Your Tomorrow Has Been Cancelled!
Introduction: Earlier this week, an Australian icon who has touched the lives of many Americans, left home, boarded a boat and ventured out to the Great Barrier Reef with his camera crew in tow. Another marvelous adventure for Steve Irwin - the Crocodile Hunter. Never in his wildest imaginations did he anticipate the freak accident that would come his way that day. He expected to be home later that day. He expected to see his wife and babies again shortly. He simply did not realize that his tomorrow had been cancelled here on this earth.
Everyday, unexpecting people receive this message: Your tomorrow has been cancelled! The fact is that everyone here will some day hear those words echo through our lives: Your Tomorrow Has Been Cancelled! In fact, it could come today to the most unsuspecting person among us. As you look over the past year, you begin to realize that these words have come to many that you knew in some way - some very close to you. Everyone of us is only one breath away from our tomorrow being cancelled. Consider this parable spoken by Jesus from Luke 12:16-21.
Text: Luke 12:16-21
Then consider what James has to say about the whole situation in James 4:13-14
Text: James 4:13-14
Introduction: Basically, James is telling us that we better live our lives with the realization that our plans, our activities, our daily schedules, our very lives, are uncertain. What seems to be so stable and secure today could all crumble and fall apart by tomorrow. In fact, we must come to realize that our tomorrow could easily be cancelled.
Five years ago today, Americans were going about their business with no worries about the future. But when tomorrow came, America as we knew it was changed forever. For many on that September 11, 2001, tomorrow was cancelled. They were ushered from this life into the life of eternity. Some were prepared for that experience, many weren’t.
You see, folks, too many people consider this as the “real world.” To them there is no other world. To them this is all that life has to offer. Many people live under the philosophy that – “This is the real world; you only go around once so you’d better grab all the gusto you can get.” To these unsuspecting people, a word will one day echo out - Your Tomorrow is Cancelled! - and where will they be? Where will you be when these words echo through your life?
Tomorrow was cancelled for the rich man Jesus spoke about in Luke chapter 12. The rich man lived by the philosophy that says: “Take care of number one!” His concern in life was self-centered. He didn’t care about the poor and needy. He simply wanted to get all he could in this life for himself so he could just sit back and enjoy it. This man had success, satisfaction and security. What more could he possibly want? You could say that as far as this world was concerned he had it made, he was enjoying life. But, when he least expected it, the words came to him: "Your tomorrow is cancelled!"
1. What if tomorrow was cancelled for you and your trust had been placed in other things or other people?
A. We need to be careful about having a false confidence in things or in people.
B. Jesus made it clear that life does not come from an abundance of things, nor does true success or security.
C. This rich man had a false view of both life and death.
Application: There are a lot of people that are just like this rich man. In this world, they feel secure, invincible, that they will live to be 100 years old. They refuse to think of death; they refuse to think of eternity; they refuse to think of judgment. As far as they are concerned, this world is all that there is. But how foolish to think this way, death will come to all. All will face eternity either in the presence of God or expelled from his presence eternally. All will face the judgment one-day. All will one day hear the words the rich man heard: "You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you." Your tomorrow has been cancelled!
2. What if tomorrow was cancelled for you and you weren’t expecting it?
A. Death caught this man when he least expected it.
1. We would be tempted to say, “Too bad this fellow died just when he had everything going for him!
2. How tragic that he could not finish his great plans.”
3. But I tell you, the great tragedy of this story is not what this man left behind but what laid before him: eternity without God!
4. 9-11 brought death to thousands who did not expect it.
5. A stingray’s barb brought death when it was least expected.
B. Oftentimes, we are not expecting to die - tragedy hits and we’re gone!
1. Death has no favorites.
2. Death doesn’t respect age, position, importance, prosperity or anything else.
3. Everyone will soon hear those words - Your tomorrow has been cancelled!
C. The rich man lived without God and he died without God - What a tragedy.
Application: James said: “You don’t know what will happen tomorrow. What is life? You are a mist that is seen for a moment and then disappears.” Job said: 14:1-2 – “A person who is born of a woman is short-lived and is full of trouble. He comes up like a flower; then he withers. He is like a fleeting shadow; he doesn’t stay long.” (14:1-2). Proverbs 27:1 says: “Never boast about tomorrow. You don’t know what will happen between now and then.” The fact of the matter is simply this: when you and I and everybody else is least expecting it, those words will come: Your tomorrow is cancelled! We need to live expecting these words - doing all we can to live lives that glorify God and letting others know that those words are headed their way also.
3. What if tomorrow was cancelled for you and you still had not dealt with sin issues plaguing your life?
A. God’s favorite word is today.
1. Now is the accepted time.
2. Today is the day of salvation, not tomorrow.
3. Consider Paul’s word in 2 Co 6:2 from the Living Bible: “For God says, Your cry came to me at a favorable time, when the doors of welcome were wide open, I helped you on a day when salvation was being offered. Right now God is ready to welcome you. Today he is ready to save you.”
B. We live our lives presuming that we have a tomorrow and that tomorrow we will take care will take care of that sin issue that is plaguing our life.
1. God’s word on that matter is something to this effect: “Don’t put it off, do it now, get help, open your heart to someone, spend time in prayer. Do it! Tomorrow might be cancelled. Don’t presume that you will even have a tomorrow.”
2. Augustine said: “God has promised us forgiveness for our repentance, but God has not promised us a tomorrow in which to repent.”
Application: Today is the only time you really have. Don’t put God off anymore. Your tomorrow may be cancelled before the close of this service. Do you have sin issues you’ve been dealing with? Don’t put it off any longer.
Conclusion: What if September 11, 2006 brought the tragedy that September 11, 2001 brought? Steve Irwin never imagined that September 4th, 2006 would be the last sunrise he would ever see on this earth. It is easy to forget that this is not the real world. It’s not going to last forever. Each one of our lives hangs by a thread. Anyone of us could be called upon at any time to stand before God and give an account of himself. What if tomorrow were cancelled for you? For me?
The bad news is that if tomorrow is cancelled and you aren’t ready to meet God then you will have to spend eternity in hell, banished from the presence of God. Don’t put off any longer what you must do today. Are you ready for those words: Your tomorrow has been cancelled?
Disclaimer: Not necessarily all original material. Some material contained in my sermons may be gleaned from other sermons.
