Fall is now approaching us again. ?The harvest will soon be past. ?The corn is harvested, the flowers begin to die, the summer heat declines, the leaves start to turn, and the fall of the year is here.?All of the seasons are a picture of what happens to every person in life. ?Spring is our childhood, Summer is our 20-30's, Fall is our 40-50s, and then winter comes in our 60-70-80s. ?Creation itself speaks and warns us that there is a harvest and a death for us all, and we all fade and fall as a leaf. ?The grass of our physical strength withers, the flower of our natural beauty fades, and then death comes and takes us away. ?Nature preaches to us every year as well as the Scriptures; Summer is ended, harvest is past, prepare to meet your God!
Death will soon come up into all of our windows. Death will set its axe to every tree. Our strength soon begins to depart, and then we are not. Death honeycombs the earth with graves. Death beds, the grave, and the Judgment throne of God are solemn subjects. We need to become familiar with the world to come before we enter it. We must all take the inevitable journey into Eternity, every one of us. All men are mortal, but we always make an exception for ourselves and put off the evil day. We admit we are mortal, but do not expect to die anytime soon. Even the old man looks forward to a continuance of life.
Men spend thousands of dollars just to extend their earthly life a few months or years. But as surely as you live, you will die one day. You will lie on a death bed before long. There will be very little hope for you to recover. The doctors will begin to whisper in your room and shake their heads. The doctors all know your end is near. Your loved ones begin to weep and pray for you. ?People tread softly in the room where there is a dying man. Death is an awesome thing. You must go to your long home. Where will you spend all of Eternity? ?No one on earth can delay the departure. All the gold in Fort Knox cannot bribe Death's cruel hand. One day soon, you will not be able to buy yourself another hour of physical life; your time will come, and you must go the way of all the earth.
Your spouse will want you stay, but you will torn from their embrace. No friend can take your place and die for you, there can be no proxies in death. You must do your own dying all alone. It is appointed unto all men once to die, and die you must. The hour will come! Your pulse will begin to slow, your eyes will begin to glaze, and then you will flatline, and your soul will depart your body. Every individual must do his own dying and giving account to his Maker.
Salvation and character become very important as death approaches. Your life is now put into the balance, you begin to look back over all your years. It will be the most important thing in the universe to you. Your sickness is now a small matter compared to Eternity, your soul is your main consideration. Did you live a righteous or wicked life? Were you a fearer of God or a despiser of Christ's grace? The best physician, the softest bed, and finest medical care will not be able to comfort you then. It is the man himself, the man's soul, and the man's personal character that is now seen in its true light; death demands your whole thought.
Whether you be a prince or peasant, a king or pauper, we are all the same at death. You have to face for yourself the great things of Eternity, and you cannot hand these things off to another to handle for you. You used to hear others speak of Eternity, but now you must experience it alone. Into the cold river of death your own feet must step, death bony hand will touch your body, and into the unknown future you must plunge all alone, you must pass through tracks unknown. You must believe in the Risen Savior for yourself, and you must have a good hope through grace in your own soul, or death will be the king of terrors to you. Men never think of these things till it comes time for them to die.
You may have made plenty of money in your life selfishly and sinfully. But all men at death come to a level. In death, finances will mock your lost soul and become contemptible. Moral and spiritual issues are most esteemed at death. How you lived, your thoughts, your heart towards God, repentance of sin, real belief in Jesus, resting upon the finished work of Christ or no - these are the things that will really matter. You must now look to what you did, and what you were, and what you are. Now is reckoning time, and the sum total will be added up. It will matter very little what you were before men, but the solemn question will be, what were you in secret before the all-searching eye of the Almighty? You will have to render an account.
Death tests all things. You will be past the time for pretenses and shams. The salvation you professed must be truthful now, you must be really regenerate, or you must perish forever. You will need the sweet and sure Promises of Scripture at death: "Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out." "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." "The blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanseth me from all sin." You will need the plain truths of the Gospel to rest your soul upon. You must come face to face with Eternity. Are you ready? You may think yourself to be somebody in the church, but that will be of small account in your last moments. No man can die on stilts.
Death finds out the truth of our condition and blows away all the chaff which we thought to be real wheat. You must look to the mercy of God, trust to the Blood of Calvary's Lamb, the Promises of the Gospel, you must cling as a poor, needy, and guilty sinner to the free and rich and good grace of God, or else your soul will sink into the firepit of Hell. When life is ebbing, nothing will do but the Grace and Blood and Promises of God in your last moments. You will need Christ Himself to get you past death's terrors. You will have to come to God as a needy sinner, and find in Jesus all your hope. Dying men want realities, they need a sinner's Savior, they desire an Atonement for their guilt, so they can pass out of this world with real hope. Dying sinners want a real living Savior, no one else can help you when it comes time for you to die.
You must go the way of all the earth, there is no alternative. You will not be able to resist the power of God's summons for you to depart this world and come before His bar of Judgment. Willing or unwilling, it matters not, you must go and meet your Maker. Be wise - prepare to meet God now. Nevertheless, whether you are ready or not, it makes no difference, you will have to leave all and take your solemn journey and face God. Your family and necessities will not be able to detain you. You may not have a will and your business affairs may all be tangled, but still you must go. The clock will tick next to your bedside in the silence of your last night. The doctors will consult with each other, and they all will have to admit that there is no remedy for you. It is clear that your hour has finally come; you must go. This must happen to you, lay it to heart.
You will breathe your last, and the medical examiner will come and take your body to the morgue. Your loved ones will weep a while, and then they will all come to view your body and gaze once more upon your face, and say their final goodbyes. Your family and friends will all gather at the funeral home, the minister will say a few choice words, and then the cars will proceed to the graveyard. You will take your last ride. All the cars stop and pay respects while your funeral procession passes by. Face it - this funeral will soon be yours.
The obituary will soon have your name there in black and white. Your corpse will be hauled out by the pall bearers and carried to your grave. Within a very short time each one of us must lie within a coffin, and then will come the open grave, the gathering of the mourners, the minister's final words, and then the lowering of your casket. The dirt will begin to fall upon the coffin lid. Earth to earth, dust to dust, and ashes to ashes. A mound of dirt will cover your body, and maybe a flower or two, perhaps a headstone, to this end you must come. Do you realize that this is so near?
Your soul will leave your body at death. You will be stripped of this house of clay, and you will die, but you will live again, live forever. You will be judged, to be justified or condemned by your Maker. You will live forever either in happiness or torment. You will go where you shall not return, there will be either endless bliss and joy, or ceaseless woe and torment for your soul. Your soul's real state immediately after death will be known beyond question. Whether you are accepted before God, or whether you are reprobate, condemned, and beyond all hope, this will be known in a moment. It will be either happiness or misery.
Death is filled with hope for the Christian, but it is a terrible dread for the ungodly. Your soul will never return to this world's cares. You will stand before the Judgment and receive the final divine verdict from the lips of Christ Jesus, the appointed Judge of all mankind. You will either be accepted or condemned based on what you did with the Man Christ Jesus. It will be bliss unspeakable or misery unutterable, you will either be blessed or cursed.
Life is so short. At the commencement of life, it looks like an endless road, but as we advance along the path the end seems very near, and we begin to perceive how very short our time is here on earth. Your age is descending, and your time for lingering here is certainly short. Your lease has almost run out. In a short time, you must set sail for the land which is afar off. Life is so short, that we have scarce begun to live before we are called to die.
Any work to be done for Jesus, let us do it at once, or else it will never get done. If your salvation is to be sought, seek it now, for you shall soon be where salvation is no more preached. If you possess worldly goods, hold them very loosely, for in a short time you must leave them all behind. Give your goods to God's glory, your stewardship will not last for long, and you shall soon give an account. Always be prepared to die.
Who'll be the next? No one knows. The cemetery's gates open every day and the funeral procession passes through. Who'll be the next to go? To be ready to depart this world is wisdom. Look ahead, be not as the fool, be prudent, consider your latter end. It is the mark of the blinded worldling that he confines his thoughts within only a short period of time. Look out into the everlasting future as an immortal being should do. Don't perish with the careless and thoughtless worldlings. To be prepared to die is an immediate duty. Don't neglect your soul's deep need - the Forgiveness of Sins through God's Blood. To be unprepared for death, and to know it may come at any moment, must keep your soul in fear and dread. To be prepared to die is to be prepared to live; to be ready for Eternity is in the best sense to be ready for time.
You need to unload your sins at the Cross today, and find mercy through the Blood of Christ, and be reconciled to God by the bloody death of His Son. See to your soul's needs at once. There is no time to spare, the end is drawing near, every flying moment is hastening on our last hour. It is high time to awake out of your sinful, suicidal slumber and in earnest seek and trust the Savior's Blood.
Your occupation, your home, your family and friends, the pleasures of life, hopes and fears, joys and pains, you shall never return to these after death. To spring's flowers, the summer's sun, the fall's colors, the winter's snows, you shall not return to these. To your brothers, children, spouse, you shall not return. To the preaching of the Gospel, to the Bible, to opportunities to be Born Again, to space for repentance, and to the mercy of God in Christ, you shall not return, you will never hear any more invitations to be saved. He which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and where the tree falls, there it must lie. Once you pass the threshold of life unsaved, you cannot return to be saved, you die is cast.
If you were at this very instant to leave your body, where would your soul be? You will go and dwell with the people you loved to be with here on earth. Yes, you will keep the same company forever. What you have chosen on earth shall be your portion hereafter. The scoffer, the drunkard, the infidel, the liar, and the unchaste shall be your companions in hell, if they were so here on earth. If you really like the earth, you will get to go live right in the middle of the earth in Hell, where you belong. If you loved sin, you shall be steeped up to your throat in it in Hell's fires. Sin will be everywhere in Hell, Sin will all around you there like liquid fire.
The wages of sin is still eternal death. But if your trust and delight has been in God and His Son, you shall dwell in Heaven. If you have believed and rejoiced in Christ Jesus' blood and righteousness, you shall abide with Him forever. Your disembodied soul shall dwell with Christ and His people, or with Sin and lost sinners forever and ever - Either in paradise with Jesus, or in Hell with Satan. If you die in Satan's family, you have to go and live in Satan's house forever - Hell. If your sin is not put away forever by the Lamb of God Himself, then you can be sure your will find you out at the Judgment. Lay it to heart!
If you are Born Again, seek to mend your matters now, avoid the doing of evil in private and public. Forsake and stop all known sin. Keep to the truth of Scripture and the good old Gospel. Live surely, honestly, and thoroughly. See to the bringing up of your children in the fear of the Lord, the conversion of your neighbors, give your talents for Christ, consecrate all your substance to God. The curfew of life is sounding for you.
Source: http://jeff-mckennie.blogspot.com/2012/09/fall-is-approaching.html
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The 2012 New York Film Festival begins Friday, Sept. 28 and? marks the 50th anniversary of this influential film series produced by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. It?s also the last lineup Program Director Richard Pe?a will shape. The life-long movie buff has headed the festival?s selection committee for the past 25 years, watching it grow, evolve and adapt to the digital age. He?ll continue teaching Film Studies at Columbia University and host Reel13 on THIRTEEN, but his next summer will most likely be spent in Brazil instead of the Upper West Side. Here he talks with NYC-ARTS about what?s in store for the big 5-0, how the American audience has changed, and how this shift in movie culture creates the biggest challenge films have ever faced.