How to Live Like You Are Dying

[0:00] The following message is given by Walt Alexander, lead pastor of Trinity Grace Church in Athens, Tennessee.! For more information about Trinity Grace, please visit us at TrinityGraceAthens.com.

[0:12] Ecclesiastes chapter 6, I'm going to begin reading in verse 10. Ecclesiastes 6 verses 10, whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he. The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man? For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun? Chapter 7, a good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of faith the heart is made glad. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools. For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fools. This also is vanity. Surely oppression drives the wise into madness, and a bribe corrupts the heart. Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools. Say not, why were the former days better than these? For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.

[2:26] Wisdom is good with an inheritance, an advantage to those who see the sun. For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it. Consider the work of God. Who can make straight what he has made crooked? In the day of prosperity, be joyful. In the day of adversity, consider God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. May God bless the hearing and the preaching of his word. I want to ask you to do something I've never asked you to do on a Sunday morning. I want to ask you to take out your phone. You can put it away in a minute, but ask you to take it out, and if you would, turn it, you know, turn on your camera and take a selfie of yourself. Just you by yourself. Don't take on with your spouse kissing or anything like that. Just you by yourself. Take a selfie. I want you to hold it right there for a moment. Hold that selfie. You're probably observing the way your hair looks this morning, some of you, but hold that picture right before you. One day, very soon, we'll all be gathered as a congregation like this, and a picture like that will be on the front of the program because you will no longer be here. We'll be gathering to talk about you because you will be dead. You will no longer be with us, no longer able to take selfies. That day is coming very soon, and there's nothing you or I can do about it. In fact, your whole life is about 4,000 weeks. If I asked you how many weeks you had to live, you'd probably say 25,000 or 50,000 or even 100,000, but in actuality, you have much, much, much, much less. Some of you may be blessed. You may live into your 90s and have as much as 4,700 weeks. Some of you may be really blessed, like Jeannie Calment, the French woman who is believed to have lived to 122 before she died in 1997, but as great as she got, she only got 6,200 weeks. For most of us, give or take a few, we'll have about 4,000. That puts life in perspective. The length of our lives is actually very short, and we're nearing the end of our tether.

[5:15] Though we may have big plans for our lives and many dreams of where we want to go, what we want to do, we actually have very little time to accomplish them. One philosopher says, we will all be dead any minute. So how many weeks do you have left? What are you going to do with the fact that your weeks, indeed your life, are flying by never to return? What are you going to do about the fact that one day soon we'll be gathered in a congregation like this to talk about you? Solomon says you have two options.

[5:49] One is you can try to avoid death with all you want to. Or two, you can look death straight in the eye and learn to live a limited life. You know, in our passage, Solomon urges us to live our limited life wisely. In chapter 6, verse 10, Solomon begins the second major section of the book of Ecclesiastes.

[6:14] There are not many breakdowns that we can understand, but this is definitely the second major section in the book. And in verse 12, he begins in a way that's very similar to the question he asked at the beginning of the book. What is the gain? He says, what is the advantage to man? If all is vanity, everything's vanity, what is the advantage? What is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life? Running through our text are 11 references to what is good. The same word good and better are repeated. You heard them in the rhythm of these clauses. So Solomon's trying to show us the only way to live a life that makes sense under the sun. And we must listen in to live it. The main point is don't be put off. Learn to love the limits of your life. Don't be put off. Learn to love the limits of your life. We're going to break this out in four points this morning. The first one is death is better than birth. Death is better than birth. Solomon had, as you know, Solomon has been telling us all that he experienced and all that he observed in life under the sun. But now he begins to teach us in a different way through Proverbs. Now it's not surprising because he wrote the book of Proverbs, but Proverbs are a little pithy little sayings where the meaning is found in comparison of one thing with another thing.

[7:42] So these lines come together to help us understand what he's saying. And so he has a string of Proverbs here that are designed to show us the truly good life, the truly blessed life. And so verse one, a good name is better than precious ointment and the day of death is better than birth.

[8:03] Every commentator I read this week says the alliteration in the original language isn't caught in that opening phrase. A good name is better than precious ointment. You might translate it.

[8:13] Fair fame is better than fine perfume. Fair fame is better than fine perfume, as we've talked about before fine oils and perfume in a dry, hot climate with no indoor plumbing was quite the luxury. It made you smell good. Like cool water used to be to middle school boys, oils and perfumes in a, in that culture brought a sense of confidence, a sense of joy. But a good name, he says, is better.

[8:44] It's very similar to Proverbs 22, one, where he says, a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches and favor is better than silver or gold. The meaning is very similar. The idea is precious ointments and great riches will be lost at death, but a good name will hang around for a while. That's what he's kind of saying that a good name will hang around at least for a little while, though Solomon knows. Everyone will forget us. Now the verse takes a turn. The second line is the day of death is better than the day of birth.

[9:26] The verse takes a turn. We didn't expect a good name is better than precious ointment because it's not lost at death, but the day of death is better than birth. Now, shouldn't it be the other way around? Shouldn't it be the opposite way?

[9:39] The day of birth is better than the day of death because there's still time to make a good name for yourself. Right? The day of birth is better because it's still time to take, make a good name for yourself.

[9:51] But Solomon said that's not the way it is. Death is better than life. He continues in verse two and helps us understand why. It's better to go to a house of mourning than a house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind. And the living will lay it to heart. It's becoming clearer now. We often talk about death as a curse. And it obviously is. We were meant to live forever. But sin brought a curse on all humankind and all people die. We also, we do talk about death being a blessing, death being an end to earthly sorrow and suffering. So wonderful blessing. But Solomon is alerting us. Death is also a preacher. Death is a preacher. Death has a message. The day of death is better than the day of birth because it's better to go to a house of mourning than a house of feasting. And why? It's better to go to a house of mourning because that's where you can hear what death is trying to say. David Gibson, I think, sums it up the best. The day of death is better than the day of birth, not because death is better than life, but because a coffin preaches better sermons than a crib.

[11:06] A coffin preaches better sermons than a crib. Now we love cribs. We love the day of birth. We have over a half dozen. We couldn't even count them all up. They have been born in the last 12 months in the life of our church. So we'd love to celebrate the gift of life, the blessing of children. But what do we really know about their life? They may go on to discover the cure of cancer? Or they may live in mom's basement for their whole life. See, birth, we celebrate potential. We celebrate dreams. We celebrate expectations. But at death, we celebrate facts. We celebrate outcomes. We celebrate actualities.

[11:49] So the day of death is better than the day of birth because the day of death forces the living to consider how they're spending their life. It forces us to ask, what am I doing? Martin Luther says, we must invite death into our present while it's still at a distance.

[12:13] Solomon is urging us to learn from death how to live now. The living will lay it to heart. Now, that doesn't mean you go to a funeral and shed a few tears for the good old days. That's not what Solomon's talking about. He's saying the living will lay it to heart because it'll shape all that they think, say, dream, and do. Death is not just designed to kill. Solomon's telling us, death isn't the hands of God. It's designed to shape and mold, to change and transform, and calls us to live now a life that matters at our death. Years ago, I read a book about the author described two types of virtues.

[13:01] There's two types of virtues. Now, virtues is an old word. It just means kind of a deep-seated habit that forms you, that makes you who you are. These habits are what, that's what people talk about when they talk about you. They're talking about virtues. They're talking about what shapes you. The author argued there are two types of virtues in the world, resume virtues and eulogy virtues.

[13:26] Resume virtues are the skills and talents you hone to get a good job. Eulogy virtues are the qualities shared about you at your funeral. There's no question which virtues are superior. And yet, the vast majority of our time and attention is devoted to cultivating the inferior resume virtues. Solomon is warning us.

[13:56] Solomon, if you'll give him your ears, could change your life. No one will care about your resume when you die.

[14:10] No one will care what school you attended or what grades you got. No one will care what house you owned or how much money you made. No one will care. Not an iota if you achieved your dream. No one will care if you hit a goal on the travel soccer team. No one will care. If your resume is all you have to offer, your funeral will be incredibly boring.

[14:40] But people will not be able to stop talking if you are selfless and kind, generous and forgiving, honest and faithful and wise. So what virtues are you going to pursue?

[14:59] Those that help you get a good job or those that leave an aroma for Christ? Will you let death shape your life goals and your work schedule?

[15:19] Will you let death shift your weekend commitments? Will you let death cause you to treat the people in your life different now? Your wife, your difficult co-worker, your weird neighbor.

[15:32] Will you let death change you? Point two, sorrow is better than laughter. Sorrow is better than laughter.

[15:44] The next proverb follows closely behind this one in meaning. Look in verse three, sorrow is better than laughter for the sadness of faith, the heart, for by sadness of faith, the heart is made glad.

[15:56] Now the first line is shocking. Sorrow is better than laughter. How could sorrow be better than laughter? I mean, sorrow, sadness is when something bad has happened. Laughter is when something good has happened.

[16:09] There's a lot of laughter in the Bible. Sarah laughed when the Lord said she would have a baby. The people of Israel laughed saying the Lord has done great things to us.

[16:20] Psalm 126. Isn't he good? Sometimes he's so good you die out in laughter. The Proverbs 31. Woman laughs at the days to come because there's no match for the Lord. But there's another side to laughter that the preacher, Solomon's alerting us to.

[16:35] Laughter can be a cover. Laughter can be a show. Laughter can be a way of avoiding the troubles of life. Proverbs 14, 23.

[16:46] Even in laughter, the heart may ache and the end of joy may be grief. It's helping us see laughter is a cover, but sometimes it cannot completely cover up the ache of sorrow.

[17:00] So sorrow is better than laughter. But is it always better? What about the gas chambers of Auschwitz or the destruction of tsunamis or the continual losses of Alzheimer's?

[17:19] How could sorrow be better then? It's not always better. But what Solomon's helping us see is it's better in comparison.

[17:30] The point is a sad face is not better than a happy face. It's not definitively better. But a sad face is better if a happy face is all it is.

[17:43] A sad face is always better if a happy face is all it is. So the heart of the wise goes to the house of mourning.

[17:55] Verse 4. But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. The preacher continues telling us about this house of mourning versus the house of mirth.

[18:09] There's all sorts of parallels going through this passage. Wise and the foolish, the better and the best. And the house of mourning and house of mirth is another one. Verse 5. Look, it's better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools.

[18:23] Now verse 5 could come straight out of other parts of the scripture. Psalm 141. Let the righteous man strike me. It's a kindness. Let him rebuke me. It's oil for my head. Let not my head refuse it.

[18:34] Continuing what he's been saying, the rebuke of the wise is a kindness because it shows you who you really are. Flattery spreads a net, but the rebuke points out the net.

[18:53] The kindness of the rebuke is not the punch. It still stings. The kindness of the rebuke is the wake-up call the punch provides. And so he says, rebuke is better than the song of fools because it tells you the truth.

[19:10] The song of fools doesn't tell you the truth. It doesn't tell you who you really are. It doesn't tell you that you're a jerk sometimes. But the rebuke is also better than the song of fools because the song and laughter of fools is stupid.

[19:28] Look in verse 6. For the crackling of thorns under a pot, so also is the laughter of fools. The crackling of thorns under a pot.

[19:40] What in the world does that mean? The idea is just like a pine cone in a fire pit, thorns flame up, make a lot of noise, and quickly die out. Thorns underneath a pot don't provide enough fire to cook or to get warm.

[19:57] The thorns are short-lived, and so too the songs and laughter of fools. You know, Vanity Fair, as John Bunyan said, the songs and laughter of fools are open all day long.

[20:09] They're giving the impression of real joy and real satisfaction. They've got the blinking light saying, come on, but it's just a couple dopes who don't know anything about life under the sun.

[20:23] It's vanity, he says. That's our word. Chasing after the wind is wasting time. All this begs the question, what house do you live in?

[20:34] Are you living in the house of mirth? Are you living in the house of the rising sun, partying down, burning the midnight oil, running from town in responsibility?

[20:53] Are you always chasing a thrill? Now, maybe your thrill's not as crazy as they used to be, but they're a little more refined, a little more culturally acceptable thrills.

[21:05] Now, but are you always chasing a thrill? Are you a macho man when it comes to working hard, making money, and shooting guns, but missing in action when it comes to facing the real troubles of life, of sin, and suffering, and conflict in the home among those you profess to love?

[21:24] Do you know how to have hard conversations? Do you have a secret lover, a mistress, a porn addiction, a love for too much whiskey?

[21:41] Do you like to run where you can swipe the credit card and hold something new? Do you hide under a blanket with the ice cream carton musing about what should have been?

[21:54] Are you living in the house of mourning, facing trouble, or are you on the run? Trying to escape thinking about it.

[22:07] One of the most formative things that happened to me was my cousin dying when we were 13. John was born one month before me.

[22:18] We were cousins, teammates, lived in the same town, and the best of friends. John was riding his bike on the side of a road on a sunny afternoon of June 19, 1993.

[22:34] He was suddenly struck by a drunk driver. His body and his bike careened through the air, killing him immediately upon impact. John's death broke my heart.

[23:14] It pushed me into the house of mourning. I was in seventh grade. Saw no meaning in life. Planned my funeral.

[23:26] Picked my pallbearers. Contemplated my death. After that, the years stacked on one another where I tried to escape and silence the aches underneath everything.

[23:42] Did as much as I could get my hands on. Alcohol, marijuana, opium, cocaine, mushrooms, acid, and so much more. But after, see, after the music faded, after the laughter of another night on the sound ceased, after the party was over, my pain remained.

[23:59] In many ways, John's death opened me up to a problem that I could not not see. All this world is dust and ashes. All its riches are hollow.

[24:11] All its joys are empty. All its parties end in broken glasses and broken hearts. In God's kindness, all the sorrows of my heart drove me to find the only meaning for life under the sun in the sorrows of Jesus Christ.

[24:25] Where Jesus canceled the debt of sin, handed us a down payment for a world that I longed for more than I knew. Where all things would be finally right and all the sorrows would give way to everlasting joy.

[24:40] The costs were high. As the song says, oh, how I wish he would have woke me up an easier way. Jesus, I don't think, does it that way.

[24:53] One of the prayers I routinely pray for those whom I know that do not know Jesus Christ is that you would bring them to an end of themselves. That you would make them miserable.

[25:06] That you would make them see the brokenness of sin, the emptiness of riches, sex, and success. And if you're right there, I've been praying for you. And praying that God would cause you to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

[25:24] I would actually cause you to mourn. Jesus says, woe to those who laugh now for they'll mourn labor. So they'll mourn labor. I want to call to you to mourn now.

[25:35] That's what scripture is. Call you to mourn now to see the reality of sin. There's a suffering that you've experienced in this life. The emptiness of so many things you pursued is meant to alert you to the problem you have with God.

[25:48] The reason you try the same equation and it never works out for happiness is because you have a broken life because of sin. And I'm calling you to mourn because that sin is against the holy God.

[26:00] And he cannot, his eyes are too pure to look on sin. And he invites you to come and have a relationship with him through Jesus Christ who came to cancel sin and to invite you to him.

[26:11] So don't just laugh. Mourn. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Find a way to get into the house of mourning.

[26:24] If you have a chance, go to a funeral. Point three. The end is better than the beginning. Again, the next proverb follows closely.

[26:41] Look at verse eight. Better is the end of a thing than its beginning. And the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

[26:53] Now, with a little bit of reflection, you can see the meaning of these. The patient in spirit is better because he waits for the end. He or she waits for the end. The end is better than the beginning.

[27:06] The patient in spirit is better because he waits for the end. But what is impatience but giving up on waiting? You know, so the proud in spirit are not better, definitively worse because they cannot wait.

[27:19] But then Solomon continues. While we wait to see what God is doing with our lives, we must watch out for anger. Look at verse nine. He says, be not quick in your spirit to become anger for anger lodges in the hearts of fools.

[27:34] So I think verse nine applies to the second half of verse eight. So it's helping us to see why the patient in spirit is better.

[27:48] So be not quick in your spirit to become angry. It's applying verse eight B in verse nine. So we must watch out for anger while we wait.

[28:00] While we're trying to figure out what God's doing with our lives, we must watch out for anger. I think the idea is we think about it like this. You know, often there's a temptation in life to think the way things are is the way they'll always be.

[28:17] To pause what's going on in our lives in a moment and conclude that the way things are right now is the way they'll always be. And so we become impatient.

[28:28] We try to do something about it. You know, we try to take matters into our own hands. We throw off quietness and trust and try to rush the providence of God. But once you spin your wheels so much that you realize you cannot produce anything God does not bring to pass.

[28:44] Then the anger gives way to bitterness and resentment. And before long, as he says, anger lodges in your heart. Some of you greatest problem is anger.

[28:59] Maybe anger at your family. Maybe anger at some wrong done to you. Maybe anger at a mountain of credit card debt that stands before you. Anger at circumstances that don't seem to change.

[29:12] This little proverb reminds me of Naomi. Naomi. Remember the story of Naomi in the book of Ruth. When she returned to Bethlehem without her husband and without her two sons, she told everyone, don't call me Naomi anymore, which means pleasant.

[29:31] Call me Mara, which means bitter. How many, now all you have to do to answer this question is get on Facebook this afternoon.

[29:44] How many people are right there living each day in anger and resentment? So as you age, before you fly into death, watch out for anger.

[29:58] Little did Naomi know that God was going to raise up King David from her bitterness. While we wait, we must also watch out for self-focused nostalgia.

[30:10] In the same way that verse 9 applies the second half of verse 8, I think verse 10 applies the first half of verse 8. So the end is better than the beginning. And so verse 10, say not, why were the former days better than these?

[30:25] For it is not from wisdom that you ask this. While we wait, we're tempted to look back on the good old days. We're tempted to nostalgia. There's moments where we go to the, something happens, you know, we hear a song, we go to a place, and we're immediately reminded of a whole nother life.

[30:46] And some of that, some of that can be so good because it cultivates gratefulness to God. Just a couple weeks ago, I took my kids to the very chapel where I was converted and the chapel where I asked him to marry me.

[30:58] So a lot happened in that chapel. It was wonderful to reflect on that, but nostalgia also can go wrong. Sometimes it's not good.

[31:11] Sometimes we look back in ways that cause us to walk in foolishness. The danger comes when we compare the bad in our present circumstance with the good in our past and become discontent.

[31:28] We become like the Israelites. You remember they're in the wilderness. They've been set free. They've come out of the house of slavery, and yet they say, let's go back because they have fish there, you know, because they have onions and leeks there.

[31:41] Let's go back. Melons there, but it's not wise. It's not wise. It's better not to rush to conclusions.

[31:53] It's better not to color in the future. It's better to wait for the end. It's better to wait to see what God is doing with your life. It's only by waiting to the end that you live in the present.

[32:07] Last year, or two years ago, ESPN released a 10-hour documentary called The Last Dance on Michael Jordan and Chicago Bulls and their race to win their third title in a row and their second three-peat.

[32:23] The documentary is incredible. Packed with never-before-seen footage of Jordan and the Bulls. It's called The Last Dance because the team's manager, although this is disputed, Jerry Krause, it's called The Last Dance because Jerry Krause said, I'm going to break up the team after this year.

[32:46] And so Phil Jackson said, this is the last dance, the last time the 1998 Chicago Bulls will suit up to play.

[32:57] Well, they went on to win the title. Spoiler alert. Jordan went on to make the game-winning shot and win his sixth finals MVP.

[33:08] After the season was over, head coach Phil Jackson called a final team meeting. And this is brilliant. I don't know if he texted the guys, but whatever.

[33:19] He got word out and he said, this is it. This was the last dance and this is the last team meeting of the 1998 Chicago Bulls. He said, I want you to write down what this team means to you this year and bring it to the meeting.

[33:37] Everybody that was interviewed said it was an emotional meeting. Everyone shared. Steve Kerr, Dennis Robbin, Scotty Pippen, Michael Jordan even wrote a poem and shared what the team meant.

[33:52] He's famously distant emotionally and yet cried to the team. And after everyone shared, Coach Jackson had them put all their little papers into a coffee can.

[34:09] Then he turned out the light and he lit all the papers on fire. And they all stood there, watched what the Bulls meant to them burn up in flames.

[34:25] See, Coach Jackson knew there was no way they could go forward if they stayed living in the past. Solomon is saying the same thing.

[34:40] Wait for the end. Some of you, you need to let a few things burn. Some of you need to let a few things go.

[34:51] Some of you need to lay down some regrets to receive forgiveness and to walk away.

[35:02] Life is never going backwards. Life's never going back. You'll never be able to change that thing that drives you crazy or that circumstance you wish you had done so differently.

[35:17] But the place you're going to is so much better than going back. So scripture, when you see what God has for you, in the end, you won't want to go back.

[35:30] You won't want to return because the end, Solomon said, is better than the beginning. As John Piper says, the life of the godly is not an interstate through Nebraska, but a state road through the Blue Ridge Mountains of Tennessee.

[35:44] There are rock slides and precipices and dark mist and bears and slippery curves and hairpin turns that make you go backwards in order to go forwards.

[35:55] But all along this hazardous, twisted road that doesn't let you see very far ahead, there are frequent signs that say the best is yet to come. All the perplexing turns in our lives are going somewhere good.

[36:10] They don't go off a cliff. In all our setbacks, as believers, God is plotting for our joy. The end is better than the beginning. Finally, wisdom is best of all.

[36:24] Wisdom is best of all. Again, the next proverb follows closely. There's been a wonderful contrast between wisdom and folly, the song of fools and the way of walking in wisdom, but it gives way to focusing on the great advantage of wisdom.

[36:41] Look at verse 11. Wisdom is good with an inheritance and advantage to those who see the sun. For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.

[36:59] Wisdom is good with an inheritance and advantage. Wisdom means, wisdom means, contextually means, that you choose not to live in the house of mirth or the memories of the past.

[37:14] Wisdom means you choose not to run from the problems before you. Wisdom means you live in the present. You live day by day. Wisdom is good for those who see the sun.

[37:26] Look at verse 11. It's an advantage to those who see the sun. To see the sun means you're alive. Ecclesiastes 11, 7 says, means you're alive.

[37:39] It also means you've chosen to embrace today with joy. You've chosen to embrace the wine and work, the sex and food, the love and laughter, the beauty and truth that today brings, and you've chosen to let your heart stop there.

[37:53] That's what wisdom does. Solomon continues, verse 13, who can make straight what God has made crooked? So in the day of prosperity, be joyful in day of adversity.

[38:04] Consider God's made the one as well as the other. So he concludes, wisdom doesn't protect you from trouble. Wisdom doesn't take away the crookedness of life.

[38:14] Wisdom doesn't take away the bad days. The world is as it is, as he has said. There is a time to be born and time to die. A time to weep and a time to laugh. There's a time for peace and a time for world, but it's God's world.

[38:30] It's the work of God. So being wise doesn't mean, just means you take your hands off the wheel. It means you leave the crookedness of your life in God's hand, and you put one foot in front of the other and live the day you've been given.

[38:50] In actuality, the good life that Solomon has laid out is a life that only makes sense because of the gospel. Death is better than birth.

[39:06] We join with the angels and rejoice at the birth of Jesus Christ. But how much better is the day of his death? When he offers a single sacrifice to save sinners, when he breaks the power of canceled sin.

[39:21] Indeed, we can say death is better than birth. To die is gain, Apostle Paul says. It's gain for Jesus Christ. And now because it's gain for him, it's gain for all those who follow him.

[39:33] So death is better than birth. Sorrow is better than joy. I love the way the gospel says, Jesus did come eating and drinking and did not fast like John or like the religious leaders.

[39:45] But then for the joy set before him, he took all the sufferings and sins of the world onto his back so that all our sorrows might give way to joy. So he says, all of this life is sorrow.

[39:59] You know, in this life, in this world, you will have trouble. But fear not, I've overcome the world. Isaiah 25 says, on the last day, he'll swallow up all the sorrows of this world in a great big feast.

[40:12] So all the charades that's going on every weekend night, all the blinking lights are saying, come, the joy is here. Well, the feast at the end is a party that will prove to be so much better than all those puny feasts that end in broken glasses and broken hearts.

[40:31] So sorrow is better than joy. The end is better than the beginning. The beginning was wonderful. Wonderful angels filled the sky, showing off the glory of God. But the end will be so much better.

[40:43] Sinners from every tribe, tongue, and nation, with their robes freshly washed by the blood of the Lamb, will walk into the presence of He who is everlasting joy.

[40:54] So now, wisdom is best. You must be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

[41:08] Don't run. Don't try to hide. Don't be put off. Learn to love the limits of your life.

[41:23] May God help us. Father in heaven, we humble ourselves before you.

[41:37] God, we want to be like the man in James 1 who doesn't look in the mirror and forgets what he looks like when he walks away. We don't want to be hearers of your word, but not doers.

[41:56] We don't want to be heard from him, we don't want to fancy ourselves because we find ourselves in the church of God.

[42:10] We want to humble ourselves and ask that you would do the unthinkable, that these little words would change our life, that we might be wise, be humble, and walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.

[42:37] So God, come. Let not your word return void. Let it accomplish the purpose for which you sent it.

[42:49] For the glory of Jesus Christ. Amen. You've been listening to a message given by Walt Alexander, lead pastor of Trinity Grace Church in Athens, Tennessee.

[43:01] For more information about Trinity Grace, please visit us at trinitygraceathens.com.