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My mother began to be awakened by this verse. She made two little red dots by it in her Bible. See these little red dots? She was coming to church every Sunday, but nothing stayed in her mind from the sermons. She heard sermon after sermon after sermon – for years. She never talked to me about any sermon, though. They went right over her head. Then one Sunday morning I preached on this verse. I can see the room where I was preaching. I remember it myself. Afterwards, later that night, she said, "I've been thinking about those men." "Which men?" I asked. "Those men who said, 'Why sit here until you're dead?'" She didn't quote it quite right, but the verse sank in. I believe it led to her conversion later. She made those two little red dots by the verse. It sank in. It made her think.

"Why sit we here until we die?" (II Kings 7:3).

Let it sink into your mind as well tonight.

I. You are going to die.

The Bible says so. "It is appointed unto men once to die" (Hebrews 9:27). You don't know when it will be. Neither do I. Joseph Chan is a boy in our church. His bicycle came apart and he was dashed headfirst onto the pavement. He had to go to the hospital for observation last night. It could have killed him. He's only a teenager. Mr. Griffith told me last night that his best friend had the same type of accident. His best friend went headfirst over the handle-bars of his bicycle, and it killed him. He's been dead now for years. He was just a young man when he broke his neck and died.

David said, "There is but a step between
me and death" (I Samuel 20:3).

My friend, and how I loved him, Jim Singleton, died last week. I'm going to his funeral tomorrow. We talked and talked on the telephone about revival. He had been pastor of a great church in Arizona. But he was not satisfied. He wanted to see God open the heavens and come down in revival. He planned to write a book on revival. We talked and talked about that book. I sent him several books and articles on revival. He started to write it. He wrote about thirty pages. We were talking about it a few days ago. Now he's dead. His wife gave me Jim's thirty pages that he wrote. She talked to him and gave me a letter permitting me to use what he wrote as an introduction to a book I will write on revival. She said, "Dr. Hymers, you'll have to finish it for him. It was his dream to write it, his last dream. You'll have to finish it." And I will do that for you, Jim – my dearly beloved friend. I promise you, I'll finish it.

Yes, death is coming for you – as it came for Mr. Griffith's childhood friend; as it came a few days ago to Jim Singleton.

"It is appointed unto men once to die" (Hebrews 9:27).

"There is but a step between me and death" (I Samuel 20:3).

Think deeply about that – you are going to die.

II. It will be too late to be saved after you die.

The verse I have quoted has more to it than I gave. The whole verse says,

"It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27).

If you are not saved, you will go to the Great Judgment of the Lost after you die. You will stand before God and the Books will be opened.

"And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works" (Revelation 20:12).

All of the sins of your lifetime are recorded there. It's like a computer. And if those sins are not blotted out and washed away by the Blood of Jesus, those recorded sins will damn you and haunt you for all eternity. Now, today, in this time, you must get to Jesus and get those sins erased by His Blood. It will be too late after you die – everlastingly too late.

Those men said, "Why sit we here until we die?" (II Kings 7:3).

1. You are going to die.

2. It will be too late to be saved after you die.

III. But thirdly, these men awoke.

They experienced awakening. They said, "We shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also" (II Kings 7:4).

If they went to the enemy they would die. If they stayed where they were, they would die. Why not go to the enemy? Great Spurgeon said, "The risk is not great." He was right!

God has been your enemy! The Bible says, "Whosoever…will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4:4). You have been a friend with wicked people. You have been an enemy of God.

But what have you got to risk by coming over to God and trusting His Son? What have you got to lose?

The Prodigal Son had made an enemy of his father, but when he was starving he awoke,

"And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee" (Luke 15:17-18).

When he came to his father he was saved from ruin.

What about you? Your life is ruined by sin. You have no hope. Why not come to Jesus, the Son of God, and say to Jesus, "I have sinned against heaven and before thee?" Why not do that tonight? What is there to lose – except sin – which Jesus will gladly cleanse.

Will you do that tonight? Will you come to the Son of God and throw yourself on Him?

"Why sit we here until we die?" (II Kings 7:3).

IV. Fourthly, these men actually came to the enemy.

But there was no enemy there! The enemy was gone. God will no longer be your enemy when you come and throw yourself on the mercy of His Son, Jesus! No enemy will be there at all! Only a loving friend.

What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear.
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer.
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer.
          ("What a Friend We Have in Jesus" 
                        by Joseph Scriven, 1819-1886).

Not only was there no enemy there when they went, there was food and riches for them also!

"And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold…" (II Kings 7:8).

Oh, what a type! Oh, what a picture of the riches you will find in Jesus Christ when you get up and come to Him!

"In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace " (Ephesians 1:7).

She was afraid to come in where Jesus was eating. What would the good people who owned the house think if a sinful woman came in there? She got down on her hands and knees and crawled along under the table to get to Jesus. She was weeping with fear and doubt, but she kept crawling. Finally she got to Jesus. She grabbed Him by the feet and started kissing His feet. Jesus looked down at her. He said, "Thy sins are forgiven" (Luke 7:48).

That was all there was to it! She got to Jesus and kissed His feet. Nothing more! She was forgiven – saved for all time and for all eternity!

Like those lepers, she wasn't going to wait any longer.

"Why sit we here until we die?" (II Kings 7:3).

They got there and were fed and clothed. They were saved. She got there and was saved. Will you say, "I'm not going to let anything stop me from getting to Jesus now – tonight? Will you say that? Will you do that?

Dr. Jim Singleton will rejoice if you do. I can see him in my mind in Heaven dancing and singing, shouting and rejoicing, if you will throw yourself on Jesus and be saved tonight.

(END OF SERMON)

Scripture Read Before Sermon: II Kings 6:24-25; 7:3-8. 
Solo by Benjamin Kincaid Griffith: "What a Friend We Have in Jesus"
                                                                     by Joseph Scriven, 1819-1886.