Borrowing Against Eternity

Introduction

Lead me to some soul today, or teach me more just what to say friends of mine are lost in my way to their seat and you are giving lead me to somewhere to wonder and turn in one to me thy whole you never speak to me and to my life, lead me from the life to know wish.

A pleasant good morning to you all. Or as we say in Texas, y’all. It’s good to be here with you. It’s good to have the opportunity to speak to you again. And I would be very much in the wrong if I did not say Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers that are with us this morning, whether you’re here on a regular basis or whether you happen to be visiting, glad to have you. I’m glad to have an attendance, not my mother. That did not come out right. My mother’s not here. She may be here this evening, but I’m glad to have my mother-in-law in attendance. She is a wonderful lady and a wonderful woman, and is the reason that I have Lauren, and I am so absolutely grateful to her for that in immeasurable kinds of ways.

Someone asked me last year about this time if I was going to be preaching on Mother’s Day, because the denomination right down the street from us always had a themed sermon around various holidays. And I and I’m reminded, and I think I heard this story first from Ed Harrell, and then I think I heard Chuck Durham repeat it several years ago about the gentleman that had a sermon for every single holiday. That around Christmas time he had one on Christmas, and how Jesus wasn’t born at Christmas time. And around Easter, he had an Easter sermon, and Mother’s Day he had a Mother’s Day sermon, and Father’s Day and so forth and so forth, and it wasn’t until he preached Noah in the Ark on Groundhog’s Day that people started having any kind of problem with it.

But this morning I want to talk to you about something that is an urgent need. It’s actually interesting that Mike led the song before the before the lesson that had the word today. Because that’s exactly what I want to talk to you about this morning. I want to talk to you about today and whether or not we’re borrowing against eternity. Don’t let the title fool you there. I’ll get to that in a second and explain it. But before we get to that, I’d like you to open to Luke the 12th chapter. And we’re going to begin reading in the 15th verse. We’re going to spend some time this morning in Luke 12. Where it says, Then he said to them, Beware and be on your guard against every form of greed.

And not, for not even when one has an abundance, does his life consist of his possessions? And he told them a parable saying, the land of a rich man was very productive. And he began reasoning to himself, saying, What shall I do since I have no place to store my crops? Then he said, This is what I will do. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be married. But God said to him, You fool.

And now who will own what you have prepared? So is a man who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Then in this parable on covetousness, Jesus makes this point in the 20th verse. He says, God says to him, You fool, this very night.

1. We Always Think There's More Time

We always think there’s more time, don’t we? I mean, let’s face it, that’s the circle. I mean, when I was delivering the invitation a couple of weeks ago, we talked about that. That there is the perception of a circle, that each sun, each sundown is followed by a sunrise the next morning, and each sunrise will be followed by a sundown. Because the world has gone on and on and on that way, and it’s spun that way for longer than any of us can count. Or longer than any of us would want to count. But there’s going to come a day.

When sunrise will not be followed by sundown, or sundown will not be followed by sunrise. We’re going to talk about that more in a moment. And we are going to be accountable because that very night or that very day, our soul will be required of us. If you were to skip down to the 35th verse of this very same chapter, you would read the following Be dressed in readiness and keep your lamps lit. Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on alert when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will gird himself to serve and have them rec and have them recline at the table and will come up and wait on them.

2. What If Today Was All There Was?

Whether he comes in the second watch or even in the third and finds them, so blessed are those slaves. I want you to imagine, and we’re going to we’re going to use a lot of imagination this morning. Don’t go to sleep, but everybody just kind of close your eyes if you want to for a second. I want you to imagine that you could know at 522 the seed. About the time that I’ll be up here making my first point that was the exact moment. That was the moment that all of this was going to come to an end, and eternity would be brought to bear. 52.

What if today was all there was? Have you ever stopped and asked yourself that question? What if today was all there was? What if this was it? What if this train came to a halt this very day and you knew it? Are we doing what we would be doing if we knew he was coming today? I believe, and I don’t say this to be unkind or with any level of certainty beyond belief, but I believe that most of us might have some adjusting of our priorities. And I’m going to show you why in just a moment. Verse 41 says, Peter said, Lord, are you addressing this parable to us or to everyone else as well? And the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and sensible steward whom his master will put in charge of his servants to give them their rations at the proper time?

Blessed is that slave whom the master finds so doing when he comes, truly I say to you, that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that slave says in his heart, my master will be a long time in coming, and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him. And at an hour he does not know, and he will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. And the slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready to, or act in accordance with his will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it and committed deeds worthy of flogging will receive but a few.

For everyone who has been given much will be required, and to whom they entrusted much of him, much of him they will ask more. Peter says, Lord, are you are you addressing this parable to us? Or just go into a wider group. And he says, Let me tell you something about the way that people behave. People become lax. The faithful servant is the one that continues steadfastly in all the things that his master wants him to do, but that is not generally how people behave. People tend to behave like the rich fool. That they say, you know what? I did a lot of good work. I’ve done a lot of good stuff. I’ve got a lot of things laid up. I’m going to tear down my barns and build greater.

I told you a few weeks ago, Warren and I are beginning to put the wheels in motion for having kids, Lord willing. And we’re already making plans in the house that we’re figuring out how to condense her office into my office and make her office into a baby room if that blessed day should come. And then we’re going to figure out how to turn her garage, or my garage into her painting studio. And we’re putting all those pieces together, and I can tell you, John, she’s John’s my father in law instantly. She has a long list of daddy do’s. We call them daddy dudes because I’m not very skilled. They’re not honeydews, they’re daddy dudes. We have a long list of daddy does. Because that’s the thinking that there’s always a tomorrow, that there’s always going to be something to prepare for.

And eventually we’ll get to that point where all our eyes are dotted and T’s are crossed, and it’s just like the Fidelity commercial where they put that green line in front of you. You walk the green line all your life and you’re happy. Anybody seen that one? Or the one with Dennis Hopper, what was it, a Mara Prize or a Meritrain, where they were telling you, hey, you need to be ready to retire in retirement, building a yacht so you can sail around the world on a yacht? I don’t know many people that know how to do that. Or buy a vineyard or do all of these things. There may not be that day. And if our entire focus is on how to satiate what might be the need of tomorrow, then hear me carefully, brothers and sisters.

3. Would We Concern Ourselves With Tomorrow?

We are becoming woefully negligent of today. More on that in a moment. But if we knew that this is all there was roughly six hours from now, this whole world was going to come to a halt, and we knew it with absolute certainty. How would we spend the next few hours? How would we do that? Remember, we’re using our imaginations here, and so in the realm of our imagination, this is as real as it can possibly be. Yeah, I know I’m yelling. I’m sorry. Would we concern ourselves with tomorrow? Would we concern ourselves with tomorrow?

I shared this with you a few weeks ago, and I still haven’t found who said it. And I really wish that I could. If anyone knows, please let me know. But once in my life I heard a quote that went something like this tomorrow is among the most insidious lies ever contrived. It holds within it the false allure of promise and mutes the urgency of today. If this is all there was, tomorrow would not be of any importance to us at all. So would we concern ourselves with tomorrow? Or would our focus become something more eternal? Remember, 522, this all comes to a halt. Would we be absorbed by the trivial? Would we be concerned about whether or not to see that movie that maybe we know we ought not to?

Would we be concerned about what celebrities entering rehab for the 18th millionth time? Would we be concerned about how we’re going to take that family vacation and still meet all the bills? Or do you think we might be more apt to spend those hours in prayer? And with our families. Gathered around the people that we love, talking about godly things and godly purposes and eternity. Steve Bowman uses the illustration that he was excited when he was a younger preacher to go and he had an invitation to go and sit with a bunch of older preachers and hear them talk.

And he says, I was excited because I just knew that every question that I had as a preacher was going to be answered. He said, I got there and all they wanted to talk about was going to heaven. He says, I’ve never been more edified. Would we be concerned about what the world perceives us or how the world perceives us and what they might think about us? Or do you think we might finally make the time to tell that person about the truth that we’ve been putting off over and over and over again because we don’t want to make an uncomfortable situation between us and our neighbors? Or we don’t want to hurt the feelings of our family members, or perhaps we don’t want to alienate ourselves at work.

Remember, today is all we’ve got. Where would we be when it came time for the assembly? I dare say that you wouldn’t have very many people who would find very many reasons to stay away. You know it’s sad to me, and it always has been the whole time I was preaching. The reasons that people could find to stay away from the services of the Lord.

Or would we suddenly understand that we ought not forsake the assembling of ourselves together? Remember, 522 this evening. So while we’re on that topic, where are you going to be at 522 this evening? Would our goals be the same as they are today? Now, be honest. Be honest with your own self. What are your goals today? And how many of them are spiritual? What plans are you making, and how many of them are eternal? Or would we suddenly find ourselves with a new spiritual purpose that we’ve never had before? If you think it’s uncomfortable to listen to this, you ought to try preaching it. What if today was all there was again in 52? Would you be ready and have confidence in your eternal judgment? Notice I didn’t say certainty.

4. Weighed in the Balances and Found Wanting

But could you with relative certainty have confidence in what you’re, where you are bound for eternity? You know, Tony made a Tony produced a sermon last week on hell, and it was one that I need to get a copy of because it was just an excellent lesson on the topic. And one of his points is that hell would stop being real for us. That people have begun to imagine a place that is less than what the scripture says, or that it’s somehow a philosophical concept, and that we’re somehow annihilated versus spending an eternity in hell. That if you knew with absolute certainty that you were bound for heaven or hell at 522 this evening, would you be comfortable with that? Kind of puts things in a little bit different perspective, maybe.

2 Peter in the third chapter, if you’d like to turn over there.

The Apostle Peter writes the following. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? Look at verse 12 here. Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of the God. Because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning and the elements will melt with intense heat. But according to his promise, we are looking for new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells. Do we look for? Not only do we look for, do we hasten the coming of the day of the Lord.

Remember what we said about tomorrow and how insidious that is.

And just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, seeking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the scripture to their own destruction. You, therefore, beloved, knowing this, beforehand, be on your guard, so that you are not carried away by error of unprincipled men, and fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. Anybody know who this guy is? That’s old Belshazzar, isn’t it? O Belshazzar from Daniel the fifth chapter.

Remember this? Ready or not? Anybody ever play that game of your kid? Ready or not, here I come?

O King, most high God, granted sovereignty, grandeur, glory, and majesty. To Nebuchadnezzar, your father, because of the grandeur which he bestowed on him, all the peoples, nations, and men of every language feared and trembled before him. Whomever he wished he killed, and whomever he wished he spared a lot. Whomever he wished he elevated, and whomever he wished he humbled. But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit became so proud that he behaved arrogantly, he was deposed from his royal throne, and his glory was taken from him. He also, he was also driven away from mankind, and his heart was made like the beast, and his dwelling place was with the wild donkeys, and he was given grass to eat like cattle, and his body was drenched with dew of heaven, until he recognized that the most high God is ruler over the realm of mankind, and that he sets over it whomever he wishes.

Yet you, his son, Daniel 5 and 22, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this, but you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven, and they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you and your nobles, your wives, and concubines, have been drinking wine from them, and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see, hear, or understand. But the God in whose hand are your light breath and all your ways you have not glorified. Then the hand was sent from him, and this inscription was written out. Now, this is the inscription that was written, Mene tikal you farcin. And this is the interpretation of the message.

Mena, God has numbered your kingdom and put it into it. Tikle, you have been weighed in the scales and found deficient. I like the way the King James says it. You’ve been weighed in the balances and found wanting. Ready or not, 52, eternity knocks on the door. Ready or not, here it comes. If today was all there was, would you be ready and have confidence in your eternal judgment? Or does the thought of judgment fill you with a certain sense of dread?

If today was all there was, would you be ready to stand before him? Or would you feel the need to make ready? Remember, you’ve got roughly six hours now, because it is roughly 1120, right the second. So six hours. Would you feel the need to make ready because you know that as you sit now, you’re unprepared. Let me go back and read that quote one more time.

Tomorrow is among the most insidious lies ever contrived. It holds within it the false allure of promise and mutes the urgency of today. What would the balances, what would the scales say about your spiritual condition. What if today was all there was.

5. You've Got No Idea When It's Coming

If the thought of the world coming to an end at 52, if the thought of being held in the hands of God Himself and being weighed in the balances and determining where you stand for all eternity bothers you and makes you anxious. If the thought that your very soul this very evening could be bound for heaven or bound for hell based on where you stand at a preappointed, predetermined time on that clock makes you anxious. Let me tell you something that ought to terrify you. 1 Thessalonians 5. But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say peace and safety, sounds a lot like today, doesn’t it?

Peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this day should overtake you as a thief as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness, therefore let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation for God. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

If the thought that in six hours this world could pass from existence and that eternity would begin at that moment, if that thought terrifies you, if that thought gives you some pause, if that thought makes you consider your spiritual condition and you worry, what should the thought do to you that you’ve got no idea when it’s coming? 2 Peter 3 lets you think this is just one passage, but the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, like a thief, verse 10, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed within 10 teeth, and the earth and its works will be burned up, since all these things are to be destroyed in this way. What sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?

Do you see what Peter’s saying there? He says, You don’t know when the day is coming, so get your priorities straight now. Or Romans 13, verse 11 and following. Do this knowing the time that it is already the hour for you to awake from sleep, for now your salvation is nearer to us than when we believe. The night is almost gone, and the day is near, therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light, let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sexuality, not in strife and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provisions for the flesh in regard to its lusts. You know, I like this passage in the way that it says it.

It doesn’t need any approval from me or any or any what’s the word I’m looking for here? Recommendation for me. But I like how it stands. And after it says, the night is almost gone and the day is near, he says, Let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of life. And then he begins to talk about the things that in feedback he says, let us behave properly as in the day. Not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity, sensuality, not in strife and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision, provide nothing for the flesh in regard to its lust. Now, Paul says this clearly indicating that we don’t know the time, but that he understands it by process of elimination that we are now closer than we used to be.

As we’re driving to the Dear Lease, which is 360 some odd miles from our house, Lauren and I play this little game. Because the signs are spaced out in a non equidistant fashion. So sometimes you just got to guess how far you are to the next town. And she goes, How far do you think we are from Kerville? And I’ll throw out a number and she’ll throw out a number, and one of us will be right, or none of us will be right, or but we play this game. How far do you think we are from this? Well, I think we’re about this far. Paul says, I don’t know when the day is coming, but I’ve got to be under the impression that it’s closer now than it was.

You remember what we titled this sermon Borrowing Against Eternity. The day of the Lord is closer today than it was yesterday. You have fewer breaths. I don’t care how young you are, you have fewer breaths to draw today than you did yesterday.

Conclusion

If imagining that today could be all there is fills us with dread. How does anybody find comfort in not knowing? If imagining that today is all there is gives us pause and makes us worry and creates within us a sense of dread, how does anyone find any comfort in not knowing? How do we put our pillow, our heads against our pillows at night and think I’m going to go off to sleep and take care of it tomorrow, knowing that we might not wake up? And if thinking that at 52 this evening is the day or the moment that the Lord will return, if that would motivate you to be somebody different than who you are today, I have but one final question. Why or why are we the people that we are?

Why do we tarry? What are we hoping for? Tomorrow? Because there’s always been one?

It’s not always going to be the case. Brothers and sisters, are we borrowing against eternity? Are we betting that the Lord isn’t going to come at a moment, at a time when we’re not ready? Are you who you would be? If you prepared to meet your God today? The simple fact is, I don’t know when he’s coming. And neither do you.

But if knowing the exact moment would spur us to urgency, to reform our priorities, to put aside those things that we’ve been hesitating on, maybe baptism for the forgiveness of our sins, maybe putting down grudges between brothers and sisters in Christ. Maybe repenting of something. If knowing with certainty that he could be here this evening at 52, or would be here this evening at 52 would spur us to action. Maybe we ought to give some thought to the fact that we may not make it to the last word of the prayer this morning.

There’s never going to be a convenient time.

Yonder on Calvary’s mountain. There with the blood of the Lamb was shed Grace will pardon and cleanse with him Grace that is greater than all our sin Dark is the stain that we can not hide What can avail to wash it away look there is flowing of crimson tide Whiter than snow you may be today Grace God grace will pardon and bless within Grace God’s grace that is greater than all our sinus infinite matchless grace freely bestowed on all who believe you that are longing to see will you this moment his grace received Grace God grace that will pardon and cleanse within Grace God grace that is greater than all our sin.