Thoughts About Time, Part 4

We find ourselves in Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verses 1 to 15, one more time at least as we begin to understand thoughts about time. It really is thoughts about God's time, because He is the architect, He is the originator of time, He's the creator of time. And it's all about understanding God's thoughts about timing in everything that happens in our lives.

Verses 1 to 15 are an exceptional set of verses to help us understand how God orchestrates everything according to His will. The Bible says in Galatians chapter 4, verse number 4, that in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that He might redeem those who are under the law. God had an appointed time by which to send His Son.

It was a specific time. It was the right time. And everything leading up to that specific time was a series of events that God had planned and determined in the eternity past, how they would all come together, so that when Christ was born in Bethlehem, it was the exact time.

And so we rejoice at that. And the Bible is filled with all kinds of illustrations about God's perfect timing. Over in Acts chapter 7, let me read to you what Stephen said.

Before he was stoned, he would be stoned because of the sermon he preached, but this is what he says in verse number 17 of Acts 7. But as the time of promise was approaching, now Stephen is rehearsing Israel's history. And as he rehearses Israel's history, he talks about the time of the promise. Well, what promise is that? It's the time that God would fulfill His promise to Abraham.

He would refer to it earlier in Acts chapter 7, verse number 5. But all the events surrounding Israel were leading to a specific time of promise. And so he says, that they would expose their infants and they would not survive. It was at this time that Moses was born.

You see, God was orchestrating everything. Those 400 plus years in captivity were all designed to be specifically for Israel, until the time that Moses would be born. Because God was going to birth a deliverer for the nation of Israel.

And so everything was running on a specific timetable according to the predetermined plan of Almighty God. We need to understand this. We need to realize, that's why I tell you that these, they were two, now they're four sermons, are the most important sermons you're ever going to hear, and you need to understand because it deals with everything in your life concerning time.

And that reveals everything in our lives. You need to understand how God is orchestrating every event in your life to bring about his purposes. You need to be able to look at everything from a biblical perspective and not from a natural perspective, to see how God is actually working in the lives, your lives particularly, every single day.

That's why these first 15 verses are important. That's why he gives this simple summation, when he says in verse number one, there is an appointed time for everything under heaven. That's his summation.

And then he gives that strong affirmation in verse number 11, when he says that everything that happens according to God's timetable is beautiful in its time. That's his strong affirmation. He wants you to understand that in the time that God is operating, it is a beautiful time.

And although you might not see the beauty in it right away, God is working everything according to his own purposes for his own glory. And that's why we're looking at the significant application in verses 1 to 15, to look at six principles that will help you understand what you're learning about time as it is according to the will of God. So important.

We've learned that, number one, in terms of the application, that you need to learn how to acknowledge his sovereignty over time. That's in verses 1 to 8. We need to learn to acknowledge his sovereignty over time. Number two, we learned this last week, we need to learn to appreciate his beauty in that time.

That's verse 11. And then we need to anticipate his glory in eternity, and every opportunity we have to trust him throughout the day. Those are the first three points that we've covered with you.

So let me illustrate those three principles by giving you an illustration from my life to help you understand how God has driven those three principles home in my life over the last, well, I'm 66, so a lot of years. But he's driven those principles home. You need to understand that when I was saved at 14 years of age, my mother used to always tell me, God has called you to preach.

And I used to say, no, no he hasn't. God's called me to be an athlete. She says, no, God's called you to preach.

And I'm praying that you will recognize that God's called you to preach. I graduated from high school and received a football scholarship and thought that that's the direction I would go because I had all expenses paid. My father said to me at that time, son, you can take your scholarship after you go to Bible college for one year.

Your scholarship will always be there. If they want you bad enough, it'll be there. But you've got to go to Bible college for one year.

I honored my mother and father and went to Bible college for one year. And in February of 1977, I graduated in 76. That's 19, not 18, 76.

And during a month of sermons, not a month, a week of sermons, during the month of February, a man came by the name of Donald Baker. He would preach. And as he was preaching, he did what no other preacher did.

He didn't stand behind the pulpit. He walked around and preached. And he would go down like I do today and talk to the students, see the whites of their eyes, and speak to them.

You want to know why I do what I do today? It's because of what happened in 1977 with Dr. Donald Baker and how he preached the truth. That's why I don't use the pulpit, because I learned from him. He made a significant impact in my life.

At the end of that week of chapel services, he gave an invitation to us as students to realize, if you believe that God is going to use you in the ministry some way, somehow, we want you to come forth and we're going to pray with you. And I felt the tug of the Spirit of God in my life, and so I went down and they prayed with me. And I realized that somehow God was going to use me in the ministry.

I just didn't know how. I still wanted to coach. I still wanted to play sports.

I still wanted to do those kind of things. But I knew that God was tugging on my heart to use me in ministry. And that was the beginning of how everything began to roll.

Of course, my college sweetheart was Sandy, and I married her. And you know the story. I told you a couple of weeks ago we got married, and two years into our marriage or three years into our marriage, she got cancer, and she died a year later, four years after we remarried, went on to be with the Lord.

And how God was using all that in my life. But I told you that I had lost my job. Two weeks later, she got cancer.

Two weeks later, she was operated on. Fifteen months later, she died. And God was doing all those things in my life to move me to a deeper understanding of his sovereignty.

Learning to acknowledge his sovereignty over everything and learning to appreciate his beauty in the timing of everything so that I could anticipate his eternal glory and look at every opportunity on a daily basis to be used by him. And so God was using every event. So after Sandy had gotten cancer, you know the story about how I sent out 72 resumes and only one college responded, that was the King's College in New York.

Because God wanted to make sure I went to the right place. He didn't give me three or four opportunities. He just gave me one.

Because he knew that if I went to the King's College, there would be a young girl there that I would meet after Sandy died. Her name was Lori. So he knew that.

She was going to go to Wheaton College on a full scholarship but decided to stay close to home and went to the King's College at the last minute. Well, why did she do that? Because God was working in her life as well. And so I met her after Sandy died.

We got married. And as a college pastor, I was involved in scheduling all the chapels for the King's College. We had 150 chapels a year.

A chapel Monday through Friday. And as a college pastor, I scheduled all the speakers. And I wanted to really challenge the students each and every week with the best speakers possible.

And we had a huge budget by which to fly these individuals in and put them up overnight or for a week and to challenge our students. But in order to get those people to the campus, I had to schedule them a year to 18 months to 2 or 2 1⁄2 years in advance to get them. So in the fall of 86, I scheduled Dr. David Hawking to come and preach at the King's College.

He could not come until the fall of 88. And so for 2 years, we waited for him to come. It was that way for most of the speakers that we got because they were well-known preachers in our country, and it took us time to get them.

Of course, in the meantime, Sandy would die, and I would meet Lori, right? And David would come to the King's College. Upon his arrival, he said to me, after three days of ministry, I want you to come and minister with me at Calvary Church in Santa Ana in Orange County. And I thought to myself, this is great.

This is a great opportunity. The church was about 10,000 people. I'd be the associate pastor of discipleship and evangelism, have the opportunity to preach with him on Sundays because there were three services.

He only preached two, so someone else had to preach the other one. That would be me, okay? So he would have me come and be involved in working with another individual to preach that third service. I thought this was a great opportunity.

So Lori and I prayed about it, and in December of 1988, we moved to Southern California. And we were there at that church for five years. And then I got a phone call from Church of the Open Door to be their pastor.

And I said no. I got another phone call. I got a series of phone calls about coming to interview for them to be their pastor at Church of the Open Door.

Now everybody knows about Church of the Open Door. The historic church downtown L.A. started by R.A. Torrey, pastored by Louis Talbot, J. Vernon McGee. Everybody knows about Church of the Open Door.

And their pastor had disqualified himself two years earlier, and they were looking for a new pastor. And they'd gone through 250 different resumes and interviews. And finally they just called me and said, would you consider this? And I said no.

I'm not interested. I love where I'm at, okay? And so they kept calling. So finally I acquiesced and went for the interview, and they wanted me to come and be their pastor.

So through a series of events, as Lori and I began to pray about it, we realized that God was calling me to be a senior pastor. At which my mother said to me, I told you so. As only my mother could do that, okay? And so we went to Church of the Open Door.

Okay, now there's a method to my madness here. Let me explain to you what's going on here. So we go to the church, and we're all excited, and I preach on 1 Corinthians 16, verse number 9. There's a wide and effective open door for me.

Yet there are many adversaries. That was my sermon on the very first Sunday. I had no idea the adversaries that would await me.

Within the first two weeks of my time there, I realized that one of the men on the elder board had an unbiblical divorce. So I had to confront him on that. Then I realized within the next several months that there was one of the elders who was in charge of youth ministry who was an alcoholic.

One of the elders in charge of young families ministry was having an affair with one of the women in young families. So I decided to confront all these things. God had brought me there to confront these issues, so I did.

As I began to confront them, there became an adversarial relationship between me and the elder board. And I said, look, I can't continue to minister here knowing these things are happening, because like priests, like people. And so you men need to resign.

You need to step aside. Of course, their response was that we can't do that because we have to be voted out by the Constitution. I said, I don't care what the Constitution says.

The Bible says you're disqualified. You've got to step out. And so God was giving me the strength and the fortitude to confront these men on the issues.

Well, they became more and more adversarial toward me. And then accused me of preaching a workspace doctrine, because I preached that you need to repent in order to be saved. They didn't believe that, OK? They were hyper-dispensationalists, and they did not believe that you needed to repent to be saved.

And so we went through this whole situation. So for 14 months, I was their pastor. And finally, I came to a point where, you know, look, guys, we can't keep this relationship going.

So somebody's got to go. Either I've got to go or you guys got to go. And so these four men who were against me and were involved in situations that were unbiblical and immoral, they had to go before the church.

If they got 51% of the vote, they would stay. If they got 51% of the vote, if one of them got 51% of the vote, I would leave. And only one got 51%, and when his name was called, I knew it was time to leave.

So Lori, at the time, was pregnant with Anna. And so I took her by the hand, and we got up in front of the church, and I thanked the church for 14 months of ministry and the opportunity God gave me because it was the greatest 14 months of ministry I could ever imagine, and it was. It was very adversarial, but it was a great ministry because God taught me so much.

And so Lori and I said to the congregation, Hey, please stand with me, and we'll sing the doxology. And Lori and I walked out, having resigned that night with no severance pay, no job future, and just had to trust the Lord. Because way back when we got married in August of 86, Lori and I stood together in front of the church and said, We have a verse that is our verse, and that's Psalm 20, verse number 7. And it goes like this, Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will trust in the name of the Lord our God.

They shall be brought down and fall, but we shall rise up and stand firm. This is our verse that we've committed for our marriage. And so when we left that night, I told Lori, because we got in the car, She goes, What are you going to do? I said, I don't know.

I have no idea. We're just going to trust the Lord to open doors. So Monday came, I had to go back east because I'd already made arrangements to go back east because my mother was having a surgical procedure done.

And so I made the commitment a couple of weeks earlier to go back east. And so Monday morning, I got on a flight plane and flew back east to Delaware and left Lori at home with the children, pregnant with Anna. I told her, God will take care of us.

God will watch over us. Don't worry about it. On Wednesday, I got a call from one person of a group of 17 that had gotten together and said, We want to start a church.

Would you come and speak on Sunday? You don't have to be a pastor, just come and speak. And I said, Well, I have no place else to speak. So sure, I'll be back on Friday.

I'll speak on Sunday. And so on October the 30th, 1994, I spoke at Fink Binder Park to the people that had decided to leave Church of the Open Door and be a part of another ministry. Why do I tell you that? I tell you that because 30 years later, 30 years later, you are here because how God orchestrated a series of events that would lead me, who wanted to be an athlete, thought for sure that God had called me to be that, that you are here today because of how God, in His timing, brought everything to fruition to put everything in order to bring me here, and you are here because of God's sovereignty in bringing you to this place.

God has a sense of humor. The last four sermons I preached at Church of the Open Door, we were in the book of Mark, Mark 6, verses 1 to 13, was how to minister amidst rejection. Very fitting for the time.

Then was Mark 6, verses 14 to 32, which was the murder of a minister, the beheading of John the Baptist. I'm preaching these sermons as we are going through all these conflicts at the church with the elder boy. The next sermon was Mark 6, verses 30 to 44, trusting God for daily provisions.

The next sermon was trusting God, Mark 6, 45 to 52, amidst difficult situations. Now, you know that I prepare all my sermons at least six months in advance, usually a year in advance. So all those sermons were prepared earlier, knowing that this is what I'd be going through at that time because God is sovereign, and the timing was excellent.

The timing was perfect because God was orchestrating all the events to bring about His perfect will. You see, God wanted Christ's community church, and God says that He will build His church, and the gates of hell should not prevail against it. And so because God wanted Christ's community church, how did He get us here? He led me from the King's College to Calvary Church of Santa Ana, being there for five years, being a part of that mega staff and being a part of the opportunity to learn and to preach, to lead me to a church that opened a door so that He would lead me to Christ's community church.

Because God was orchestrating all the events to bring about His perfect purposes. This is what God was doing. And I look back on all the things that God did and how there were so many things that took place that I had no idea what was going to happen next, but I didn't need to know.

I just had to trust the God who knew it all. And He would open doors. He would close doors.

He would take care of His own, because that's what God does. And so I had to learn to acknowledge His sovereignty over time. And I did that.

Whether it was Sandy's cancer and death, whether it was Mary and Laurie moving to California, whether it was going to Church of the Open Door, leaving that church, no matter what was happening, God was orchestrating all the events because He was bringing about Christ's community church. That's why I said when I came 30 years ago, I'm here to die. I'm not going anywhere else.

I don't want to go anywhere else. I'm not looking for another church. I'm not looking for another location.

I'm not looking for a better church. I'm here to die. I've been here for 30 years.

I probably won't be here another 30, because that would make me 96, and I don't plan to live to be 96 years of age, unless the Lord has that, but who knows. But I recognize the fact that God has brought me to this place. And now you are here and are the recipients and the beneficiaries of this ministry because God had orchestrated all the events to bring about Christ's community church.

And God was doing all of that. And so even from the fact that how I preach and the style by which I preach and how God used Dr. Donald Baker in my life to move me in this direction to show me this is the best way for you to be able to communicate to people the truth of the Word of God, not stand behind a pulpit, but get there, see the whites of their eyes, understand them. They can see your face.

You can spit on them if you want to, because that's what I do when I preach. I spit a lot. And so you just get to see people face to face and see all that God has done.

And I look around the auditorium and I see people that were with us from day one. And I see what God did in their lives, how God brought them to this place. I think of Dina Bond and her husband, Gary, and their son, Greg, and how her mother and father, her father was on the elder board there with me.

He would meet with me for prayer every Tuesday morning. He'd meet with me. He and Dan Bissell, Faith's brother, Faith Bissell's brother.

And they met with me for prayer. And they prayed me through the whole process. And those two elders would stay with me and we'd pray together and we'd trust the Lord together.

And we would just wait to see what God was going to do next. But to realize that when Della and Bob Grundahl left Church of the Open Door, a church they had been a part of for over 50 years, right, and came to Christ Community Church and became a part of this ministry, it was a powerful testimony. And both of them now have gone home to be with the Lord.

And Gary and Dina and Greg are still here. And you'll hear from them next week along with Greg because he was six when he came to the church. And so you begin to realize that God is working.

All that to say is that as I learned to acknowledge God's sovereignty over time, I learned to appreciate God's beauty in that time. That's why these sermons are so important because you need to understand that in a time of hardship, tragedy, destruction, adversity, there is beauty in those times. Because if everything is appointed by God in His own time, God is doing a great and mighty work.

That's why we say you can't focus on the misery in the moment but focus on the master of the moment. And when you do that, when you do that, you're able to see the beauty behind the timing of God. You know, God is never, ever late, is He? There's something unique about time.

Time is inescapable. Is it not? Time is inescapable. Oh, by the way, time is irretrievable.

You can't get a moment back again, right? You can't get what I just said back again. It's gone, right? It's irretrievable. That's what's so unique about time.

Time is inevitable. And time also is invaluable. It's invaluable.

Why? Because God is the creator of time. And so in the fullness of time, God would send forth His Son. God is sovereign over time.

And we live in the realm of time. Therefore, God is sovereign over you and me in the realm of that time. And we need to understand that and get a hold of that and trust God in the midst of it because as you do, you can anticipate His glory in eternity and you can begin to live daily trusting God for everything.

That's why I love what Peter says over in 1 Peter 5. 1 Peter 5, verse number 6. He says these words. 1 Peter 5, verse number 6. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. What a statement.

The mighty hand of God is an Old Testament phrase. It's a phrase used in context of Israel's deliverance and Israel's discipline in the Old Testament. It's the mighty hand of God, the mighty arm of God.

So Peter says, humble yourself under God's mighty hand of destiny. It could be the destiny of discipline. It could be the destiny of deliverance.

It could be the destiny of anything, any direction that God gives for you. But humble yourself under that mighty hand of God. Learn to acquiesce.

Learn to capitulate yourself under God's sovereign hand. He says this, that He may exalt you at the proper time. God wants to exalt you, but He's going to do it at the proper time, in His time.

That's why when you subject yourself to the mighty hand of God's destiny, what you're saying is that, Lord, You're sovereign over time. You're sovereign over my life. And because You are, that time is a beautiful time because You would exalt me at the proper time.

And remember, Peter's writing people who were suffering under the direction of Nero, who was killing all the Christians. And so Peter's telling them, God's sovereign over this as well. God knows what He's doing.

So submit yourself to the mighty hand of God. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. You got anxiety? You got anxiety under the mighty hand of God? You got anxiety? You're anxious about what's going to happen next? Cast it all upon the Lord.

Why? Because He's sovereign. He rules over all. He's in absolute charge of everything.

All you have to do is trust Him. Believe in Him. And follow Him.

That's what the first three points were all about. And I sit back and look at my life and realize God has been so good to me. He's been so good to me.

Have I had hardships? Yeah. Have I had tragedies? Yes. But you know what? It was bringing me to this place.

It was bringing me to this point. It was bringing me to this place for the last 30 years. God was using everything in my life to move me to this place.

And never once in 30 years have I ever had a regret. Never once in 30 years have I ever said, Boy, I wish I wouldn't have come here. Or I wish I could leave here.

Or I wish God would give us different people than the ones that are here. Never said that. I love being here.

I love what God has done because God has orchestrated everything to be where we are today. And so I want you to understand that from the depth of my heart, I want you to humble yourself under God's mighty hand of destiny. And trust Him.

Because that leads us to our fourth point in our outline. Yes, we will finish these 15 verses this evening. Verse number 12.

Listen to what Solomon says. I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime. Moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor.

It is the gift of God. Here's your fourth point. Affirm the generosity of God in your time.

God is very generous to us to give us time. To give us our job in His time. So Solomon is going to say, I know, I know, there's nothing better for them to rejoice than to do good in one's lifetime.

Why? Because the life that you have is a gift from God. And Solomon recognizes that God has granted him the gift of life, and the gift of time to live that life. And so you need to affirm, I need to affirm the generosity of God when it comes to His time for me to live and to work and to do what He has asked me to do.

This is so important. Why? Because the life that you're living is a gift from God to you. Sometimes you look at our life and think, wow, I just wish it was better.

I wish it was different. I wish I had married somebody else. I wish I had a better job.

I wish this or I wish that. Instead of recognizing that, the job you have, the marriage you have, the kids you have, the place you live, all of it is a gift from God. And the time in which He grants you to live is a gift from Him as well.

He's a generous God. You need to affirm that and realize when you get up in the morning, thank you, Lord, for a new day. Be disappointed that He didn't come to take you home.

But be excited, be excited about the opportunity to live a new day. Why? Because God wants you to rejoice in that day. He's granted you life.

He's granted you all that you have. And He wants you to rejoice in what He has done. It's affirming the fact that God is generous enough to you to allow you to breathe and to exist and to live and to work and to play and to be a part of this life.

We tend to always look at life negatively instead of looking at it from God's perspective, that God has granted it to us. Number five is this. Verse 14, I know that everything God does will remain forever.

There is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him. Here's your fifth point, and that is this. You need and I need to learn to announce God's intentionality for everything that happens in time.

God's intentionality is that men would fear Him. Solomon says, I know I can't change anything that God does. It's concrete.

It's set in stone. That's what Isaiah says when the Lord says in Isaiah chapter 46, verse number 8, Remember this and be assured. Recall it to mind, you transgressors.

Remember the former things long past. For I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is no one like me, declaring the end from the beginning.

And from ancient times things which have not been done, saying my purpose will be established and I will accomplish all my good pleasure, calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken. Truly I will bring it to pass.

I have planned it. Surely I will do it. It's all been planned.

God's going to do it. I'm going to bring forth a man from my purpose. I'll call a bird of prey from wherever I want to call him from.

And he'll come because everything is under my direction, under my sovereign control. Someone says, I know that everything God does is complete. Can't add to it.

Can't take away from it. Can't make it any better than it is. We think that if this went this way or that went this way, things would be better than they are.

No, you can't. You can't change it. That's what Christ says in Matthew chapter 6. You can't add one cubit to your life as if to make it last longer.

You're going to live an appointed amount of time. And you're going to die on time. Nobody dies by accident.

Everybody dies by divine appointment. Because it's appointed that a man wants to die. After that comes the judgment.

So God's in charge of all those things. He rules and reigns over everything. And so our job is to announce God's intentionality in everything that happens in the realm of time.

He does it so men will fear him. He wants men to fear him. Remember Genesis chapter 22? When God told Abraham to take his son, his only son, the son that he loved, to a place that he would show him.

He showed him Mount Moriah. He said, take now your son, take him up on the hill and kill him. So Abraham did what God said.

He followed God's direction. He didn't know what was going to happen. But he tells his servants to stay here and I and the land will go up and we will worship the Lord and we will return to you.

Now he didn't know what was going to happen, but he believed that God could resurrect his son. This was the son of promise. This was the son that he loved.

This was the son of the promised seed. Everything was coming through Isaac. And God said, I want you to kill him.

So he takes him up into the mountain. You know the story. He ties him down.

He gets ready to slay him. And the angel of the Lord stops him. And listen very carefully to what the angel of the Lord says, the pre-incarnate Christ.

He says these words, do not stretch out your hand against the lad and do nothing to him. For now I know that you fear me. Did God not know that? Oh no, God knew.

But Abraham needed to know. See, Abraham needed to know that he feared God, that he would fear God more than anything else, that he would do exactly what God said, even though he didn't understand it, even though he could not wrap his mind around it, even though he wondered why am I going to kill my beloved son? Why would God ask me to do this? But he obeyed. Why? Because he feared the Lord.

God does what he does so that men will fear him. Remember Israel, Deuteronomy chapter 8? God says, all the commandments that I am commanding you today, you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land, which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers. You should remember all the way in which the Lord, your God has led you in the wilderness, these 40 years that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

He humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna, which you did not know. Nor did your fathers know that he might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these 40 years.

Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord, your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord, your God to walk in his ways that you may fear him. Why did God lead Israel through the wilderness for 40 years? Why did God take care of them? Why did God allow them to grumble and to be tested all those years? They might learn to fear God.

You know, when you're going through a difficult time, you've got to ask yourself this question. Do I really truly fear the Lord? Because that's God's intention. He's moving you in that direction.

That's what he wants you to do. He wants you to honor him. He wants you to worship him.

He wants you to reverence him. Why? Because the Romans 3 says the unbeliever has no fear of God before his eyes. None.

Turn with me in your Bible to Luke chapter 7. Luke chapter 7. Luke 7 is a story that only Luke records. It takes place in a city called Nain. Six miles southeast of Nazareth, 20 miles from Capernaum.

Very few people ever go to Nain. There's about 200 people that live there today. I've been to Nain on several occasions on our trips to Israel simply because I think it's a very important place to be.

It's the very first resurrection. It's all about God's timing. It's all about God's sovereignty over time.

The Bible says in verse number 11, soon afterwards he went to a city called Nain. Soon after what? Well, earlier, the verses, he heals a son that almost dies. Now he's going to raise a son that did die.

Now he could have gotten there earlier and spared this mother the heartache and the pain. But he didn't. So it says, soon afterwards he went to a city called Nain and his disciples were going along with him, accompanied by a large crowd.

Now as he approached the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a sizable crowd from the city was with her. Now think about this.

You have a sizable crowd from the city walking outside the city gate. You have another crowd coming to the city that meets them at the gate. The crowd leaving the city is lamenting.

The crowd coming to the city is rejoicing. Right? The crowd leaving the city is going to the cemetery outside the city. And the crowd outside the gate is coming to the city of Nain.

So you have the direct opposites. Whole crowd of people with Jesus going to a place called Nain. And this woman was a widow.

She had no husband. He had died. And her son would take care of her.

Her son would provide for her. Her son would watch out for her. But now he died.

So now she has nothing. She has no one to care for her, no one to protect her, no one to provide for her. Why? Because she's a widow and now her only son, her only son is dead.

Imagine the devastation of her life. Imagine what she was thinking as she was about to bury her son. And yet only in the sovereignty of God in His perfect timing would He show up at the city.

It was the perfect time. And so the story says this. When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her and said to her, Do not weep.

Stop weeping. Now as far as we know, she doesn't know who Jesus is. As far as we know, this guy's coming with a whole crowd of people, but we don't know that she knows who Jesus is.

And the text records no conversation from her to Jesus. She doesn't come up to Him and bow before Him. She doesn't come to Him and say, Lord Jesus, would you please raise my son? Lord, where were you? Why weren't you here to heal? Nothing.

Nothing changed. No conversation from her at all to the Lord. The Lord sees her, has compassion upon her, and says, Do not weep.

And He came up and touched the coffin, and the bearers came to a halt. Can't touch that which is defiled. Unless you're, of course, you're God who cleanses everything.

Right? And He said, Young man, I say to you, arise. The dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

Now, you can imagine the scene. You can imagine the emotion surrounding the scene. You can imagine the joy in the heart of the mother.

The bewilderment in the life of the son, who was dead and now is alive. And the crowd. Listen to what it says.

Fear gripped them all. The intentionality of God is to move man to one place that he might fear God. So fear gripped them all.

Not because of the person, but because of the power. That's very important to the story. For it says this.

Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, A great prophet has arisen among us. And God has visited His people. This report concerning Him went out all over Judea and in all the surrounding district.

Fear gripped them all. The fear of God's power, not the fear of the person of God Himself. Because they thought that a great prophet had arisen among them.

Not that He was the prophet of Deuteronomy 18, verses 15 to 17, where Moses said, There will be a greater prophet that will come from among you, and you shall listen to Him. He is the seer. He is the prophet.

That's why when Jesus said, Who do men say that I am? They say, well, some say you're Jeremiah. Some say you're Elijah. Some say you're a prophet.

You're what? You're great. But no one's saying you're God. Everybody thinks you're great, Jesus, but no one's saying that you're God.

Everybody here is saying that what happened was great, but nobody said Jesus is God. Fear gripped them because of the power that was displayed, not because of the person Himself who displayed the power. Because they did not recognize that Jesus was God in the flesh.

Very important. Solomon says that God does what He does. Everything happens for a reason, for a purpose.

He's in charge of everything. You can't change it. You can't add to it.

You can't subtract from it. You can't make it any better than it is because it's the perfect plan A. It runs right on course according to God's perfect timing, and you can't change it because God's in charge. And the reason He does what He does is because He wants men to fear Him.

There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. He wants men to come to grips with the fact that He needs to stand in awe of the true and living God, fall before Him in humble adoration, and fear the true and living God. That's what He wants.

That's what He demands, that men fear Him. That's why in Revelation 14, when the angel flies around in midheaven during the tribulation period, what's the gospel He preaches? Fear God and give Him glory. That's the salvation message because in the midst of all that's happening up on the planet, with all the seal judgments and bowl judgments and trumpet judgments that are about to take place, the bowl judgments are about to take place, but in the midst of the seal and trumpet judgments and all the horrific things that are happening on the planet, the intention of God is that men would fear Him.

So the angel flies around in midheaven and says, fear God, give Him glory. Don't just fear the fact that you're going to die. Fear the God who appointed a time for you to die.

It's interesting that if you read Revelation chapter nine, that when people are being stung by scorpions, they want to die, but they can't die because God won't let them die. Can you imagine that? Wanting to die is so bad, but you can't die. Revelation 6, they want the rocks to follow them because they know that the wrath of the Lamb has come.

So they'd rather die than fear God and give Him glory. Not recognizing that once they die, they meet the God of glory. They don't understand that because they're unbelievers.

So Solomon says, we are responsible to announce to people the intentions of God, that you might come to fear the true and living God. Bow before Him in the humble submission. Recognize Him as the King of all kings, the Lord of all lords, and worship Him.

That's why he speaks throughout Ecclesiastes about fearing God. And then he comes to that ultimate conclusion at the very end of the book, Ecclesiastes chapter 12. He says, the end of all man is just to fear God and keep His commandments.

Because that's where everything's going. That's what it's all about. That's what life's all about.

And then the last point, point number six, point number six, verse 15. That which is has been already. And that which will be has already been.

For God seeks what has passed by. Or literally, God requires an account for what has already passed. So the last point simply is to accept your accountability for everything that happens in the realm of time.

Because God requires an accounting. Solomon wants you to know that God is sovereign. He rules over all.

God makes sure that everything happens is beautiful in His time. He wants you to know that eternity is set in the heart of man, but you live daily trusting in Him alone for everything. In that you need to affirm the fact that God in His generosity has given you life because it's a gift from God.

He wants you to fear Him. But He says, know this, every man will give an accounting to God. Sometimes we forget that.

The Bible speaks a lot about accountability to God. Pick up verse 16. Next time.

It's all about the day of judgment that's coming. So Solomon will expound upon this because of its importance. In fact, he says over in chapter 11, Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth.

Walk in the ways of your heart, in the sight of your eyes, but know this, for all these God will bring you in to judgment. There is an accounting. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, 2 Corinthians 5.10, that we might receive that which is done on our body, whether it be good or whether it be bad.

But there will be an accounting. Christ said in Matthew chapter 12, these words, He said, every careless word that people speak, they will give an accounting for in the day of judgment. By your words, He says, you shall be justified.

And by your words, you shall be condemned. There's coming an accounting for all men. That's why it's so imperative that we redeem the time.

Buy back every moment for the sake of eternity. The invaluability of time, the inescapability of time, the irreversibility of time, should make us want to redeem the time. So back in the book of Ephesians, Paul says, therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time because of days of evil.

Or redeem the time because the days are evil. Buy every moment back for the sake of eternity because there's an accounting that's coming for every man, for every woman. No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Of course not. Our sins were judged at Calvary's cross. But, Paul says, make sure you buy back every moment because every moment is a gift from God.

Time is a gift. Are you redeeming the time? The time of your day? So many of us waste time. Instead of buying moments back, we blow off moments as if they're irrelevant.

But they're not. There is no moment of time in your life that is irrelevant. And because there's going to be an accounting one day, we need to buy it back for the sake of eternity.

How do you do that? Well, one, you've got to commit your life to Christ. 2 Corinthians 6 verse number 2 which says, now is the acceptable time. Now is.

Have you let time pass without giving your life to Christ? Have you let moments go by, days go by, weeks, months, years without committing your life to Christ? Paul says, now is the acceptable time. You have no guarantee of tomorrow. Now is the time.

In every moment that you let pass, you can't get back again. You can't. And that's why when the rich man in Luke chapter 16 said to Abraham, send somebody back.

I missed the opportunity. I missed the time. That's why the Bible talks about weeping and gnashing of teeth in hell.

Why? Because in hell, you remember everything that happens on earth. In heaven, you remember nothing that happened on earth. But in hell, you remember everything.

Why? Every opportunity you had to come to Christ, every opportunity that someone shared with you the gospel, every opportunity you had to commit your life to Christ, that's why there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. Because you missed the opportunity. And it's for all eternity.

It's forever. It's forever. Not for just a week or two or three.

It's forever. And you just live eternity with regret. Commit your life to Christ for now is the acceptable time.

Now is the acceptable time. You want to redeem your time? Not just commit your life to Christ, but consider your life as nothing. Consider your life as nothing.

And you'll buy back every moment for the sake of the kingdom. Paul was that way. Remember the book of Acts? Acts chapter 20, verse number 22.

Paul says, And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying, Bonds and afflictions await me, but I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself. There's the phrase. That's the one you circle.

That's the one you put on your wall. That's the one you memorize. That's the one you live by.

My life means nothing. I consider my life as nothing except what? To testify solemnly of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The moment you consider your life as something, you will not redeem the time.

You'll use that time for your own self-glory instead of God's glory. Commit your life to Christ. Consider your life as nothing.

Number three, consecrate your entire life to the Lord. Paul says this in Romans chapter 13, verse 11. Do this, he says, knowing the time that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep.

For now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lust. Paul says, know the time.

This is the time. Consecrate your life to the Lord. You want to buy back a moment? Want to buy back time? Want to redeem the time? Consecrate your life to Christ.

Don't get engaged in fleshy things like sensuality and sexual immorality and drunkenness and carousing, all those things that really add up to nothing. Just ask Solomon. He'll tell you that.

He's already experienced all that and it means nothing. Commit your life to Christ. Consider your life as nothing.

Consecrate your life to the Lord. Clothe yourself in the armor of God. Paul says in Ephesians 6, verse number 13, Therefore take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, in the evil time.

That's why Paul says earlier in chapter 5, Walk as wise men, not unwise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. So now he says, in that evil time, put on the armor of God. Clothe yourself in the armor of God that you might be able to resist the devil and resist temptation and live for the honor of his name.

Number five, conduct your life every day in the fear of God. Peter says it this way, 1 Peter 1, verse number 17, If you address as father the one who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourself in fear during the time of your stay on earth. Isn't that good? And during your time on earth, conduct your life in fear, in the fear of the living God.

Why? That's why God forgave you that you might fear him, adore him, and worship him. How about this one, number six, communicate, communicate with grace. It says in Colossians 4, verse number six, number five, says, conduct yourself with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.

Another way of saying, redeem the time. Buy it back. How? Let your speech always be with grace as though season was salt, so you will know how you should respond to each person.

How do you redeem the time? Communicate with grace. Season was salt. Because in that moment, you have the opportunity to impact another individual.

conversation should always be with grace, but always season was salt. What does salt do? Salt stings and burns in open wounds. It does that.

And yet, you can do it with grace so it brings forth healing to the one who hears the words you speak. And then lastly, if you want to redeem the time, comfort others with the scripture. A psalmist said it this way, in Psalm 119, 76, or verse 75, I know, O Lord, that your judgments are righteous and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

Can you say that? The next time you're afflicted, physically, emotionally, mentally, can you say, Lord, I know that in your faithfulness you have afflicted me. O may your loving kindness comfort me according to your word to your servant. He knew that the only comfort would come through the scriptures.

Verse 92, If your law had not been my delight, then I would have perished in my affliction. I will never forget your precepts for by them you have revived me. If your word had not been my comfort, I would have perished in my affliction.

How do you redeem the time? You comfort others with the scripture, because the scripture God uses to comfort you, he wants to comfort others with. Thoughts about God's timing are huge. We've spent four weeks on 15 verses, looking at a variety of illustrations in the scriptures about time, and God doing what he does under his sovereign control.

This affects every one of us in the room. I don't know about your time tonight, and none of us knows about our time tomorrow. None of us knows how much time we have left.

We just don't know. Life is brief. It's a vapor.

Comes one minute, gone the next. These thoughts about God's timing are so crucial for us. Why? Because once you learn the lessons, then you need to be able to teach others the lessons.

That they might understand what God is doing in their life, in their family, in their church, at their workplace. What is God doing? God's doing something fabulous. Because in this time, all things are beautiful.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, for this day. The opportunity you've given us to study your word.

We thank you that, Lord, we can trust you. I pray, Lord, for everyone in this room, or those who one day might be listening by some capacity. We just ask that, Lord, if there's someone here who is not born again, who's never given their life to Christ, that tonight will be that night.

They would not wait for another time. This is the acceptable time. This is the day of salvation.

And pray, Lord, that every one of us, knowing that we are to redeem every moment of our lives, may we be ever aware that, Lord, you are with us. That your plan supersedes all of our thoughts, all of our ideas. But everything is running on course, just as you planned it from the very beginning.

And, Lord, we need to trust you for what you're going to do and are doing in all of our lives. So take these words from your text and embed them deeply in our hearts that we might be the kind of people you want us to be until you come again as you most surely will. In Jesus' name, amen.