Life’s Momentous Questions
James 4:14
Thesis: to bring us to a fuller understanding of what we are and why ?
Introduction:
1. There are four important questions which are as old as the human race,
2. yet they are as new as an infant in its mother’s arms.
3. These questions have boggled the mind of man since the inception of understanding.
4. The basis of these questions, were surely the problems facing Eve in her weakest moments.
5. Today we shall explore these questions as the Bible would answer them for us:
a. Who am I? Whence do I come? What is my life? Whither do I go?
6. Join me this day in a most interesting study of life’s greatest questions!
Body:
1. “Who am I?”
a. Heb 2:6-7 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visit him? Thou made him a little lower than the angels; thou crown him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:
b. Man has a two-fold nature:
i. A perishable body
1. 3 periods of earthly existence: youth, maturity, and decay
2. these periods pass in rapid succession
a. 1 Pet 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
ii. An immortal spirit
1. “inner man” “the hidden man of the heart”
2. This is what distinguishes him from the beast and makes him superior to it.
2. “Whence do I come?”
a. Only in the Bible can the answer be found
i. Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
b. The body is from the earth = ”the Earthly house” (2 Cor 5:1)
i. Every substance found in the body is found in the earth.
ii. “Earth, “Adam”, “Man” are three words with the same meaning!
c. The spirit is from God
i. Man’s mind or spirit could not have originated in the soil.
ii. No combination of material elements can produce mind, ort thought.
iii. God is called “the Father of Spirits”
1. Heb 12:9-10 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
3. “What is my Life?”
a. A transient thing. “A Vapor”
i. Isa 38:12 Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd’s tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life:
b. A frail thing.
i. Like a clod of dirt, it is subject to dissolution
1. 2 Cor 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God
ii. Suspended by a brittle cord
1. Eccl 12:5-7 Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
iii. Frail like a flower
1. Job 14:1-2 Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
c. A brief thing
i. Ps 90:10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years,
ii. Job 9:25 Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good
iii. Ps 39:5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.
d. An Uncertain Thing
i. Prov 27:1 Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
ii. Gen 27:2 Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death:
iii. We make plans, but seldom are we able to execute them.
iv. Luke 12:16 ff (Man and His barns)
e. An Irrevocable Thing
i. “Water spilt upon the ground” (2 Sam 14:14)
ii. See 2 Sam 12: 15-23
4. The 4th Great Question is “Whither Do I Go?”
a. The philosopher: “I am going to the unknown”
i. “Life is a meteor that hovers momentarily between two eternities, then passes to the great unknown”
ii. A confusing, comfortless answer.
b. The Infidel: “I go to the dust, death ends all”
i. He has no more to say of his own destiny than for the destiny of a dog.
ii. There is no light, no consolation in his answer.
c. The Christian: “I go to the Father!”
i. The grave is not the end
ii. It is a golden gateway to a greater life.
iii. Whether in life or death, he is going to the Father.
iv. Herein we find HOPE.
What are Life’s Momentous Questions?
1. Momentous means to be considered today! (Not monumental)
2. Who am I?
3. Where do I come from?
4. What is my life and does it have purpose?
5. Where am I going after it is a said and done?
6. Seal your journey today!
