Mark 13:33 KJV 1900

Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.

THE UNCERTAINTY OF LIFE

The veiling of the future is a mercy for most of us.

We are permitted to hold undisturbed possession of all the innocent joys of life up to the time of our departure.

1. THE FACT OF LIFE’S UNCERTAINTY

Two related facts draw our attention:

1) The certainty of death.

Death is inevitable. We are born to die. Nature teaches us that our end will come.

2) The nearness of death.

We all must die soon.

How soon we cannot tell.

Some are called to account in the midst of their everyday life.

Their employment may be commendable, their aims good, their motives right.

But, when “the time” arrives, they must leave all.

Some are taken in the very act of sin and rebellion against God.

The Scriptures furnish instances of the sudden doom of those who were in rebellion: the contemporaries of Noah, the fellow-townsmen of Lot, Korah, and his companions.

But the wicked are not the only ones liable to sudden death.

No degree of morality, faith, or holiness can shield any of us from it.

Many good people have even desired to go suddenly.

The first death was the sudden call of righteous Abel.

2. THE DUTY OF LIFE’S UNCERTAINTY

“Take heed.”

Many are heedless and unprepared to die.

This heedlessness arises from—The absorbing nature of earthly riches.

Idleness.

Ignorance.

Heedlessness will cause you to miss heaven.

It will land you in the place of torment.

It will render you unfit for the coming of the king of terrors.

Watch and pray.

Live habitually prepared for your end.

Observe these three things:

1) Habitually believe in Christ.

All preparation for eternity lies there. Christ is all in all.

2) Habitually commune with God.

Communion with God takes place with conversion. Adoption gives us connection, and opens the communication between the soul and God.

3) Habitually aim at Christian consistency.

We owe duty both to God and man. Christian faith must begin with God; it must extend to society.

Here is a warning to those who are neither watching nor praying.

Here is a reproof to the lukewarm professor and the backslider.

Here is encouragement to the earnest, expectant, watching believer.