Am I Ready to Die Today?
1 Sam. 31
Author H. B. London writes in his newsletter to pastors: More than 300 people were aboard Air France flight #358 when it came to a stop about 220 yards beyond the end of the runway in Toronto [this past] Tuesday {Aug. 2, 2005.] Miraculously, no one died in the crash and only 43 of the 309 people were injured. In less than three minutes, all people on board were evacuated — and then the plane burst into flames. The one comment that caught my attention as I read the report was from a 32-year-old man who said, "I didn’t want to die today." In one short phrase, he captured the sentiments of most of us. Yet the truth is,…the Census Bureau believes that one person dies every 12 seconds in the United States… If my math is correct, approximately 7,200 people die each day in the United States….The reason the statement of that young man — "I didn’t want to die today" — caught my attention was because it could easily be restated, "I am not ready to die today." How many of [us] are ready to die today?
If you could chose the day of your death, what day would it be? Would it be today—tomorrow---10 years from now? How would you go about making that choice? Most of us can sympathize with comedian Woody Allen, who once said::
I’m not afraid to die. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.- Woody Allen
But you will be there. Ready or not, expected or unexpected, death comes. Try to ignore it, some things in life remind you that today could be the day you die: a close call, like these airplane passengers; the funeral of a friend; a celebrity obituary; maybe even a scene taken from the pages of the Bible.
This is why 1 Sam. 31 is so important for us to look at today: in these verses, God tells you and I some very important truths that can help you be ready to die today, tomorrow, or whenever it comes your time to leave this world. Today I want you and I to look death- your death, my death- in the face, and see beyond death to the hope God offers us through Christ.
I. EVERYBODY WHO LIVES WILL DIE. (v. 1-2, 5)
A traveling evangelist once asked the pastor of a church he was holding revival in, “What’s the death rate in this area?” The pastor replied, “One per person.”
You and I know that, but somehow it doesn’t always sink in, does it? An old Jewish proverb says Every man knows he will die, but no one wants to believe it. Many of us seem to unconsciously believe dying is what happens to other people, not me, not now, not today. But when you read these verses, they remind us that all kinds of people die every day.
First of all, let’s notice that bad people die. Saul is a good example.Saul was like most bad people- he didn’t start off as an evil person. In fact, he was probably a pretty good person. He was handsome, and eager, and seemed willing to serve his country and his Lord.
But Saul let his crown go to his head. Instead of obeying God, he takes a wrong turn, and ends up doing all kinds of wicked things, from trying to murder David to turning to the occult instead of God for guidance. It doesn’t shock us when bad person like Saul dies.
What shocks us is when good like Jonathan die. Here is a prince of a man: loyal to God, a faithful soldier, loyal to his wicked father, but also loyal to his friend David. He is a man who trusted God, and who could be trusted by others. And yet he dies on the same day, in the same battle as his evil father Saul. It doesn’t seem fair that good people like Jonathan die.
But there are those who are somewhere in-between who also die. Saul’s army is made up of some who were neither especially good, nor especially bad. They were just doing their duty, serving their country, their king, and their God. They are not particularly righteous, or all that evil, they’re just stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Which is my point: Everybody dies. You may brave and good as Jonathan or as twisted and evil as Saul, or even somewhere in-between, but one thing is sure: you will die.
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
You may be old or young, single, married, divorced, or engaged. You might be at home, or at work, or at school. You may be sitting at the supper table, driving down the road, or laying in a hospital bed. But there will come a day when you inhale one last breath, your heart will pound out one more beat, your spirit will leave your body, and you will die. It may be 20 years from now, later this year, or next month, or two weeks from now. Or it may be today.
By now you may be asking, “Bro. Mike, why in the world would I want to be reminded that I’m going to die?” and the reason is that it is only when you learn to count your days that you can begin to make the days count.
Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Only the very bravest of you may check out a website that is called the death clock. By programming various bits of health information into the program, it will display a clock that counts down the days, hours, and minutes of your life expectancy. It basically counts down how much time you have left to live.
If you want to be wise- if you want to live your life to the fullest, to make the most out of the time God gives you to live on this earth, you have to always keep in mind that one day, you will die, and that day might be today. A second important truth about death I want to mention is
II. HOW YOU LIVE AFFECTS HOW YOU DIE (v. 3-6)
In the movie Casualties of War, Michael J. Fox plays Private Erikson, a soldier in Vietnam who is part of a squad that abuses a young Vietnamese girl. Though Private Erikson doesn’t participate in the crime, he still struggles with what has happened.
He tells "Just because each of us might at any second be blown away, we’re acting like we can do anything we want, as though it doesn’t matter what we do. I’m thinking it’s just the opposite. Because we might be dead in the next split-second, maybe we gotta be extra careful what we do. Because maybe it matters more. Maybe it matters more than we ever know."
How you live affects how you die. I am not saying that if you live a good life you will die peacefully in your sleep at a ripe old age, or that if you live a sinful life you will die in pain and horror. What I mean is that how you face death is determined by how you live your life. How you live matters more than you know when it comes time for you to die.
God has already King Saul he is going to die in this battle. But Saul has always done things his own way, instead of God’s way for most of his life. He has refused to listen, refused to humble himself, and refused to do what was right. Instead of dying fighting, Saul dies his own way, at his own hand, ending his life with one final act of rebellion, shaking his fist in the face of God as he throws himself on his sword. This is how he lived and this is how he dies.
On the other hand, notice how his son, Jonathan dies. He stands by his dad even at his last stand, going into battle, fighting against the enemies of Israel and of the Lord. Everything the Bible tells us about Jonathan demonstrates a deep faith and commitment to God, to his duty as son and soldier. He does not give up, but goes down fighting to the very end, his life a tribute to a man who was willing to die out of love for his father and his God. This is how he lives, and this is how he dies.
Because we might be dead in the next split-second, maybe we gotta be extra careful what we do. Because maybe it matters more. Maybe it matters more than we…know."
How you live affects how you die.
As God told Saul, God tells you: you are going to die. Maybe that makes you want to run the rat race a little harder, work a little longer to get a little more, enjoy a few more thrills, make yourself comfortable as possible. You can ignore God, forget God, or play around with some empty, hollow religion. But if you do, you will die as Saul did: afraid, lost, and without hope.
Or you can die as Jonathan did: you can choose to live a life centered on God, and His glory. You can live a life of faithful love for other people and for God. You can go down fighting, honoring God with your last breath, and saying with the apostle Paul:
2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
How you live affects how you die. How you live your life right now will have a huge impact on how you face your final moments in this life. Are you living like Saul, or living like Jonathan? Are you living for yourself, or living for God? That will affect not only how you die, but what happens after you die, because this passage also show us
III. DEATH IS NOT THE END OF THE STORY (v. 7-13)
A young boy was helping his grandfather plant a tree one day. Grandpa was explaining that it took so long for this tree to grow up, he wouldn’t be there to see it reach its full height. “Why grandpa?” the boy asks innocently, “where are you going?”
That’s the big question, isn’t it? If you die today, where will you go? The death of Saul is not the end of his story. It’s not the end of your story, either.
The death of Saul is not the end of Saul’s story. It’s not the end of your story either.
For Israel, the death of their king was a more than just a tragedy. In addition to suddenly having no leader, their leader’s body, as well as all heirs to the throne, are publicly humiliated as the decapitated corpse of Saul and the bodies of his sons are nailed in a grisly display of triumph for the enemy. The Philistines add insult to injury by displaying Saul’s armor in the temple of their goddess, as if to say, our goddess can beat your God any day! It looked like a dark day of defeat for both Jehovah God and His people.
But the people of Jabesh Gilead (who had not forgotten how Saul had helped them when he first became king back in 1 Sam. 11) don’t take this disgrace lying down. A group of Special Forces ride out to rescue Saul and his son’s body from this humiliation. They take back the bodies, give them all a proper burial, and in effect rob the enemies of God and His people of their shameful victory.
Now those are the historical facts of this story. But what happens here is a good illustration of some other truths about not only death, but what comes after death.
You know what happens to your body when you die, and it’s not pretty. No matter how fancy your coffin, or airtight your tomb, you cannot stop time and decay from returning your body back to the dust from which it was made. When you and I face death, either our own or someone we love, a voice whispers darkly in the back of our mind that’s the end. There is nothing else. There is no hope, no escape, no future for those who die. All there is is the disgrace of a decaying body, hopeless and forgotten forevermore.
But my friends, that is not the end. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ offers you and I eternal life, a hope-filled future, and a new body. Jesus promises you that if you belong to Him:
John 5:24-25, 28-29 24“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. 25Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. 28Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29and come forth— those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
Death was not the end of the story for Saul, or his sons. It’s not the end of your story either.
The end of your life here is really the beginning of your life in eternity. It is either the beginning of eternal delight, or it is the beginning of eternal disgrace. The only difference between which of those two destinies you experience is whether or not you have been rescued by Jesus Christ.
Death to the Christian is the funeral of all his sorrows and evils, and the resurrection of all his joys.- Aughey
According to an old fable, a man made an unusual agreement with Death. He told the Grim Reaper he would willingly accompany him when it came his time to die, but only on one condition—that Death would warn him well in advance before he came for him. Death agreed, and time went on: weeks turned into months, and months into years. One bitter winter evening, as the man sat worrying about all his possessions, Death suddenly enters the room and taps him on the shoulder. Startled, the man cries out, “You’re here so soon and without warning! I thought you agreed to warn me before you came.” Death replied, “I’ve more than kept my part. I’ve sent you many reminders of my coming. Every morning you saw the sun rise, and then every night you saw the sun set. Every time you said goodbye to someone at a funeral, I reminded you this day was coming. Every time you looked into the mirror, your own face reminded you that you were getting older, and closer to this day. You sat in church many Sundays, listening to the preacher tell you over and over that you would one day have to leave this world. I’m sorry you’re not ready, but today is the day when your time is up. You must come with me right now. ”-
That moment could come to you today, my friend. The only question that will matter then will be this one: am I ready to die today?
You can be. In fact, let me tell you this: it is only when you are ready to die, that you will find yourself ready to live. When you live your life ready to leave this world, you will be amazed at how precious and delightful life here will become. How do you prepare yourself to die? Come to Jesus Christ. Come just as you are, not ashamed to ask Him to forgive you, not afraid to admit that you need Him to save you. Turn from your sin, and make a public confession that you commit yourself to believe in Jesus as Savior, and to serve Him as your Lord. When you do this, God will give you that sweet assurance in your heart, that whether you die today, or tomorrow, or 20 years from now, you will not only be ready to die, but ready to live- forever.
