1 Corinthians 11:23-25

There's a book in the Old Testament that abounds in all kinds of wise sayings that it would be well if many of us read more frequently than we do. I refer to the book of Proverbs, that book that contains so many maxims emphasizing for us the path of life as we go through this world. I've selected my text at this time from the 27th chapter of Proverbs, verse 1. Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

You know, I believe the great majority of people in this great land of ours where the gospel is so widely known, the great majority of people are somewhat acquainted with the gospel, and of the great throng who turn away from it and are lost. The most of them will be lost, not because they didn't know, not because they'd never heard of Jesus, not because they did not understand that faith in him saves lost sinners, but the great majority in a land like this who are lost will be lost because they procrastinated. We say sometimes procrastination is the thief of time, and the Spanish of a proverb which translated into English would be, the road of by and by leads to the house of never.

All around we meet people who say, yes, I know, I know I ought to be a Christian, I know Christ died for sinners, and I know that he'll save if we come to him, and I intend to come someday, but not now. And so they're saying tomorrow, tomorrow, and putting it off, and putting it off, hoping that God will be merciful and eventually, when they're ready, that he too will be ready to receive them. He has said in his word here, boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

Just think of what may happen if you put it off till tomorrow. Of course, the first thing that occurs to every one of us is this, you might die tomorrow. You might not be living when tomorrow came.

Tomorrow's sun may never rise to bless thy long deluded sight. This is the time, oh then be wise, thou wouldst be saved, why not tonight? Just think, you're perhaps strong and healthy today, or at least you've got a clear mind and you're able to understand. Tomorrow may find you cold and lifeless and beyond all possibility of mercy.

What must be the thought of the man who goes out suddenly into eternity, unsaved, and who cries from the depths of his broken heart, oh what a fool I've been. Jesus died and I knew all about it. Jesus died and died for me, and he wanted to save me, but I didn't come.

I meant to come, but I kept putting it off, and now it's too late. And then there's something else to consider. It's not only true that you might die before tomorrow, but you might live.

You say, well that's all right, if I live everything's all right. Yes, but listen, to live on without Christ, to live on every day adding to the sins that you've already committed, to live on every day doing the things that in days to come you'd give worlds if you could only undo, what folly this is. There never was a man or a woman yet who became a Christian in the pure light, but as they look back over the past, would have given anything if they could only have undone the sins that they had already committed.

Not only sins that hurt their own souls, but sins that often involved someone else, people that in some way or another had been led astray by their evil example. Every day that you reject the Lord Jesus Christ, every day that you spurn his grace, you're adding to the things that you never to all eternity will be able to undo. So why not come to Christ now, boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

And then another thing I think we ought to remember, the Lord Jesus when he went away told of his coming back again. Again and again in the Gospels he tells of his return. He went away to the Father's right hand to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.

And he says of that day and hour knoweth no man, not even the angels in heaven. When he himself was man here on earth, he chose not to know, he left that in the Father's power. Well now his promise hasn't yet been fulfilled, he hasn't yet returned, but he may return and he might return before tomorrow.

He might come back before another sunrise, and if he came back and you were still in your sins, then you'd be shut away in the outer darkness. It would be too late then to come to him, too late to repent, too late to plead his grace, too late to trust his mercy, too late to be washed in his blood. And then there's another thing, and oh don't forget it, the Holy Spirit is now pleading with you.

He's here in the world and he's pleading with man, it's he who convinces of sin, righteousness and judgment. But you know, you can resist his pleading, you can turn away from him so often that finally the day may come when you cease to plead. And when God will say he's joined with his idols, let him alone, and you'll be left and you may live on, you might live on for days or weeks or months or years.

Never again to be troubled about your soul, never again to care, never again to be concerned or interested, never again to realize anything about your true condition until you wake up in eternity lost forever. Oh then how bitterly you would rue the fact that you procrastinated, that you turned away from God, that you had not obeyed his word, that you hadn't heeded his word that says boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. He says now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.

Don't say tomorrow when God says today, but turn to him in repentance, confess your sin, trust the Savior and begin now the new life.