In the word of God, the book
of Psalms, Psalm 90 verse 12 says, teach us to number our
days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Speaking of numbering
our days, or that is considering that our time upon this earth
is very short, we have very little time upon this earth. Now, very
few people want to talk about death and dying, and yet the
Word of God tells us to do so, urges us to do so. Scripture says, Oh, that they
were wise and understood this, that they would consider their
latter end, that everything ends. It's all going to end. But I'm
afraid many, if not most, like Scripture says, their secret
thoughts are that they shall live forever. But God's Word
says, Job 14, 9, our days are determined. The number of our
months are with God. He has appointed our bounds that
we cannot pass. It is appointed, Scripture says,
unto man once to die. Appointed by God. He has set
our bounds. The number of our months are
with Him. Appointed our bounds we cannot pass. That is not fatalism. That is truth. That is God's
Word. And so it is appointed unto man once to die. And after
that, do you ever stop and consider after that, the hereafter? It says after that, the judgment. And it won't be long for any
of us, for you, for me. Just days. really. In our text
it says, teach us to number our days, that years go by really
like days are but days, that we may apply our hearts unto
wisdom. But sadly, tragically, foolishly, most do not. Oh, when calamities come when
disasters strike, sickness and death is upon us, it forces us,
forces everyone to stop and think about the brevity and the frailty
of this life, but for most people, when the fear is gone, when the
pain and the sorrow subsides, When the body has been in the
ground a few days, their thoughts go back to this world and to
what the scriptures call this vain life, the vanity. Oh, that
we were wise and understood this, that we would consider our ladder
in. Those who love this present evil world, that's what Scripture
calls this place. Those who love this present evil
world don't want to think about leaving this world, but God's
people do. God's people do. Now in this
psalm, Psalm 90 is our tick, the Lord speaks of His infinity,
the infinite God, the everlasting God, the eternal God, just how
finite man is, how frail man is, and the brevity of time. Time is short, like a vapor,
like a sleep in the night. This psalm speaks of sin and
God's wrath and judgment against it. This psalm speaks of what
true wisdom is, the fear of the Lord, and speaks of the Lord's
return. Look at verse 1 with me. Have
a Bible. Follow along. If not, listen
carefully. Oh, that you would listen carefully as I read to
you God's Word. Lord, He says, thou hast been
our dwelling place in all generations. That is, in God we live and move
and have our being. Psalm 100 says, Know ye that
the Lord, He is God. It is He that hath made us and
not we ourselves. You hear people say things like
this, God is a big part of my life. I don't think that person
even knows God. I don't think that person understands
that God is life. that in Him we live and move
and have our being. Scripture says the God in whose
hands our breath is and all our ways. It says we have not glorified
Him. And there's consequences for
it. In Him we live and move and have
our being. Our breath is in His hands. He
gave it and He taketh it away. God says, I kill and I make alive. Verse 2, Before the mountains
were brought forth, or ever thou hast formed the earth and the
world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. God made this world. He is our
Creator. We are creatures. He is the potter. We are the clay. said in the
last day, 2 Peter 3, he said in the last day scoffers and
mockers shall come, says they're willingly ignorant of two things.
They're ignorant of God's creation, that God created this world by
his word. God spoke it into existence.
But no, man, foolish man, says it all just evolved. It's a universal
conspiracy by man to try to disprove God, because if God is our Creator,
that means He owns us and can do and does do with His own what
He wills. That He's the Creator, we're
the creature, that He's the potter, we're the clay. And the second
thing that Peter said that man is willingly ignorant of is God's
judgment against sin, sin in a flood, and anger and wrath,
and judgment against sin destroyed a world full of people, and only
those in the ark were saved. And that ark is Jesus Christ. And so man doesn't want that
to be. But it is so. God is. And we are His creatures. And if He owns us, if He's the
Creator, He's the Judge of all. And we must answer to Him. Man
doesn't like that. But it's so. He's God. Verse 3, God says, Thou turnest
man to destruction, and sayest, Return, ye children of men."
Appointed unto man wants to die. God has appointed means of which
every human being shall die. There are no accidents. It's
all on purpose. It's all in God's purpose and
in God's time, predestined, predetermined by God. Our end, our death, the
very day, cannot pass. That's what the Scripture said.
God says, I kill. He determines it. He's the one
that says, return. All souls are mine, He says.
And when He says it's time, it is time. Oh, that we were wise,
that we would redeem the time, for the time is short. When He
says return, return to what? To the dust. For dust thou art,
and to dust thou shalt return. The only thing that we have waiting
on us when we leave this earth is a hole in the ground. Naked
we came into this world and naked we shall return. Verse 4 says,
A thousand years in God's sight are as but yesterday when it
is past as a watch in the night. Time is of no use to God. He's eternal. But it is to us
a very short time. Oh, we need to be wise with what
little time we have. It says He carries these years
away as a flood. They're like a sleep. And they're
like grass which groweth up in the morning, it flourishes, groweth
up in the evening, it is cut down and withering. Oh, the brevity
of time. It's like a sleep when you go
to bed and lie down and fall asleep. No sooner it seemed to
fall asleep than you wake up. It's just twinkling of an eye.
And a man is like the grass. He grows up, the tender grass. He's young and grows up, and
no sooner Grown up till he's withered away and old and ready
to die. You see a little child, beautiful
child, newborn child. Well, just in a matter of days,
that child's a teenager it seems. In a matter of a few more days,
he's an adult and then old and then he's gone. And the Scripture
says in Psalm 103, "...the place thereof will know it no more."
You and I will be forgotten very quickly. Oh, but what about after
that? Verse 7 says we're consumed by
His anger. By His wrath are we troubled.
He set our iniquities before Him. Our secret sins in light
of Thy countenance as our days are passed away in wrath. What
is He telling us? Well, He's telling us that sin
is the cause of death and wrath God's wrath against sin. Romans
1 says that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth, or
that is, suppress the truth, who reject the truth in unrighteousness. Oh, that they were wise and consider
this, that we die. Why? Why do we die? Because of
sin. And man is troubled by everything. In Isaiah 8, listen to this,
verse 21, man passes through this time on earth and it says
he's fretting and curses his king and his God. Why do people
curse God if they don't believe Him? Why do they use His name?
Isaiah 8.22, they look to the earth in trouble and darkness
and dimness. They're driven to darkness, fear,
and because of God's wrath. Oh, read for yourself Isaiah
13 and other Scriptures. Read for yourself what God says
He's going to do to this place. Listen, I'll read you something
briefly from Isaiah 13. He says, "...For the day of the
Lord is at hand. It shall come as a destruction
from the Almighty. And all hands shall be faint.
Every man's heart shall melt. They shall be afraid. Pangs and
sorrows shall take hold of them. The day of the Lord cometh cruel
with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate, and He
shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it." Does that sound like
a God who loves everyone? That's what false preachers are
telling people today. That's what those in front of
me and those behind me say. But not this preacher. That's
not what the Bible says. That's not the truth. That's
not what the beginning of wisdom is, the fear of the Lord, the
fear of the Lord. Here it says we spend our years
in His wrath and His anger, and they're few and they're short,
and God takes us. God takes us. Unless we know
wisdom, He'll not take us under His kingdom. Read on, it says
in verse 10, the days of our years are three score and ten,
that's seventy, if by reason of strength, God-given strength,
there's four score, eight a year, but no matter, there's labor,
there's sorrow, and soon cut off we fly away, and who knows
Verse 11, the power of his anger, even according to his fear, so
is thy wrath. Oh, the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom. So, he says in verse 12, teach
us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. What is wisdom? What is wisdom? Do you know? Well, I've already
quoted to you, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If not God made foolish the wisdom
of this world, professing themselves to be wise, they become fools.
The fool has said there is no God. The wisdom of this world
is man better off. Are we better off or are we worse?
Everyone's worried about man destroying himself. Well, what
has our wisdom gotten us? What has our wisdom done for
us? Nothing. Fools. Oh, here's wisdom. Paul says,
Oh, that I might win Christ and be found in Him." Christ is wisdom. To God's people, He has made
unto them wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
Jesus Christ is wisdom personified. He is the wisdom of God and the
power of God. He is God. Oh, that they were
wise and would bow down Confess the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's
what Psalm 2 says. Here's what the Creator of the
world says. He says, I have set my King upon
my holy hill of Zion. It's Christ. He says, I will
declare the decree. He is my Son. And He says, O
be wise, O ye kings, be instructed, ye judges, or rulers, or teachers
of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and
rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
and you perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but
a little. Blessed are all they that put
their trust in Him. Here is wisdom to believe, to
bow to, to call upon the Lord Jesus Christ, whom to know is
to have eternal life. Oh, may the Lord give you this
wisdom. Amen.