Turn to song number 56, when we all get to heaven.
Song number 56.
Lord, thank you, sir, for our church service tonight.
Lord, I ask that you bless all the people that are here, Lord.
I ask that you be with those folks that got the seed of the word, Lord.
We preach to those folks.
And I ask that you use the gospel we gave them, Lord, to help them to get saved one day, sir.
And bless the rest of our service.
And I pray this in your son's name, the Lord Jesus. Amen.
Amen. Amen.
We're going to turn to our next song. Remember song number 143?
Song 143, Blessed Assurance.
Song 143.
Praise the glory divine.
Heir of salvation, praise the God.
Lord of his spirit, wash from his bed.
This is my story, this is my song.
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song.
Praising my Savior all the day long.
With exhumation, I can be heard.
Visions of blood, shear the burst of my sight.
Angels keep singing, bring them above.
Black as a bird of spring, this is my story, this is my song.
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song.
Praising my Savior all the day long.
With exhumation, all is at rest.
I hear my Savior and may be at rest.
Watch me waiting when you are gone.
Heir of his goodness, wash from his bed.
This is my story, this is my song.
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song.
Praising my Savior all the day long.
All right, great singing everybody.
At this time we'll go through our announcements.
If you need a bulletin, go ahead and set up your hand.
Brother Matthew will bring you one.
Again, as always, we have our service times every Sunday at 10.30 a.m.
Again at 5.30 p.m.
Thursdays is our midweek Bible study.
That's at 7 o'clock.
We're going through the book of Deuteronomy.
It will be in Deuteronomy chapter 14.
We've got the church-wide soul wedding below that
every Sunday, Thursday, and Saturday.
And we'll go ahead and count up the soul wedding
going back to Friday, if anybody had to say Friday or Saturday.
I don't know if there's a group that went out on Saturday.
And then today we planted some seeds.
We got out there, but nobody got saved today.
So we'll just have to get back out there and do it some more, huh?
And below that we got the offering totals for the month and year.
And of course a happy new year to everybody.
Thank you for making 2019 a great year down here in Tucson.
And let's do it again next year.
Just excited again about what God's got in store for this church.
The growth we've seen is kind of a...
There were some milestones last year.
We got into this building.
Just some great things that we got to see accomplished.
And we've seen it grow.
We've seen people coming.
We've had some real high days.
And we've seen a lot of souls saved.
So thanks for everybody for making 2019 a great year.
And then below that the baby shower went off without a hitch.
There was plenty of cake when we got back.
So that was good, right?
There's still some back there I think.
So feel free to help yourself to the cake.
If you're a guy and you take one with a flower on it, I won't even say anything.
You know, go ahead.
I had one.
It was pink.
It was delicious.
All right?
Anyway, help yourself to all that back there after the service.
Please help us get that eaten up.
And then of course this is the deadline right now.
After church tonight.
Job 28 has not been recited.
We're going to close the door on that.
And I believe I got five.
Is there anybody here tonight that was not here this morning that got Job 28 done?
We got another one.
Okay, so now we're all the way up to...
Oh, we got two more.
You're going to get it done.
Really?
Okay.
All right.
We'll see about that.
I'm going to hold you to that, brother.
So we got two more?
Three.
Three?
Wow.
Did you do it?
Did any of you raise your hand this morning?
I want to be counted.
Yeah, I mean, this prize is awesome.
I would put this up to eight.
And then if Brother Fabian gets it, we'll be all the way up to nine.
So great.
That's awesome.
Okay.
Below that, join us next Sunday for yet more fat and sugar here at Faithful Word Baptist
Church.
Join us for the donuts at 10 a.m.
In honor of everybody that's celebrating their birthday in January.
On the back is the note about the small town soul winning, which is going to resume for
the winter months.
Our first one is going to be one of these sheets.
Or if you'd like to get a year-end giving statement, this will help a lot as well.
I'm not saying if you don't fill this out, you're not going to get one.
But this will help me to know where to mail it.
Or if we just need to get it contacted about anything.
This is handy for us to have.
So if you haven't considered filling one of those out, please think about it.
And then below that, there's a wedding taking place on January 11th with Sean Conwin and
Chantelle John.
And everyone here in Tucson is invited to make the trek up there on that Saturday and
join us at 2 p.m.
There'll be even more cake and more punch.
I mean, we're just all about cake and punch and donuts and cake and punch and donuts down
here.
So if you haven't had enough cake between today and enough donuts next week, you know,
you can still get in some more cake the following weekend.
So come on out and join us for that as well if you would like.
That's going to be a great time.
And then below that is the note, some other upcoming events.
Of course, a special note for the FWBC Missions Conference.
Please make a point of making it up to that.
If you need a copy of the schedule, let me know.
I can give you one.
And then just keep in mind that week, the Thursday service will be taking place up there.
That's going to do it for announcements.
Let's go ahead and sing our next song.
We'll go to song number 23.
There is power in the blood.
Song number 23.
There is power in the blood.
There is power, power, one will walk in blood.
In the blood, one will live.
There is power, power, one will walk in blood.
In the precious blood of the Lord.
In you be light of much greater than stone.
There is power in the blood.
Power in the blood.
There is power in the blood.
Where we stand our hearts, there is life giving birth.
There is power in the blood.
There is power, power, one will walk in blood.
In the blood, one will live.
There is power, power, one will walk in blood.
In the precious blood of the Lord.
Jesus, your King, his power in the blood, power in the blood.
Whom shall you bring, his praises to see,
his wonderful power in the world,
in his fire, fire, wonder-waking blood,
in the fire of the Lamb, in his fire, fire, wonder-waking
blood, in the precious blood of our Lamb.
All right, God's singing, everybody.
At this time, we'll pass our offering plate.
And as the plate goes around, you
can follow along with me as I read from Psalm chapter 90.
Book of Psalms this evening, chapter number 90.
Psalm chapter 90, the Bible reads, beginning in verse 1,
Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever thou hast formed the earth, the world,
even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
Thou turnest man to destruction, and sayest,
return, ye children of men.
For 1,000 years, and I sight ours,
but yesterday, when it is past, and is a watch in the night.
Thou carriest them away, as with the flood, they are asleep.
In the morning, they are like a grass which groweth up.
In the morning, it flourisheth, and groweth up.
In the evening, it is cut down and withereth.
For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath,
we are troubled.
Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins,
in the light of thy countenance.
For all our days are passed away in thy wrath,
we spend our years as a tale that is told.
The days of our years are threescore and ten,
and if by reason of strength, they be fourscore.
Yet is their strength in labor and sorrow,
for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
Who knoweth the power of thine anger?
Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts
unto wisdom.
Return, O Lord, how long, and let it repent thee,
concerning thy servants.
O satisfy us early with thy mercy,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad according to the days where now has afflicted us
and the years wherein we have seen evil.
Let thy work appear unto thy servants,
and thy glory unto their children.
And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish thou the work of our hands,
our hands upon us.
Yea, the work of our hands, establish thou it.
Let's go ahead and pray.
Dear Lord, we again thank you for the time
that we have to come together, and to hear the preaching
of your word, and Father, we thank you for the Bible.
And Lord, I pray that you would just help me
to preach it now, as I ought, in Christ's name,
we pray, amen.
Amen.
So, of course, we're going into the new year,
and I preached kind of a new year-ish sermon this morning,
but this is the one I was originally gonna preach
in the morning, and then I kinda thought about the fact
that we need to probably preach something a little more
practical as far as what to do in the new year,
and hence, that's why we got the Bible reading sermon,
but this is one that I kinda wanted to go ahead
and preach anyway, and really, it's not necessarily
a new year's eve sermon in the sense that you're gonna walk
away from this saying you're gonna have some new resolution
or something like that, but really, what this psalm is,
and I think this is a great psalm not just for the new year,
but it's also a great psalm just for any time.
It's a great psalm for all of our life,
and I've entitled the sermon A Psalm for All Ages.
We could turn to this passage and learn great things
from it, not just as we enter in a new year,
but any time during any year, there's a great truth
in here that I want us to see, and really, the truth
that we have to learn from this, or we must learn
from this chapter, it can only be understood
when we have considered the context of this chapter
and what it is that Moses, the man of God
who wrote this psalm, what it is he is expressing here,
and one of the first things he's showing us
is the fact that God is eternal.
Now, I'm sure that doesn't come as a shock to any of us
this morning or this evening.
We all understand that God is eternal,
but sometimes I think we might lose sight
of just how amazing that is, how great God is,
and the fact that he is an eternal God,
and of course, if you would look there in verses one and two
that's how Moses starts out the psalm.
He says, Lord, thou has been our dwelling place
in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever thou hast formed the earth and the world,
even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
So he's expressing right out of the gate
the fact that God is eternal, from everlasting
to everlasting, and this is one of the great attributes
of God, the fact that God is without beginning
and without end.
Jesus said in Revelation chapter one,
I am the alpha and omega, the beginning and the ending,
saith the Lord, which is, which was,
and which is to come, the Almighty.
So that's who God is.
You know, I don't know if every child ever has
this experience or if this is something that
most people contemplate at some point in their life or not,
but I remember even as a young child trying to understand
where did God come from?
You know, and that's one of those intellectual walls
that we run into when we try to understand
what's outside of God, because the answer is
God has always been, and we can't wrap our mind around that
from our vantage point, from our human perspective,
we can't understand the fact that God has always been.
You know, I remember sitting around with my younger sister
and thinking, you know, these childhood thoughts
going what's outside of space, you know,
and it's mind-boggling, it makes the head hurt, you know,
and we just have to trust that God is who he says he is,
and God says I am the alpha, I am the omega,
I am the beginning, I am the ending,
that which was, which is, and which has been,
which is to come.
So God is eternal, and again, this isn't a new truth,
but this is one, this is how Moses starts this song,
because there is a truth that we have to learn
from this song, and he establishes it by saying
the first thing we need to understand
is that God is outside of time, that God is eternal,
and that no matter how far back we wanna trace
our lineage back, you know, God has always been there.
God doesn't have a family tree.
You know, he has been our dwelling place in all generations.
So that's one thing that we need to understand,
first of all, is that God is eternal,
and I think that's pretty simple for us to get
from the scripture, that's something,
but it is something that we have to trust by faith.
You know, I can't get up here to really demonstrate
exactly how all of that works, but we just read it
in the word of God, and we trust it,
that thou has been God from everlasting to everlasting.
He has been God.
And what we need to understand, and what Moses,
the reason why he starts out expounding this truth
and expressing this truth that God is eternal
is because he wants us to understand something about man,
that man by comparison is exceedingly insignificant to God,
that we are exceedingly temporal by comparison,
and that's when he gets into this chapter.
He starts out saying, look, before the mountains ever were,
before they also ever formed the earth and created it,
thou has been, and then he goes on to talk about
how temporal man is, how quickly and how fleeting
this life is.
So, you know, we need to get this idea about the,
just God's magnitude, how big he is.
That's what Moses, I believe, is trying to express
in this song, just how big God is, how great God is.
And this is something that's good for us to dwell on,
and this is something that I think we need to stop
at least once a year and think about the fact
that God is big, that God is eternal,
that God is magnificent, that God is all of these things.
We could consider some of the other examples
that scripture gives to express the magnitude of God,
of who God is.
I mean, we think about the things that dwarf us
in this world, right?
We could look out at, you know, the stars,
and if you would, turn over to Genesis chapter one.
Actually, go to Psalm 147, I'm sorry, go to Psalm 147.
You know, I mean, even in my, you know,
before I got saved, one of the first things,
and I know I've said this before,
but it's something I'll never forget,
is the fact that when I was seeking God and looking for God,
I was living in the Caribbean at the time,
on these islands, and down there, you can see the stars
way better than you can see them here.
Now, Tucson, you can see them a little bit better
because of the fact that you have the observatories
and things, and they try to keep the city lights down,
but you know, by and large, it's very hard
to go to somewhere to really get a good look at the stars.
It's been some time for me, anyway,
having lived in Phoenix so long now,
but when you can really get a look at the stars,
and you know, this is something we should probably
try to do every once in a while.
You know, we should go out and do as David did,
consider the heavens, you know, behold the firmament
and God's handiwork, and we'll probably have
the same reaction that he did.
What is, you know, who is man that thou art mindful of,
what, you know, a while ago, who is man that thou art,
what is it?
That thou art mindful.
That thou art mindful of him, yeah, thank you.
You think you know it, and then you don't.
But you know, that would be our reaction.
You know, who is man that thou art mindful of him?
We'd go out and we'd look at the stars and say,
God's huge, God is magnificent, God is very,
just, you know, beyond comprehension.
And that's what we would look at.
Now, you're going to Psalm 147 in Genesis chapter one,
I love this verse, it says, and God made two great lights,
the greater light to rule the day,
and the lesser light to rule the night.
I mean, there's one thing right there
that just expresses how big God is.
When we look at the sun, we see the scales of the sun
and the earth in comparison to the sun,
it's just, it's huge.
You can't even compare the two.
And it far exceeds the size of the earth,
but the Bible says that's what God made,
that God's the one who just made the sun.
And it says, and he made the lesser to rule the night,
and it ends by saying, and he made the stars also.
It's just, it's almost a nonchalant statement about God,
that he just, man, he made the stars also.
And then he goes on,
and what does he proceed to talk about?
Mankind.
He goes on to talk about the fall of man,
Adam, Abraham, Moses, and he goes on,
and he spends his time,
I mean, God could have just gone off right there,
and I made the stars also,
and just begin to just talk about
how magnificent and wonderful that is,
what a profound statement that is,
that God just made the stars also.
And we know that they're just without number.
We couldn't even sit and count
all the stars that God made.
Now, if you're there in Psalm 147,
let's look here in verse four where it says,
he telleth the number of the stars,
he calleth them all by their names.
So not only did God just make the stars,
the Bible says that he telleth them.
What does that mean?
It means he counts them, like a bank teller.
What do they do?
They count, right?
God knows how many stars there are.
I mean, God knows the number of hairs in our head.
God knows exactly how many stars there are.
God's not just gonna have a close guess.
He's gonna tell you exactly
how many stars there are in the sky.
He can telleth them,
and then he knows that he calleth them all by their names.
God has names for these stars.
God knows them all,
because he's the one that made them.
And I could try to get up here
and impress upon you how amazing that is,
but really, you're the one who has to dwell on that,
and think of that for yourself,
and let that make an impression upon you.
And maybe the next time you go out
and you get a glimpse of the stars,
you could think about the fact,
about how that God made every one of them,
and he knows them all by name,
and how many there are.
And then we might have some reverence for him.
So what he's starting out here is showing us in Psalm 90,
is the fact that God is very great, and man is not.
That man is very small.
That God is eternal, and man is very temporal.
And we think about some of the other things,
even in our own natural world, that dwarf us,
that God is much larger than.
We look at the stars and we say, wow, the stars are amazing.
And God says, yeah, my right hand spans the universe.
Yeah, I've made those also.
It's nothing to God.
It's easy for him.
We could think about the seas, right?
And those of you that memorized Job 28,
this should ring a bell for you.
If you haven't memorized,
so let's go back to Job 28 and verse 24.
So the scenes, right?
I remember, again, the Caribbean,
just looking out, have you ever flown over an ocean?
Have you ever taken an airplane flight over the ocean?
You could be over the ocean for hours and hours
and hours and hours.
And I can't remember where I heard it,
but somebody was saying, wow, the ocean's so big.
I mean, they're standing here
and they're looking out from the shore
and they just see the vastness of the sea.
And they say, wow, the ocean is so big.
And then someone says, yeah, that's just the top of it.
You know, that's all you see.
You don't see the many miles deep that it is.
You're just seeing the very surface of it.
And that can just make you feel very small.
I mean, just thinking about what it'd be like
to just be out on some small vessel
out in the middle of some vast sea.
You hear about these people that are lost at sea
and just how overwhelming that must be
to be in a situation like that.
I mean, you're as good as dead at that point.
I mean, it's like finding a needle in a haystack.
They're so large, they're so big.
But what did it say in Job 28?
Look at verse 24.
For we look at the ends of the earth
and see it under the whole heaven
to make it wait for the winds.
I'm still trying to figure that one out.
To make it wait for the winds
and weigheth the waters by measure.
I mean, God says, oh, that ocean that's so vast?
Yeah, that's pretty cool.
You know, it's like a drop of water in his hand.
It's nothing.
And that's what we have to understand.
And that's what Moses is trying to express in the Psalm.
Before he gets into this,
the first thing he starts out with
is trying to get man to understand
that God has been God from everlasting.
That he is a great God,
and then he goes on to, you know,
he wants us to consider, you know,
by comparison the insignificance of man.
I'm not saying insignificance
in the sense that man doesn't matter.
We know that man matters.
That's why God loves man and God died for man
and God seeks after man even today.
But I'm saying in terms of comparison
that when we consider man in comparison to God,
you know, we should feel less than nothing.
We should feel very insignificant.
That's the proper attitude to have.
And if you would turn back to Psalm chapter 90,
we're gonna be in there for the rest of the evening,
so if you would just keep something there.
When he says in verse nine,
for all our days are passed away in thy wrath,
we spend our lives as a tale that is told.
The days of our years are three score and 10,
and if by reason of strength be four score years,
yet is their strength, labor, and sorrow,
for it is soon cut off and we fly away.
So he starts out by saying God is great,
God is from everlasting, but man,
four score and 10 is the best he's looking at.
You know, that's a very, I mean,
think about comparing the two.
All of eternity and our short little lifespan.
I mean, it would be like you taking an eyedropper
and putting a drop in, you know,
the deepest part of the ocean.
You can't, I don't even think
that would be a proper comparison.
We can't even understand the vastness of God,
and especially in comparison to how brief man's life is.
And really, that's kind of what I want us
to focus in on this morning, or this evening, rather,
is the fact that we have a limited time on this earth,
that we have a very, very short time,
especially compared to God, and that God,
you know, God is great, God is, you know,
God is eternal, and therefore, you know,
everything that we do on this earth,
this time that we do have should be spent
trying to serve him.
Only those things that have eternal value,
those are the only things in our life
that are going to last.
And we shouldn't get caught up in all the vanity
that the world wants us chasing after.
So we consider the insignificance of man,
that he has four score and 10.
You know, man is born, and then he dies.
And it's very brief.
You know, and the younger we are,
the less we seem to understand that,
but the older we get, the more we start to say,
you know, the old timers are right,
it sure does go by quick.
And I'm sure the older that I get,
and the older I get, the more and more
I'll find that to be true, and say,
wow, it's going by fast.
You know, especially when you have kids come on the scene,
you see kids just grow up in front of you,
and it's been, you're like, wow,
it's been eight years already.
I remember when they were just, you know,
scooting around on the floor,
and now they're running all over the place.
But God is eternal, and man is temporal.
The Bible says of Jesus that he was without father,
without mother, without descent,
having neither beginning of days nor end of life.
Now, that's an interesting thing to think about,
the fact that not only did God not have beginning of days,
but he has neither end of life.
And as I was reading it, it caused me to just think,
you know, what would be greater,
if you could only have one or the other?
To always, to have always been, or never cease to be.
I mean, that's what Jesus had, he had both, we know that.
But think about, and here's the thing,
here's the reason why I even bring that up,
and I'm not just trying to, you know,
sound philosophical up here,
but we actually have one of those.
One of those is ours to possess.
Now, we know that we have a beginning,
that we have a beginning of days,
that, you know, we have not always been,
but we can have the aspect of never ceasing to be.
Why?
Because we have eternal life.
That's one thing we're going to share in common with God,
is that our life will not end.
Now, of course we know our physical body one day will die
until the resurrection, when he raises it up again,
and makes it new in Christ.
But our spirit, our soul,
will go on to live with Christ eternally,
and will one day be reunited with this body,
and will receive a glorified body.
And, you know, there will be no end of days for us either.
So that's one aspect of God's magnificence
that we as human beings get to partake in through Christ,
the fact that we also will be eternal,
and that we will go on from wherever we start
into all of eternity with God.
And the more, you know, we think about that,
you know, the more profound that is.
And, you know, by the grace of God,
that's what we have in Christ, is an eternal life.
Jesus said, verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that heareth my word and believeth on him
that sent me hath everlasting life.
We say these words so often at the door,
but do we really stop sometimes,
let that sink in, what that means for us.
So often we're at somebody else's door
trying to get them to understand this truth.
I think sometimes we might walk away
and not stop and think about it,
that we have that already,
that we already get to have that everlasting life,
that we shall not come into condemnation,
but that we are passed from death unto life right now.
So if we would, let's go ahead
and turn over to 2 Peter chapter 11.
Keep something there again in Psalm 90,
but let's go over to 2 Peter chapter 11.
Peter asks a question over here in 2 Peter,
why did I say chapter 11, chapter three.
If you got 2 Peter chapter 11 in your Bible,
you need to throw that thing out in the background.
See me after the sermon.
I told somebody to turn to Psalm 188 the other day.
They came up to me at the service, I couldn't find that.
I'm like, oh yeah, that's cause it's not there.
If it's in the notes, I'm gonna say it folks,
it's just gonna come out, hopefully I catch it.
But usually people give me an odd enough look
from the seat that I'll go, I said something weird.
But look here at 2 Peter, let's go to chapter three.
Peter asks a question here in verse 11.
He says, seeing that all these things shall be dissolved,
what manner of persons ought ye to be
in all holy conversation and godliness,
looking for and hasting unto the day,
the coming of the day of God,
wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved
and the elements shall melt with the fervent heat.
Notice he's asking a question, that's a question mark there.
He's saying, look, because all this has happened,
do you see what manner of persons
ye ought to be in all holy conversation?
That all of these other things are going to melt away
with the fervent heat, the earth is going to pass away,
a new earth will be created, but we will remain
through all of that, that we have eternal life.
And he's saying, look, understanding this,
knowing this great truth, that we are eternal,
that we have passed from death unto life,
we need to ask ourselves that question.
Do we see what manner of persons we ought to be?
And this is kind of what I wanna preach to us tonight
about as far as going into a new year,
understanding who we are in Christ,
what are we gonna do with the time we have here?
Are we living holy?
Is our manner holy?
Are the things of God what matter to us,
or is it the things of the world
that are more important to us?
The things that are going to pass away,
the things that are going to burn up
and be no more and cease to exist
and to be forgotten out of mind for all eternity.
Is that what we're focusing on?
Is that what's most important to us in this life,
or is it the things that have eternal value?
And really, that's what the prayer of Moses is,
and let's go back there to Psalm chapter 90.
He kind of shares the same sentiment here as Peter.
That's what he's trying to express, the same truth.
Look, consider what man is in comparison to God.
Consider what your life is in comparison to eternity
and act accordingly.
He says here in Psalm chapter 90, look at verse 12,
so teach us to number our days
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
He starts out by talking about the magnificence of God,
the eternal aspect of God, how great God is,
how man's life is so short, how his days are numbered,
and he says, as a result, and because of these things,
teach us to number our days.
Teach us to apply our hearts unto wisdom.
You know, in the light of God's eternal nature
that we see here, and by comparison,
man's just vapid, just temporal existence.
You know, we should pray as Moses.
Number your days.
And that's what I want us to do,
because that's what we're doing, right?
We're going into a new year,
and everyone hopefully is thinking about
all the great changes they're gonna make in their life.
You know, they're buying the gym memberships,
and they're getting on the diets,
we're sitting down after church,
and we're making deals with one another,
hey, I'm not gonna drink any pop
if you don't drink any pop.
Or sorry, soda, I forgot where I was.
Right, soda pop, there, I got everybody.
Right, we have all these things
that we're thinking about doing, right?
We're numbering, we're thinking about these great things
that we wanna accomplish this next year.
And that's good, we should do that.
But you know, that's an attitude
that we should apply to our whole life.
You should number your days.
You know, I was talking about this
with somebody that was down here,
but it's interesting there,
and I read this, when I read this a little while ago,
that Moses uses that term.
He says, number your days, instead of years, right?
He didn't say, number your decades.
He didn't say, number your years.
He didn't say, number even your months or weeks.
He said, number your days.
And I thought about that,
and when you start, when you actually look at your life
in terms of days and not years,
you get perspective real fast.
You start to realize how quick life really is sometimes.
You know, we think about the fact,
so what is it, you know, in the previous verse,
he says four score, you know, six score and 10,
and by reason of strength, four score and 10.
So we're talking about 70 to 80 years, right?
You know, a score is 20 years.
So he's saying, look, man's life is limited 70 to 80 years.
Now, I know there's exceptions.
In fact, I was just reading a story
about a lady down here in Tucson
who turned 100 years old recently,
and you know how she celebrated it?
She went to Taco Bell.
She went to Taco Bell for 100,
she was dead like every week.
I'm like, 100 years, that lady hasn't learned anything.
I mean, if you're living in Tucson
and you're going to Taco Bell,
and I've gone off about this before, and I will again,
if you're living in the, you know,
the Mexican food mecca of the world
and you're going to Taco Bell,
you know, you haven't learned anything in 100 years, lady.
You got nothing to share.
I'm just kidding.
Man, she just likes Taco Bell, you know, whatever.
You live 100 years, you get to go wherever you want,
and no one can give you any guff about it.
But that, even 100 years, we'd say, wow, that's so long,
but let's measure these, let's step back,
and let's not measure it in years.
Let's measure it in days and get some perspective.
Now, most of us, you know, we're hoping for the three score,
we're hoping for the four score, right?
I don't know that we would like to get to the 100, right?
You know, but I wouldn't bank on it,
you know, we'll do what we can.
But if you had 70 to 80 years, that would equal,
70 years is 25,550 days.
So it's like just shy of 26,000 days.
Does that sound as impressive?
26,000 days, and you think, how long?
Because I thought, well, man, if I measured my days,
that's probably going to be quite a few.
Then I looked at that, I said,
I must have done the math wrong.
You know, simple multiplication, I know,
but that's not very long.
You know, if you make it to the 80 years,
you got 29,200 days.
In your life.
You don't even make 30,000 if you make it 80 years.
Now, here's the thing, you know,
most of us probably wouldn't get overly excited
if someone came up and handed us a check for $30,000.
I'm not saying I wouldn't put a smile on my face, okay?
And if anybody wants to prove this theory,
by all means, feel free.
You know, cut me a check for 30 grand
and I'll say thank you, believe me.
But you know what, I'd be realistic with that check.
You know, I inherited $20,000 in a few years,
and you know what, it went away like that.
It was gone fast.
And it wasn't just because I was being fat and sassy,
I was, you know, I was just trying to pay the bills.
You know, I might have bought a few things that I wanted,
but you know, that money goes fast.
And anybody that'll tell you 30 grand,
that's maybe, that's maybe a year's wages.
If you're lucky, and if you're making 30,000 a year,
you're probably not real happy about it.
You know, you probably want to make more.
You know, is it really that funny?
Is it the fat and sassy?
Oh my God, you're gonna think, I've said that before.
You lose it, I'm gonna lose it.
So try to fool the other people, but you know, anyway.
But you know what I'm saying, like 30 grand,
it's not gonna go very far.
You know, it's gonna be, you're not gonna,
you're gonna be excited about it,
but it's not gonna be a lot of money.
You're not gonna live the rest of your life on $30,000.
But hey, you only got 30,000 days if you make it 80 years.
So that's the perspective there.
You know, that, you know, here's the thing,
when you do this, when you've got some years on you,
when you've grown up a little bit,
it gets even more bleak.
It's even more disparaging, right?
Because I just turned 39 like a few weeks ago.
So I did this, I have 14,965 days left till I'm 80.
Not even 15,000.
I read that, and you wanna talk about depressing.
Man, I was ready to go buy a hot rod or something.
Wish I had 30 grand, you know,
live through a midlife crisis or something.
I don't know what was going on,
but that's not very long, folks.
14,000 a week, and is it any wonder
why Moses tells us to number our days?
Because he wants us to understand something,
that our life is short,
and that especially in comparison to eternity.
So the purpose of that, you know,
why should we, you know, number our days?
What's the purpose of actually sitting down
and measuring this and thinking about our life?
You know, what we're gonna do with the rest of our life?
What are our goals?
Not just for 2020, what are your goals for life?
What are you gonna accomplish in this life for Christ?
What are you gonna do with the 30,000 or the 20,000
or the 15,000 years you've got left?
What are you gonna do with it?
How are you gonna spend it?
Are you gonna spend it on those things
that are just gonna burn up and go away?
Or are you gonna live holy in your conversation,
you're gonna seek after the things of Christ,
or are you gonna serve him?
And that's the purpose of numbering these things,
is so that you will be motivated.
I'll tell you what, when I read 14,000 days,
I was like, man, I gotta get after it.
I haven't got much time left.
I've got 14,000 days left.
Less than, you know, a little less than 15,000.
The clock's ticking, what am I gonna do?
You know, time to get serious about the things of God
and get after it.
That's what this is, the purpose of this.
That's why I believe Moses is telling us to number our days.
And really, where does that begin?
You know, you say, well, you know what, you got me.
Now I'm motivated.
That's in perspective.
You know, I don't wanna just waste the few 10,000,
20,000 days that I have left on this life,
you know, pursuing vanity.
You know, what does he tell us to do there then?
He says, teach us to number our days
so that we can get depressed about it,
so that we can say, oh man, my life's half over.
What am I gonna do?
Or what, you know, what's the point?
That we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
That's the purpose of measuring your days,
that you will be motivated to apply your heart to wisdom.
And the Bible has a lot to say about wisdom.
You know, wisdom is the principle thing.
Therefore, with all thy getting, get understanding.
You know, we should pursue wisdom in our life.
You know, if you wanna spend those few days
that we have on this earth,
pursuing that which is profitable,
and that's gonna have eternal value,
you're gonna spend it pursuing wisdom,
gaining knowledge and instruction,
knowing the word of God, practicing the word of God,
you know, living out your faith.
And where does wisdom begin?
We should know this, because it's all through scripture,
especially the Job 28 people, right?
Wisdom begins with fearing God.
That's how Job 28 ends.
Unto man he saith, behold, the fear of the Lord,
that is wisdom, and depart from evil is understanding.
He's saying, look, you wanna have some wisdom?
You wanna spend the few thousand years
that you have on this earth,
years, thousand days that you have on this earth?
You wanna spend that 15,000 days on this earth
that you have left with some wisdom?
You better learn to fear God.
You better have some fear of God before your eyes.
And to depart from evil, you know?
Quit chasing after that which is vanity,
and foolishness, and unprofitable,
and start to pursue that which is godly,
and wholesome, and right, and just,
and it's going to have eternal value.
And really, and I wanna close on this thought,
and I'm not going long tonight, but the wise,
what is, you know, if we wanna maximize
the amount of time we have on this earth for God,
then we're gonna pursue wisdom.
And really, what's the wisest thing
we could do with our time in light of eternity?
Well, it would be to spread God's message, wouldn't it?
It would be to repeat what God is saying to man.
I mean, if God is looking down and saying,
look, I know man's time is short,
and I know where man, I know everything about man,
where he's headed, and what his life is like,
you know, and God speaks to man and has a message for man,
the wisest thing we could do is to repeat
that message to other people.
That would probably be the best thing that we could do,
and what is God's message to man?
Well, it's here in Psalm chapter 90,
and if we would look at verse three.
He says, thou turnest man to destruction,
and sayest, return ye children of men.
That's such a profound verse,
and I was thinking about that,
that God turns man to destruction,
and then says, return to me.
You know why so many people never go for God,
and they never pursue God?
Because they don't know, they're not,
they don't see destruction.
They think it's just a primrose path at the end of life.
They don't see that cliff at the end
that drops down into hell.
And God here say, he turns man to destruction,
so that when man sees destruction,
he will turn to God in faith.
You know, you say hell is a scary place.
It's supposed to be.
It's supposed to frighten us so badly
that we turn to God for help, and cry out, and he saves us.
And that is, I mean, when you think about it,
that really is the gospel, isn't it?
That's exactly what we do.
And I'm telling you this evening
that that's the wisest thing you could do
with this brief time that we have on this earth.
Is to repeat this message right here.
To go to the door, and knock on the door,
and say, hey, all have sinned,
and come short of the glory of God.
The wages of sin is death.
Death and hell were cast in the lake of fire.
That's the opening of pretty much
every gospel presentation I've ever heard.
Anyone that has any effect in it anyways.
The first thing you gotta have to get that person
to understand is that they're lost.
What are you doing when you're telling
that you're turning them to destruction?
You're saying, look, look where you're headed.
You're turning them to destruction,
and then comes the message, return.
Return, you children of men.
And then comes the good news of the gospel,
that Jesus Christ has died for our sins,
was buried, and rose again.
That's God's message in this Psalm,
and I believe that's the message that we need to repeat.
And that's the best thing that you could do
with your time on this earth.
That's the most return, you wanna get a return
on your time that you invest in this earth.
Preach the gospel.
And that's kind of my challenge this evening,
is that our life is short,
and our earthly accomplishments are vain
if they're not in Christ.
And the best thing you could do
is to preach the gospel to other people.
And if we could just, I really just wanna encourage people,
even those of us that do go sowing,
to not faint, not grow weary, and to keep at it.
And if we're not doing it, then what are we doing?
What on earth are we doing for heaven's sake,
as the saying goes?
What are we investing our time in?
And I'm not saying that we have to be out there
every single day, and that there's nothing,
we can never enjoy anything else in this life.
God says, in Ecclesiastes, that there's nothing better
for man than to eat the fruit of his labor,
and to enjoy the wife of his youth,
and so on and so forth.
That is the gift of God to man, yes,
but when we're talking about actually investing something
with our time, and actually having something to show
when we get to the end of our 30,000 days,
or whatever it's gonna work out to be,
the best thing you could do is repeat God's message,
because everything else really is just vanity.
You know, there's 365 days that are about to have gone by.
How many of them were spent serving Christ?
You know, because they're gone.
You know, if you say none, not enough,
not as much as I would like, it's too late,
you can't do anything about those, those ones are gone.
You can't change the past.
But you know what, we're coming up on a new year,
there's another 365 days laying out ahead of us,
which are just a small, just a fraction
of the time that we have on this earth.
Maybe this year we can say, you know what, life is short,
and I don't wanna just spend another year
pursuing only those things which are vain,
which have no eternal value.
So number this next year for Christ,
number this next year for Jesus,
and let's go out there, let's repeat this message,
and let's help others to see the magnificence of God,
of the greatness of God, and that their need for a Savior.
Let's go ahead and pray.
Dear Lord, again, we thank you for the Bible,
we thank you for these profound truths
that we can read on every page.
Lord, we can pick this book up every single day
and read it, and Lord, you could speak to us
and we could see wondrous things out of thy law.
And Lord, help us to never forget how great you truly are.
And Lord, help us to be wise with our time.
Help us to apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Help us to spread the message of the Gospel, Lord,
for that is the message that you would have
all mankind to hear.
We ask that you would keep us safe,
bring us back again on our next time you meet.
In Christ's name, amen.
Amen.
All right, we'll go ahead and sing another song.
Let's go over to song number 137.
Song number 137.
In times like these,
song number 137.
Okay.
In times like these,
This fruit is Jesus, this fruit is the one.
This fruit is Jesus, the only one.
The very show, the very show.
The river runs, there is the sun in ground.
In times like these, the river I grow.
In times like these, the river I know.
The very show, the very show.
The river runs, there is the sun in ground.
This fruit is Jesus, this fruit is the one.
This fruit is Jesus, the only one.
The very show, the very show.
The river runs, there is the sun in ground.
In times like these, the river I grow.
The very show, the very show.
The river runs, there is the sun in ground.
This fruit is Jesus, this fruit is the one.
This fruit is Jesus, the only one.
The very show, the very show.
The river runs, there is the sun in ground.
The very show, the very show.