How can we prepare to stand before God?
Text: Proverbs 11:4
Hosts:
J. Kent Edwards
Vicki Hitzges
Nathan Norman
Narrator: Brian French
The CrossTalk Podcast is a production of CrossTalk Global, equipping biblical communicators, so every culture hears God’s voice. To find out more, or to support the work of this ministry please visit www.crosstalkglobal.org
Produced by Nathan James Norman/Untold Podcast Production
© 2026 CrossTalk Global
Brian: Benjamin Franklin was right when he famously said, "Nothing in life is certain but death and taxes." Yet we do our best to avoid both. Taxes? Many people hire tax accountants and financial advisors to minimize their tax exposure. Some even relocate to countries with no income tax. Would you be willing to move to the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, or Monaco to sidestep the taxman? Many do. But while avoiding taxes is difficult, it is impossible to avoid death. People often try to cushion the blow with money. In America, 83% of adults with a decent income have retirement savings plans. They put away money when they are young to make their twilight years as comfortable as possible. Yes, lots of money in the bank can help in our old age, but our death is inevitable, and we need to be ready. As Hebrews 9:27 says so clearly, People are destined to die once, and after that, to face judgment. Everyone dies and meets their maker. Everyone will stand before God and give an account of their life. But not everyone is properly prepared for the day Benjamin Franklin says will come. Would you like to know how we can prepare for the day our lives end? Listen in as Kent Edwards, Vicki Hitzges, and Nathan Norman discover King Solomon's advice in Proverbs 11:4-6. Welcome to Crosstalk, a Christian podcast whose goal is for us to encourage each other to not only increase our knowledge of the Bible but to take the next step beyond information into transformation. Our goal is to bring the Bible to life—into all our lives. I'm Brian French. Today, Dr. Kent Edwards, Vicki Hitzges, and Nathan Norman continue their discussion in the book of Proverbs. If you have a Bible handy, turn to Proverbs 11:4-6 as we join their discussion.
Kent: Vicki, Nathan, everyone knows, we know that death can happen at any age, but certainly as the years pass, our expiration date draws closer. How have you seen people prepare for their final years?
Vicki: Oh, you see it in a way you don't when you're in your 20s and 30s. People start taking ads for cemeteries seriously.
Brian: Oh.
Vicki: I get every week a steakhouse. I get something from a company inviting me to lunch or dinner at a steakhouse. And when I first got it, I thought, "Oh, this is cool." And now I just kind of toss them in the trash because it's to prepare me financially for really death, but retirement, for plan for your retirement, plan for your savings, plan for your loved ones. I don't want to do this, so let's throw them away.
Nathan: Yeah, you see people respond a variety of ways. Some people just kind of ignore it. There's that cognitive dissonance and it's just something that happens way down there. They don't make plans. I knew a guy, unfortunately, who died. And even though his family begged him to make a will or power of attorney or anything like that, he just wouldn't do it. He didn't want to think about it. And when the need was there, it caused issues.
Vicki: That's not wise.
Nathan: No, no. And then you have people on the other end of things where they start to downsize their house. They start to sell their stuff so their kids don't have to get rid of their stuff. They try to make sure they have a will in place. You do have people that get hyper-aware and thinking about it and focused on it so that they try to maximize all their investments so that those who come after them can enjoy the best investments in life. Yeah, it is a variety.
Kent: I remember years ago, getting a phone call from a person I obviously didn't know who wanted to know if I wanted to buy a plot for my death. And they were telling me I could either have sunrise or a sunset view. [LAUGHTER] Which would I prefer? And, sir, you probably have not given this much thought. And since that week, I just buried a couple. I said to him, "You know, I've probably thought about this more than most, and nobody gets a sunrise or sunset view, but thank you for calling.
Vicki: Goodbye." That's a hard sell.
Nathan: Nice. Yeah, we had to put down one of our cats recently. He's 17 years old. And so we bought a body bag that you could decorate. I don't know. Weird, weird, I know. But— Wow. Obviously, the ad on it was really weird. My daughter actually decorated it pretty nicely. But the ad said, "And it has room so that you can put the cat's favorite toy in there so that they won't get lonely and they'll always remember your love." And I read that to my daughter and she was just beside herself. She's like, "What do you mean?
Vicki: They're gonna be dead." You can't even fool a kid. Oh.
Kent: Yeah. This group sounds like an Egyptian, you know, bury the person with everything they need for the afterlife.
Nathan: Oh my gosh, that's exactly what I said to her.
Kent: Well, the fact is, whether we want a bag with a toy in it or not, death is coming. Fortunately, God used Solomon to tell us not only how to be ready for the end of life, but how to prepare for afterlife. And he says it in a proverb that's short but poignant in Proverbs 11:4.
Vicki: He says, "Wealth is worthless in the days of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death." The opening words of that proverb are striking when he says that wealth is worthless.
Kent: But what she's saying, that word in Hebrew means it's of no benefit. It was used to talk to the Israelites about why they should not put their faith in idols. Jeremiah said, "Has a nation ever changed its gods? But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols." To put your faith in a stick or a stone and call it God? That's useless. That's worthless compared to what you have in the living God. It's used also in Isaiah. He talks about how useless it is to put your faith in foreign alliances. He spoke to Israel about the folly of trusting in Egypt for their security in Isaiah 30:8 when he says, "Everyone will be put to shame." Because of a people useless to them, who bring neither help nor advantage, but only shame and disgrace. You want to trust in Egypt? That will not help you at all. It will only bring shame and disgrace. And he says that about money. But that doesn't seem to make sense to us, does it? I mean, on the surface. I mean, money has value. Isn't that what it means? Isn't money valuable to us? Is it worthless?
Vicki: Well, it is valuable to us, but we're still alive. It's like putting a toy in a body bag. Once you're dead, it's worthless.
Nathan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Currently, I mean, I feed my family with money, right? I buy gas for the car. Pay for the car with money. All of those things that I need clothing. So money right now is very useful. But like Vicki just said, in the future, eh, not so much.
Kent: It's valuable when we get sick.
Vicki: Oh yeah.
Kent: It's valuable when we have kids. Saving for retirement is not a bad idea. When you get to the age where you can't make money, it's nice to have some. Money literally enriches our lives and it can be valuable. Jesus used money. Nothing wrong with it. He used it to pay the temple tax. Remember that?
Vicki: Everybody had to pay the temple tax, yeah.
Kent: And even though he quite literally went fishing to get the coin, he used the coin to pay the tax. In Luke chapter 8, Jesus' ministry had to be supported by money.
Nathan: Right. There was a group of wealthy women who supported Jesus' ministry. And Paul, Paul had Lydia, a seller of purple cloth, who supported his ministry. She was wealthy.
Kent: And if you read the Old Testament, it's clear there are plenty of wealthy people.
Nathan: Yeah, you have Solomon, you have Abraham, David's son, Yeshua.
Kent: You have Solomon himself. Job started wealthy and ended wealthy, if that's any consolation.
Nathan: Yeah, the middle was a little rough there.
Vicki: It's an interesting phrase Solomon uses because he's not saying money's evil, to your point, but he says it's worthless in the day of wrath.
Kent: Yeah, that is interesting. So money is useful every time up until the day of wrath. We don't hear that word very often. We all often talk about how God is a God of love, and he is, But we ignore the fact that God has the other side as well. He's also a God of wrath. That word wrath means?
Vicki: No mercy. Anger. No mercy. Yeah.
Kent: Yeah. In Psalm 78:49, the psalmist talks about Egypt's treatment of Israel. And he says that he unleashed against them his hot anger. His wrath, His indignation and hostility, a band of destroying angels. That's how God responded to the sin of Egypt. Very harsh. And we see God's wrath displayed in numerous places in the Bible, don't we?
Vicki: I remember teaching Sunday school to 10-year-olds, and I hadn't really thought about God's anger because we hear a lot about God's grace. But man, I remember after I taught that lesson thinking, I don't want God mad at me.
Kent: No kidding.
Vicki: I don't. People were sinful. I mean, they're always sinful. They're sinful today. But in the Old Testament, you think about what Noah, the people in Noah's time went through. I don't know if you've ever— I remember when I was a kid swimming at McCree swimming pool and almost drowning.
Kent: Mm-hmm.
Vicki: Or feeling like I was almost gonna drown, the helplessness, the panic of that. In Noah's time, all of the people except for the people on the ark literally drown, and all of the animals with them, which, you know, kind of didn't seem fair to me. But only his family was rescued. Everybody else drowned. That's amazing. And you think about the plagues in Egypt. God was not messing around. It's not like you see one icky frog. I mean, just imagine everywhere you went, there's just frogs everywhere you go. And there's blood in the streets. And I mean, all the plagues, all the plagues. God's like, "Yeah, you want to sin?
Kent: Watch this." It's interesting to me, Vicki, that when Noah got off the ark, The first thing he did was make a sacrifice to God. The very first thing. I think that he knew that God was merciful until he wasn't. And he wanted to be ready. Remember, God designed the boat he was in, right?
Vicki: Yes.
Kent: No sail on that boat. No rudder. Except for the animals, everything was absolutely silent. It wasn't so much a boat as a bathtub.
Vicki: Huh.
Kent: And the only way that that sound of the animals was disturbed was if a body hit the side of the hull.
Vicki: Ew.
Kent: And every time it did, he remembered that God's mercy is great, but it is not infinite. And there will come a time when His mercy ends. Money can enrich our lives in many ways, but it will not protect us from the consequences of sin. Do you remember what the wages of sin are?
Vicki: I sure do. The wages of sin is death.
Kent: Because God's patience is vast, but not infinite. The judgment of God is not limited to ancient Israel. It can fall on us as well from an unexpected source. Have you ever heard people characterize the Old Testament at a time when— as a time when God was angry, but in the New Testament, Jesus is a God of love?
Vicki: It does seem like that.
Kent: Yeah. He's mean back then, but somehow he went for counseling or something. And in the New Testament, he's changed his character. The fact is, that's not true. The holy God of the Old Testament is also the holy God of the New Testament. And people might be surprised to know that when Jesus returns, well, judgment will happen. Do you remember John 5:22?
Nathan: Jesus said, "The Father judges no one but has entrusted all judgment to the Son." Yes. Right, and that judgment is referring to wrath. We're not talking about moral evaluation here. We are talking about you go to hell.
Kent: Right. Wealth is useless in the day of wrath, and Jesus brings the day of wrath. In fact, in Acts 17:31, Paul is very clear.
Vicki: This is, God has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.
Kent: We all look forward to the return of Christ, but maybe we should have a healthy fear of that day because when Jesus returns, it will be wonderful for Christians, and it will be horror for those who are not ready.
Nathan: Yeah, and Revelation reminds us, in Revelation, John says, "I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself." He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.
Kent: That is scary.
Vicki: Hmm.
Kent: The fact is that wealth is worthless in the day of wrath. That day money won't help you. You cannot put up money for bail. You can't bribe the judge. The currency of this life is useless when the day of wrath appears. So what's our hope? What does Solomon say our hope is? How can we survive this day of wrath when money is useless?
Vicki: It's not what you would expect if you are just living a life day to day today. He says, "Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death." Okay, so if righteousness is what delivers us, Nathan, what's righteousness?
Nathan: Well, right living, right? It means living according to the standards set out in Scripture. Obedience to God's law, and ultimately conformity to God's nature.
Kent: Okay, so basically be morally perfect. Is that what I'm hearing?
Nathan: Sure, yeah.
Vicki: Well, that's not going to happen.
Kent: Yeah, so how do—
Vicki: Well, we put on God's righteousness when we agree with God that we're sinners and we trust that what God did on the— what Christ did on the cross when He died for us and rose again, God looks at us as righteousness because Christ paid the penalty for our sin.
Kent: Yeah, because Jesus not only coming on a war horse, but He came as a suffering servant. And what He did on the cross is transformational. We can't be righteous, but we can have His righteousness. Isn't that what Paul says in Romans 3?
Nathan: Yeah, he says, the righteousness of God has been made known, a righteousness given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of his blood to be received by faith. Well, that's—
Kent: The best news the world has ever heard, that we can enjoy the righteousness of God in our life by trusting in Christ as our Savior. But that's only part one. Part two, we not only need Jesus' righteousness, but we also need our righteousness in the sense that we need to live a holy life. Jesus can forgive us our past sins, of course, But until we reach glory, we will always struggle with sin. And the Bible warns us against living in deliberate, unrepentant rebellion against Him. The words of Hebrews 10 are clear.
Vicki: It says, "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left." but only a fearful expectation of judgment and the raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
Kent: It's only righteousness that delivers us from death. We need the righteousness of Christ. That's called justification. He— we are declared legally innocent of past sins because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross. But We also need to have our own righteousness in the sense that we need to be living a holy life. That's called sanctification. And do you remember how in every one of the epistles, Paul talks to the Christian church, reminding them of their salvation, but showing them how they can live a life that is more pleasing to God. There's always justification, but there always has to be sanctification. Because wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness, righteousness delivers us from death. And it's because of Christ's righteousness and our work in sanctification that we don't have to fear the day of wrath. Because we will not face it. That will be a joyous day, a day of reunion where we sit with our Savior at the marriage supper of the Lamb. We have eternal security because of what He has done and how we can live a life that is pleasing to Him. Maybe, Vicki, the best way to bring this to conclusion is to remind ourselves of the words of that old hymn, "Search Me, O God." Oh, it goes, "Search me, O God, and know my heart today.
Vicki: Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray. See if there be some wicked way in me. Cleanse me from every sin and set me free." Because righteousness delivers us from death.
Brian: We know our lives will end someday, and we will stand before God. How can we prepare for that? By living our lives in a way that will please God today. I trust that today's discussion of God's word has been helpful and served as an encouragement to not just be hearers of the word, but doers. Together, let's bring God's word to life. To our lives this week. The Crosstalk Podcast is a production of Crosstalk Global, equipping biblical communicators so every culture hears God's voice. To find out more about this educational nonprofit organization, please visit www.crosstalkglobal.org. Crosstalk just finished successful trainings in Bucharest, Moldova, Southern California, and Kansas this season. We're getting ready for another training in Kenya this summer. Help us train the next generation of biblical communicators. All you have to do is click donate in the show notes and make a donation of any size. You can also support this show by rating it on whatever platform you're listening to us. Be sure to listen next Friday as we continue to learn from God's wisdom in the book of Proverbs. You won't want to miss it.