1.     I have been thinking quite a bit about death lately.  In yesterday’s newspaper there was an article about a 17-year-old girl who ran track for a Staten Island high school.  She rubbed too much muscle-relaxing creams (like Ben Gay) on her legs and overdosed.

2.     And there were articles in the papers about Jack Kevorkian, (“Dr. Death”), the convicted murderer, who was released from prison last week, after serving only eight years.

3.     He claims he had participated in at least 130 assisted suicides.  Many who sought his assistance were not terminally ill.

4.     I read that every hour 5,417 people die.   Many of you were here for Sunday School.  That was almost two hours ago.  That means since you arrived here this morning, over 10,000 people have died. 

5.     Out of that 10,000, I wonder how many went to heaven.  I wonder how many are now in hell.

6.     My father passed away on October 1 of last year.  My mother passed away on May 26, about two weeks ago.

7.     A preacher friend of mine died on March 15.  He was only 49 years old.   He dropped dead right in front of his house on Evans Avenue here in Elmont.

8.     All of these deaths remind us of what the Bible says in Hebrews 9:27.  “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

9.     On Wednesday I was reading a sermon by Evangelist John R. Rice.  In this message he mentioned that he was at a meeting with another preacher.  This preacher preached a great message on Proverbs 27:1, “Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.”

10. John R. Rice said that later on he went home and went to bed, and then he received a phone call from that preacher’s wife.  The preacher was killed that very night by a drunk driver.

11. “Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth” (Proverbs 27:1).

12. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

13. Amos 4:12 says, “Prepare to meet thy God.”

14. I was greatly moved after reading that sermon, especially that story about the preacher getting killed in that car accident.  I arrived at church for our midweek service and the first person I spoke to was Bro. Gilligan.  He told me his daughter’s uncle (by marriage) had just died.  He cut his foot at the beach and got an infection.  He was dead within a few days.

15. Nineteen times in the Bible – in the book of Job, the Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Matthew and Luke – we find the expression, “the shadow of death.”  We live our lives in the shadow of death.

16. Romans 5:12 says, “Death (has) passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

17. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

I. THERE IS AN APPOINTMENT FOR EVERYONE

1.     The scheduled appointments will vary, but they will have one thing in common.  We all will meet face to face with God.

2.     God allows some sinners to live a long time.  Other sinners He cuts down when they are still young.  But either way they must make their scheduled appointment.

3.     I often think about Nabal, the husband of Abigail.  His name means “Fool,” and his name fit him.  First Samuel 25:3 tells us that Abigail “was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance,” but Nabal was “churlish and evil in his doings.”

4.     First Samuel 25:17 says, “he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him.”

5.     David’s men treated Nabal fairly but Nabal railed on them.  David had a mind to kill Nabal, but Abigail intervened and David backed off (cf. I Sam. 25:35-38).

6.     David did not kill Nabal, but God did. “The LORD smote Nabal, that he died” (25:38).  Nabal had an appointment with God.

7.     Think about King Saul.  First Samuel 28:5 says that “when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. And when Saul enquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.”

8.     God would not answer Saul.  So Saul said “unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor” (I Sam. 28:7).

9.     So King Saul foolishly went to the witch, and God killed him on the battlefield.   First Chronicles 10:13, 14 says, “So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it; And enquired not of the LORD: therefore He slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.”

10. Some people debate over who killed King Saul.  Was it the Philistines?  Was it his armor-bearer?  Was it the Amalekite?  Did Saul commit suicide? 

11. First Chronicles 10:14 says God killed King Saul.

12. There are many other people in the Bible who left this world to meet God.  Wicked King Ahab thought he was safe when he disguised himself, and went into the battle.  But I Kings 22:34 says, “a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness.”

13. “So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria.  And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood; and they washed his armour; according unto the word of the LORD which he spake” (I Kings 22:37, 38).

14. King Ahab thought he could disguise himself and hide from his appointment with God, but he could not.  Neither could Pharaoh, or Sennacherib, or Pontius Pilate, or Judas Iscariot.  No man can  avoid his scheduled appointment with death.

15. Acts 12:23 records the death of King Herod.  The Bible says, “And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.”

16. Sometimes the Bible is very graphic.  It has to be because sinners must be reminded that they are only a breath away from death.

17. John R. Rice said, “Men avoid death, hate death, and do not want to face it.  At every funeral they put artificial grass over the rough clods, they line the grave with beautiful cloth, they bank flowers everywhere to hide the hideous fact of death.  Undertakers embalm the body so that it will not stink for a few hours.  They paint the lifeless, cold face to give a lifelike glow, and the body is dressed as if for a gala occasion.  We do not want to face the solemn fact of death; that this body in a few days will be simply a putrid, stinking mass with maggots eating the rotten flesh” (“Appointed to Die”).

II. THERE IS A JUDGMENT FOR EVERYONE

1.     Those of us that are saved will stand before the judgment seat of Christ.   The apostle Paul said, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (II Cor. 5:10).

2.     There will be a terrible judgment for the lost (Rev. 20:11-15).

3.     Hebrews 9:27 says, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”

4.     Not reincarnation – “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”

5.     Not purgatory – “after this the judgment.”  It is strange.  You do not hear the RC priests talking about purgatory anymore, but their so-called “mass cards” still encourage RC’s to pray for those in purgatory.

6.     Not “soul sleep” – “after this the judgment.”  The soul never sleeps.  The Bible uses the word “sleep” as a euphemism for death.

7.     Many people die unexpectedly – in a car accident, or a fire, or a heart attack, or on the battlefield, or murdered.  With no time to pray, and no time to repent.  No time to get right with God.

8.     Like the rich man in hell, they lift up their eyes, being in torments.

9.     Like Hamlet’s ghost, they cry out, “Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin, Unhousel’d, disappointed, unanel’d,
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head:
O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!”

III. THERE IS A SAVIOUR FOR EVERYONE (HEBREWS 9:28).

1.     In Genesis 5, we see a certain word repeated over and over and over again – the word “died” (cf. Genesis 5:5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 27).

2.     But there is one notable exception.  Genesis 5:24 says, “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”

3.     Enoch did not die.  Hebrews 11:5 says, “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”

4.     Enoch was a prophet (cf. Jude 14, 15).

5.     Enoch did not die.  He went straight to heaven. 

6.     Elijah did not die.  He went up to heaven in a chariot of fire.   Second Kings 2:11 says, “Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.”

7.     There will be a generation of Christians on this earth that will not die.  First Corinthians 15:51 says, “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.”

8.     First Thessalonians 4:17 says, “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

9.     But these are exceptions to the rule – “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”

10. There will be a generation of believers who will never die.  Paul says, “And so shall we ever be with the Lord.”  Do you want to spend eternity with the Lord?    There are only two places: heaven or hell. 

11. Hebrews 9:28 says we should be “looking” for the Lord to return.

12. What about those who are not looking?  Those who are not interested in God or the Bible or heaven? Our Lord said hell is a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

13. I read a review of a new book out called, Celebrities in Hell.  The author of this book interviewed celebrities and asked them what they thought about God.

·                    George Clooney: “I don't believe in heaven or hell. I don't know if I believe in God.”

·                    Angelina Jolie: “There doesn't need to be a God for me.”

·                    Carrie Fisher: “I love the idea of God, but it's not stylistically in keeping with the way I function.”

14. Our Lord said hell is a “fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:43, 44).

15. Our Lord called hell a “place of torment.”

16. Many Americans are afraid of a major terrorist attack (and we ought to be concerned), but there is something far more fearful.  Our Lord said, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28).

17. Why did our Lord talk so much about hell? Because He doesn’t want you and me to go there.  He said in John 3:17, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

18. Are you saved? (Hebrews 9:28).

CONCLUSION:

1.     William Randolph Hearst was a rich and powerful newspaper magnate.  He was terrified of dying and would not allow anyone to mention the word “death” or “died” in his presence.

2.     But though he refused to allow anyone to mention the word “death” in his presence, death came to Mr. Hearst on August 14, 1951.

3.     Because, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27).