My subject this morning is eternity. Eternity. My text, as I announced
earlier, is verse 18. I do hope that the Lord has prepared
each one of our hearts to come here this morning and that we've
not taken lightly the privilege of being able to come together
under the sound of God's holy word. Now, eternity is a subject
about which the wisest man can know only a little, can know
only a little as he is left to his carnal mind and to his fallen
nature. We know that the Bible says that
the eye of man is not seen, nor the ear of man is not heard,
neither has it entered into the heart of a man what God has prepared
for those that love him. So with the carnal mind, a man
is not able to enter in unto these truths, these spiritual
truths, but the Spirit of God must reveal these things to our
heart. So, beloved, it is a subject
which we must approach with our Bibles in our hands. If we would
know something about eternity, we must get what we're going
to know from God's Holy Word. Now, we recognize that we must
not speculate We must not just speculate on what God plans to
do with our souls after we go to the grave. We must not speculate
about such a tremendous and sobering situation as that. We must know
what the Word of God says. We must study the Word of God. So we approach this subject this
morning, the subject of eternity, and we do so with our Bible before
us. with the Word of God in our hands,
because the Word of God only is the authority on the subject
of eternity as it is on all other subjects that the Word of God
treats and deals with. The Bible is the Word of authority. Now, when you begin to talk with
people, sometimes they offer their opinions. which are not
worth the snap of my finger or the snap of your finger about
various things. But beloved, listen, the Word
of God is the authority, and we must bow all of us to the
Word of God. Now this subject might be a little
difficult for some, and you may want to shrink back from finding
out what the Word of God really says about eternity. But I hope
this morning, because we are obligated as men and women, obligated
with men and women who have living souls within us, we are obligated
to find out the mind of God as to such an important subject
as the subject of eternity. And so I hope that every one
of us this morning will lend our ear and listen carefully
to what we have to say about this subject, what the Word of
God would teach us about this subject, eternity, what a heavy,
heavy word that is. And we all have a tendency, I
believe, to treat the material, the sensible, the things of time,
as realities and eternal things as mere fables. This is a mistake. We must reverse our thinking
because eternity, my friend, is reality. Eternity is reality. We deal with reality only when
we deal with eternity. Now all of the arrangements and
all of the attainments and the relationships and the experiences,
the joys and the sorrows, the successes and the disappointments,
the hopes and the fears of life in this world are without meaning
unless they are seen and measured by eternity. lost or saved, blessed
or cursed, justified or condemned, every one of us is living this
morning upon the brink. Every one of us, let me emphasize
that, is living upon the brink of eternity. Very soon, very
soon, we must leave this world where all things are temporal
and enter into that world where all things are eternal. Now only those who recognize
the sobering reality of eternity can live in a proper relationship
to the things of time. That is very important. And let
me give it to you again. Only those who recognize the
sobering reality of eternity can live in a proper relationship
to the things of time. Now in this message this morning,
I want to give you four things or four statements that I hope
will enable us to live with the awareness of eternity, will help
us somewhere or another to wake up to the reality that eternity
is indeed facing us all, and that eternity is indeed true
reality. Now, first of all, then, of the
four things that I want to give you, according to our text, we
live right now as the people of God, having the Spirit of
God within us, we live in a world where all things are temporal
and all things are passing away. Did not the Apostle Paul say,
for the things which are seen are temporal? The things that
we look at, the things that we, as we look around, the things
that we see, all these things are merely temporal. The world
in which we live in today and right now is a temporal world. Now the man must be blind who
cannot see this. who is not able to see the truth
of this text, that the things which are seen are temporary. Everything around us is decaying,
dying, and it's coming to an end. And nothing here lasts very
long. And beloved, there is nothing
undying about us. Accept our souls. Accept our
souls. No wonder the poet said, change
and decay in all around I see. O thou that changest not, Abide
with me now. We're all going we're all going
going as it were the way of all flesh We're going the way of
all flesh We're going down as the old song says in the valley
one by one with our faces Toward the setting Sun. We're all going
down whether high or low whether we're complex or or whether we're
simple, whether we're rich or poor, whether we're old or young,
we're all going and shall soon be gone into eternity. And the only thing that you have
now that you'll carry with you into eternity is your undying
soul. We brought nothing into this
world and it is certain, as Paul said, it is certain that we can
carry nothing out. We're not going to carry anything
out of this world. We're going into eternity with
nothing but our undying soul. And so what will it profit you
therefore if you should gain the whole world and you should
lose your soul? See that you value nothing. As
a child of God, see that you value nothing in this world more
than you will value it on the day whenever God lays hold of
you and brings you to that point of death and that time of your
leaving this world. Don't place too much value on
the things that are temporary. Now hold everything here and
everyone with a loose hand. Let it be remembered that across
every brow ought to be stamped the words mortal. We are temporary. We're just temporary creatures
of an hour. Be prepared at a moment's notice
to leave it or lose it, for soon we must do one or the other. We're going to leave it or we're
going to lose it. Beauty, beloved, is only temporal. You remember that Sarah, Abraham's
wife, she was once the fairest of women. She was the admiration
of the court of Egypt. Yet a day came when her husband
Abraham said, let me bury my dead out of my sight. Her beauty
was consumed away as the dew of the morning by the heat of
the sun. Her beauty was consumed away.
Strength of our bodies are only temporal. David, you remember,
was once a mighty man of valor. He was the slayer of the lion
and the bear. He was the champion of Israel
against Goliath. Yet a day came when even David
had to be nursed and cared for by others in his old age like
a little child. because his strength was gone.
And when he was about ready to die, you remember they tried
to revive him. He was a passionate man while
he lived. And so they brought in a young
maid and put it beside him when he was ready to die, trying to
revive him. Because this great, this mighty
man of war and valor, his strength had all faded away. It had all
just went away. And so it is, beloved, this is
a temporary world in which we're living. Solomon in his last days. We remember this man Solomon. He was a prodigy, if you please,
of knowledge. And all the kings of the earth,
they came to hear him. But his knowledge, well, it failed
at last, did it not? Because in his last days on earth,
he played the fool. He allowed his wives. to turn
away his heart from the Lord. Temporal is to be stamped upon
all of the faculties of man, because they are temporary. We're
living in a world where what is seen is temporal, it's temporary. Now as humbling and painful as
these truths may sound, it is good for us all to realize them
and to lay them to heart. We must realize them and lay
them to heart, because if we don't, we'll never look past
these things. We'll be so taken up and absorbed
with them that we'll never look at those things which are unseen. We'll just keep exercising ourselves
looking at those things which are seen, and they're only, only
I say temporary. The houses we live in, the homes
that we love, the things that we accumulate, the professions
we follow, the plans we form, the relationships that we enter
into, they're only for a time. Just for a time first script
in 7 and 31 says the fashion of this world Passes away now
if you're living only for this world And you may be here this
morning, and this may be true of you. You're living only for
what you can see. You're living only for this world. And the Scripture speaks in the
book of 1 John about the lust of the flesh, and the lust of
the eyes, and the pride of life. How that these are not of the
Father, but they are of the world. And the world, it says, passeth
away. The world passeth away. And so,
beloved, if you love the world, if you love the world, I want
you to know that world that you love is a world that is passing. It is a passing world. The fashion
of this world passeth away. If your conscience is not utterly
seared, then this ought to rouse you and stir you and disturb
your soul that you might awake to see the things of this world
in their true light. before it is too late. Before
your entire life is taken up just seeking the things of time
and sense. The things you're living for
are temporal and they're passing away. You cannot keep them. You
must leave them. And you will leave them. You're
going to leave them. You say, Preacher, I just spend
my whole life seeking and trying to get, trying to accumulate,
trying to have something in this world. Well, my friend, the day
will come when you will discover that you cannot keep them, you
must leave them, and so you must not inordinately set your affection
upon them now and look to those things. Seek first the Kingdom
of God and His righteousness, Matthew 6.33 says, and all these
things will be added to you for that duration that God intends
for you to use them. God will give you that which
you need. You cannot serve God and mammon. You must either serve God or
mammon. And if you love the one, you
will hate the other. You will love the one and cleave
to the other. You cannot serve God in this
world and the perishing things of time. Make it your business,
my friend, to set your love and affection upon Him and upon His
Word and Truth. and serve Him with your life. Now the things seen, then, are
temporal. And the same thought, I think,
ought to be, I think, meditated upon, and it will serve to be
a comfort to every believer here. The fact that even your trials
and your crosses and your conflicts, whatever they be here in this
world, they are only temporary. They're only temporary, and these
things will have an end. And even now, we're told here
in verse 17, that they're working for us a far more and exceeding
and eternal weight of glory. upward and forward and onward
and look far beyond your trials, your afflictions, your crosses
and your disappointments in this world because these things are
only temporary. Fight the good fight. under the
abiding conviction that it's only for a little time and rest
for the weary pilgrim is very soon to come. It very soon will
come. It is not for all. Your crosses
is one of the things that are seen, are they not? So therefore
they must be temporal because there's something that we can
see that we have to deal with here in this world. And the cross
shall soon be exchanged for a crown. And you will sit down with Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God. That day is coming. It's
not for all. Some of us it's a little nearer
for maybe than others, but for every one of us it will be a
reality. Now then, the second thing that
I want to talk about is this. The first thing was that the
world in which we live, everything in it is temporal. It's all temporal. Now the second thing is this,
that we are all going to a world, whether we're saved or lost,
Whether we're a child of God or a child of the devil, whether
we're in Christ or out of Christ, we're all going to a world which
is eternal, where everything is eternal. Now listen to what
the writer here said, but the things which are not seen are
eternal. He's talking about the world
after the grave. He's talking about the world
after the resurrection. He's talking about the world
after we die here in this world. And he says the unseen. He says
it is eternal. Now heaven with all of its blessedness
and glory is eternal. I wish we could let that soak
in. Heaven with all of its blessedness and glory is eternal. Hell, whatever
that horrible place and condition of darkness and torment is, is
eternal. It is eternal. The great unseen
world that lies beyond the grave is an eternal world. Whether
it is happy or miserable, joyful or sorrowful, it will never end. It will never end. I'm telling
you that we're all going someplace where everything is eternal. That is eternity. The bliss of
heaven is eternal. The torments of hell are eternal. It is forever. Now there will
be no change and decay, no end, no goodbye, no mornings and no
evenings, and no alterations, no annihilations. Whatever there
is, beloved, beyond the grave when the last trumpet sounded
and the dead are raised incorruptible will be endless. It will be,
in the language of the Scripture, everlasting. In the language
of the Word of God, again, eternal. Everything over there will be
eternal. The things unseen are eternal. Now it is difficult for us in
a body of flesh to realize this condition, eternal, everlasting,
forever. These terms are very difficult
because it's such a contrast to this world that we're now
living in, to what we're accustomed to, to what we know about and
have experienced. The contrast between now and
then, between this world and the next, is so enormously great
that our feeble minds will not take it in. We just can't comprehend
it. But the best we can, the best
we can, we must, I mean, listen, the seriousness of this demands
that the best we can, we must settle it in our hearts and minds
that the future happiness of those who are saved is eternal. face that, and we must allow
it to soak in. We must allow that to some way
or another lift up our spirits and our souls and to encourage
us and to cause our faith to be increased. However little
we may understand it, it is something which will have no end. Eternal
life, blessedness, bliss, glory, fellowship with God, the Holy
Angel, Forever, forever it will last. It will have no end. Never
cease, never grow, never decay, never, never die. Psalm 16 and
11 says that God's right hand are pleasures forevermore. Isn't that good? At God's right
hand there are pleasures forevermore. The inheritance We're told in
the book of Peter is incorruptible, it's undefiled, and it fadeth
not away. Meaning that in time it'll remain
just as lustrous and just as glorious as it was when we first
came into contact with it. They shall receive a crown of
glory that fadeth not away, the people of God. The warfare is
accomplished. Our fight is over. The work is
all done. We will hunger no more, the Bible
says, and we will neither thirst anymore. The people of God are
not going to experience, you see, over there what they did
in time, living in a body of flesh. We're talking about eternity. We are traveling on towards a
home which shall never be broken up. We're headed toward a meeting. where there'll never be a party,
where the people of God will never part again. We're headed,
listen, for a family gathering without a separation. We're headed
for a day without a night. We shall see then as we have
been seen, and know as we have been known, and we shall be forever
with the Lord. You say, preacher, Do you believe
that we'll know each other in heaven? Well, do we know each
other here? Well, absolutely we know each other here. And
so we shall know as we have been known. And certainly we'll know
each other over yonder in that place where we shall dwell forevermore. It's no wonder that Paul went
on to say in that portion of Scripture from which I've been
quoting some, 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 17 and 18, he said,
comfort one another with these words. No wonder he said that.
Because all of that is before the people of God. That's beyond
the grave for a child of God. That's what we're looking forward
to. That's what's drawing us with a power that we have no
ability to describe toward that eternal city, that city that
has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Now there's
another thing that we must settle in our minds, and listen to me
carefully. Listen to me carefully. That
must be faced. Another thing we must settle
in our minds that must be faced and it is that the future misery
of those who are finally lost is also eternal. The future misery
of lost men and women is eternal. Now this is an awful truth, but
I believe it is plainly taught in the Word of God. Listen and
see if you don't agree with me. To me, the eternal future happiness
of the saints of God stands side by side with the eternal misery
of the wicked damned. I fail to see how you can distinguish
the duration of one from the duration of the other. If the
joy of the believer is forever, the sorrow of the unbeliever
is also forever. Is that true? If heaven is eternal,
so likewise hell must be eternal. And so the wicked damned are
going to a place where the worm dieth not, and where the fire
is not quenched, where the smoke of men's torment ascendeth up
forever and ever, and there is no rest neither day nor night.
Hell is forever. Now it may be that I'm blind,
but I do not know how the conclusion can be avoided that if heaven,
listen, if heaven is eternal and if it's forever, then hell
must be suffering. The wrath of God must be forever. Men and women dying in their
sins must. must suffer under the lash of
God for all eternity. Now men say that God is love,
and they say that He's charitable, and that this does not harmonize
with the merciful and compassionate character of God Almighty to
send men and women to a hell that lasts forever. But I'll
tell you this, You may say, well, it don't harmonize with God's
character. But my friend, you must remember
that God has other attributes besides the attribute of love. God is a God of justice. God is a God of inflexible righteousness
and holiness. And God's character, His holy
character, demands that He put every sinner, that He puts every
rebel, that He puts every man who has sinned against Him and
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Everyone
who is not as holy as His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, God demands
that they be put into hell, that they be forever separated from
Him. God demands it. Now, our Lord
Jesus Christ, there was none ever spoke more loving words
than our Lord Jesus Christ. But yet, the Lord Jesus described
the consequence of impenitence and sin as the worm that never
dies and the fire that is not quenched. He spoke to the Lord
and from the glory of His power, 2 Thessalonians 1 and 9. Now,
there is much said in the book of the Revelation, which I don't
have time to read to you this morning, about the reality and
eternity of future punishment and woe. But lost men and women
are going off. They're going off. They're going
into this world where everything is eternal, too. They're going
off, too, with us. They're going into a place of
eternal judgment and woe. Even so, Lord God Almighty, true
and righteous are thy judgments. Revelation 16 and verse 7. Yes, that world to which we're
going, for every one of us, it will prove to be eternal. Eternal. It's eternity I'm talking
about. Well, the third thing that I
want to talk about a little bit is this. What we are here in
this life, we will be in eternity. Now this is so great and I want
you to understand what I'm saying. Thomas Brooks wrote, the great
weight of eternity hangs upon the small wire of time. The great weight of eternity
hangs upon the small war of time. Beloved, this is the day of grace. There will be no other. If a man is to have right standing
with God Almighty, he must have it while he is yet breathing
the breath of life in time. You must enter the ark before
the Lord shuts the door. Now is the day of salvation.
You will not enter heaven when you die unless you are made righteous
before you die. Revelation 22 and verse 11. Listen to this statement. Death
changes nothing but our place of existence. Do you hear me? Death changes nothing but our
place of existence. Our state in the unseen world
of eternity depends upon what the will of God makes us in time. Is that clear? What the will
of God makes us in time. I have held to the view. I do
preach the view. that men are saved by the will
of God, they're damned by their own will. And I tell you that
a man, listen to me, a man staked in the unseen, a man staked out
yonder in eternity, depends upon what the will of God makes him
in time. Men are saved by God's sovereign
mercy and sovereign election, sovereign grace in the redemptive
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we're the sons of God here.
If we are the sons of God now. If we're the sons of God today.
If we're the sons of God, those that are believing on the Lord
Jesus Christ, then hear me out. If we are so relying upon the
merits of Christ as our only hope of salvation, we shall be
the sons of God eternally living in the glory of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. If we're the children of wrath
here rejecting the Lord Jesus, we shall be the children of wrath
in hell forever rejected by the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that clear? Is that clear? There is no greater
delusion than the common idea that the Roman Catholics have
their doctrine of purgatory and the idea of the Mormons that
somebody might come along and be baptized in proxy for them
and deliver them after they're dead. There is no greater delusion
in all the world than the common idea that it's possible to live
wickedly, unholy, ungodly lives as a rebel against God all of
your days and yet finally rise in the morning of the resurrection
unto eternal glory. and blessed. That, my friend,
is a fallacy. To be without Christ in this
world and yet to be a saint of God in the next? It is impossible. Listen to me. The Bible teaches
plainly that as we die, whether converted or unconverted, whether
believers or unbelievers, whether godly or ungodly, so Shall we
come forth when the last trumpet sounds? We'll come forth exactly
like we went into the grave. That's how you're coming out.
That's how you're coming out. Now you say, well preacher, I
just kind of thought, you know, that there'd be some room somewhere
for a little bit of repentance later on. Beloved, listen to
me. There is no repentance in the
grave. There is no conversion after
you've drawn your last breath. There is none. There is none. You repent in this world, you
repent and turn in this world, or you're lost. And you're gone
forever off to that place of punishment that we've been talking
about. Now is the day of salvation.
Now is the time to make your calling and election sure. As
the tree falls, the Word of God says, there it will lie. As it falls, there it will lie. If a man is filthy, let him be
filthy still. If he's unholy, let him be unholy
still. That's what the Word of God says.
A man either, listen to me, listen to me, listen to me, I want you
to understand what I'm trying to say. As Holy Baxter said,
it is now or never, whatever we do in regards to our future
state must be done on this side of the grave. You got to do it
while in this world because remember that what we are here, we will
be in eternity. That's the way it's going to
be. Now, I'm sorry, there's some people that, you know, you say,
well, preacher, I just, that's pretty hard. Listen, no, that's
exactly what the Word of God says. Whether you want to agree
to it or whether you don't, that's exactly what the Bible says.
And you've been fooling around here, some of you have, and you're
just fooling around. You don't make any difference
to you what people think one way or the other, whether you're
saved or whether you're lost, or whether you live outwardly
a life that's glorified to God or not. But I'm going to tell
you, the way you die, that's the way it's going to be in eternity.
And you're going to be there forever, and you're going to
be just like you are right now. That's how you're going to be
over there. Now if that don't scare you, My friend, it ought
to scare you. I'm not up here just trying to
scare somebody, but I'm here to tell you that this ought to
scare a man if his conscience is not altogether seared. Death, I'm going to repeat this
again, death changes nothing but our place of existence. That's all it changes. Now is
that clear? It don't change a thing. So I
just thought, you know, the Lord had mercy on me when I got in
the grave. No, no, no, my friend. If He's going to have mercy on
you, He's going to do it in time. He's going to do it now. You
better seek the mercy of God right now while you've got some
strength. Well, you say, well, I just thought when I was on
my deathbed. Listen, my friend. You get on your deathbed and
you may not be inclined to seek the mercy of God. You may not
even have the presence of mind to do it. If you ever have mercy,
you're going to have it here. You're going to have it in this
world. The mercy of God. All right then, let me hurry
on here. Lastly, the fourth thing is this,
and this thought I want to commend to your attention this morning,
and it's this, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the one we must
all look to for help, both for time and eternity. The Lord Jesus
Christ is a friend. He's the one to whom we must
all look for help. I remember one time, old David,
in the Psalms, he prayed a prayer, had two words, Lord, help. Lord, help. Help. Blessed is the soul which has
been taught their need of Jesus Christ. None but those who know
their need will ever, ever call upon the Lord, will ever come
to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says, he that has Christ
has life. In 1 John 5 and 12, he that hath
the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath
not eternal spiritual life. The man or the woman who has
Christ can look around on the things temporal and see the changes
and the decay that's taking place on every side. and do so without
dismay. Do so without being just torn
up to the foundation. The child of God has treasure
in heaven which neither rust nor moth can corrupt nor thieves
break through and steal. He can look forward to the things
eternal with calmness and composure because he has Christ. He has
some help. Oh, the Lord Jesus said, He said
to me one time, I will yet give the aid. He will come to you. And He'll help you in time. He'll
help you in time. Our Savior has risen. He's gone
to prepare a place for us. Scripture says if I go and prepare
a place, I'll come back. I'll come back and I'll receive
you unto myself. I'm going to do that. That's
what the Lord Jesus said. And when the Lord takes us out
of this old world, we know that we have a house, not built with
hands, that is eternal in the heavens. The child of God can
look down into the grave and say what the wisest man, what
the wisest man, the most intelligent man in this world can never say. Listen to what he can say. Oh,
death. Where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? O eternity, where are thy terrors? Now only a poor child of God,
a child of faith in the living God can say those words. Not the wise, not the prudent,
not those who are on their affluent perch, their intellectual perch,
making their statements about life and philosophy, but a poor
trusting child of God can look into the grave and say, grave,
you don't have no victory over me. My Lord Jesus Christ, he
went down into the grave, and he went through the grave, and
he's perfumed the grave, and he's come out on the other side
of the grave, and I live because he lives, and I'm going yonder
to be with him, and grave, you have no victory over me. The
sting of death is sin, and our Lord has taken the stinger out
of death, and so the people of God can say, oh eternity, where
are thy woes? We are on our way to that heavenly
city, to that glorious city, to the abode of God, to Zion's
hill. We're on our way. Let us settle
it then in our minds that the only way to pass through things
seen with comfort and look forward to things unseen without fear
is to have Jesus Christ dwelling in us by faith. Christ, the Bible
says, in you, Colossians, Christ in you is the hope of glory. Now when John Knox, the Scotch
reformer, he was a great preacher of the gospel and he was drawing
near to the time of his death. He was unable to speak. And one
of his servants came to him, and been with him a long time,
and asked him, said, give us some indication that the gospel
that you preached in your life, that it's giving you comfort
at this hour in your death. Said, if you can hear me, if
you hear what I'm saying, just raise your hand. Just raise your
hand. As the story goes, old John Knox raised his hand three
times. Raised his hand, feebleness,
but raised his hand to die. He was getting comfort out of
the gospel that he preached out of Christ, out of the truth that's
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed, I say, are those who
believe. Blessed are those who trust. Blessed are those, listen, they
alone are rich. Those who trust, those who believe,
they alone are rich. They alone are independent and
have overcome the world. The world has no fear for them.
They alone are beyond the reach of harm because they trust they're
in Christ. They hid away in Him. They're
hid away. The song suggested this morning
we're in His side. We're in His five bleeding wounds.
The Lord has taken us in and we're in Christ. in the Lord
Jesus. Now if you and I have no comfort
amidst things temporal and no hope for the things eternal,
it's got to be our own fault. It's got to be our own fault.
Jesus said in John 5 and 40 said, you will not come to me that
you might have life. You won't come to me that you
might have all of this. Now we've preached over and over
that a man comes by the grace of God, that a man comes by the
Grace of God that He comes as God calls Him and as the Father
teaches Him. He comes in that way. But unless
you come to Him, and I'm not asking you to move a muscle.
I'm not asking you to get up out of your seat. I'm not asking
you to do that. But in your soul you must come to the Lord Jesus
Christ because in Him is life. And unless he gives you life,
you'll never have it. Now I want to leave this subject
then, this morning, but I want to give you four questions. I
want to ask you four questions. I'm not going to preach on these
things, but I want to leave them with you to meditate upon in
the hours to come and in the week that is before you. I want
you to listen to these four questions. Number one, I want to ask you,
what are you looking at? All of us are looking at something. Wasn't that what Paul said? While
we look. While we look, we're all looking
at something. Are you looking at the things
day by day as you travel through this world on your way to eternity?
Are you looking at the things of time, taking up with the things
of time as your problems, your family problems? Your trials,
your difficulties, your struggles in this world, is that all you're
looking at? Is that what you're looking at? That's why you're
so miserable. That's why you got so much pain
in your soul. Are you just looking in the mirror? Paul said, our outward man is
perishing. It's perishing. And anybody here
that don't know that, you just keep looking in the mirror after
you pass 30, 35 years old, and there ain't no question about
it. The outward man's perishing. Isn't that true? What are you
looking at? So I'm just downright discouraged about how my hair
is turning gray. I'm just downright depressed
about how it just seems like things are not turning out for
me. Listen, you're looking in the wrong place. What are you
looking at? What are you looking at? Now
you see, this is a paradox for a believer. A believer. Listen to me. You say, Preacher,
isn't it logical for a man to look at what he can see? Paul
says we're not to look at what we see or what can be seen. It's a paradox like many others
in the Word of God. A believer is looking at the
things that are unseen. He's not looking at what he can
see. Because the things that you see, if that's where you
end it, it'll sink you, brother. You don't have enough strength
in your back. You don't have a good enough
mind to endure all that's happening all around us and all the pressure
and the troubles of this world and the conflicts that we're
going to experience. We don't have enough ability.
We can't stand all that's going on. We gotta quit looking at
it. You just gotta quit looking at it. And you gotta start looking
at what you can't see. And what you can't see is what
the Word of God testifies of, what I've been talking to you
about today, that eternal city, that abode of God, that place
where we're all going when we get out of this world, when we
cross over the river of death. Number two, I want to ask you
this question. Where are you going to be in
eternity? You going to be on the right hand? You going to
be on the left? Are you going to be in the goats? Or are you
going to be in the sheep? Are you going to be lost? Or
are you going to be saved? I'm not preaching nothing more
to you than that. I'm just asking you where you're
going to be. I said what a man is in this
life. That's what he'll be in the life
to come. I've told you over and over again. A man has no right
to expect anything in eternity. The seed of which was not in
his life here in this world. I've told you that. I faithfully
told you that. Where are you going to be? Where
are you going to be? Out yonder in eternity. Now the
third question is this. Would you be safe? Would you
be safe for time and eternity? Well, if you would be, then you
must come to the Lord Jesus Christ in your true character. Admit
what you are. Make your sinnerhood, take your
part, own your part in the fall and bow your knee before Him
and seek Him while He may be found. Call upon Him while He's
near. I have never known a soul who
sought the Lord in entire sincerity. who didn't find him. Do you know
if somebody has? Somebody's been seeking the Lord
for years. Somebody's been suing God for mercy and never got it.
Do you know of anybody? I don't know of anybody. I know
a lot of people that never would do it, that won't bow their knee,
that would not do it one instant, would not seek the Lord. But
I've never known anybody who truthfully did the Lord say,
sons of Jacob, you seek me in vain? No. No. You seek the Lord,
and you will not be disappointed. I'll tell you that. So if you
would be safe for time and eternity, then become a seeker after the
Lord. Seek for mercy. Now the fourth
question is this. Would you be happy? Would you
be happy today? Would you be happy? There's an
old song that says, I want to be happy in eternity. I want
to be happy. Do you want to be happy? Well,
my friend, if you do, then cling to Jesus Christ by faith. Follow Him with your heart, with
your soul, with your mind, and with your strength. And seek
to know Him better every day that you live. And every day,
practice dying a little bit. Just practice dying a little
bit. Because you're gonna die. It's
not if, it's when, we're all gonna die. I faced it. My mother
passed away the other day. I mean, we all face it. We see
it. We know it's happening. We know it's going to happen.
And we just got to practice it a little bit every day. And when
something crosses your path, don't throw a fit. Die a little
bit. Submit yourself. Don't be so
quick to try to keep, grab and keep everything that passes you
in this world. Don't be so quick to do that.
die a little. Practice it. Paul said I die
daily. Well now what did he say? He said I just die a little bit
every day. And then if you do that, when
it comes down to the end, then my friend, you'll just say well
this is no hard work. I read after one old believer
that died and said well, is this dying? Is this dying? Is this what this is? Well this
is no hard Brother, sister, if you practice it enough, it won't
be. But if you go kicking and screaming, every little situation
crosses your path. You go just throwing a fit every
time you don't get your way. When it comes time to die, you're
going to have a tough time doing it, I'm going to tell you that.
You better learn to bow your knee. So if you'd be happy, in
time and eternity, submit yourself unto the Lord. I was, well at
the time it's gotten away, well, let me just tell you this. My
mother was a very loving woman, faithful woman to her husband,
and a loving mother to eleven children. She never forsake her
children. And we were talking, some of
us were at the funeral, and I was telling them my mother had faults
like anybody else, but one of her main faults was that she
didn't submit herself to the Lord like she ought to. She rebelled too much. She lived a very tenacious, I
would call it, life. I mean, she lived to be an old
woman, almost 90 years old. But she didn't give up easy.
She fought every battle. And there are many a times that
I counseled my mother. I said, give it up. Give it up.
Don't, don't rebel against something you can't do anything about.
Submit yourself to the hand of the Lord. Submit yourself to
God. And one of our greatest faults
is that every one of us, we just don't, we don't submit ourselves
to truth, like we've been talking about here this morning. We just
don't bow to it, do we? We just keep right on going,
headstrong. Just keep right on booking this
old world, and that's why we got the misery we got. Let's
trust God, submit ourselves to the Lord and rest ourselves in
the Lord and we can be happy now and in eternity. So now when
things start happening and you see them leaves coming off them
trees this fall, it won't be long before things are looking.
Remember the scripture says we all do fade as a leaf. It's happening. We're in a world where everything
is temporary. We're going to a world where everything is eternal.
And just like we are here, that's the way we're going to be there.
And if you need a friend to help you, here and in eternity, it's
Jesus Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless these
thoughts to your heart. Pray as the tapes go by.