Turn your Bibles to the book of Romans. The book of Romans chapter 14. I have been blessed by being here today, especially through the song service. I noticed today how many songs had to do with what I have prepared to preach today. Title to the message is Life's Sacred Appointment. Romans 14, three verses. Verse seven through nine. Life's sacred appointment. Verse seven, for none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live therefore or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. He is Lord and we heard what Lord means this morning already. He is Lord both of our life and our death. We are in God's hands. That is why this appointment is sacred, for it is in the hands of a holy God. Our lives are made up of schedules and appointments. Without them, things would become chaotic. And our appointments vary quite a bit in matter of importance. Some are small and insignificant, yet they help to bring about order in our lives and in our families. Others are vital to maintain our vision, our goals, and ideals. Some appointments only have to do with earthly matters. Others have spiritual requirements and consequences of great importance. There is one appointment in the future for each one of us here today that holds great importance, and it is sacred as well. None of us here today have ever met this appointment yet. It is appointed unto men once to die. We have never met that appointment personally, physically, but someday we will. Unless the Lord returns before that. We will meet that appointment. We will not talk or manipulate our way out of this one. We will not be able to call ahead and say, I'm running late. We will meet this appointment on time. Because it is God's time. This appointment reigns superior over all other appointments. Because it is in control of someone else. And it is sacred because that someone else is God. God in His Word is not silent on this issue. He expects us to Recognize his sovereignty in this matter and leave the termination of our life in his hands, in his control. In Ecclesiastes 8.8 it says, there is no man that has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, neither hath he power in the day of death. And then in Exodus 20, verse 13, it says, Thou shalt not kill. In Genesis 9, 6, Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. For in the image of God made he man. God is our creator. He has given us the breath of life. He created life. And it is in his power to take life. A time to be born and a time to die. God is in control of our existence, our life, here on earth. And He is in control of our death. The giver and taker of life. Quite different from most of society today. Life is cheap. The homicide rate is high. It's on the rise. Murder has many motives which all stem from man trying to justify his passions like anger, jealousy, revenge, financial gain, and other motives have been around since Cain took Abel's life. The present generation that is addicted to television and movies are watching scenes of violence and murder where the perpetrator is usually portrayed as a hero. The games and the movies of our day get people to think that taking someone else's life is an honorable thing to do. instead of being desperately wicked and sinful as God says in His Word that it is. And as these scenes become more commonplace in minds and thoughts of people, life loses its sacredness and somehow they reason away that murder is justifiable. They rationalize murder. The Bible says, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. In 1 John 3. In Romans 1, murder is mentioned as being worthy of death under the judgment of God. Not only those that commit the murder, but those that have pleasure in them that do them. Suicide is on the rise as well, with various motives driving it. Guilt, rejection, failure to succeed, depression, discouragement, to name a few. They all lead men to despair of life outside of Jesus Christ. Never should we consider such thoughts. Our life belongs to God. Abortion is the result of the carefree, self-centered, immoral lifestyle that our society craves today. It is an exceptionally cruel act of murder where they take the life of the innocent. It conditions our society to consider God's claim of life as not being reality. Man takes life. Men take life in their own hands. And they don't consider the importance of God's appointment of life and death, and they take the life of the unborn. In Jeremiah 1 it says, Before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee. Men plead for abortion on the basis of personal rights and pleasure. But it violates the superior right of God to give life and to take life. Euthanasia is a so-called act of mercy where someone takes the life of the old or the feeble, maybe the disabled and the aged. My friends, all of these Murder, suicide, abortion and euthanasia will incur the wrath of God on judgment day unless it is repented of. Let it not be once named among us. Here in Romans where we read, Paul is not saying that it does not matter whether we live or die. He is saying, if we live or if we die, we are in God's hands. As Lord of both, the appointment of our birth and the appointment of our death is in His control. You know, there are lots of questions and unknowns about death. But we need not to fear death. It is comforting to know that our God, the One who provided a way that we can be free from sin, have our hearts cleansed, the One who gives us peace because of that, the One who gives us strength to live in victory, to say no to wrong things, temptations and sin that is so prevalent around us. It is comforting to know that our life is in His hands. And we need not fear when life ends physically. For we are in His hands. Surely if He provided for us in this life to redeem us from sin, then when we take our last breath, He's going to have something provided for a peaceful departure from this earth to something far better. But you know, it's the unknowns. The things we don't know or don't understand about death, it still brings with it a sense of maybe fear. I hesitate to use the word fear. But there's something about it that our human nature kind of opposes to, if you want to put it that way. In other words, we all have a desire to live, which I think is God-given. But when we die, God has something. He has a way provided to care for us then as well. There will be no disappointments. When our life, when our heart is ready to meet Him, there will be no disappointments. Turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 18. 1 Samuel chapter 18. 1 Samuel 18 verse 1 through 16. If you care to you can stand as we read the word. 1 Samuel chapter 18 verse 1 and this is right after that David had killed Goliath the Philistine champion. And here it says in verse 1, And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father's house. Verse 3, Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle. And David went out. Whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely, and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants. And it came to pass as they came when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tabrets, with joy and with instruments of music. And the women answered one another as they played and said, Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands. And Saul was very wroth. And a saying displeased him, and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands. And what can he have more but the kingdom? And Saul lied David from that day and forward. And it came to pass on the morrow that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house. And David played with his hand as at other times and there was a javelin in Saul's hand. And Saul cast the javelin for he said, I will smite David to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice. And Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him and was departed from Saul. Therefore Saul removed him from him and made him his captain over a thousand. And he went out and came in before the people. And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him. Wherefore, when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them. Go to chapter 19, verse 8. 19 verse 8, and there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and slew them with a great slaughter, and they fled from him. And the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, as he sat at his house with his javelin in his hand, and David played with his hand. And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with his javelin. But he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall, and David fled and escaped that night. Chapter 20, the end of verse 3. David and Jonathan's last, one of their last conversations. Verse three, end of verse three, but truly David is saying here, truly as the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death. You may be seated, thank you. So David's observation of life was that there is only one step between me and death. Only one step between me and death. Life, my friends, is fragile. We're only one step or one breath away from death. You know, we can feel so important Like nobody can replace me. And we act and we do things, we say things like we're going to be here forever. When in reality, our life is but a vapor. And we're gone. A step between me and death. David was no stranger to putting his life on the line. He had slain a lion and a bear to save the sheep. One day he left the sheep out in the field to take food to his brothers who were fighting in Saul's army. You know, when he packed his food, when he prepared his backpacks or whatever he had, He probably felt kind of like a nobody. I'm just the youngest brother and all I get to do is care for the sheep at home in the pasture. Nobody sees me. I'm just kind of a nobody. But when he got to the army, when he got to his brother, something suddenly changed. While visiting his brothers, this big, tall Philistine giant comes out and he starts defying the Israeli army and the God whom they served. And David is like, who is this man that he dared to do this? And they explained to him what was going on. And David, he just agrees to go fight this man despite the difference in size. I'm assuming the giant might have been twice as tall as David. In fact, this giant said when he came out to fight him, he said, am I a dog? Did you come to me with a stick? You just come on over and I'll feed you to the birds. David put his life on the line again. and his life in the hands of God, I should say. And he won the battle. And it says the Israelites drove to Philistine's home all the way back home to their hometown. What a victory! They took courage because the enemy was gone. Wow! David suddenly goes from being this little sheep herder in the back pasture to being a hero in Israel. And the king puts him in charge of many soldiers. Prince Jonathan, Saul's son, becomes his best friend. People looked up to this little boy as a hero. Well, the time came when the army marches back home. King Saul is up front. David is somewhere in line behind him. For Saul had said, don't let this guy go back to feeding sheep. He's going to live in the palace. The women were delighted that the men were coming home. They came out of all the cities as the army came close and they were dancing and making music and singing their own little song. Saul has slain his thousands, but David has slain ten thousands and Saul is wroth. He's like, They're going to anoint him king and they're going to take the kingdom from me and give it to him. I don't like this song. They're thinking he's ten times the soldier that I am. And he becomes very jealous of this young hero and starts thinking about what to do about it. The next day, David is playing music in front of the king. And he gets so upset that he throws a spear at him. I'm going to kill this boy. Ducked out of the way twice and escaped. Saul, the Bible says Saul knew that God was with David. He also knew that because of his anger and arrogance that God was no longer with him. So he was afraid of David. God is with this young hero and I feel like God is not with me anymore. So he was afraid of David as well. And he desperately wanted to get rid of him. So he sent him on dangerous mission trips to fight the Philistines. Hoping he would be killed in battle. But you know what? David always came back with a great victory. He had slain many more and the people were rejoicing. David won another battle. After one such victory, David was again in Saul's presence playing music. And Saul might have muttered under his breath, I'm going to pin him to the wall. And he throws his spear again. David ducks out of the way and a spear is stuck in the wall. And David runs for his life. In fact, that night, his wife let him down out of the house through a window and he slipped away and runs for his life. And we read how that David and Jonathan met in a field, or just part of the story, and had one of their last conversations. Jonathan didn't believe that his dad was out to kill David. And David said, it's because he knows that you and I are best friends. He is out to kill me. Think about it. They talk about the wrath of King Saul who was Jonathan's dad and David's father-in-law. What would that conversation be like? David said, there is one step between me and death. He knew that if he made one mismove or if Saul caught him, he would kill him. He was that upset. But the Lord was with David. David was a man after God's own heart. God cared about this young hero. And He protected him. He cared for him. We're not any better than King David. There is only one step between me and death. Life is short. Life is fleeting, like a vapor. It's like the grass. It's like the flower of the field that withereth here today. and gone tomorrow. June 27. Started out just like any other normal day. Sorry, I don't know if I can give this. We were feeding. We were scraping barns. Some of us were vaccinating heifers. My son and I were sorting heifers and trying to get eight head on the trailer to move them. One heifer decides to take a different route and gets tangled up in the pipes of the free stall, which is where they usually lay to rest. She had her four feet about that far off the concrete. She was hanging by her neck over the one pipe, her hind end up over the other pipe, couldn't breathe, couldn't move. Knowing we only had minutes to save this heifer, adrenaline kicks in. And I told Kentland, quick run to the shop, get a chain. And I yelled clear to the other end of the barn where my employee was working. I said, go get a skid loader quick. And they responded well. The chain shows up. I got it hooked up to the heifer. And I stand there with the other end in my hand waiting for the skid loader which showed up soon. There I am standing in a free stall with a chain waiting to hook it up. to the loader. He pulled in, kind of had to turn sideways in the freestall alley, which was tight for that big a loader. And I wanted him to get a bit closer to the heifer. And we were, mind you, we were all focused on saving the heifer. And I motioned him to move forward, thinking he would pull straight ahead. I had my back turned by then with the chain draped over my shoulder. He starts coming forward and turning at the same time, and with my back turned, I didn't realize what was happening until I felt the pallet fork in my back. Still thinking he would stop, but he didn't. Just as I yelled, he stopped. But I was already squished up against the pipe. One pipe underneath my ribcage, and the other one right here. I couldn't move. And he squeezed till he had the breath out of me. He took the wind out of me. It was close. He hadn't been able to see the pallet fork because he had it raised up to the heights where he couldn't see the fork from the seat and didn't realize what he was doing. He was watching the heifer. And I didn't realize what he was doing until I felt it. We saved the heifer, but it was a very somber group of men and boys that thank God for protection. My appointment was not yet. God still has a purpose for me. All glory to him. And I know that some of you have had close calls as well. It has a way of readjusting focus and perspectives and priorities. It makes you realize how fragile that your life is. And by the way, this incident As I gave it, all happened in less than three minutes. From going to normal to just barely being alive anymore in three minutes. That quickly or quicker, our life can be snuffed out. What is the most important thing in life? Well, we found out it wasn't saving some animal. It is preparing the heart to meet God. For we never know when that is. The sacred appointment. And I know that we are all familiar with death. This is not a new thing. We've all been encountered with death. Maybe some closer home than others. Death is real. It has a way of getting our attention. We live in the land of the dying. We cannot evade it or pretend that it doesn't exist. It is appointed unto men once to die. Death is final. When life is gone, we cannot restore it. In 2 Samuel 14 it says, it is as water spilled on the ground. Once you spill water, you can't get it back into the jar or glass. When life is gone, we cannot get it back. It's gone. You know, the issues of our life look so different when we stand in the presence of death. We ponder life. We ponder death. We ponder about the hereafter. We ask questions. We wonder about things that we hardly ever thought of before. We try to understand. We try to grasp the meaning of it. We try to figure out why it happened or why not something worse happened. But we as Christians can look at death from the standpoint of truth that is revealed by God in His Word. The Bible has the answers of how to prepare for death. And what happens after death? At least to some degree. Oh, I said the Bible says how to prepare for death. So, we prepare to die? Really? Isn't the popular modern American concept of death that when someone dies, everybody goes to heaven? So why should we prepare? What's there to prepare for? If we die, we go to heaven, right? That is kind of the modern, popular concept of death. Outside of a few who believe that when we die we're kind of like a cat or a dog and it doesn't matter. Life just ends. Heaven, my friends, is a destination after this life that requires us to make a series of positive choices in life before we get there. We will not get there by accident. We will not be walking along and all of a sudden we find ourselves in heaven or in the kingdom of heaven. That can happen the other way around. We can be walking along before we know it, we're lost. But we're not going to get to heaven by accident. It takes positive choices in life, this side of our death, in order to get there. It will take more than our background. We cannot say that I'm Zelis, Ams, Csiks, Vilis, Paulus, Ivan, and I'm going to get to heaven because they were all godly men. It's not going to work. It's not going to work to get to heaven by some special favor. In other words, it's because of who I am you're going to get there. Or because of what I've done, I've done all these good works my whole life, and I'll just kind of glide right into heaven. You know, we tend to try so hard and do so many things to try to impress God and man with our righteousness. And God says He's going to look at it as filthy rags. Prepare to die. Prepare your heart to die. You know what God accepts? He accepts a heart that is pure. A heart that is broken. A heart that is humble. One that has repented and forsaken the sin of the carnal nature. One that is following God on the straight and narrow way. That is the soul that's going to make it to heaven. It's only through the blood of Jesus Christ. You know, God is a gracious and merciful God. He does not want any of us to perish. He wants all of us to come to repentance. He's made a way for that. Jesus said, I am the way. No man cometh to the Father but by me. God is merciful. He has provided a way for us to get to heaven and enjoy eternal bliss. We prepare to die by way of the cross. We deny self. Ye must be born again. We get there by diligence. He that endureth to the end shall be saved. In conclusion, life is fragile. There is one step between me and death. We all have an appointment. One day we will stand before a holy God and give account of our life. Prepare to die. Heaven is a choice. You know, there's a lot of unknowns, a lot of things we don't understand about death, but we need not fear. Death for the Christian is gain. It's a transition from earthly life, all its pain and cares and troubles to a heavenly life, eternal life that is full of joy and peace and glory. It's a win-win situation for the Christian, one who is ready to die. The righteous has hope in his death in Proverbs 14. Psalm 23, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. For thou art with me. In Psalm 31 5 it says, Into thy hand I commit my spirit. Again referring to life being in God's hands. and referring back to Romans, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. In 1 Corinthians 15. Heaven will surely be worth it all. Let's kneel and pray. Holy Father, we come to you today. We thank you for life. Thank you for life here on earth. Thank you most of all for life eternal, which requires us to make choices in this life. And I pray, oh God, that you would bless each one here today with a desire to make those choices before it is too late. Help us to prepare our heart for that day when we will meet you as God, as creator, as judge, as a loving and merciful God who wants to save his people. Help us, oh God, to walk in newness of life with you faithfully until you take us home. Thank you for providing a way that we can come to you and have that hope and peace of eternal life someday in glory. Again, we pray a blessing on each one. Help us to walk with you faithfully and to prepare our heart to die. When that appointment comes for us that we could hear those glad words that you have for the faithful come unto me. We give you glory, we give you honor, for you alone are worthy. In Jesus' name we pray.