I have a most important question
to consider in my message today. And this question will serve
as the title or topic, title of the message. And here's the
question, and I'll read my text later on in the message. But
the question is this, when is a man ready to die? When is a man ready to die? Now, all my life, I've heard
people say, well, he was ready to die. And then I've heard others
say, well, I'm not afraid to die. I'm ready to meet my maker. We hear that often stated, I'm
ready to die. I'm ready to meet my maker. Well,
he was ready to die. When is a man ready to die? Now, I do know this, that the
great and important things in life are done but one time. All of the great and important
things are done one time. We are born one time. We live
on this earth one time, one life. We die one time. The Scripture
says, it is appointed unto men once to die. After that, the
judgment. And then we must face God and
stand in the judgment one time. After that it'll be eternity. Now we have nothing to do with
our birth. We're born one time and we have nothing to do with
that. And then we die one time and we have nothing to do with
that. The scripture says man is born of woman a few days full
of trouble. He cometh forth like the flower
that is cut down. And the number of his months
are with the Lord. God hath appointed his bounds
so that he cannot pass." In other words, our death, my death and
your death, is in the hands of God. He has fixed the date, determined
the time, and the instrument of death is already prepared. But we do have something to do
with how we die. How we die. We do have something
to do with how we meet God. in the judgment. Now the scripture
says, prepare to meet thy God. So that indicates that I have
something to do with this matter of preparing to meet Almighty
God. My attitude toward the living
God and my attitude toward the Lord Jesus Christ whom he had
sent. Now that determines how I'm going
to die. Our Lord Jesus said this, if
you believe not that I am he, you'll die in your sins. He was
talking about he is the Messiah, he is the Redeemer, he is the
same one who spoke to Moses at the burning bush. Moses said,
well, when Israel asked me, who sent you? What is his name? What shall I say? And God said,
tell them I am has sent thee. And this is what our Lord said
here in this passage. He said, if you believe not that
I am, that I am God, that I am the Redeemer, that I am the Messiah,
you'll die in your sins. So your attitude toward Christ,
your attitude toward the eternal God and Redeemer determines how
you'll die, where you'll spend eternity. Or our Lord said this
to Martha. He said, I am the resurrection
and the life. He that believeth on me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. So I have nothing to do with
When I'm born, I have nothing to do with where I'm born. I
have nothing to do with when I die or where I die. But I've got something to do
with how I die and how I meet Almighty God. It has something
to do with faith. It has something to do with attitude. It has something to do with our
feelings toward God Almighty and toward His Son, Jesus Christ. I'm going to give you three illustrations
from the Scripture. I'm going to go in the Old Testament
and pick a man, and then in the New Testament, pick two men,
and give you an illustration that deals, three illustrations
that deal with this subject, when is a man really ready to
die? Now, the first one is David.
David is called in the Scripture twice, a man after God's own
heart. So this is a man whom we know
was ready to die. Whenever God was pleased to call
him, David was ready to die because he was a man after God's own
heart. And then he's called the man
who was raised on high. And then he was called the anointed
of God. And again he was called the sweet
psalmist of Israel. Now, if you have your Bible,
you can open it to 2 Samuel, chapter 23, verses 1 through
5, and here you have the last words of David, the last words
that this sweet psalmist of Israel, this man who was raised on high,
this man who was anointed of God, this man who was a man at
the God's own heart, you have, for your reading and learning,
the last words that he spoke on this earth. It is said in
2 Samuel 23, 1, now these be the last words of David. And
down here in verse 4 and 5 we have them, listen to them. Although
my house be not so with God, yet God hath made with me an
everlasting covenant, ordered, ordered and arranged, ordered
and arranged, in all things, and sure, and this is all my
salvation, and this is all my desire. This is it," David said. David didn't talk about the time
he was anointed as a shepherd lad to be the future king of
Israel. When David was on his deathbed,
he didn't call to mind and remind the people of the great exploits
and battles which he won, the slaying of Goliath, the defeat
of the Philistines. Nor did he remind them that he
was the one who brought the ark of God back to Jerusalem. Nor
did he remind them of his friendship to Mephibosheth and so many others. Nor did he remind them of the
many years that he reigned successfully over Israel, made them one of
the greatest nations the world has ever seen. No, when David
comes to die, talking about his preparation and his readiness
to die, reaching out to find some comfort and assurance. Where
does David take us? He takes us back to the foundations
of the world. He takes us back to the eternal
council halls of God Almighty. He takes us back to the time
before the morning stars sang together, or the sons of God
shouted for joy, And here's where he finds his confidence, not
in himself, not in his works, but in his God, in the faithfulness
of God. He didn't find his confidence
and assurance in the day of death, facing eternity in his own faith,
but in God's faithfulness. Not in his works, but in God's
works in Christ Jesus. Not in his goodness. but in the
greatness of his God. His confidence and assurance
in the hour of death came from his faith in the covenant mercies
of God. Do you have that faith in the
covenant mercies of God? The greatness of God, the faithfulness
of God, the promises of God, the purposes of God? David believed
God. Like Abraham before him, David
believed that what God had purposed What God had purposed, God was
able to perform. Like Abraham before him, David
believed that what God had promised, what he had promised to Christ,
what he had promised in the covenant of grace, he would bring to pass. Preacher, you keep talking about
this covenant. David talked about it, Paul talked
about it. Paul said in Hebrews 13, 20 and 21, he said, now the
God of peace, that brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus Christ, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through
the blood of the everlasting covenant, through the blood of
the everlasting covenant, make you perfect. It's through the
blood of the everlasting covenant that you're made perfect, that
you're made acceptable before God. that you're made righteous
in every good work, to do His will, to do God's will, working
in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ. In other words, what's David
talking about here on his deathbed? A covenant, a covenant of grace,
an everlasting covenant, a covenant ordered in all things, ensured,
ordained in all things, arranged in all things, And David, the
great king, the sweet psalmist, the man after God's own heart,
said, this is my salvation. This is my salvation. This is
my desire. Well, I'll tell you what it is,
the Lord God, the eternal God who declares the end from the
beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done,
saying, my counsel shall stand. I will do all my pleasure. That
God has given to His Son a people. In eternity past, before the
world began, He gave His Son a people, a people out of every
tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue unto heaven. And Christ Jesus,
the Lamb of God, became the surety, the everlasting surety of the
everlasting covenant, a surety of a better testament, and the
blood of the everlasting testament covenant. And He took upon Himself
the full redemption of every one of those people. And that's
the covenant David's talking about. This is what he's saying
when he comes to die. I'm ready to die. Well, how do
you know that you're ready to die, David? Where are you going
to find strength for this awesome hour? Where are you going to
find some confidence for this traumatic experience? Where are
you going to find light for this dark path that you're about to
walk? Oh, he said, the Lord God. hath made with me an everlasting
covenant. And that covenant does not depend
on me. It's God's covenant with His
Son in eternity, ordered in all things and sure. And this is
my salvation. This is my desire. Not what David
has done or has given. I believe God, he says. I believe
that God has purposed to have a people to populate the new
heaven and the new earth from Adam's race. through his covenant
of grace, and I believe that he's had mercy on me, and by
his grace I've been included in that covenant, and God will
keep his word. That's my confidence." Oh, you
don't find David going back to some experience or some decision
or some work that he did, some deed he performed, some religious
feeling that he had. He found his confidence in God. He found his comfort in the faithfulness
of God. He found his assurance in the
Word of God. He found his confidence in the
person of Christ in that covenant of grace. That's when a man's
ready to die. When he can lay hold of and cling
to greater things than this flesh or feeling or fickleness, foolishness,
professions of faith, walking out, shaking hands. carried on
in the flesh. God is greater than these things. Here's what he's saying, in Titus
1-2, in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised
before the world began. That's where it all started.
That's where it all started, which God promised before the
world began. All right, the second person
now I want you to consider is Paul. No use me talking about
Paul too much. You know who Paul is. That great
Pharisee whom God saved and revealed Christ to his heart. In me, he
said. Well, Paul, knowing that he would
soon die, wrote to Timothy from prison. And he said, Timothy,
now listen to this. You're going to miss it if you
don't listen. He said, Timothy, I'm ready to
be offered. I'm ready to be offered. Now
your better translations that are helpful tell us that he's
saying, I'm ready to be poured out on the altar as a drink offering,
as a drink offering. He says, the time of my departure
is at hand. I fought a good fight. I've finished
my course, I've kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give to me in that day, and not to me only, but
unto all them that love his appearing." Now here's a man ready to die. We don't have any doubt about
his salvation or his readiness to meet God. Here's a man with
great confidence. Confidence not in himself, but
in God's mercy to him. And the key to this whole testimony,
this whole statement, is found in two statements, really, that
are generally overlooked. Now, he said, the time of my
departure is at hand. We understand that. I'm about
to die. That's what he's saying. My departure
from this earth. He didn't say my death. He said
my departure. But here's the first statement
that people miss. He says, I'm ready to be offered.
Or, I'm ready to be poured out as a drink offering. I'm ready
to be poured out as a drink offering. Now, most of the Jews to whom
Paul preached, Timothy and others, they understood what he was talking
about because they knew what a drink offering was. We don't
know what a drink offering is. Most of us don't. We've never
taken the time to look it up. But it's found in Numbers 28,
7 and 8. Now here's what a drink offering is, and this is what
Paul is saying. When a lamb was offered upon the altar as a sin
offering to God, a lamb was slain, its blood was shed, its body
burned on the altar, which is a picture of Christ, which is
a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. All of these Old Testament sacrifices
were pictures of Christ and patterns. God didn't save people through
these blood offerings. It's not possible that the blood
of bulls and goats should take away a man's sin. These were
pictures of Christ, and these people offered these offerings
and sacrifices, sin offerings by faith, till Christ came. He's
the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God. But here
the lamb was slain, its blood was shed, and that was the sacrifice. That was the atonement, that
was the sacrifice, that was the sin offering. But along came
the priest and the people, and they brought a drink offering.
And wine or oil was poured on the sacrifice. Wine or oil was
poured on the atonement, on the sin offering rather, the sacrifice
on the altar. This wine and oil didn't have
anything to do with the sacrifice. It didn't have anything to do
with purging sin. It was a thanksgiving. It was
a praise offering. It was added out of gratitude
to God. And that's what Paul is saying
here. The very thing, this was a drink offering. And this is
what Paul is saying. Christ Jesus is my Lamb. Christ
Jesus is my sin offering. Christ Jesus is my sacrifice
before God to take away my sin. But I'm ready to be identified
with Him. I'm ready to be poured out. As
a token of praise to God and thanksgiving to Christ and gratitude
to God, I'm ready to die for His glory. That's what he's saying.
The time of my departure is at hand, but I'm ready. Because
Christ, my sacrifice, has died for me, and I'm ready to join
Him in death. I'm ready to die for His glory. I'm ready to be literally poured
out, just like a drink offering. The wine and the oil. on top
of the altar where Christ died. I'm identified with him. You
see, as David died, he reached back to the faithfulness of God. He reached back to the covenant
of grace. As Paul died, he reached back
to the cross of Calvary, to the Lamb of God. And in God's covenant
of grace, It was the blood of the everlasting covenant. See,
both these men, one talking about the covenant and one talking
about the blood of the covenant. The blood of the everlasting
covenant. All the hope and confidence and faith that we have is in
Christ. You see, Paul looked back with satisfaction. He said,
I fought a good fight. I kept the faith. He looked around
with peace. He said, I finished my course.
I finished what God gave me to do. And he looked ahead with
assurance. And he said, henceforth, by God's
Word that laid up for me a crown of righteousness." Now here's
the second statement that people miss. Paul faced death looking
to Christ, his sin offering, and to Christ his righteousness.
You don't think this crown of righteousness was his righteousness,
do you? Paul's righteousness? Why, this
man who talked so much about Christ's righteousness while
he lived, He would spend his dying hours talking about his
righteousness? Don't be foolish. Paul, who talked
about the righteousness of God in Christ in Romans 3, and the
righteousness of God which is Christ in Romans 10, when he
came to die, he certainly wouldn't be bragging about his righteousness.
But Paul the Apostle found his comfort, his readiness to die,
rejoicing in, looking to, resting in, Christ, the blood sacrifice,
and Christ, our perfect righteousness. Now here's the third person.
When is a man ready to die? Heavy subject and mighty important. And when you read these men,
men of God, men whom we know were men of God, who didn't just
claim to be, they were men of God. And we find their foundation
and their rock It sounds a little different from all this, I've
made my peace with God, and I'm ready to die because I walked
the aisle, and I joined the church, and I was a Baptist, or I was
a Methodist, or I was a Catholic, or I had a feeling, or I had
experience. These men who came to die, their
last words had to do with something God had done, not something they
had done. Something God had done for them. God, David said, made
with me an everlasting covenant. Paul talked about Christ died
for me and Christ is my righteousness. You can die in peace if that's
your foundation. But here's the third man, Simeon,
Luke 2. Now listen. Behold, there was
a man in Jerusalem. We know a little bit about him.
It says his name was Simeon. And it says here he was a just
man, a devout man. And it says here that he was
waiting for something. Anticipating, expecting. Waiting for what? Waiting for
the consolation of Israel. What is that? Well, he looked
for the Messiah. He looked for the Christ. He
looked for the Redeemer. For it says in the next verse,
it was revealed to him by the Holy Ghost. that he should not
see death, he'll not die, till he had seen the Lord's Christ,
God's Christ, God's Redeemer, the Savior of sinners, that prophet
of whom Moses wrote. God spoke to him and God told
him he would not die until he had seen the Messiah. What a
promise, what rich, rich promises. Well, it says here that very
day that Mary and Joseph brought the child to the temple, that
very day that they brought him to the temple, Jesus of Nazareth,
to perform that which was required in the law of God, God led this
old man Simeon right down to the temple. God led him to the
temple the very day that Mary and Joseph brought the child
Jesus to perform for him what the law required. And listen
to what follows. Then Simeon took the child up
in his arms and he blessed God and he said Lord now let us thy
servant die in peace let me depart in peace according to your word
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation here's a man ready to die Ready to die. He's not talking
about his devout ways. He's not talking about his just
ways. He's not talking about the years
he spent waiting, waiting, waiting on the Lord. He said, I'm ready
to die. I'm ready to leave this earth.
Why? Why are you ready? Why such readiness
to leave here? I've seen the Lord. Messiah.
I've seen the Lord's, I've seen the Lord's salvation." By his
own admission, Simeon was quite ready to die. And his assurance
was in the fact that with eyes of faith he had seen the Lord's
salvation in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let me
show you something here. Here's a man ready to go. He's
talking to God. And you notice he's not bragging
about himself. He's bragging on God's mercy.
He said he blessed God. He took Christ up. First of all,
the Holy Spirit led him there. The Holy Spirit led his path
to cross the path of the Son of God. That's the way everybody
is saved who comes to know Christ. Everybody who savingly comes
to know Christ and to know God in Christ It's a work of the
Holy Ghost. It's a miraculous work. It's
not just a religious decision. It's not just somebody winning
you to a movement or to an organization or to a doctrine. Not by might
nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord. It's the Spirit
that quickeneth the flesh prophet of nothing. When He has come,
the Holy Ghost, He'll convince the world of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment. It's by the Spirit of God that
men are born again. So the Spirit of God brought
Simeon to that temple, and then he took up Christ in his arm.
He took up Christ. He received him. He embraced
him. And he embraced him with the
embrace of faith. He knew who he was. Like Paul,
he could say, I know whom I have believed. He took him up with
the embrace of love. Oh, with what tenderness he held
him. He took him up with the embrace
of hope. He turned his back on everything else, on the sacrifices,
and the Sabbath, and the ceremonies, and the rituals. He received
Christ. And then he blessed God, the
fountain of all grace. He blessed God for his revealed
mercies. He blessed God for this day.
He blessed God for this hour. He didn't write to some soul
winner and say, thank you for bringing me to Jesus. He blessed
God for bringing him to Christ. And then he said, now let me
depart in peace. And watch how he said it. Lord, you're sovereign
in life and death. Let me depart. Let me depart. Let me. It's all in your good
favor and wisdom. In peace. I can die in peace
now because Christ is my peace. There's no way a man can die
in peace who doesn't have the Prince of Peace. He had a song
in his heart because he has Christ in his arms. Let me die in peace. I've seen the Lord's salvation. Salvation of the Lord and in
the Lord and through the Lord Jesus Christ. When is a man ready
to die? When he knows something about
God's grace. When he knows something about Christ's death. When he
knows something about the person of Christ who is saving faith.
Now you can have this message on a cassette tape. Next week
I'll bring another message, Eight Great Precepts. This one, when
is a man ready to die, and that message on the same cassette
tape, send two dollars, we'll mail it to you. Here's the address.
Till next week, God bless you.