Most of you are aware of the
fact that Brother Larry Brown's mother went to glory Wednesday
morning. I had the privilege of knowing
Mrs. Brown for better than 30 years. She was a faithful, faithful
woman, exemplary. I ask, as I commonly do, the
children and grandchildren to write some things they'd like
to share of their memories of their mother or grandmother.
Mary's daughter Caroline wrote as high a tribute of a woman
as any woman could write. She said, she taught me how to
love my husband and love my children and take care of my house. Taught her a faith in the Redeemer. And I had the honor of preaching
the message for a funeral Friday afternoon. The wise man said
it is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house
of feasting. You'd be smart. You'd be real
smart every time you get a chance to stand around folks who are
dying and watch them. and listen to them, both believers
and unbelievers. You'd be wise to watch folks
die, pay attention to them. You'd be smart, very smart, every
time you have opportunity to go to the funeral parlor and
to the graveside and stand around until the last shovel of dirt
has been laid on the coffin. Wise will go to the house of
mourning. For that is the end of all men,
and the living will lay it to his heart. Now, if God, the Holy
Spirit, will speak by me to you this morning, I want to talk
to you about life, death, and eternity. And I pray that God
will cause you to lay these weighty matters to heart. Our text will
be Job chapter 14. Not many folks like to think
about death, let alone talk about it. Preachers seldom ever say
anything honest about it. And morticians are even worse
than preachers. These days the trend rather than having a funeral
or a memorial service, the trend is to have a celebration of life. So you go to the funeral home
and you've got a dead body laying in a cold, dark casket in the
middle of the room and folks pretend to celebrate life as
though nothing has really happened. The fact is soon you will die. Soon, you will die. And you won't hear me say, concerning
folks who don't know God, including my own blood kin, you won't hear
me say, well, they're better off now. And you ought to stop
your mouth when you start to say that. I remember years ago,
one of the members of Fairmont Church, Katie Baptist Church,
her father had died and she was at the casket greeting folks
just like you had to the other day, get to, not had to, get
to. And folks kept coming by and
said, well, he's better off now. His suffering's over. He's better
off now. His suffering's over. And after two or three hours,
she had had all she could take. And she said loud enough everybody
in the room could hear her, he's in hell. Do you call that better
off? Soon you're going to die and
you're going to meet God in judgment. and you're going to spend eternity
either in the bliss and glory of everlasting life with Christ
in heaven. Indescribable life. Indescribable
blessedness. Indescribable glory. Or an indescribable
torment. and darkness under the just fury of almighty
God in hell forever, one of the two. Now, you know those things
are so. You know those things are so.
You may scream and say, I don't want to hear that. You may say,
I don't believe that. I believe man dies like a dog
and that's the end of it. And I'm here to tell you, you
are a bald-faced liar. You know better. You know better. When you're by yourself in the
middle of the night and you think about the possibility of dying,
you're terrified with the thought. If you're outside Christ, you
have reason to be terrified. If you're without faith in Christ,
you have every reason to be terrified. You're going to meet God in judgment
and you're going to spend eternity in everlasting torment. Job was
a man who lived in the earliest of times, at least as early as
Abraham, maybe as early as Noah, maybe even earlier than Enoch,
maybe before the flood. And for you, young people and
older folks too, who succumb to the constant bombardment of
atheism and agnosticism in your teaching, don't ever imagine
that in those early days of humanity, we were cavemen. God didn't create
Adam a caveman. Adam named everything that walked
on the earth. One man named everything that
God created. You know, Job wasn't a caveman
and he wasn't a barbarian. Job was a man who lived with,
walked with, worshipped, and believed God. And he did so in
a day when few did. In Noah's day, there were just
eight souls delivered in the day of God's judgment because
all other men were buried under the flood of God's wrath. And
Job, living in those days, lived when few men did who worshipped
God. Who worshipped God. God said
that Job was a perfect and upright man. A man who feared God and
discued evil. And this man, Job, was smitten
of God in providence with great trouble, great sorrow, He lost
his sons and his children, his daughters. He lost his influence
in the community. He lost his strength and his
health. God covered him with boils. He
lost all the possessions he had. And his wife said, why don't
you just cuss God and die? And yet, in all these things,
Job sinned not, nor charged God with folly, but worshipped him.
And then his friends, his friends. I've had a lot of friends like
his friends, haven't you? His miserable friends. They came
to visit Job in his adversity and they looked at him and sat
for seven days silent. Silent. This is Job? This is Job? What's happened? And they began to muse in their
own hearts what must have happened. Job must have done something
horrible. Job must have, he must have done
something bad. We've not known Job. There's
something secret about Job we don't know about. And they started
charging Job with all kinds of evil. And Job answered them. And as he answered them concerning
himself and concerning God's hand upon him, Job defended God
and defended his worship and faith in God, and he acknowledged
what he was. In the 13th chapter, Job acknowledges
his sin, his vanity, his corruption, his wickedness. And now in chapter
14, Job continues answering his accusers. And as he does, he
raises six questions. Six questions that go right to
the heart of life, death, and eternity. Six questions that
everyone constantly asks. Six questions that are always
on the minds of men. You try to shut them out. You
try not to think about them. These are six questions you can't
stop asking yourself. Six questions that that must
be answered, must be answered in such a way as satisfies your
conscience, or else you will try your best to silence your
conscience and never heed the questions. I want you to lay
them to heart. You who are youngest and you
who are oldest, You are just beginning life and you who are
nearing life's end. Lay these things to heart. I
pray that God will never let you spend an hour and not consider
these things. Not an hour. All right. Let's
look in Job chapter 14. We'll begin at verse one. Man
that is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. What havoc the fall of our father
Adam has brought 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. Brother Scott Richardson had
a way of putting things that nobody else could put quite the
way he did or even get Bible put in the way he did. I remember
preaching with him one time years ago down in Rocky Mount, Virginia.
And Scott said life in this world ain't much. It starts off with
a slap on the butt and ends with a shovel full of dirt in your
face. And that's just exactly what Job says here. Man that
is born of woman is a few days and those few days are full of
trouble. He cometh forth like a flower.
Oh, look at that beautiful flower and is cut down. He fleeth also
as a shadow and continueth not, and here's Job's first question,
and dost thou open thine eyes upon such a one? Such a weak,
insignificant, withering, worthless creature. The question arose
from Job's consideration of the frailty and the corruption of
his nature, the brevity and the depravity of his life. the utter
insignificance of his existence on the earth. Like a flower that
springs up and is cut down by the first frost and withers away
and is gone. That's how insignificant man
is. I remember hearing Brother Larry Brown tell of his dad. One time when he was a young
man, he began to get a little bit too big for his britches.
And his daddy said, you think you are important? He said, stick
your hand in that bucket of water. Now pull it out. Do you see where
your hand was? That's just how important you
are. And me too. Oh, I want to make a difference
in the world. You're not going to. Well, you have, but we'd
be better off without it. I want to change things. You're
not going to change anything. And when you're gone, your family
will soon forget who you were. That's just the way things are.
Man's born a woman. He's a few days and full of trouble. And if you leave a mark in history,
I promise you it'll be a black mark. And everyone will know
it. Everyone. Man is a few days. I'm 61 years old now. And I'll
be honest with you, the longer I live in this world, the more
thankful I am that life in this world at its longest is but a
very brief existence. I'm truly thankful that since
the days of the flood, longevity of life has been continually
going down. I know folks tell you it's going
up. It's gone up in recent generations,
in recent centuries, but not over the long period. There was
a day when a fellow named Methuselah, lived on this earth for 969 years. And Merle, he wasn't rolling
around in a wheelchair then. He bore sons and daughters for
969 years. Oh, I'm so thankful. I don't
have that to look forward to. Number of our years, Three score
and ten, that's the normal age of a man. Has been since those
earliest days and will be tomorrow. We've got two doctors in the
place. Doesn't matter what y'all do. Doesn't matter what y'all
do. And we got folks in the house
who are very careful to watch what you eat. Don't dare eat
anything that tastes good. Oh, no. No. Because I could live
for another 60 seconds. Few days full of trouble. I'm thankful that 70 years is
about it. I'm getting close. 70 years is about it. If you
live to be 80 or 90 or 100, even that's just a speck, not even
a speck in eternity. Do you understand that? Life
in this world, is brief. Moses tells us plainly that we
ought to number our days and apply our hearts to wisdom. That
is, number our days and set our hearts on Christ. Brother Eric Richardson back
there, I'm sure you will remember this. When Eric was younger,
he was a pretty good football player and had aspirations of
playing pro ball. And I pulled him aside and said,
Eric, I'm real thankful that you enjoy football and maybe
go to college, get a scholarship, help you a little bit with your
college expenses. And this is my prayer for you.
I pray that you'll never be able to play pro ball. And he might
not remember this. He looked at me like I sure wish
I could knock you on your rump. Why would you say that? I said to him after a pause,
because you can't possibly worship God and spend every Sunday playing
ball. I wouldn't wish that on my worst
enemy. Number your days. Matter few. Set your heart on
Christ. Set your heart on Christ. When
all said and done, nothing else matters. Nothing. Nothing. These few days
we have on this earth, because we are sinners in a world full
of sin and sorrow, are full of sorrow, full of trouble. That word trouble is one of those
words that has many shades of meaning. It might be translated
as we have it here, trouble. Trouble because of sin. Sin and
trouble always go hand in hand. Where there's sin, there's sure
to be trouble. The word might be translated commotion. Because
the lives of men in this world are like the troubled sea, always
restless. Fallen man is always in a constant state
of uneasiness. It's a constant state of uneasiness,
never comfortable. The word might be translated
trembling. The reason for man's restlessness
to a great extent, the trembling of his soul is the prospect of
death and judgment and eternity. Troubled man whose life is but
momentary is insignificant. Like the withered flower of the
field. Like the, just the grass that springs, the flower of the
grass that springs up and is cut down overnight. Insignificant. Meaningless. Meaningless. And
in the light of that, Job asked this question. Does thou look
upon such a what? Does God look upon man? Will God in his holiness In His
infinite greatness, in His majesty, look on you. Will God turn His
attention to a man? Will God look favorably upon
a man? Will God visit man? David considers
that. He said, what is man that thou
visitest him? What is man that God should consider
him? The hymn writer wrote, and can
it be that I should gain an interest in my savior's blood? Died he
for me who caused his pain for me, who him to death pursued? Amazing love, how can it be that
thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Job says, dost thou look
upon such a one? Will God look on a man? Indeed,
he does with favor. He looks upon men in his son. Men like you and me. Sinful,
fallen, depraved men. Corrupt men who deserve his wrath.
He looks upon us in favor in his son. Only in his son. And Skip Gladfelter, if he looks
on you in favor today, it's cause he did from everlasting. Accepted
and to be loved. He looks upon man in electing
love. He looks upon man in covenant
mercy. He looks upon man in favor because
he sent his son to redeem fallen men. He looks upon men through
the blood of his son, accepted in his son. He looks upon men
graciously, favorably because of the sacrifice of his son.
And then Job asked another question. Look at the last part of verse
three, and bringest thou me into judgment with thee. Now, here's another fact. Here's
another fact. Everybody knows it. Everybody
knows it. How do you know what I know?
Because I know what God says written on your conscience. I
know what God says stamped on your heart. And I don't care
how much you scream and say otherwise, I know it so. You're going to
meet God in judgment. Bringest thou me into judgment
with thee. The word of God asserts it. It is appointed unto men once
to die, and after this, the judgment. The judgment. The judgment. After this, the
judgment. Curtis, I just caught your eye.
After this, the judgment. After this, the judgment. Judgment. And notice how Job speaks. Bringest
thou me into judgment with thee. He doesn't say, God, are you
going to bring me into judgment before you? He says, will you
bring me into judgment with you? With you. The word of God asserts
that he shall. Your conscience bears witness
to what God asserts in his word. Calvary demonstrates the reality
of it. When God found sin on his son,
God abandoned his son and God punished his son in the fury
of his anger and wrath and justice. And God finds sin on you. He'll
do the same with you. After this, the judgment. There
is a day appointed by God Almighty when we will appear before his
august great white throne to be judged. And in that great
day of judgment, the basis, the standard of judgment will be
God himself. I recall I've told you several
times my first visit to Ashland, Kentucky to preach. Brother Mahan
asked me to come down and preach for him. And when I got there,
Shortly after I got there, there was an older couple that drove
up in the parking lot, walked inside. I saw them come in. I
later found out they were chartered members of the church. They'd
been around since before Brother Mahan came there, him and Ruth
Adkins. And we chatted a little bit.
And Ruth said to me, after a while, she said, Brother Fortner, how
good does a man have to be to get to heaven? And I'd never
been asked that question. And I paused a minute and I said,
as good as God. And she smiled. That was just
what she wanted me to say, wanted to hear. She wanted to understand
that I knew what God requires. As good as God? Does God require
you to be as good as Him? He said, walk before me and be
ye holy, for I am holy. He said, be thou perfect. For
I, the Lord your God, am perfect. He says concerning every sacrifice,
everything brought to him, it shall be perfect to be accepted. Perfect. Perfect. Well, Brother Don, nobody is
as good as God. Oh, yes, somebody is. Look up
here. Look up here. Look up here. Look at this man. With Christ's spotless garments
on, I am as holy as God's own Son. As good as God. As good as God. You sang it just a bit ago. Sang
what John said in 1 John 4, 17. As he is, so are we in this world. Is Jesus Christ without sin?
So am I. Is Jesus Christ perfectly righteous? So am I. Is Jesus Christ perfectly,
infallibly, immutably holy? So am I. I'm one with Him. I'm one with Him. Not by what
I do. not by what I am, not by my nature,
not by my deeds, but by who and what Christ is, my substitute,
my mediator, and my head. Wilt thou bring me into judgment
with thee? And then Job asks this question,
verse four. Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean? Not one. Seeing his days are
determined, The number of his months are with thee. Thou hast
appointed his bounds that he cannot pass. Turn from him that
he may rest till he shall accomplish as an hireling his day. Our translation reads in response
to this question, who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean,
not one. A better translation might continue
the question. Who could bring a clean thing
out of an unclean? Is there one? Is there one? Realizing that man who is altogether
unclean by nature, by birth, by practice, unclean, having
Adam's sin imputed to him, must stand in judgment with God Almighty
in his holiness, this question is one everybody with any sense
ought to seek an answer for. The number of our days in this
world were determined by God from eternity. The number of our days in this
world were determined by God from eternity. Stonewall Jackson when he was
was asked how he could be so courageous standing on the battlefield
with bullets flying everywhere. And Jackson said, did all men
alike believe God? All men would be alike courageous. No such thing as a stray bullet. No such thing as an accident. that takes men out of this world.
No such thing as chance events. No such thing. Now, we don't
worship at the footstool of luck and chance. We worship at the
footstool of God Almighty, who has ordained all things that
come to pass exactly as they come to pass. Well, but Brother
Don, we're responsible. I know that, but your days are
still numbered. Don't you think we can add to
our number of our days by behaving a certain way and living a certain
way? No. No. Don't you think if I don't cut
off his days by taking a little gun and blowing his brains out?
No. God's ordained the number of our days, and you're not going
to pass that number nor shorten that number. Not going to happen.
Not going to happen. Yeah. If that's the case, then
everything's out of our hands. It's time you learn that. It's
time you learn that. Everything's out of your hands.
Everything. Especially the salvation of your soul. Which of you have
ever succeeded in keeping yourself from getting a cold? That's about the most common
thing I know of going around. Anybody here never had a cold? No. I wear a mask, and I take vitamin
C, and I take vitamin E, and I get a flu shot, and I go to
the doctor, and I don't go out when folks are running a fever.
I just, I do everything I can, I still wind up with a cold.
That's because God orders your steps, not you. God orders your
steps, not you, not you. And he's ordered exactly how
many you have. And when it comes to the salvation of your soul,
Nothing's up to you. Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean? You. When I hear men talk about goodness,
their goodness, their righteousness, their uprightness, things by
which they will commend themselves to God. Works by which they think
they have earned a crown for themselves in heaven. I want
to laugh out loud and usually do. What stupidity! What folly! What arrogance! You're nothing but sin, David
Coleman. And that's all that can come
out of you. You're a pastor too. Just sin. These hands. Do you know everything
you touch? You leave a fingerprint on it?
Everything? You do know that, don't you?
How come? Because your hands are dirty. And you can't get them clean.
You can't avoid leaving a little oil behind because your hands
are dirty and the filth runs out your fingertips. Your heart
is polluted and the filth runs out in your life. You can't do
anything good. Everything's corrupt. Well, who
can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Is there one? Oh, bless God, there is. Jesus Christ, God's darling son,
makes unclean sinners clean. Clean before God. His blood washes away all sin. His blood obtains eternal redemption,
for by the sacrifice of himself, he who has made sin put away
sin, and the sins he bore in his body on the tree are no more. Therefore, David wrote, and Paul
repeated, blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute
sin. But that's only a matter of justice. What a horrible way to talk.
What comes down to reality, David Peterson, born a sinner. Doesn't
matter that God chose you and Christ redeemed you. Born a sinner
came forth from your mother's womb speaking lies. Your mom
and dad are sitting back there. I'll guarantee you they never
taught you how to lie. How do you learn that? That's what he
is. It's called humanity. humanity, deceit, corruption,
violence, evil. That's all that comes out of
the womb and all that comes out of the heart. That's all. Well,
how can that be made clean? By something that our Lord said
to Nicodemus that he alone can do called the new birth. In the new birth, the Lord Jesus
sends his spirit and creates in the redeemed sinner a new
nature, created in righteousness and in true holiness. And now
that man who has been redeemed by the blood of Christ and given
a new nature in Christ Jesus, created in righteousness and
in true holiness, is fit, meet to be partaker of the inheritance
of the saints in light. Now, here we are. Saved by grace, ready to meet
God. But still this body, this body
going to be sown in corruption. These folks who know a little
bit about medicine will tell you that as soon as the body
is dead, corruption begins to set in. You can notice it pretty
quick yourself, but the corruption is there. It's already set in.
But our Lord Jesus said, Thou will not suffer thine holy one
to see corruption. He had been in the grave a portion
of three days and saw no corruption. That's not possible. It is if
you don't have anything to corrupt. The only thing that causes corruption
is sin. And he put away sin. He who bore
our sins in his body, when he said it is finished and gave
up the ghost, sin was put away and he saw no corruption. And
these bodies that he too has redeemed. That's another sermon,
but I'll give it to you another day. Don't even consider cremation. You who are believers, don't
even consider having your bodies cremated. Don't even consider
having them donated to medical science to have folks whack up
on them and cut them apart and divide out portions and send
it here, there, and everywhere. Don't even consider those things. There
are plenty of infidels to do that. Believers ought to recognize
some honor for this body. Christ has redeemed our dust.
He's redeemed these bodies. And soon, in resurrection glory,
He's going to raise these bodies. Listen to this. This mortal shall
put on immortality. This corruption shall put on
incorruption. This natural body shall be raised
a spiritual body so that Christ by redemption, regeneration,
and resurrection brings a clean thing out of an unclean, makes
that which is unholy perfectly holy. All right, Job 14 verse
7. Here's the fourth question. For there is hope of a tree if
it be cut down that it will sprout again and that the tender branch
thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old
in the earth and the stalk thereof die in the ground, yet through
the scent of water it will bud and bring forth boughs like a
plant. But man dieth and wasteth away. Yea, man giveth up the
ghost and Where is he? Look at verse 13. Oh, that thou wouldest hide me
in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret until thy wrath
be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time and remember me. Man dieth and wasteth away, yea,
man giveth up the ghost. And where is he? If you die without Christ, you will lift up your eyes like
the rich man in hell in torment immediately. Immediately. I can hardly think about it,
let alone preach about it. For you to be absent from the
body is to be in darkness, damnation, everlasting fire, corruption, isolation, torment. with a keenly awakened screaming
conscience, with no possibility of relief of any kind forever. And all of those things by which
hell is described in scripture don't even come close to describing
what hell is. But when the believer dies, when
the righteous die, Isaiah said he's taken away from trouble
to come. Taken away from trouble to come. And the believer is immediately
present with Christ in glory. This is life. This blessed state
we call death is really life. For the believer, it's a matter
of hope and expectation, not a matter of dread and fear. We sorrow at the loss of any
that we love. We're sorry to lose them. We
don't want to lose them. There's a sense even for the
believing man or woman leaving this world that there is sorrow
and apprehension concerning those we're about to leave behind.
And even fears for those we will leave behind. But for the believer. Oh, I look forward to breathing
my last breath. And opening my eyes in glory,
don't you? I look forward to taking down
this pup tent and rising in a body not made with hands eternal in
the heavens. I look forward to the end of
sin and sorrow and tears and the beginning of joy and delight
and gratitude. I look forward to being done
with all darkness and delusion and being filled with knowledge
and light and understanding. Job says, oh, that thou wouldst
hide me in the grave. Keep me in secret until thy wrath
be past, that thou wouldst appoint me a set time and remember me. I've had enough. Put me in the
grave until time shall be no more. Appoint me a set time and
remember me. Now he's talking about his body,
not his soul. He's talking about his body. That body goes to the
grave. The believer, his soul separated
from his body is immediately with the Lord forever. When God
takes one of his elect out of the world, he graciously takes
them away from sorrow and trouble. Here's the fifth question. Job
asked in verse 14, if a man die, shall he live again? And Job answers the question,
thou shalt call and I will answer thee. Thou will have a desire
to the work of thy hands. Paul said, he that hath wrought
us for the selfsame thing is God. God, our Savior, has a desire
for the work of his hands. And at the appointed day, Christ
shall come, and the trump shall sound, and the dead in Christ
shall rise first. Thou shalt call, and I will answer
thee. When God calls, we answer. That's true concerning our new
birth. When God calls the sinner, God
brings the sinner. And when God, our Savior, calls
these bodies from the grave, these bodies shall be brought
forth from the grave. The dead in Christ shall rise
first. Then we, which are alive and
remain, shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in
the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. I just read
again yesterday Winston Churchill's instructions for his death or
his funeral. He was a statesman. I don't know that either Great
Britain or America has had one since him. And I don't pretend
to know what Churchill was in his relationship with God, but
he believed the testimony of scripture. And for his funeral,
he had arranged that after the final benediction, In the high
dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, somebody would
stand up and play taps, universal sign, notes of rest. And this fellow stood up and
played taps, everything quiet. And just as soon as he got done,
Churchill had ordered that on the other side of the auditorium,
somebody else play Reveille. And he stood and played Reveille,
universal sign, that a new day has begun. So it shall be. Soon, you can play taps and say
goodbye, but be sure to play Reveille. I'm going to rise again.
This body shall rise from the dead. And then Job asked another
question. Look at this. He says in verse
16, for now thou numberest my steps. Dost thou not watch over
my sin? What? Watch over my sin? If thou, O Lord, shouldst mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Well, that's out of place. Watch over my sin? Our translators
missed something here. I'm sure they did. The word that
is translated sin is the very same word translated sin offering. Ah, now that's another story.
Does thou not watch over my sin offering? You see, God has not
beheld iniquity in Israel, nor perverseness in Jacob. He put
away our sins by the sacrifice of his son, buried them in the
depths of the sea. No, he doesn't watch our sin. Thank God. He hath not dealt with us according
to our iniquities. He watches our sin offering,
Christ Jesus, upon the mercy seat. With relentless delight and satisfaction, with relentless delight and satisfaction. The triune God watches the sin
offering and sees us only in Christ Jesus our Lord as we really
are. My transgression is sealed up
in a bag. Thou sewest up mine iniquity. What's that talking about? Ancient times, someone died at
sea. They'd stitch him up in a bag, bury him at sea. That's just
exactly what Job was saying. Thou hast cast my iniquities
into the depths of the sea. Thou watchest my sin offering. My Lord Jesus Christ, my substitute,
and me in Him with constant satisfaction and delight. Now let me tell
you something. The knowledge of that fact is
life everlasting. Amen.