Proverbs chapter 27, verse number one. Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth. With this one verse as our foundation, the specific gospel objection that I want to set before us this morning is, I'll get right with God later. I'll get right with God later. Among all the verbal excuses others give as to why they feel justified remaining indifferent and careless toward matters relating to God, God's word, eternity, and the state of their soul, surely this particular excuse is among the most common. How many are those in this world and even among the fellowship of the church who presumptuously believe that they can come to God on their own timeframe? How many are those who suppress committing themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ today because they have convinced themselves that God will give them an opportunity to be saved at a later time? in my conversing with others about their personal need to reflect upon their accountability to God, their approaching day of death, and their spiritual need to be born again. Many times others will say, quote, I'm not really interested in all of this God and Bible talk you're speaking of at this particular moment in my life. But perhaps sometime later in my life, I might be. Right now, I have a lot of things in my life that demand my attention. Right now, I'm busy with school. I'm a single parent. I have little kids to take care of. I'm working several jobs. I'm doing my best to provide for my family. I'm preparing to get married. I'm dealing with various health problems. I'm going through a divorce. I'm chasing after court appointments. I have this concern and that responsibility, and I'm just too overwhelmed by everything going on in life to even think about where I'm going to spend eternity, much less commit the whole of my life to being Jesus' disciple. So the verbal excuse that is proclaimed is, maybe later. Maybe later in life I will read the Bible. Maybe later in life, I will go to church and learn more about the Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe later in life, I will become more serious about living for God, but for now, I'm too busy. I don't have time. Tied in with this particular excuse are those who purposely suppress thinking about the biblical claims of Jesus Christ because they want to live how they want to live outside of God's authority. Those belonging to this group of people say things like, right now, I'm enjoying the youthful years of my life. At this present moment, I'm having fun, I have this girlfriend. I have this boyfriend. I enjoy going to the dance clubs. I enjoy going to the casinos. I'm a part of a group of friends who enjoy partying on Friday nights. I know that my life would not be considered holy by any means, but I'm okay with that because right now I'm finally doing what I want to do. Right now I'm enjoying life to the fullest. They say things like, perhaps when I'm older, I'll settle down and think about God, but at this present moment, I'm content with where I'm at in life. The excuse is, not now, but later. And the cycle usually goes something like this. A child thinks or says to himself, when I grow up, I'll seek after God. So the child grows up to be a teenager, and when they are teens, they see that among their peers, it is not cool to seek after God, so they think and say, when I'm an adult, I'll seek after God. the teenager graduates high school, perhaps they go to college, they join the military, they find a job, they begin to seek after a career, and the busyness of life and the sinful temptations of the world begin to lure them away from thinking about their soul, so they, as a young adult now, think and say, after I graduate college, I'll seek after God. After my time in the military, I'll seek after God. When I get married and start a family, I'll seek after God. The young adult gets married, starts a family, and is being pulled in every direction to this responsibility and that responsibility. So they continue pushing off, caring for their soul, suppressing their previous affirmation to seek after God in their adult years, which leads them to think and say as a young parent, when the kids get out of the house, then I will seek God. The kids eventually leave the house when they are mid-40s, perhaps 50s. Eventually, they enter into their retirement years, no longer working as they once did, no longer having all the responsibilities of life to attend to, and they retire. In their retirements, they busy themselves with traveling, with golfing, with gardening, with playing pickleball, going to the senior center, watching TV hours on end, playing games on their phone, chasing medical appointments every other day, giving excuse after excuse as to why they cannot commit themselves to Jesus Christ. So those who are 60, 70, and 80 say, I will get right with God on my deathbed. I will become a Christian during the final hours of my life. Do you see the pattern? Tomorrow becomes next week. Next week becomes next month. Next month becomes next year. Next year becomes next decade, next decade becomes when I'm dying, and before you know it, death comes at an unexpected time, and then it's too late. I'm too busy for God leads to death. Not now gives way to forever being separated from God. So in the time we have together this morning, I want to show you that God not only knows that putting off Christ until tomorrow would be an excuse that we are prone to make, In knowing our proneness to make this excuse, God has provided us with a pill after a pill, argument after argument, illustration after illustration, and reason after reason in His Word regarding why making such an excuse is reckless and can lead to our eternal ruin. Let me show you what I mean by establishing in my first point the truth that God, through his word, recognizes that presuming upon tomorrow is our natural tendency. God, through his word, recognizes that presuming we have tomorrow to live is common. If there's one truth that rings loudly through the entirety of God's word, surely it is the truth that in our sin, we foolishly think that tomorrow will inevitably be ours. We foolishly think that we are going to be living on this earth tomorrow, next week, next month, when God provides us with no guarantee that such will be the case. Let me illustrate. Isn't it interesting that so many people become absolutely dumbfounded and devastated when a close family member, friend, or well-known celebrity that we know dies young and unexpectedly? When an infant dies, for one reason or another, Others shake their head and wonder, how can this be? When a child dies, others say things like they had their whole life ahead of them. When a teenager dies, in our minds we think they were so young. When a young adult in their 20s, 30s, and 40 dies, it's almost as we act as if they were guaranteed a long life. And strangely, strangely, even when someone dies before they're 70, people say things like, wow, 65 is still young to pass away. In thinking and saying such things, it's almost as if we assume that everyone is promised a long, healthy life. Now deep down, we know that such a reality is not consistent with life, yet nonetheless, there is a natural presumption that abides in our mind that encourages us to believe that we will be alive tomorrow, our spouse will be alive tomorrow, our children will be alive tomorrow, our grandchildren will be alive tomorrow, and the people we know and love will be alive tomorrow. King Solomon says, boast not yourself of having tomorrow because you are not in control of your existence or your future. Boast not that you will have an opportunity to get right with God at a later time because you may be in eternity tomorrow. What is Solomon speaking about here in Proverbs 27.1? He is speaking about our natural tendency to think that we have tomorrow to prepare our soul for death. Solomon is seeking to wake us up and alarm us to reality. We do not have the promise of tomorrow. Another text that speaks about our presumption upon tomorrow is the text that we looked at last week from Luke chapter nine. among the three potential disciples, as I call them, two foolishly thought that they had the freedom to be Jesus' disciple at a later time. Do you remember? Two of the three potential disciples in Luke chapter nine said, Lord, I will follow you. Lord, I will be your disciple. Lord, I will do what you want me to do, but not now. Later. Let me first do what I want to do, and then, and only then, will I commit myself to you. You see, there's the excuse. The excuse is later, at another time. And the presumption tied in with the excuse is that tomorrow will inevitably come. A third attention-grabbing text that highlights man's presumption upon tomorrow is the Apostle Paul's evangelistic opportunity before Felix, the Roman governor of Judea. The Bible tells us in Acts 24-25 that having heard the apostle Paul speak boldly about the Christian faith and Felix's need to personally seek after the Lord, Felix responded by saying, Paul, go away for now. Paul, I've had enough of your preaching. When I have a convenient season, I will call for you. Translation, Felix says, I've heard what you have to say about God. I heard what you have to say about sin, about Jesus Christ's salvation and eternity. I've heard your plea for me to repent and believe the gospel, but I'm not quite ready to believe your message. But when I have an opportunity to think about these things, I will call for you. The excuse of Felix is, not now, but later. And the presumption that is stimulating his excuse is that he will be alive tomorrow. That God will give him another opportunity to think about spiritual things in the same way. To our knowledge, such a convenient season never came for Felix. As far as we can tell, Felix did not keep his word to call for Paul. As far as we can tell, Felix continued to give excuse after excuse after excuse as to why he did not have a convenient time to prepare his soul for death. All these biblical exhortations and examples solidify the first truth that I'm seeking to convince you of this morning. It is our natural tendency to presume upon tomorrow. I mean, how many of you wrote death upon Monday's date tomorrow? Anybody have a calendar you said death? I'm preparing to die tomorrow. None of us. We assume we're gonna make it through the next week. So our natural tendency to think about going past this month. It's our natural tendency to think that we are going to be in a proper frame of mind to consider Christ tomorrow. It's our natural tendency to think that if we push away Christ now, we can quickly pull him back at a later time. So this leads me then to the second biblical truth that I want to submit on your hearts this morning. Number one, God in his word not only recognizes that presuming upon tomorrow is common, God in his word would have us to know that presuming upon tomorrow is foolish. It's foolish. It's foolish to think that you know better than God. It's foolish to think that you are the master of your future, the ultimate controller of the days of your life. It's foolish to think that you can seek God on your own terms and on your own timetable. It's foolish to think that you are going to live forever. Listen to me for a moment. Do you know how many young people in their 20s that I know who have already fried their brains with drugs and alcohol abuse and are now addicted to video games and their phones who want nothing to do with God at all. More and more with each passing day I hear of such instances. They're living zombies. And I'm talking about kids who used to go to the Christian school. I'm talking about kids who grew up going to Sunday school, hearing the gospel every week. I'm talking about kids who had the blessing of growing up in a Christian home. Such, quote, sweet kids grew up in a Christian environment, hearing sermons like these, and they said in their mind, not now, later, And in their later years, the sinful enticements of this world grabbed a hold of their heart and pulled them closer and closer to the devil's way, one temptation after another temptation, one puff after another puff, one sip after another sip, one immoral relationship after another immoral relationship, and now they are spiritually hardened against God. Whereas once, these sweet, little, church-going kids were tender-hearted. They seemed eager about the word of God. Now, they're stubborn, bitter, angry, unapproachable, and completely careless about anything that has to do with Christianity. You say, what happened? I'll tell you exactly what happened. They foolishly presumed. Number one, they presumed that they were truly Christian when they had no biblical evidence that they were. And number two, they presumed that they could enjoy the pleasures of sin for time and get right with God later. And in doing so, God left them to their sin. Again I say, presuming upon tomorrow is foolish. It's foolish to think that you will have an opportunity to call out to God on your deathbed. Let me speak to the older generation for a moment. Those of you who are pushing off Christ thinking, I'll wait, I'll wait. When I have my family around me in my last moments, then I'll get right with God. I like what J.C. Ryle says about the two thieves on the cross. He says, quote, one thief was saved so that no sinner might despair, but only one that no sinner might presume. One thief was saved so that no sinner might despair, but only one, so that no sinner might presume. In other words, not everyone is tenderhearted and willing to commit themselves to Christ on their deathbed. Some people on their deathbed curse God from their hearts and their lips, which only shows that God has given them over to their unbelief. And I've personally witnessed both. not only as a pastor but also as a family member. I had a grandma who by God's wonderful sovereign grace cried out to the Lord from her heart in her final hour. And I've had a grandpa who pushed my hand away so strongly when I sought to care for his soul. You must not presume that you will be like the penitent thief on the cross. For all you know, you may die quickly. For all you know, you may be one of those mean-spirited, miserable, bitter old people in the nursing home who hates everything and everyone, all because you've rejected God over and over and over. How foolish it is to presume upon tomorrow. Oh, I wish we could all take a field trip to the local nursing homes and just walk through the halls so that you can see where many end up. And when I say where many end up, I'm not talking physically, I'm talking spiritually. I would love to take you through the halls of the nursing home and let you listen to the hardness of heart of those who are almost in eternity. You say, well, that'll never be me. And I say, how do you know? Some of those miserable, bitter, hard-hearted people went to church every Sunday. How can you have the assurance that if you keep living for yourself, that you will want God later? How can you know without a shadow of a doubt that God will deal with you down the road? God says you have no promise. You have no promise that tomorrow will come. You have no promise that you will have the mental ability in knowing that you will want to receive the gospel and call upon the Lord. You have no promise that you will be in good standing with Jesus Christ when he comes. And here's another truth to consider. How many are the presumptuous end times experts who say, well, will have an opportunity to be saved. Such people fool others in thinking that if somehow they are left on earth after Christ returns for his sheep, that they can become a Christian later. I say, how foolish, how foolish. How do you know that you will believe on Christ after he comes? How do you know? How do you know that you might not just explain everything away as an alien abduction? I mean, others saw the miracles of Christ. Others saw God in the flesh face to face and they said he had a demon. They did not believe. So how do you know that your heart will be open and ready to receive Christ after his second coming? The scriptures tell us that if you are not even ready to hear the word, no miracle is going to convince you. The one should raise from the dead, the rich man and Lazarus, though you should see a great manifestation of God's presence, like Pharaoh did, by the way, there's no guarantee that your heart will be ready then. Presumption has led many to hell. God throughout his word recognizes that presuming upon tomorrow, number one, is common. God throughout his word recognizes that presuming upon tomorrow is foolish. And then finally, God recognizes that turning to the Lord in repentance and faith today is spiritually wise and safe. As I mentioned earlier, God not only knows that putting off Christ until tomorrow would be an excuse that we are prone to make. In knowing our proneness to make such an excuse, God has already provided us with argument after argument, illustration after illustration, and a pill after a pill to woo us to Him now rather than later. And I say, what a gracious God. What a long-suffering Savior. to know our sinful tendencies and still want to woo us to Him. Here we are in our sin, here we are in our foolishness, turning away from Christ, going our own way, making excuses of every kind as to why we cannot be His disciple, and over and over and over, Christ pleads with us to come. God, by His Spirit, invites us to reason things out so that we might have everlasting life. Listen to the urgent cries of God recorded in Scripture, spoken through God's messengers that are mentioned in the Bible. Listen as they stand in contrast to putting off God at a later time. Joshua 24, 15. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. But choose you this day what you're going to live for. Choose you now at this moment, who will be your God? Isaiah 118, God through the prophet Isaiah says, come now. and let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Isaiah 55, verse six. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Now is that time before Christ returns, before you die, this is the moment to seek him and to call upon him. Hebrews 3, 15. Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart. 2 Corinthians 6, 2. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Revelation 22, 17. And the spirit and the bride say, come. Not later, but now. Let him that heareth say, come. and let him that is a thirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. There is a reason why this preacher preaches the way he does. He recognizes that he's a dying man preaching to dying men. He recognizes that he is standing on the brink of eternity Sunday by Sunday. He recognizes that there's no promise that everybody sitting in the pew today will be here next week. This may be the last sermon I preach. This may be the last sermon you hear. I know we don't like to think about our approaching day of death. I know you would rather hear a pleasant sermon about what a good person you are and how everything in life will be peaceful and prosperous. I know you would rather have me tell you funny, cute stories so you can laugh. You would rather hear about what's going on in the news and in politics. You would rather hear about secondary issues in life rather than hearing about your ruin, Christ's redemption, and the Spirit's regeneration. I know. I get it. The Bible says that there's a time coming when people will not endure sound doctrine, but will turn away to find people who will itch their ears. I know. I get it. I get that you talk with people about what a nut job Pastor Casey is. How else do you want me to preach? If these things are reality, how else do you want me to preach? In love, I encourage you to think about your dying day so that you might prepare your soul for the coming day of judgment. I will give an account of how I've ministered to you the word of God. And if you should reject Christ, your blood will not be on my hand. I have warned you over and over and over. It'll be on you and it will haunt you for all of eternity. I think that's one of the most horrendous things about being separated from God for all of eternity. In your separation from God, it will not be because you didn't hear. It will be because of the stubbornness of your heart. Sometimes I wonder if God will just haunt you with voices of the pleas of preachers that you've heard over and over and over to prove his long-suffering toward your soul. Answer me this question. What kind of firefighter stands outside of a burning home and watches the house burn knowing that there's a family sleeping inside? Now answer me this question. What kind of preacher stands behind a pulpit knowing that all who die without Christ will spend forever in torment? And the pastor says nothing to awaken people out of their spiritual slumber. You think I'm harsh in my preaching? You think I'm too strict? You think I'm too pointed? You think I'm too passionate? I can assure you I am not. In love, I plead with you. I plead with you to find hope in God, to find peace for your soul, to find forgiveness for your sin. Is that harsh? Is that unkind? Some of you teenagers need to think about this. You teens. that think life is about phones, and social media, and sports, and video games, and girlfriends, and boyfriends, and being cool, and getting money. I know you don't recognize this, but I used to think like you do. I used to be fully absorbed in the God of basketball, thinking myself to be invincible. I, like you, thought I'd have every promise of tomorrow. Until, until a good friend of mine, 17 years of age, died in a car accident going to school, and I stood before his open casket, staring at his cold, discolored body. And I asked myself, why is he dead, and I'm still here. I asked myself, what's going to happen to me when I die? It woke me up. Fellow classmate. fellow basketball team member. Are you among those who say, not now, maybe later? If so, let me plainly tell you, many are in hell today because they said the same excuse. Don't gamble with your soul. Today may be your last day. Your family members may be planning your funeral tomorrow. Your heart could give out this afternoon. You could be the victim of a deadly car accident on your way home from church. But the door of the ark is still open. The opportunity to be saved is still here. So enter into the ark before it closes and it's too late. Christ, Jesus Christ is the ark All those who are in him will be saved from the eternal judgment to come, but all those who reject Christ will face the wrath that is to come. Let me reason with you one final time. If you were financially bankrupt, and you haven't eaten in days, and you have no food in your home, and there are no government assistant programs to help you obtain food, and someone comes along with $100 for you to buy food, would you say, not now, maybe later? If you had a deadly cancer spreading throughout your body and your doctor told you that you only have weeks to live. But amazing new technology figured out a dependable cure for cancer was available for you for free. Would you say? Not now. Maybe later. Only a fool would say such things. How much more foolish to decline the great offer of the great salvation. You see, you have a sin problem. Sin is the reason we die. Wherefore, as by one man's sin, entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for that all have sin. Why do people die at all? Because of the curse of sin. So what is needed to escape this curse, this death that is coming in eternity? The Bible says the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through the accomplishments of Jesus Christ. The Bible says God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes on him should not perish but have everlasting life. The Bible says if you will in desperation call upon the name of the Lord you can be saved. The way of salvation is twofold. You must believe that you are a great sinner that cannot save yourself and you must believe that Jesus Christ is a great savior who alone can save yourself. soul. There's no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Jesus Christ is the only way, the only truth, and the only life. He's the only way to God. There's only one mediator between holy God and sinful man. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is through means of the new birth. You must be born again. You've been born once physically. If you are to see the kingdom of God, you must be born twice. You must have a physical birth and you must have a spiritual birth. And that process is tied in with you calling upon the name of the Lord. With you receiving Christ as your own personal Lord and Savior. So have you. Have you received Him by faith? I didn't ask if you joined a church. I didn't ask if you were baptized. The baptismal waters cannot wash away your sin. There's only one thing that can wash away your sin, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness of sin. I didn't ask if you read your Bible. I didn't ask if you like to pray. I asked. Have you repented, turned from your wicked ways, and received the gospel that is able to save your soul? Is there evidence in your life that you know Jesus Christ in a personal and saving way? That's the question. Death is coming, and it's coming fast. Are you prepared? You can be prepared if you trust the one who's died for you. You can be prepared if you become Christ's disciple.