Turn back to Hebrews chapter
9. Hebrews chapter 9. About a year ago, I preached
from this scripture, this portion of scripture, in Rocky Mount,
Virginia. My pastor, Henry, said to me,
the next time you preach, You bring that again. Well, I've
preached many times since. Many times since. This past week,
we had a nephew to die, and this came back to my mind. This scripture,
this portion of scripture just came back to me. And I'd been
wrestling on the subject of what to preach today, and that kind
of nailed it for me. And the title of it is, Are You
Prepared to Die? That's a serious subject, isn't
it? Sobering subject. Are you prepared to die? Paul Mahan called me weeks ago,
weeks ago. And of course, I had caller ID.
And I said, hello, Paul. He said, John? He said, you could
die now. I said, okay. That's what he
said. He said, you can die now. He
said, you've seen the Lord. And then he began to tell me
of a message that he heard me preach. He had just listened
to it. And he said, I'm convinced you've seen the Lord. He said,
you can die now. And I, and I remember, I knew the scripture Simeon.
And he looked into the face of Christ. He said, now let me die.
And I thought, I said, thank you. Thank you. And that's, you
know, that's so. That's when you can die is when
you've seen him. I mean, really seen him. Now, someone may think
that this is going to be a depressing sermon. And I say that depends on your
relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ, whether it is or not. Turn over to Revelation chapter
21, Revelation. Chapter 21. And I saw a new heaven and a
new earth. Well, the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. And
I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And
I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall
be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their
God. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow,
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former
things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write,
for these words are true and faithful. Now I ask you, Did
I read anything that's depressing? Is there anything about that
depressing? Not at all. Now, if you don't
love God, if you do not believe God, if you do not believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, it'll still be depressing to you. But
that's not depressing. I make all things new. I wipe away all tears. I look forward to that day. I
look forward to it. I'm tired of dying. Tired of
crying, as my pastor said. I'll be glad when we quit dying.
I'll be glad when we don't do that no more. I'll be glad. Paul said this, for me to live
is Christ. Christ is my life. He's my reason
for existence. And to die is nothing but pure
gain. I want, I want that. I want,
I want what Paul's got here. One of these days I'm going to
preach on the, uh, I've just been thinking about this for
weeks and weeks and weeks on, uh, it's in Acts chapter 20 on
the apex of discipleship. Paul said, I count not my life
dear to me. My life means nothing to me on
this earth. Christ means everything. Christ means everything. That's
our goal. Our goal in this life is for Christ to mean everything. And for not to count this life
or my life dear to me. Not at all. It says in 1 Corinthians
15 that this mortal must put on immortality. And this corruption,
this corruption, this corruptible must put on incorruption. That's
what's going to happen to the believer. Let's talk about this
for a little bit. Let's get serious with this for
a little bit. Are you, are you prepared to die? Are you? Look at the cause of death. Every
time someone dies, there's a cause of death given. Heart attack,
cancer, But the real cause is never given, sin. You'll never
read in the paper that mother died, their mother died from
sin. That sounds a little too bad, doesn't it? That just sounds
a little too bad to put in the paper. It sounds better to die
of cancer than to die of sin. But which one's right? Which
one did I really die from? Which one did this body really
gonna die from? Gonna die from sin. Sin. No report has ever given the
truth that sin is the cause of our death. That's it. That's it. When sin is conceived,
it says in Romans, when sin is conceived, it brings forth death.
And when is sin conceived? The day I'm conceived, the day
my mother and father, the day I was conceived, sin was conceived. And I started on that path. That
the day I was born, I started on that path. Because sin is
conceived. And there's no cure for sin.
Therefore, there is no cure for death. We try to keep living
longer and longer. They lived 900 years in Genesis. And then what's it say about
every one of them? And they died. And they died. And look how fast
that's gone. The brevity of that, like that. Unbelievable. Goes by so fast.
Men keep trying to live longer, but we still die. The medical
field is always treating the symptoms of sin, but they can
never treat sin. Never. They can never deal with
sin. Never. And here's the reality
of it. All die. All die. Statistics prove that one out
of every one person dies. Statistics proves that. You think
we pay attention, don't you? We like stats, don't we? You
sports guys, you like stats. I mean, you can rattle off stats
of this, that one. Well, here's your stat. Everyone
dies. Take that one home. Everyone
dies. That's why Solomon said it's
good to go to the house of the morning. The living will lay
at the heart. The living, those who are made alive in Christ.
I tell you what, you go to visitation and funerals, there's more dead
there than that one laying in the casket. The living know that. They know that. All die. No one is still alive
on this earth since the beginning. No one. The newspapers always, how many
of you, I don't take the paper, I bet you, how many of you take
the paper and the first thing you turn to is obituary, see
who died? See who died? You say, oh, do you know, can
you believe so and so died? Well, God said they would. You'd
think we wouldn't be so surprised. I know when the young ones die,
we get surprised, but you know what? God said so. He said, it's
a porno, but their life is cut short. No, it's not. No, it's
not. Nobody's life's cut short. Our months, Job said, are with
him. Like a hireling, we fulfill our
days. My days may just be 50 years or 60. Well, it's past
50 now, but it may just be 60 years. Somebody's life might be 25 years.
Their life wasn't cut short, it was determined of God. And
that's it. That's it, brethren. God gives life and God takes
it. When it's time. There's a time
to be born and there's a time to die. Our Lord said that not
even a sparrow falls to the ground without your Heavenly Father. It can't die. until he calls
his life away. Can't do it. Can't do it. You can go to the graveyard.
You'll see the year they were born. Then you'll see the year they
die. And right between those two dates, you're going to see
a dash. That dash is your life. That's
your life. Your life is a dash. Literally. Literally. We are fully aware, and the older
I get, the more funerals I attend, and the more I realize, one day
that'll be me. I preached my first cousin's
funeral months ago. Months ago. And I said to him,
the first thing I said to him, I said, here we are again. If
not too long before that, I'd preach my aunts. And not too
long before that, I'd preach my uncles. And I said, we'll
be here again. We'll be here again. We must also recognize here that
it's an appointment made by God. And God keeps his appointments. He keeps his appointments. When Adam fell, sin entered the
world and death entered. And God said, the soul that sinneth
shall surely die. Have you sinned? Get in line. Just get in line. Now it says here, and here's
the part that makes people afraid. Here's the part that makes them
afraid. After this, judgment. Judgment. We do not die like animals. We
are responsible human beings. And our soul, we exist and live
forever, either with Christ or separated from Christ. That's so. That's so. Death brings judgment. Let me show you something. Read
over in Revelation chapter 20. We can't skip over these things.
We can't just jump to the good parts all the time. We've got
to deal with truth. It's my responsibility to stand
here and deal with these things also. It's my responsibility. Paul said he was free from the
blood of all men. He said, I did not shun to tell
all the counsel of God. Didn't do it. Revelation 20,
look in verse 11. And I saw a great white throne,
and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the
heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. What
did our Lord say in John 14? I go and prepare a place for
you. I prepared a place for you, but
here are some that there is no place for." And I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God. I saw all of them, all the kings
of the earth and all the paupers, all gathered there, stand before
God. And the books were opened, and
another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the
dead were judged out of those things. Every thought, every
idle word. You know scripture says you'll
be judged for every idle word. Written down. Right here in the
books. Your life laid out. Your secret
thoughts. The secret intents of your heart
laid out. These are the ones who stand
without Christ. And the dead were judged out
of those things which were written in the books. He's not just... Oh, the minuteness of this judgment. Recorded your life. Imagine this. Your life recorded. Your life. According to their works. According
to their works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it. And death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them. And they were judged every man
according to their works. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire. Brethren, this is the real stuff.
This is real. And the judge is none other than
Jesus Christ. He's the judge of all the quick
and the dead and the living. All judgment, He says, has been
turned over to Him. All judgment, all authority turned
over to Him. And the judge of the earth will
do right. It says in Psalm 119, 75 that His judgments are right. Righteous. Righteous. He'll give every man what he
deserves, no more, no less. I had a man say to me this week,
he was just talking about his wages and stuff. He said, all
I want is what I deserve. Well, I can assure you God will
give that. God will give that. He'll give
you just what you deserve and nothing more, not one ounce more
or one ounce less. And this judge cannot be bribed.
He has no political agenda and he can't be made to feel sorry. Can't be made to feel sorry. Should have listened. Should
have listened when he spoke on earth. But I am so thankful. I am so
thankful. that verse 27 does not end with
a period. It does not end with a period.
Look at verse 28. It leads us to hope. It tells
us the truth. It tells us the truth. It's appointed
unto men once to die. And then it gives us the hope
of of those who die. If we have any hope at all, here
it is. Verse 28. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many, to bear the torment I deserve, to bear
my hell. That's what he did. He took my
death. That rich man who lifted up his
eyes in torment and he said, Father Abraham, send Lazarus,
let him dip his finger in water and cool the tip of my tongue. That's the torment my Lord took.
He cried out thirst. He took the same torment that
man was taken, except he was taken for many, many sinners. Many sinners. We find in verse 28, someone
else standing in the gap. Someone else taking my death,
your death, if you believe. If you believe God. Now, if you
don't believe God, I can't say that. I can't say that. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't.
Maybe he didn't. But if you believe God, I can say that. We find here substitution. Christ
was once, once offered. Not many times, one time. He
got the job done. He got the job done. For all who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, judgment is passed. We have nothing to fear. I have
nothing to fear in death. Not if I know Christ. Not if
I believe on Him. Not if He's my Lord, my Savior,
my righteousness, my all in all. I have nothing to fear. Rejoice. I have all but rejoicing. We have a lot to rejoice about.
No more sorrow. Is that something to rejoice
about? Think about those who go on.
I have to say, when I read this, I thought of Earl. I did. I thought
of Earl. I thought of Earl. I thought
he's there with no more sorrow, no more sin, happy, joyful. I mean, he just crossed my mind.
Now, would you change that? He bore the sins of many sinners,
and I can tell you who they are. Are you interested? Are you interested in who these
many are that he died for? It tells us right there in the
verse, and unto them that are looking for him shall he appear
the second time without sin, because that issue is already
dealt with, unto salvation. Are you looking for him? He died for you. I can say that. I can say that. Are you looking
for him to appear? Do you want him to appear? Would
you like for him to hold off? You got some other things you'd
like to do, like to accomplish. Are you looking for him really? Is he that real to you? Is Jesus
Christ that real to you? Christianity is not a religion.
It's the living God. If you're looking for him, then
he died for you. He took your judgment. It says
in Titus 2.13, looking for that blessed hope in his glorious
appearing. Oh, my. I would that I could
get up because I don't do this. And I know you don't either.
But wouldn't it be great if we could be of such a mindset that
we could get up in the morning and go to the window and see
if he's coming? Wouldn't that be something? Wouldn't it be
nice to get to that point in life where you just got up first
and look for him to appear? And if not, you just get your
lunch bucket and go to work and do his will for that day. And
hopefully he'll appear the next day or the next. But I assure
you one thing, one by one, he's going to appear. And you that are looking for
him, you that are looking for him, he's coming to get you. If I go and prepare a place for
you, I will what? Come again and receive you to
myself. When you see a believer die or
leave this life, the Lord just came for him or her and received
them. We've had some of this congregation
that it's happened to. The Lord has come and taken them
home. The good news of the gospel is
that Jesus Christ died for sinners. He didn't die for good people,
there's not any. There's just not any. Let's just settle that
now. God said there's not any. I didn't say that. I didn't say
that. When we get mad at somebody,
we get mad at God. He's the one that said it. He said there's
not any good ones. And I think he's a pretty good
judge of character, don't you? A lot better than we are. That's why
he told us to leave the wheat and the tares alone. Let them
grow together, because you're going to mess it up. You and I will
mess it up every time. We'll pluck up the wrong ones.
Who in the world would ever thought Lot would have been just Lot?
Or Vex, his righteous soul? Yeah, he wouldn't have thought
that. There's not one good thing said about that man throughout
the scriptures except that. He's just Lot and righteous.
Of course, we know his righteousness is that of Christ, not his own. The good news of the gospel is
that Jesus Christ died for sinners. He rose the third day. He's seated
at God's right hand. He's making intercession. He's
doing this for sinners, a bunch of no good people. Christ died
for the ungodly. Ungodly. That just opens the door wide
open for me. He died for sinners, none godly.
He got me on both shots. That's good news, brother. That's good news. We have nothing
to fear in judgment if we are looking for Him to appear. For
in Him you are complete. Now, I'm going to close. How important is the death of
Christ to you? How important is his death to
you? It's everything. His death is
the death of my death. I don't have to worry about it.
He took the sting out of me. He took the sting out of death. One sacrifice for sin forever. Nothing there. I don't have to
sacrifice anything for it now. Not at all. How important now,
how important is my union to Christ? Absolutely everything, everything,
every relationship, everything in this life pales in comparison
to my relationship to Jesus Christ. Everything. Nothing else matters. What I accomplish absolutely
doesn't matter. What I don't accomplish doesn't
matter. When I die, what you say about
me, like that's going to change anything? It's my relationship to the Son
of God. It's my union to Him. That means
everything. Everything. Again, I ask, are
you prepared to die? Are you really? Is Christ your hope? Is he your
sin bearer, your high priest, your all in all? Are you prepared to meet God? If you're looking for him, you
are. If you're looking for him. Listen to this scripture and
I'll close with this. Ezekiel 33 11. Say unto them, As I live,
saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Now that's everybody who does
not believe God. I have no pleasure in the death
of the wicked. but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn
ye, turn ye from your evil way, for why will you die, O house
of Israel?" Scott Richardson said this, why will you die when
the water is so close by?