As I said a few minutes ago,
back in August 2010, I was back here in my office one Saturday
getting ready to preach, late in the evening, and I got a call.
Brother Bob Duff called, and when I answered the phone, he
said, Brother Fortner, you don't know me. My name's Bob Duff.
The Lord's put me flat on my back for the last six weeks.
I think he said six weeks. And I haven't been able to do
anything except to read and watch television, and I've been watching
you on television. And God's shown me that I don't
know the gospel. I wonder if it'd be all right
if I come out and listen to you preach, and maybe God will teach
me the gospel. The next Sunday morning, first
man here was Bob Duff. Sitting right there. And God
taught him the gospel. And he proved to be a faithful,
faithful, faithful man in this congregation. In all the years
I've known him, I've never heard him say one thing out of the
way. They never heard him criticized.
He never carped about anything, never grumbled about anything. If the building was too hot,
he didn't say anything. If it was too cold, he didn't say anything. He was
tickled to death to worship God with his people. And he wanted
so very much for you to know God, our Savior. He wanted so
very much for you to be prepared to meet God in eternity. as God prepared him by his grace
to do so. To that end, I want, as God will
enable me, to talk to you for a few minutes about life, death,
and eternity. Life, death, and eternity. I'm going to be preaching to
you from the book of Job, Job chapter 14. The trend today is
to say as little as possible about death and judgment. Folks don't like to talk about
it. They don't like to think about it. Funerals commonly are
no longer looked upon as funerals and serious matters as such,
but rather as celebrations of life, because people would rather
not face the reality of death, judgment, and eternity. And so
they pretend to celebrate the life of one whose cold, dead
body lies in a dark casket and the body will live no more again. And their pretense is folly. You're an absolute fool if you
refuse to face the facts of life, death, and eternity. Soon, you
and I must die. Soon we will meet God in judgment,
and soon we will forever be in the bliss of heaven's glory with
God our Savior, or in the torments of the damned, in everlasting
darkness, in a pit described as a lake of fire where the fire
is not quenched. where the torments of the damned
forever and ever are but their own works heaped upon themselves
and spend eternity in darkness. Without God, without light, without
good, without anything but judgment and death and death. forever
separated from God, forever separated from everything that men desire. May God be pleased to prepare
you this hour for that great day when you shall meet God.
I'm going to begin in Job chapter 14 and verse 3. Here, Job raises
questions, questions about life and death, questions about judgment,
questions that I know you ask. You may choose to pretend that
you don't. You may choose to suppress them. You may choose to try to pretend
these things aren't so. But I know and you know that
these are questions which perplex you until you meet God in his
son in mercy and in grace. First, in chapter 14, verse 3,
Job asked this question. Dost thou open thine eyes upon
such a one? The chapter begins like this.
Man that is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. What havoc Adam's fall has heaped
upon humanity? What trouble springs from sin? Man that is born of woman is
a few days and those few days are full of trouble. Job says,
he cometh forth like a flower and is cut down. He fleeth also
as a shadow and continueth not. And dost thou open thine eyes
upon such a one, a man of just this temporary existence the
wise man calls vanity? This question arose from Job's
consideration of his frailty, his insignificance, his nothingness
before the great, glorious, holy, righteous, sovereign God. Nothing. Nothing. I know we all are terribly
proud creatures, and we like to think that much depends upon
us, when in reality, nothing depends on you. and nothing depends
on me. Nothing's determined by you.
Nothing's determined by me. We are all insignificant, sinful,
corrupt people before God Almighty. We are in His hands and we wait
upon Him for our next breath. He alone can give it and He alone
can take it. Man that is born of woman is
indeed of few days. And the older I get, the more
thankful I am for that. I'm very thankful that I don't
have the prospect of living in this world as it is for 969 years
like Methuselah did. We have an average expectancy
of 3 score and 10. But if you should live to be
80 or 90 or even 100 in the light of eternity, that's just a speck. That's just a speck. Man's a
few days, how quickly they pass like a weaver's shovel. And yet
we ought to learn to recognize that in this brevity of life,
in these few days, we would be wise to apply our hearts to wisdom. not to vanity, but to wisdom. I would urge you at your first
opportunity, read the book of Ecclesiastes, a book written
by the man who was the wisest man in the earth in his day. The wisest man up to his time
who had ever lived, Solomon. He writes by divine inspiration
and he considers all the things for which men and women live.
All the things which they consider great. All the things they strive
for. All the things for which they
labor. All the things which you have set your heart upon since
just a youth. And he says it's just vanity. Just vanity. Just vanity. Oh God, teach me then. in this
world of vanity, while I live here, to apply my heart to wisdom,
not to the wisdom of an educated man, a philosopher, or a brilliant
mind. The wisdom I'm talking about
is Jesus Christ, the wisdom of God. Jesus Christ, the revelation
of God. Jesus Christ, the incarnate God. Oh God, set my heart upon my
Redeemer. Apply my heart to wisdom. These days of vanity are described
as days of trouble, trouble, because sin always brings trouble. The word trouble might be translated
commotion. These few days, men without rest
in Christ. You whose souls have no rest
in the Redeemer, who have no refuge, no righteousness, no
atonement for your sin, who are without hope before God, live
in constant turmoil. In constant turmoil, there's
no ease for you, just turmoil. The word might also be translated
trembling. The reason for man's restlessness
to a very great extent is the trembling of his soul. Troubled
man whose life is but a momentary thing in this world, is insignificant
as withered grass after the first winter freeze. Job says, he cometh
forth like a flower and is cut down. He fleeth also as a shadow
and continueth not. In the light of those things,
Job asked a question which suggests that he is simply overwhelmed
by the fact of it. He said, as he looked into heaven,
considering God's greatness, his majesty, his glory, and his
own insignificance, and the vanity of everything around him, he
said, and dost thou look upon such a one as me? Do you give
regard to man? Do you look favorably upon man? What is man that thou visitest
him and the son of man that you visit him? Why would God look
upon such an insignificant thing? Think of it. What a wondrous
thing this is. God Almighty looks towards sinners. He cast his glance upon sinners
as he did upon Job, as our Lord did upon Peter in the midst of
his horrid fall. He cast his eye upon men in mercy
that he might be gracious to whom he will be gracious. Oh,
wondrous grace. Does God look upon men? Indeed,
he does. Indeed, he has. Indeed, he will. I spent a good bit of time this
past week before the Lord took Bob when it was obvious he was
about to, and since he took him, thinking of all God's wonders
and bringing him where he is now. God looks upon us from everlasting
in electing love. Before the world was, he chose
it. set his heart upon him. He said,
I will be his God and he shall be mine. And then the Lord God
looked upon his people in gracious redemption, sending his son into
the world to perform for us what we could never perform. to perform
perfect righteousness, which he requires, and satisfaction
for justice, satisfying justice because of our sins, which he
requires. And in the death of Christ, it
was accomplished. You see, all that God requires,
God help you to hear me now, God freely gives. What God requires,
you can't perform. What God requires, only God can
perform and only God can give. And God looks upon his people,
not only in that great act of election and redemption, but
in his providence, all the wonders of providence. I can picture
our brother seated at the throne of God now, looking over the
Alps of time with astonishment. Oh, what God did just for me,
to give me life and faith in Christ, to bring me to the appointed
time of love and reveal his son in me in all his good providence
sense. We look at things often and have
a jaundiced view of them because we view them only from a fleshly
standpoint. God give us grace to see things
as God sees them. Our brother would not have you
or me to shed a tear for anything God's ever done in his providence.
All the days of his life were good for him, right up to the
very last breath. I say that with absolute confidence. That's exactly how he looks upon
them. And then the Lord God graciously,
graciously looks upon us with favor to eternity. Accepted in the beloved from
everlasting to everlasting. Wilt thou look upon such a one
as me? And then Job asked this question,
and bringest thou me into judgment with thee? What a horrible realization. for a sinful man to come to,
but a realization I hope you come to now. Sooner or later,
you and I will meet God Almighty in judgment. I've been asked
on occasion, how good does a man have to be to get to heaven?
And the answer is as clearly revealed in Holy Scripture as
the name God himself. I'll tell you exactly how good
you gotta be to get to glory. You gotta be as good as God. As good as God. I can't tell you how often I
hear folks say, well, I've always treated folks good. That's got
to count for something. I don't harm people. That's got
to count for something. And I look at them and say, no,
that doesn't count for anything. That doesn't count for anything.
For every good thing that you think you do, every good thought,
every good deed, it's so full of self and sin and pride and
self-righteousness that it is in itself nothing but corruption
fit for God's wrath. God says, walk before me and
be perfect. God says, be ye holy as I am
holy. God says it must be perfect to
be accepted. God says nothing's going to enter
into that city that defiles or makes a lie or works abomination,
but only those whose names are written in the book of life.
Well, preacher, how can anybody be made perfect? Only by the
work of God. God sent his son here to live
in perfect righteousness, to bring in everlasting righteousness
by perfect obedience to his holy law. So that through the days
of our Lord's life, he walked on this earth, the full age of
a man in perfect submission to God. in perfect obedience to
God's law, in perfect love for his fellow man. He and he alone
came here and lived in righteousness. And that righteousness is not
merely the righteousness of a man. It is the righteousness of a
man who is God in the flesh. And that makes it of infinite
merit for all his people. What does that mean? Jesus Christ
lived in righteousness for every sinner chosen by him in eternal
love. Every sinner who believes on
him to life everlasting. That means while he walked on
this earth, I obeyed God perfectly. I believed God perfectly. I loved God perfectly. I lived in perfect righteousness,
and that righteousness is mine. Because God requires something
else. God requires satisfaction for
sin. God requires atonement. God says,
the soul that sinneth, it shall die. And you're going to suffer
God's wrath. There's no escaping that. Your
conscience says so. Your conscience declares it.
You have it constantly testified to you. You try to silence your
mind and say, I won't hear this. There's no such thing. I'll just
die like a dog and it'll be over. You know better. You know you're
lying to yourself. You know you're going to meet
God in judgment. God requires payment for sin. A full, complete
satisfaction for divine justice. And Jesus Christ, God's darling
son, was made sin for sinners. Made sin for every chosen sinner
loved of God from everlasting. That means made sin for every
sinner who trusts Him and Him alone as his Lord and Savior.
Who finds no righteousness but Christ my righteousness. No atonement
but Christ my redemption. And He who was made sin for us
justly suffered the wrath of God in our stead until justice
was fully satisfied. With one tremendous draft of
love, he drank damnation dry. And he who has made sin for us
makes sinners the righteousness of God in him. so that this entire
thing called salvation, this entire thing called redemption,
this entire thing called grace is wrapped up in the person and
work of God's darling son. It is the work of God and the
gift of God. Our entire acceptance with God
is in Christ and only in Christ. The scriptures speak so very
clearly concerning these things. And then Job asked this question,
which I've already answered for you. He said, who can bring a
clean thing out of an unclean? How can a man, a man, a woman
born of God be made clean? How can you be made clean? I'm talking about clean before
God. Clean before means nothing. Clean before your neighbor is
nothing. Clean before husband, wife, son, or daughter, that's
nothing. I'm talking about clean before God. Clean in your own
conscience before God. Oh, who could do that? We are
justified freely by the grace of God through the redemption
that's in Jesus Christ, our Lord. And he comes, that one who justified
us at Calvary, in marvelous saving grace and awakens dead sinners,
giving them life, raising sinners from the dead so that men who
are by nature unclean have a new nature created in them. of nature
created in righteousness and true holiness, Christ in you,
the hope of glory. This salvation, we commonly refer
to as the new birth, is not accomplished by something you do. It's not
accomplished by walking down a church aisle. It's not accomplished
by saying a prayer. It's not accomplished by making
the decision. Sinners are dead. This new birth
is accomplished by God the Holy Spirit coming into you by his
grace, giving you life. And the first time you know he's
around, our Lord's already set up his throne in your heart,
and you're delighted to have him. You find yourself believing
on him. so that he makes us clean by
redemption. He makes us clean by regeneration. And he makes us clean by a blessed
hope of resurrection, by the resurrection of these bodies.
Soon, this body in this coffin will be raised from the dead.
Some of you hadn't seen Bob in a long time. I mean, you walked
in here and looked in that coffin. If you hadn't known you'd been
coming to Bob's funeral, you'd have said, that's not him. That doesn't look like Bob. Well,
I met him. He looked just like you, Jim.
Looked just like you. That's not Bob. That's because
of the effect of sin and sickness. And it winds up
in death. That mortality. will soon be
raised in immortality. That body now corrupted will
soon be raised in incorruption. That carnal body will soon be
raised a spiritual body. Nobody believed that but a fool,
a fool or a Christian, one of the two. Job understood this
is what's going to take place. My Lord's going to raise me from
the dead, and I know that I will see my Redeemer, whom I will
see for myself. With these eyes, I'll look upon
Him." God's saints live in the blessed anticipation of that
day when all that we are by nature is finished. and were raised
again in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, in everlasting
glory with our Savior. And then Job asked, if a man
die, shall he live again? He uses the illustration of a
tree cut down and then it springs up with a scent of water. Indeed,
we shall live again. These bodies are just temporarily
sleeping in the earth for now, for now. But as soon as this
body, this soul leaves the body, we enter into life everlasting,
into life with Christ in heaven and the body lays in the earth. And as Job prayed here, he said,
he said, guard my body in the earth until my appointed time
comes. Guard my body in the earth until
the day of your wrath, your visitation of judgment upon this fallen
creation is ended. And then it'll be raised up into
everlasting glory. Indeed, it's coming again and
coming soon. Some years ago, I read a statement
with regard to Winston Churchill's death. He planned his own funeral,
much like Brother Bob did. And he did so expressing hope
of the resurrection and eternal life. He gave instructions that
after the benediction, a bugler be positioned high in one corner
of the St. Peter, the dome of St. Peter's
Cathedral, or St. Paul's Cathedral. And he was
to play taps, the universal signal that the day is over. But as
soon as he finished, Churchill given another word of instruction.
Another bugler on the other side of that huge dome would play
Reveille, the universal signal that a new day has dawned and
it's time to arise. And thereby, Churchill gave his
own expression to hope in the resurrection. There is hope beyond
the grave because Christ opened the door as the representative
life of his people by his sin atoning death and by his resurrection
from the dead. Soon, taps will be played for
this body. And soon, revelry for Christ
will come and raise his own from the dead. Oh, blessed anticipation. When our Savior conquers in us
what he has conquered for us and brings us into everlasting
immortality. And then Job asked, dost thou
not watch over my sin? That seems a strange question. A strange question. Dost thou
not watch over my sin? The word translated sin in Job
14, 16 is the very same word that's universally translated
in the Old Testament, sin offering. And this is Job's expression
of faith. Do you not constantly watch my sin offering? God's
eye is always on his son. He receives sinners in His Son,
accepts sinners in His Son. And those sinners who confess
their sin are so thoroughly, completely forgiven that the
Lord God says He will not charge them with sin. How come? Because
God looks on our sin offering all the time. All the time. He
looks on Christ and sees believing sinners in his son. This great salvation is God's
gift to sinners. It's God's gift to every sinner
chosen of God and redeemed by his darling son. And it is God's
gift to every sinner who believes on his son. I wonder if you can
trust Christ. I wonder if you can trust the
Redeemer. If right now, where you are, you find yourself believing
God, that's God's gift to you. God's work in you. And you can
go home rejoicing in this great salvation. For of him are you
in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. I can almost picture our friend
and our brother seated before the Savior with beaming face. as it looks
upon him face to face. Soon, soon, my dear brother,
I'll join you. Soon, soon. The sooner the better. How will
it be for you when you meet God? and meet God face to face. Will it be judgment or will it
be glory? If you refuse to believe Christ,
it will be everlasting damnation. If you believe on the Son of
God, everlasting glory. Oh, God give you faith in His
dear Son. Amen.