How to Stay Alive Until You Die

I think the Lord, He does know every move that we make, every step that we take, knows all about us, knows our names. That kind of personal relationship with God is one that we should treasure very highly and thank Him for. I have never seen a fireworks show that did not end in a grand finale. You know, everyone is looking for that. It kind of builds up to that and you're thinking, is this it? And then it pauses for a moment. Then there's more fireworks and you think, that couldn't be it. So you're building up for that grand finale, that going out with a bang, if you will. And I think that life can be that way and should be that way. So this evening I want to preach to you on the topic, how to stay alive until you die. We're at Abraham's life and we're at the end of his life. Genesis chapter 25 describes the end of his life and the way it's described, the way his death is described, this is in a sense his obituary, the way it's described indicates that he stayed alive until he died. Now I know that sounds a little strange, I know the title is a little bit different, but there are people who die at 40 and are not buried until they're 80. There are people whose lives kind of end and they just coast, the rest of the way in. And I don't think that's the way God wants us to live. I think Abraham is a good example of the kind of person who stayed alive, who stayed involved, who stayed active, who stayed seeking God's purpose and will for his life until he died. Now I realize that there are issues which can encroach upon our lives like serious illness and so forth that damage the quality of life and the ability to maybe enjoy life as much as we would. That aside, given that we have good health, given that we have good mobility and so forth, then I think it is possible to be fully alive until the day we die. I'm reminded of the story of John Wesley, John Wesley, the great preacher in England back in the 1700s at age 85 said he was not weary in traveling or preaching. In his lifetime he traveled over 250,000 miles to preach. All of that on horseback. He preached over 40,000 sermons, wrote 400 books, learned and spoke 10 languages. He said he stayed young by exercise and change of air, never losing a night's sleep on land or at sea, arising at four o'clock every morning and preaching at five o'clock every morning. Now I wonder who was listening at five o'clock in the morning to somebody preaching at five o'clock. Maybe that was his practice sermon, I don't know. At 87, Wesley said he was annoyed that he could not preach more than twice a day and confess to a growing urge to stay in bed after 530 in the morning at 87. I'm reminded of what I've read about Cory Ten Boom who at age 80 said that she was going to write five books and do five films before she died and she did. Complish both of those goals. When we stop living, when we stop dreaming, planning, living with enjoyment every day that God gives us, then we become like the man that is written about in this little poem since I have retired from life's competition. Each day is filled with complete repetition. I get up every morning and dust off my wits, go pick up the paper and read the obits. If my name isn't there, I know I'm not dead. I get a good breakfast and go back to bed. There are a lot of people who live like that, sadly. That is no way to live. Abraham is a good example of how to stay alive until you die. Let's look at Genesis 25. Let's read his obituary. Genesis 25, verse 1, Abraham took another wife whose name was Cattura. She bore him and then there are listed six children and some of their descendants in verses three and four. Verse 5, Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac, but while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east. Altogether, Abraham lived 175 years. Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man, and full of years. Now that is not a repetition. It's not saying the same thing. We'll come back to it later. There's a special expression here, full of years. And then verse 8 says, and he was gathered to his people. His son's Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Macpillade near Mamri in the field of Ephraim, son of Zohar the Hittite. The field Abraham had bought from the Hittites. Their Abraham was buried with his wife's era. After Abraham's death, God blessed his son Isaac who then lived near Beer, Lahairoi. Abraham is an example to us of a man who lived until he died. A man whose life was full and meaningful right to the end. His biography, we don't even start until he's aged 75. Back in chapter 12, he was 75 years old when his biography starts. He lives another hundred years of adventurous life. What was his secret? How did he stay alive until he died? I think we can learn a couple of things from this passage and what it says about Abraham in his later years. One way to stay alive until we die is to enjoy life fully. To enjoy life fully. Look at what it says in verse 8. Then Abraham breathed his last, died at a good old age, an old man, and full of years. I want to focus on that expression for a few moments, full of years. It's an interesting expression in the Bible. What does it mean to be full of years? Well it doesn't mean to be old. He's already said that. He said he died at a good old age, an old man, and full of years. The expression full of years probably is best translated from the Hebrew in the New American Standard Version, where it says he was satisfied with life. The Hebrew expression here is a word, actually, that means the expectations of his life were fully met. He lived in fullness. He lived life to the full, and now he looks back at the end of his life and he is well satisfied with what has been accomplished in his life. He has thrown himself into each day as God presented life to him day by day. He has thrown himself into life day by day, and he has found it extremely enjoyable, extremely rewarding, and now he looks back. There is no bitter, cynical, crabby attitude in his old age. He looks back on life, and he finds it extremely rewarding and satisfying. That's the whole thrust of this Hebrew word. He died satisfied with life full of years. The sense, if you can see it on his face, it would be that he's looking back, rethinking his life through, and smiling a very broad smile on his life. It has been a good life that God has given him. An example of that is found in the first four verses when he marries again. I don't know what the deal is with the concubines that are mentioned in verse six. It's the only place. It's mentioned, while there's one other place in one of the historic books, I think one of the chronicles that were it's mentioned, but I don't know what was going on there. I know that a lot of Bible characters lived that way, and it's difficult within the context of their culture to understand what was going on there, but what happens in verse one is he remarried. He took another wife. He is 140 years old at this point. We know that because we know that Sarah died at 127, Abram's 10 years older, 137, Isaac in chapter 24 gets married, chapter 25, and verse 20 tells us Isaac was 40 when he got married. Isaac was born when Abraham was 100, so Abraham is 140 years old now, and he remarries. Now I know what some of you are thinking. Why would he want to do that? Well my answer would be, why not? Why not? There's no reflection on his good life with Sarah and his love of Sarah. He's been used to the companionship of a mate, and now he has no one, and so he remarries. The only problem is if you start picking out your mate before your first one dies, that's the problem. Don't do that, but there's no problem with what he does here to remarried. No difficulty with that at all. I think Paul even encourages this in 1 Corinthians chapter 7, verse 39. Look at what he says. He says, a woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives, but if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes. You even get a choice at this point in your life. Hopefully you did your first one too, but anyway at this point you get a choice. Free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord. Only a Christian obviously, but he is free, she is free to remarry. Now obviously not everyone will do that. We're not obligated to do that. No one is obligated to do that, but there's nothing wrong with that. It simply shows that Abraham was still fully enjoying life. And another evidence of that is that he has six children. Can you imagine being 150 years old and still potty training kids? Can you imagine that? Can you imagine still having kids in diapers and cutting teeth and all that? He has six children after age 140. I'm not sure if he was enjoying life that much or if something was really wrong up there. I don't know, but anyway I would like to think he was enjoying life. Six more children after age. He's starting a whole new family. This man has not quit on life. He's not given up on life. I've seen a couple of people who have really modeled that well. One of them was layman Strauss. Many of you were called layman Strauss. A tremendous Bible teacher used to come to our church every couple of years. A lot of books and was known all over the world for his Bible teaching. And it was just such an enjoyable guy. Even in his later years, just such a wonderful man to be around. Still full of life and insight and wisdom and desire to continue preaching. He preached right up until he was just too weak to get out anymore. And the Lord took him on. But remember his wife of many years died. And he met a lady in a meeting who was holding up in the Northeast somewhere in New Hampshire, I believe. And they eventually got married. And he was here for a meeting after that. You may recall, I remember being in someone's home with him. And we were eating dinner and he was talking about that. She was talking about, and the guy was 80 some years old. He was blushing profusely, talking about their honeymoon. And it was just amazing to see that guy in his later years. Still full of life and energy and a lot to give to the Lord. Another man whom I've seen modeled this kind of thing so well is her boy. Our missionary in Holland, herb is still full of life. In fact, a few years ago, about three, a couple of years ago, I guess, he was back in the States. And Kevin had him speak to the young people. And I think Kevin was thinking and all of us were kind of thinking, boy, this is not going to go over well. This guy's in his 70s. This is not really going to go over well. The kids won't, you know, the kids will think this guy's way over the hill. But they loved him. I don't know of anyone that we have ever had here that related better to teenagers. He's just full of life and energy. Herb and his second wife Madeline just retired. His in his 70s. He's just retired in November from full-time missionary status. You know what he's going to do? He's going to stay in Holland and continue to minister right there. He's going to die in Holland if the Lord allows him to. But he's retired. You know what they did to celebrate their retirement? They went on a cruise in their mid 70s. And it wasn't just any cruise. It was a Disney cruise with Mickey Mouse and Pluto and the whole deal. And he sent pictures back there having the time of their life. And I'm thinking, what's wrong with that? You know, sometimes I think we kind of look down on that kind of thing. There's a guy who is still fully engaged in life. That's what Abraham was doing. And I just want to ask you this question, what is your attitude toward life? Because the attitude you are developing or have developed to this point in your life will probably be the attitude that carries you on through your later years. And it's probably going to be one of three attitudes. The first one is exhaustion. One guy said, if I had my whole life to live over again, I'd be too tired to do it. I'm just exhausted and some people are just exhausted all the time. Now I know there may be medical reasons for that. But some people just stay exhausted all the time. And the reason sometimes for that is because of attitude toward life. Because of the way we see life. The second way some people view life is endurance. Endurance. And that is they simply feel like they have nothing more to contribute. So they just park in a rocking chair and wait for death. I don't think that's pleasing to God. I don't think that's a way that we ought to live in our later years. I believe God still has much for us to do. The third way that many people live is not exhaustion, not endurance, but enjoyment. That's the way Abraham was living. He's enjoying life right up to the end, living it fully, taking every day as a gift that God's given him. That's the theme of the Book of Ecclesiastes. It's been a few years since I've preached a series here on the Book of Ecclesiastes. It's probably my favorite book of the Bible. I love that book. I was really turned onto the Book of Ecclesiastes when a seminary professor challenged me to look at that book and we had never looked at it before. And as I began to study it, I realized what he was saying was true. You know, a lot of people think Ecclesiastes is a book written by Solomon and it was written by Solomon. But they think Solomon was writing this book in his later years, disillusioned old man, thinking life has really been rotten and it's not been enjoyable. It's not been anything to it at all and I'm writing to tell you, life is the pits. That's not at all what Solomon was doing. When you study that book, you'll find a recurring theme at the end of each section of the book. It's found in chapter 2, verses 24 to 26, chapter 5, verses 18 to 20, again in chapter 8, verses 12 and 13, I believe, chapter 9, verses 7 through 10, chapter 11, and then it's repeated again in chapter 12. The recurring theme is this, enjoy life, what God has given you. Sometimes he says your work, sometimes he says your wife and your children, sometimes he says dress, win white every day and wear the oil of gladness. But at the end of every section, he's saying enjoy life. And when this professor said that's the key to understanding the book, because in the Hebrew, it ends each section and it's a summary of what he's trying to get across. You begin to look at the book that way. What you find out is that Solomon is saying, at the end of his life, I made some poor choices in my life and he describes them in chapters 1 and 2. And those choices were to think that education and material possessions and enjoyment as far as party life is concerned. All of those things could really bring fulfillment in life. And I found out they couldn't, the only way to find purpose in life is to have a personal relationship with God and to know him and then enjoy everything he gives you. That is a biblical philosophy of life. That's what Solomon's trying to do in that book. In fact, many believe that Solomon was writing the book of Ecclesiastes in his old age as a missionary tract to Gentile nations. Because some of the things that are, the way it's worded in that book, he always uses the general name for God, Elohim, rather than the Hebrew name Jehovah, uses the general name for Creator God. They believe that what he was doing was at the end of his life, he's saying, okay, I want at the height of my influence, the greatness of his kingdom, I want to have as much influences I can on pagan nations around me. So I'm going to write this missionary tract and it's going to tell people you cannot enjoy life in the things of this world. You can only enjoy it in a relationship with God. But when you have that relationship with God, you can enjoy every day as a gift of life that God brings you. I would say to you this evening on the authority of God's Word, if you have that philosophy of life, that worldview, that outlook on life, it will take you into your later years with enjoyment and exuberance and excitement about what God still has for you rather than endurance or exhaustion. And feeling like life is over. They just haven't had the funeral yet. A couple of three months ago, I have begun finding myself in some, I'd like to think of it as midlife changes. But every time I say that to my daughter, she says, you're dad, you're 55, you think you're going to die at 110, this is not midlife, you're way beyond that. But I find myself just finding that things are changing. What I used to be able to do even 10 years ago, I just can't seem to do anymore and begin struggling with some of those issues of just feeling more tired and those kinds of things. The Lord gave me a verse when I was down in South Carolina, Bible conference back in November, a verse that I memorized years and years ago and have thought of many, many times, but had never seen in this way. Psalm 118, verse 24, says, this is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. And what I began to see is that my attitude was beginning to become different. And the Lord just really spoke to my heart through that verse and said, this is the way you need to start seeing every day. This is the day the Lord has made. In other words, God has prepared it. God has sovereignly ordered this day, every step of this day, everything that will come into your life this day, things that you don't know about yet, things you're planning on and make it done or may not get done. Everything that happens in this day, it has been made by God. It's been ordered and ordained by God. God has made this day. It's not just He created the day, the 24 hours. He has ordered the events of this day. So the result of that, if we really live in the context of God's sovereignty in our lives, the result of that is this. We will rejoice. Rejoice in the truth, He's just said that this is a day the Lord has prepared and developed and created and made for us. This is His day. We can rejoice in that, that God's in control of everything that happens. Then secondly, He says we will rejoice and be glad in it. To be glad in it is to be glad as we see the unfolding of that day. To be glad in the midst of that day. To be glad to see what God is doing, even if it's not what I had planned or what I had envisioned, what God is doing. He's the one that created the day, formed the day, made the day, prepared the day, the events of the day, so we can be glad in the outworking of it. And if things move a little slower than they used to, if things ache a little more than they used to, if things are more difficult than they used to be, that's still a part of God's day for you. Enjoy it, rejoice in it. And since I've begun thinking that way, things have kind of changed in my attitude about the days that God gives me. You see, what is your attitude toward life? The Bible indicates not only with Abraham, but throughout God's word, that we are made by God to see every day as a gift that He has given us, to be enjoyed thoroughly as we live it out for Him. And that attitude toward life should carry us into our later years. And if it does, it can do a wonderful turnaround on some of the debilitating effects of the aging process that begin to come our way. Enjoy life fully. Second thing Abraham models here for us is prepare for death carefully. Prepare for death carefully. Now notice several things that the Bible indicates he prepares, three things. Number one, he prepared his possessions. And so I would suggest for you, prepare your possessions. As we get older, we need to be thinking about what we're going to do as wise stewards with what God has given us. What we're going to, how we're going to invest that? In verses five and six, the Bible says, Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. Now that's appropriate. Isaac is the heir through whom all the promises will come. He is the heir that God has designated should receive Abraham's blessing. And so Abraham and faithfulness to God, in obedience to God, seeing life from God's perspective, leaves with wise forethought, all of his possessions to Isaac. But didn't notice what it says in verse six. But while he was still living, key phrase, while he was still living, he was thinking ahead, wise forethought making disposition of his personal effects. He says, while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east. Probably speaking of these other sons mentioned back in verse two, he gives them gifts. What kind of gifts? Well, in that culture it would be starter flocks. It would be enough flocks to get started on your own, to give you a start so that you could then, if you worked hard and diligently, then you would be able to build that into something that was very productive. That's what he did so that they could establish their own lives. It is not only wise, but it is scriptural, to prepare before we die for the disposition of our possessions. Look at 2 Corinthians 12, 14. It's on the screen for you. Paul says, now I'm ready to visit you for the third time. I will not be a burden to you. Because what I want is not your possessions, but you, after all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. Biblical principle, that parents are to think ahead as to how they can bless their children. Proverbs 19, 14 says, houses in wealth are inherited from parents. But a prudent wife is from the Lord. So I think that's what you're saying is, you can give your stuff to your kids. Just don't try to pick out a wife for them. That comes from God. Okay. Proverbs 13, 22. A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children, but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous. The Bible indicates that it is a wise thing to do to prepare for the future. In our culture, that means it's important to have a valid and up-to-date will, so that you can choose, as a steward, of the possessions God's given you, how those will be distributed, how much of that you want to invest in world missions, for instance, or in God's work in some way, how much you want to go to your children, in what percentages, how it's to be designated, planning out those things ahead of time. I don't want to say a whole lot about this because I know they'll listen to the tape and don't want to embarrass them. But my parents are doing a wonderful job of thinking ahead right now. In thinking about what's going to happen when Dad dies and goes on to be with the Lord, they've sat down with me and Bob Jan, others in the family, and they've talked about what they want done with this, that, and the other. Dad is taking care of a plan for mom very well, and it's not what they're leaving for the kids. That's not the issue at all. We haven't even talked about that, but it's how he's planning wise stewardship of what God has given them to be able to be used in the future. And I'm not going to detail about that, but I think it is important. It is important as good stewards that we prepare for that which we know is coming. Abraham did that. He prepared his possessions. You as a believer ought to have to say, under God as a steward, in where your possessions will go and how they will be invested in God's kingdom when you die. I think that's just good stewardship. Abraham modeled that well, but he also prepared very carefully his relationships. Look at verses nine through 11. Abraham breathed this last, excuse me, that's verse eight, verse nine, his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Macpillade. Isn't that interesting? Isaac and Ishmael buried him. Now Isaac and Ishmael have not always been close. In fact, they've never been close. There's never any indication in the Bible to this point that they've had contact with each other since Ishmael left home at age 17, and Isaac was three years old. And Ishmael hated Isaac because he had taken everything in Ishmael's mind that belonged to him. And so there was no love between these two. Now I don't know all that was going on here. We don't have a lot of information in the Bible about any contact that we have had with each other. But could I give Abraham the benefit of the doubt for a moment? Could it be that after Sarah's death, Abraham worked real hard at bringing those two boys into some kind of relationship with each other? To the point that at least when they came together at their father's death, they could peaceably carry out the arrangements together. I do a lot of funerals. I come with a lot of families in times of death. I've seen some horrific family situations that are not settled when people are at the funeral home trying to figure out what's happening. Just some awful situations where family members have been at each other's throats their entire lives and they are still biting in the funeral home at the visitation. It is a sad, sad thing to see happen. I think Abraham may have well worked toward the resolution of some family problems and I believe certainly that it should be our responsibility as we get into our older years to do whatever we can to resolve whatever family difficulties we have had in the past and certainly not contribute further to them in our later years. I've seen that happen too. Where in their later years some parents still play their kids against each other and create all kinds of difficulties for their family. Under God, can we covenant before Him that as we approach our senior years, we will do everything we can to resolve whatever conflict has been in our families so that the Isaacs and Ishmael's of our families can come together at our death and celebrate together the heritage that we've left them in the ward. Verse 11 says after Abraham's death, God blessed his son Isaac. Here's another way that he prepared his relationship with his son Isaac. Isaac is now the one to carry on the blessing, the attention shifts to God blessing Isaac, not God blessing Abraham as we've seen all through the life of Abraham. Now the blessing is transferred to Isaac and I believe Abraham had prepared him for that. He had taught him what it means to have a spiritual inheritance. I hope we're passing that along to our kids, to our grandkids. What it means to be right with God, to be able to live when you are gone in such a way that will bring the blessing of God on our lives. Prepare your possessions, yes, but prepare your relationships. And then the third thing Abraham prepared was his soul. And I would say the most important thing you can prepare as you come to your later years in life is your soul. Look at verse 8 again, there's another interesting expression here. Then Abraham breathed his last, died at a good old age, an old man and full of years or satisfied with life. Here's the expression I'm looking at. And he was gathered to his people. He was gathered to his people. It's an interesting expression. It does not mean that he was buried with his ancestors. That certainly was not true of Abraham. He was not buried back in Err, where he came from. He was not buried with anyone in his ancestor family. He was buried in Canaan. This expression is used probably 10 or 12 times in the Old Testament. And in every case, it seems to imply joining those who have gone on before you who are still in existence after death. In other words, going into the afterlife to the place where your loved ones are after death, stepping into eternal existence beyond the grave. And for a man like Abraham, who knows the Lord, it means to join any others in his family who have gone on ahead of him and who are in the presence of the Lord. Sarah, obviously at least, maybe some others. We don't know how many of his family or others he had impacted before he died. Maybe a lot, who knows? But the expression in the Old Testament is used of joining our loved ones in the presence of the Lord after death. The New Testament expands on this idea with Abraham in particular. It says in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 13, all these people, Abraham and those others that had led up to him in Hebrews 11, all these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised. They only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on the earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they'd been thinking of the country they had left, and this is in the context of Abraham here, if they'd been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were looking for a better country. A heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for He has prepared a city for them. He goes right on the next verse, say, by faith Abraham, before this passage, he's talked about by faith Abraham. In the context of Abraham's life, he makes it clear, Abraham was one of those men who was looking for a heavenly city. That was his home. And to be gathered with his people means that he went to that home in eternity after death where his people who knew the Lord trusted him like Abraham had and walked with him where those people were. The most important preparation you can make for death is to prepare your soul. I hope all of you here tonight know that. I have no reason to believe you don't, but I don't like to assume that. And so let me remind you that the Bible says this in Hebrews chapter nine, verse 27, just as man is destined to die once. And after that, to face judgment, Amos 412, God speaking to the people of Israel about him judging them if they don't repent from their sin, says, therefore this is what I will do to you Israel. And because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God. Oh Israel. Time and time again, God warns us in His word that we will meet Him someday, that we will die and face Him in judgment. And Jesus said in John chapter 14 and verse six, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. So no one is ready to meet God. No one is ready to face that judgment unless you know Jesus Christ as your Savior. And so the way to prepare your soul for death is to make sure that you know Jesus as your Savior, to make sure that you have trusted His death for you on the cross as the only hope you have of getting to heaven. And if you've done that, you have prepared your soul to die. Abraham made wise preparation for death. He prepared his possessions ahead of time. He prepared relationships in his own family for the time when he would be gone. And most of all, he prepared his soul to be gathered with his people after death. That's how to stay alive until you die. Live life every day as a gift from God to be enjoyed and to be lived out for Him fully, thoroughly with the kind of zeal and vigor that only God can give us. And then prepare for death carefully. Live as a wise steward in view of the fact that you will leave this world and be with God someday. Are you preparing for that? Even as you live here and now, they God help us to stay alive until we die. Let's pray together. Father, I thank you for Abraham's example of a man who died full of years satisfied with life. And a man who prepared himself well for that time. Pray that we would learn from his example to be good stewards of all you've given us, not just to use it wisely while we're here, but to think about what will happen when we die. And to prepare our possessions, our relationships, our own souls for when we will meet you. And until that time, may we see every day as a gift that we can be living out fully for you. Help us to see each day as a day you've made prepared for us, to rejoice and be glad in it. We ask in Jesus' name, Amen.