I want to talk to you today about
due season. The scripture uses the term often. I think one of my favorites is
Romans 5, very short scripture. And by the way, looking at that
clock, I see I have about two hours now because it's only 1038
back there. Romans 5, 6 says this, for when
we were yet, without strength. When we were
without strength. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. In due time. If you were to do a word study
of due time, it simply means this. in the season divinely
appointed for the work to come to pass. Time for it to come to pass,
due time. Time for it to take place. And of course, in the case of
Christ, it was indeed a due time. There was a debt that called
for payment. In fact, past due, I guess, as
far as we were concerned. Sins that had been committed
by Old Testament saints had been rolling over throughout the Old
Testament, rolling over, rolling over the debt, rolling over the
debt. But in due time, Christ came. to pay Old Testament sins debt. You'll find that if you study
the book of Romans, that those sins were rolled over. Can you
imagine just the sins of Old Testament saints as they rolled
over? Mountainous sins rolled over. lambs were killed and the blood
sprinkled on the mercy seat and the holies of holies but the
perfect lamb of God had not as yet come and paid the debt but
in due time really right on time and of course there's every indication
here and maybe you've thought about this
but maybe you have not every indication that God had a plan
When we talk about due time, we are immediately talking about
a time appointed and ordained of God. I hope you don't think
that the death of Christ was something unplanned. I heard
a preacher say on television that God was taken a little off
guard by what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. I'm telling
you, my friend, God has never been taken off guard. In due
time, Christ died for the ungodly. In Acts 4, Peter and John were
arrested for what they were preaching, a resurrected Christ. and they
were commanded not to preach in his name anymore. They were
released and they immediately began to preach Christ. Acts
4.27 through 28 says this, for of a truth against thy holy child,
Jesus, whom thou hast anointed both haired and pointless pilot
with Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. The greatest sin that's ever
been committed was when men laid hands on Jesus Christ and nailed
him to the cross. But it was all before ordained
and purposed and used of God. It is an awesome thing how nothing
can stop the plan and purpose of God. And when it came to Christ,
even man's greatest sin could not stop God's plan to redeem
his elect and to pay their sin debt. Look with me at Acts 2, 22, 24.
You might mark these verses that I'm giving you in your Bible.
We're talking about due time. Acts 2.22 says, you men of Israel,
hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you
by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst
of you, as you yourselves also know. Him being delivered by
the determinate counsel Let me just pause for a moment there.
Determinate counsel. God has a predetermined plan. He's a right on time God. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. You have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain whom God hath raised up, having
loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should
be holding of it. Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration
talking with Moses and Elias who had been dead for many, many
years. They met there on the Mount of
Transfiguration in Luke 9 31. And here are the words of the
Lord. Who appeared in glory. That is
Jesus appeared in glory. Now get it. And spake of his
decease. Jesus is talking to Moses and
Elias about his decease. Moses and Elias had to be pretty
happy about that. because they were some of the
characters whose sins had been rolling over, waiting for the
Savior to come. Moses was always used of God
to point to bloodshedding. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sins. How excited these two guys must
have gotten when Jesus began to explain how he was going to
accomplish his deceased. That's what it says. Jesus spoke
to them about accomplishing his deceased at Jerusalem. You ever
read John 10? Nobody killed Jesus. Jesus laid
down his life. His death was an accomplished
death. It was a purpose death. It was
a foreordained death. It was a predestinated death. And he said, he finished it. Moses must've got happy. Moses,
the one who got the tablets of stone. Moses must've rejoiced. Elias must've rejoiced. And how
Jesus said to them, now, you know, guys, on the third day,
I'm getting up. You know I'm gonna be crucified,
I'm going to be buried, but I'm getting up. There's a great getting
up morning. Up from the grave he arose with a mighty triumph
for his foe. Christ arose a victor from the
dark domain. But all of this purposed of God. Aren't you glad? See it and see
it clearly today that our God is a God of purpose. and he brings
to pass his purpose. You say, well, pastor, what's
the point? Well, it's simply this, that our God is a God of
purpose. He is a God of due seasons, a
time and place that God has determined certain things should come to
pass. This world is not a runaway. He is sovereign and holds the
reins to this world. I mean, it looks like it's a
runaway. but Iraq and Iran and ISIS and all of those characters
put together, our God still reigns upon his throne and has a plan
and a purpose. He holds the reins to this universe. He's in control. Are you glad
God's in control? Aren't you glad we're not in
control? Some people say I'm a controller.
But the truth is, and that's, I know what they're saying. I
clearly understand what they're saying. But thank God I'm not
in control. I am a controller that controls
nothing. God purposes and brings to pass
his purpose. He sits on the throne and has
said this, I have declared it. This is Isaiah 43 and 46. I have
declared who I was going to save and I have saved them. That's
what he said. I will work and who shall stop
me? I love those passages. Isaiah
said of God, remember the former things of old, for I am God and
there is none else. I am God and there's none like
me. declaring the end from the beginning. And from ancient times,
the things that are not yet done saying, my counsel shall stand
and I will do all my pleasure. I have spoken it, I will also
bring it to pass. I have purposed it, I will also
do it. Are you getting goosebumps? I'm
getting goosebumps. Daniel 4, 35 says this, and all
the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he
doest according to his will in the army in heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand nor
say unto him, what doest thou? Say, pastor, what are you saying?
I'm saying that our God is a God of due season. And especially
when it concerns the Lord Jesus Christ and his redemptive purpose. We heard from scripture this
morning, as Greg read from Galatians, the apostle Paul said, there
in Galatians 1, but when it pleased God. When it pleased God, the
apostle said, who separated me from my mother's womb. Do you
know that day when Saul of Tarsus was born, God was there? God
looked at that little rattlesnake that came into the world, and
they named him Saul of Tarsus. Wicked, Christ-hater, Christ-rejecter. But God looked when he came out
of the oven and said, that's my son. He's wicked now. He's gonna go about, but there's
a due season for him. There's a time when I'm gonna
meet up with him and change him. The apostle Paul's conversion
on the Damascus road was ordained of God. It was a due season event. He had his papers on his way
to Damascus to kill Christians, on his high horse, a Pharisee
of the Pharisee, as keeping the law clean as a houndstooth in
outward conduct. You couldn't catch him in something.
You couldn't accuse him of anything. But inside, he was a God-hating,
Christ-rejecting religionist. Is that right? Oh, it takes power
to save religious people. All of you people who are here
today and a member of some church, but you've never bowed to Jesus
Christ, it's going to take the power of God to shake you. I
hope you are ordained to eternal life. Say, well, pastor, you
shouldn't say that to people. It might cause them to get a
little shaky. Oh yes, I hope so. I hope you
get off your high horse today. I hope God knocks you off your
high horse. President Obama talked about
Christians being on their high horse with regard to Islam and
ISIS. I want to tell you, no true child
of God is on a high horse. He believes there is one who
is high and lifted up. And at the name of Jesus, every
knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord. We're not high horse people.
We've been brought low. And Jesus Christ is lifted up. separating me from my mother's
womb. His eyes on the sparrow and he watches over you. Some
of you in here, I know you think you're an accident, but you're
not. There are no accidents with God. You got saved on purpose
for a purpose, just like the apostle Paul. God loved you before
you were formed in your mother's belly. Think about it. Some of
you may be here today and you're thinking this, pastor, would
God, you think? What do you think? I guarantee
you this, if you're thinking like this, I wonder if God could
love me. I wonder if God loved me. I mean,
I'm a nobody. Oh, I'm getting ahead of myself
here. We're gonna get to that. The apostle Paul said regarding
the gospel, before he was formed in his mother's belly and when
it pleased God in due season, the apostle Paul said this, for
I neither was taught the gospel, that is by man, it came by revelation. Do you know this today? You're
blind as a bat unless the Holy Spirit of God gives you eyes
to see. You can't see. Jesus came into the coast of
Caesarea Philippi in Matthew 16, and he said to his disciples,
whom do men say that I am? Well, some say you're John the
Baptist, some say you're Elias, some say you're one of the prophets,
but who do you say that I am? And that loud mouth, Simon Peter,
who was always talking, said, thou art the Christ, the
son of the living God, which should come into the world. And
Jesus said to him, flesh and blood hath not revealed that
unto you, but my father, which is in heaven. When you see Christ
as the son of God, who should come into the world, it's a revelation. It's a miracle. It's an appointed
time. It's a due season. I hope today
is your due season. Wouldn't it be great? You stumbled
in here half drunk, high on crack, fresh off the streets. Some of
you fresh out of religion. Well, you hadn't completely got
out yet, but we'll get you out of religion if you attend here
long. And the apostle said there in
Galatians 1, the closing verse, People began to hear that he
who had tried to destroy the faith now preaches the very gospel
he tried to stamp out. And they glorified God in me. They didn't glorify the apostle
Paul. I noted in Greg's prayer that he noted that no glory should
go to me. That's right. We are very careful here and
we will continue to be very careful that we give no glory to man,
no praise to man. I was thinking this week and
actually praying this way, please, Lord, please, Holy Spirit, protect
us. I know why the Lord's here. I
know why there's power here. I know why people are being drawn
here. I know why every Sunday our crowd
seems to go up. Pretty soon we will fill the
balconies of this place because God's people are hungry. God's
people are thirsty. God's people want to hear Christ
preached and lifted up. There are new seasons coming
for you. Thank you. I know you do. Thank you, Paul.
Thank you. Due season. It's my time to get
cough drops. I get these every week. And I'm glad he doesn't forget
me. That's all right. These things
happen here. I'm cool. I'm cool. You cool? It's okay.
I love that guy. There are due seasons coming
for you. You know, I have lived in gloomy
religion most of my life, my young life, where there wasn't
much to get up for in the morning in the sense of excitement and
knowing really and truly this is a day the Lord's made. Something
good really is going to happen today. Something good has to
happen today because all things work together for good to them
that love the Lord, to them who are the called according to his
purpose. Good is coming your way, child of God. Maybe you're here today though
you're without Christ, you have very little hope. You've been
a drunk most of your life. That's okay. I mean, it's been a horrible
life. But a due season is coming your
way. Think about the Apostle Paul,
all wrapped up in religion. Thought he was doing God a favor,
trying to keep the law, a Pharisee of the Pharisees. And God had an appointed time
to meet up with him on the Damascus Road. Have you ever thought about
the Ethiopian eunuch? This Ethiopian eunuch had gone
to Jerusalem to worship. He really didn't know God in
Christ. He didn't know, but the Spirit of God had given him spiritual
life. Something was going on on the
inside of him. And he's coming back from worshiping
in Jerusalem. Riding in a chariot. Now, Philip
is way up in Samaria in a big revival meeting. All kinds of
wonderful things are happening. People are being healed and people
are being saved and coming to Christ. And the Holy Spirit says
to Philip, go down into a deserted place. Literally, go down into
the desert. and do what I tell you to do.
Now here comes an Ethiopian riding in his chariot, and guess what
he's reading? The gospel according to Isaiah,
Isaiah 53. Who hath believed I report, and
to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed, for he shall grow up
as a tender plant. And the Bible says, he came reading,
here comes Philip. Watch this, God works on both
ends. You're not here by accident.
I don't know who got you here. I don't know who brought you
here, but I know this, you're not here by accident. This may
be your due season. This may be your time. that God
has ordained for you. You may be sitting back there
thinking, you know, I've never heard this before. Something
inside of me is being moved by what that preacher is saying.
I sense something. I know I'm a sinner. And he's
talking about a savior for sinners. You see, I suspect that this
is your due season. This is your time. Maybe you've been using drugs
for 15, 20 years. Maybe here you are 56 years old.
And you know, I just said 56. I believe even my words are ordained
of God. How do you know my birthday?
How do you know I was using drugs? Because it's your due season.
Say, well, I thought all that was an accident. Oh, no. You
may have prostituted. You may have had multiple abortions. You may have been looking for
love in all the wrong places, but God has chosen the nobodies,
the lowborn ones, the base ones of this world. You are about
to have a due season. And maybe it's right now. Think
about this, you sorry rascal. Before God formed you in your
mother's belly, God loved you. He watched you go down into Lodibar. He watched you as you shot up.
He watched you in your fornication and adulteries. He went into
the abortion room. He saw it all, but God had ordained
a time and a place for you to bow to Christ. This is your due
season. Some of you, I got this in my
notes, because I feared I wouldn't say it. Some of you are little
bastards. You know what the Bible says? The bastard, that used
to be more than a curse word. It meant you were born illegit. And you may have been a little
bastard, but God loves little bastards. Am I shocking some
of you? You were born down there. Nobody
loved you. Nobody took care of you. Maybe
raised in an orphanage. Maybe even worse, raised in a
house of abuse. You don't know what it is to
be loved by a mother or a father, but there's a due season coming
for you. You're finding out about a heavenly father who loved you
before you knew him, who will never leave you nor forsake you,
who will work in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure,
and that truly everything's gonna be all right because God has
ordained it. Say, well, pastor, some of you
here are so depressed I understand all that. You can hardly live. Thoughts of taking your life
are a daily occurrence. Oh, God has a plan for you. I
want to say to every depressed person in here, there's a great
day coming when that burden of depression will be lifted. You
have an appointed time. The world says you have to take
this pill and that pill, but I'm telling you there's a gospel
that will take care of that depression. The Spirit of God, the living
God is in this place. You know that's true. Even those
of you who maybe are not real churchy, you know there's someone
in here, someone beat us all here. You know, it's awesome. When I walk through the doors
of this place, I often think, oh, you're here. You beat me
here. You're already here, working. You're not here by accident.
You may be like the Ethiopian eunuch. God brought you here
today. I am like Stephen or Philip. I'm here to preach the gospel
to you. We're coming together. I'm waiting for you to pop out
of here today. Just pop right out of there and trust Christ.
It's a marvelous thing to see people come and trust Christ. Last night, Alexander Zanchik
was doing an event here in town over at the old Masonic Lodge.
Miss Pam and I, after the event last night, we went over there
and saw Alexander and thanked him. And I went up on stage and
thanked him and the folks who had that wonderful event for
Grace Centers of Hope. And he said, do you still have
a bar in the church? I said, no, we have an altar.
We have an altar where people come and confess Jesus Christ
as Lord and Savior. Everybody laughed, I was grinning
too, but that's the truth. Right here, right now, your appointed
time. Isn't it great to have that kind
of God? The spirit of God is not here for no reason. It's
a serious thing for the Spirit of God to be here. It's a serious
thing. He draws a crowd. Miracles happen when the Spirit
of God is around. It's very, very true. You see,
he comes to seek and to save that which was lost. And we were
lost. We were messed up. We were tumble
bugs. We were on the dunghill. And
we came to Christ, drawn by the Holy Spirit of God. The Spirit
and the bride say, come. Let him that is a thirst come
and whosoever will let him come. When? Right now. You can come
to Christ without moving a muscle. But I tell you what, if you come
to Christ in your heart and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you're
gonna upchuck it. Your feet may even move to make
you come up here. You may be leaning backwards
when you walk. That's how powerful the spirit
of God is. Say, well, I'm bashful. Not when
the Spirit of God gets a hold of you and you pass from death
unto life. At some point, there are no closet
Christians. Jesus is calling. Do you hear
Him? Do you hear Him right now through
my voice? Do you hear the voice of God
calling unto you? And here's what He would say.
Come unto me, all ye that labor. Oh, does life suck? Is it tough? Jesus says, come
to me. I'm a burden bearer. I'm a burden
reliever. Come unto me. All ye that are
laboring and are heavy laden. Some of you have been carrying
that suitcase around far too long. You don't have just one
suitcase. You have a bunch of suitcases
and it's full of mess. Jesus says, let them go. What is that? Let it go. Let
it go. Let it go. What's that kid sing? Oh yeah. Yeah. Let it go. Come to Jesus. Now I want to
say this to those of you who are believers. Little child of
God, you really need to get ahold of this. Predestination, God's
foreknowledge, God's work is not something, some theological
something or other that ought to be simply preached on Wednesday
nights. Every believer in here ought
to know our God reigns. Our God is redeemer. Our God
is healer. You ought to know that. And you
ought to know this too. You have an appointed time. There's
blessings headed your way. There's blessings headed your
way. You are coming to due time. When you get up in the morning,
it's not good morning, Lord. Maybe it is that. That's the
way it should be. Good morning, Lord. Not good
Lord, it's morning. How about this? Another day, another day. No,
this is a day the Lord's made. I'll rejoice and be glad in it. I was asked last night by some
of our folks at the volunteer thing, well, how much money you
have for the parking lot? Zip. Oh, we're doing the parking
lot though. The due time is coming. There's
a lot of due times right on their way here. I know they are. You
see, you are God's workmanship. God didn't create you and then
just turn you loose. God doesn't just save you and
get the snowball rolling kinda, and now it's up to you to keep
things going. Oh no, he's gonna work in you both the will and
to do of his good pleasure. He doesn't love you, save you,
and leave you. Greater is he that's in you than
he that's in the world. You have some blessings headed
your way. I hope you get excited today
about that. They were ordained of God. You
say, well, I don't know whether I believe that. That's a little
too strong for me. Well, I hope the Bible is not too strong for
you because here's what Ephesians 2 says. We are his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before
ordained. Before what? Before the foundation
of the world. You were chosen in Christ. Go
ahead and get happy, it's all right. You were chosen. You say,
but pastor, pastor, pastor, I'm so wicked, I was so wicked. You
know, I just can't see how or why God would choose me. That's
what's so amazing about that. He should have damned us all.
It's alright to get happy about being chosen of God. It's alright
not to be able to reason it out. You're not going to reason grace
out. Grace is undeserved favor. You know, what we do is this.
You send me a Christmas card this year, I send you one next.
I have my Christmas card list. Right? We do like this, I like
his teeth, I like his hair, I like his physique, or I like the way
she's made. That's the way we love. God's
love is nothing like that at all, because there was nothing
pretty about us. All have sinned and missed the mark. While we
were yet sinners, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. How would you like to think this
way? I don't know how people live
this way. If you read your newspaper, which
becomes very hard for me to read now, I watch the evening news,
very difficult. The world's blowing up. There
seems like there's nobody in control. ISIS is cutting people's heads
off, killing kids. Religion is in the forefront.
Washington has trespassed on church ground here in our own
country. Amen. Washington keeps moving
in. The place seems like it's out
of control, but thank God it's not. Some of you don't know what
to believe. I mean, some of you are here
today. You know, there's real no atheist. There's only verbal
atheists. I know some of you are a verbal
atheist. You don't believe there is a
God. Yeah, you don't. You say you don't, but you know
there is. You know there is. Yeah, you're
not that stupid. You know, if some of you go like
all of that is all of that educational stuff about us coming from monkeys
and, you know, all of that stuff, you act like that's so brilliant.
If I held up this watch, Ms. Pam gave me this watch. On the
back of this watch, there's a see-through. You can see all the little springs
are turning, all the little wheels are turning. It pretty much keeps
great time. But I want to tell you, now I
hope you believe this because it is so important you believe
it because this is true. It took 30 billion years for
this watch to form. This whole watch is an accident.
Pam found it about five years ago, and it's been in the making
for billions of years. And it's kind of accidental,
all these little things came together on the back. Some of
you are going to go like this, Pastor's 70 and he's began to
wane a little bit. You're not going to believe that.
And yet we are right on the verge of this maple tree right out
back here. It's about to green up and bud. It's about to bud. Who did that? Believe it or not, this snow's
about to melt probably this week. Hallelujah. Who's doing all that? Driving
in, I said to Ms. Pam, boy, it's good to see this
sunshine and blue skies. And then I thought, my God did
that. My God did that. Has not God said this to you?
I know the plans I have for you and they're good and not evil. I want you to leave here today
as a Christian thinking this, something good is about to happen. I know something good. Not leave
here like this. And for those of you who've relapsed,
I want to say to you, you're a child of God. You messed up. Get up. God's not through with you. Look
at us. This place this morning is filled
with failures. We've all fallen down. Get up. God has plans for you. What am I talking? I'm talking
about due season. That all things really do work
for good. You haven't found a mate yet?
Your day is coming. I haven't found somebody to love
and to be a partner with me. You know what? If that's on your
heart, God must put it on your heart. You're liable to get married
this year. All right, George. Get ready. You failed time and time again,
maybe at business. I don't know. Certain projects
in your life. Get ready. There's a due season
coming for you. We're not failures and we're
not to walk around this world as Christians thinking it's all
bad. Nothing's going to happen good.
I'm defeated. I don't know what's going on
in your life, but I do know this. There's a due season for you. You may have cancer. Why not
get healed? You know, honestly, I've learned
this week, so many of my friends and some of you here have cancer. And anytime the C word is used,
that C word, there's a bigger C word than cancer called Christ. I want to encourage all of you
who are sick to trust Christ. You can get better. I'll tell
you this, what God has ordained for you will come to pass. You
know the way I do things this way. I do everything I know to
do as if it depends on me. And no, it all depends on God.
It's very true. I'm going to trust God. I'm going
to believe God. You know, Don Woodward, I don't
know where Don, he's up there somewhere, has been out up there,
but doing his walk, probably. You all know Don Woodward. He's
the guy that's always walking around. He's also our city council
member. But, you know, Don has had esophagus
and stomach cancer. They've done several, several
surgeries. But he went back this week, Friday,
they did a test and found no cancer. Now, I don't know what's up,
but Don came back and he said, they gave me another test that
shows every cell in your body. I said, I thought they said they
didn't find any cancer. No, but even they couldn't believe
it, that they couldn't find it. So they did another test searching
from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head. And I don't
know, maybe there is some cell hiding somewhere, but I do know
this. The first time he went, he said, it's down here, it's
up here, and it's coming up here, and now they can't find it. That's
all I know. I don't know. That's all I know. But I know this, God has due
seasons. And I'll tell you this, when
you are literally down the most, get ready. God's not gonna leave
you there. God has not appointed you to
sorrow and sadness and despair. And if those things enter your
life, it's only to make you better. It's only for your good. I don't
know everything. I'm not God. But I do know this,
and I believe this. Everything works for my good
and for God's glory. And that's the way I'm going
to live my life, come hell or high water. I'm gonna live my
life believing that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly
above all that I ask or think. And I'm gonna live in faith believing
that good things are headed my way. Amen. And the Holy Spirit
would not be here in such power. such power that there's a consciousness
of His presence. And we lift our hands in joy
and praise. And many of us here look so forward
to Sunday morning. Because it's going to be a happy
time. Let's stand together and praise our God.