"Prepare to meet thy GOD." (Amos 4:12).
THE JEWS have a legend - I have heard my people tell it many times. It seems that a rather
wealthy, moral, aristocratic Jew died and faced GOD at the judgment. The books were opened.
His sins were read out, big and little, many and old. When GOD got ready to pronounce the
soul's doom, the man interposed an objection. "Lord," cried he, "I did not know that I had not
long to live, I did not know I was going to die. You did not warn me. It is unfair to make me
stand before You like this, unprepared without some sort of warning."
The Lord looked the man fully in the face. "Your argument, your excuse, your alibi, would be
quite good if it were true," He said. "May I point out to you the inconsistency of it. Do you
remember when your father died, while you were but still a child?"
"Yes, Lord," the man answered.
"That was My first warning. Now, do you recall when you were twenty years of age and almost
died from a siege of sickness that was beyond the wisdom and ability of the doctors?"
"Yes, Lord."
"That was My second warning. Do you remember when you followed your child to its last
resting place in the cemetery, and how heartbroken you were over it? You remember how it
brought you to the reading of My Word, and for a little time to attendance upon My services?"
"Yes, Lord."
"That was My third warning. And that is not all. Again and again, in various and sundry ways, I
pressed upon your heart and mind the thought that you were not upon earth forever - that some
day you, too, would have to die and face Me."
The moral of the story is self-evident, and it is the point of this message. Whatever else the
HOLY SPIRIT may be able to use in this humble sermon, it is my fervent prayer that He may
take these five tremendous words, "Prepare to meet thy God," and etch them on your souls
with burning fire. May He give you no peace or rest until you shall have realized your need of
preparedness and complied with GOD's Word for the forgiveness of your sins and the
regeneration of your souls.
The Bible gives fair warning. Proverbs 1:22-33:
"How long ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their
scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my
Spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye
refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all
my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock
when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh
as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me,
but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they
hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: they would none of my
counsel; they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way,
and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them,
and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell
safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil."
Language can be no simpler, words can be no clearer, appeal can be no more definite.
The meeting with GOD is inevitable for every soul in all the universe. The time of the meeting is
entirely uncertain. There is no way of telling when the last minute of probation is finished, when
the last chance for preparation vanishes. Because all men are sinful, all men must make some
preparation for this meeting. It is the need and the manner of this preparation that I seek to
impress upon your hearts.
May we, therefore, humbly and prayerfully consider this timely, tremendous, terrible text, from
these three angles: first, a warning; second, an instruction; third, an appeal.
Surely this text contains a warning. We all know that life is short and indefinite, that death is
certain, that judgment is coming, that eternity is long. Yet there are many who go on heedlessly,
hoping against hope, trusting against the revealed wrath of GOD, insensitive, indifferent,
indolent, undecided. Many such may be reading these words. GOD direct this warning to you.
Some of you do not believe that you need preparation. Humanly, earthly speaking, you are clean,
moral, refined, cultured. You are good fathers, good mothers, good husbands, good wives, good
sons, good daughters, good friends, good neighbors. Your pictures are not in a rogues' gallery.
The police are not on your trail. Your creditors are not knocking at your door . You belong to
social, civic, fraternal organizations. You believe that the Gospel is for bums, for vile sinners, for
outlaws, for outcasts, and for those badly bespattered with the muck and mire of life. You go on
your way thinking that because by comparison with others your life is rather bright and clean,
you need no preparation for the judgment and eternity. But you are wrong.
The Word of GOD is authoritative. Your experience backs the declarations: "There is not a just
man upon the earth... that sinneth not." "There is none righteous, no, not one." "There is no
difference, for all have sinned." All souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul
of the son is mine; the soul that sinneth, it shall die." Your record also bears the blots, the
blemishes, the blightings of sin. You have not loved GOD with all your heart, and all your soul,
and all your mind. You have not lived up to every word of His revealed will. Your righteousness
does not exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees. Measuring yourself by the standard of
CHRIST, you are as filthy rags in the sight of GOD. You need changing. You need cleansing.
You need converting. The dross must be purified out of your lives. The stain must be removed
from your record. The hoof-prints of Satan must be banished from your character. You, too, must
prepare to meet your GOD.
There are others of you who know that you are sinners, who know that CHRIST died for you,
who know that you need preparation, but who are yet putting it off to some future date. The light
GOD has given you, the feelings He has stirred in your hearts, the emotions He has raised in
your souls, will witness against you on the day of reckoning. You know what you should do; you
know what you need to do; you know what you must do. Yet you trifle, you hesitate, you delay,
you hold off the HOLY SPIRIT, claiming a thousand and one excuses that would hold no water
in an ordinary business transaction, let alone in the terrible exigencies of this vital matter.
What do you hope to gain by delay? Will GOD be more ready to save you tomorrow than He is
today? Will you have less sins tomorrow than you have today? Will CHRIST's blood be more
effective tomorrow than it is today? You would not so put off the purchasing of a home, the
changing of a job, or any other matter of daily occurrence, yet you place your souls in the
balance between Heaven and hell, as you listen to Satan saying, "Not today." Were you to die in
your condition, you know full well that your good intentions would not be respected at the bar of
GOD; that your oft made and as oft broken resolutions would be of no avail to you at that awful
tribunal. Oh, brother; oh, sister, be done with your ungrateful, insensible hesitation. GOD speaks
to you in this hour. Prepare to meet thy God.
There are others to the ends of the earth who need this preparation, to whom this warning is
directed, who are depending upon other methods besides those of the Gospel, on useless,
valueless preparation. Some are trusting in the fact that they were born and reared in a Christian
home, that they were sprinkled into the fellowship of some Christian communion while they
were yet babes in arms. Some are counting on church membership, water baptism, the taking of
the communion, regularity in attendance upon the house of GOD, giving of their means, or on
other outward forms of Christian ceremonialism, observances, and duties. None of these will do.
They are not considered in the scheme of GOD's redemptive program. They are no part of the
process and power of salvation. They will not stand the testing fires of the judgment. They will
not float the soul over Jordan's stormy waters, nor bridge it over the chasm of the lake of fire and
brimstone. To you, too, the HOLY SPIRIT directs this warning. To you, too, GOD cries,
"Prepare to meet thy God."
No matter what class you belong to, the Lord has made three appointments with you. The first
one is at Calvary, at the cross of the Lord, JESUS CHRIST, for it is written: "for GOD hath not
appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." The second is in
the hour of death, for it is written: "It is appointed unto men once to die." The third is in the
day of Judgment, for it is written: "The times of this ignorance GOD winked at; but now
commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because he hath appointed a day, in which he
will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath
given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead."
We may refuse or fail to meet GOD at Calvary, but death and the Judgment are unavoidable. The
value of your souls, the reasonings of your minds, the feelings of your hearts, should constrain
everyone of you to heed and hear this mighty warning, "Prepare to meet thy God," and to heed
it now. When death comes, when the judgment day dawns, it will be too late to talk of
preparation. There is no second chance in the grave, there is no probation period in eternity.
Purgatory is an idle dream. It is now or never. Death is either GOD's inviting messenger or
GOD's arresting officer. If you hesitate, you delay, you neglect, you refuse, you die in your sins.
You've had your chance. You meet GOD at the Judgment. What then?
This is not only a warning - that would not be enough. It would leave you frightened, uncertain,
hesitant, not knowing which way to turn. GOD comes to us, therefore, with an instruction, a
direction. We must prepare a character that will stand the scrutiny of GOD's holiness. It must be
scriptural in its foundation, and spiritual in its force. It must be based and built on compliance
with GOD's will. CHRIST must be its pattern, and the HOLY SPIRIT its tutor. It will not be
enough for it to pass the standards of men; it must measure up to the rule of GOD. We will not
be judged by what finite men think of us, but by what the Infinite GOD knows of us. Some one
well said that "character is what we are in the dark." There is no "dark" for GOD. Consequently,
we may directly say that "character is what we look like to GOD." That is a fearful thought, that
there is some one who knows the very most inner recesses of our being, to whom our goings out
and comings in, our days and nights, our thoughts and words, our deeds and hopes, are as the
pages of an open book.
We must prepare a record. The Bible is specific in its implication that some day at the great
white throne the books will be opened and men will be judged "out of those things which were
written in the books according to their works." Surely, this record cannot be glossed over,
cannot be minimized, cannot be destroyed. It is kept in the Archives of Glory. There is only one
element in all creation which can have any effect upon it, and that is the blood of the Lord
JESUS CHRIST. Unless the blood of the Son of GOD cleanses you from all sin, this record will
spell your doom in the counsels of eternity.
We must prepare an advocate, one who will speak for us, one who will plead in our behalf.
There is only one accredited counsel in the court of Heaven, even the man CHRIST JESUS, for
it is written, "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." He alone
can stand by our sides, can lift his voice on our behalf, can, through His own blood-bought
merits, claim the mercy of GOD. Oh, souls, what will you do if you do not prepare an advocate?
What will you do if you have this JESUS, not as your defender, but as your prosecutor?
Scripture tells you how you may prepare, what steps you must take to make yourselves
acceptable in the sight of GOD. May I impress them upon your hearts in this hour of need. First,
you must be reconciled to GOD. By nature, by choice, by practice, you are dead in trespasses
and sins, walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power
of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we
all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath... without Christ, being
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope, and without God in the world.
This enmity must be abolished. This barrier must be smashed through. This chasm must be
bridged. In CHRIST, GOD offers you ample and abundant provision for your reconciliation, for
it is written in Colossians 1:19-22:
"For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; and having made peace
through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say,
whether they be things in earth or things in Heaven. And you, that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled, in the
body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in
his sight."
Again, it is written in II Corinthians 5:17-21:
"Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things are passed away;
behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to
himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God
was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them;
and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for
Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye
reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him."
These are the words you must heed. These are the steps you must take. This provision is for you
to receive. This bounty is for you to enjoy.
Second, you must be born again, converted, regenerated, changed, made over. GOD's
requirements in this direction are familiar to all of you. JESUS said: "Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." And again: "Except a
man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." And
again: "Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall
not enter the kingdom of Heaven." But this new birth, this conversion, this regeneration, is
totally impossible without the intervention of GOD. You may be ever so brilliant, ever so
cultured, ever so talented; but in this you are totally and entirely dependent upon the mercy, the
grace of Him who loved you and gave His Son for your sins. Thank GOD, therefore, that I am
able to say to you, upon the authority of GOD's holy Book, that regeneration may be your eternal
possession if you will but turn to CHRIST. Thus it is written: John 3:14-15: "And as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Titus 3:3-7:
"For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts
and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after that the
kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared. Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing
of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through
Jesus Christ our Saviour. That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs
according to the hope of eternal life."
You need not become a slave of Satan. By faith in CHRIST you may be made a child of GOD.
To be reconciled to GOD, to be born again, you must repent and put your faith in the Lord
JESUS CHRIST. These are the unchangeable conditions for both reconciliation and
regeneration. GOD will have no mercy, no pity, no pardon for any of you unless you show
yourselves sorry for your sins, unless you unhesitatingly show your willingness to give them up,
to turn your backs upon them. For did not the Lord JESUS CHRIST say, "Except ye repent ye
shall all likewise perish"? Repentance was the message of John the Baptist, who cried, "Repent
ye for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand." When JESUS sent out His disciples to evangelize
the lost world, He told them that "repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his
name among all nations."
Faith in CHRIST is another essential. As a matter of fact, repentance and faith are so closely
united that it is almost, if not, altogether, impossible to separate them. Repentance will lead to
faith, and faith will lead to repentance. Repentance and faith together will bring us to the feet of
CHRIST, will apply His shed blood to our souls, will bring us into a divine union with Him
forever.
All these things are contained in the warning and the direction of our text: "Prepare to meet thy
God." We must prepare a character, a record, an Advocate. We must travel the way of
repentance and faith towards reconciliation and regeneration. Now, the question is, what will you
do with this instruction from the heart and Word of GOD?
Consider, therefore, this "Prepare to meet thy God," last of all as an appeal. In a hundred and
one ways in the pages of the Bible and in His impressions upon our lives, the Lord appeals to us
to walk in His way, to do His will, to abide by His word. The hands of GOD are tied. He may
either pardon you in CHRIST, if and when you accept Him as your SAVIOUR, or He must
punish you in hell. If you turn a deaf ear to His entreaties, you have left Him no recourse but to
let dread punishment take its course. Be warned now! Be guided now! Be entreated now!
There are just two classes of people in this world, the wicked and the righteous.
There are just two ways to travel, the way that leads to Heaven and the road that leads to hell.
There are just two places at the judgment bar of GOD - with the children of GOD, the washed in
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