The Best Is Yet To Come

“The best is yet to come!”

Hebrews 11:13-16

Credit: There are some big chunks of Jeff Strite’s sermoncentral sermon “This World Is Not My Home”. Jeff’s work is mostly in the introduction. The outline and application are mine.

A preacher named Ray Stedman:

? traveled across the country

? for a week of meetings.

The only problem was:

? his baggage didn’t make it.

? He needed a couple of suits so

? He went down to the local thrift shop.

When he told the salesman:

o "I’d like to get a couple of suits,"

o the man smiled,

o led him to a whole rack of them and said,

"Good, we’ve got several. But you need to know they came from the local mortuary. They’ve all been cleaned and pressed, but they were used on stiffs. Not a thing wrong with ’em. I just didn’t want that to bother you."

Stedman said:

? "No, that’s fine."

? He tried a few of the suits on and finally

? bought two of them for about $25 dollars each.

When he got back to this his room:

? He began to get dressed for the evening meetings.

? As he put one on,

? He tried to put his hands in the pockets but couldn’t.

Both sides were all sewn up!

o The suits looked as if they had pockets,

o but they were just flaps on the coat.

He thought about that for a second.

“Of course! Dead people don’t carry stuff with ’em when they die.”

(CREDIT: Jeff Strite, Sermon central and Charles Swindoll)

Christians ought not:

- try to stuff their pockets full of this world

- to possess all the toys and treasures of this world

- we need to be investing in the future eternal kingdom

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”

2 Peter 3:10 (KJV)

Everything we see is temporary:

- our bodies will grow old and die

- the houses we build will be burned up

- the earth itself will be destroyed

In this life we may:

- do many things

- but only what we do for Christ

- will last into eternity

I have some news:

- it will make some joyful

- it will grieve others

- the news is that this life has an expiration date

“The years of our life are seventy,

or even by reason of strength eighty;

yet their span is but toil and trouble;

they are soon gone, and we fly away.”

Psalm 90:10 (ESV)

“O LORD, make me know my end and what is

the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!”

Psalm 39:4 (ESV)

Imagine each day of your life:

- as a grain of sand in an hourglass

- every day of your life there is one grain of sand less

- eventually the last grain of sand will be gone.

If we were to freeze time:

- in the last moment of life

- would we wish we had accumulated more wealth?

- will we wish we had achieved greater positions of power?

The good news for the faithful Christian is the best is yet to come!

The bad news is if you are unfaithful, this world is as good as it gets….

The old joke is that:

- you never see a U-Haul behind a hearse

There is story of a wealthy man:

- he lived high on the hog

- he had more wealth than we can imagine

- lived out all his dreams,

- he bought or built whatever he thought of

- had all the experiences life had to offer.

Toward the end of his life:

- he looked back at all he had done and learned

- he evaluated all his pleasures and possessions

This is what he said:

“Meaningless! Meaningless!”

says the Teacher.

“Utterly meaningless!

Everything is meaningless.”

Ecclesiastes 1:1 (ESV)

That was Solomon:

- but there is a story about another wealthy man

- he died with a huge net worth

- someone said the preacher

“How much did he leave?”

“He left it all, every dime.”

Unfortunately we the Church as a whole:

- have become distracted by the temporary pleasures of this world

- we have become entranced by the sparkles of possessions

- we have begun to worship entertainment, wealth and false gods

Here is a top ten list of false gods some or most people worship:

Education, Beauty, Comfort, Substances,

Family, Science, Sex, Money

Always in the number one spot: the worship of Self

“Fear the LORD your God, serve him only…”