Ecclesiastes 7:2-4
“The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning”
Our nation has experienced great tragedy this week. September 9, 2001....who can or will forget it. More lives were lost on this one day than any other day in American history.
In our text this morning Solomon advises us to look in the face and learn from it. The wiser, more enduring lessons are to be learned where grief reigns than in the empty and momentary excitement of mirth. In the house of mourning (death) we find occasion for serious and deeply edifying thoughts and reflections; in the house of feasting we seldom return with one profitable thought or one solid impression. God is continually opening to the living the house of mourning that they may consider what awaits them. The house of feasting often shuts out thoughts of God and eternity. The sight of the in the "house of mourning" causes the living to think of their own "end."
“O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!“ (Deut. 32:29). God desires that men should consider what will be the end.
Experience has proved to all wise men that the solid lessons which they gather in the house of mourning are more valuable, more sustaining, more consoling, and so in the end more fruitful than the houses of feasting which merely mask the sadness of the heart, and pass away as in a moment, leaving deeper wretchedness behind them.
C. H. Spurgeon once said, “MEN HAVE BEEN HELPED TO LIVE BY REMEMBERING THAT THEY MUST DIE.” A wise man will prepare for the inevitable.
I. The CERTAINTY of
Hebrews 9:27 “....it is appointed unto men once to die....”
A. Death is sure
“To die” is written over all! If the Lord tarries His coming, each man, woman, boy, , in this auditorium will meet . The question is simply – WHO WILL BE NEXT?
Job 30:23 “For I know that thou wilt bring me to , and to the house appointed for all living.”
Ecc. 8:8 “There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of : and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.” As soon as a baby is born, war is declared on . Even though the battle may rage for seventy years or even more, there is no discharge in that war. will fight on until it claims its victim.
Psalm 89:48 “What man is he that liveth, and shall not see ? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.”
Death is no respecter of person! Everybody enters life by the door of birth and exists by the door of . All have an appointment with ! The richest and mightiest cannot buy off .
1. Death is inevitable
2. Death is impartial
Romans 5:12 “Wherefor as by one man......”
B. Death can be sudden
Proverbs 27:1
James 4:13,14 “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”
1. The arrogance he condemns (13)
2. The attitude he commends (15)
“For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.”
Death can come suddenly by disease or disaster!
II. The CONSEQUENCES of
Sam Jones went home one day and his wife said to him, “Sam, I want you to go see the old sheriff who is dying.”
Sam answered his wife, “Honey, you know he has never believed in God. He is an infidel.”
Stirred on by his wife’s persistence, Sam went to see the sheriff.
After visiting with the sheriff for a while, Sam asked him if he was afraid to die.
“Sam, I have always told you that I was not afraid to die,” replied the dying sheriff.
Sam then asked him, “But, Sheriff, what about the judgement?”
The sheriff almost threw himself off the bed when he answered, “My God, I hand not thought of that!”
Death is not the end of life, but rather a change of life. is but the doorway to an after life. After , man must face the judgment of God. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” No man who has any sense of justice can believe that wrong will forever go unpunished.
See Acts 17:31. There is a certainty and accuracy in the judgment after .
A. The period for the judgment has been already ordered
God has already ordered the day when this world will be judged in righteousness. In the calendar of God, the judgment day is fixed. Saint and Sinner alike will be judged. The purposes and time will differ; but, the fact remains there is a coming judgment.
B. The person for the judgment has been already ordained
The one who now stands at your heart’s door seeking an entrance, will one day be your judge. See John 5:22. Jesus is inescapable!
C. The proof for the judgment has been already offered
The fact that Jesus Christ lives today is God’s infallible proof and guarantee that there will be a judgment.
III. The CONQUEROR Of (Revelation 1:18)
Having the keys symbolizes having the power over. In the Savior’s and resurrection, Christ took from Satan any authority the devil may have had over .
Because sin had entered into the world, resulting in for all the human race (Romans 5:12), God sent his son to die on Calvary’s cross so that He might bear the sins of the world and provide salvation from:
A. The reason of
See Hebrews 2:14,15. Jesus took from Satan his weapon of . HOW?
He went into , through , and came out the other side, thereby conquering it. Jesus entered human history to destroy the works of the devil. The harm in is caused by sin; in fact itself is caused by sin. Jesus bore the penalty of sin on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21). Where sin has been removed, can only interrupt the earthly life and usher in the heavenly In Christ, only the process of continues, while the penalty ceases. No Christian dies in penalty for sin.
B. The sting of
See I Corinthians 15:55-57
Death left its sting in Christ, as a bee leaves its stinger in its victim. Christ bore the whole of ’s sting in order that we would have to bear none of it.
When struck Christ on the cross, it lost its sting, and hence its future effectiveness. Whenever strikes a believer, it is with a stingless process.
The saintly Dr. A. J. Gordon, when dying was in a delirium of fever and apparent agony of both body and mind. The blackness of darkness seemed round about him. When the final hour came, however, someone bent over him and whispered, “Dr., Gordon, have you a good word for us?”
With a clear voice he said, “VICTORY “ He knew the Savior!
C. The fear of
The saints can say as the Psalmist “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of , I will fear no evil.” Because Christ met the substance; Christians encounter only the shadow. Christians not only live differently; they die differently. to a child of God is not the end, but merely the door into a better place.
“To die is gain” for the child of God. “Willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” for the child of God holds no , but rather affords a glorious anticipation of release from the limitations of this earthly life into the liberation of the heavenly life. To die for the child of God is to fall asleep.
Conclusion:
Are you prepared to die? Not prepared to live until you are prepared to die.
Death is certain
Death has consequence
Death has a conqueror.
May we as Solomon admonished us, LOOK IN THE FACE AND LEARN FROM IT.
