Prepare to Die
Don't Waste Your Life • Sermon • Submitted
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“Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, prepare to die.”
“Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, prepare to die.”
-The specter of death hangs over all of us.
-We will all die, short of Christ’s return. As the poet Longfellow said “our hearts, though stout and brave, still like muffled drums are beating, funeral marches to the grave.”
-We live in a world that is deathly afraid…of death.
But this is the truth:
And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
So knowing that we will all die, shouldn’t we be prepared for it?
Welsh poet Dylan Thomas penned for his dying atheist father:
“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
People are dying every day, passing into eternity with no idea of whats next (if there is a whats next), and people are living every day in mortal terror of that reality.
And so in the chaos of their uncertainty and unbelief they fill their lives with lots of nothingness in order to squeeze out the most the can from an otherwise meaningless existence.
Two important thoughts:
The way you live your life is profoundly shaped by the certain knowledge that you are dying.
The importance of how you prepare for death lies in the fact that you will live forever.
Let’s consider the first one: the way you live your life is profoundly shaped by the certain knowledge that you are dying.
Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’
“So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Luke 12:
Observe
The worldly-mindedness of the man in the crowd.
Who is Jesus?
Jesus is the Word of God through whom God created the world and sustains it
Jesus is the bread of life and the living water
Jesus is the revelation of the glory of God the Father
Jesus is the only means of salvation
Jesus is the God-man—he is Emmanuel—God with us
Jesus is the covenant fulfillment of the law and the great hope of the prophetic word
Jesus is the great prophet, priest and king
Jesus is the only mediator between God and men
Jesus is the Messiah of Israel
Jesus is the light of the world!
And this man who gets to ask one question of Jesus, his chief concern is what? He has an estate question.
It is like listening to the David Carrier show, which deals with content so riveting, it can even displace the Fruitbasket Flowerland show for the coveted Saturday morning slot.
He is concerned only with the matter of his earthly inheritance!
What a profound danger: to be near Christ and to still care only for the most unworthy things!
Consider the contrast between this mans inheritance and the worthiness of the gospel of Christ!
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
—>In this story we are confronted with a man who is wasting his life on unworthy affections.
2. The great irony in Christ’s response
Christ is dismissive in his reply “Man” is as unfamiliar and cold as possible
He is not interested in solving this man’s estate probate question
He has come to establish the kingdom of God, not delineate the fiefdoms of man.
He refuses to be the judge in this matter
But the irony is that Christ is the great judge of mankind, including this man, and in far weightier matters!
And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
3. Consider the great tragedy in Christ’s parable
Here is the tragedy: this man has not lived in the tension of the certain knowledge that he is dying!
He lives with an eye to the delights of a certain future, a future he trusts in but will not see!
because he has not considered the reality of perishing, he has seen no danger in defining his life around perishable things!!!
The consequence: this man has wasted his life!
As Christ says in introducing the parable “a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
It is like those who retire to devote themselves to seashells! (Piper Book)
Only one life,
Will soon be passed.
Only what’s done,
For Christ will last.
The unspeakable tragedy of is the condition of so many who are rich in their self-confidence and destitute in their standing before God!
The intensity this morning is that I speak as one who is dying to those who are dying: don’t waste your life!
The second assertion: The importance of how you prepare for death lies in the fact that you will live forever.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for
“All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
Pilgrims
Eternal inheritance
1 Peter 1:
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
3. Therefore, live in the light of eternity