Prepare To Meet Your God

Sermon adapted from a sermon by Enoch D. Solomon.

Introduction

A. A farmer advertised for men to work on his farm but received only one applicant, an eighteen-year-old boy who was asked, "Can you run a tractor?" "No, Sir," replied the youth. "Can you handle a milking machine?" "No, sir I've never worked with one."

B. After several more questions, all with negative answers, the farmer said, "Well, what can you do, young man?" And he answered, "I CAN SLEEP WHEN THE WIND BLOWS."

C. The farmer didn't understand, but neither did he press for an explanation. He needed help so badly that he gave the job to the young man. It was not many days afterward that a storm came up in the middle of the night. The wind began to blow, accompanied by thunder and lightning and rain. The farmer was awakened and ran to the room where the young man was sleeping. There, just as he had said, he was sleeping through the storm. Rather than trying to waken the youth, the farmer himself ran out to the barn to check on the animals and the equipment. He found the doors to the barn tightly shut and bolted. The animals were in their shelters, properly secured. Then he remembered the pile of straw that the wind would be blowing in all directions, but he found it had been covered with canvas and tied down. Everything was secure. ON the way back to the house the farmer remembered what the young man had told him: "I CAN SLEEP WHEN THE WIND BLOWS." And he understood.

D. Do YOU have the confidence to live through life's storms knowing that you are prepared to meet God? In (Amos 4:12), the warning is given, "Prepare to meet thy God."

E. God had used several means of disciplining the Israelites during this time—drought, famine, crop diseases, locusts, plagues, war, and local catastrophes (v. 11)—and yet the people did not get the message. They had met with God’s disciplines, but the next step was to meet God Himself (v. 12). He was personally coming to judge them.

F. What a tragedy that the people kept living in luxury (vv. 1–3) and carrying out their religious duties but their heart and faith was not in it (vv. 4–5) while ignoring the call of God. It took courage for Amos to call the wealthy women “cows” and to picture them being led away to slaughter. In their comfort and prosperity, the people thought they were immune from judgment, but it came just the same.

G. They simply were not prepared to meet God. What about us? Are we prepared to meet our God?

Body

I. We each must meet Him.

A. There are a thousand things we can refrain from doing. Men can refuse to pray; refuse to read the Bible, refuse to repent and reform their ways; refuse to make confession of Christ, refuse to worship God: but there is one thing we cannot refuse to do,—we cannot refuse to meet God. The call of death all must hear and obey.

1. Heb 9:27, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,”

a. Our lives on this earth will either end in death or at the second coming of Christ either way we each will still meet God.

B. Story of the Rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31.

1. Notice the poor and rich will both die. Notice also that both must apply the word of God to their life.

2. All of us will be judged. Notice 2 Cor. 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”

3. Everyone must give an account of our lives to God. Romans 14:12.

II. We may have to meet Him sooner than we think.

A. The time is uncertain. Delay in other matters is sometimes wise; but in all that relates to the safety of the soul, delay is dangerous and can have eternal consequences.

1. No one knows when we are going to die. No one is promised a long life.

a. Jas 4:14, “yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

2. The Parable of the Rich Farmer in Luke 12:16. Notice verse Luk 12:20 But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?'

B. The farmer had prepared for his physical life but not his spiritual life. God saw him, heard him, and addressed him: “you fool.”