Prepare for Death

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. We also extend a greeting to you in the name of Jesus this morning. I'd like to read a prayer that Moses wrote for his people Israel one time. Hear this passage of scripture speaking to you. I'd like to read from Psalm 90. [00:00:31] And if you would, would you please all stand as we reverence the word of God in Psalm 90, reading the first 12 verses. Before I read this, I'd like to give you the setting just a little bit. This is while Israel was out in the desert, out in the wilderness. They had already rejected the invitation to enter Canaan. Some said, the people there are like giants, we're just like grasshoppers. [00:01:02] Two said, but there is a God. But the majority of the people had not faith to move on ahead And God said, because of this, you shall die in the wilderness. Let us read. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Thou turnest man to destruction and sayest, [00:01:36] Return, you children of men, for a thousand years in thy sight. are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Thou carriest them away as with a flood. They are as a sheep, as asleep in the morning. They are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up, in the evening it is cut down and withereth. For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance [00:02:11] For all our days are passed away in thy wrath, we spend our years as a tale that is told The days of our years are our threescore years and ten And if by reason of strength there be fourscore years, yet is there strength, labor, and sorrow For it is soon cut off and we fly away Who knoweth the power of thine anger? Even according to thy fears, so is thy wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. [00:02:43] Let's pray. Father, we pray that you would place your blessing of revelation upon this passage to our hearts. Give us the message that is for us, that will guide us and keep us and direct us and help us to fulfill the purpose of our being in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. I had never noticed before the exact setting here of this particular scripture. It is usually or often referred to at a time of a funeral when he says, [00:03:23] So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. In German it says, Leraduns, how does it say? Gedenken, dass wir sterben müssen. Or in other words, it means, help us to reflect on the fact that we need to die, that we must die, it says. It is an imperative sense. Teach us to reflect on the reality that we must die. [00:03:56] Now, I'm not going to take a morbid look at death this morning, but we do want to look at something that lies in each of our future inevitably unless the Lord comes back first, according to the Holy Scripture. Just a brief summary of this Scripture. This is Moses' prayer for his people while they were in the wilderness. Some of the things that he says here, this King James translation kind of leaves a few things a bit difficult to understand. [00:04:29] In verse 3, for instance, when it says, Thou turnest man to destruction, simply as saying in the original, as I found it in other translations, that man is going to go back to the dust again. His body is going to decay, be finished. This scripture reflects on the greatness and the sovereignty of God. In the beginning, he says here, before the mountains were formed, before the creation existed, [00:05:03] when I stood at the Atlantic coast and gazed out over the seascape as far as I could see, I had to think about the greatness of God. And when you drive for miles and miles and you see nature And the things in God's grandeur and the heights that exist that you can go to And have an almost limitless view And then you are reminded and strengthened to believe that there is God [00:05:34] But one time there were no mountains One time there was no sea There was no creation All was void And as you see the rock formations and how these solid rocks can bend and move and be reshaped, you just stand there and say, how? He says, before this, thou art God. All of this was by God's design and God's creation. [00:06:09] Again, he acknowledges here the mortality of man. A number of times he says, we spend our years like a story that's told. A few words. In the morning the grass comes out, in the afternoon it withereth. Or the flower, or whatever, in different passages. So we see the greatness of God and the limited extent of man. And then he tells us here that the reason that man experiences death is why? [00:06:50] Why did Israel die in the wilderness? All those 20 years of age and older that left Egypt. Why did those people die in the wilderness? There was a cause. This is focused on that experience. It's this psalm here, but it is as well true in a general sense. Why does man die today? Because of sin. Sin is the cause of death. Now, do you think that that was real to Israel? [00:07:22] So since I'm in services this morning, I just did a bit of calculation and I'm not sure how accurate this is. I didn't have a calculator. But were there not 600,000 men over 20 years of age that left Egypt? In the period of 40 years, those 600,000 men died. That figures out to about 15,000 per year. Amongst one people group. [00:07:55] That is summarized by 288 per week. Can you imagine this one people group having 288 funerals every week? And that reduced down to per day is what? Seven divided by 288 is around 40. 40 funerals a day in Israel. Do you think anybody had any question about the reality of death? [00:08:27] About the brevity of life? It was written all over the place. Now we see the truth of this same principle, the same truth we see in our day. Back here we have a little cemetery. We have some very tiny graves there. There are some larger ones. When I look over this audience I see receding hairlines. I even see some gray hair and I see some wrinkles. Some I don't see unless I look in the mirror. But they all have something to do with this truth. [00:09:03] and the reason that Moses, God told Moses or inspired Moses to read this prayer, to write this prayer or to pray this prayer was teach us to number our days. Teach us to remember, to reflect on the reality of life that it is brief at best. Perhaps another thing that has led me to this scripture, has caught my attention here is The reality is the fact that life is so short. Life is so short. More and more the reality is coming home, has come home, that if there is anything that we yet want to do for the cause of the kingdom, the day is today. Not tomorrow, but today. [00:09:58] Well, this reality is real to each of us. I believe that's one value in having funerals like we do. That we take our children to funerals. That we keep them aware of the reality of life. Too much of life is a dream for people. We just go through life and we forget to remember. We forget to number our days. to give thought to the reality that we go this way once and but once. [00:10:32] And it goes swiftly. I know when I was 13 and I was 12 and 14 down through that period of time, days were long. But how many of you that are over 40 think the days are long? Why, the years just started and we're two-thirds of the way through. And that's just the reality of life that comes to us as we come more and more conscious. This is a good creed. [00:11:03] This is a sound formula to live life by. That time is short. And the time to begin to think about that. And again we say this morning, we don't want to paint a morbid picture. But the truth of the matter is, that time is short. Time goes fast. Death is sure. Let's look a little bit at this from that perspective then. This word, numbering our days, or teaching us to consider, to reflect upon, has this implication in the meaning of the word. [00:11:43] It means to consider, to reflect upon, to think about, to give thought to, to take to heart is what it says in another place. Take it to heart. What would happen in the Christian world today if all people would take to heart this great truth? Do you not think it would put an urgency into the whole church experience? experience, the whole Christian experience, as we take to heart the fact that we must die. A person doesn't even need to be born to die. In the womb they die sometimes. As soon as we are born, we say, life is prone to death. But even before that, before the birth, it is for all of us. [00:12:41] The Bible says in Haggai chapter 1, verses 5 and again in verse 7, consider your ways. Isn't too much of life lived without thinking? Without giving thought. We just kind of go with the flow. It seems to me that's what Moses was saying here in his prayer. Teach us to number our days, to give consideration to our ways. Psalm 73, the psalmist said that he was looking about him, life was going on, currently people were prospering. [00:13:16] And he said, I became envious at the wicked, at the rich, because they were prospering in their ways. Then when you get down to verse 17 in Psalm 73, David climaxes, or was it Asaph, I believe, in that case. He said, until I went into the sanctuary of the Lord, then understood I their end. It is good to live life in the light of the end, of the consequences, of the results that go with it. [00:13:52] In Ezekiel, the 40th chapter, I'd like to read a verse there that I believe explains or expounds on this thought of giving consideration. Ezekiel chapter 40 in verse 4. Now, I'm not going into the details of Ezekiel's vision, why this was all taking place, but he says, The man said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eye, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall show thee. [00:14:27] For to the intent that I might show them unto thee art thou brought hither. And then he says it's for the purpose that you declare it on to the next, to those around you. Look with your eyes, hear with your ears, and set your heart on. Reflect on, meditate on. We do well to give consideration to the life that we're living. To what's going on around us. [00:14:59] Instead of going with the flow, the argument or the idea that because everybody else is doing it, is not going to stand us in good stead at some point. Stop and think, where does this road that I'm on go to? We see this then as a formula for godly living. You know, life is not always going to go on as it is today. Life is pretty routine. Life is kind of predictable in some ways, and yet we all know, wasn't it just in the last several weeks, [00:15:36] that the course of life changed pretty dramatically for several of our brethren. and we have no idea about this afternoon or tomorrow or the next day. Life is not going to go on like it is today. I had to think of different experiences we know about the infants that have died. But when I was in our youth group, Carolyn and I were in that youth group, we had a large youth group, we were doing a lot of things together. [00:16:07] But one day there came a message. that a young girl and her younger sister, the older one, going to town, making preparations for her wedding day, just days ahead. They met up with a train, and both were taken out of our youth group instantly. Nobody had premeditated that, or was predicting it, or probably not even thought about it. And so that was passed. But it was only a week, or maybe two, within two weeks at least, there came another message that another young girl from our youth group and her brother were in an automobile accident and she was taken out of our youth group. [00:16:54] We never know. But we do well to give consideration to the fact that life is not going to go on necessarily according to our preferences and desires and plans. But that we are before an almighty God who made the world and he made us and we are moral men and this is our opportunity to get ready for a greater life. We'd like to look a little bit, yet, if we could, at what's on the other side of this life. [00:17:29] Ahead of us, there is an experience that none of us have ever had. We've lived close to it. We've sometimes experienced some of the emotions that go with it. But if you've been there and come back, let us know this morning. Did you ever go through the valley of the shadow of death? Can you tell us what it's like? What's out there? One time in Pennsylvania, I met a man that said, I died and I came back. [00:18:05] I'm not sure what all he experienced, but that's what he said anyway. And he described it to us. But he left me still with a lot of questions. The Bible speaks about this experience. As a place of no return. Job said, I shall go and I shall not come back. It's a place of no return. We're all going there sometime. I'm glad the Bible does not say that it has no exit. There is an exit, but there's no return. [00:18:36] That exit is into another life. It is a valley. The Bible calls it in Psalm 23. It is a time of sorrow. We read in Luke the 8th chapter. The 1 Corinthians 15 calls it an enemy. It is not something that we anticipate with delight or joy or, yes, anticipation. It is a separation of body and soul. We are a tripartite being this morning. We are body, soul, and spirit. These three function together, and that makes us. [00:19:09] But there's coming a day when the body and the spirit are going to separate. Then you see that body in a casket, you see it lowered into the ground, but we say that's not the real person. It's the temple or the vessel in which the real person lived. But there's a time when that separation takes place. It is a returning to the dust. [00:19:41] If we would dig down into the graves of those that have been entombed for some time, I don't know if you've ever seen what's down there or not, but I've seen already times when graves were opened. All that was left was a few white bones, or bones at least. I'm not sure how white. I've seen where they took those bones, wrapped them in a little bundle, set them in the corner of a new tomb and buried another body in there the body had gone back to dust [00:20:12] and you remember that person and the two don't resemble each other it terminated it is called as well as sleep when the body dies in Luke the 15th chapter It says that the rich man was buried. We all know about that. Acts the seventh chapter, when Stephen was being stoned, what was his prayer? Lord, receive my spirit. When a person dies, what happens? [00:20:48] I've never been there. I've been present at death. But I could only see this side. All I know about the future on the other side of this death is what I read in this book. That's all I know about the creation of the past too. It is by faith that we accept the word of God. Well, the Bible does say that that spirit goes upward, it says, I believe, in Ecclesiastes. [00:21:19] The spirit of an animal goes down, the spirit of a man goes up, the Bible says. Stephen said, Lord, receive my spirit. What all is going on behind the scenes? I can only imagine in part. But I remember when my mother-in-law died, she was lying there on her bed. She had a brain tumor. She was not conscious for some time. But in her unconscious state, all at once she woke up [00:21:52] And she looked up into the corner of the room And smiled As though she saw something the rest of us couldn't The Bible says Abraham was carried by the angels Pardon me, Lazarus was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom It appears to me, and there is something called the death angel I would at least like to think That when a person comes to that termination point in life, there are those angels that God has provided to take the spirit to God who gave it. [00:22:28] The body goes into the grave. Jesus said to the man, the thief, on the cross beside him, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. Now I cannot explain, perhaps you can. Some people have a pretty pat how it's all going to be. but let me just give this quick summary that as a person lives his life comes to the place of death then the body is buried the spirit goes into some place God has provided [00:23:00] how will it be from there on we don't know exactly but we can read in in the scripture in Hebrews I believe it is where it says that it is appointed unto man once to die and after that, the judgment. But before the judgment, Matthew the 25th chapter in Revelation, the 20th chapter we read about the sea giving up the dead, the grave, death and hell giving up those that were in them. There was this big bridge they built out by Washington or somewhere here in the eastern United States [00:23:38] and it is told, and this is not uncommon, that when those big structures are built There has to be continuous pouring of concrete, lest there be a cold joint. And more than once, men have tumbled into those huge forms and been buried in concrete. People have crossed the sea. Like in the Titanic, they've gone down. But nowhere, anywhere is there a place where the dead will not come forth in the resurrection [00:24:13] Out of that pillar of concrete, so secure, so strong God has no problem in getting out that new body I ask myself the question many times Why, if the body goes back to dust Do the graves have to open for the dead to come forth? And I still don't know. But the Bible says that's what's going to happen. The graves are going to open. [00:24:45] I tend to think it's something like this, that there's a seed in man, and when that body is buried, God goes back to that place to make the new man. That's speculation. God will take care of that but after the dead come out then what's going to happen they're all going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ Revelation says John saw a great white throne and him that sat on it [00:25:16] could see right through the imaginations of men's hearts and all the world gathered before him will there be two or three of those or one I think there will probably be one, but I don't know. I'll leave that to the eschatologists and God. And he'll have the last word. All men are going to appear there before God to give an account of their life, to be judged according to the works that they had done, [00:25:48] whether good or bad, the Bible says. And then there will be a final destination. That's where we're headed, brethren. Sisters, boys and girls, young people and all of us, visitors and home folk, we are all headed to that experience. And now as we give contemplation and consideration to that, behold what manner of persons are we to be, according to 1 John. [00:26:19] I'd like to just look at a few areas of consideration, things that we do well to consider in light of that great truth. Now that was a very condensed version of a life span and a transition into the next world. But giving consideration to the reality of this, we are really in a sense, while we are made to serve while we're here, We're really in a sense not made for this world. [00:26:51] We're made for another world. And there's provision to get there through Christ. While we're on this way, and while we consider our days and the reality of this transition that's in our future, I don't think any of us believe this morning that we are all going to die like the dog whose spirit goes down. But we are all agreed together to the reality that we shall meet God, that God has a place prepared for his people. [00:27:29] I remember years ago hearing an evangelist, a minister say, if there is anything worse than believing that there is no God, it is to say that I believe in God, but live like we don't believe it. You know, in a sense, he had a message to say, didn't he? I'd like for us to give consideration this morning that we're moving through life. We're moving in a certain way through life. And the question that I'd like for us to consider, [00:28:04] just simply to stop. Maybe the best message that a preacher could preach sometimes is just simply say, Stop! Whoa! Hold everything! Just let's drop everything and start to think. Give consideration. Where does this road, the way I'm living life today, where does this lead to? That's a thing to give consideration to. Where does this road end up at? [00:28:36] Not where am I today. Not what does it cost today. Not how does it feel, not is it difficult, is it easy, but where does it go to? Because if I travel on a road, every road has a destination. And if I travel that road, someday I'll get there. What do you see at the end of the road you're walking on? It's a good thing to give contemplation to. Do you see this as your permanent road? [00:29:08] Do you see this as the way or do you consider it as a detour that you mean to get off from sometime in the future? I would venture to say that most people that are looking at their lives as a temporary way of living with the intention to get off sometime will never get off in time. Most people don't do that. A second thing. Are there any areas in life that I have neglected? [00:29:40] More and more I'm becoming aware that there are things in life that I may have at one time aspired to do, wanted to do, but I'm beginning to understand that it's no longer like it was. It used to be that if something was too heavy, something was too hard, something took too long, All you had to do was just dig in a little deeper and push a little harder and it would go. But it doesn't work anymore. There is something about doing things at the proper time, at the appropriate time. [00:30:18] We read about a woman in Ecclesiastes, was it about chapter 5, where this woman was in bed one night and she heard a knock at the door. But she called out and said, Oh, I've got all my children in bed. I've just reposed. Everything is set for the night for rest. Her lover knocked again. Finally, with second thoughts, she got up and she opened the door to look out into the empty night. [00:30:54] Her lover had gone. And she went out into the streets looking for him, crying for him. And she asked others, do you know where my lover is? They wounded her, it says. She got hurt because she neglected her opportunity. It is good for us to consider, is there unfinished business in my life? Are there things that are neglected, things that I intend to change or to tend to sometime? [00:31:30] If there are, now's the time. Are there unsettled accounts, things that need to be taken care of in relationships and so on? Sometime I want to take care of that, but it's so hard. We may well be surprised by this great truth. Now is the time, the scripture says. Another thing is when we are considering choices in life, [00:32:05] when we come to crossroads in life like we all do, it is good at that crossroad to stop and think about the fact that I must die. So that I make the choice that I'll be glad that I've made on down the line. It is a good formula for living the Christian life. In Moses' day, it was simply an awareness and it was an appeal, if we read further in that prayer, [00:32:40] that God would have mercy, but 600,000 men still died. For them, there was no purpose anymore. Perhaps they could at least live the right way the rest of their days. We hope so. The investments we make, and I'm not talking necessarily about which bank to put the money in, but the investments we make of time, of our efforts, of our deeds, of our lifestyle. [00:33:15] How will they stand up in light of this great truth? And the development of our faith and conviction. Something we face in our day quite a bit. I'm not sure if I see this correctly or not, but there's one last consideration I'd like to put out. And that is that when we give consideration to being established in the faith, to developing convictions, to know what we believe, and then live what we believe, it seems like today there is competition between one of God's truths and another of God's truths. [00:34:00] God never meant that man would have to choose which of his truths we would obey. I don't think God would be that unfair that he would put us in a situation where we have to decide which of his will we want to do. He wants us to do what? All of his will. The Apostle Paul said, I am before you in Acts, forget which chapter, the 17th chapter perhaps, [00:34:34] said, I am before you with a clear conscience, because I did not fail to teach the whole counsel of God. Whole, W-H-O-L-E. The Bible says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Let the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto every good work. Which scripture is given for that? All scripture is given by inspiration of God. [00:35:07] God does not mean that we be forced into a situation where we choose between which of his doctrines we want to do. We see that happening like this today. There are people that insist that we must put truth ahead of everything. My question is this morning, that as we stand at this crossroad, which truth are we talking about? Is it not all truth? [00:35:38] And so what happens is the church's position, people's lives are jeopardized and brought into a situation where they choose. It is implied that we have to choose whether we believe in the truth, in doctrine, or whether we believe in relationships. God forbid, God wants us to believe in the truth and relationships [00:36:11] They are both imperatives in the scripture The Bible says, follow peace with all men and holiness Without which no man shall see the Lord When I put people into a situation where they have to choose Whether they are going to pick out my portion of belief or another portion of God's belief and truth. Something's not lining up with scripture. He wants us to in the midst of differences [00:36:46] stick with the truth with a loving heart. Often times when people are put into a position where they have to choose between two truths. Everybody's weakened. Everybody loses out. There is really not a whole lot of value in being doctrinally correct and spiritually dead. Neither is there any value in having good relationships [00:37:18] and disregard the commandments of the Lord. And it was never intended by God to be that way. That is a prevalent thing in our churches today. Across the landscape of religion, God wants us to believe all the inspired word of God. That means sometimes we do have hard choices to make. We're not insinuating this morning that that's just always an easy thing to do. [00:37:50] but one thing you notice about the Apostle Paul when he saw doctrine failing in the church Paul didn't write a judgment right away against them Paul did admonish them but the way Paul admonished them says a lot about keeping both sides of that issue he often says that I admonish you and I pray for you weeping. [00:38:24] You could sense the love in his heart in his zealousness for the truth. He did not compromise principle. He did not compromise truth. Neither did he compromise relationships. As much as was within him he sought peace with all men. Well, those are a few things that we could consider. Let me close again with the words of Moses when he says, [00:38:55] So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Stop and think, consider, give attention to.