1. I have entitled today’s message, "What is Life?"
2. Webster’s Dictionary defines life as:

• "The sequence of physical and mental experiences that make up the existence of an individual."
• "Spiritual existence transcending physical death."
• "The duration of an earthly existence."

3. Life moves along very quickly, this little poem is so true:

`Tis only one life, it‘ll soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.

4. On this first chapel of the new school year, I would like for us to examine ourselves and evaluate where we are heading.
5. Here in Psalm 90, the Psalmist, "Moses the man of God," has much to say about life, for example:

• The frailty and shortness of man’s life as compared to the eternality of God (vs. 4). You students are so young; it is hard for you to comprehend the brevity of life (cf. James 4:13,14).
• Man’s life expectancy (vs. 10).

6. I am going to pull out three aspects of life as found here in Psalm 90:

1. LIFE IS A TALE THAT IS TOLD (vs. 9)
2. LIFE IS A LESSON WHICH MUST BE LEARNED (vs. 12)
3. LIFE IS A WORK THAT IS ESTABLISHED (vs. 17)

1. People often misquote Shakespeare and say: "Shakespeare has said that life is a tale that is told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
2. This is very misleading. The quote is from Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth. Macbeth was one of his greatest villains. He and his wicked wife, Lady Macbeth, murdered the good king Duncan. This precipitated a horrible murderous rampage whereby Macbeth murdered many other innocent people, including his good friend Banquo, and Macduff’s wife and small children.
3. Macbeth has been led into this nightmare of murder and mayhem by a trio of demon-possessed witches. Finally, towards the end of this sad tale, Lady Macbeth, overcome by guilt and totally out of her mind, dies.
4. Upon hearing of her death, Macbeth gives his famous speech:

"Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."

5. That is a message of despair from a man who turned his back on God and was seduced by demons. The Bible does not say that life is a tale told by an idiot, but a tale told by God.
6. God is the author of our lives – the eternal God (Ps.90:1,2).
7. God said to Adam, the first man, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Gen.3:19).
8. And here Moses informs us that God "turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men" (Ps.90:3). Return to where? "and unto dust shalt thou return."
9. The eternal God is the author of our lives. And a thousand years in His sight "are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night" (Ps.90:4). 1,000 years is like a watch in the night, a mere few hours to our eternal God. Yet it is a very long time for man. Think about it – the US is only 224 years old. The KJV was translated 389 years ago. Luther nailed his 99 Theses on the church door in Wittenberg 484 years ago.
10. 1,000 years is a very long time to man. And yet worldly men discuss geological dates in terms of millions and billions of years – this is evolutionary nonsense. We do not teach that sort of foolishness here at our school.
11. The human mind cannot begin to comprehend the concept of a million or a billion years. Do you know that over 800 times in his book, The Origin of the Species, Darwin wrote "I suppose" or "We may well suppose." Thank God we have an infallible book that does not say, "I suppose" but says, "Thus saith the Lord."
12. You may have heard of the children who brought their recently deceased cat down to the university lab and were informed that their cat was millions of years old!
13. Evolution is a fairy tale for those who refuse to submit to God. God is the author of life and it is He that judges sin (Ps.90:5-7,9,11), including the sin of unbelief. The omniscient God, who knows "our secret sins" (vs. 8) is the author of life. I will say more about these secret sins tonight at prayer meeting.
14. Life is a tale but we can never know how long this tale will be. It is God who determines when it is over. He is the One who decides when to "cut down" (vs. 6), "like grass which groweth up" (vs. 5). Spurgeon said, "Here is the history of the grass – sown, grown, blown, mown, gone; and the history of man is not much more."
15. You may think you will live a long time but you never know. Are you ready to meet God?
16. Moses says, "We spend our years as a tale that is told" (vs. 9b).
17. Some day, God, the great author of our lives, will write in big letters, "THE END" and our life will be all over.
18. Just think: today could be your last chapter.
19. So, life is a tale that is told. It is also a lesson which must be learned.

2. LIFE IS A LESSON WHICH MUST BE LEARNED (vs. 12)

1. You will learn many valuable lessons here at BBA. If you work hard and apply yourself you will develop study habits that will help you throughout your entire life.
2. You may develop talents here – in math or music or poetry or art or preaching or science, etc. that will help you immensely as you head towards college and your future career.
3. But the most valuable lesson you will ever learn is how to number your days and serve God wisely (90:12).
4. If life is a lesson to be learned, the obvious teacher must be God Himself. It is "a prayer of Moses the man of God" (intro) to the eternal God in heaven: "So teach us to number our days…" (vs. 12a).
5. Our days fly by. Our days are short, our days are uncertain, our days are invaluable, our days bring us opportunities that may never pass by again.
6. I hate to see people waste food. I hate to see them waste money. I hate to see them waste paper or electricity or gasoline. But the thing that bothers me the most is when people waste precious time. Students, do not waste precious time. Lost time can never be regained (90:12).
7. None of us is guaranteed another day on this earth – we need to ask God to teach us to number our days. I have always been fascinated with the sinking of the Titanic. When that "unsinkable" ship hit the iceberg that night on April 14, 1912, most of the passengers were drinking, dancing, gambling, and having a worldly big time, totally unaware that the big ship was about to sink.
8. Many of the guests were playing games with the life preservers. Some actually put them on their heads and danced around the deck while others laughed hysterically.
9. Some of the ladies refused to put on their life preservers because they did not want to mess up their fancy, expensive gowns and dresses by putting on the life vests.
10. Some were urged to get into the life boats but they refused. They laughed when the porters and stewards warned them that the ship was sinking. Most of the lifeboats pulled away with only 10 to 15 people inside, when they had the capacity to hold 60.
11. There were 2,340 people aboard the Titanic on her maiden voyage – 1,635 drowned and 705 were rescued. The survivors said that as the lifeboats moved further away, and they could see the great ship going down, the orchestra stopped playing worldly jazz music and started playing the hymn, "Nearer My God To Thee."
12. Not only does the Psalmist ask God to teach us to number our days, he also adds, "that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom" (vs. 12). Notice that he does not say, "that we may apply our heads unto wisdom" but "our hearts."
13. A lot of people have much knowledge stored up in their brains but their hearts are not right with God.
14. It is the heart of man that needs to change. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov.9:10). Life is a lesson which must be learned. Have you learned this lesson? (Luke 9:23,24)

3. LIFE IS A WORK THAT IS ESTABLISHED (vs. 17)

1. Moses died without ever seeing the results of his great life’s worth. God established it after his death. But he saw it from up in heaven.
2. I realize you are very young, but you must start thinking about these things. What kind of work are you establishing down here?
3. I remember when a man named Kenny Kern surrendered to preach. He told me and my wife, "I want my life to count for God." He can say with the Psalmist, "establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it" (Ps.90:17; cf. Eph.5:15,16).

1. There was a young preacher named John Beekman, who was told by his doctor that he had little time left to live on account of a serious heart condition. His only hope, a very slim one, was to agree to an operation whereby they would insert a little plastic valve in his heart. Up until that time, only two people had survived the operation. Moody Bible Institute (he was a graduate) made a film of his life story which was called, "Survivor Number Three."
2. Once the plastic valve was inserted, John Beekman counted his days and applied his heart unto wisdom. He became a missionary to the Chol Indians in the tropical jungles of southern Mexico. He and his wife translated the Bible into the Chol dialect, taught the people how to read, and led many of them to Christ.
3. God used them to establish a work – many were delivered from idolatry and paganism into the glorious light of the Gospel.