======================================================================== ECCLESIASTES 3 by Keith Daniel ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon delves into the profound aspects of life, death, and the importance of being born again. It emphasizes the brevity of life, the inevitability of death, and the need for spiritual renewal through being born again in Christ. The speaker highlights the significance of preparing to meet God and the eternal consequences of one's choices, urging listeners to seek salvation and live with wisdom and faith. Duration: 1:04:44 Topics: "Eternal Life", "Spiritual Renewal" Scripture References: Ecclesiastes 3:1, Psalms 90:10, John 3:3, 1 Corinthians 15:26, Hebrews 9:27, Romans 6:23, Psalms 116:15, Amos 4:12, 1 John 3:14 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon delves into the profound aspects of life, death, and the importance of being born again. It emphasizes the brevity of life, the inevitability of death, and the need for spiritual renewal through being born again in Christ. The speaker highlights the significance of preparing to meet God and the eternal consequences of one's choices, urging listeners to seek salvation and live with wisdom and faith. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ecclesiastes chapter 3 takes us on a staggering journey of life and its critical moments. In verse 1 we read, to everything there is a season, to everything there is a season, and a time, a time, to every purpose under heaven, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be holy, a time to be born, and a time to die. Over the years I've been approached by many people to write books and I've always replied where does a preacher like myself ever find a moment that I could write a book with all my preparation, my traveling and my preaching, that I could stop life literally and write a book. That's worthwhile anyway, but I've since occasionally thought that if I ever did write a book, that if I ever stopped life and wrote a book, it would be titled this moment, this moment called life, this moment called life. And my sermon tonight is basically the foundation or outline of what I may eventually publish as a book. The title of my sermon therefore is this moment, this moment called life, this moment called life. There is a time to be born, verse 2 says, and a time to die. Now in every gravestone in cemeteries across the world you find a block. On the gravestone there is seldom anything more written or recorded of that person's entire life apart from his name, his date of birth and the date of his death. That's all that's recorded of an entire life after his generation. At the outset now, God's word solemnly warns us of the brevity of life, the brevity of life. James asks this question in chapter 4 verse 13 of his book, what is your life? What is your life? And then he answers, it is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time, a little time, and then vanishes away. Vanishes away. That's all we are given. Don't dare doubt this now. That's all we've got, a little time, a little time to live on this earth in all eternity. Man that is born of a woman is of few days. Job warns in chapter 14 verse 1, when a few years have come that's finished or passed, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return. Job 16 verse 22, for man, as for man, his days are as gross as the flower of the field, so he flourishes. Then the wind, the wind passeth over it. The wind passeth over it and it is gone. The wind passeth over it, over our lives, involves a lot of things. You live and you love every hour. The future, the future seems so bright and so calm. Then, soon, like that sad wilted flower, the world seems to lose all its charm. And soon it's past, flown away, and all that's left are tears and strife. You're alone at the end of day and you wonder what became of life. That's a staggering and heart-searching poem. No matter who you are, in one fleeting moment, friend, in one fleeting moment, you will face death. Don't doubt that now. One fleeting moment. In Numbers 14 verse 35 we read that Joshua was young and brave. But a few pages later in the sacred book, in Joshua 13 verse 10, we read that the Lord said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years. It's a few pages. Joshua 13 verse 1, Thou art old, God said. We read in 1 Samuel 17 verse 42 that David was but a youth. This is a moment of youth. Then suddenly, in 1 Kings 2 verse 2, he cries, I go the way of all the earth. I go the way of all the earth. I'm dying. It's a moment. My age, my age has departed. Isaiah 38 verse 12. That is, my life is over. My lifespan is gone, the Hebrew says. My age has departed. When I was a boy, five years of age, I went to school to grade one. We called it class one in those days. And the little boy sitting next to me, age five, his name was Errol, Errol Keane. We befriended each other immediately, that moment, sitting in the same little desk. There were two sitting in one desk. And we became close friends, for a few years at least. And then suddenly, life and circumstances made us separate. Sixty-five years later, that's how fast it is, I came across him again. I was staggered, stunned as I looked at him. I had no idea what that little face was now going to be. And he was just as stunned as he looked at me. I could see that. As a childhood friend, my first friend at school, my first day at school. And now, sixty-five years later, we were both old. It was like a moment. That's all. One moment, and we all will face this rude awakening. Don't doubt that in life. You see, the greatest shock most people will ever face in life is how short it is. When you think it's starting, when you think it's just beginning, it's over. Don't doubt that now. It's over. In Judges 2, verse 10, we read that there arose another generation after them. How swiftly that happens to all of us. This generation passes, another generation rises up as swift as what we pass. It's like the sea, if you sit in a seesaw, and you look at the waves. They rise up in full strength and staggering power. They surge with such strength and power, but there's immediately another wave behind them. Before this wave can spread itself out in the sword of time, it's covered, totally, wiped away, forgotten. Another generation. It happens to all of us. Before that wave finishes its course, it's suddenly aware. There's another generation taking over. We're about to be forgotten. How swiftly that happens in this world. So my first point here tonight is, the man that is born of a woman is of few days. Be careful here. What God says to us is a few days. Therefore, this book solemnly warns us, whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might. For there is no work, no device, no knowledge, no wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest. Ecclesiastes 9 verse 10 says, The dead know nothing. The dead know not anything, neither have they any reward. Ecclesiastes 9 verse 5 says, Life's opportunities cease. No time is given to accomplish anything more in this one moment. Oh, Ephesians 5 verse 6 warns, Redeem the time. Don't waste life. Be careful, because that's possible. When you think you've still got time, you find you don't. Perhaps there's a need here for you tonight to reassess your whole life, your choices, your values, your priorities, your directions, your goals. Perhaps there's a great need for you to sit there right now and make startling choices, radical choices in what God's word is awakening you to. But this fearful verse that we are considering of Job 14 verse 1, it doesn't stop there. It goes on. Man that is born of a woman is of few days, yes, and full of troubles. God says, full of troubles. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down, and so forth. He fleeth as a shadow, and continues not. Man that is born of a woman. Man is born unto trouble. As the sparks fly upward, that's how much you're going to face. Job 5 verse 7 says, You're born unto trouble. Job, and all his troubles, oh Job cried, my days are spent swifter than a weaver's shuttle. That's how fast the shuttle, when you weave, they are spent without hope. Job, at which point of his life, cried, and many of us would too, in Job 7 verse 6. Many of our troubles we sorrowfully face in life are tragically self-inflicted, perhaps through the folly of sin. Be sure your sin will find you out, Numbers 32 verse 23 says. Now if you research that verse, you will find, be sure your sin will find you out, literally actually is telling us, will affect you, will affect your life, adversely, don't doubt this. Kevin Dobbie, a great preacher in our mission, spoke of the aftermath, the aftermath of sin's ramifications. It doesn't just stop at your sin. Perhaps you're self-inflicted through the folly of sin in your life, these troubles that you face. Perhaps full of troubles through the wrong choice you made of a wife, or a husband. You see, we read that it's unbearable, God says, an odious woman, hateful woman, horrible word, Proverbs 30 verse 21. When she is married, it's unbearable, God says. If she gets married, it's unbearable. And also, he that trobleth his own house, God speaks of men that do that, Proverbs 11 verse 29. The contentions of a wife, or such a wife as God speaks here, are like a continual dropping, that is, an unending, relentless irritation and grief. That's if you have made the wrong choice of wife. Proverbs 19 verse 13 says, in Genesis 2 verse 18, the Lord God said, it's not good, the man should be alone, the man should marry. The Bible tells us clearly, but only in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 7 verse 3 says, why would he say that? Only in the Lord, Paul says. If it's the Lord's will, and you're sure of it, God's choice. Be ye not unequally yoked, joined with unbelievers, God warns, 2 Corinthians 6 verse 14. Be careful and prayerful here. Favor, or charm, literally, is deceitful. And beauty, if that's what you're attracted to. Beauty is vain, it's momentarily given, it's brief, it's soon gone. But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Proverbs 31 verse 3 says, Her children arise up and call her blessed, her husband also. He prays with her, staggering words, but something you have to think about, or weep about. Perhaps it's full of troubles to our children. Psalm 113 verse 9 speaks of a joyful mother of children. A joyful mother of children, but also of the shame and the grief of a mother of wicked children. And that's strewn through the Bible. Psalm 58 verse 3, the wicked are estranged, separated from the womb. That's a fearful verse. Fearful. Uncomprehendable, but God says it. They go astray as soon as they are born, God says. It's beyond comprehension what God says there. You see, there's a generation that curses their father. Proverbs 30 verse 11 says, And doth not bless their mother. God mourns us in such children. He that wastes, mistreats or disrespects his father and chases away his mother, that rejects his mother's instruction or influence for good, is a son that causes shame and bringeth reproach. Proverbs 19 verse 26 warns, A foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. Proverbs 10 verse 1 says, A foolish son is the calamity of his father. Literally the ruination of his father, God says. Proverbs 19 verse 13, Brace yourself. Brace yourself. That's a baby you're carrying in your arms. Could suddenly in one brief moment be a youth. And you will find, as everyone does, that every child is born with a sinful nature. God says, As a result of the fall, the tragic result of the fall. Psalm 51 verse 5, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. I was born with a sinful nature. This is really what it's saying. I was once sitting at a table with a whole lot of preachers in a convention in the dining hall. And most of the people who left the dining hall when we sat there, we were talking about the godliest man we all had ever known or were aware of in our lives, a man called Guru Macphalane. He most certainly was the godliest man I ever met. And most of those preachers agreed. One of them said, Have you noticed that he has no wrinkles? How does a man his age have no wrinkles? One of the men said, Surely because of his walk with God. And then there was a voice at the end of the table of a little old lady who was listening to us, overhearing our conversation. And she looked at us and said, No, it's surely because he didn't have any children. And a tear came down her face and made us all in dead silence just walk away from the dining hall. What does the Bible say about youth? It firstly warns us of the brevity of youth. The glory of young men is their strength. Proverbs 20 verse 29 says, Their strength. But God's word warns that bodily exercises profiteth little. Prophet of little. 1 Timothy 6 verse 6. But godliness, godliness is profitable unto all things, having a promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. 1 Timothy 4 verse 8. You see, the glory of young men is their strength. Proverbs 20 verse 29. But in the same verse it suddenly says the beauty of old men is gray hair. The gray hair. In one moment, that moment called life, the youth, the strength is gone. You have gray hair in one moment. Don't doubt it. This is what God is saying. That the crown of his glory, Proverbs 16 verse 31, would be found in the way of righteousness. Speaking of the old man, if he was righteous, it's like a crown of the glory of his life. In Ecclesiastes 11 verse 9, God warns wayward and sinful youth. Very certainly. Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, in the sight of thine eyes, but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. A warning to wayward youth. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth, that he learn submission to God contextually. Lamentations 3 verse 27 says, Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh. Put childhood and youth on vanity. Vanity. Worthless. Terribly brief. It says brief moments. Ecclesiastes 11 verse 10 says, Ecclesiastes 12 verse 1, Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the evil days come. While the evil days come, not in the years drawn nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them, I have no pleasure in remembering the folly and the foolishness of my choices that have affected my life incrementally like this. Oh, before the evil days come, and they will, you look back in devastation, and you will, young man, young woman, you will, if you don't while you're young seek God with your soul. And to the samed parents of the wicked son or daughter, we can only hope and agonize daily in prayer and long for even a glimpse of hope of their turning before they die in tragic consequences. But be careful to ask God for grace, to show total and swift compassion as the father of the prodigal. Be very careful in prayerful here, for they may give up on themselves forever if you don't, parents. While I do not advocate Rome or its perverted, tragic, heretical doctrines, I dare to quote someone who is known throughout the world as Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa had a lot of compassion. She said these shattering words, loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible, terrible poverty. Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted, even by parents, is the most terrible poverty. Terrible. The desire to be forgiven for all wrongs always comes in the tormented mind of a wayward child. Don't deny him if he tries to turn, parent. Don't give up on your wayward child, fathers and mothers. Don't dare. Or your child may die destroyed because he is never given another chance by the two most important figures in his life. Deuteronomy 32 verse 39 says, I kill, but I also make a life. I wound, but I heal, God says. That's God's way. That's why. He creates circumstances to wound our lives. Like Paul says, I spoke in that way that made you sorrow and shame. But I did it to make you turn, to make a wicked man turn to repentance. He godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation. Those who sorrow to repentance, verse 9 says, to salvation, not to be repented of. But this comes as a result of the harshness of Paul against the person belonging. Isaiah 6 verse 1, God hath torn, but he will heal. He hath smitten, but he will bind up. We also have to have that heart. To the wayward child also, as perhaps listening tonight, don't give up on yourself. No matter how far you've gone, no matter how hopeless life may be. Don't give up on yourself. That I, before I close this point, would just carefully warn those children that there are lost opportunities that can never be gained if you don't grab them before it's too late. Lost opportunities. Exodus 20 verse 12 says, Honor thy father and mother. Don't leave it too late now. That it may be well with thee, God says, that thou mayest live long on the earth. But I also would give this solemn warning to every wayward child. He that pursueth evil that goes on, no matter what God or man does to stop him, he that pursueth evil, pursueth it to his own death. Proverbs 11 verse 19 says, Don't doubt this. The wages of sin is death. Romans 6 verse 23, For the gift of God hath not to you denied his eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Oh, you need to seek salvation. You need to seek forgiveness from God and in of man. He has given you the grace to find forgiveness because of the way, you ask, if you're saved. But now let us go back a little just to consider what this sacred book warns us about marriage. To everything there's a season. Ecclesiastes 3 says, Time to every purpose under heaven. Verse 5, A time to embrace. Verse 6, A time to get. Verse 6 goes on to say, A time to keep. You've got to be careful there. A time to keep. That will cost in marriage. If you're willing. He that findeth a wife, findeth a good thing. Proverbs 18 verse 22 says, But be careful. He that findeth a God-fearing wife. A woman that feareth the Lord. Proverbs 31 verse 30. A God-fearing wife. Proverbs 31 verse 10. Who can find such a virtuous woman? The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her. She will do him good and not evil. All the days of his life. Strength, honor are her clothing. Her mouth is opened only with wisdom. Her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well after the ways of her household, and her children call her blessed. Her husband also. At the end of these words, we've risen to a ready favor that's charm is deceitful and beauty is vain. It's going to go in one moment, sir, lady. A woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. We need to seek God for a God-fearing wife. To grasp the shame and sorrow and tragedy of the exact opposite of this woman God speaking about, one needs to read the same chapter and just say the opposite words. She'll do him evil. Go through it and put the exact opposite words. He that findeth a wife is a God-fearing wife. And then, she'll remain faithful and be all God commands us to be in marriage. Marriage is honorable, God says, and the bed undefiled in God's eyes. But whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge. No doubt this now. God's lying if he doesn't. Hebrews 13 verse 4 warns, God carefully warns us as husbands, be thou ravished always with her love. Proverbs 5 verse 19, why would thou be ravished with a strange woman, God asks. Proverbs 5 verse 20, who shall commit adultery with a woman lacketh understanding. He that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. Proverbs 6 verse 32, therefore take heed to your spirit, let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. Malachi 2 verse 15 warns. Let's go deeper into God's word concerning marriage now. Husbands, love your wives. Ephesians 5 verse 25 says, love your wives and be not bitter against them. Colossians 3 verse 19, be careful here now, there's a brief time given to love, don't lose it. There's a brief time given to love, Ecclesiastes 3 verse 8 says. And love suffereth long and is kind. 1 Corinthians 13 tells us, if you are willing to accommodate each other's imperfections and flaws, that she also has to survive for you. 1 Peter 3 verse 1, as unto the week of Eshu, if you are willing to accommodate, forgive, for every one of us has flaws, every one of us has imperfections. You won't find a woman, you won't find a man. You know, you have to remember, here is the week of Eshu, husband. You see, there's a time to embrace, verse 5 of Ecclesiastes 3 says. There's a time to get, verse 6 says, but there's also a time to keep, verse 6 says at the end. There's a time to keep what you get, what you embrace in marriage. There are many times in marriage, there's a time to keep silence, verse 7. That's how you keep, and it's not easy, but God asks us to. In this book, the time of peace, of making peace. The time to heal, verse 8. The time to build up, verse 3 continues. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, God's angel. Forgiving one another, that's even in marriage. Be ye angry, I suppose every one of us has moments like that. Don't let it become something that destroys your life in marriage. Sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. That's a staggering commandment, Ephesians 4, verse 26 says. The greatest danger with prolonged notes of anger and unwillingness to seek God for grace to forgive is that they come to the point that anger will become irreparable in your heart and mind. The ability to obey God's command to forgive will be lost. This, tragically, will be a time to lose, Ecclesiastes 3, verse 6. Hatred could set in, verse 8. The hope of healing would be broken, lost, but you kill, verse 3 says, what could have been healed. Perhaps you need, right now, to pray, while there's still a brief moment left. Forgive me, Lord, that I have shown such impatience with such unforgiving heart, such anger and yet unforgiveness. Now it's after me to show love, love that covereth the multitude of sins. I suppose if I can't work in the home, how can I work anywhere? O husbands, love your wives. Live joyfully with your wife, with thy lovest conscience, because you could find that your lost opportunity to love, to forgive, you will realize that life's moment to even love your wife is so brief. The lost opportunity to forgive, to take time, to heal, to do anything. Before closing this point, I would make this solemn statement. Man is made with a need to love. Don't doubt this. Which if it is not grasped, nurtured and protected in through food, will fill him with a tragic void, gaping, flaw, gap, and probably and most certainly drive him to wrong desires. Man is made with a need to love and to be loved. Don't forget that, in case you think you could live without it, or better off without it, the attempt to love. Our beloved times will come, that we all will face, where we despair of life itself. God's word is full of this. In 2 Corinthians 1 verse 8, Paul wrote that in Asia, while they were in Asia, we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life. If Paul could despair of life in circumstances, we can. Jonah prayed in despair, saying, I beseech thee, my life, O God, from me. In chapter 4 verse 3, it is better for me to die than to live, he cried. Jonah was a godly man. You may be too. In 1 Kings 19 verse 4, Elijah, we read that Elijah requested for himself that he might die. He was a godly man. Are you more godly than him, that that can't happen to you? These sorrowful times may shorten our lifespan, drastically. David cried out, my days are like a shadow that declines, and I'm withered like grass. Psalm 32 verse 11, my bones wax old, through my roaring all the day, through my despairing. Psalm 32 verse 3, it happened to a man after God's own heart. Do you think it was his history? No, it's for you and me to know. It could happen to us in this moment called life. But it's in these times that we become conscious, very conscious, that we are the prisoners of the earth. Lamentations 3 verse 34, the prisoners of the earth which long for death, but it cometh not. Job 3 verse 21. I once stood with a very godly man called Lex Buchanan, a German man, in a town close to Petersburg, a place called Cateridge. He was a farmer. We were speaking about all the injustices that come upon Christians, and I particularly began to pour out my heart about all the cruel injustices and wrongs thrown at me. And I was really shaken by myself pouring out my whole complaint. And then I said these words, I'm so tired, sir. I would be glad if God just took me away from all this. He took me to heaven right now. And he looked at me for a while with a compassionate tear coming down his own face, and then he said to me these words, no Keith, that would be the easy way out. That would be the easy way out. That's not God's will in the school of God. It's these things that will make you, if you stay close to God, come out more like Christ, more refined, more of all God wants and intends you to be, and take the easy way out. It's also in these times, such times that we become aware that God knows our frame. Psalm 103 verse 14. He remembers that we are dust. God doesn't just look with no interest. It may be that he will cry to you as he does, I will restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten. Job 2 verse 25. We still seek him with all of our hearts through all these times, and endeavor to walk with him wholeheartedly to the end of our lives, with all of our souls. You see we read in Psalm 91 verse 1. He that dwelleth in the secret place that lives to be alone with God, that lives to abide in him, that walk in the spirit that they fulfill unto the lusts of the flesh, for whosoever abideth in them shall withdraw. Or, he that dwelleth that has this continual communing with God. Verse 14 says, because he hath set his love upon me, long life will I satisfy him. There's something of promises here, but there's conditions attached. In the end we take courage and cry, thy gentleness has made me great, O God. Psalm 18 verse 35. It has caused me to rise up and survive. My gentleness in dealing is with me. But the Bible warns us that many that are first shall be lost, and the lost shall be first. Matthew 19 verse 30. My father was 51 years of age when he gave his life to Christ. And for nine years he lived, he turned so many people to Christ that one of the greatest preachers in our country, at that time the most famous preacher in our country, said these words of my father. I don't know the man, apart from this man, but every step he takes seems to influence people to come to Christ. It would seem he's won more souls to God than most preachers who spend a lifetime, and all he's done is be saved a few years. Oh yes, he read through the Bible 68 times in those nine years. He led multitudes to Christ across the whole land. You see, other people who were saved when they were young never led anybody to Christ. Never read through the Bible once. No matter how old you are, when you come to Christ you must cry. While I have life, I give it to thee, Lord. What's left of life, take it for thyself. I set myself to pursue thy will, to live for thee with my whole heart, but have my life. Yes, God said to Joshua, thou art old and stricken in years. That happens in a moment. But then he said these words after he said those words. There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed, Joshua. Even if you're old and stricken, Joshua certainly was one. Does God not say that to many of us tonight? To many of us. While there's life, there's reason to be alive. Don't doubt that. I'm going to slip out to the Alps. In Europe, it's a famous thing that many people have referred to in sermons, but I do too, tonight. A man died as he climbed those Alps, and they put his grave right there where he died. And there is a gravestone with a very large plaque that says these words. He died climbing. He died climbing. And I also want to die climbing. I want to die climbing. I'm not giving up. I'm not falling back. But take heed now, at the end of your life, you need to be extremely careful not to become lax spiritually. That happens to so many, even the greatest preachers on earth, who really did walk with God and serve God and are anointed by God and used by God. We need to take heed that toward the end of life we don't become lax spiritually. We need to be careful not to be shot down by Satan at the finishing line. Just before you reach that finishing line, that can happen, as it has happened to most of the world's great preachers in my lifetime. To be shot down, shot down by Satan. Paul writes, I keep under my body and bring it into subjectiveness that by any means when I preach to others I myself should be accost away. That could happen. It has happened. It is happening. Will you be next? Be careful. 1 Corinthians 9 verse 27 says, Paul cried, I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. What a lovely thing to end life with. 2 Timothy 4 verse 7. As we approach the end of the road, we face sudden frailty. The Bible speaks of it. Even Paul. The frailty of old age. You see, if by reason of strength, life goes beyond what God says is a life span normally, strength lays labor and sorrow. Psalm 90 verse 10. It is that my wife's mother and father were farmers and on the farm I used to go for walks and they had these big dogs. One of them, Jackie, this dog was just incredible. It sawed off with its strength. And it would leap like a deer, only you couldn't believe it the way it just shot up. And you could see it was sawing off. Leap into the field and catch rabbits. It was quite incredible. Any movement, boom, boom. In a short while I would go for a walk when we went back to the farm. Suddenly I saw he couldn't leap anymore. He wanted to walk with me. He couldn't jump. He would just slip around. Hardly in the end he couldn't walk again. That's the same thing here. The frailty of old age hits us no matter what strength you have. In one moment. Psalm 90 verse 10. The days of our years are three score years and ten. That's 70 years. And if by reason of strength they before score you, if you go on beyond that another ten years or so, it is their strength, labor and sorrow and struggle. But soon it will be cut off and we will fly away. Psalm 90 verse 12. So teach us to number our days, O God, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. Psalm 39 verse 4. Make me to know my end, O God, the measure of my days that I may know how frail I am. And then we will begin to let this world go. We all will. The things that we held on to, gathered. There's a time to get, there's a time to keep, there's a time to cast away. Ecclesiastes 3 verse 6 says we all reach that moment. We don't want to get anything more. Materialism. For man also knoweth not his time, that's the time of his death, the time to die. As the fishes that are taken in an evil net, that's an unsuspected net. As the birds that are caught in a snare, that's an unsuspected trap. So are the sons of men snared, trapped, caught in an unexpected, an evil time, an unexpected time when it falls suddenly upon them. Ecclesiastes 9 verse 12 says we must face the last enemy, this book says, which is death. The last enemy. God calls it an enemy. It's not easy to die for most people, for most Christians. I've watched them, great godly people. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 26, we all will face this enemy, God says, the last enemy, is death. Psalm 39 verse 29 asks, What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Can you deliver your soul from death? There is no man that hath power over his spirit, neither hath he power in the day of his death. Ecclesiastes 8 verse 8 says, Thou shalt return to the ground, for out of this was thou taken, for dust thou art, unto dust shalt thou return. Genesis 3 verse 19 says, All turn to dust again. Ecclesiastes 3 verse 20 says, Then man goeth to his long home, that is his eternal home. The Hebrew says, Man goeth in to his long home. Ecclesiastes 12 verse 5 says, Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God, who gave it. You see, man's soul will never ever die. It's appointed unto men once to die, that's the physical, but after this, the judgment. There is an eternal soul that will return to God. A new body is left behind and become dust again. It's appointed unto men once to die, but after this, don't doubt this, the judgment. Hebrews 9 verse 27, You see, Christ says he will return in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction. 2 Thessalonians 1 verse 8, Oh God lied. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10 verse 31 says, If you have not prepared yourself to meet with God. Amos 4 verse 12 tries. Everything has a season. There's a time to be born, there's a time to die. There's one more thing. It's the most important thing of the whole of life, that brief life. There's a time to be born again. You see, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven. He will never go to heaven. John 3 verse 3 says, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he go into his mother's womb a second time and be born again? No. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. When you're born, you're not born a child of God. None of you. Just a child of your father and mother, but not a child. That has to happen of your own intellect, your own free will and your faith. To be born again, to become God's child. God the Holy Ghost gives birth through your faith and He's reaching out to you with the promises. By grace through faith in Christ's death, you see, the wages of sinners death don't doubt this, but the gift of God. I will redeem. God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave. Psalm 49 verse 15. I will ransom them from the power of the grave. I will redeem them from death. Hosea 13 verse 14 says, For as much as ye know that ye will not redeem with corruptible things of silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. You see, the blood of Christ. 1 Peter 1 verse 18 verse 19. The blood of Christ, Jesus Christ, God's Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1 verse 7. If we put our faith in His death, in His blood, we'll be justified freely by grace through faith in His blood. Romans 3 verse 24 and 25. Yes, the last enemy that will be destroyed is death. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 27. But precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of the saints. Psalm 116 verse 15. I've stood with many. I've stood with many who died without God. I aze at what I saw. But every one that I stood with, knew God. I've walked away thrilled at how they died. But precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of the saints. The righteous have hope. The righteous have hope in His death. Proverbs 14 verse 32. O death, where is thy sting, grave? Where is thy victory? 1 Corinthians 15 verse 55. The sting of death is sin, God says. Hebrews 2 verse 9 tells us that He, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. That He would face death for every man. That through death, Hebrews 2 verse 14, even the death of the cross. Philippians 2 verse 8. He might deliver them who had, through fear of death, for all their lifetime, subject to bondage. Hebrews 2 verse 15. Quite a staggering word. You see, we know that we pass from death unto life. 1 John 3 verse 14. There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. We know, we pass from death unto life, God says, as the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are saved and we have peace with God. Peace that passes without understanding, even as we die. And I end this sermon, I end this sermon, which I have titled, This Moment Called Life. With these fearful words. Prepare thyself to meet with thy God. Prepare to meet thy God. Amos 4 verse 12. And if you don't, you are the greatest enemy that you will ever find in your entire life. The most compassionless, merciless, hateful enemy you will ever have in life. If you don't, and if you don't do this swiftly. This is the second sermon of six day conventions that I will be preaching in. Where my son Roy and my wife Jenny, who speaks to the ladies, but my son Roy and myself address everyone. On these live stream conferences on the internet, I want you please to be sure you know the times advertised now of every single conference before remaining. Two a month on Saturdays, where the three of us will be preaching again. I want to beg you, don't miss, do everything you can in your power to get others to view Osho and to pray earnestly for us. Amen. Thank you. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/mfq_bUAwKY4.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/keith-daniel/ecclesiastes-3/ ========================================================================