“PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD”

Amos 4:12

A.  God is.

1. The fact that you cannot see him does not prove that he does not exist.

2. Cannot see pain, electric­ity, hope, sorrow.

3. The only way to account for things is to begin with a self-existent being (Gen. 1:1).

4. Evolution accounts for nothing.

B. The atheist reminds me of the story of a dog on an express car.

1. Someone asked the expressman: “Where does this dog go?” He replied, “I don’t know; he doesn’t know; nobody doesn’t know; because he has gone and chawed up his tag.”

2. According to athe­ism, nobody knows where we came from, why we are here, or where we are going.

C. Nature testifies to God (Psa. 19:1).

1. This world could not have just happened.

2. It has been calculated that if the 26 letters of the alphabet were tossed into the air by chance force, they might fall together in the present order — A, B, C, etc. — once in 500 million, million, million times.

3. But there is more order than this in the universe.

4. To argue that the world is the work of blind chance is as unreasonable as to argue that the telephone directory is the result of an explosion in a printing factory.

D. The Bible testifies to God. Gen. 1:1; Eccl. 12:1,7; Acts 17:24.

1. An atheist does not know there is no God unless he knows everything.

2. If there is one thing he does not know, it might be the fact there is a God.

3. And if man knows everything, then he is a god himself.

E. Man must meet God — judgment.

1. Justice de­mands the judgment.

2. It would be unjust for the good and the evil to be awarded alike.

3. Man has courts because he sees the need of judgment.

F. Our meeting God will be universal — no exceptions.

1. Everyone (Rom. 14:12).

2. All persons (Rom. 14:10), all nations (Matt. 25:32), and all the world (Acts 17:30,31) will be there.

3. The Bible will be the standard of judgment (Jo. 12:48; Rev. 20:12).

G. Each must meet God on his own record (Rom. 14:12; II Cor. 5:10; Gal. 6:7).

1. The meeting will be at an hour when we think not (Matt. 24:36; II Pet. 3:10; Matt. 24:42-44).

2. You should prepare for the occasion.

H. Too much is involved NOT to prepare for it (Mk. 8:36,37; Matt. 10:28).

1. Life is too uncertain not to prepare now (Jas. 4:13,14; Heb. 3:8,15; 4:7).

2. How to prepare?

I. Search The Scriptures (Jo. 5:39).

1. Be doers of word and not hearers only (Jas. 1:22).

2. Obey gospel (Rom. 1:16).

3. Add Christian graces (II Pet. 1:5-10).

4. Persevere (Matt. 10:22).

COCLUSION:

1. The greatest tragedy is to fail to make preparation.

2. This was the tragedy of the foolish virgins and the one-talent man (Matt. 25:1-13,14-30).

3. The outcome of the meeting (Matt. 25:31-46).

4. This is the day for which man lives (Eccl. 12:13).

5. If man fails here, he fails in his whole duty (Eccl. 12:13).

“SELECTED”

Leroy Brownlow