THE GRAVE IS READY FOR ME

Job 17:1 "My spirit is broken, My days are extinguished. The grave is ready for me.

Why did he say this?

Job 2:7-9 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes. Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!"

1 When Job said this he was smitten with boils-

2. He is discouraged with life and looks for death.

3. He is in so much pain he scrapes his skin with a broken pot-

4. His wife told him to curse God and die Doctors often report to patients the bad news, "You only have so long to live."

1. Life then takes on new meaning- you need encouragement.

2. Job understood, even "chose death"

Job 7:15 -16 So that my soul chooses strangling And death rather than my body. I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone. For my days are but a breath.

3. Yet inside he did not want to die, nor do we.

4. Job chose death, said the grave was ready for him

I. He was mistaken; he lived longer than he thought- 140 years more. 

I. DEATH IS UNCERTAIN AS TO THE TIME, BUT IT IS CERTAIN.

A. All will die.

1. Heb. 9:27 "As it is appointed unto man to die.."

2. 1 Cor. 15:22 "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all will be made alive."

3. It a visitor whom no wealth can bribe, no power can resist,

4. Tomorrow may be marked by death for us.

a. Prov. 27:1 "Boast not thyself of tomorrow..."

b. Jas. 4:13-15 "Come now you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. B. Death is not far away rather near to us.

5. 1 Sam. 20:3 "There is but a step..."

6. Nearer to us than was to Job in 17:1 He lived 140 more years. 

II. REGARDLESS OF WHEN THE NEWS COMES, DEATH IS HARD.

A. It is hard in youth, "I'm too young to die."

B. It is equally hard to hear the news of death when one is old.
 

III. WHAT LESSONS ARE TO BE LEARNED FROM THE FACT OF DEATH?

A. Make careful preparation for it.

Amos 4:12b "Prepare to meet your God."

Ecc. 12:6-8 Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed. Or the golden bowl is broken, Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain. Or the wheel broken at the well. Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it. 'Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "All is vanity."

B. Make correct use of time while we have it.

1. Ecc. 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.

2. Eph. 5:16 Redeeming the time because the days are evil.

C. Learn about the country to which you are going.

1. Heb. 11:10    he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 

Rev 21:1 -4 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." 

D. Consider oneself as a sojourner here.

1. Heb, 11:13-16. confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.

2. 1 Pet. 2:11. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims

E. View death as simply a change of address.

1. Phil. 3:20-21. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

2. 2 Cor. 5:1-2. For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,

F. Joyfully anticipate the eternal home.

1.2 Pet. 3:12. looking for & hastening the coming of the day of God

2. Phil. 1:21-23. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

3. Rev. 22:20. Surely I am coming quickly. Amen. Even so, come. Lord Jesus!