CAN I FACE DEATH?

 Luke 12:16-21

You may have seen a movie called The Fugitive, starring Harrison Ford.  But in the past, The Fugitive was a television series starring David Jansen.  Now Jansen didn’t just ignore God, as many Hollywood stars do.  He also made a TV min-series called The Word, which denied the truths of the Bible. Is it surprising then that one night Jansen had a dream in which he saw himself carried out of his house in a coffin? He was so frightened by this, that he rang all his friends and cancelled a party he’d planned for that night! A day later, he was carried out of his house in a coffin! Jansen lived a life denying God, and as a result was terrified of death! But Jesus died to take the sting out of death for us! He died to open a way into eternity where we could rejoice in His loving presence!

There are three mistakes people make in facing death:

1.                   Denial:  A former prime minister of England when told by his doctor that he was soon to die,  replied, “Die? That’s the last thing I’m going to do!”And it was!  But the great evolutionist, Professor Julian Huxley denied God all his life, and as he lay dying, he looked up at something unseen to others in the room and said, “So! It is true!” But by this time it was too late for poor old Huxley! Contrast this with the words of Stephen, the first Christian martyr: “I see heaven open, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”  I had a relative who couldn’t face the fact that one day she would die. She made no will and as far as I know, made no preparation to spend eternity with Jesus! The police had to break into her house when she died to free the six or seven cats who were left there to starve, and my parents had to shovel up the mess that the cats had left behind in the house. The house itself went to another relative who hadn’t seen her for fifty years! And before World War 11, a grave in Germany containing an atheist was sealed with a granite slab and bound with strong chains, with the tombstone inscription, “Not to be opened throughout eternity!” But a small acorn had somehow fallen into a crack, and its outer shell had died! Years afterward, a mighty oak tree had now broken up the slab covering the grave! This man had tried to deny God’s power over death and eternity!

2.                   Delusion: I saw a TV movie in which a woman dying of cancer spent her remaining days trying to line up a new lady for her husband! But she forgot to prepare for what lay ahead for herself!

A dear friend of mine was dying of cancer a few years ago, and as she wasn’t a Christian, I wrote to wish her a happy birthday first, and then added, “Viv, you are one of the nicest people I know, and if niceness were an assurance of a place in heaven, you would get there with the best of them. I then went on to explain that we’ve all failed to reach God’s standards and that only by accepting Jesus can we enter heaven. Viv wrote back and said, “Yes, I had a great birthday. My kids shouted me a sky-jump as a special treat!”  She ignored the fact that I was trying to offer her something far more exhilarating and far more lasting! Sadly, Viv showed no interest, to my knowledge, of spending eternity in the presence of Jesus! But some people even try to bribe God. An earlier King of England, King Ethelred, had this written on his tombstone, “In order that I may be worthy to enter the Heavenly Kingdom, I give Almighty God three farms to be held forever for a monastery!”  Imagine trying to pay your way into heaven when Jesus offers free admission! And anyway, Ethelred’s  gift was probably abolished by King Henry VIII, along with all the other monasteries!

3.       Delay:  2 Corinthians 6:2 says, “Now is the day of salvation!  I once invited a man along to church one Sunday morning, and since I was preaching, he may have missed out on the chance of salvation that day! Sadly, he didn’t have any more Sundays! He had a turn of some kind during the week and by the following Sunday he was in his grave! This could happen to any one of us at any time! I know of many, many students I’ve taught as teenagers in the past who are now in their graves! Let us spend each day with God now, and until we meet Him face to face! We should heed the words of Amos 4:12, “Prepare to meet your God!” (This could not be said of the man in today’s reading! It could not be said of Professor Huxley or my relative, or my friend Viv, or the man who refused to come to church, or even of poor old King Ethelred! But let’s be sure your family can say of you, “He/she was ready to meet God!”

How great would it be to have the attitude of the famous evangelist Dwight Moody, who said, “When you see my death notice in the paper, I’ll be more alive then than I am now!”