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He Has Promised Us Long Life
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Can you die early? Can you die before the right season to go? He mentioned a couple of reasons
why you would: being wicked and then just being foolish. That would be in a category of being
reckless, just foolish and doing evil and bad things, and then just doing stupid things. There are a
lot of folks who are not with us that should still be with us. Why? Because they did stupid stuff.
I’ve had young people tell me, “I just have so much faith in God that I just believe that if it’s not
my time, I’m not going, no matter what. I could step out in the street in front of this tractor trailer
coming down the road at 70 miles an hour, and if it’s not my time, I wouldn’t go.” Well, they
believe stuff that’s not in the Bible. They believe contrary to the Scriptures. The Bible says you
can be foolish and die before your time, and stepping out in front of a tractor trailer is foolish.
“I’m going to prove my faith.” No, you’re going to be dead. You’re going to be gone.
This language is all through the Church. Someone did something dumb, and he’s dead at age 30,
and the preacher stands up and says, “God took him. We don’t understand it, but it was God’s
timing, and He took him. We just have to leave it with Him.” That’s incorrect terminology.
According to this, he went before his time. Don’t say that God took him.
One fellow was talking about a big factory they had, where there was a lot of equipment around
that you could get hurt on, and people keep getting hurt and kept getting killed. Some were
saying, “Well, God’s just taking them.” The man said, “You know, I noticed that when people
follow the safety rules, He doesn’t take nearly so many of them.”
No, it’s not true. We have something to do with it. We can do things that will shorten our life.
We can do things that will lengthen our life. It is not set in concrete. The Bible says so. Don’t be
wicked. Don’t be foolish. Why should you die before your time, before your season?
(Ecclesiastes 7:17)
The Bible says in Psalm 55:23, “Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days.” Can
you live in such a way that you forfeit half of your life? Would that be the will of God? When a
person dies with half of their life being lived, can you accurately say, “God took them?” It
wasn’t their time. It wasn’t God’s time. You know, if they were saved, even if they didn’t live
right, God loves them.
But you and I have a will. We have a choice, and we can choose wrongly. It’s obvious from
these two verses you can do things that can shorten your life.
Here are some things you can do to lengthen your life. Proverbs 3:1 says, “My son, forget not my
law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace,
shall they add to thee.” If you keep the Word of God, it will add to you long life.
We saw that bloody and deceitful men, wicked and foolish men would shorten their lives, but
Proverbs 4:10 says, “Hear, O my son, and receive My sayings; and the years of thy life shall be
many.” What if you’re not foolish? What if you’re wise? What if you listen to God and obey
Him? The years of your life will be many.