But A Step

1Sa 20:3
A.M. May 20, 2007
Victory Baptist Church

Announcements:
 Thank you all for tuning in.
 This is Jason Elder, assistant pastor at Tabernacle Baptist
Church located at 612 N. Limestone St.
 If you're familiar with the Gaffney area we're
right between Sticks and Harold Tyndall’s.

 We're an independent, Baptist Church that still believes,

teaches and preaches from the old King James Bible.
 The pastor's name is Lewis Batchelor and this is the 3rd
church he has started after establishing the first
independent Baptist church in Cherokee County during
the 70s.
 Our service times are Sunday school: at 10:15, preaching
at 11:00, and our Wednesday night Bible study is at
7:00.
 As of yet we don't have a Sunday night service
at all.
 And if your pastor got it right the first time you
wouldn't either.

Background:
 In 1Samuel 20 God had already rent the kingdom from
Saul and given it to David.
 But it's hard for men like Saul to just step down from the
throne.
 As a matter of fact he wanted to kill David.
 So here we find David running for his life.
 He didn’t know where to go or what to do.
 And in vs 3 he’s telling his best friend Jonathan
his problems:

Text: 1Sam 20:3

“And David sware moreover, and said, Thy father
certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine
eyes; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he
be grieved: but truly as the LORD liveth, and as thy
soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death.”

Pray:

Intro:
I’d like to talk about the grim subject of DEATH this evening.
I know it's not popular - but the fact is, we live in a dying world.
 People are dying
 Animals are dying
 Plants are dying
 And even Churches are dying.
o I know me and my family left one not long ago.

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When some has-been preacher that never-was gets a chip on his
shoulder b/c God put a younger man in the pulpit – that church
will never be what God wants it to be.
a. And as far as I’m concerned they can write Ichabod
over the door –
i. That thing’s twice dead – plucked up by the
roots.
ii. They’ve done what the devil himself couldn’t
do and that is kill the church of God.

b. When a deacon or a pulpit committee starts thinking

God died and left them in charge – it’s time to go!
i. When they can pay a secretary but starve the
man of God to death – you’d better get out of
that mess!

c. I want to be where the Lord is!

i. Life’s too short and God’s too good to sit in a
dead Church.

d. My daddy used to live in Greer. But if I want to see

my Father – I don’t go where He used to live. I want
to be where He is right now!
i. And I believe I am.
ii. I pray you are too

So churches CAN die but we are going to die.

 David said, “There is but a step between me and
death.”
o And how true that is.

 Our life “is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little

time, and then vanisheth away.” (Jas 4:14)
 Shakespeare said that life was but a walking shadow –
a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the
stage and then is heard no more.

The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death and since all have
sinned – that means that all must die.

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And to make it worse:

YOU DON’T KNOW HOW YOU’LL DIE!
We talk about people dying a “natural” death.
·        But there is no such thing.
·        Death is not natural.
·        Man wasn’t created to die.
·        We were created to live forever.
·        But when sin came in – death came with it.

And the fact is – there’s many ways to die.

ILLUS: On the news, not long ago, a woman died of all things –
by drinking too much water!

ILLUS: Not long ago a young man died in Blacksburg. From

what I understand he was leaning over a barrel of water feeding
his fish when he started having a seizure. He fell headlong into
the barrel and drown there on his front porch.

ILLUS: Every time you meet a car on a 2-lane highway you’re

only about 18” away from a head-on collision.
 18” isn’t a great distance –
 In fact, that puts just a step between you and death.
 
And even if you knew HOW you're going to die…
YOU (STILL) DON’T KNOW WHEN YOU’LL DIE!
How many of you believe that?

I can't see you...

· But if you believe you could die before this broadcast is
over, I want you to shake your head yes or no.

All right, now, how many of you have made out a will already?
· I can't see you, but I'm willing to bet most people
couldn't answer yes to that question.

We all know we’re going to die - and we admit we don’t know

when –
· But we just don’t want to believe it’ll be today!

ILLUS: A friend of mine got off of work one Friday and headed
over to a buddy’s house. What exactly happened is still debated
but one thing is for sure –drugs and alcohol were involved.

Sometime during the night Michael passed out.

· His friends thought, “Well, he’ll sleep it off.”
· But when they woke up the next morning Michael had
turned a deadly shade of blue.
· They called an ambulance but it was too little - too late.
· He was in a coma for a week before he finally passed
away.

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I remember going to see him in ICU.

· Talk about heartbreaking.
· You see – doctors will tell you, when people slip into
comas - though they’re physically unresponsive – many
times they can still hear what you say.

So Michael’s daddy leaned over and told him – “Son, Jason’s

here and he wants to talk to you…”
· And when he said that my mind went blank.
· My friend was lying there on life support with hoses
and tubes hooked up to him –
· I’d never been in a situation like that – I didn’t know
what to say.

But that didn’t bother his daddy one bit.

· He just sat there and talked to that boy like they were
sitting on the front porch.
· And as I think back on how his daddy stood over him
for hours at a time saying, “Son, I love you. And when
you get out of here I'm going to take some time off of
work... We’re going to spend some time together...”
· I thought to myself – Dear God, Life is so Short!

We’re not promised tomorrow and neither are your children!

 And if you want them to know you love them – if you
ever want to spend some time with them – you’d better
do it NOW.

You say, “I don’t have time.”

 Well, you’d better make time!
 Take a day off of work if you have to.
 Get em out of school early.
 Take your little girl shopping - buy her some new
clothes.
 Take that little boy fishing!
o They’ll not always be at home and you’ll not
always be healthy - so -love -them -while -you
-can!

Death is cruel
· If I were Death I couldn’t take the life of a soldier in
Iraq; at least not till he held that newborn baby in his
arms.
o [But death still comes.]

· In our teenage years when it seems we need our parents

the most but appreciate them the least – it looks like
Death would pass by and just leave us alone a little
while longer.
o [But death still comes.]

· And when we get a little older and out on our own –

when we just started to understand mom and dad – and
appreciate the sacrifices they’ve made – it seems so
unfair to pluck them out of our lives and leave us here
with such an emptiness inside!
o [But death still comes.]
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And if you’ve never been saved you’ll lift up your eyes in a

devil’s Hell.
 You’ll never taste another drop of water.
 You’ll never see another Sunset.
 You’ll never hear another Baby Cry.
 And you’ll burn forever in the wrath of Almighty God
knowing you didn’t have to go to Hell.

You may be a church member.

· You may tithe.
· You may do all kinds of good things.
· But if you ever want to see heaven, "Ye must be born
again!"

But still you don’t really believe you could be in Hell today!
· You even think you’ll get saved when you get older.
· You actually believe God’s gonna let you live a life of
filth and rot – then save you later on down the road–
after you've done your own thing.
o So you put it off and put it off – until one day
you procrastinate your way right into HELL!
  
You go ahead and tell yourself you’re going to make some kind
of 11th Hour decision –
· God’ll make sure you die at 10:30.
· He’s angry with the wicked every day – and He’ll put
you in Hell if you reject His son.

Hell’s awful but thank God you don’t have to go there.

 There’s another place called “Heaven.”
 Heaven is just as pleasant as Hell is painful.
a. There’s no sorrow you have on earth that
Heaven can’t cure.

 And sometimes God gives His children a little heaven to

go to heaven on.

ILLUS: When it came down to Moses’ final hour God took him
up on the mountain and showed him things he’d never seen
before.

ILLUS: when Stephen was being stoned to death – he looked up

and seeing the heavens opened he cried out, “I see Jesus standing
on the right hand of God.”

ILLUS: My Grandpa was dying of Lung Cancer and my mom

stayed by his bed constantly. She told me the last two words he
ever said were: “Hey Dad! How you doing?”

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 But A Step
I used to say that it wasn’t being dead that scared me – it was that
dying part that gives me trouble.
 But the more I read my Bible the more I’m convinced
there’s not near as much pain in dying as there is in
living!
 I’m not saying death is pleasant by any means.
 But thank God we’ll not have to cross death’s
river alone.
 The Saviour will be our guide even unto death!
 

Conclusion:
· Hey, if you died today what would your family think?
· Two or three days from now when they stand beside
your casket, would they say in their heart, "I hope he
was saved?"

Illus: just a few years ago when my nephew was 4 years old, he
noticed there was a dog missing at my house. He said, "Papa,
where is Bucket?"
When my dad told him Bucket died his little chin started
quivering and the first thing he wanted to know, he said, "Papa,
was Bucket saved? Will I see her when I get to heaven?"

And in his childlike simplicity, he asked the question most of us

grown-ups are afraid to ask.
 Are you going to Heaven or are you going to Hell?

In other words, when you leave that little boy behind, will he
know where you are daddy?
 If you died today, will your family stand beside your
casket and say, "I hope he was saved?"
 Or will you live in such a way that there is no doubt in
their mind you're in heaven?

I wonder is there is but a step between YOU and death.

 What about you Mama?
 Do you even care if there's but a step between you and
death?
  

You may be listening right now and you’re not even saved.
 Well I've got good news.
 There's but a step b/n you and death
 But thank God there’s just a step b/n you and Jesus too!
 If you’ll draw nigh to Him – He’ll draw nigh to you.