Sudden Death

Both Sam Jones and Mordecai Ham used to preach famous sermons called sudden death that every time they preached it God saved somebody. They both used for their text Proverbs 29.1 which states he that being often reproved pardoneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy. Well I'm going to preach a sermon to you now friends on the subject of sudden death because I've never seen a time in my life where the instances of sudden death have been so multiplied as they are in the world today.

Why all you have to do is just look at the news and see instance after instance of tragic sudden death. A recent tragedy hit home personally to me regarding the five church members from Memphis Tennessee whose plane crashed in Texas where four of them died suddenly in that tragic crash. I was close friends with the pilot of that plane.

You never know if the last night was your last time you'll ever sleep in your bed again. Suddenly you can be removed from this world at any moment without any warning. You can be gunned down sitting in a classroom.

You can be shot to death shopping at the grocery store. The car you're driving can be your coffin. You can go for a walk and not come back to your family because a heart attack just took you out of this world or natural calamity like the terrible earthquake in Turkey in Syria where the death toll now is 21,000 people and rising.

All those thousands of people were swept away by sudden death where it fell upon them unexpectedly and quite suddenly I want to choose for my text today friends a verse that speaks of sudden death and it's found in Ecclesiastes 9 12 where we read for man also knoweth not his time as the fishes that are taken in a evil net and as the birds that are caught in the snare so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them. This verse gives us a visual image of a fishing net quite like the disciples used to catch fish on the Sea of Galilee that has a school of fish representing a large number who are just living their life in a wide open sea and unbeknownst to them a net is being lowered by a force stronger than they to trap them and kill them without any warning and we see the visual image in our text of birds going about the normal course of their day flying and resting and feeding and sleeping and quite unexpectedly as they are feeding they find they have entered a trap stronger than they and quite suddenly they're snared and taken away from their nest forever but our text from Ecclesiastes has a graduation of creation from creatures that can only swim to those who can fly to God's creation of mankind who can walk and think and reason and build cities and empires but as complex as man is in his wisdom and learning he's still on the same level as a bird of a fish when it comes time to die because he has no knowledge of the time when his life would be required of him by the God who made him he goes out of this world on the same level as a fish or a bird he snatched unexpectedly and without warning so war the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them I look at the earthquake in Turkey and I wonder if anyone in Los Angeles has been driven to their knees in prayer over their own city that sits on the one of the most unstable fault lines in the world the San Andreas fault line I used to live in Los Angeles and you think it's not going to happen to you but you just never know will Los Angeles soon slide into the ocean with all its hillside homes and will the victims have any warning we just don't know we live in a unstable world that hangs on a tattered thread and God can bring the curtain down on the whole ball of wax anytime he wants to I've lived long enough to know friends there's no security in this world there's no security in money because money can be taken from you through bad investments or market crashes or unexpected lawsuits there's no security in health for no matter how careful you are to exercise every day and take your vitamins you could still have a heart attack like I did quite suddenly where you can be removed by a virus you just breathe in in your normal course of business there's no security in government either as the families of the victims of the earthquake in Turkey are finding out all you have to do is remember Hurricane Katrina in our country to see the ineptitude of government in helping victims if a nuclear attack hit our shores the American government would go into a self-preservation mode instead of helping you you can't count on anything or anyone in this unstable world but you can you can friends count on Jesus Jesus will never let you down and Jesus will never let you go Jesus is the friend of sinners Jesus is the pearl of great price we're selling all for so we may be gained Jesus is the lily the valley Jesus is the bright and morning star Jesus is chief among ten thousand Jesus is our only hope for Jesus is the blessed hope who will soon return to judge the world in righteousness if you've not trusted this blessed savior friend receive them now before it's too late before you're snatched out of this world quite suddenly Jesus came into the world doing good healing the sick giving sight to the blind why he even raised the dead to life yet what happened men cried away with him and nailed him to a cross look at that blessed man on the cross friend look at that blessed man hanging there with his arms outstretched beckoning you to come to him and believe on him look at that blood-stained savior for sin brought as a lamb to the slaughter as a sacrifice for sin my sins your sins he's a bloody spectacle hanging there suspended between heaven and earth yet his love flows out to a world of guilty sinners he cries father forgive them for they know not what they do the cross is the place where wicked men sought to get rid of him but by his death it becomes the place where his saving power flows out to all who come in repentance confessing they are sinners and own them as their savior and lord if you've not trusted this blessed Jesus friends receive them now before it's too late you may be one of the sons of man snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them come now and let us reason together saith the lord though your sins be as scarlet they should be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they should be as wool look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth for i am god and there is none else put your trust in Jesus friend he will never ever disappoint you trust him before it's too late