Well again I would read one of the sermons of the late Mr Matronola in our pastor's absence this evening and this sermon It was preached by Mr Machinola on the Lord's Day evening on the 15th of May 1994. It's a sermon entitled Time and I thought this would be a very appropriate sermon to be read tonight on the first Lord's Day of the year. Oh sorry, the first day of the year.

Our midweek prayer meeting and Bible study. The text is Ephesians chapter 5 verse 16, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Ephesians 5, 16, redeeming the time because the days are evil.

The subject I would like to speak on this evening with the Lord's help is time. Time began at the creation. There was no time prior to the first day of creation. before that was eternity. There will come a day when there will be no more time, but again there will be an eternal state. Time will end at the second coming of Christ.

The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up, I believe that when that day comes, it is the last day, it is the day of days, it is the end of time. Thomas Boston says time and they, this present world, began together and they will end together.

There are four reasons for the preciousness of time. Firstly, time is so very short. Last Lord's Day in the Bethesda home at Haydock I spoke to a lady who was 101 years of age and during the week I read of the oldest woman in Britain who is 118 years old. This might seem to contradict the point which I'm seeking to make concerning the preciousness of time because it is so very short. When we were young we tend to think that there is so much time Time seems to go very slowly. When as a child I laughed and wept, time crept, is the inscription by Henry Twelves on the old clock at Chester.

But I'm sure that in our experience we do not need reminders that time is passing. Job says, when a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return. Job 16.22. Now my days are swifter than a post. The mail, the fastest way by which letters were conveyed. They flee away, they see no good, they are passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that hasteth to the prey. Job 9, 25-26. My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle. Job 7, verse 6.

In the New Testament, It is James who reminds us concerning our lives. He says, what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Life is so precious because it is so very short.

Secondly, eternity is so long. Time is very precious in view of eternity. Time is but for a moment. but in time there is that which takes place which makes eternity either a place of blessedness or a place of utter misery forever. The things which happen in this moment of time which we are granted are the things which will affect our eternal destiny. If we find the way to everlasting blessedness then we have made good use of time.

Thirdly, time is so uncertain time is not only short but it is uncertain we do not know how short it will be we've been reminded this week of the uncertainty of time in the death of John Smith the leader of the opposition in parliament taken away in a moment causing consternation to his family his party and the country the fact that such a thing has occurred is but another token of God's displeasure upon our nation the suddenness of death. We do not know how much more time we have got. Will it be years or will it be only months or days or even less than that? Time is a very uncertain commodity. If we knew exactly how much time we had, how careful we would be with it, it is when we forget that life is so brief that we become careless with our use of time.

Fourthly, time cannot be lived over again. Many things in life we can part with, and later we can find them again, even if it costs us something. I've parted with books in the past, which I felt some years later I would like to have again, and I was able to buy them again. But you can never do that with time. You can never do that with time, even if you have unlimited resources at your disposal. You can never buy back time. Once used, time is gone forever. Time is so different from other things. Some have lived the greater part of their lives, and they will never have them to live over again.

it should make us consider that what remaining time we have should be lived to the glory of God. All that we can do is seek to live this day and whatever other days we are given to God's glory.

The whole verse on the Chester clock is,

when as a child I laughed and wept, time crept.
When as a youth I waxed more bold, time strolled.
When I became a full-grown man, time ran.
When older still I daily grew, time flew.
Soon I shall find in passing on, time gone.
O Christ, wilt thou have saved me then? Amen.

Time is so precious, but how do we use it? Men are usually so careful about money, but time is much more precious than money. The question is not so much how long we live, but how we live. There are those who have gone from the earth after very short lives, as we judge them, and yet they have achieved more in these short lives than many others do, who are granted a great deal more time.

Moses makes a distinction between years and days. He speaks of the God who has been our dwelling place in all generations, before the mountains were brought forth, forever thou hast formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God a thousand years. in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past. Psalm 90. But later in the psalm he prays, so teach us to number our days. Our days. This teaches us that there is a need for us to live by the day.

Joseph Alain prayed every morning, help me to live this one day well. Help me to live this one day well.

Some people do very little with the precious gift of time which they've been given. They do little good to themselves and they do little good to others. Some aim to do as little as possible, quite literally, with their time. Others do what they have to do, but they waste so much of this precious gift of time. Often people say they're bored. They don't know how to pass the time. What a solemn thing for anybody, especially any Christian person, to say that they're bored. Would they be bored with the few minutes of time they have left to them on a deathbed? I doubt it.

Some do sinful things with time. They consume it upon their own lusts. They spend their days doing that which pleases their flesh. They do not lose their time, but they abuse the time which God has given them, which is a terrible thing. It would be better if they wasted their time, rather than that they should abuse time in wicked deeds. They use the opportunities which are given to them in such a way that they do not bring glory to God. They are rather those who walk contrary to the revealed will of God. Wicked works are no preparation for when time shall be no more. And that time will come for everyone. Wicked works are not what one can look to to build a hope for eternity. If we are living with a disposition to do evil, then we should tremble, because after death, judgment, and after judgment, condemnation and hell forever.

Bad company, evil pursuits, evil speaking, quarrelling, backbiting and other such things are an abuse of the time which God has given us. We desire that we might be brought not to spend our lives in these things. It is enough that the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings and abominable idolatries. But now we do not want to abuse the time by walking in these ways, but walk instead as those who are redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Even if those who have abused their time with wicked deeds are converted, they sometimes find that the habits which they have built up over the years of indulgence are very hard to break. Joel speaks of that which the palmer worm hath left hath the locust eaten, and that which the locust hath left hath the canker worm eaten, and that which the canker worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten. There are all these years of wasted time spent in the doing of those things which are not convenient. Things which now they wish they could live their lives over that they might not do them again. You cannot relive the days which are past. The time which is misspent is a grief to those who are converted, and it's a hard thing, as I say, to form new habits. Some will come to judgment wishing that they had not had the time to misuse the way they have.

There is also the worldly use of time. Worldliness is soul neglect. Worldliness is ungodliness. some who profess to be the Lord's live ungodly lives although they have a name to live and are regular in their attendance at the services of worship there is little time for the things of God in their lives the secret things are not attended to there is not the building upon a good foundation there is only that which there is only that which is as men judge but godliness is spiritual Godliness is inward. Godliness is that which is not seen, but there will be evidence of its presence in the life which is lived.

There are those who have no time to read the Bible. How many Christians really read their Bibles? There's no time to pray. They say we've not got time to pray. There is no time to read Christian books for spiritual improvement. Although they find time to read the newspapers and the magazines, this is a form of ungodliness. Worldliness and ungodliness are a neglect of the soul. We need to make time for these things. Some say they're too busy for these things, but The really busy person always finds time because they have the sense of the responsibility which is theirs in the use of their time.

We want to be responsible in our use of time so that we have time for others as well as the improvement of our own soul. One of the old writers said, we have repeated so often to ourselves that we don't have time that eventually we succeed in convincing ourselves that it is so. but we have got enough time for the things which we want to do we've got enough time for the things which we want to do oh that we might want to lead godly lives oh that we might want to live godly lives oh that we might want to spend our days and our hours in the service of our dear Lord Jesus Christ often it is just an excuse that we're too busy It's almost a denial of the first answer of the shorter catechism. What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. There is no glorifying of God, neither is there any enjoyment of God by those whose time is taken up with other things. There is no time for soul improvement. To be so taken up with worldly things is to waste time.

Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow. for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof

time is given to us but how do we use it I trust we are not those who are negligent of it I trust we are not those who abuse it are we those who are using it for those things which although lawful in themselves are not for our souls good and for the glory of God

How are we to live in respect of time? How are we to live in respect of time? We are to live as those who will give account to God for time. God has given us our time, our years and our days. There are lovely verses in Ecclesiastes, to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven. a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep a time to cast away, a time to rend, a time to sow, a time to keep silence and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time of war and a time of peace.

God appoints these things. In the words of Ryland, all events are at thy command. The use of time by the Lord Jesus Christ would be a fitting subject for us to meditate further upon. Christ was never in a hurry, because he was always conscious of the Father's presence and of God's purpose. He came at the precise moment of time, when the fullness of the time was come. God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law. Christ lived in the light of the time that was appointed for him to do the work of atonement for his people. John especially brings this out in his Gospel.

Jesus said unto them my time is not yet come but your time is always ready John 7 verse 6 Jesus answered them saying the hour is come that the son of man should be glorified John 12 23 and in the same chapter he goes on to say now is my soul troubled and what shall I say father save me from this hour but for this cause came I unto this in his great high priestly prayer, these words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. He lived in the sense of the purpose of God. The hour that had not yet come, the hour that should come, there is nothing vague in what he did, but he always worked according to the timetable of God's establishing, God's time. Even his death on the cross was according to God's time. It was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour, and the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. It was precisely at the moment between the evenings when the Passover lamb was to be offered up that Christ gave up his soul, a ransom for many, that he bowed his head and died and made atonement for the sins of his people. Not at any time, but at the appointed time. Christ worked according to the plan of God.

This is clearly seen in the account of the raising of Lazarus, For we are told, when he had heard therefore that he, Lazarus, was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. He remained where he was because he had his own timetable to work to. He was not rushing here and there, even though Lazarus would be dead when he eventually did go, and even though he would shed tears at the grave of Lazarus, before he raised him from the dead.

Then after that, sayeth he to his disciples let us go into Judea again his disciples say unto him master the Jews of late sought to stone thee and goest thou thither again Jesus answered are they not twelve hours in the day if any man walk in the day he stumbleth not because he seeth the light of this world he says in another place the night cometh when no man can work we are in the day we have got twelve hours all the hours which God means us to have in which we might live according to his plan we tend to think that we do not have enough hours but we have got all the same number of hours we tend to think that those who are great figures have more days and more hours than we have but they have not We have all got the same measure of time.

It is how they and we use that time which makes the difference. We need to use time with a sense of our accountability to God for it. He will ask an account of us in the last day as to how we have spent it. The scripture tells us that every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in a day of judgment that is so God will also he must needs also take account of how men spend their time you will require our time in that day we must also live in the realization of how much time is behind us and how little time comparatively is still before us we mourn lost time and that is a legitimate extension of the familiar words in Matthew blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.

We mourn the use or the abuse of past days. Paul mourned the days in which he was out of Christ. He speaks of his fellow kinsmen who also were in Christ before me. Although he knew that God always works according to his own appointed time, as Kent says, the appointed time rolls on a pace, not to propose but call by grace. Yet he could wish that he had never known a time outside of Christ and every one of us can echo that desire.

Those who are saved late in life especially must regret that they have not been brought to experience these things earlier. I remember an old man who was saved very late in his life and he was so grieved by the fact that he had come to the knowledge of Christ so late. What could he do for Christ? He died shortly after in hospital where he gave a sweet testimony to those around him. He did much for Christ in his last days, although in much weakness, by the quietness of his heart and in his composure and his readiness to go to be with his Saviour, who had revealed himself to him so recently. What about the dying thief? he could only look back on the life of a malefactor and yet faith was granted and he believed that the one who was crucified on the center cross would bring him to be with him that very day in paradise and so it was

we are those who must realize how much time is behind us We mourn the days which are gone, but we cannot live in the past. We must, in another sense, forget the things which are behind, in order to press on to the things which are before.

The danger sometimes is that we are so much living in the mourning of the past, that we're not looking on to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, nor running with patience the race that is set before us.

We need to heed the call to redeem the time, The words of our text are redeeming the time because the days are evil. They're not to be rendered as some of the modern versions render them. One version, for example, translates these words as make the best of time. But that is not what Paul means.

It is rather buying back or retrieving time because the days are evil, retrieving the time from the things which would take time from us. The things which did in days past occupy us, so that we lost so much time. We want to buy that time back now.

These words are not really anything to do with the sense of redemption, although that is the translation of it. It is rather the word which is used of a marketplace. The actual buying of commodities, which are regarded now as needful and precious,

Buy back your time, because the days are evil. In such a day as this, and because you have been brought to see the difference between good and evil, between righteousness and unrighteousness, buy back the time. Make full use of it. Buy up every opportunity of it.

It is used in the same sense in Galatians. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

as we have opportunity buy up that opportunity make use of the opportunity which God has given you make full use of time resist the enemies of the godly use of time and there are enemies

the flesh is one of them which comes against us at every turn and says to us that there are other things we could be doing We want to gratify our desires and do what pleases flesh. But when there is a godly desire to glorify God, we will seek to do the things which he is pleased with.

The world wants us to spend our days as it does in its ways and would conform us to its pattern of things. But the world becomes more and more distasteful to the Lord's people.

as we see it bidding for the hearts of men and holding so many captive with its fashions and aims and entertainment. All these things become almost nauseous to us because they exercise such an influence on the lives of men.

They are like some sop which will hold people in a drugged state, so much so that they do not realize the more important matters of the use of time. they do not see that it is time to seek the Lord when they are drugged by the world which is such an enemy to the godly use of time the devil too lies and tells us that there is all the time in the world for serious things later but you do not know how much later we will be allowed to live We do not know whether a time will ever come when these things will be put right.

Now is the accepted time, not later, not tomorrow. Tomorrow is the great uncertainty. We are sure only of today. Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

I remember some years ago hearing the Free Presbyterian Minister in Glasgow, Mr Donald Maclean, at St. Jude's preaching the gospel in the evening service with a lot of younger families in the congregation. And he pressed the word home to their hearts. And he said words to this effect. The devil told some of you years ago that there will be time enough to give attention to spiritual things when you have completed your studies, when you have qualified. when you are settled in business, when you have got a family, or when the family has grown up. I've seen some of you go through all these stages and the devil has said this to you and you have listened to his lies and you have never thought of the gospel. It was a convincing word and there was such a stillness that you could have heard a pin drop.

But it is so true. Now is God's time. We should seek to spend our time as we would value time upon our deathbed. There are those who have said, if only they could have a little more time. One said, a thousand worlds for an inch of time. Soon there will be only an inch of time left, scarcely that, and suddenly it's gone.

And finally this reason, as those who have no more time view their days on earth, as those who are in hell view their days on earth, the godly in heaven will not have any regrets for in that blessed state all tears will be wiped away there is no more mourning in the state of glory but it is very different in hell where there are those who are in torment everlastingly they will have time then for hell is an eternal state and it is the endlessness of it which really hits you when you think of it eternal separation from God how they will think back, the misery they will have, the remorse over the opportunities which they had, which they never followed up, that they were not at all concerned. It is an awful thing to consider the state of those who in hell are considering their wasted time in this state, our present. May we never come to that, Abraham said, In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted and thou art tormented. One of the torments of hell will be the waste of time.

Let me close with these few final remarks. The Psalmist says, I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments. No more procrastination about holy things. They used to say procrastination is the thief of time, putting off for tomorrow, for another day, later, later, later until there is no more time. Now is the time to seek God's forgiveness. Let us value the Sabbath day and make special use of it. Here is a day, one day in the time which is allotted to us, which we need to esteem. Let us make full use of the public worship of the people of God, which is so disparaged by some, who, though they profess to be the lords, are so indifferent to it. I've never seen any person prosper spiritually who has deliberately neglected the Sabbath day or the Lord's house and the worship of his great name.

There are those who neglect other opportunities. It should be a matter of importance to us that we adjust our busy lives in order that we find time for these things. The prayer meeting should not be neglected as only for interested people. Someone said in a similar context to one who was a very busy person, how do you find time for the midweek meeting? And his answer was, I don't find time, I take time. That is a very important distinction. If we want a thing enough, we will take time for that thing. It is often through the word preached that the voice of God comes to us.

I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. The time accepted for the Lord to meet with us and to bless us is often when we come under the preached word. I have heard thee, which is why it is so important that we organise our time so that we are found under the word of God.

Seek careful discipline of time, that we might use our time to the full. Many hours of the week are legitimately taken up in sleep, in eating, in travelling and in work, but there are other hours which are free and we must ensure that nothing encroaches upon these except in exceptional circumstances. They are so easily diverted. If our time is laid before God, we have sought that this might be honouring to Him, then seek to keep that programme as far as you can, although there will inevitably be interruptions to it, which you cannot do anything about.

Is what we do God-glorifying? Is it God-honouring?

Finally remember that there shall be an end of time. in revelation we read the angel swear by him that liveth forever and ever who created heaven and the things that are therein and the earth and the things that therein are and the sea and the things that are therein that there should be time no longer god has decreed the day when there shall be time no longer

The next verse continues, but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished. Thomas Boston has a very solemn work entitled, The End of Time, and the mystery of God finished with it. I take that to mean the kingdom of God, the end of opportunity will be when the Lord comes. There will be no second chance for when the Lord comes, it is the end. It will be the bringing of the work of grace, the kingdom of grace in the hearts of men through the years of time, to its glorious consummation.

A mystery is something which is there, but which is hidden. Grace is there, but it is hidden. It is in the hearts of men. It is opposed. It is contradicted. The world is utterly opposed to it. The world does not understand these things. Therefore it disparages them, and oftentimes despises those who are in this great experience of the kingdom of grace. But in that day, the mystery will be finished. It will no longer be a mystery, but it will be rather the manifestation of the people of God.

These are mine! These are mine! we will be displayed when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all them that believe then the others will be brought to see the folly of their position and that they have no claim to the God-man at all and he will say depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels that is a solemn thing which should make us use time to the glory of God

To use time is as perhaps we have never used it in the past, that we might live our days, our hours, our every moment to the glory of God. Time rightly used makes the difference between mediocrity and the person who is someone to be reckoned with. God deliver us from the mediocrity which characterizes many things in the Church of God in these days. God give us that which is glorifying to Him and that sense of the accountability to Him for all which He has given us, including our time.

May these things be blessed to our hearts. May these things be blessed to your hearts. They cost me much in preparation and I felt I had to preach on this subject. I have sought to do it and pray that God will apply it for His namesake, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Amen.