In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the certainty of death and the importance of being prepared for it. He reminds the audience that death is appointed to all and that no one can escape it. The preacher urges non-Christians to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior and be ready for His return. He also highlights the eternal consequences of rejecting Christ, emphasizing the need to make the choice of where to spend eternity. The sermon draws from biblical passages, such as James 4:13-14 and 2 Peter 3:9, to support its message.

Ray Brubaker's Classic Radio. This is Ray Brubaker's Classic Radio, news-related subjects in light of the Bible. And now, here's your commentator, Ray Brubaker. Thank you, and again we send greetings to our friends everywhere. It was billed as that trip you've been dreaming about, carefree and unforgettable, the excursion that ended in death for 130 persons in the worst single plane crash in history. Most of these were members of the Atlanta, Georgia Art Association whose Boeing 707 crashed upon take-off in Paris. The Bible has a great deal to say about the brevity of life and the need to be prepared for death. No doubt these 130 people who had just toured the art galleries and cultural centers of Europe looked forward expectantly to the final leg of their trip, when they would be returning to friends and loved ones back in the United States. The Apostle James writes of those who say, Today or tomorrow we will go to such a place to live, to buy or sell, saying, Ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away. Ah, hear me, beloved, for this message is for you. We associate death with someone else, seldom thinking it will come to us. But the Scriptures would remind us that death is certain. It is appointed to all. The only escape from death is for those who will be ready for the appearing of our Blessed Lord when He comes. When I was a boy, time would go so slow. But suddenly I found as one gets older the time seems to literally slip fast away. As the psalmist would remind us, as for man his days are as grass, as a flower of the field so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it and it is gone. Ah, yes, we are here as it were today and gone tomorrow. As the Scripture says elsewhere, our days upon the earth are as a shadow. Someone has noted, if you live to be seventy years of age, you will have lived a total of twenty-five thousand days. If you are now already thirty-five, that means you have only a little over twelve thousand days left, should you live to be seventy. If you are now fifty, you have a little over seven thousand days left. Oh, how important, how necessary that we give thought and consideration to our eternal future. My friend, mark it down. God has placed every last one of us here. Upon this earth we might make preparation for our souls where we shall spend eternity. We are here only long enough to make sure of our eternal welfare. How important then that we heed the Word of God which reminds us today is the day of salvation. Plan now with eternity in view. Decide now to surrender your life to Jesus Christ. Trust Him as your Lord and Savior and live daily for Him. Caesar Borgia, coming to the close of life, lamented, saying, I have planned in the course of my life for everything except death, and now, alas, I am to die entirely unprepared. Ah, yes, where will you spend eternity? Should your heart suddenly stop beating, or should you meet up with a fatal accident? Where would you go? If you were to die tonight in your sleep, would you wake up in heaven or in hell? Someone has observed, if you are not prepared to die, do not get into an automobile, for that is the cause of twenty percent of all accidents. It is almost terrifying to realize that more people have been killed on the highways of America than in all of the wars the United States has fought since 1775. That's more than a million people killed by automobiles. Do not travel by air, rail, or water, for another six percent are killed by such travel. Do not walk on the street if you can avoid it, as fourteen percent of all accidents occur to pedestrians. Do not indulge in some sport or recreation, for nearly twenty percent of all accidents result from this cause. In fact, do not go anywhere, for fourteen and five-tenths percent of all miscellaneous accidents occur for other reasons. And do not stay home, for seventeen percent of all accidents occur inside the home. Do you see the importance, the urgency of being prepared for eternity? If today you are unsaved, you have not repented of your sins, we would urge you to trust the Savior, and we would urge you to read the sixteenth chapter of Luke, where we read of the rich man who died, who in hell lift up his eyes, being in torment. Now I know there are those who reason that God would never consign his creatures to a place of punishment. They disbelieve that hell is a place of literal flames, such as Jesus taught, and some would even argue there is no hell, that the only hell is any horrible existence we may have on this earth. I'm reminded of the two friends who were discussing the reality of hell, and they concluded in their minds there was no such a place. It was only a myth. But a Christian who happened to overhear their conversation suddenly interrupted to say, suppose it is true after all. Yes, suppose Jesus was right in inferring that there was a place of torment to which unbelievers would go immediately after death. Suppose he was right in saying such a place was filled with the sighs and groans and prayers of those calling for water to cool their parched tongues amidst the tormenting flames of hell. Did you ever burn yourself? Then just think of an eternal existence amidst the pain and anguish of a literal hell. Whether or not the flames are actual real fire, it is certain from Scripture that to die apart from Jesus Christ will be torment forever in the regions of the damned. The rich man who died and went to hell began to pray, but then it was too late. He prayed to Father Abraham to send someone to his five brothers so that they could be persuaded not to come to this awful place. If someone were to rise from the dead, he reasoned, sure then they would repent. But he was told, Nay, if thy brethren hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. Ah, again I urge you to hear me today. There was one who did actually die, who went to hell in our place, who came forth victoriously as conqueror of death and hell, that we need not go to this awful place. By arising from the dead, our Lord proved to the whole world that He is the only Saviour and that all He ever spoke concerning heaven and hell was true. Yet how sad for those who reject His offer of pardon and forgiveness and refuse such mercy. I think of Adolf Eichmann who just paid with his life for the mass murder of six million Jews murdered during the Nazi regime. While a minister urged Eichmann again and again to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, Eichmann went to the gallows defiant, refusing to believe. Eichmann died saying, We shall all meet again. This is the fate of all men. How true! The Bible says it is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment. There is something embedded within the conscience of man that tells him there is life after death and that his soul will live on eternally. Mark Twain once said, I have never seen what seemed an atom of truth in the future life and yet I am strongly inclined to expect one. Emerson once testified, The blazing evidence of immortality is our dissatisfaction with any other conclusion. Ah, beloved, there is not a people on earth but there has been among them a belief in the hereafter. Even as Cyrus the Great once remarked, I cannot imagine that the soul lives only while it remains in this mortal body. No an Israeli guillotine was not the end for Adolf Eichmann. When Sir William Russell was on his way to the scaffold to be executed, he took his watch. He handed it to the attending physician saying, Take my timepiece and keep it. I have no more use for it. I am now dealing with eternity. Ah, dear friend, death is not the end. After death is the judgment and then following the judgment, this is only the beginning of an eternal existence of solitary confinement in hell for all who reject Jesus Christ as their Savior. Hear me today. No man needs to be lost. God does not send anyone to hell. The Bible tells us that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. You must make the choice as to where you will spend eternity. You must decide for Jesus Christ if you would be saved. In closing, I should like to read a poem that I wrote while still a young teenager in high school. It's entitled, Which Road, Friend, Are You Traveling? There's a road that has no ending, wide and steep it seems to be. On it are the sons of folly traveling toward eternity. On this road are kings and paupers, men of power, might and fame. All are bound for that great city, land of misery and shame, land of sorrow yet undreamed of, hell let loose in smoke and flame, fire enraging, rolling tyrants bearing sinners neath the same. Swearings, cursings, cryings, groanings, sights too pitiful to see. Parents screaming, children pleading, just one drop of water, please. Must we all keep on this highway? Is there not some hope in sight? Is there not someone to help us, save us from this awful night? Yes, there's one I know can help you, one who came from heaven above, Jesus Christ my own dear Savior, Son of Everlasting Love. Oh that you would see the Savior hanging there on Calvary's tree, suffering, weeping, bleeding dying so that sinners might be free. Yes, He died for you, dear sinner. Come accept His love today, tis God's gift that's offered to you. Please don't turn His gift away. Believe Him, trust Him, He will save you, cleanse your heart and make you free, then forever you can claim Him as your King eternally. You need never fear or doubt Him, safe you'll be under His care. He has saved you, He will keep you, all your burdens He will bear. Now the heavenly roads you're traveling, walking right beside the King, hastening on to that glad city while your soul triumphant sings. Aren't you glad you found my Savior? Tell some friend of Him today. Tell him of the path he's traveling, hasten tell him, don't delay. Today's broadcast was entitled, Where Will You Spend Eternity? I would urge you to think seriously upon this question, and if not a Christian, receive the Lord Jesus Christ today as your Savior. Be ye therefore ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. Thank you for listening to Radio City News. This has been Ray Brubaker's Classic Radio. For a podcast of this message, visit raybrubaker.com on the Internet. May God richly bless you is our prayer.