How Will You Do When You Come to Die?

Alright, open your Bibles now
to Jeremiah 12, verse 5. Jeremiah 12, verse 5. I want us to look hard at this scripture. I want so much for God to speak
to me and to you through his word today. If thou hast run
with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst
thou contend with horses? And if in the land of peace wherein
thou trustest, or findest security, they wearied thee, then how will
you do in the swelling of the Jordan?" Put a big circle around
that scripture. There's a message here. There's
a powerful, heart-searching, life-changing, challenging message
right here. Jeremiah's not asking you that
question, or me. This is God asking Jeremiah the
question. That's right. God himself. Our text is not a question Jeremiah's
putting to us. This is a question that God's
putting to his prophet, Jeremiah. God's asking Jeremiah this. He's
saying, Jeremiah, if you run with men on foot, and they've
wearied you and made you tired, brought you to the place where
you're about ready to quit, what are you going to do when you
have to contend with horses, when you have to run with horses? And, Jeremiah, if you take to
flight in the land of peace, if you get uptight and depressed
and troubled in the land of peace, where you have the security of
flesh and senses What are you going to do when you come to
die? That's exactly what he's asking. Now, to understand this
question, we need to go back a few verses and find out what
led to it. Verse 1, Jeremiah says, Lord,
you are righteous. Righteous art thou, O Lord. You
are righteous and just, he says. You are righteous and just when
I plead with you. Yet let me talk to you about
your judgments or your providence." Now here's what Jeremiah is saying.
Let's begin here. Let's look at it. Jeremiah is
saying, Lord, you're righteous and you're just, no matter how
unaccountable your providence is and your purposes may be to
men. In other words, Jeremiah didn't
mean in discussing the providences and purposes of the Lord to charge
him with unrighteousness. Jeremiah did not mean that God
is unwise in his dealings. God moves in a mysterious way
his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps on the
sea and he rides upon the storm. His purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flower. When we are most in the dark
about God's providence, when we're most in the dark about
God's purposes and the way the Lord is pleased to do things,
we must keep right thoughts about God. Now you need to hear me
here. You can get in an awful lot of
trouble right here if you're not careful. Jeremiah was saying,
Lord, here's what he's coming to. I don't know why you're doing
this. I don't understand it. I want to talk to you about it.
I want to talk to you about your I want to talk to you about your
providence. But now, Lord, I want to express
this before I start. You're righteous no matter what
you do. You're just no matter what you
do. God cannot do wrong. God cannot make a mistake. God
cannot act unwisely. Whatever God does, however unaccountable
His providences are to me, I don't understand them. I can't explain
them. But I begin with this. It is the Lord, let him do what
he will. Now that's where you better start.
And no matter how dark the way gets, and no matter how troubled
you become, and no matter how unaccountable his providences
are to you, his works of providence, you better keep right thoughts
about God. That's where Jeremiah starts.
And you don't get anything else this morning. You underscore
that first line. Lord, you are righteous. And
when I plead with you and when I talk to you about why you're
doing what you're doing, I want you to know, which God does know,
and I want you to know that I know that whatever you do is right. Now, Eli had some sons who were
rebels, and he didn't do anything about it. He didn't rebuke them. And God told Samuel he was going
to destroy Eli's sons. And Samuel was reluctant to reveal
this to Eli, and Eli got it out of him. He said, now I want you
to tell me, Samuel, what God told you. Samuel said, I'd rather
not. Eli said, the Lord do so unto
you if you don't tell me. And he said, well, the Lord said
he was going to kill your sons. And Eli replied, well, it's the
Lord. Let him do what he will. Now
that is the attitude of a believer. That's the attitude of a believer.
The judge of the earth shall do right whatever he does. Whether I understand it, whether
I concur with it, whether I desire it, can I not do with my own
God says what I will? Shall the clay say to the potter,
why have you made me thus? So that's where we start. Jeremiah
says, Lord, you're righteous. You're righteous. The judge of
the earth shall do right. Whatever you do, I want this
to be made clear. This is, as they say, the bottom
line. God is righteous, whatever he does. Whatever he does with
me, or to me, or through me, or to anyone with whom I am connected,
he is right in what he does. And whatever you think, and wherever,
no matter how dark the way becomes, and how rocky the road, and how
rough and steep the path, Entertain right thoughts about God. Always
right thoughts about God. That's what Jeremiah says. He
says, Lord, you're righteous. All right, let's go on. Yet,
he says, yet, let me talk with thee. Let me talk with thee of
thy judgments or thy providence. Let me present some questions
that are consistent with your word. Let me present some questions
that are consistent with righteousness and justice. I am at a loss,
he says, to understand some things. I am too. Wherefore, he says, verse 1,
doth the way of the wicked prosper? Wherefore are all they happy
that deal treacherously? Huh? That's what I want to know,
Lord. Boy, if you're not at home in
this verse, you're not thinking. Lord, why does the way of the
wicked prosper and the way of the just seem so difficult? Lord, why are men at ease who
deal dishonestly and treacherously with others, why are they happy? Why, Lord, David asks in Psalm
73, do the believers suffer while the wicked prosper? Why, Lord,
does a man who preaches the gospel of God's grace incur the hatred
of the people while a man who deals in error is applauded and
lauded and promoted? Why do the righteous die young
while the profane continue to defile the environment with their
blasphemy? Why? Why does the way of the righteous
seem so rocky and so difficult and the way of the rich and the
wicked and the profane and those who deal treacherously with the
neighbor seem to be so smooth and velvet and without obstruction
or stumbling block? Why? That's what I want to know. Why does a crook like these faith
healers, why do they prosper? Why do their
efforts seem to be so blessed? They're crooked. They're hucksters. They're making merchandise of
men's souls. They're dishonest. And yet they're
godly men who have broken hearts, who are pleading for the souls
of sinners, who have gone across the ocean and preached the gospel
to little tribes that can't get a nickel to support their families,
and their work seems to be so difficult, and they bury their
children. Come back home and plead for support and these religious
hucksters can wear diamond rings and drive huge Automobiles and
live in palatial mansions Lord. I want to know why that's what
he's saying right there say so I won't know why He burst to he said Lord you
planted them Now remember he began this with saying Lord.
You're righteous. I know that you can't make a mistake. You
won't do wrong Now, I don't have wrong thoughts about God here.
I just want to know why. Consistent with justice and righteousness
in your word, I want to know why. You planted them, Lord.
You planted them. They take root by your providence.
They grow, they bear their evil fruit. They even use your name
with their mouths, that's what he says, and far from their hearts,
their reins. Lord, they use your name with
their mouths, but you're not in their hearts. They're not
thinking of your glory. They're not interested in your
glory. They're not concerned for your glory. They're concerned
for their covetousness and greed. You planted them. And their very
existence and their presence is still by your power. That's
what you said to Pilate. You could have no power over
me at all except be given you from above. All power is from
God. Power to breathe. It's by your
power and permission, O Lord, for it's in God that we all,
wicked and sane, live and move and have our being. In verse
3, Lord, he says, You know me. You know me. But thou, O Lord,
knowest me. You knew me before I was born.
Turn to Jeremiah chapter 1. You knew me before I was born.
You know me. Those whom he loved, he loved
before they were born. Those whom he knows, He knows
before they are born. He said in Jeremiah 1 verse 4,
Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Before I formed
thee in the belly, Jeremiah, I knew thee. Before thou camest
out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and ordained thee a prophet
unto the nations. Lord, you know me. You knew me
before I was born. Lord, you know me as one of your
own. You know, Christ said to those at the judgment in Matthew
7, I never knew you. He said, I know my sheep. I know
my sheep, and am known of mine. I lay down my life for the sheep,
and other sheep I have, which are not of this fold. Them also
I must bring, and they shall be one fold and one shepherd.
I know them. Lord, you know me. I'm a son. I can cry, Abba, Father. It's
not based upon some idle profession of faith or some easy believism
or some decision that I made under an emotional strain. Lord,
you know me. You knew me before I was born.
You know me as one of your own. And listen to this next line.
And you've tried my heart, you know my heart. This is where
it takes place, in the heart. I heard a preacher on television
this morning, and this is what he said. He said, you come forward,
And let me pray with you, and you'll leave this place not wearing
a shoddy robe of your own making, but you'll leave this place wearing
a robe of righteousness. Now I want to tell you, you don't
come down here and get a robe of righteousness. We don't give
them out here. I don't make them. You go to
Christ for that, and it's a work that's done in the heart. That's
where it takes place. Conviction takes place in the
heart. They were pricked in their hearts.
He said, Lord, you know me. You know me and you've tried
my heart, watch it now, toward thee. How's your heart toward
the Lord? That's where this business of
salvation takes place. It doesn't take place while some
preacher sprinkles water on your head as an infant. It doesn't
take place when some preacher puts you in a pool and puts you
beneath the water. It doesn't take place down here
shaking a preacher's hand and saying you believe certain doctrines.
That's not where this thing, it takes place in the heart.
It's what the heart is toward God. Jeremiah said, Lord, you
know me, and you've tried my heart toward you. Conviction
takes place in the heart. They were pricked in their hearts.
Repentance takes place in the heart. God saveth such as be
of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Faith is born in the
heart. With the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and submission to God takes place in the heart.
My son, give me thy heart. That's where it takes place.
Don't speak of your doctrine. Doctrine doesn't save. Christ
saves. Don't speak of your zeal. These
people in Romans 10 had a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge. Don't speak of your good works.
The Pharisee talked about the alms which he gave to the poor.
Don't speak of your abstinence from certain sins. The Pharisee
said, I'm not an adulterer. I'm not unjust. I'm not this,
that, and the other. I tithe. I fast. I pray. I'm going to hell. He could have said that too.
It's a heart work. It's a heart work. He said, Lord,
you know me. You know me. You've seen me. Thou, God, seest me, Hagar said,
you see me, you know my heart, you tried my heart, you know
what's going on there. Now, Lord, pull him out like
sheep for the slaughter. Oh, Jeremiah's waxing bold, isn't
he? He said, Lord, now, I've got some things to talk to you
about. I want to talk to you about your providence. I want
to talk to you about the way you run in things. Now Lord,
you're righteous, I know that. Bless his heart. I know what
you do is right, but I don't understand what you're doing.
I don't understand it. Now here's, you know me, I'm
your son. You've known me before I was
born. You know me in saving grace. You know me in mercy. You gave
your son to die for me. You know me. You know my heart.
You tried my heart. You know it's true. Lord, you
know all things. You know I love you. Now, you
take these rebels and pull them out like a farmer pulls out the
fatted sheep for the slaughter. Prepare them to feel thy wrath. Verse 4, How long shall the land
mourn? and the herbs of ever feel wither
for the wickedness of these folks that dwell therein. The beasts
are consumed. They don't have enough to eat.
The birds are dying. And these people have said, Jeremiah
has prophesied our final end, but he won't live to see it.
Jeremiah has told us the judgment of God is coming upon us, but
he won't live to see it. Jeremiah has prophesied that
God will deal with us in wrath, but he won't live to see it.
That's what they say. It had him upset. They're mocking
me, Lord. They're mocking me. These wicked men have brought
judgment on the land. The whole earth was cursed by
the sin of Adam. When Adam fell, the whole earth
came under the curse and judgment of God because of Adam's sin. And now because of the sin of
these men, Jerusalem is parched with famine. And the beasts are
dying and the birds are dying even. The people have nothing
to eat. It's the fault of these men and their sins. Now Lord,
judge them like you said you were going to do. Deal with them
like you said you were going to deal with them. Take them
out of the flock like a farmer takes out the fat sheep and slaughter
them. That's what he's saying. They're
laughing at me. They're mocking me. They're making
fun of me, they're saying, Jeremiah, I'm not going to live to see
our end. All things continue like they were. Now that's when
God spoke to Jeremiah. Right there. That's when he spoke.
That's when the Lord rebuked his servant. And he rebukes him
with firmness. He rebukes him for his impatience. And he says, Jeremiah, If you
have run with the footmen and they weary you and made you tired
and got you all upset and ready to quit, Jeremiah, how can you
contend with the horses? Now these men were against Jeremiah.
They despised him. They despised his message. They
despised what he had to say. And he was upset with them. He
was troubled. He had said some things and they
hadn't come true. He prophesied some things that
God had not produced. And they were laughing. They
said, You're not going to see our final end. Look at Jeremiah
11, verse 18. And the Lord hath given me knowledge
of it, I know it, Then thou showest me their doings. I was like a
lamb, or an ox, as brought to the slaughter. I knew not that
they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the
tree with the fruit thereof, let us cut him off from the land
of the living, that his name may be no more remembered. That's
what they were saying about Jeremiah. And then God comes and he says,
Jeremiah, now listen to me. Here's the picture the Lord gives.
If you run with men on foot and you couldn't bear it, they wearied
you and tired you, how are you going to run with horses? And
this is what God's saying, Jeremiah, if these small trials of life,
these small common trials from common sources are too much for
you, what are you going to do when you're faced with great
overwhelming spiritual conflict? If the doings of men trouble
you, if the agitation and conflicts of daily life with just these
simple men, what are you going to do when you're faced with
the great powers, principalities, rulers of darkness, spiritual
wickedness in high places? How are you going to run with
horses? Jeremiah, you're just dealing
with people. Common flesh and blood. Flesh and blood can't
hurt you. They have no more that they can
do. Fear not them which kill the body, and after that have
no more that they can do. Rather fear Him. What are you
going to do? Jeremiah, you can't contend with
the agitations of daily life. You can't contend with the problems
that arise with your family and with your friends and on your
job and in your social circles and your business. How are you
going to run with horses? What are you going to do when
real trial comes? What are you going to do when
real trouble knocks at your door? What are you going to do when
Satan decides, like he did with Job, that he'll pay you a visit? What are you going to do, he
said? We know so little of real trial. Let's bring it home to
ourselves now. We chafe and murmur and grumble
and find fault with God's purposes and God's providence. And let's
entertain right thoughts about God. God, you're righteous. You
don't start there, you're in a mess. God, you're righteous. I know, but why, Lord, why? Why? Why is this taking place? Why
have I tried and I just can't succeed? Why do I study and I
just can't climb? Why is it that promotions don't
come? Why is my business such a struggle?
Why is my home in such a mess? Why are my children causing me
so many problems? Why, oh Lord, this? And why the
agitation and this, that, and the other? You're just running
with men on foot. Horses hadn't come along yet. If you can't handle this, you
don't know what real trouble is. None of us have resisted
the blood. What if God singled you out for
a Job experience next week? What would happen? You can't
run with men on foot. How can you contend with horses?
What if God singles you out for some of this that the Apostle
Paul had to bear over here in 2 Corinthians, if you please,
chapter 11, 2 Corinthians 11, where Paul talks about verse
24, of the Jews, five times I received forty stripes, save one. Three
times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, three times
I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I've been in the deep,
in journeyings often, perils of waters, perils of robbers,
perils of my own people, my own countrymen, in perils by the
heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness,
in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness,
painfulness, watchings, hunger, thirst, fasting, cold, nakedness. Oh, how that man suffered, and
yet you and I We're running with the footman a little bit, and
we're in trouble already. You're not able to cope with
common, daily, ordinary trials of the flesh. What will you do
when God calls on you to lay it all down for Christ? When God calls on you to really
go to battle, when God calls on you to face not some common
fleshly foe, but the principalities and the powers that rule and
rage and reign in dark places who single you out, Satan, Christ
said to Peter, hath desired thee that he might sift thee as wheat. That's what he's saying here,
Jeremiah. If you can't run with a footman, they've wearied you,
worn you out. You packed up your bags and went
home. You quit. You don't know, you
hadn't commenced to begin to get started and you quit. You
got offended, you got your feelings hurt by some human being and
you quit. God have mercy on your soul.
What you going to do? What are you going to do when
God calls on you to really get in the battle, when you have
to draw swords with Satan? And then he goes on, he says,
listen to me, Jeremiah, if in the land of peace wherein you're
trusted, if in the land of peace, the land of natural understanding,
and that's where you're sitting there this morning, Cecil, you're
sitting there pretty comfortable, you had a nice breakfast, you've
got a nice wife and children, grandchildren, and you've got
your health and everything, you've got a lot of friends here, people
love you, things are comfortable, you've got a good job, responsibilities,
good pay, nice car, nice home, this is the land of peace. Now, in the land of peace, where
you have security, where you feel in command, if you can't
find a way to contend with that, what are you going to do when
you come to die? The crossing of the Jordan, you
can read about it yourself in Joshua 3, verse 15, the swelling
of the Jordan. What are you going to do in the
swelling of the Jordan? That's when Joshua 3, verse 15,
when Israel came there, Canaan was over there, sweet Canaan
land. And here they were in the harvest season, the Jordan swelled
over its banks and they couldn't get across. And God had to miraculously
open a way for them to cross the Jordan. That's what he's
talking about there. And when you come to die, what are you
going to do? Canaan, you see, is a type of heaven. When we
leave this land of sin and darkness and suffering and death and cross
over the Jordan, what are you going to do then? There's a land
of pure delight. where saints' immortal reign. Infinite day excludes the night
and pleasures banish pain. There everlasting spring abides
and never-withering flowers. Death, like a narrow sea, divides
this heavenly land from ours. Sweet fields beyond the swelling
flood stand dressed in living green. So to the Jews old Canaan
stood while Jordan rolled between. Now then, you find fault with
God's providence while you can walk, what are you going to do
when you can't walk? That's what I'm saying. Jeremiah,
you're in the land of peace and of security. Well, you find some
comfort. Now, Jeremiah, what are you going
to do when you come to that place, that place where all is totally
dependent on the hand of God? You complain when you can see.
What are you going to do when the darkness begins to close
around you? I've never felt that. I've never
been on what we call a deathbed. I don't know what it's like.
But I'll tell you this, if I can't cope with what God sends my way
while I can stand here and think and see, what will I do when
I'm lying there and the darkness begins to close in on me? And
I can't move, and I can't put it together, and I can't comprehend
what's going on. I don't even know what day it
is. You murmur at God's hand while you have the security of
personal care. What will you do when you lie
helpless, and breath won't come, and the heart won't beat, and
the loved ones wait for the final gasp? What are you going to do
then? You can't cope with God's law
and God's glory and God's commandments read by men. What will you do
when God reads them to you? That's a pretty good question. You can't bear the agitation
and trials brought by mere men. What will you do when God's justice
puts the finger on you and God's righteousness brings charges
against you and Satan desires to have you? If you can't praise God when
he deals with you in providence and trials and difficulties,
How in the world can you join with the redeemed in glory and
praise God when he deals with men in absolute justice? That's some question, isn't it? Lord, you're righteous. I'm not
questioning your providence. I'm not questioning your purpose.
I'm not questioning your wisdom. I don't understand what's going
on. I don't understand. I want some
answers. And I want you to start doing what you said you was going
to do. And then God comes and he says, Jeremiah, if you can't
run with a footman without getting uptight and upset, what are you
going to do when I call on you to run with the horses? And Jeremiah,
if you can't cope with agitations and trials and troubles in a
land of relatively peace, and comfort. What are you going
to do when you come to cross the Jordan? All right, what am
I going to do? I've decided on a course of action,
a threefold course of action. I'll give it to you and I'll
close. Number one, I'm going to seek
to know in heart as well as in head the Sovereign Lord. That's the first thing. I'm going
to seek to know in heart as well as in head. So Barnard said one
time most doctrinalists and theologians and religionists were missing
heaven by 18 inches, the distance between right here and right
here. They got it up here, but never has landed down here. They
talk about the Lord with their lips and they can figure out
by their intelligence, all of these different ways and doctrines
and truths and legalistic things and intellectual things, but
it never has broken their hearts. And they never have with a hard
faith laid hold on Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is, the
throne room is the heart. That's where, he doesn't sit
up here, he sits on the throne of men's hearts. That's where
he reigns. That's what dictates my words. Out of the heart proceeds
evil thoughts and blasphemies and these things. These are the
things that defile a man. Keep thy heart out of it are
the issues of life, the wise man said. That's where it takes
place, not up here. That's reading some old ignorant
plow boy that just finished the first grade can baffle a college
professor in the Word of God. Because it's hard work. It's
not how big's your brain, it's how big's your heart. And I want to know the sovereign
God in true faith. I don't want to rationalize His
purposes and providence. I want to receive Him, believe
Him, bow to Him, and say, I trust Him though He slay me. I know
that my Redeemer liveth. The Lord giveth and the Lord
taketh away. Everything's all right in my Father's house. A
thousand years is a day, and a day a thousand years. I want
to know the sovereign God in my heart. Seek him in true faith,
true heart faith. Bow, submit, surrender to the
living Lord. Lord, move in. Take over my heart. Let me bow to Christ and believe
on him and trust his blood and his righteousness and his cross,
not asking to understand. Just bow. Submit to his sovereign
reign. Secondly, here's the second thing,
a threefold preparation for the day of death. Be buried with
him in baptism and all that it implies. Now I'm not emphasizing
the act as much as the attitude here. Be buried with him in baptism
and all that it implies. When a believer comes to know
Christ, He confesses Christ in death, burial, and resurrection. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of Christ, by which the world is crucified
unto me and I unto the world. When they took Christ down from
the cross, they buried him. He was dead. He was dead. On the third day he arose. When
I looked to Christ and believed on Him, received Him as my Lord,
I died to the world. The world is not my Lord. Caesar
is not my Lord. Money is not my God. And I'm
saying that I died to the world and the world died to me when
I'm baptized. I'm identified with Christ in
His death, burial, and resurrection. The world had no more claims
on Christ. The law had no more claims on
Christ. Our sins had no more claims on
Christ. He was dead to those things,
buried, and risen again. And that's what I'm saying. To
ambition, to worldly fame, to acceptance by theâ€”what do I care
what the world thinks? I'm dead to the world. What does
it matter whether this church is bigger than another church,
or larger than another church, or has more people than another
church, or has more money than another church, or higher steeple
than another church? What difference does it make?
God's going to lay them all flat someday. What difference does it make
who knows you? It makes a difference whether God knows you, but not
anybody else. What difference does it make
about how big your house is, or how large your car is, or
how important you are in the community? If you're dead to
the world, you don't pay attention to those things. You don't care
whether your name's in the paper or not. I'm saying all that in reality.
I'm not talking about in doctrine. Dead to this world. Be buried
with Christ. You see, if you're buried with
Christ in reality, if you actually, if he's the Lord, And it doesn't matter about these
things. The world is dead. It's dead. I'm dead to it, to
its responses, to its challenges, to its wooings, to its invitations. I'm not trying to impress anybody. I'm not impressed by them. They're
dead. They died with Christ. Now that
way, these footmen won't wear you. In that way, what does it
matter? They're dead. And then thirdly, and this is
not learned overnight, it's to seek the Lord. You've got to
come to a saving relationship with Him. You've got to be bathed
and washed in the blood. That's first. And then buried
with Him in baptism, in reality, not just in profession, in reality. Buried with Christ in baptism. Buried as dead men and then thirdly
I got to learn to die daily Die daily my health now listen When I get up in the morning,
I bury my health now listen to me I bury it As far as I'm concerned, right
now it's good, but I may wake up in the morning with cancer.
I may wake up in the morning with heart trouble. But if I've
already buried it, it's expected. If it's already died, then when
it comes to die, it won't astound me. What about my family? Well, if I go ahead and bury
them now, then when it comes time for me to bury them in reality,
It won't astound me. I've already had the service.
I've already buried them. My friends, when it comes time
to put them away, when it comes time to tell them goodbye, if
I've already told them goodbye, then it won't be as difficult.
You understand what I'm saying? I die daily. My plans, if I've
torn them up, Then when God tears them up, it won't shake me up
too much. I've already torn them up. The Lord comes along. He says, you're not going to
take part in that. I'm wiping that out. Well, Lord,
I tore it up yesterday. That doesn't disturb me too much. I'm serious about this. I die
daily, Paul said. My expectations are from him,
David said. I come along and everything,
I lay these plans, you know, and God, like, I build my castles
there sitting in the sand. Boy, that looks good. And God
sends a wave and it's all gone. Well, I'd already figured that was
going to happen, Lord, and there wasn't anything to it anyway.
Naked I came into this world, naked I'm going out. I didn't
have anything when I came on the scene. I'm not going to have
anything when I leave, so the sooner you take it away, I guess
the better off I'll be. The better off I'll be. You build,
you build, you keep on building. And you keep on building these
so-called permanent fleshly foundations, and you've got some trouble,
like Jeremiah here. You're in trouble. Because they're
going. God says if you run with the
footman and you get tired, you wait till the horses come on
the scene and you're called on to bear some real trouble. You're
in trouble. And if you can't take the providence
of God and the judgments of God when you're, John, 35 years old,
you wait till you get 80 years old and you'll find out something. And you wait till you come to
crossing the Jordan. If you're agitated today, And
you've got everything going for you. God have mercy on you when
you come to the real trouble and the real trial. And you start
calling on God then. If you're going to do business
with God, it's a pretty good idea to do it now. Teach me to number
my days that I may apply my heart to wisdom. God help us. This world is not
our home. We're sojourners, we're dwelling
in frail, feeble tents, and yet we treat them like permanent
mansions. We're walking Lord around with
a body that is The harp of a thousand strings and how it stays in tune
so long is a baffling mystery, only about our province and purpose,
and yet we treat it as something permanent. Lord, help us to face
this world for what it is, under the judgment of God. To face
thy providence and purpose for what it is, the wise acts and
wisdom and judgment of the living God. Teach us to number our days. Lord, we know that There are
things we're called upon to do and responsibilities we have.
And we're not to be lazy. We're not to cast aside those
things that weigh upon us, that are put in our hands. But Lord,
they're all temporary. They're all temporary. Help us
to look on them as such. To look to Thee, our Sovereign
God, to pronounce this world is dead and to learn, Lord, toward
all things to die daily. to die daily. And when it comes,
thy purpose and thy plan, tomorrow or next year or in the next decade,
it's already been buried. And all we have to do is go through
the formality. It already belongs to thee. And
press this upon our heart. Let us learn something today,
if it be thy will, for Christ's sake. Amen.

How Will You Do When You Come to Die?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

How Will You Do When You Come to Die?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book