SUPPOSE I HAD BEEN...
DEATH?
Would I have found you prepared to meet your God?
Cork Free Presbyterian Church, 10 Briarscourt
(Annex) Shanakiel, Cork, Ireland
Pastor: Colin Maxwell. Email: colin.maxwell@fpcmission.org
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Thank you for accepting this card SUPPOSE I HAD BEEN... DEATH? Would I have found you prepared to meet your God? |
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1) DEATH IS REAL:
We have been speaking of death as a naked fact without offering any
proof for its existence. There are no sceptics out there who deny it's
reality. Every newspaper has an obituary column. Every community has
its cemetery and every business directory it's solemn faced undertaker.
Life is but a journey from the womb to the tomb and no one lives on this earth forever.
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2) DEATH IS CRUEL:
It robs us of family members whom we love dear and of good
friends and acquaintances. Perhaps more tears are shed at funerals than
anywhere else. The Bible describes death as "the last enemy" (1
Corinthians 15:26) It takes its victims down a dark valley (Psalm 23:4)
where they must go as individuals, even if it claims several people in
one incident. It leaves pain and sorrow and misery in its wake. It's
call card has heartache written all over it.
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3) DEATH IS SWIFT:
It generally approaches it's victims unannounced. We may be aware that "we must needs die" (2 Samuel 14:14) and
that the ground will receive our remains, but like Issac, of old, we
know not the day of our death (Genesis 27:2) The circumstances that
lead to our death may be of a lingering kind. Many hospital beds and
old folk's homes can testify to that, but at the last, death will
spring like a tiger and claim its prey. There is no half way house
between life and death. We are either alive or we are dead. A split
second lies between the two. Had the person who gave you the above card
indeed been DEATH instead of an earnest evangelist, then you would not
be reading these words now. Where he saw you is the place where you would have breathed your last breath on this earth.
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4) DEATH IS ONLY THE BEGINNING!
Yes,
it is the end as far as this life is concerned, but it is the beginning
of eternity. Contrary to the nonsense preached by atheists and others,
you have a soul and on death, it leaves the body and goes either to
Heaven or to Hell. If these things are not so, then the Lord Jesus
must have been the biggest deceiver who ever lived. He spoke often
about life beyond the grave, and (as a testimony against the human
race) He spoke more about Hell than He did about Heaven. The grave or
the crematorium does not end it all. There is no eternal annihilation
as proclaimed by cults like the Jehovah Witnesses and others. There is
no oblivion where the departed one leaves us behind. There is a
Heaven and there is a Hell. Justice demands the latter and grace
provides the former.
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5) DEATH, ALTHOUGH AN ENEMY, HAS BEEN CONQUERED FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD: By
dying for the sins of His people, and especially by rising again from
the dead on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) the Lord Jesus
conquered death for His people. It is true that Christians die when
their last breath leaves their body and their pulse ceases to be, but
for them and them alone is there an entrance into Heaven. So even
though the Christian must walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, he is enabled to say, "I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." (Psalm 23:4) Death for the Christian means to be "absent from the body, and present with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8) Not so, for those who have never be born again. Death for
them is still an unrestrained enemy. He comes to them in unrestrained
fury and removes them from this earth into the place of torment. Read
the true account of the death of a righteous man (Lazarus) and an
unregenerate man in Luke 16:19-31.
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ARE YOU READY TO MEET DEATH? You
can only be ready to meet death by receiving Christ as your Lord and
Saviour. This act of faith will lead to your sins being forgiven and
will cut the hold that death has over you. It will enable you to live a
holy life unto the Lord and will enable you to face death when your
appointed hour comes. Having come thus far, from your first reception
of the little card above, to this website and read these words, do
nothing less unto you make your peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ.
As it says on the card above, you will either "die in faith" like those mentioned in Hebrews 11:13 or you will "die in your sins" like those warned in John 8:21 Your sins need to be pardoned and they can only be forgiven at the Cross of Jesus Christ. |
Thank
you for reading this e-tract. Don't forget to ring our 24/7 Gospel
Hotline for a two minute recorded message from the Bible: * More questions about the gospel - including an expansion on some of those mentioned here Click here to for .mp3 file on the way of salvation
If you would like further spiritual help, please email us at:
Telephone: 021-4393334. This is a Cork based landline and therefore carries the cost only of a local call.
Come and visit us in Cork Free Presbyterian Church, 10 Briarscourt (Annex), Shanakiel, Cork (Top of Blarney Street)
Sunday's at 11:30am and 6:30pm. Press here for precise directions.
If you get saved through reading the above card or through this page, please encourage us here by letting us know.
We can help you "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ " (2 Peter 3:18)
* Questions about Cork Free Presbyterian Church
colin.maxwell@fpcmission.org