[MUSIC PLAYING] Would you please turn in your
Bibles to the book of Psalms? Psalm 49. Not a well-known Psalm,
but after today, that will change, I hope, with us. Psalm 49. We're continuing the series
called But God, as we'll see represented here in a moment. There was an elderly man
who was feeling his age and complaining. He said, I sure've gotten old. I've had two bypass surgeries,
a hip replacement, new knees, I've fought prostate cancer
and diabetes, I'm half blind, I can't hear anything quieter
than a jet engine take off. I take 40 different
medications that make me dizzy, winded,
and subject to blackouts. I have bouts with dementia,
I have poor circulation, I can hardly feel my
hands and feet anymore. I can't remember
if I'm 85 or 92. I've lost all my
friends, but thank God, I still have my
driver's license. [LAUGHTER] Uh-oh. Look out. You know? At some point, we all have
to face our own mortality, that we're not going to live
in these physical bodies on this planet forever. In fact, wouldn't you agree that
the most basic thing about life is death? Psalm 49 addresses that. It's one of the most
practical psalms in all of the Book of Psalms. And you could even title this
Psalm, The Brevity of Life and the Certainty of Death. The Brevity of Life and
the Certainty of Death. That is its theme. Years ago, when Dr. Billy
Graham was still alive, he was at a university. And a student asked
him a question. Dr. Graham, what is the
most surprising thing you have discovered about life? And he quickly quipped
back, "its brevity." And all of us who
are getting older have the experience that
time seems to accelerate the older you get, right? You look back, where
did that time go? And even James in the New
Testament said, "For what is your life? It is even a vapor that
appears for a little time and then vanishes." If you're around these parts
in the Fall of the year, down in the valley, on cold mornings,
when it's just a little bit moist-- that's really about all it
is, a little bit moist-- you get a morning fog that
settles in the valley. But stand around
and wait 10 minutes because as soon as
the sun comes out, that vapor quickly dissipates. But God has a solution
to that for us. And it's suggested
here in this Psalm. Let's get a sneak peek by
going to a couple of verses that we'll look at in just
a little bit, verse 14. "Like sheep they are
laid in the grave, death shall feed on
them, the upright shall have dominion over
them in the morning, and their beauty shall be
consumed in the grave far from their dwelling. But God will redeem my soul
from the power of the grave, for He shall receive me." Just a little
background on Psalms. Did you know Psalms is the
longest book in scripture? That is, it has more chapters,
150 chapters, psalms, are written in this book. The longest chapter in the Bible
is found in Psalms, Psalm 119. The shortest
chapter in the Bible is also found in
this book, Psalm 117. Only two verses. But the Book of Psalms was
used in ancient times in Israel as sort of like a song book, the
hymn book for temple worship. To this day, Jews
will sing or recite the psalms in their liturgy of
worship throughout the year. And it was thus used in
ancient times in the temple. But Psalm 49, in
particular, gives us the basic reality of life. In fact, you could sum up
the entire Psalm this way. We live precariously,
we die certainly, we must plan accordingly. That sums up the entire
message of Psalm 49. Do you ever think
about your own death? Most people don't. Most people get creeped
out by it or somebody brings it up like a
parent or grandparent, and somebody in the family goes,
no, don't even talk about that, I don't want to discuss it. That's been the trend. In fact, a CBS poll said
that most Americans, 54%, don't spend much time or
any time thinking, thinking, about their own death. But that number used
to be much higher. There is a growing trend-- and it's a good trend-- where
people are saying, you know? We should at least think and
talk about the inevitable. That trend, as I
said, is growing, where people are
confronting death in more than just abstract terms. So, for example,
there is a phenomenon called death dinners. Oh, boy. Come to my house
for a death dinner. Yeah, we're going to
sit around and eat, we're going to talk about dying. But they have become popular. People gather to talk
about the inevitability of the end of their life. Then, there is something
called death salons, where you sit around and
talk over death, dying, end of life issues,
over craft beer. I can only imagine
that conversation gets more interesting
as the night goes on. Then there are a little
over 100 cities in America that have death cafes, same
principle, where you sit around over tea, coffee,
cookies, something sweet, to talk about a sour subject. And then I discovered a
YouTube series on social-- not on social
media, on YouTube-- called Ask a Mortician. And it's interesting. It's this young gal, who is
a mortician, professionally trained, that's what
she does for a living. And she brings up these unsavory
topics and talks about them in a series of videos
called Ask a Mortician. And her idea is to help people
accept their own mortality. So it's becoming more popular. I think it's good to
think about death. I think it's good
to talk about death, but it's even better
to prepare for death. To get ready for it. Some years ago, I buried a dear
lady from this congregation. She was struck by a disease
that took her very quickly. I had talked to
her and her family. I prayed with her, she
went into the hospital, she deteriorated rapidly. And I was asked to come
by the family to her room because they said she's not
going to be around much longer, would you just come in one
last time and pray for her? So I came in. It was in the night. The room was dark. She was lying down
quietly in repose. The family was gathered around,
and I anticipated a very solemn affair. I walked in the room. Her husband whispered in
her ear that I had come. As soon as she heard
that I was in the room, she opened her eyes, sat up in
bed, raised her arm to heaven, and she said, I'm ready to go. And I left that room thinking,
I want to die like that. It was inspiring to me. So let's look at this Psalm
a little more carefully. And let me give you what
are some bottom line realities about life and
death and about being prepared for it. First of all, life is unstable. Life is unstable. Look at verse 1. Hear this. "All peoples, give
here all inhabitants of the world, both low and
high, rich and poor, together. My mouth shall speak wisdom
and the meditation of my heart shall give understanding. I will incline my
ear to a proverb. I will disclose my
dark saying on a harp." So think of a musician
picking up the instrument and he says, I'm going
to disclose a riddle, I'm going to talk about
an unsavory topic, and I'm going to
set it to music. That's the idea of this. Verse 5. "Why should I fear
in the days of evil when the iniquity at
my heels surrounds me?" Now, in those five
verses that we just read there's some language used. We could easily skip over
it, but we should notice it. For example, in verse
1, notice the contrast between high and low, speaking
of one's status in life. Also, the words rich and poor. You know what that is. In verse 5, he mentions
days of evil, bad days, where iniquity is at my heels. So this poetic Psalm points
to life's instability and uncertainty in talking
about these common experiences. Somebody might be high,
that is, powerful, somebody might be low, that is,
not so influential, in fact, even beggarly. One might be rich
one might be poor. And then, we all have
good days and we all have bad days, what the
Psalmist call the evil days. And then, some days even
feel like you're being chased and you can barely keep up. That would be summed
up by the phrase, "iniquity is at my heels." You just feel like you
can't get ahead of it. It's funny. Malcolm Muggeridge once said,
I have one foot in heaven and one foot on Earth,
and the foot on Earth is on a banana peel. It's very slippery around here. And it's this kind of
instability in life that really bummed out Solomon. When he wrote the
book of Ecclesiastes, he looked around,
he observed life, and he used the
words vain, vanity. It's all emptiness. And in fact, it turned
him into a fatalist. In Ecclesiastes
Chapter 6, verse 12, Solomon writes "For who knows
what is good for a man in life, all the days of his vain life,
which he passes like a shadow. Who can tell a man
what's going to happen after him under the sun?" You don't want that
guy as your counselor. But he's discovered the truth
of this Psalm, life is unstable. Now, in the New
Testament-- we're dealing with the old--
but in the New Testament, there are three different
Greek words that are used that are all translated
into one English word, "life." It's always fascinated me
that Greek can be so detailed and English is
sort of so sparse. So we call life-- we use that term,
but in Greek, there were three different
experiences all translated in English "life." The first two are unstable,
the third is stable. Let me explain. The first word, the most basic
word in Greek for the word life is the word "bias." We might see it and spell
it or pronounce it "bi-as" it's where we get our
word "biology" from. It is physical life, it's
life on the external plane, the physical plane only. It's focusing on externals. And this is where
most people spend most of their time,
energy, effort, attention, money, how do I look? How is my hair? I'm trying to lose weight. We spend most of our
thought processes on bias, biological life. But I think you'll agree that
physical life is very unstable, why? Because a sudden
illness can happen. A virus, a bug, a test,
a single diagnosis from a physician and
everything changes. Or an auto accident
and everything changes. I had a friend once, part of
our flock, young, healthy, hardworking. But then, one day
he didn't feel good. He went to the doctor. The doctor announced to him
he had an advanced stage of brain cancer. He died very quickly thereafter,
leaving a wife, children, very difficult time. To compound that, that
widow, several months later was in an auto
accident and she died. It was like sorrow upon sorrow
because of the instability of physical life. There's a second word
the Greek New Testament uses, translated in
English "life" and it's the word "psyche." "Psyche" is where we get the
word "psyche" or "psychology" or "psychological," it
means your inward life, your personality, how
you process thoughts. It speaks of the inner
person and what you think. But life is also
unstable because you can have peace one
day and be filled with anxiety the next day. You can be happy one
day, sad the next. And many people are
alive physically, but they are tormented mentally. They have absolutely
no peace of mind. So those are two types of
life that are unstable. There is a third type,
illustrated by a third word, and that is stable. It is the word "zoe." "Zoe" is the word
for "life" in Greek, but it is usually
translated, "eternal life" or "everlasting life." It's life on a spiritual plane. It is a theological term
that shows up 143 times in the New Testament. It describes a quality-- not just a quantity of
life, but quality of life. That is, it's not speaking
about life in the then and there, far in
the future, it's about life in the here and
now that will follow you into the future. Jesus said, "Whoever hears
my word and believes has--" not will have, has right now-- present tense, has--
"--everlasting life." Now, that new life comes
from the new birth. Jesus said you
must be born again. And when you are born
again, and you're not just living biological
or psychological, but spiritual life, now you
have a sense of stability. Other than that,
life is unstable. Second, bottom line reality
about life and death this Psalm uncovers, not
only is life unstable, but death is universal. We already read this,
but look in verse 1 again, and notice
how the Psalm kind of cuts across all different
categories of geography. Hear this. All peoples. Not just my people, not
just my Jewish people, not just my neighbors
in Jerusalem. He's addressing a
message to all people. "Give here all inhabitants of
the world, both high and low, rich and poor" together. So it crosses all social strata,
as well as geographical areas. He has a message for everyone. And what is that message? Simple. We're all going to die. That's the message. We're all going to die. No one gets out of
this alive, and it's time we ought to
think that through. That death is the great
leveler for all of us. Verse 6. Those who trust in their
wealth, materialism, and boast in the multitude
of their riches, none of them can by any means
redeem his brother nor give to God
a ransom for him. For the redemption of
their souls is costly. And it shall cease
forever that he should continue to live
eternally and not see the pit. For he sees wise men
die likewise the fool, and the senseless
person perish and they leave their wealth to others. Now, you're reading this
and may be thinking, this guy is like a bummer
of a worship leader. If this is the song he's
singing that day in the temple, if this is a musician
setting this to a tune, this guy's fatalistic. But he's not fatalistic,
he's realistic. He's realistic. Hebrews 9:27. "It is appointed to
every man once to die, and after this, the judgment." Did you know that death
is mentioned 394 times? 394 times. You can't escape. It's mentioned that many
times in the Scriptures. One of the most famous-- you all know this if
you're as old as I am, you remember a song
by the Byrds that was based on Ecclesiastes 3. To everything there is a
season, a time for every purpose under heaven, a time to
be born and a time to die. [SINGING] "A time to
be born" I won't-- I'll spare you. But it comes to my
mind, I think of that. Those who are born will all die. Now, those are realities that
are happening simultaneously. We know this to be true. 4.3 people are born into
our world every second. Two people die every second. So more than twice are
being born onto the Earth than are leaving the Earth. What that means is, every
hour, 6,316 people die. In the next hour, over 6,000
people will die on Earth. All of that to say the
simple reality of this Psalm, death is a part of life. And I'll get very graphic. One day, your home will be six
feet under some plot of ground, as will mine be. So you can stay
healthy until then, you can run, you can take vitamins
you can pump iron you can count your calories, you can stretch
your face past your ear lobes, but you're going to lose. One day, you will keep an
appointment with death. A Washington DC undertaker
signs all of his correspondence, "eventually yours." Now, verse 7, "None of them can
by any means redeem his brother nor give to God a
ransom for him." Go down to verse 11, we
didn't finish that up. Their thought-- that is, these
secular-minded unbelievers who have no thought for
God, their thought is that their homes,
houses will last forever. Their dwelling places
to all generations. They call their lands
after their own names. Isn't it funny how
town have names of people who started them
as settlers years ago? The name still sticks. But even us, we who-- I was going to say-- own or are
making payments on properties, our name is written
on the title. They call their lands
after their own names. Nevertheless, man though
in honor does not remain. He is like the
beasts that perish. This is the way of
those who are foolish. And of their posterity
who approve their sayings. So not even the
wealthiest person with access to the world's best
health care can escape death. People who tend to rely
on wealth or status, or what they have in their
family bank, to rely on that, it's an exercise in futility. Why? Because it says, you
can't redeem yourself, you can't redeem anyone else. All the money in the
world can't buy life. It always amazes me-- and
I've noticed this is a trend-- I've noticed this
in every generation, that the wealthiest people
on earth get to a point where they have so much stuff. And then, one day
it dawns on them. I'm going to die. And then they say, well,
I have a lot of money, maybe I don't have to die. Maybe I could invest in
something that figures out a way to beat death. I kid you not. It's usually a mental disease
of the very, very wealthy. And I was reading
an article that cited an article in the
New Yorker magazine, the article is entitled The God
Pill, Silicon Valley's quest for eternal life. And the article talked
about Google's co-founder. You know Google. Everybody Googles something. It's a search engine. Google co-founder,
Sergey Brin, along with wealthy entertainers,
musicians, movie stars, along with Nobel Prize
winning scientists, are collaborating in the launch
of medicine's grand challenge in health and longevity,
distributing $25 million to, as one doctor put
it, end aging forever. Good luck. But this anti-aging
research campaign by the co-founder of Google. He was speaking to
a group of people, and with a straight
face, he said this-- and I quote-- "No. I'm not actually
planning to die." Close quote. Now, I got to
believe that one day, Sergey is going to
be very disappointed. As he finds out he, too, has
an appointment with death. It is appointed to
every man once to die. And after this, the judgment. That's the point. It's one of the
points of Psalm 49, that every kind of
carbon-based life will perish. Be it man or be it beast. What does that mean to us? Simply, we should
be aware of it. And we should be ready for it. Because once you cross
the threshold of what we call death, and your body
stops and begins to decay, your soul lives on. The question is, where? And that ought to bother some
people to answer that question. I always loved that
story that Paul Harvey used to tell when
he was on the radio. He told so many good stories. But he told the story about a
man who was driving his car, lost control, and went into a
ditch, and hit sign, a pole, and it was a gas station
sign off of the freeway. He was rendered
unconscious, so he slumped over his wheel unconscious. He had hit a gas station
sign, as I mentioned. He is unconscious,
didn't see this happen, but it was a Shell gas station. And the S fell off upon impact. [AUDIENCE LAUGHS] So when he wakes
up and he looks up, he sees the sign,
"Hell, open 24 hours." What is he thinking? Life is unstable,
death is universal. A third major truth of
this Psalm is the best. And that is,
redemption is possible. Back down to verse 14 where
we started a moment ago. "Like sheep they are
laid in the grave. Death shell feed on them." It's irony, really,
because sheep graze, but here it says, "death
will feed on them. The upright shall have dominion
over them in the morning and their beauty shall be
consumed in the grave." No matter how good you look,
you won't look good for long. "Their beauty shall be
consumed in the grave far from their dwelling, but
God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave,
for He shall receive me." Here's one of those
great "but God" sentences in the Scripture. One of the best statements ever. One of the most
faith-filled declarations ever to be found in scripture. "But God will redeem my
soul from the grave." I want you to compare something. Look at verse 7. I noticed this, after
reading this several times, it took awhile. Verse 7. "None of them can by any
means redeem his brother." Verse 15 but God
will redeem my soul from the power of the grave." You get the message? You can't redeem anybody,
you can't redeem yourself. The word "redeem" means to set
free by paying a price, that's the language of redemption. You set a slave free
by coughing up money and you buy that
freedom for this slave. Usually, you own
him to yourself, but you have purchased his
freedom and you can let him go. So the thought is, you can't
pay a price to free anyone. God did pay the price
to free everyone. God will redeem my soul. So you can't buy your
way out of death. You can't buy your
way into heaven, but Jesus, by his death,
makes your death temporary. And with that, gives
you a ticket to heaven. You can't get out of death. There's only one
way to escape death. And that is to believe
in the Lord of life. Now, there was a lawyer one
time who was on his deathbed. And he said to his wife,
honey, bring me a Bible. She was shocked because
he never read the Bible. He never really cared much
about biblical things. So she found a Bible, blew the
dust off of it, gave it to him, he started looking at it. She came into the
room some time later. He was just engrossed,
poring over the scripture, turning the pages,
page after page. And she finally said,
what are you doing? And he said, I'm
looking for loopholes. [AUDIENCE LAUGHING] There are none. The only loophole
to death is to have a relationship with
the one who holds the keys of life and death. That is, the Lord Jesus Christ. [APPLAUSE] Now, look at verse 15. Let's just drill down a
little deeper into that. That's worth unpacking. "But God will redeem my soul
from the power of the grave, for He shall receive me." I know this is
poetic and lyrical, but it's also
highly theological. It expresses faith in God
for personal redemption and for eventual resurrection. So let's break it up into
three different phrases. The first phrase is, "but
God will redeem my soul." In other words, God will
provide payment for my soul. That's what redeem means. He'll provide
payment for my soul. For us, when did that happen? At the cross. At the cross, payment was made. All of our sins laid on Jesus. The payment of blood, a
perfect life, a sinless life, and atoning death. Payment was made on the cross. So he will redeem my soul. God will provide
payment for my soul. Second phrase. "He will redeem me from
the power of the grave." So the thought, there,
God's redemption includes giving me
power over death. And then, look at
that last phrase. "For he shall receive me." To me, that indicates that
God plans to resurrect me at some point after death. He'll receive me. Remember what Jesus
said to his disciples? I'm going to prepare a
place for you and if I go, I will come again and
receive you unto myself, that where I am, there
you may be with me. You'll be received. You'll be in His presence. Same thought in Psalm 73. David writes, "you will
guide me with your counsel and afterward receive
me into glory." Now, some translations--
because receive means you'll just
take me with you, or you'll just bring
me, take me, invite me. They just translate this,
"for he will take me" not "he will receive me"
but "he will take me." Now, that got my attention. I'm going to jog your memory. Because back in
Genesis chapter 5, there's this guy named Enoch. And there's a
short little verse, "for Enoch walked with God and
he was not, for God took him." It's an odd rendering. It almost sounds
like a guy who's walking around one day on
this Earth, and then he's not. And God just took him
from Earth to heaven. Turns out, that's
exactly what it means. Because the commentary on that
is found in the New Testament Book of Hebrews chapter
11, where the author says, "by faith, Enoch
was taken away--" listen, "so that he
did not see death." And he was not found
because God had taken him. All of these verses
that I've mentioned speak about being in
God's presence physically. Not just spiritually, not just,
yeah, my spirit sort of floats. Yeah, your spirit
will be with God. But at some point in the future,
your physical body that decays in a grave will be
raised from that grave, you will be transformed. And in actuality,
in physicality, you will be in the physical,
actual, literal presence of God. That's why Jesus said, I go
to prepare a place for you. Heaven is a real place. In the Old Testament, Job-- this is one of the best
scriptures ever in the Bible, ever, ever, ever. Job 19. Job was a person who lived
during the patriarchal period, so that's one of the
oldest texts ever. Job said this. I know that my
Redeemer lives and He shall stand at last
upon the Earth, and after my skin is destroyed,
this I know, that in my flesh, I will see God. I will behold him with my eyes. My eyes, and not another. So here's Job centuries
before a Redeemer came. Centuries before the gospel
was ever articulated, and he believes in
physical resurrection. You know? Sometimes, somebody will say,
well, I can't be there Tuesday, but I'm with you in spirit. What do they mean by that? I'm thinking good
thoughts about you. I'm not with you
there physically, but while you're doing
that, I'm over here and I'm thinking of you. You're in my heart,
you're in my mind. I'm with you in spirit. But you will physically, at
some point in the future, be resurrected to new life. What that means is,
to shorten it up, death is not the final word. Jesus is the final
word because He said I am the
Resurrection and the life, whoever believes in
me will never die. Even experiencing
physical death, it's like this momentary
beep and it ushers you somewhere else. So life is unstable,
death is universal, redemption is possible. Now we want to bring this
to a conclusion, which brings a fourth and kind of a
final undergirding bottom line reality, and that is,
confidence is conditional. Verse 16 begins the conclusion. Do not be afraid when
one becomes rich. Now, it implies someone other
than you, your neighbor. Somebody is getting a lot
more than you're getting, thus, more powerful. Don't be afraid when
somebody becomes rich. When the glory of his house is
increased, for when he dies, he shall carry nothing away. His glory shall not
descend after him. Though while he lives,
he blesses himself, for men will praise you when
you do well for yourself, he shall go to the
generation of his fathers. They shall never see light. A man who is in honor
yet does not understand is like the beasts that perish. That's the conclusion
of this worship song. And the conclusion is simple,
it's an obvious conclusion. Don't be jealous of people
who have a lot, because people who have a lot, when they
die, they leave a lot. Like the millionaire
who died, and somebody said, how much did he leave? And somebody said, every cent. You can't take any
of it with you. I've always been fascinated
at Egyptian mentality burying their pharaohs. You know? They buried them
in gold sarcophagi with ornate furniture
and jewels and all of the accouterments
of this life in a tomb, because they actually
believed that they're going to enjoy them in the afterlife. Again, a great disappointment. Job put it this way. Naked, I came from my mother's
womb and naked I will depart. That's what Paul
was thinking when he wrote to Timothy, 1
Timothy, Chapter 6, verse 7, "for we brought
nothing into the world and we can take
nothing out of it." I wonder if you've ever noticed,
but on the back of a dollar bill, on the right hand
side of the reverse or the back side of a
dollar bill, is an eagle. Shows the wings of an eagle. Did you know that's biblical? Did you know that's prophetic? But listen how. This is Proverbs, 23. "Do not overwork
to be rich because of your own understanding
cease, for riches certainly make themselves wings
and they fly away like an eagle toward heaven." There was a man
who said, you know? People say, money
talks, the only thing that's ever said to me is, bye. [AUDIENCE LAUGHING] So I just find it fascinating
that the back of every dollar has this eagle
that's like, see ya. You don't hold on to it long. Now, Verse 20, the last
verse, gives a call for us to understand something. A man who is in honor,
yet does not understand, is like the beasts that perish. What does he want
us to understand? Simple. Trusting anyone or anything
other than God is foolish. Trusting wealth, trusting
materialism, trusting a person, trusting an institution,
trusting anything other than God is foolish. You say, well, those
are strong words. Foolish. Well, it's actually used
in the Psalm, in verse 13. "This is the way of
those who are foolish." Remember Jesus told a story
about a wealthy entrepreneur. He made so much money and
he was very successful. And he went on a building
spree, but he suddenly died, so this guy had all
this stuff and goes, I don't know what I'm going
to do with all my stuff, I guess I'll just
build bigger warehouses to store my stuff because
I've got so much stuff. So he did that and he said,
now I'm at a place in life where I can say to my
soul, soul, take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. Problem is, he died suddenly. Jesus said, God said to him,
you fool, this night, your soul will be required of you. Then, whose will those things
be by which you have provided? And when you understand that,
the temporary nature of life, the certainty of death,
the spiritual reality of everlasting life. When you understand that,
it gives you a confidence because you have stability. And that stability
breeds real confidence. And confidence is conditional. Not everybody has it. The believer has it, why? Because death isn't
the end of the road, it's the bend of the road. It's just a bend in the road. It's a portal that's
leading you somewhere else. It's the doorway to life. It's just a little blip
on the radar screen. One author said it this way. Only on this side of the
curtain is death our enemy. Just beyond the
curtain, the monster turns out to be our friend. The label death is
still on the bottle, but the contents
are eternal life. Death is our friend because it
reminds us that heaven is near. How near? It's as near as a heartbeat,
as near as an auto accident, as near as a stray bullet,
as near as a plane crash. If our eyes could see
the spiritual world, we might find that we
are already at its gates. And I think it's actually
safe to say that. In a room of a group this size,
some of us are at the gates, some of us won't
be here in a year. We don't know when
our appointment to die is, but will not be late
for it, whenever that is. And it could be that
we're at the gates. So let me take all
that we have said and boil it down to an
irreducible minimum. I like to do that. And let me put it
to you this way. If there is no hereafter,
then nothing matters. It's why many philosophers
turn into fatalists. It doesn't matter. Because if you just sort of live
biologically and consciously, but then afterwards
you cease to exist, then there's no purpose to life
and nothing at all matters. So if there is no hereafter,
then nothing matters. But if there is a hereafter,
then nothing else matters. And that becomes
the central issue and focus that we
need to address. And we need to do it here
and now, on this Earth. To think clearly and
soberly about life, death, judgment, eternity. Let's pray. Lord, it does matter. It does matter. You have revealed yourself
in a document that has been scrupulously
looked at and criticized and criticisms have
been overturned time and time and time again. More than that, your spirit has
changed so many of our lives. Like the testimony we heard
before the baptism today. Incredible, your power
to change a human life. The power of the gospel still as
powerful today as ever before. Lord, we know that our life
here is very precarious. We don't know how long we're
going to be on this planet. And, Lord, you could come
and you could rapture us, but barring that,
we're going to die. And we're going to be buried. But those realities exist. We can be. It's possible for us
to find redemption. You set us free from
the slavery of sin, and then you promise
a future time when our bodies will be
resurrected, transformed, suited for an
eternal environment, and we will live forever. That gives us confidence, Lord. We want to understand that. I just pray for those who
haven't, but now they're beginning to. Maybe you've opened
up their heart, you've opened up their eyes. Lord, I pray that you
draw them to yourself. In this moment, where we're
kind of processing all this, I want to just ask
you a question, and that is, are you certain? Because you can be. Do you know for sure
that when you die, you will be in God's presence
because he has redeemed your soul, thus he will
receive you into His presence and into His glory? If you're not certain
about it, if you go, I hope so, it's just
not good enough. You can have real certainty. And it comes from a
conscious decision, where you realize, I
need God, I need him because everything in this
life is just sort of turned up empty for me. It's not what I
thought it would be. I've drunk deeply of
the wells of this world and I've come up thirsty. That's by design. God designed this world so you
would never be satisfied by it. But only in a real
relationship with Him. And He can change your life. So I want to give you that
opportunity before we close. If you're willing to
turn your life over to Christ, though you may
be a wonderful person, a religious person,
a churchgoing person, but you've never surrendered
your life to Christ personally, and you're not certain
of that relationship, I want you to be sure. Or if you've wandered
away from Him or you remember some
previous experience, but it's not real today, you're
not walking with Jesus right now, you come home to Him. You'd be forgiven by Him. If you want that and
you're willing to receive Jesus as your Savior. Our heads are bowed,
our eyes are closed. I'm going to leave
mine open and I'm going to ask you to raise
your hand right now. And what you're saying
by raising your hand is, I want to do this now. I want to give my life
to Jesus right now. I want the hope of
heaven right now. Skip, here's my hand. Pray for me. And I'd love to pray for you. I just need to know
who I'm praying for. So would you raise that hand up? Keep it up for a moment,
so I can acknowledge you, if you don't mind. God bless you right
there to my left, and right up here in the front,
and right there in the middle, and again, in the middle. I see your hands in
the back on the aisle. Got it. Anybody else? Right up here in the front. On the side, a couple of you. Anybody else. Right there in the middle. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. I see your hand. Many all around. If you're in the balcony,
please raise that hand up. Yes, sir. Toward the back toward
the back on my right. Father, we thank You for
every person, every hand, every struggle, every sorrow. There's not a perfect
person on this platform, there's not a perfect
person in this congregation. We're talking right now to you. The only person who is perfect
is God because we are not-- you know our need
and our plight, and you are so willing
to forgive and erase when we acknowledge that we need
you and we're willing to repent and turn to you. Thank you for these who are. I pray. Lord, that they would have a new
level of joy, a real freedom, and a new confidence. In Jesus' name, Amen. Let's all stand on our feet. We're closing this service. I'm going to ask those of
you who raised your hands, and I saw a lot, so we're
going to wait for everyone. We're going to do this quickly. If you raised your
hand, get up from where you are standing right now,
find the nearest aisle, and come stand up here. I'm going to lead
you in a prayer. We're going to make this deal,
this transaction before heaven. [APPLAUSE] You just come up
and stand right here and give your life to Christ. It'll take just a moment. Every person Jesus called,
he called them publicly. And I want you to come and give
your life to Christ publicly. Do it right now. We're going to wait
for you, but you come. If you're in the middle of
an aisle, say, excuse me, and they'll let you out. But you come. Don't say, I raised my
hand, that's good enough. No, no. You come. Come and let us celebrate
you and encourage you. That's right. Listen to it all. [APPLAUSE CONTINUES] [ACOUSTIC MUSIC PLAYING] You are welcome. You are welcome. You are welcome. No problem. [SINGING] Lift up your face. You're not too far. Anybody else? Just come. Will you raise your hand or not? [SINGING] As you are. Come as you are. See, I'm really close. I hope you're not uncomfortable. Would you please scoot
in a little bit more? I just want to see eye to eye. God loves every
single one of you. Every single one. Now, I'm going to
lead you in a prayer. I'm going to ask you
to pray this out loud. After me, say these
words from your heart. Mean them. Deep inside of you,
pretend if you can. Nobody hears, it's you and God. And you're giving Him your life. You're giving Him access. You're giving Him control. You're turning your
life over to Him. So I'll pray. You pray out loud out for me. Say Lord, I give you my life. Lord, I give you my life. I know that I'm a sinner. I know that I'm a sinner. Please forgive me. Please forgive me. I believe in Jesus. I believe in Jesus. I believe He died on the cross. I believe He died on the cross. That He shed His blood for me. That He shed His blood for me. And that He rose
again from the dead. And that He rose
again from the dead. I turn from my sin. I turn from my sin. I repent of it. I repent of it. I turn to Jesus as my Savior. I turn to Jesus as my savior. I want to follow Him as my Lord. I want to follow Him as my Lord. Help me to do that. Help me to do that. In Jesus' name. Amen. Music to my ears. [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE] We hope you enjoyed this message
from Skip Heitzig of Calvary Church. How will you put the truths
that you learned into action in your life? Let us know. Email us
mystory@calvarynm.church. And just a reminder, you can
support this ministry with a financial gift at
calvarynm.church/give. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from Calvary Church.
