Grace for Your Day October 18

Like many of the pastors of his day, Charles Spurgeon was not a verse-by-verse preacher because he did not start at the beginning of a book and work his way until the end. However, he did teach the Bible faithfully. One example of this is a sermon that he preached on March 3, 1881 in London, England entitled “The Believer’s Deathday is Better than His Birthday.” It was based on the words of Ecclesiastes 7:1 which says:
A good name is better than a good ointment, and the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.
 
In this sermon, Spurgeon pointed out that the way you end up is more important than the way you start out in life. Many people have a noble birth and are given large estates by their family only to squander them later on. However, a believer can live an honorable life right up until the end because they can please God no matter how small their beginning. He also said that the moment of death is the highlight of your life as a Christian because, in that instant, all of your troubles will be over. You will be going to Heaven so you should not be afraid of it.

As a result of this, Spurgeon concluded that your tombstone is more important than your birth certificate for it says more about you. People can tell more about your life by how you lived it than they can by looking at where you were born so it deserves more attention. You need to think long and hard about the day of your death.  

All of this is to say that, this Sunday, we are going to continue our studies in the Book of Ecclesiastes with a sermon entitled “Your Birth Certificate and Your Death Certificate.” This is a subject that should cut deeply into the heart of all of us because we are all guilty of forgetting about death. We want to pretend that it is not coming for us but it is because “it is the end of every man and the living take it to heart” (verse 2). To help with this, the sermon will discuss the following points:
- Your death day is coming
- You had better be ready for it
- You need to take time to think about it
- You need to let it change you
- You need to learn how to accept it
- You need to stop living for the passing pleasures of this life

We are going to consider this subject in depth because this where Solomon failed the most. His life was vain because he did not consider his death. He went on as if it would never happen but we should not repeat his mistake. Wisdom begins when you remember that “the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.” – Jeremy Cagle

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