord, Master, speak to my brother that he may divide
the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man, who
made me a judge or a divider over you? And what he's saying
is, what makes you think I have time to deal with this pettiness? Verse 15, And he said unto them,
Take heed and beware of covetousness. For a man's life consisteth not
in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. And he spake
a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich
man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself,
saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow
my fruits? And he said, This will I do.
I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there will
I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul,
Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine
ease. eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool,
this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose
shall those things be which thou hast provided? The Lord said,
Thou fool. Lord, Teach me not to apply my heart
to foolishness. Now let's go back to our text.
Psalm 90 verse 9 says, All our days are passed away in thy wrath. We spend our years as a tale
that is told. What is my life really? Really? How important am I really? Compared
to God's eternity, everything that I do and everything that
is important to me, my life is just a blade of grass. That's
all I am. Just a blade of grass. It grows
up just like the other insignificant blades, and then it's cut down. And that's it. David said, Lord,
we are strangers before Thee and sojourners, as were all our
fathers. Our days on the earth are as
a shadow, and there is none abiding. It's
there, and it's gone. There's no substance to it. It's
a shadow. Now turn with me over to James
chapter 4. James 4 verse 13 says, Go to
now ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city,
and continue there a year, and buy and sell and get gain, whereas
ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your
life? It is even a vapor. that appeareth for a little time,
and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, if
the Lord will, we shall live and do this for that." What is
my life? It's a vapor. It's just a vapor. It's a tale that is told. That's
it. There is only one life Needful. And it's not my life. It's the life of Jesus Christ. Because back in our text, go
back to our text, Psalm 90, verse 1 says, Lord, Thou hast been
our dwelling place in all generations. Generations. My life is just
a few days. His life is generations upon
generations. Matthew 1.1 starts by saying,
The generation of Jesus Christ. Verse 2 says, Before the mountains
were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the
world, even from everlasting this way, To everlasting this
way, thou art God. Thou turnest man to destruction,
and sayest, Return, ye children of men. For a thousand years
in thy sight are but as yesterday when it's passed. Just yesterday. And as a watch in the night,
Thou carriest them away as with a flood. They are as a sleep. In the morning they are like
grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth
and groweth up. In the evening it is cut down
and withereth. For we are consumed by thine
anger and by thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities
before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance." Every human being on this planet
has two types of sins. I guess three types of sins.
Open sins that everybody can see. We're so ashamed of them. And secret sins which only we
ourselves and God know about. And some of those Even we don't
know about them. Only God knows about them. And it's so humiliatingly wretched,
it is so wretched to think about the fact that while we commit
these sins, and we do, the ones that we think that no
one can see, God is standing there watching
us. Isn't that terrible? Is that not terrible? Now He has stationed guardian
angels with His children. And those angels can see the
children that they're watching. He stationed legions of them
with Elijah. Legions of them are all watching
it. Isn't it so wretched to think
about the fact that while we commit the sins that we think
no one can see, God, the holy, clean, pure God
and His angels are standing there watching us. Isn't that terrible? Isn't that so convicting? So convicting. In our text, look
at verse 11. It says, Who knoweth the power
of thine anger? Nobody does. Nobody does. Nobody knows the
power of His anger. No one can comprehend the ultimate
power of His anger, except for Jesus Christ. He suffered the wrath of God. Those sins that humiliate me, those sins that He watches and
He sees, Those sins, He saw them be put on Jesus Christ. And the angels in glory desired
to look upon these things. And He knew the power of the
anger of God. And in Christ, He judged me. He suffered the wrath for our
open sins. He suffered the wrath for our
secret sins. And He suffered the wrath for
the sins that we don't even know about. Now judgment is coming for what
man has chosen to do with his days. There's a lot of men and a lot
of women out. Judgment is coming for what man
has chosen to do with his days. A man is going to be judged. And he's going to be judged one
of two ways. He's either going to be judged
standing inside of Jesus Christ, or he's going to be judged outside
of Jesus Christ. Now, he that hath the Son hath
life, eternal life, and endless length of days. And he that hath not the Son
of God during his days here on this earth hath not life. Now a person is going to hear
that and they're going to say, oh, I have the Son. Do you know
one person that would not say that? Do you know anybody that
would not say that? I have the Son. I have Christ Jesus. Are you sure? Are you sure? Are you sure? Because verse 10
says, the end of verse 10 says, we're going to soon be cut off
and fly away. We are very soon going to meet
our God. Very soon. We are literally one breath away
from meeting our God. He that hath the Son is going
to get to stand inside of Him. We will never understand the
magnitude of that, the joy of that, the relief of that, until we're standing in Him on
that day. We'll never enter into it. Never. He that hath not the Son, he's
going to stand alone. So our text, verse 12 says, Teach
us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Lord, teach us to be wise and
consider our latter end. We've got just a couple days.
Just a few days. That's all we have. Teach us.
Turn over a few pages to Proverbs 4. Our text we just read said, teach
us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Now, Proverbs 4, look at verse
5, it says, get wisdom, get understanding, forget it not, neither decline
from the words of my mouth. Look at verse 7. Wisdom is the
principal thing. Therefore, get wisdom. And with all thy getting, get
understanding. There is only one thing in all
of our few days that is needful. Wisdom. That's it. Wisdom. Now turn over to 1 Corinthians
1. 1 Corinthians 1, look at verse
21. It says, For after that, in the wisdom of God, The world
by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign and
the Greeks seek after wisdom, man's wisdom. But we preach Christ
crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling block,
and unto the Greeks its foolishness. But unto them which are called,
Both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom
of God. Christ is the power of God, and
Christ is the wisdom of God. Look at verse 30, it says, But
of Him are you in Christ, in Christ Jesus, who of God is made
unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Now turn with me to Colossians
2. Colossians chapter 2, look at
the very last word. In verse 2 it says, Christ. Verse 3 says, In whom are hid
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. There is only one
thing that we need in this life. And it is wisdom. And Jesus Christ
is that wisdom. There's only one thing needful,
all our days. Now you need to have jobs and
you need to support a family because the scripture tells us
to. A man that won't provide is worse than an infidel. But
we don't need anything this life has to offer but Christ Himself. That's it. Christ is wisdom. Turn to James 1. James chapter 1, look at verse
5. If any of you lack wisdom. Is there anybody in here that
kind of feels like they lack wisdom? Really? If any of you lack wisdom. If? I'm a fool. I am a fool. If any of you lack
wisdom, let him ask of this great God that we have, that giveth
to all who ask. The word man is in italics. It
was added by the translator. That giveth to all liberally. I need Jesus Christ. And the God who gives will give
Him liberally. Liberally. Liberally. And He upbraideth not, and it
shall be given Him. If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God that giveth to all liberally and upbraideth
not, and it shall be given Him. I need Jesus Christ. That's all I need. Jesus Christ
is made to be all I need. If I don't ever have anything
else in this life, but if I have Jesus Christ, I have all I need
in this life and in the life to come. That's wonderful, isn't it? If
any of you lack Christ, let him ask of God. Our text back in
Psalm 90 says, Lord, teach us to number our days that we may
apply our hearts unto Christ. Now just listen to a couple of
these. Deuteronomy 30 says, He is thy life. and the length of thy days."
If you're going to have long days, it's Christ. He is thy life. "...that thou mayest dwell in
the land." Job said, "...with the ancient is wisdom, and in
length of days understanding." Solomon said, "...happy is the
man that findeth wisdom." Once a man finds Christ, Once a man
figures out that Christ has found him, that is one happy man, I
can tell you that. Happy. He said, Happy is the
man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
He said, For length of days, and long life, and peace shall
they add to thee. Length of days, long life, and
peace. That's Jesus Christ. Seek wisdom. Seek Christ. Don't seek riches. Get all the overtime you can
get. But don't seek riches. Don't seek riches. Seek Christ. Don't seek honor. Don't seek
praise. Seek Christ. Don't seek personal
happiness. That's what every human being
on this world wants. Personal happiness. Don't seek
personal contentment. Seek Christ. Seek ye first the
Kingdom of God and all those things will be added to you. Don't seek the wisdom of this
world. Seek the wisdom of Christ. Lord, teach me to apply my heart
to Christ. Lord, teach me that I can't apply
my heart, but you have to apply it for me. Lord, apply my heart, not just my mind. So many people
miss Christ. Because their mind is applied.
And I love that saying, Brother Henry always says, salvation
is just about 18 inches. That's the distance it takes
to get it from here to here. Don't just apply my mind, Lord.
Don't just teach me Calvinism. Apply my heart. Let me not just
hear about it. Let me experience it. Let me
not just think about it in theory. Let me practice it. Practice
it. I want to. I want to apply my
heart to wisdom. Apply it tonight. Apply it tomorrow. Apply it continually. Lord, teach
us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Do you know that we're never
going to be able to do that until the Lord teaches us to number
each day as though it was our last day. This could be my last
day. It could. This could be my last
day. What's the one thing I need to
leave this world? Christ. I don't need anybody
else. I don't need anything else. I
need Jesus Christ. Everything in this life is failing,
it's dying, and one thing stands sure. The Lord Jesus Christ. Now I'm going to close with this.
Look at Psalm 90 verse 12. Do you have a number next to
the word apply in verse 12? I've got a number 3. I don't
know if you have a center margin or not. But if you do, mine says,
cause to come. That's what mine says. Cause
to come. This is what it's saying. Lord,
our days are few. Cause us to come to Christ. That's what it's saying. Our
days are few. That's my prayer for this assembly. Whoever the Lord has purpose
to bring, come to Christ. Our days are few, come to Christ. Alright, stand together with
me.