What If You Will Die Tomorrow?

Introduction:

1. How would you live today, if you knew you would die tomorrow? How would you live your last hours?
2. I spent some time in conversation with a dying man this week – a man who will likely not see next month.
3. I want to do you a favor – the most important favor you need, and one that no one today does for anyone.
4. The only mention of this subject in this generation is to make sure you buy insurance from them or for them!
5. Unlike many who preach a sermon like this, I am not asking or encouraging a mere decision for Jesus tonight.
6. I am asking you to take stock of your entire life and consider how you would live your last twelve hours.
7. When you are down to only one day left to live, there will not be time to then live the way you should have.
8. Jonathan Edwards included in resolutions he made at the age of 18-20 to live each day as if it were the last.

MEN MAKE CHANGES WHEN FACED WITH IMMEDIATE JUDGMENT.

1. When Nathan told David the child would die, David went to extreme measures (II Sam 12:14-18).
2. When Elijah told Ahab God was going to judge him severely, even he got serious (I Kgs 21:20-29).
3. When Hezekiah was told to put his house in order to die, he got serious about life (Is 38:1-3,9-20).
4. When the king of Nineveh was told he had forty days to live, he got serious about life (Jonah 3:5-9).
5. The rich man wished he had known he was dying, for he would have lived better (Luke 16:22-26).

YOU CANNOT BOAST OF LIVING EVEN ONE DAY BEYOND TODAY.

1. No man knows the day of his death, which in most cases comes quite sooner than expected (Pr 27:1).
2. A certain rich man was extremely confident of his future, but he was very mistaken (Luke 12:16-20).

YOU CANNOT IMPROVE ON LIVING TODAY AS IF IT WERE YOUR LAST.

1. Jesus said not to worry about tomorrow, for there is plenty of evil to worry about today (Matt 6:34).
2. How can youth remember their Creator in their youth but by considering evil days (Ec 11:9 – 12:1)?
3. Prudence is the ability to recognize potential trouble and take steps to avoid it (Prov 22:3; 27:12).
4. Paul taught we ought to live in light of the coming day of judgment before Christ (II Cor 5:10-11).
5. Moses wrote for us to number our days, count them one by one, in order to be wise (Ps 90:12).
6. We can fulfill holiness by living and dying unto the Lord; let there be no difference (Rom 14:7-9).
7. By considering death soberly, frequently, and intimately, you can live Paul’s motto (Phil 1:21).
8. We should pass the time of our sojourning here in fear, if we truly know our Father (I Peter 1:17).

WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY, IF YOU WILL DIE TOMORROW?

1. Would it enter your mind rather easily and often to seriously, slowly, and carefully read the Bible?
2. Would your prayer life take a leap for the better, with much fervent weeping in prayer to the Lord?
3. Would you make peace and express deep affection for your spouse, family, and church members?
4. Would you be ready to hit the off button on the radio or television a little sooner than before?
5. Would you be tempted to be a little more selective in what websites you surfed on the Internet?
6. Would you have a problem getting your heart rather passionate about loving the Lord more dearly?
7. Would it be as difficult or seldom for you to fervently express love to God and beg for mercy?
8. The things listed so far are things you have covenanted together as a church to do better in 2004.
9. And they are all things you would do with great passion and zeal if you were to die tomorrow.
10. You would not foolishly procrastinate like Governor Felix under Paul’s preaching (Acts 24:25).
11. I guarantee you would be totally infatuated with my preaching tonight, as if I was Paul himself.
12. I guarantee you would be totally infatuated with one another tonight, as if they were God’s angels.
13. I guarantee you would not say one negative thing about others tonight, as if they were all perfect.
14. I guarantee all the things that bother you now would not bother you, if today were your last day.
15. I guarantee you would hold your wife close and thank her for the good things she has done for you.
16. I guarantee you would talk to your children about greater things than schoolwork or their rooms.
17. I guarantee you would work with the greatest conscientiousness and zeal on your job (Eccl 9:10).
18. I guarantee your speech would be only gracious and you would see no need to use salt (Col 4:6).
19. I guarantee you would honor and obey your parents with great care, if you were to die tomorrow.
20. I guarantee you would wear very modest clothing, if you had no future but meeting the Lord of all.
21. I guarantee your priorities would change in your use of time, if you were counting final minutes.
22. I guarantee you would not be able to have a bad mood, if you knew shortly you would face angels.
23. I guarantee you would be incredibly content with the things you already have, if you were dying.
24. I guarantee you would not selfishly press any Christian liberty, if you were going to face Christ.
25. I guarantee you would put your money in the offering box a little easier, if today was the last day.
26. I guarantee you would not have idle thoughts in your last hours, knowing you were going to God.
27. You would think the spiritual mysteries of Christ’s substitutionary death were most marvelous!
28. You would think Gethsemane, Calvary, and Bethany were most delightful places and themes!
29. Politics, business, nutrition, and all carnal matters would fade into oblivion in the face of death.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY, IF YOU LIVE TOMORROW?

1. Everything listed in the previous point! For one day soon, maybe even today, you will die tomorrow.
2. There is only one way to prepare for the day before the day you will die, live as if it were today!

Conclusion:

1. You will die tomorrow! Whether it is tomorrow’s tomorrow or another tomorrow, you will die tomorrow!
2. When tomorrow arrives, it is much too late to make any corrections to how you have lived 25,000 days!
3. I am doing you a favor. I am warning you to live today for death tomorrow, so you can die like the righteous.
4. Paul faced death often (Acts 14:19; II Cor 4:11; 11:23), which caused him to live righteously … and to die confidently (II Cor 5:8-11; Phil 1:21-23; II Tim 1:12; 4:6-8).

For further study:

1. Sermon Outline: What Is Your Life?
2. Sermon Outline: To Live Is Christ.
3. Sermon Outline: Pressing Saints or Belly Worshippers.
4. Sermon Outline: Living Life One Day at a Time.
5. Sermon Outline: The Death of the Righteous.