The following is the synopsis
of the message preached by Daniel E. Parks on December 4, 2011. He was at that time a missionary
in the West Indies. He preached this message during
a worship service of Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Frederickstead,
St. Croix, Virgin Islands. The occasion of this message
was the death of a beloved nephew. The text is Ecclesiastes 12.1. Remember now your creator in
the days of your youth. This message is titled, Youths
Urged to Obey the Gospel Now. My father is in his 90th year. My mother is also well advanced
in age. Each is the last remaining member
of the family into which he or she was born. They have both
survived, not only parents, but also all siblings. Almost all
their friends of their generation have now departed this earthly
life. My father is the oldest minister
of Christ in almost every worship service he attends, including
conferences attended by many fellow ministers. Both my parents
have advanced well beyond their three score years and 10, and
have the earthly griefs and sorrows to prove it. My very aged parents will witness
tomorrow the burial of a grandson. He died at the young age of only
29 years and was a strapping veteran of the Marine Corps. Not long ago, my parents witnessed
the burial of another grandson. He died at the tender age of
only 17 years with what many assumed was a long and successful
life before him. My parents have witnessed also
the burial of a son-in-law. He died at the age of 48 years,
yet full of physical strength and vigor, leaving one of their
young daughters in widowhood. None should be so foolish as
to presume we will outlive our parents and grandparents or generational
peers, indeed, None should be so foolish as to presume we will
live past this present hour. Death comes alike to tender-aged,
middle-aged, very-aged. And none should be so foolish
as to not be prepared for the moment of death. You know you
will die, but not when. And you know it would be best
to be ready for that event now. Many who are so foolish as to
think they will repent at the midnight hour have died in the
11th hour. Others who have lived into their
midnight hour were at that time so demented that they could not
remember their own name, much less the gospel preached to them
at an earlier time. I therefore remind you of the
exhortation of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 12, verse one. Remember now your
creator in the days of your youth. Your creator will be your judge
at the final day, for God will bring every work into judgment,
including every sacred thing, whether good or evil, verse 14.
He will judge you according to his requirement to fear God and
keep his commandments, for this is man's all, his whole duty. Verse 11. You must do so by properly
reverencing him and obeying his requirement to repent of your
sins and trust in Jesus Christ for your salvation. Do so in
your youth. and all of us are younger now
than we will be tomorrow, the requirement to do so now emphasizes
the urgency to do so immediately. This urgency is required throughout
Holy Scriptures. We read in Acts 17.30, God now
commands all men everywhere to repent This now is this present
gospel age. God's command to repent is a
solemn charge, not a mere invitation to turn to him in faith now. We read in 2 Corinthians 6 verse
two, behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day
of salvation. Do not assume that a day of salvation
for you will be found after now, God's accepted time. We read
in Hebrews 3 verse 15, today if you will hear his voice, do
not harden your hearts. You have no assurance you will
hear his voice calling you tomorrow. Come to Christ, post haste. Do not foolishly trust in any
supposed invincibility. Death comes unexpectedly to both
old and young, both weak and strong, both wicked and righteous,
both poor and rich, both failures and successes. Do not foolishly
procrastinate regarding obedience to the gospel. This was a grievous
error of the Roman procurator Felix. Having heard from a gospel
preacher about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment
to come, he fearfully answered, go away for now. When I have
a convenient time, I will call for you. Acts 24 verse 25. To the best of our knowledge,
he never found a time convenient to him. and death found him in
a most inconvenient situation. Today, now, is the only convenient
time. Obedience to the gospel from
youth results in everlasting blessedness and spares from untold
miseries. Refusal of the gospel until death
results in everlasting misery, devoid of blessedness. If you
have not already repented from sin and come to Christ, do so
today, now. May today be your day of salvation. Be thereby prepared for the moment
of death whenever it occurs.