I remember Bill Payne once speaking on the Puritans and making the comment that when they had finished their subject, they had also exhausted it. And often they're hearers as well. The latter won't happen this morning, but I won't be exhausting the subjects. One of these subjects that in different sermons this week, I thought, oh, I should have included that in the message. Why did I leave that out? How come I forgot that? but we hope would at least scratch the surface of this very important topic. I'm a great fan of John Bunyan and Pilgrim's Progress, and you may remember that wonderful character Mr Valiant for Truth. He was the one who, in the second part of the book, accompanied Christiana and her four boys throughout their pilgrimage. And as he was waiting for his time to die at a cross the river, And the time came when he was summoned. He said this, I am going to my father's. And though with great difficulty I have got hither, yet now I do not repent me of all the trouble I have been at to arrive where I am. My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage. My courage and skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me to be a witness for me that I have fought his battles who now will be my rewarder. When he entered the river, he said, Death, where is thy sting? And as he went deeper, grave, where is thy victory? And so Bunyan says, he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side. I never read that without being moved. What a wonderful way to die, to face death. Will you be able to face death like that? Will I? How will we face death? My first point this morning is the necessity of facing death. Death needs to be faced. Death is inevitable. It's the first point under this heading, the old adage we joke about, the only things certain in life are death and taxes. And of course most people when they say that are focusing on taxes. But death indeed is certain, it is inevitable. Books on death and dying tell us that there are five stages in the dying process. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, resignation. Just the first that I want to briefly touch on this morning. Someone is told they have three months to live. Actually we had a woman in one of our churches who very unexpectedly was suddenly told she had but a few months to live and she couldn't come to grips with it. There was denial initially. She had just come to grips with another. disability, she had epilepsy and was heavily sedated because of that, and she had a bad attitude toward it, she'd just come to grips with it, accepting that as from the sovereign hand of God, and just as she got to that point, ready to serve the Lord usefully, she was told she'd got a short time to live. And you can understand, people, it can't be true. Can't face that. It's not that death itself is denied, but their death. is denied, at least their imminent death. Some of course go even further, I mean one or two who have even denied that they would die. Some of you will have heard of Father Divine, and I did a little bit of research on him. Somewhere in the New York City area, around 1930s and 40s, claimed to be the Messiah, and proclaimed he would never die. But you can see his grave down in Pennsylvania, apparently. No, we all will die. Death is inevitable. It is an appointment. And when we read that, if you're using the old King James, I'm not quite sure what the new King James has, but the King James, of course, has it, is appointed under man, wants to die. We sometimes think of appointments of things we can break. You have an appointment with a dentist and maybe at the last minute you get cold feet and you cancel the appointment, you can't face it. The lady has an appointment with the hairdresser and the daughter phones up and says, listen I desperately need to go somewhere and I need you to babysit. So she cancels the appointment. Appointments are easy to cancel. But this is an appointment that we cannot cancel. The NIV has, we are destined to die. Makes it a little bit more certain, doesn't it? It is a destiny we must die. Now I realise, and I think I only need to say this once, Christ will return and there will be those alive on earth at that time who will not die. We realise that. That's understood in everything else I say. But if Christ does not return, then death is inevitable. And either way, whether Christ returns during our time or not, the end of life on this earth is inevitable. When you talk to children or even younger adults about death, there's always a feeling, It's not just around the corner, is it? I've got a good many years before I die. Maybe some of you think that way. Talk about death? Yeah, that's for old people. But it is not so, is it? Graveyards show us otherwise. My wife and I were attending a wedding in the south of England about ten years ago. It was an all-Baptist church. It had its own graveyard. And between the ceremony and the reception we were Wandering around, it was a beautiful day, fellowshipping with people and we were looking at some of the inscriptions on the gravestones and we found one gravestone with one family that lost one child, aged three weeks. another at nine months, another at twelve years, and engraved underneath that were the words, Lord, teach us to say, your will be done. Yes, death is inevitable for all of us, and it may be sooner than later we need to face up to that. Death is inevitable, but not only is death inevitable, death is final. As far as this life is concerned, there's no return from death. Now in books on death and dying, you read accounts of people who claim to have been removed from their body and sort of looked down upon their body and then somehow returned, but to say the least, they're a little fuzzy, such accounts. They didn't really die, except in a few miraculous cases. There were, I think, about eight. There are references in the scripture to miraculous resurrections, that is, apart from Jesus. There have been a few claimed since. Those that I've seen have not been very convincing. John Wimber gives one example of a man who fell over, hit his head, and seemed lifeless for two or three minutes, and then was revived. Now Wimber claims that as a resurrection from the dead, an answer to prayer. Not at all convincing when you read. Certainly the rule is that death is final. It ends every activity in this life. It separates us from our possessions, our investments, our friends, our family. It separates us from everything and everyone in this life. It ends forever the day of grace and opportunity. It ushers us into eternity, the endless ages, days without number, days without end. We all need to ask, are we ready for that? Are you ready for that day that is inevitable and final? And a third point under this first head, death is unnatural. Man was made to live forever. If Adam and Eve had partaken of the tree of life, they wouldn't have died. It's clear. The Lord says He threw them out of the garden and put a barrier there, the cherubim and the sword, so that they would not eat of the tree of life and live forever. But of course they sinned, and the wages of sin is death, and that includes physical death. Death is unnatural. It's called an enemy in the passage that Brad read, the last enemy. And it's not an enemy that's a pushover, is it? It's not an enemy to be treated lightly but with respect. But it shouldn't terrify us. I was thinking of Goliath when he came against Israel. Remember the battle between the Philistines and Israel? They were camped on hills either side of a valley. And Goliath, this strapping fellow, nine foot tall, would come out and say, you Israelites, choose a champion, fight with me. If he beats me and kills me, then we Philistines will be servants to you. But if I kill him, then you Israelites will be servants to us. What did the Israelites do? They were terrified. They were absolutely scared out of their wits, but of course David wasn't like that. David wasn't scared. David faced the enemy with courage and got the victory with God's help. Even though death is unnatural, we can face death and get the victory with God's help. Secondly then, I want to ask the manner, look at the manner of facing death. How do we face death? Martin Luther in the letter written in the midst of the plague urged people not to wait until they were on their deathbeds to live like Christians. He says, go to church, listen to God's word so that you may know how to live and how to die. Be reconciled with your neighbour and make a will. so that if the Lord comes for you suddenly, you will have provided for your soul, ordered your affairs, and committed yourself to God." That's wise counsel, and I want to incorporate most of those points into the rest of this message. First then, under the manner of facing death, we must prepare to meet our God. We must prepare to meet our God. In the old days, many years ago, some of us can remember, you would sometimes see people with sandwich boards. You know what sandwich boards are? These sort of A-frame boards, and you have it over your shoulders, and there'd be a bit in front of your chest that you have writing on, one above your head, and then of course the one on the back, and the back of the one over your head, so you can have four different texts if you wanted, but a common one, to be seen on these sammich boards as people would parade up and down the streets, was prepare to meet thy God. And it became a standing joke. You'd see cartoons about these kind of people. But it isn't a joke, is it? There's no joke about the need of preparing to meet our God, because we shall certainly meet him. All of us one day will meet our God and we need to prepare to meet our God. Supposing I got an invitation from the Queen to one of her garden parties, wouldn't that be great? Now, do you think I would just bowl up there in shorts and a t-shirt? Imagine the preparation that would go in. I'd have to buy a new suit. I only have three suits. Two of them I hand me down to my son. One is frayed on the lapels. One has a hole in the pants that is stitched so you can hardly see it. And the other one is about two inches too small around the waist, so I have to be careful what I eat when I wear it. So I would buy a new suit, I'd be most particular about the suit and the shirt and the tie. I'd be very careful about my words, how do I address them? Well, Your Majesty, and I don't speak before I'm spoken to, I'd make sure I knew exactly how you address the Queen. And then I'd have to learn to bow. Do you bow with both hands at your side, or one each side? I'd have to learn all these things. And of course, if you're a lady, you'd have to learn to curtsy, and that seems to be a very difficult manoeuvre to do gracefully. But if we were invited to meet the Queen, we'd make great preparation, wouldn't we? We'd be certain we knew how to behave, how we looked, and what to say. Now, it's most unlikely that either you or I will ever receive an invitation to meet with the Queen, but we will certainly meet God. In a sense, there's already that invitation sent out. The timing may be uncertain, but we shall all meet God. And it is surely astonishing that though this is a certainty, so few make any preparation for it. How much preparation have we made for meeting God? If we knew when we were going to die, it might be easier. Just reading with my wife our devotions last night about King Hezekiah. He was dying and Isaiah the prophet said, you're going to die. Of course, Isaiah wept and he pleaded with God and Isaiah came back with a fresh message from the Lord. You've got 15 more years. I don't know what kind of calendars they had in those days, but Hezekiah surely would count the days and the weeks and the months and the years. Supposing I was told infallibly, and I knew there was no question, that you will die. Roger Fellows will die September the 1st, 2004. That would be a little easier, wouldn't it? I've got four years at least. Now probably the first three years, maybe three and a half, I wouldn't live very much different, but imagine those last few months, I'd really begin to get extra serious, make sure I never miss my devotions, I'd be dashing around the neighbours and witnessing and serving the Lord faithfully in preparation for death. The reality is, of course, we don't know when we'll and therefore we need to be prepared daily. Jeremy Taylor published a book in 1651, a very well-known book, The Rule and Exercise of Holy Dying, usually simply known by the title of Holy Dying. In it he says, he that would die well must always look for death, every day knocking at the gates of the grave, and then the gates of the grave shall never prevail upon him to do him mischief. Now I'm sure we didn't mean that we should be daily trying to die or asking to die, but simply that we must be ready to die. We don't want to be mortared, but we need to be realistic. We will die, and we need to be ready. We need frequent reminders of that. When life expectancy is constantly increasing, it's easy to forget. People in former days were much more aware of death. And this came out of Jeremy Taylor's book, The Emperor of Constantinople, of his coronation, was presented with various things, I'm sure, the crown, the scepter. Do you know what he was presented with? A tombstone. A tombstone, a reminder that despite his great power and his authority, that he was mortal and he wouldn't be sitting on that throne forever. And I think that would be perhaps good for us, wouldn't it, to have a tombstone around. Those of you who have been to Rockwood Acres, if you go back maybe 10, 15 years, many of you will remember Ray Bonta. He lived next door to Rockwood Acres, the farm just a bit further down the road. And as you went up to the Free Methodist Chapel where the meetings are held, Rockwood Acres, there was Ray Bonta's tombstone with his name already engraved upon it, when he was still alive. So every time Ray went to the services there at the Free Methodist Chapel, he passed his own tombstone. It was a reminder. One day I'll be under that. And I was thinking it might be good for us maybe to erect a tombstone in our front yards, with a name and forgiven or whatever else you want to put on that tombstone, but wouldn't it be a solitary reminder of the fact that we are mortal, full of life and energy now, but there's a tombstone reminding us that one day we shall be six foot under the ground. So preparation for death is something we should be doing all the time. And how then do we prepare for death? First by pursuing holiness. Why doesn't God take us to heaven as soon as we're converted? I mean we're ready, theologically we're ready, aren't we? We're justified, we're perfect in God's sight, we're ready for heaven in that sense. But obviously the Lord sees fit, in most cases, to leave us here for a good many years. We have responsibilities towards others, families. I realise that sometimes parents die young, leave the family in difficult circumstances, but thankfully that is a rarity. We have responsibilities towards others, we have work to do for the Lord. But also, this life is a preparation for glory. What we are when we die, essentially, we shall be forever. Now I realize sin, of course, will drop away. We shall be without sin. I've wrestled with these verses in Revelation 22, but I think they are relevant. Revelation 22, 11, in the light of death, the eternal age, let him who does wrong continue to do wrong. Let him who is vile continue to be vile. Let him who does right continue to do right. Let him who is holy continue to be holy. I say there is a sense in which what we are When we die, we shall be forever, in a sense fixing our character, certainly our rewards in the world to come. What I'm saying is that we have just this life to prepare for heaven. We can't say, well, you know, I'll really prepare myself for heaven when I'm there. It doesn't work that way. The preparation has to be done ahead of time. Some have very little time here, we realise that. The thief on the cross didn't have much time, did he, to prepare for heaven. That's God's business. He only had perhaps a few minutes or an hour or so at the most. We don't know the exact time. Most of us have quite a few years to grow. They tell us that most people are converted in their teens. Some older, of course, but the average can't be far removed from 20. And as life expectancy is well beyond 70 years, it means that most Christians have more than 50 years to prepare for glory. Now of course we can never think that way, well I've got 50 years to prepare for glory because we could only have one day. But we have time to prepare. Matthew 7, the Lord talks about building. Two men that built. Remember, one building a house on the sand and one upon the rock. But we're building. We're building a life. And that, just as houses when they're built have to go before the building inspector, he comes round and sees everything according to the plans and regulations, so one day we'll have to face the divine building inspector to see the quality of what we have built. We're building something throughout our life. Or to change the figure of speech, we're growing. We're growing until harvest time, developing leaves and flowers, fruit, whatever the kind of plant it is. So we want to build and grow diligently, otherwise we might be ashamed when we stand before God. John writes these words, 1 John 2.28, Now, dear children, continue in him. so that when he appears, we may be confident and unashamed before him that is coming. We don't want to be ashamed, do we, when the Lord Jesus comes back and we stand before him. When a bride is waiting for her groom on the wedding day, she wants to look her best. Oh, she makes sure she's just been to the hairdresser so that she looks her prettiest. Already great discussion over what kind of dress she will wear and what kind of bouquet. She wants to look her best. She wants to look beautiful to her bridegroom when she comes to meet him. So we want to look our best. for our heavenly bridegroom when he comes for us. And of course I don't mean looking our best in physical terms, but spiritually, inner beauty, readiness to meet our heavenly bridegroom. How serious are we about holiness? How serious? Surveys done among young people are frightening. People have confidence of salvation and going to heaven. But they think nothing of getting involved in drugs and premarital sex and dishonest things, lies that don't seem to bother them. No seriousness regarding holiness. We should be determined to use every available means to be holy. And we know what the means are, the word of God. Through that we're sanctified. Jesus prayed for his disciples that they should be sanctified through the truth. Prayer, of course, vital in spending time in communion with our God, with our Saviour. The meetings, hearing the public teaching and preaching of God's Word, these are vital for us if we are to grow as we ought. God has given us the means and we need to use those means if we are to grow appropriately. We should be serious about mortification of sin. How often do we hear preaching on mortification of sin? It's almost a lost subject these days. John Owen, of course, the great treatise on mortification of sin. John Owen says, be killing sin or sin will be killing you. You need to be serious about putting to death the deeds of the body and the flesh. If sin is displeasing to the Lord, and it is, And if sin will make us ashamed when we stand before the Lord, and it will, then we should be determined to deal with sin in our lives as far as possible. It should be our greatest longing to be like Jesus Christ. We should be about that business throughout our life, however many years the Lord grants to us. Second, let me prepare for death by serving the Lord diligently. We've only so much time given us to serve the Lord. The old hymn, those lines, familiar lines, only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. We don't know how much time we have. God has given us all talents. You say, well I can't preach the gospel. Well, there are not many called to preach the gospel, to preach or teach publicly. Some have those gifts. Others have more practical gifts. We can all witness and serve the Lord in a variety of ways. The question is, are we willing to serve the Lord? Do we want to use the talents that God has given us for His glory and for the extension of His kingdom? Are we willing to take responsibilities in the local church? Disappointing that so many want a church just to sit down and enjoy the ministry. All they want to make sure is good ministry, sound ministry. Reform ministry, many. But they don't want to get involved. So we're left with the old problem. 10% of the people are doing 90% of the work. And that's sad, isn't it? There is work to do. Lots of it. There's only so much time to do it. We should want to serve the Lord well. We don't want our work burned up. As words in 1 Corinthians 3 from Paul, no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire. The fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. Now that's sometimes misapplied to teach that we can live in all kinds of sin, live like the devil, and yes, our works of holiness, or lack of it, moral works, practical works, will be burned up, but we'll still be saved. No, it's not teaching that. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. Faith without works is dead. Just talking about works of service for the Lord, serving God and His Kingdom. We may find at the end that what we've done in our labours really amounts to nothing, all burned up. Yes, there'll be salvation if we're godly, giving genuine evidence of the true work of grace in us. But our works could be burned up. We want to make sure that we serve the Lord diligently and faithfully. Paul could face the Lord knowing he had served well. Those great words in 2 Timothy 4 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering. The time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award me on that day. not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. We must serve the Lord diligently. And thirdly, we prepare for death by keeping short accounts with God. If we are Christians, all our sins are forgiven. We are righteous in God's sight. And yet when we sin, we need to confess. Some get a bit confused over this, and I suppose to some degree it is a little difficult. We don't confess to get our sins forgiven, as it were, in the legal sense, to get justified all over again. But we need to confess. John has run into Christians when he says if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. We do need to confess. I say not to get justified all over again, but to keep a clear conscience before God and to restore fellowship with God. Because when we sin, to some degree, we lose fellowship with God, don't we? Our conscience will be a barrier to that also. So our confession needs to be regular and sincere. Jeremy Taylor again has a lot to say on this. To wait until we are about to die is foolish. For one reason we don't know when we'll die, If we wait till we die before we confess our sins, there'll be too many to remember. We'll just remember the big ones, the real blunders we made. We'll generalise. No, we need to confess daily at least. I say again, not to be justified, but to restore fellowship with God, to walk with Him. Keep short accounts with God. Luther also said, be reconciled with your neighbour. You need to do that regularly. Are there neighbours that you're not talking to? Are there church members that you're not talking to? Notice these people, they all sit on opposite sides of the church, the chapel, and maybe nothing is said, but there are people that just don't get along and don't speak. Are we ready to face death and give an account of that? Surely we'd be ashamed in such situations. You remember how Jesus spoke about the man coming to the altar in Matthew 5 and he says, come to the altar and there remember that your neighbour has something against you, go and be reconciled to your neighbour. Then come and offer your sacrifice. Old Testament context of course for the sacrifice, but the principle is the same isn't it? As much as lies in us, we should seek to be reconciled to those here on earth. Paul was a man who kept short accounts with God. He's speaking before Felix and a group of Jewish accusers, and he says, I have the same hope as these men. that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man." Keep your conscience clear before God, but also before man. Keep short accounts before God. Problems come in, seek to deal with them. animosity, bad feelings, do all you can to deal with it. Reconcile not only to God but with your neighbour or your fellow Christian. Fourthly, we prepare for death by remembering that every day might be our last. Now our theology of last things might persuade us that certain events must take place before Christ returns. But we could be mistaken. In areas like that, we need perhaps to back off from being too dogmatic. Jesus said, the Son of Man will come out at an hour when you do not expect him. So that's a little caution there in terms of being so certain about our eschatology that we're not ready. for the Lord. And anyway, we could die any time. So the same thing applies. Whether or not certain things must happen before Christ comes back, we could die at any time and effectually that's the same, isn't it? Life on this earth then will end. So we need to treat every day as if it might be our last. We need to evaluate every activity, every action, every word, every place visited in terms of whether we would be ashamed to be there, doing that, saying this, if Christ returned or we died. Would we want to come back when we were on the internet, looking at pornographic websites? Would you want to die in a gambling casino? Would you want to be taken in the midst of a big row with your wife or your husband? You surely wouldn't. So we should be ready at all times, living in the light of eternity, living in the light in that sense, knocking at the gates of death, realising that death could come at any time and therefore We want to live in such a state that we'd be happy to be doing that, and in that condition, that place, if the Lord should come or we should die. So, we prepare for death by pursuing holiness, by serving the Lord diligently, by keeping short accounts with God, and treating every day as if it might be our last. But then fifthly, and perhaps I could have put that first, to prepare for death, we need to be sure that we are real Christians, true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. As Christians we need to grow in grace, or we may be ashamed when we stand before God. We may lose our rewards. But if we're not saved, how terrible is our condition. How dreadful to contemplate dying outside of Christ. There's numerous illustrations you can use. A blind person walking towards the edge of a cliff. A man sitting on a time bomb. someone jumping out of a plane without a parachute. Now in each case there is time before disaster occurs. But the end is inevitable, isn't it? A blind person keeps walking and goes over the cliff, there's destruction if that's a high enough cliff. Man sits on the time bomb long enough, it's going to go off. If a man jumps out of a plane without a parachute, however high it is, eventually he's going to hit the ground and be killed. I say in each case there's time, but the end is inevitable. And as far as meeting God, there may be time. There may be 50, 60, 70 years, but the end is inevitable. If we're not ready to meet God, if our hearts are not right with Him, if we don't have peace with God, then there's the worst disaster imaginable. Hell. It is astonishing how many people there are brought up in Christian homes. They believe the Bible. You ask them, do you believe everything in the Bible? Always, I believe it absolutely. They know that the end of an unbeliever's life is hell, But they do nothing about it. They're blind. They're foolish. There's a story that I've used on occasions at funerals, and I'm sure you've heard this at one point, about the king and his fool. In the old days, kings had a variety of people around their court, and there was always the court jester. or often called a court fool. Very often, he was a very smart man. But he acted the fool and his job was to come in and entertain the king. When the king felt a bit depressed, bring in the fool and he'd act the fool and do stupid things and say silly things and crack jokes to try and cheer the king up. And the story is told of this king who had a fool he regarded very highly. He brought him great delight. And one day he gave him a precious jewel, a very precious and valuable jewel. But he gave it with one condition, that if you, fool, find someone who is a greater fool than you, you ought to pass that jewel on to them. Time passed, King grew sick, it was evident he was dying. The fool was brought in to try and cheer the king up, but to no avail. And the fool then became serious. King, you realise you are dying? The king said yes. You realise that you will not be here long? Yes. Where are you going when you die? The king said, I don't know. Are you prepared for death? The king said no. The fool then retrieved the jewel and gave it back to the king. He said, O sire, if you know that you are going to die, you don't know where you're going, and you're not prepared for death, then sire, you are a greater fool than I. And of course, a great deal of truth and wisdom in that. So I ask you, are you ready to meet God? Are you ready to die? Are you ready for the judgment that follows death as surely as night follows day? It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment. It's an appointment, an appointment that we cannot avoid. And if you're not ready, I wouldn't doubt there are some here this morning who are not ready for death and the judgment that lies beyond. Then my friend, you need to prepare, to prepare for that. It is desperately important that you prepare for death and judgment. You need to make your peace with God. You need to repent. You need to call upon the Lord for mercy and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. He died for sinners and He stands ready to pardon all who call upon Him. There's no hope of heaven apart from Christ. No hope of heaven at all. apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. We absolutely detest and reject the idea that all people are basically heading the same place. We're going different routes there, but we'll all get there in the end. And one of the Archbishops of Canterbury in Britain made the statement that in the end he had hope for all men, even the devil, that he would eventually be in heaven. But according to my Bible, friends, and according to your Bible either, there is no hope for heaven apart from Jesus Christ. But praise God, there is hope in him. There is confidence if we turn to him. We have the assurance of salvation and eternal life and heaven. Now it's likely still some who will say, yeah, I need to get right with God. My own son, one of them, yes, he will say, I know I need to get right with God. I know the Bible is true, but not just yet. I've still got time. Maybe here, even this morning. One day I know I have to make my peace with God. I will have to turn from my old ways and turn to Christ, but not just yet. Some of you may have seen the musical Les Mis, Les Miserables. And many subplots in that. One of the key plots in that, of course, is the students and their planned rebellion and revolution. There's a great deal of injustice and cruelty. And they used to meet together in this little cafe and plot their strategy and talk and sing about the wonderful things that would happen when they overthrew the authorities and everything was restored to justice and righteousness. Of course the reality was that they were all slaughtered, almost all slaughtered and scattered. And Marius was almost the only survivor. And he visits that little cafe, empty, the song is called Empty Chairs, but empty tables And one of the lines that I find very moving, I can never hear that without tears, he says, they sang about tomorrow, and tomorrow never came. Wonderful plans, great expectations, tomorrow, but tomorrow never came. Their tomorrow ended in disaster. My friends, if you're waiting for tomorrow, you're always anticipating what you'll do tomorrow, that you'll repent tomorrow, you'll get right with God tomorrow, there is no guarantee that tomorrow will come. Solomon says in Proverbs, Woe is not of tomorrow which you do not know what a day may bring forth. Yes, we must prepare to meet our God. We also need to arrange our affairs in the light of death. Martin Luther says, make a will. Now we see several in scripture who arranged their affairs. Jacob arranged for his burial. So did Joseph. David made sure that a suitable successor was in place. He charged Solomon to be faithful to the Lord. He arranged for the just dispatch of some of his enemies. And we need to arrange our affairs. Probably the last point we can leave out there. We don't need to arrange for the just dispatch of our enemies. We leave that with the Lord. But we do need to arrange our affairs. And that means more than designating who gets what from our possessions and money. Those of you who may have heard Martin Lloyd-Jones' prayers, and his pastoral prayers, he would regularly, it seemed to me almost every week, would refer to our brief, uncertain earthly pilgrimage. And it is very uncertain. It is very brief in the light of eternity. But if you or I were to die today, how would it affect your family? Apart from the grief, of course there'd be grief, great sorrow, distress. How would your family be affected by your death? Your children. I think it's good to prepare our children for death, their own and their parents. Talk to them about death. Take them to funerals. Let them see you, casket and the body lying there, to show them that life doesn't go on forever. People do die young. Maybe some of the funerals they will attend will be funerals of children. Young people, I think it's good to remind them of these things, be realistic. But if you were to die, would your affairs be in order? These are very practical things, but I think they're important. I'm amazed how many Christians I've talked to and they haven't made a will. Have you made a will? You say, well, we're just married, you know, we're young, plenty of time. No, we do not know what a day may bring forth. You need to make a will. You need to be prepared for that. And that's not only concerning material goods. What about your children? Common these days are parents who get a babysitter and they go out for a meal together. Well, what happens if both parents are taken? Have you made provision for the care of your children? Have you made sure that your children will be in a godly home where they are well instructed in the things of God? I realize that it may not be very common, someone has a claim, but there is always a possibility that the state could take charge of your children. Would you want that? Make sure that they are provided for. What about funeral arrangements? That may be not so vital, but at least do your beloveds, your friends and family, do they know the kind of funeral that you would like? We've made it very clear to our family that we want the simplest possible funeral. Can't see the value of pouring thousands of dollars into a fancy casket that's going to very quickly be swallowed up in the ground. That money could be far better used in the Lord's work. If you look after the finances in the home, would your spouse know what to do if you were taken? I suppose it might account more for the wife not doing, but quite a few homes where the wife looks after the finances, but whoever it is, would the other one know where all the important documents are? Various deeds and documents and things, where are they stored? Where's the information? Those things are important because in time of grief and stress at someone's bereavement, those things can be very stressful for the one that's left behind to try and figure out where everything is and what's in order and what needs to be attended to. Would your spouse and children be provided for? Life insurance is something that people differ over. Some feel that they want to trust the law, that's between you and God, but if you died, how would they manage? You need to give serious consideration. If you, perhaps as the breadwinner in the family were to die, then how would your family manage? That is something that becomes a reality in a number of families. We are constantly being reminded of unexpected deaths. Just in prayer meetings here this morning we have been reminded of one who has a funeral I believe this afternoon. Dave Parrish's colleague died quite suddenly. We need to be prepared for these things happening. So, we need to prepare to meet God. We need to arrange our affairs. And then lastly, we need to be prepared for the dying process. Death is called an enemy, again 1 Corinthians 15. The Hebrews speak to the Jews through fear of death for all their lifetime, subject to bondage. For many, death brings fear and uncertainty. But as believers we can face it positively. But we need to face it realistically. Dying may bring weakness and pain. It may even bring loss of reason. Now we shouldn't fear pain. We're a pampered generation, at least pain or discomfort, we run for the aspirins or the Tylenol. In former generations it wasn't so. Now you may say, well they didn't have aspirins and Tylenol, they had their similar drugs that would dull pain, but they faced pain in a different way. I'm not saying that pain should never be alleviated, but I think we're all together too pampered. In terms of pain in the dying process, we need to remember that each pang will bring us one step closer to heaven. There's a book written by a man called Hay Aitken in the last century. The author tells of a woman who was dying slowly and painfully of cancer. And he was amazed at her cheerfulness. Very little in the way of drugs to alleviate her pain. And she said, when the pangs are sharpest, Jesus seems nearest. And so to sustain me with his fellowship, that I can truly say, not one pang less. She's so delighted in the fellowship of the Lord in those times of great pain that she would say, I wouldn't have less pain if that pain brings me closer to my Saviour. That's an outlook that not many of us would have, isn't it? But there it was when William Grimshaw, the great Yorkshire preacher, lay dying of typhus fever. He said to his housekeeper one morning, Oh Mary, I have suffered last night what the blessed martyrs did. My flesh has been as it were roasting before a hot fire. But I have nothing to do but to step out of bed into heaven. I have my foot upon the threshold already. And that is what enables the believer to face death and endure the weakness, the uncertainty and even the agonies of death. It is the hope of heaven and of seeing Jesus. That is surely what will enable the believer to endure whatever discomforts the Lord sees fit to bring upon us at that time. However terrible death might be, it's only a passing phase. If we are Christians, we can't be dying forever. Death may be prolonged and painful for some, but it can't be forever. Death will pass. It will issue an everlasting life. Pain will soon be gone, followed by an eternity without suffering. Weakness will disappear. We'll have new bodies, like unto Christ's body. And that hope will strengthen us as we face death. And if the dying process is prolonged, God will give dying grace and a glimpse of glory. There's no doubt, we were discussing this at prayer meeting recently when we were reading about the martyrs, some of the people who suffer for the Lord in China and other places. There's no doubt that those who suffer, whether it's through persecution or sickness, think far more of heaven than those who live, like we do, in a peaceful environment and enjoy good health. Most of us wouldn't choose it, but there is real advantage for those who suffer in terms of the building of character. in the forming of hope and of the weaning away from the pleasures of this world. Because there's little in this world to give comfort, our thoughts go more to heaven. That will happen as we get near to dying, but that should happen throughout life, shouldn't We should have our hope and our thoughts much more towards heaven than we do. A Christian lady, this again is an illustration from Hay-Aitken's book, a Christian lady who had lived a consistent and godly life, lay dying of fever. For three hours before her death, she was delirious, and during that time shocked those who were with her by terrible language. She had worked in the slums and doubtless heard that kind of speech often. But just before the end she had a few moments when her mind was clear. She had no memory of the terrible ravings, but she called her friends around her and said, I have not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the mind of man to conceive the blessedness that I have been enjoying during the last few hours. It has indeed been the very gate of glory. And so it seems that even if the outward appearance is very different, those who die in the Lord can experience his presence in a very wonderful way. We can be assured of God's presence at that time. As the psalmist said, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. There's a story of a man approaching a well-known preacher and asking him to pray that the Lord would give him grace to die. And the preacher said to him, do you have reason to think that you'll be dying very soon? He said, no. He said, then I will not pray for you. In that regard, when the time comes to die, God will give you grace to die. So now you need grace to live, and that should be your focus. And surely when we come to die, the Lord will give us grace and help us to cross the river. It is true as never before that we do not know when we shall die, and that death may come swiftly and unexpectedly. Accidents are common. Many die unexpectedly and swiftly in accidents. That means that often there is little time or no time to prepare for death when it comes. Another reason, isn't it, to be ready? You hear people say, well, I'll get right with God on my deathbed. Well, there are a lot less deathbeds than there used to be, because people are taken swiftly and suddenly, unexpectedly in disasters. Also in terminal sickness, Drugs relieve pain and distress, and that is good, but they also affect our alertness and reason. So it is rare these days to have someone who is dying minister to those around them. John Wesley once said, our people die well. Today most people just die. They may be ready. But if they're sedated, they don't die in a manner helpful to others. And that again is one more reason against the foolishness of looking for some deathbed conversion. Some, I say, die suddenly, and most people, if they know they're on a deathbed, are so heavily sedated that they cannot even understand what might be brought to them of the gospel. So foolish to wait until that time. Martin Lloyd-Jones was grateful that he had about a year and a half to prepare for death. He had cancer and was slowly getting weaker. He did very little preaching at that time. There was one brief period when he did some preaching, but most of that time was just spent in reading and prayer. He was glad that the Lord gave him those months of quietness to prepare for heaven. He felt that was very important. to have that time when he could very specifically prepare himself for death and for heaven. In many Christian biographies we have the record of the dying words of the subject and they are often rich and helpful. John Wesley says, the best of all is God is with us. Jonathan Edwards said, trust in God and you need not fear. Daniel Rowlands, the great Welsh preacher, about two weeks before he died, One of his sermons said, I am almost leaving, and I am on the point of being taken from you. I am not tired of the work, but in it I have some presentiment that my Heavenly Father will soon release me from my labours and bring me to my everlasting rest. Shortly before he died, he told his family, I have no more to say by way of evidence of my acceptance with God than I have always stated, I die as a poor sinner, depending fully and entirely on the merits of a crucified Saviour for my acceptance with God. Charles Simeon, the fine Anglican pastor, of the early 19th century. He said shortly before he died, If I am admitted, as I hope to be, to heaven, then if there be one that will sing louder than the rest, I think I shall be that one. While I am here, I am a sinner, a redeemed sinner. That is my style. And as such, I would lie here to the last, at the foot of the cross, looking unto Jesus, and go as such into the presence of my God. But whether we know that we are close to death or not, we need to be ready. Death will come, we must face it, and we can, by God's grace, face it well. I want to close with the words of Donald Cargill, one of the Scottish Covenanters, many of whom, of course, were martyred for their faith and their refusal to bow to the state church, because he went up the scaffold He says, the Lord knows that I go up this ladder with less fear, confusion, or perturbation of mind than ever I entered a pulpit to preach. Once up the ladder, he said, farewell, all created enjoyments, pleasures and delights. Farewell, sinning and suffering. Farewell, praying and believing. And welcome, heaven and singing. Welcome, joy and the Holy Ghost. Welcome, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Into thy hands I commend my spirit." And that Kim was put over his face. He lifted it up and he said, I have one word more to say and that is to all that have any love to God and his righteous cause that they will set time apart and sing a song of praise to the Lord for what he has done for my soul and my soul says to him be the praise. May God help us to face death like that. Amen.