I invite you to turn back with
me to the book of Job, chapter 16. The book of Job, chapter
16. It's good to see each one of you this
morning. I trust you've come with something to get something
in. Did you bring something to get something in? Is your heart empty? Is it ready? Would it desire
to be filled with good things? Remember the Lord fills the empty, and He sends
those that are full, He sends them away. So if you come this
morning with an empty cup, Trust the Lord will have something
for you. I'd like you to look at verse
22 where Job says, When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence
I shall not return. When a few years are come, then
I shall go the way whence I shall not return. I was thinking of a couple of
verses in the book of Isaiah, chapter 21, where it says, Watchman,
what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? And do we have a word for those
that would look to us? You know, a watchman was somebody
up on a high place, and he had an advantage over others in that
he could see. round about and could see what
was coming. What of the night? Watchman,
what of the night? And that's an inquiry made by
the world unto the people of God. What do you see coming? What's about to happen? What's
about to come to pass in this world? Well, there are many,
many things that we don't know anything about, but there's one
thing we're certain of, and that is our God reigns. Our God reigns. We're certain of the fact that
our God is in control, and while some question that, and we hear
it questioned all the time, we're absolutely persuaded that our
God rules and reigns, and that he does according to his will
in the heavens and among the inhabitants of the earth, and
that none can say unto him, What doest thou? and none can stay
his hand. He's a God of purpose. He's a
God that will bring to pass that which He purposed. In old eternity,
He will accomplish. So if you want to know what the
watchman has to say, he says, Our God reigns. Our God reigns. Now, when a few years are come,
then shall I go the way whence I shall not return. The season
of the year, the fall of the year, may well remind us I think
of our mortality. The year has commenced to die,
has it not? Its glory and prime seems to
have gone, and the leaves are turning. The fall of the year
surely is upon us. Now, I think these are creation's
warnings reminding us that the Lord has set a harvest for us
and that we all do fade as a leaf. Nature has her prophets as well
as Revelation, and the fall of the year seems to me to be one
of those prophets. Now the solemn message of the
season is, I believe, the harvest is past and the summer has ended. Prepare to meet your God. Prepare
to face the Lord. Prepare to stand before God.
The Scripture says that it is appointed unto men once to die,
and after this we face God in the judgment. We face the Lord. Prepare to meet your God. Well,
all these things bring to my mind the words of our text. When
a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not
return. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. Let him hear what the Word of
God says. My subject is one upon which it would be impossible
to say anything new, since death is neither novel nor uncommon.
For from the days of Abel until now, it has honeycombed the earth
with graves. May we be unable to put away
the trifling thoughts that often are in our minds when we come
to meet in the house of God, and where as it were in just
a little while, the shroud, and let our imagination bow down
with the solemnity that we're dealing with, because we're dealing
with death, we're dealing with the grave, and we're dealing
with the judgment throne of God. We are to anticipate the day
in which we shall receive our final call from the judge of
all the earth. We are to anticipate that day.
We all know that we are going to die. The living, the scripture
says, know that they shall die. They know it. The living know
it. Now, my friend, in that we are
anticipating the day in which we will receive that call from
the Lord to leave the earth and to come to be with Him, or to
go off into everlasting judgment, It behooves us to be very serious-minded
this morning in dealing with this subject. So let us shut
out the present world and become familiar with that world which
is to come. The considerations of this morning
is going to be very simple. Be self-evident. May the Spirit
of God bless the Word and by its means prepare us for our
last journey of which Job is here speaking to us this morning. First of all, let us realize
our inevitable journey. We are going to take this last
journey. These words must be taken, I
think, in a personal manner by each and every one of us. The
language is singular. I shall go the way which I shall
not return. I know that every one of us look
upon ourselves as being, we don't expect to die. We look upon ourselves
as going, that we're going to be, not that we're not mortal,
but that we're going to live on and on and on. But we do,
we must expect to die. Even the aged look forward to
life continuing and the sick dream of possible recovery. And it is wonderful to recover,
beloved. It is indeed wonderful when you're
sick to recover. And sometimes when you're sick
and down, You don't think you ever will recover, but blessed
be the name of the Lord, I'll take this opportunity to tell
you that I'm doing quite well by the grace of God, but I do
still expect to take this last journey. Even though I have recovered
somewhat, I do know that the last journey will have to be
taken. So I guess there's no need to
stress the general truth that all men must eventually, inevitably
die. But I'll place it before you
like this. I, the preacher, you, each one of you, looking upon
the preacher now, I shall go, we all shall go the way which
we shall not return. As surely as you live, you'll
die. Surely as you live, you will
die. Now the day may come in our experience
when either the physician or the preacher or a member of your
family will have to break the news to you that your end is
very near. You may take the news in different
ways. You may not believe it, probably
won't believe it at first, but your doctor, the friend or the
preacher tells you that he's compelled to believe that your
end is near. He's compelled to believe it.
It's as certain as a thing may be. If you do believe it, It
may bring you great pain. It may wound your heart. It may
cut your soul to the quick. I'm going to die. I'm not going
to live, I'm going to die. I'm soon, the doctor says, I'm
soon to leave this world. It may be received with calm.
It may be received with patience. It may be received with resignation. Just like we have been in the
habit of doing all of our Christian life. Submission. We have been
submissive to the will of God. We've tried to submit ourselves
to His ways and to His doings in our life. And so we may receive
this news in submission. Again, it may be accepted with
joy. It is the thing you might say
I have longed for. Now I'll be free of this dreadful
pain and my dreadful infirmities will all be over. But brother
or sister, this is solemn business that we're talking about. Take
it however you may, however you receive the news, it is a solemn
business to die. Very solemn business. Solemn
to those who tell the news and more solemn still to those who
hear the news. They're about ready to die and
take their last journey. Look at the poor, poor dying
man wasting away before your eyes. He must now go to his long
home and the mourners will go about the streets. He must go! There's no question about it.
He must now go to his long home. No one can delay his departure
from this world. The hearse is at the door. If
he could offer all the gold in Fort Knox, Kentucky, he could
not bribe death. It's not to be persuaded, it's
not to be moved by entreaty to leave this house and go to another. Death will not be entreated. He could be the treasurer, this
man could be of the largest bank in America, but he could not
buy an hour's life. Man is going to his long home. It's coming to pass. The time has come. A few years
have passed, and it's time for him to come. His beloved wife
will detain him, but he will be torn from her embrace. His
children weep, but they cannot stay to wipe away his tears. Or he cannot stay to wipe away
their tears, maybe we should say. A kind friend would almost
make an exchange and die in his stead, but there can be no proxies
here. None. There's no discharge in
this war for any. Nobody gets out of this world
without taking this final journey, they must leave this world. It
is appointed unto all men, as we said, once to die, and dying
must! Man must die. Look at him! His
pulse is slowing, his eyes are glazing over, his muscles are
drawing. Do you not feel for a man in
such solemn circumstances as these? There we'll all be shortly. Every one of us will shortly
be right there. I ask you to place yourself in
his place and try to feel as he must feel because to such
a condition we all must come except the Lord come from heaven
of which we know so little as to when it that may be. We do
not know when the Lord's coming. We pray for his coming We look
for his coming, we're excited about his coming, we anticipate
his coming, but we don't know when the Lord is coming. But thanks be unto God, he that
shall come will come and will not tarry. He will not tarry.
Now the individuality of a person, I think, comes out in the hour
of their death. what an important being they
become. We think more of that one person
while they're dying than of all the thousands around us on the
streets. No matter who they are, they're
dying And we tread very softly around them. How important also
their character becomes, their life, their own life. Was he
righteous? Was this man a righteous man
or was he a wicked man? Was he lost or was he saved?
Did he fear God? Or was he a despiser of the grace
of God? Whether he was rich or poor,
it doesn't matter now. It doesn't matter anything at
all now. At home or in the hospital, it
doesn't matter now where he is. Doesn't matter. He's about ready
to take his last journey. Differences on the deathbed arises
out of character and not out of rank and station. Now you
must face for yourself the great things of eternity. You cannot
leave them to another. You cannot leave them to somebody
else or you cannot leave them to another time. You've heard
about it. with others, but now you experience
it alone and by yourself. You experience it alone. I'll
tell you, when you get ready to die, you're alone. You're
alone. And let the Lord be with you. You are alone, and the Lord will
be with His people. The Lord will not forsake His
people. He did not forsake them in life.
He will not forsake them in this hour when they're about ready
to take their last journey. He will not forsake His people.
Oh, how clear it is that each one of us must believe in the
Savior for ourselves. We must believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ for ourselves. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. But you, my friend, must believe
it for yourself. Each serves God personally and
each have a good hope through grace wrought in their own soul
individually. It is not something that some
loved one can just pass off to you at the time of your death.
You must have this experience of grace in your own soul. Well,
we never think of this till we come to die? No, there are many,
many people who want to put death off, put it as far off as possible. They don't want to think about
it. But my friend, you better think about it, because when
a few years are come, then shall I go the way which I shall not
return. Now, in death, a man's spiritual
condition, I think, is the most important thing. How did we live? What were our thoughts both about
ourselves and about God? What did we think about while
we were on the earth? What did we think about in connection
with our soul and its relationship with the living God? Was our
heart right with God? Did we have a heart that was
in communion and in fellowship with the living God? Did we repent
of our sins? Does He still repent? Now beloved, repentance is not
a once-for-all act. Repentance is a life long turning
from the mind of sin to the mind of God. Has that man been repenting? When you come to die, it will
be necessary to know for those around you to know if they're
going to have any comfort. Is this man, was the grace of
repentance ever worked in his life? Was he ever sorry for what
he was? Was he ever sorry? I'm not saying
was he just sorry for what he had done, but was he sorry for
what he was? He was a fallen son of Adam.
He was a blasphemer against God. He was wicked from the heart
out. And was he sorry for what he was? Well, my friend, this
is what's important. Does he believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ? You know the Philippian jailer.
was told in an hour of trial, in an hour when he faced death
at his own hand, if you please. He was told, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. But when a man comes to
die, that question will be very, very important. What must I do
to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus. Have
you believed on Christ? Is he resting? His soul on the
finished work of the Redeemer is He rested His soul. You know
the Lord Jesus came down here to this world and He was given
a work to do by His Father. And He came into this world and
that work was to provide salvation, eternal salvation for His people. And bless God, He came and He
finished the work. He said, I have glorified Thee
on the earth. I have finished. the work which
thou gavest me to do. Is this man that's about ready
to take this final journey, is he resting his soul on the finished
work of the Redeemer? Now before now, he didn't want
to be bothered with these questions about his soul, about how he
was living. about what he was trusting, what
he was depending upon. He didn't want to be bothered
with these questions. But now he must put these questions to
his own soul. It is now or never. He's about
ready to leave this world and he'll have no other opportunity
or occasion to have these questions put to his heart. Well, how will
our hearts answer? How would your heart answer this
morning if you were to receive that solemn call from the Lord? Come! Come and go away! Come! It's time for you to leave
this world! It's time for you to make your
exodus from this world! What would your heart's answer
be to this question? Have you repeated? I mean, is
your heart right with God? How would you answer those questions? Are you one who's resting your
soul upon the finished work of the Redeemer? Are you trusting
Christ? How would you answer these questions?
Well, what we are before the all-searching eye of the Most
High God is, my friend, that which is very, very important. It's how God looks upon you. And you know, it's amazing, but
God sees everything there is to be seen about you. The Scripture
teaches us that all things are naked and open unto the eyes
of Him with whom we have to do. And you can't get around that
verse of scripture. You can rattle a cage all you
want to, you can't get around it. Everything is naked and open
to the God with whom we have to do. And He knows your soul
this morning. And He knows whether you're trusting
your mama's religion, whether you're trusting your grandfather's
religion. He knows what you're trusting.
He knows whether you're depending upon Him. And I'll tell you the
mark of all God's children is that they trust in the Lord Jesus
Christ. They hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. They're trusting Him and Him
alone. for the salvation of their soul. No other trust will do. They
cannot depend upon anything else. It's not what they've done. It's
not what they're planning to do. It's nothing that's got anything
to do with them. They must get into the lifeboat
of the Lord Jesus. It's Jesus only! And you must
sail in that boat all the way to glory. Only Jesus. Only Jesus. We trust Him, and
we must trust Him when we come to die. Beloved, let me say that
death will test all things. When you come to die, it is past
the time for pretense and shams. Death is going to test all things. Whatever you've trusted in, believed
in, whatever you've depended upon, death, the hour of death,
is going to test it. You say, I've just left religion
to someone else. Then, my friend, death is going
to test your philosophy. When you come, I mean, when the
sweat breaks out on your brow, and the word has come, cannot
be changed, cannot be reversed. Time to go, time to go. Well,
no time now for pretense and shams. I went on like I was saved
for years, but I'm not saved. It'll come home to you. I'm telling
you, if it never does come home to you, it will come home in
the hour of death. Because death will test all things. We want to know whether or not
those that are dying, whether they're really regenerated or
not, do we not? We want to know, we're standing around the bedside
and our loved one is about ready to go on this journey from which
they will not return. And we want to know, we'd like
to know, are they saved? Are they saved or are they going
to be under the last judgment of God for all eternity. Are
they going to burn in hell? Oh, somebody says, do you really
believe that our loved ones are going to burn in hell? I don't
only believe our loved ones are going to burn in hell, I believe
we're going to burn in hell if we don't know Christ. If we don't
know Him, if our sins are not put away, if we're not trusting
His finished work, you know, God will be satisfied. He's only
satisfied with the work of His own Son. He's only satisfied
with the doing and dying of His own blessed Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now then, we want to know whether
our relatives are saved or whether our friends are saved. We want
to know whether they're regenerated. Well, how much more do they want
to know it themselves in that hour? Don't you suppose they'd
want to know it more than we would? Even if we desire it,
it would give us a great deal of rest in our hearts and our
souls if we could know that they're saved, that they truly do know
the Lord. But what about them? Don't you
think they would like some assurance in that hour? And I'm going to
tell you what, when you come down to that hour, the only thing
it's going to do is a living union with the Lord Jesus Christ. It's going to be the assurance
that Christ is yours and that you're His. It's going to be
Jesus and Jesus only. Now listen, the point is dying
men want realities. That's what I'm trying to say.
They want realities. All of this veneer won't work
anymore for them. All this pretense and sham, it's
over. They want realities. What can
I really trust? What can I really depend upon
to get me past the graveyard? What can I really depend upon
when I come before God? What can I trust? Well, you can
trust a living Savior, my friend. You can trust a resurrected,
enthroned Savior. You can trust a Savior who is
bleeding on earth and who is pleading in glory. You can trust
Him. You can depend upon Him because
He will be with you in that hour. Oh brother, sister, ever follow
after that which is real and solid, for nothing else will
serve you well when you come to die. A lot of things that
we wrap ourselves up in, it's going to fail us in that day.
It'll fail you in that day. Oh, the cover will not be large
enough. It won't be big enough to cover
you. It won't. It won't cover you in that hour.
You say, well, I thought my little religion would get me by. Well,
it's not going to get you by. Only a living union with a living
person, Christ, is going to get you by in the hour of death. Well, are we prepared for dying? Are we prepared for it? Pray
God we may be willing or unwilling, it matters not, we must go! Pray
God we will be, that we will be ready, because we're going
to go, this is inevitable, we're going to take this last journey.
Well, secondly, when are we going to take it? Job says a few years
when they've come. There's an old psalm that says
that just a few more years, with their toils and tears, and the
journey will be ended. Just a few more years, only God
knows how long. At the commencement of life,
the view before us looks like it's an endless road. When a
fellow, just a young fellow, he looks out and he says, boy,
boy, life is just an endless road. I'm going to be here for
a long, long time. Middle life has just a short
view, both forward and backward. When a fellow gets to midlife,
he looks Back here a little bit, he said, boy, it hadn't been
long since I was 10 years old. Hadn't been long, now I'm 45,
now I'm 50. And boy, he looks out and he
says, well, hey, you know what? Three score year in 10, that's
not very far off. That's not far off from 50 years
old, and as fast as the last 30 or 40 years has gone, that's
going to be over with before I can say anything. And so listen,
upon those whom age is descending, you would be well aware how short
for certain your time here must be. Your lease has almost run
out. And when you get to three score
years and ten, then it's just about run out. Only by the grace
and mercy of God, day by day, you will go ahead and live out
maybe a few more years, but it'll be just the same as what you've
been living. It'll take the strength of God,
the grace of God, and you'll have to pray earnestly every
day to be able to endure and to deal with life. You'd be well
aware how short And how certain, your time is short here. Lord,
teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts
unto wisdom. Our lease has almost run out. It's almost over. It's almost
gone. The text says a few years. Well,
you read it a few months if you want to. Read it a few days.
Read it a few hours. Read it a few minutes. For we
cannot tell how soon that we must set sail for that far off
land, but we're going. We're going, it's not going to
be long. Who is he that is next to die? Who is he that is next? Who is he that is next? There
was an old man who peddled wares, peddled his goods on the streets,
on doors many years ago, and he would cry out, who will be
next? Who will be next? And that was
the word on his coming out of his mouth as he would go from
door to door. Who will be next? Who's going
to buy next? Who's going to want something
next? Well, I ask that of you this morning. Who will be next
to receive this call? Man goes to his long home. Who
will be next? May God make us wise unto salvation. To be prepared to die is an immediate
duty. Man's days are few, and they're
full of trouble. What is your life? The scripture
says in James, it is even as a vapor that appeareth just for
a little time, and then it just vanisheth away. Seeing that we're
to be gone so soon, let us be ready. Let us be ready for the
solemn journey. There's no time to spare. The
end is drawing near. Thirdly, consider the fact that
we shall not return. It says that when a few years
have come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return. I'm not coming back. You're not
coming back. Now, when a few years have come,
then I shall go the way whence I shall not return. To the occupations
of life, I shall not return. To sow and to reap, I shall not
return. To our homes, however lovely
and comfortable they are, we shall not return. To our families,
However wonderful they are to fellowship with and to be with
and to be around, we shall not return to our families and to
the pleasures of life. Oh, you've lived for them, have
you not? Live for the pleasures of life. They've been your God.
And you have lived out your days in the pleasures of life as were
you burnt up your life living for the pleasures of this world
and blow the smoke into the nostrils of God telling Him you would
do as you please. But I'm here to tell you this
morning You're never going to come back once you leave this
world to the pleasures of life. You better sober up and come
and face reality with us all this day and get right with God
in your soul. To the church, we'll never come
back. No way, we're not going to return
to the church. However much we loved it, however
much we desired fellowship with the people of God, how much we
loved the brethren, regardless of it all, we shall not return
to the church. To the pulpit in the pew, we
shall never come again. To the chamber of love, to the
hearth of affection, to the walk of friendship, we shall not return. there'll be no return. To hopes
and fears and joys and pains, we shall not return. To summer's flowers and winter's
snows, we shall not return. To nothing that is done under
the sun, shall we return. To nothing shall we return. Soul, unsaved soul, to the land
of the gospel and to the mercy seat, you shall not return. unsaved
soul, I say, to the land of the gospel. This is the land of the
gospel. This is that place where man
can come to the mercy seat, find forgiveness and pardon of his
sins. Find this guilt put away. Hear
those gracious words. Thy faith hath saved thee. This is the land where men and
women can have a union with Christ. If you die and save, you'll not
be able to come back to the house of God to hear again the ministry
of reconciliation. We preached here the ministry
of reconciliation. This is the ministry of reconciliation,
to witness that God was in Christ, reconciling a world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them. Figure out what that
world is. It's the people of God. It's
the believing world. It's those that are elect of
God, the chosen of God, those for whom the atonement was made. God has made reconciliation.
They're reconciled unto God. This is the minister of reconciliation. You're not going to hear it again.
You're not going to hear it again. Jesus will never be set before
you as hope, never again. Never again. Soul, hear those
words. Jesus will never be set before
your soul as hope. Never, never, never again. You will never be able to come
back to the family prayer gatherings, the earnest entreaties of godly
parents or loving friends, nor even back to your Bible and to
the opportunity of searching it that you might find eternal
life. Never again. Never again. It's all over. It's all over. Once again, the barriers of life.
Once you pass the barriers of life, unsaved, you cannot return
to a new probation. You cannot come back. The die
is cast. Where the tree falleth, there
it must lie. It shall be said of you, He which is filthy, let
him be filthy still. Believer, as far as you're concerned,
You don't wish to return. You don't have any desire to
return. You don't want to come back to this old world. What is it here that could tempt
us to return if we could? Would there be anything that
you know of that would tempt you to come back? No, my friend,
there's nothing here. Once we meet the Lord Jesus,
once we see Him face to face, Him whom our soul desires, Once
we come into fellowship, holy communion with Him, once we hear
the Holy Angel sing, once we are entering into a worship service,
a worship service, I mean a service wherein God is so exalted before
us. Oh, that which we desired all
of our lives, if we could just worship the Lord as He ought
to be worshipped. We've been warned to do that.
I've been wanting to do it. Have you been wanting to? Well,
praise God, we're going to be able to one of these days. We're
going to worship Him. Worship the Lord. I remember
reading about old Jacob, leaned on his staff and worshipped.
I often thought, what in the world does that mean? He worshipped. And I'll tell you what, we're
going to worship one of these days. We're going to worship.
And there's nothing that's going to turn us around. We might want
to come back to undo some mistakes of life. You made any mistakes? That if you die suddenly that
you would like to remedy? That you'd like to somehow or
other set things straight? We might want to come back to
plead with our children if we felt that we neglected them.
It's our duty here to steer them right and to bring them up in
the fear and the admonition of the Lord and to instruct and
nurture their souls in the things of God. And we hadn't done that. We might want to come back. and take up the duty again and
to help them. Some of you have not been a good
influence on your children. Some of you just not. You say,
well, I've been a bad influence. I didn't say you've been a bad
influence. I said you haven't been a good one. And there's
a difference in that. You know, some people say, well,
I'm just neutral. Oh, no, you're not neutral. No, you're not neutral. No, you're not. If your children,
if it depended on you, Salvation is by the grace of God from the
beginning to the end. But if it depended upon you,
the salvation of your children, I mean, what have you contributed?
What have you contributed? You said, well, I brought them
to church. Well, that's in your favor. That's in your favor.
But what about your life and what it said to them? You're
serious. Oh, I'm serious. Yeah. But what
are you serious about? You're serious about a whole
lot of things that don't amount to a hill of beans and you know
it. You're taking up with things that's going to pass with time.
And you're investing your life in things that's going to rust
down. In things that one of these days somebody's going to pick
up and haul off to the dump. And you're just investing your
life in them. And you're not spending the time
that you ought to with the Lord and in fellowship with Him to
study His Word. And in trying to bring your children
in the right way. Well, but you cannot come back
to mend or to undo anything. Do it now. Do it now. Say there's some things that
I don't want to die suddenly because there's some things I
need to take care of. Well, do it now. Do it now. Go out of this building this
morning with those words in your mouth. Do it now in your heart. Do it now. Do it now. If you
expect to ever live right, do it now. Do it now. Say, I've
been thinking about getting right with God and submitting myself
to baptism and doing what's right, getting my name on the muster
roll here in the army of God in this world. And, well, do
it now. Do it now. Do it now. Anything
hath done by us must stay that way for how long? For eternity. When you leave this world, that's
the way it is. The trees fell this way, that's
the way it's gonna lie for all eternity. The way you die, my
friend, the condition you're in when you die, that's the way
it's gonna be for all eternity. Anything half done by us will
stay that way. Therefore, if your hand finds
anything to do, do it at once and do it with all your what,
Conrad? Might. I heard him quote that verse
before. Do it with all your might. Do it with all your might. See
to the bringing up of your children. Don't send them up. Bring them
up. Give your witness of the grace
of God to neighbors and kin. And do it now. If a good work
is to be done, do it. The curfew of time is sounding. What thou doest, do quickly. Do quickly. We don't know what's
going to happen. This world is a shaky place right
now, and I'm going to tell you this. I don't know much, but
it ain't never going to be the same. You can mark it down. It's never going to be the same. We are going down a path right
now. If it does not lead to the Third
World War, it will leave us. Things will be different from
now on. Don't you ever forget it. And
I'm here to tell you that the time is sounding. What thou doest,
the curfew of time is sounding. What thou doest, do quickly.
Do quickly. Only God knows what a day will
bring forth. Boast not thyself of tomorrow.
Thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. You say, well, I'm
intelligent. You may be, but you don't know
what a day is going to bring forth. You don't know. Scripture
says you don't know. And I believe what the Word of
God says, that we don't know what today is going to bring
forth. A few years ago, why this was a secure nation. Nobody going
to penetrate the defenses of this nation. No, no, no. Now we got NATO forces coming
over here to help guard the United States of America. Sending airplanes
over here from NATO Germany to come over here to protect the
United States of America. What's happened in this nation? What's happened to us? Well,
I'm telling you, that things are never going to be the same.
What thou doest, do quickly. Do quickly. Lastly, let me inquire,
if we're going in a short time, if we shall not return, where
are we going? Where are we going? Well, we'll
all die and then we shall all pass into the disembodied state. Where shall my disembodied soul
go? Where's my soul going to go when
my soul quits this body? Where's it going? Where's it
going? Well, let me say it like this.
At this very instant, if your soul were to leave your body,
would it go to be with the Lord? Or would it go off, carried away
by the black angels of hell into everlasting judgment, into everlasting
perdition? Well, my friend, can we know?
Somebody said, can we know where our souls go when we leave this
world? Can we know? Where does it, where does your
soul delight to be now? Where does it delight to be?
I'm just going to show you that you can know. What is it that
you, that you wanted to do this morning? Did somebody have to
twist your arm and get you to come to the house of God? There was an old lady, and she
was a believer, and she was ready to die. And she told her preacher,
she said, preacher, sir, I do not think that God will appoint
me my portion with the ungodly, for I could never bear their
company in this world. And I do hope I shall be among
his people, though I am unworthy to be, for I was always happy
when I was with them. Does that say something to you? You will keep the same company
forever, brother, sister, don't you forget it. You say, I love
the people of God. Well, bless your heart. Bless
your heart by this. Shall all men know you are my
disciples, that you love one another? And we know that we've
passed from death unto life. We know it! We've passed from
death unto life, spiritual death unto life, because we love the
brethren. Because we love the brethren.
So you're going to keep the same company forever, brother and
sister. The sheep with the sheep. The goats with the goats. Your
presence, your own delight prophesies your eternal destiny. Just think about it. It's that
simple. It's that simple. The scoffer, the drunkard, the
liar, the unchaste shall be your comrades in hell if they were
so here. If they were who you fellowship
with here, then they'll be the crowd you'll be with over there.
If you love sin, you love sin, wickedness, you'll be up your
throat in it. and it's going to burn around
you like you were standing in four feet of gasoline and somebody
had thrown in a match. It will burn all around you. Death, the wages of sin, shall
rage about you and gnaw you with an undying work. But if your delight has been
with your God, you shall dwell with Him. He said, that you are
my people. I am your God and you shall be
my people. If you rejoice in Christ Jesus,
you shall reign with Him. And if you have loved His people,
you shall abide with them forever. Your disembodied state shall
be spent either with Christ and His people or with sin and sinners. Our Lord told of the great gulf
which cannot be passed, and of the torment of those on the other
side. And you may know where you are going before the clock
strikes again. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. A child
of God, fifty years old, when dying, said to one standing by
her bed, I have enjoyed more in the two hours I have been
dying than in the fifty years that I have been living. It is so. It's such a blessed
thing to die. She said, for I have a clear
prospect of the resurrection. I'm going to be raised from the
dead. Death is not a tragedy to the
people of God. It's a decree. It's a decree
of God. Will your resurrection be a blessing
or a horror? Which will it be? You know, it
would be wonderful when you die to know what kind of resurrection
you're going to have. Wouldn't it be wonderful to know
that you're not going to be resurrected to the resurrection of damnation,
but it shall be to the resurrection of life. The tongue that now
dares to curse God will then ask in vain for a drop of water
to cool its burning. Oh, may you lay hold on Jesus
at once and find eternal life. I believe in the great white
throne judgment. Do you? Do you? To the right, to the
left, Blessed, cursed, come, depart! Oh, the terror of that
voice which shall pronounce a separate sentence upon each of the two,
both the sheep and the goats in that day, in that great class,
when the population of the earth be divided into two great classes,
the sheep and the goats. On which side will you be? Which
side will you be? Don't flatter yourself with the
idea that the ungodly is going to be annihilated? It's not so!
It's not so. You know, I like what Jesus said.
In John 14, He said to the Lord's people, He said, I go and prepare
a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you,
I'll come again and receive you unto myself, and if it was not
so, I would have told you. I told you. I trust the Lord
Jesus Christ. Why do I trust Him? Because He
died for me. And I trust him. He died for
me. And I believe his word. I believe his word. And he said,
if it was not so, I would have told you. I would have told you. I'm not here to lead you just
to try to, you know, like some people would maybe tie a carrot
over the head of a mule. No, no, no, no. I'm not here
for that. No, Jesus said, I would have told you. The ungodly are
not going to be annihilated. They're not going to be annihilated.
No, they're not. You've chosen sin, you've deliberately
rejected Christ, and if you continue to do so, you've settled your
own destiny, and you've settled it forever! Look the danger in
the face. Believe the Word of God. Repent.
Believe the Gospel. If you believe in Jesus Christ,
look your future in the face and rejoice. for your redemption. Draw up nine. See your body and
soul together, both perfect. Wouldn't that be wonderful? See
it. See it. Well, faith is the substance
of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. See your
body and soul perfect. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. Substance of things hoped for,
evidence of things not seen. I remember hearing a story about
a preacher. He was supposed to go to a young
couple's house. to eat a meal, and they got the young married couple,
they got the dinner ready, and the preacher was late. He didn't
get there. He didn't get there for two or
three hours after the time when they were supposed to eat. And
so when he didn't show up, they had went ahead and ate, and so
they said, He got here so late that all we had left was a few
pieces of potato and a little bowl of gravy. And they said
you'd be welcome to that. So he sat down at the table and
he said, Lord, I thank you for the substance of things hoped
for and the evidence of things not seen. And so that's the way
it is with us, you see. You say, well, I can't very well
see my body and soul perfect. Well, thank God by faith we can
see it. We can see it and we believe
it. Christ the Judge acquitting us
and saying, come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from before the foundation of the world.
Can you imagine your joy, your ecstatic delight to hear those
words? Come, come ye blessed of my Father. You've been blessed of my Father
on earth, blessed with the knowledge of the gospel, blessed with eternal
elective grace, blessed by sovereign mercy, blessed. Now you're still
blessed. Come inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from before the foundation of the world. Come and inherit
that kingdom. Can you imagine? The presence
of angels, the fellowship of saints, perfect, perfect to see
Jesus. communion with your God in all
this, not for a day or an hour, not for three, four years and
ten, but forever and ever. Believer, when a few years have
come, I shall go whence I shall not return, nor ever wish to
return, but shall be forever with the Lord. Let me give this
last word to the lost. There was a preacher that was
named Layton, and he was asked one day if he had heard a sermon
that day. And he said, no. But he said, I met a sermon.
I met a sermon. For I met a funeral possession
carrying a dead man to his grave. He said, I met a sermon. I met
a sermon. And so may every time you attend
a funeral here in this world, may it remind you of our text. May it remind you of this text
when a few years have come that I, not somebody else, not the
neighbor, I shall go the way whence I shall not return. So every time you go to the mortuary
to view the body of a dead loved one or a dead friend, or attend
their funeral, just let it be a sermon to you. Let it be a
sermon to you on Job 16, verse 22. Father, in the name of Jesus,
we ask that thou will bless this message to the hearts of these
that have heard it. We pray, O God, that it may be
a solemn time here in each heart, a time when each heart would
deal with their true situation and face reality, face it today. And Lord, I pray that some poor
soul would look to Christ and would not, our Father, hesitate,
procrastinate, put off for another minute faith in Jesus. May they
trust Him, may they trust Him the best they can. And we know
that faith is a gift from God, but we know that thou dost give
it. Thou dost give it. Thou art a
giving God. And we pray that thou will give
faith to that heart that wants to settle this matter today.
Give that faith, O Lord. Thou art the author and the finisher
of faith. Bless now, we pray, and bring
forth fruit to your glory and honor. In Jesus' name, Amen.