Well, we're turning again in God's Word tonight to the passage we read earlier, 2 Samuel 2, 2 Samuel 2, and turning our attention to the verses 22 and 23. 2 Samuel 2, and follow the reading very carefully. As I said this morning, it didn't really strike me until I was preparing this morning for the worship service that We were going to look at the death of a young man in our morning service, the only son of that widow woman. And then it suddenly struck me that again tonight, the message that God impressed upon my heart was concerning the death of a young man. And I can tell you, as I was looking in the mirror thinking about that this morning, it wasn't the look of me, but it was the thought that a young man might be here tonight and might be in eternity tomorrow. And there were literally goosebumps as I thought upon that most solemn possibility. And while God is here, as we saw this morning for each and every one, I believe there is a message, especially for the young, especially for young men, in this congregation here tonight. 2 Samuel 2, and the verse 22, And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn thee aside from following me. Wherefore should I smite thee to the ground? How then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother? Howbeit he refused to turn aside. Wherefore Abner, with the hinder end of the spear, smote him under the fifth rib. that the spear came out behind him, and he fell down there and died in the same place. And it came to pass that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died, stood still. Let's still ourselves in the presence of God tonight and pray that God will prepare our hearts to hear His Word and to obey the Gospel. Let's all pray. Our Father and our God, Thou art the only true and living God. We rejoice that the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has come in mercy among us tonight. We believe that God already is speaking, and we pray especially for those out of Christ tonight whether seated in this house or listening via the internet, that God will deal in mercy with their souls. We pray for those who are in their sin, those who are on the road to a lost eternity, in the endless pains, in the everlasting torments of hell. Lord, stop them in their tracks tonight. Save them by thy grace. and wash them in the precious blood of the Lamb. Now may the words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight. O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer, for we ask all these things in Jesus' name and for Christ's sake. Amen. Good morning. sets before us a most dreadful scene. In these verses of Scripture tonight, God shows us the body, the body of a young man, the body of a young man lying in the middle of the road, the body of a young man lying in the dirt, the body of a young man lying in a pool of his very own blood, a young man who seemed to have so much potential, a young man who seemed to have everything going for him in his favor. His name actually means Mead of God, or some people would translate it the Work of God. Here was a young life that could have been dedicated to the service of the Lord Jesus Christ in the spread of the gospel and in the salvation of precious souls, serving God in the work of his Savior. And yet here instead we find his body lying dead in the dirt upon the ground. He was a young man with many commendable qualities. You need not turn to it tonight for the sake of time, but if you wish to, you can do so when you go home. In 1 Chronicles 11, verse 26, Asahel is listed there with his brother Joab as being among the valiant men of David's armies. He was not merely a soldier. but he was a valiant soldier in the army of King David. No one could ever question Asahel's courage. No one could ever question his bravery. No one could ever bring into doubt his loyalty. He literally laid down his life for his king and also for his country. We discover in 2 Samuel 2 verse 18, we read it there this evening, that Asahel was certainly a very healthy young man, and we're told there that he was light of foot as a wild roe. He was, I suppose, like the Usain Bolt of his day, and he was a very healthy young man, he was a very fit individual. And, of course, he had all his health and strength. He no doubt thought he had a long, healthy, prosperous life before him. Asahel was not only a hero, he was not only a courageous, brave young man, but he was, of course, well-connected to high society. Joab, the captain and commander of the army of David, was his brother. And when you study the Word of God, you discover that Asahel was actually the nephew of King David himself. He was related to the king. As I said earlier, this young man seemed to have everything going for him. The world, it would seem, was at his feet. and he had great potential for the future. But now David's army was brought to a complete and utter standstill as they looked in shock, as they looked in horror upon the lifeless corpse, upon the dead body of the brother of their commander. As they gazed upon the dead body, of the nephew of the king lying upon the ground in a pool of his own blood. Now when we come to consider this passage tonight and when we come to look at this young man, Asahel, the first thing that I want to emphasize is very, very basic. Asahel died as a young man. Asahel died as a young man. He died abruptly. He died suddenly. He died unexpectedly. Asahel died and his death shocked the nation. His death shook the country. His death stunned his family when he died as a young man. My, what a solemn warning we have to each and every one of us here this evening. No matter how well connected you might be in society, no matter how healthy you may be in body and in mind, no matter all the great potential that you can see in your future, no matter how bright the future appears to be this evening, you could die at any moment. No matter what your age, no matter what your station in life, no matter what your position may be, no matter how healthy or wealthy you are, you could die at any moment. David said one time, there is but a step between me and death. And David feared that step would be a very small step. Of course, a step could be the large stride of a man. It could be the shorter step of a lady, or it could be that tiny, tiny step of a toddler. And men and women, there is but a step between you and death, and only God knows how long, how broad that step will be. Before this day ends, before tomorrow dawns, you could well be in God's vast, endless eternity. But while that is true of each and every one of us here tonight, again, I remind you that our text is emphasizing for our learning. Here we are confronted with the death of a young man. A young man caught off in the prime of life. seemingly with his whole future ahead of him. And yet here, in an instant of time, in a moment of time, he is ushered out into God's eternity. While in hot pursuit, the enemy army of David is brought to a standstill by the sudden, the unexpected, the surprising, the shocking death of this young man, Asahel. And God has put this into the Bible for a reason. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and even these historical records, they are there to teach us spiritual truths. They're there to emphasize spiritual lessons. And God has inserted this into his Word, especially for young men and young people in this congregation tonight. God is warning you. God is solemnly warning you. That tomorrow is not guaranteed. Next year is not guaranteed. Success in university is not guaranteed. A good career is not guaranteed. A long, healthy, prosperous life is never guaranteed. And death could come to you at any moment. Perhaps you can feel the breath of death already on the back of your neck, or you can feel his clammy hand upon your shoulder. Perhaps this very week your loved ones will be standing around the open grave, bidding farewell to you, never to see your face in this world, in this life ever again. Do not presume you have your whole life ahead of you with plenty of time to get right with God. to make preparation for eternity. The remainder of your life might just be for a year. It may only be for a month, perhaps merely a week. You may never sit in this house ever again under the sound of the gospel ever again. This could well be the last gospel invitation you'll ever hear. The time that you've left in this world might be measured merely in days, perhaps hours, minutes, any moment. God who holds your breath in his hands can take that breath away. If you turn in your Bible to the book of Ecclesiastes, and there in chapter 7, we read very solemn words, verse 17, Ecclesiastes chapter 7, and if you have not found, then do listen very, very carefully to what we're going to read. I do believe God is speaking. Maybe there's a young person here, you've been brought up in a Christian home. You've heard your mother pray for you. Your father's taught you the Scriptures. You've come up through the Sunday school, the children's meetings, the youth fellowship. You know the Bible is true. There's not a doubt in your mind that Christ Jesus is God. He became man, went to Calvary, died on the cross, shed his blood to save sinners. You've no doubt if you ask Jesus Christ into your heart tonight, he'll come into your heart and save your soul for eternity. But you have your plans for the future, and you're holding back your soul from God. But here we have a very solemn warning as you continue on in your sin, Ecclesiastes 7, look at verse 17, and the Bible says here, be not over much wicked. And we have to be careful here, it's not saying that, or suggesting it's okay to be a little bit wicked, that's not the idea. The thought here is of those who indulge in particular sins, in certain sins over much, to the degree, without restraint, that they are likely to die. And there are sins that can, in a sense, shorten our lives. We know that God has appointed and set our bounds that we cannot pass. We know that God is absolutely sovereign, as we said earlier. It is God who holds our breath, your breath and mine, in His hands. But there is a sense, as we are about to see, there is a sense in which a man can, or a woman can, die before their time. And certainly those who indulge in sin, they are likely to die young of disease, irresponsible behavior, or reckless living. We see examples of that only too often in our own lives, in our own communities. Young men who are cut off through reckless behavior, through drunkenness, through disease, and all the rest of it, as a consequence of a life of sin. And we read here, be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish. Why shouldst thou die? Why shouldst thou die? Young man, young woman, why shouldst thou die before thy time? Die before you would ordinarily expect to die. Die like Asahel in your youth, with your whole life seemingly before you. and yet to be cut off in your prime, to die in this sense before your time. If you walk through the graveyard, eventually you'll see the inscription of those who died in old age. I remember as a boy, My brother and I, my older brother, we would go to our grandparents' house for the holidays. And you may think it a very strange thing to do on your holidays, but my grandfather, well, he would have taken us to the seaside and all kinds of things. But on a nice sunny day, especially the Lord's Day, he'd have taken us to the graveyard. Strange place to go when you're on your holidays, I know. And he didn't really need his walking stick, but he liked the walking stick to poke at things and all the rest of it. He'd love to take us over to Downpatrick and show us where St. Patrick supposedly is buried. And then we'd walk around the various headstones and the graves, and he'd take a stick and he'd point, look at that man there, look at the age he died, 94. Maybe somebody else over 100. And then there was so and so, maybe 80, somebody else 70, 60, 50, someone in their 40s. And they say, look at this, this man died in his 30s. This man, this girl died in their 20s. And then eventually he'd pause and he'd point the stick and say this, this young person died in their teens. Then we see the grave of a child. He wasn't rubbing the gospel down our throats, but I think the lesson struck home. Boast not thyself of tomorrow. And from my earliest days, I knew God could take my soul from this world and from my body at any moment, at any time. In Luke's gospel, chapter 12, verse 20, we read of a young man, a young man who was doing well in business, a farmer, a And life was good, life was sweet, he said to himself there in Luke 12 verse 20, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. He felt it many years, a long and prosperous life ahead of him. And maybe that's how you are thinking tonight, even as I preach to you, you're still thinking along these lines, well, I'm young and I'm strong and I'm healthy and I've got my whole life ahead of me, I've got my education, I've got my career, I've all my plans, I've all my ambitions and all the things I want to do. I want to eat, drink, and be merry. I want to enjoy life in my youth. And yes, I understand I have a soul. I understand there is an eternity. I understand there is a Christ, there is a God, there's a heaven, there's a hell. But right now I'm going to take my ease, and I'll give serious thought to those things somewhere down the line. And that's how this young man was thinking. But then we are told in verse 20, but God said. But God said. And you need to listen to what God has to say. It doesn't matter what you think. Ultimately, it doesn't even matter what I say. But tonight you had better hear what God has to say. But God said, Thou fool, you may be a bright spark. You may have all degrees. You may be flying through your university studies. unless you've made preparation for eternity, you're a fool. But God said, thou fool, this night, this night, thy soul will be required of thee. If God takes your soul tonight, where will you be in eternity? You will be somewhere. Will it be heaven? Or will it be hell? Where, oh where, Will you spend eternity? Asahel died as a young man. But notice secondly, very quickly here, he died pursuing his ambitions in life. He died pursuing Abner. And we need to understand, as the passage brings out, if you are following the reading carefully, when Asahel was pursuing Abner, Abner pleaded with him to turn and take the armor of one of the young men. In battle, if you slew the enemy, you're entitled to take his possessions. Now just imagine if you were to slay the captain, the commander of the enemy host. All his armor, all his possessions, his wealth, along with all the fame, would be yours. And here we find Asahel not merely pursuing the enemy, but he is pursuing in a sense his ambitions for fame and for fortune. And for no reason will he turn aside either to the left hand nor to the right. He is prepared to put his life on the line to fulfill his dreams. Asahel would have become famous. What a name he would have made for himself. He would have received the applause of the nation, the applause of man. But instead of fame and instead of fortune, we now see Asahel lying dead in the dirt, soaking in his own blood. His dreams came to nothing. all his ambitions ended in failure and in death. Young man, young woman, you may reject Christ tonight. You may withhold your life, your soul, your all from God tonight in pursuit of your dreams and in pursuit of your life's ambitions. But again, I think of those solemn words of the Lord Jesus Christ. What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Is it really worth it? Whatever it is that's keeping you back from Christ, is it really worth it? Is it worth losing your soul for? Is it worth going to hell for? Is it worth being damned forever without hope? Asahel died young. Asahel died pursuing his life's ambitions, but in closing, Asahel died refusing to hear the warning. We read there in our text 2 Samuel 2 verse 22, and Abner said again, and we read it where he warned Asahel, and he warned Asahel, he pleaded with Asahel, and the Holy Spirit tells us here Said again to Asahel, Turn thee, turn thee aside from following me. Wherefore should I smite thee to the ground? Abner did not want to kill Asahel. He genuinely did not want to kill him. But Asahel refused to listen. Asahel refused to heed this solemn warning. If only he had listened, if only he had stopped in his tracks, if only he had stopped or turned aside to the left or to the right, he would have lived. But now, having refused to hear the warning voice, His body, his lifeless body, lies dead in the dirt, in a pool of blood. Young person, how often has God spoken to you? Oh, there's older folk here as well. How often has God spoken to you? What age are you? How long have you sat in meetings like this? You can think back 20, 30, 40, maybe 50 years. You can still hear your mother praying for you. You can still hear your Sunday school teachers pleading with you. You can still hear the preacher at the mission or here on the Lord's Day, week in and week out, calling you to repentance to stop on the road to hell and turn to Christ. But you're not seeing. And there are young people here tonight, and unless they heed the warning voice, well, they may live another 10, 20, 30, 40 years. And they'll sit in a meeting perhaps like this, and the preacher will say, how long, how long have you resisted the Holy Ghost? Remember Stephen before they murdered him? before they beat him to death with those stones. He said to those religious leaders, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost. How often has the Spirit of God striven with your soul? How often have you heard the voice of God speaking to you, calling you to repentance to stop your hellward journey and to turn to Christ? But you've hardened your heart. And there are young people here tonight, and you're doing the very same. You're hardening your heart. And he that hardneth his neck shall suddenly, suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. One verse in closing, Ezekiel 33 verse 11. Ezekiel 33 verse 11. And here God is telling the prophet and telling every preacher how to preach the gospel. This is how God wants me to preach tonight. And if God wants me to preach this, God wants you to hear it, to listen, to obey. Ezekiel 33 verse 11, God commands the prophets, say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure. Abner took no pleasure in killing Asahel. And here God is saying he takes no pleasure in the damnation of a soul Let me underline that God is here, as we heard this morning, and God is here, and he's calling men and women, young people especially, tonight to repentance, and God means it. As Christ said, how often would I have gathered you? How often would I have saved you? But ye would not. And you understand this tonight, if you go to hell, if you leave this meeting and go to hell, it's not because God didn't offer to save you. And that offer's a real offer, that offer's a genuine offer. And God tells us how to preach, say unto them, as I live, see how God means this, as I live. God is serious, young man. As sure as God is, as sure as God exists, He is speaking to you. He is pleading with you. He's commanding all men everywhere to repent. He's commanding you tonight to repent. Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn, that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways. For why? Why? What has the devil got to offer you? What has the world got to offer you? Why will ye die? Let's bow together for prayer. As our heads are bowed tonight, the meeting's almost over. I want you to think about that question. Why will ye die? Why will you walk out of this meeting without Christ? Why will you reject God's offer of salvation? Why will you reject the forgiveness of your sin? Why will you refuse a home in heaven? Why? Do not be a fool. Obey the gospel. Stop. Stop what you're doing. Obey the gospel. Turn to Christ. Call upon his name, and he will He will save you now, and he'll save you forever. If I can help you further, speak to me at the door, come back in when others have gone home. Keep your seat. And maybe there's a young person here you'd rather speak to someone you know. A youth worker, one of the elders, Sunday school teacher. And maybe there's a child here and you realize you need to be saved. Why not speak to your mommy, your daddy tonight, But be sure to call upon the name of the Lord, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Our Father and our God, we do thank Thee for Thy Word. We thank Thee for Thy presence. We thank Thee for the Holy Spirit and His voice. And we pray that every unsaved soul will heed the warning voice and make the Lord their final choice and be in time before death rips the soul from the body, before they're ushered into an endless eternity. May some man, woman, some young person tonight flee from the wrath that is to come. flee in repentance, flee in faith to Jesus Christ, and be washed in the blood of the Lamb. Now, Lord, part us in thy fear, and with thy blessing abiding upon each and every one who knows and loves the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and in truth. For we ask it in Jesus' name, and for Christ's sake. Amen and amen.