Life is brief

Psalm 90 verse 10 the days of our years are three quotes three score years in ten and if by reason of strength they before score years yet is their strength labor and sorrow for it is soon cut off and we fly away verse 12 so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom now turn with me if you would please to the New Testament book of James chapter 4 verse 13 James 4 13 go to now ye that say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain whereas you know not what shall be on the moral for what is your life it is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away and one more reference in the next book first Peter chapter 3 verse 18 for Christ also hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God and we would cease the reading at that point that he might bring us to God simple little heading on what we want to consider together in the closing minutes of the meeting is simply this life is brief life is brief I didn't read the heading of Psalm 90 I find it a curious thing that it is a prayer of Moses the man of God and that man himself lived to be a hundred and twenty years old and so by our standard today are common experience we think boy long time but it is that very man that God chose to write these words and speak to us and tell us that the days of our years are 70 and if things go well maybe 80 some of you here maybe know what it means to be beyond even that by family history I don't expect to see those years be that as it may Moses completed verse 10 by reading these words for it that is our life is soon cut off and we fly away verse 12 so as if to say therefore teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom one of the last things we would want to do even by reading a verse like verse 10 from Psalm 90 is for younger ones in our audience here tonight to suggest to you that you've got plenty of time plenty of time I know it is an individual that is hard for us to relate to generally most of us but it is an individual that I was deeply interested in years gone by mr. John Lennon one of the fab for one of the original Beatles that came out of Great Britain into Canada in the United States back in the 60s with a great splash of entertainment and caught the attention of my generation at large mr. John Lennon was interviewed regarding one of the songs that they wrote back in 1965 called we can work it out and in the course of that song he and mr. McCartney worked together to put the lyrics together and on one part of the song mr. McCartney who was known as the optimist he would say we can work it out we can work it out and then mr. Lennon who didn't consider himself such an optimist would say life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend I was in 1965 sometime in 1980 interviewed by a magazine some talk was about that maybe those men would get back together and and a tour again and get everybody excited with some more concerts and in the course of that conversation asked that question whether they would return together he made a few comments and then he summed it up by saying there's plenty of time right plenty of time that was December the 5th 1980 three days later he was in eternity there's plenty of time right now if you're familiar with the man you understand and you think it's something that's so far removed from your experience you would hardly give it a thought he died violently at the gunpoint of a man that was deranged about his love for another individual he thought he could kill a man and like that and get some notoriety and win the heart of another also far removed from our experience but there was a man nonetheless that said there's plenty of time and it was only three days life is brief and Moses very faithfully though he lives so long wants us to understand it that when it comes to its conclusion whether it's a hundred and twenty years or sometime in your 40s as we've heard the sad story of a father that died at 47 we're soon cut off the very words themselves make it so evident that it's sudden cut off and then we fly away it's final there's no returning if you would it's like a one-way ticket there's no it's not a real it's not a return trip we fly away it's final therefore teach us to number not our years the the three score and 10 and the 70 or or the four score the 80 no the Spirit of God says doesn't talk about numbering years he says therefore teach us to number our days days life is brief maybe it'll be a little more relevant to tell you that as James said what is your life is but a vapor that appears for a little time and then it vanishes away maybe by the time God willing that we're stepping out the doors of the school here this evening it will cool it will have cooled enough outside that this is going to be vividly demonstrated to every last one of us step out into the cool of evening was pretty cold last night maybe it'll be that way tonight and you'll exhale that breath and you'll see that vapor that will appear just for a few moments and then it's gone that's how the Spirit of God is describing life if I could take it particularly now relative to you that are youthful that are younger in this audience tonight Danny Leeper back home in my little hick town of northern Michigan Highland looks like it makes my hometown look like a little village it is Danny was 14 years old you would call Danny he was a lively redhead just one of those kids with a lot of spunk call him a motorhead because if it had a motor he wanted to play with it four-wheelers snowmobiles go-karts everything two-wheel motorcycles dirt bikes his father was a drag racer so they wrenched with cars in the garage it was the last evening the evening before the last day of school 2005 and 14 year old Danny was out on his four-wheeler with one of his buddies pursuing on another one and Danny had an expression and I know he would say it tongue-in-cheek it's a joke but nevertheless Danny had an expression that I hope nobody on this audience will adopt his expression was push the throttle until you meet God yeah go for broke just let's go for speed but Danny never dreamt that his little expression would be his case that last evening before that last day of school chasing each other's down a two-track lane in the woods of northern Michigan and Danny lost it and hit a tree and he went into eternity you go to then you go to the funeral to watch that and we've heard of a father that died before a son that was saved by the grace of God and not having the opportunity to tell that father go to the funeral and see the father that was now counting that boy that he had born into this home to be now a friend to him at his side and all their sport and their pleasure as they wrenched motors together and then look at the cost of push the throttle until you meet God life is brief life is brief I don't know whether it's just small town society culture mindset or however you would put it I wasn't raised in a small town but I've been living in one for almost 16 years as far as I'm concerned we've had a disproportionate number of lives gone and too many of them have been in that age group oh it's homecoming night it's the big game there's a party after dad's let me use the car fill it up we're going to the party afterwards let's take a run down the back road as we head back to the school what a mercy I'm not diminishing the value of life that only two out of five went into eternity yeah only two out of five but two more I was sitting at my desk that evening in my study I knew it was homecoming night I tell you sometimes I've gone to the football game my wife works in the high school she's been the librarian there we know these kids but that night we had family visiting and we just stayed home we visited with family and I'm sitting at my desk and the telephone rang and I looked at the identical and it said Meese high school this is 930 in the evening we don't get calls from the high school at 930 in the evening on a Friday night I knew Nancy with my wife would answer it I left my desk and I headed upstairs I had a feeling I thought I was gonna hear what I didn't want to hear but when I saw my wife I knew I was gonna hear what I didn't want to hear there was my wife with the phone to her ear with a face and I don't like seeing because there was the news that yes the car had left the road and the car had driven into the ditch and caught the embankment of a neighbor's Drive had been launched into the air and it flung into the trees and the school principal happened to be coming down the road because he had he thought he should go check what was going on at that party at the house and he was first on the scene to find a boy walking in the middle of the street who seemed to be totally deranged as to what what is going on and then to realize he could hear the screams of a trapped girl in a car and then to get out of the car and to see that there were two that weren't going home you're young in the meeting tonight and you think you've got all these opportunities before you you're making choices as we've been hearing tonight there's things you'd rather do you don't want the gospel I didn't want it either just like mr. Steers I said no I said no there are other things and in merciful response to Christian parents prayers and the Saints at large I don't know what it is didn't deserve it but God spared me seeing too many and life is brief has been real and they're in eternity it's not a question of counting the 70 or the 80 years it's a question of counting your days and the Bible says and you you could quote it mr. Steers knew what I meant to quote verses that he was faced with that night behold now is accepted time behold now is the day of salvation there's not one of us I hesitate to say this because this includes me I know where I'm going but I do have a wife at home and I have family and I have grandchildren that I want to see married and I want to see the whole gamut unfold I don't know there's not one of us that can be guaranteed of tomorrow both not thyself of tomorrow this is the day this is the time to turn to Christ is there someone in this meeting is there a middle-aged one a younger one a teen and you know you need this don't say no to the Spirit's yearning and what we have read then in first Peter chapter 3 is we'll wrap up as time has gone our very very precious words for Christ also hath once suffered for sins and you understand don't you that that term suffered doesn't just mean there was some hurting went on this entails everything that unfolded the awful abuses at the hands of men that falsely charged him and beat him and then eventually crucified him the awful reality of God that took him to be accountable for our sins and poured out his wrath upon him like breaking crashing waves of a sea the psalmist has put it thy wrath goeth over me and he sunk into deep waters where there was no standing Christ is also once once and for all suffered for sins to what intent that he might bring us to God when that sudden moment comes the cutting off whether it is suddenly unexpectedly in teenage pleasure or as it is in years of lingering health I watched my mother laying in a bed it's ugly getting old and then suffering the stroke or whatever it is that debilitates it's ugly business watching but I do remember one day saying that my mom as she had clear consciousness she couldn't talk real well we read a portion of the scripture together and I said mom it's a great thing to be saved a and just for hear her breathe it out gaspingly yeah that was precious it was still awful to watch the grass wither flower decay and when the phone call did come it was cut off not the phone call her life it was still sudden we knew it was coming so whether it's sudden in teenage pleasure or it's the lingering awful realities of senior years it's still sudden it's a cutting off of life and it's a flying away into eternity and the promise of these words are he suffered for sins the just the Holy One the righteous one for us the unholy the unrighteous that he might bring us to God where are you going when you're cut off and you fly away where are you going you know there's only two options we've heard it clearly frankly tonight you die with your sins not forgiven you can't go to heaven you'll be in hell you realize what these words say are for your account he suffered for sins only once it was required and he did it the just for the unjust and he did it so he could bring us to God trust Christ tonight and you'll be sure it will be sudden yes but at whatever day it might be let's not count years let's count the present day it will be to be absent from the body present with the Lord let us pray our Father we are thankful tonight to hear the conversion stories of two and for many of us likely tonight it triggered various memories in our own experience that had similar dimensions to it and we thank you that common to every soul salvation is a story that eventually that brought them to Christ thank you for the Lord Jesus pray father there'll be those that will count the cost tonight and make a wise choice this night not putting it off not saying no one more time but turning to the Savior himself the one who said I would we pray oh God that there will not be one tonight that will say I don't bless we pray that one will have wisdom coming their days and come to the Lord Jesus for he truly did say him that cometh to me I will in no wise