For Jesus' sake I pray. Amen. It's a most interesting book,
the book of Ecclesiastes. In the first and second chapters,
the writer is Solomon, of course. He wrote the book of Ecclesiastes,
and then the book that immediately follows it, the Song of Solomon,
And he also wrote, of course, the book of Proverbs. But in
chapters one and two, Solomon has been stating that everything
all around us is in a perpetual state of change, that nothing
remains the same. A generation is born, that generation
dies, Another generation comes on the scene. He talks about
the sun. It's always active. He said the sun rises in the
morning, it sets in the evening, and then the next day it does
the same thing. It's never still. The wind, he
says, is back in the first chapter, it's constantly blowing. It turns
this way, it turns that way. Very unpredictable, like the
Spirit of God's work, according to John chapter 3. He says, the
rivers are always running. The rivers run into the sea,
and yet the sea isn't filled to overflowing. And he says over in the first
chapter, he says, all things are full of labor. That is, all
things are constantly working, never remaining the same. And here's what he's doing. He's
showing us the vanity and the instability of this world and
all of the things of this world. We sometimes sing that song,
change and decay in all around I see. O thou that changest not,
abide with me. That's going to be our final
song this evening. Well, since everything is in
a continual state of change, what vanity it is, what foolishness
it is to seek real happiness and lasting joy in such a shifting
scene. It just really isn't wise, is
it? It isn't wise to set your sights
upon the things of this world and think that they can satisfy
the soul. They can give pleasures for a
season. There's no question about that.
But there's no lasting value to anything in this world that
is of the world. And surely there's nothing here
that is worth basing all of your confidence on and putting your
trust in things that are just, as he sums up, vanity, emptiness,
uselessness, really nothing. We seek to buy property to get
land, to get this, to get that. And Solomon even says here, you
do all of that and here's what happens. You die and you leave
it to somebody else. And they didn't work for it.
They didn't labor for it. They didn't sweat for it. And
they're just going to use it up and waste it. Is that what life is all about?
There's nothing wrong with owning property. Don't misunderstand
me. Nothing wrong with owning a house, owning land. There's
certainly nothing sinful about that. Just don't set your heart
on those things. There is no joy, there is no
happiness to be found in the things of this world. They're all changing. This world
is constantly in a change. And yet, now get this, because
this is really important. This is all important. All the
fluctuations in the world and all the change that's going on
at all times are all under the absolute sovereign authority
of God. And though things to you and
me seem to be going in no real direction, though things seem to us to be
kind of in disarray, not in order, Yet, our God, the scripture says,
our God governs every single thing in this world. And nothing
happens outside of his sovereign goodwill and pleasure. All events, From the greatest event to what
to us appears to be the least important events are all governed
by God. Things that to you and me are
very insignificant. In fact, things that we don't
even notice. Little things in your life. God governs those as well, just
as He governs the big things. The Scripture says concerning
the heart of the kings of the earth, the presidents of the
earth, the prime ministers of the earth, the heart of the king
is in the Lord's hand. As rivers of water, He turns
them whichever way He will. That's the rulers of the world. We're told in the Scriptures
to pray for those that have the rule over us. You may like their
policies or you may not like their policies. That really isn't
what's important. What is important is to know
that God put them there to fulfill His purpose, whatever it is. We can get all upset, we can
get bent all out of shape because somebody in Frankfurt or somebody
in Washington does something that we don't like. And we can
just make ourselves miserable or we can remember God is using
them to fulfill that which He has purposed to do. Then we can rest. And I know this, the one who
governs all things is our Savior. Because He who lived for us and
died for us, our Redeemer, as a result of and as a reward for
His work of redemption upon the cross, God gave Him a people
to save. He came down here and saved them.
And as a result of His successful work, God made Him Lord. He's
Lord over everything. He's Lord of the big things.
He's Lord of the little things. That's what Peter said in Acts
chapter 2. Therefore let all the house of
Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom
you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Solomon begins this third chapter
by saying to everything, there is a season. and a time to every purpose under
heaven. To everything there is a season,
that which is by divine appointment. And what is time? That which
is marked out, that which is fixed, that which is set, and
it's all according to God's purpose, God's will. You know, really,
that first verse of chapter three, to everything there is a season,
that is a predetermined time, an appointed time, a time to
every purpose under heaven, that is a mind-boggling truth. It really is. There's much more
here than I could ever begin to expound. All things, here's what Solomon
is saying, all things take place by divine appointment. Everything is marked out. Everything
is set. Everything is fixed. So that
nothing happens except that which God in his sovereign will and
good pleasure has ordained to happen. As I say, even the insignificant
things in life. Look over in the book of Matthew.
I've got several references I want you to look at tonight. The first
one is in Matthew and I want you to look at chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10. Now here's
the context. Here's the setting. Our Lord
Jesus had sent out His disciples to preach the gospel. To set
Himself forth. To set forth His person. and
the work that he's going to do. And he told them, he said in
verse 16, chapter 10 of Matthew, he said, I send you forth as
sheep in the midst of wolves. It's not going to be easy, but I'm sending you forth. It's
no accident that there are wolves out there, and it's no accident
that you're his sheep. He said, therefore be wise as
serpents and harmless as doves. Be aware there's persecution
that awaits you. He's telling them this before
they go. And then he gets down here and
he says this, and the reason I wanted you to understand the
context is so that you'll appreciate what he has to say here a little
bit later. Look at verse 29. Are not two sparrows sold for
a farthing or for a penny the least amount of money that they
had back then? The lowest kind of currency. And if it was today, a penny. That's as low as you can get.
Nothing lower than a penny except nothing. He said, two sparrows
are sold for a penny. And one of them, just one of
them, worth half a cent. One of them, it will not fall
to the ground without your father. Wonder how many sparrows there
are in the world. There gotta be billions of them.
They're everywhere, everywhere. And yet, here's what our Lord
says, not a one of them, not one of them can die, be killed,
be destroyed without the purpose of God, without the knowledge
of God, without the will of God. He governs all things, even the
life of little Sparrows. You see, He's giving this illustration
to these preachers who are going to go out and they're going to
face all kinds of opposition because the natural man does
not love the message of grace. He doesn't want to hear blood
redemption. He wants to hear, well, the more
I do for God, the more God will love me and the more God will
do for me. That's what he wants to hear.
He says, I send you forth. You're my sheep. I'm your shepherd. I'm going to lay down my life
for you. I chose you in eternal election. I came to die for you. I came to call you. And I'm sending
you forth. But don't you be afraid of them.
Because watch it. Look at verse 30. But the very hairs of your head
are all numbered. He says, fear ye not, therefore
you're worth a whole lot more than a bunch of sparrows to me.
That's what he says. If the Heavenly Father, and I
say this to all of you who are the people of God, all of you
here and all of you who are watching, you who are God's children, you
who are God's blood-bought people, if not one single virtually worthless
little bird can lose its life and fall to the ground, and we
pay little to no attention of it. It's an insignificant thing. It happens thousands of times
every day. It's insignificant. But if that
death, the death of every single sparrow is under the sovereign
authority of God, what about your life? No wonder he says, Fear ye not. Fear ye not. What's there to
be afraid of? Go ahead and preach my gospel.
Man alive, if I take care of the sparrows, they're worth virtually
nothing. You're my blood-bought children.
I've loved you with an everlasting love. Don't you be afraid of
those who will persecute you. Don't you be afraid of those
who hate the gospel of God's grace. Be bold, be courageous,
go forth. I'll take care of you. Takes
care of the sparrows, doesn't he? He sure does. He gives them food to eat. I
tell you what, all of us who are the people of God, we worry
far too much for a people who say that we believe God sovereignly
governs all things. And I say, shame on us. That's
terrible. God give us grace to really believe
that which we say we believe. You see, to everything there
is a season. And there is a time to every
purpose under heaven. We believe, because the Word
of God teaches, everything is under the purpose of God. Even those things in life that
are troublesome to the flesh, things that hurt us, They're under God's rule. Just like the life of a little
bird. I tell you, the Son of God came
into this world. He didn't have an easy way to
go. He met opposition at every corner
of every street. They hated him without a cause. Never been but one perfect man
on this earth and had nailed him to a cross. Because he insisted
salvation is by grace alone. It's not by what you do, it's
what God does. And he was outed throughout his
public ministry. They tried to kill him several
times until that time arrived that
God had appointed. And he died for our sins according
to the scriptures. Was that under the sovereign
authority of God? Well, you know it was. Read Acts
chapter two, Acts chapter four. He said Pilate, and Herod, and
Gentiles, and the Jews, they all gathered together, it's what
the saints of God said, to do whatsoever, Lord, You ordained
to be done. That's a big thing. The falling of a bird to the
ground, the numbering of the hairs on your head, that's a
little thing. So from the little thing to the
big thing, everything's under the authority of God. You see, that which God has purposed,
God will bring to pass. There's no question but what
the perversity of sin has ruined God's great creation, and all
of creation groans, waiting for the redemption of
our bodies, and yet God's purpose continues just exactly the way God ordained. Nothing changes God. When Satan Lucifer rose up in
rebellion against God, he failed, didn't change God's purpose.
Actually, that fit into the purpose of God. for the introduction
of sin into heaven. And then as a result, the introduction
of sin on this earth worked to the glory of God. Because the
greatest of God's glory is His saving grace in saving people
who are ruined by sin. That brings Him the glory. There was a determined time for
all things. There is a determined time for
all things. You know, the word is used, the
word time is used in many references in the Bible. I direct your attention
to just a few of them. Here's six things I want to give
you. Number one, go to Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9,
here's the first thing. There's the time of reformation. There's the time of reformation. Hebrews chapter 9. He talks about
the first tabernacle, which we've been studying on Sunday mornings. But he tells us that these things
in Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 9, these things were a figure. They were pictures for the time
then present. in which were offered both gifts
and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service
perfect or complete as pertaining to the conscience. And he says
in verse 10, these things stood only in meats and drinks and
divers washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them, imposed on the
Jewish people until the time of reformation. That's very important. When was
the time of Reformation? Well, to get the answer to that,
we need to have an understanding of the meaning of the word Reformation. The word Reformation is used
quite often in religious vocabulary, in religious history. The Protestant
Reformation. The Scottish Reformation. All kinds of Reformations. But
I'm more interested in the Reformation. The time of the Reformation. What does the word Reformation
mean? The time of straightening things
out. That's what it means. In fact, the word, the root word
of Reformation means straight. Things that are crooked are made
straight. You see, he's just talked about
the offerings of the Old Testament. They didn't straighten things
out between man and God. You read in Hebrews 10 that the
blood of bulls and goats could never put away sin. Well, what's
going to straighten things out between me and God? The Lord
Jesus, when He came and when He died, that's the time of reformation. That's the time when things got
straightened out. Nothing was straight before then
because all of the sacrifices of the Old Testament, they merely
pointed in the direction of Christ Jesus and His sacrifice for sin,
but they didn't make crooked things straight. He did. And ever since I studied this
word, especially this week, I'm very hesitant to use the word
Reformation with regard to any other time in history, except
at the cross. That's the time of the Reformation. You say, well, what about the
Protestant Reformation? That really didn't straighten
things out. What about the Scottish Reformation? That didn't straighten things
out. I hear people say, what we need is another Reformation
today. That's not going to straighten
things out. I'll tell you, that which needed to be straightened
out happened 2,000 years ago when Christ died. That's the
Reformation. I'd rather talk about the Reformation,
the time of Reformation, than other Reformations. You see,
the word Reformation is only used one time in all of the Scriptures. Right here. Right here. That's the set time when things
were straightened out. I tell you, I rejoiced in that.
I rejoiced in the fact that our Lord Jesus, He took care of everything. And it was the time of Reformation,
the Scripture says, when the fullness of the time was come. What time was that? The time
of the Reformation. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son into the world to save His people. So we read in Romans 5, 6, In
due time, Christ died for the ungodly. His coming, His death
was the time of Reformation. Our Lord Jesus stood before His
enemies and He said, He said, you didn't know the time of your
visitation. You have no idea. You have no
idea of this time of your visitation. Here I am in person. All of the
Old Testament pointed to me. and you all said that you've
been looking for me, and here I am, I'm visiting the earth. You didn't even know it. It's
the time of visitation. Yes, sir. I say the only true
reformation happened when the Son of God laid down His life
for His people and then took it up again. Look with me in the book of Ezekiel
chapter 16. Here's the time of love. Ezekiel
chapter 16. You know, before we were converted,
before God revealed Christ Jesus in us, all of the people of God,
well, like everybody else, we had no hope. Here's what Paul says in Ephesians
2.12, at that time, at that time, you were without Christ, being aliens from the Commonwealth
of Israel. First Peter, Peter said, First
Peter 2.10, he said, which in time past, you were not the people
of God. but now you are the people of
God. You had not obtained mercy, but now you have obtained mercy.
There was a time when you couldn't say, I'm a child of God, but
now you can. You see, this is what it's about
here in Ezekiel chapter 16, at the beginning of the chapter.
It's the time of love. Ezekiel 16. Let me just read
this real quick. Verse 1. Again, the Word of the
Lord came unto me, saying, A son of man calls Jerusalem to know
her abominations, and say, Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem,
Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan. Your father
was an Amorite, your mother was a Hittite. In other words, you
came from heathen ancestry. And as for thy nativity in the
day that thou wast born, thy navel the cord was not cut. Neither
was thou washed in water to supple thee. Thou was not salted at
all, nor were you swaddled at all. And none I pitied thee to
do any of these things to you, to have compassion upon you.
But you were cast out into the open field to the loathing of
thy person in the day that thou wast born. And when I passed
by thee, I saw your helpless state. I saw you polluted in
thine own blood, and I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood,
live. I said unto thee, when thou wast
in thy blood, live. I have caused thee to multiply
as the bud of the field. Thou hast increased and waxen
great. Thou art come to excellent ornaments,
thy breasts are fashioned, thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast
naked and bare. Now when I passed by thee and
looked upon thee, behold, thy time, thy time, it's the time
of love. What is this time of love? That's
the time of conversion, it's the time of regeneration. Regeneration. You see, like Harry read to us
there from Ecclesiastes chapter 3, there's a time to be born,
and there's a time to be born again. Isn't that right? There's a time to
be born into this world, and then there's a time to be born
again into the kingdom of God. Our first birth is in this world. A natural birth. Our second birth
is a spiritual birth, a miraculous birth, due to the quickening
power of the Spirit of God. It's a time of love. He said,
I spread my skirt over you. I covered your nakedness. Aren't
you thankful you're covered with the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ? He exposed your own nakedness
to you and you got sick. I'm sick of what I am. I don't like what I am. God says,
yeah, wait a minute. I'm going to make you righteous
in my son. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. It was the time of love. For
some of you, that time of love, that time of regeneration may
have been at a young age. For others of you, it may have
been when you're middle age. For still others, maybe at an
older age. I don't know. And it may be that
some of you have not been born again, but God has appointed
you to be born again. Well, whenever that time of love
arrives, that's when it'll happen. and you can't speed it up, your
family can't speed it up, or, oh, I wish you'd believe, I wish
you'd believe the Gospel, I wish you'd close with Christ Jesus,
but all my wishing, and all my hoping, and all my pleading,
and all the begging of all the people of God, that's not going
to change anything. There's one who has to act in
you, and that's the Spirit of Grace. And when He works, if
He begins a work, He won't end it. He'll finish it to the day
of Jesus Christ. He doesn't start and then stop.
Start and stop. No, that's not. He doesn't come
to you today and then leave you tomorrow. If He comes to you
today, He'll be with you all the rest of the tomorrows of
your life and throughout eternity. Here's the third thing, the time
of our sojourning. 1 Peter. Look at 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. Scripture says there is a time
to be born, physical birth, and we begin our sojourning in this
world. You know, all of us, we're sojourners. We're not here for long. We got
some folks over here in 97 maybe, 95 maybe. They're just sojourners and we
got some here that are way younger than that. But all of us, we're
just sojourners and we're not really going to be here very
long. Look at 1 Peter 1, verse 17. If you call on the Father
who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's
work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear, that is in the
fear of God. Worshiping God, worshiping God. The scripture says in Colossians
4, 5, walk in wisdom toward them that are without redeeming the
time. Make the most of your time. I
think one of the things for me, and I think for others also as
we begin to get up in years, one of the things that we we
don't like to see is somebody wasting their time. And the reason
is because we're realizing we don't have much of that left.
Redeem the time. How can you make good use of
your time? You say, well, I'll spend time
with my family. That's good. I'll pursue things
that give some happiness to me and my wife, my children, my
family. Well, that's good. But really
the way to redeem your time, the way to spend your sojourning
on this earth is in the fear of God. That's vital. To be a worshiper. Not a worshiper
of the things of the world, but a worshiper of the God who made
you. Spend your time, your sojourning
on this earth, spend it in thanksgiving, gratitude. Acknowledging the goodness of
God every single day and every hour of every day. Walk in wisdom. Walk in wisdom. That doesn't mean walk around
with your nose up in the air like, oh, you're so religious,
you're better than everybody else. That's not what it means.
We're just sinners saved by grace, but walk through life grateful
to God and acknowledging the goodness of God and seeking to
glorify Him. The Scripture says, whatever
you do in word or deed, Whether you're eating or drinking or
whatever, do all for the glory of God. That's why it used to
be a time. Have you ever wondered, why was I born at the time that
I was born? Maybe some of you have thought
at some point in your life, I wish I lived back in the good old
days. Well, I'm not sure the old days
were really good. I don't know about that. It seems like it's mighty tough
to me from some of them old days. But if you ever wished, boy,
if I'd just been born back in the Revolutionary War days, Some
of you historians. You know, when I think about
wishing when I'd be the time of my birth, January the 11th, 1951, I'm thankful
that's the day I was born, because that's the time God appointed. And I look back on my life, don't
bother doing the math, trying to figure out the whole
math. But I look back on my life, my sojourn, and I come to this conclusion.
I was born exactly the time God ordained, and I'm living, I'm
living in this frame of time because this is when God ordained
for me to live. There's a beautiful reference.
We don't have time to look at it now. If you want to jot down,
it's in Esther 4.14. This is when, you know, King
Ahasuerus, he was king of Persia. He had a Jewish queen, Queen
Esther. She's the main character in the
book, the book that bears her name, Esther. And there was an
enemy of the people of God. His name was Haman. And there
was a hero for the people of God. His name was Mordecai. And
Mordecai urged Queen Esther to go in and talk to the king, because
that man Haman, he was a devil of a man, and he wanted to destroy
the people of God. And Mordecai had a heart-to-heart
talk with Esther. And he said, Esther, it was for this time
that you were born. You were born for this time.
Because nobody else could do what she did. And the nation was spared. Now
listen to me. God puts you where you are in
your life, because nobody can do what you do. Nobody can do
what you do. That's true with all of us. And
there's a mission that God has ordained for us in our generation. And I promise you this, Everybody
in the world will serve the purpose of God. Everybody. And that's you and me and everybody
else. This is my time. And this is your time. What are
you doing with it? What are you doing with it? Because,
you see, You touch people, so many people that nobody else
will touch. You think of the lives you've
taught, the people you've come across, people you've come across
in working, all of you. Our goal is to glorify God and
exalt Jesus Christ wherever we go. It was for such a time as this
that God raised us up. I think about back there in the
early 50s. Brother Henry Mahan, God raised
him up for such a time as this. For such a time as this. And I know what he did was by
the grace of God and by the authority of God and by the purpose of
God. But God used him. I think about the things that
happened in my life to cause me to eventually wind up working
at a church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. And I was religious. I was a Calvinist. But the gospel of Christ had
never gripped my heart. I had left a church in Salem,
Virginia. They called a new pastor. The
very first Sunday he got there, I was leading the singing. I
had to sing ten stanzas of Just as I Am. And I thought, Lord,
I'm done. I'm finished with this." And
I went to see the preacher immediately afterwards. And that church gave
us was both in college and gave us $20 a week or something like
that and had to drive two and a half hours to get there. I
went to see him afterwards and I said, I'm done. Get yourself
another song leader, another son of a school teacher, another
youth director. I'm finished. I went by my mom
and dad's house on the way back, and my brother said, you ever heard of such and such
a church? And I said, yeah, I don't know much about it. He said,
you know that preacher down there? He said, he asked about you. Want to know what you was doing?
He said, next time you was in the
area, you'd stop by and see him. And I did, stopped by on a Wednesday
night for a service, and then I started leading the singing,
the choir, and teaching, youth director, and all that kind of
good stuff there. Strict five-point calvinist,
buddy. And then not long after that,
here come a country preacher from Ashland, Kentucky. See how God works? If that guy up there in Salem,
Virginia hadn't requested, not requested, but told us to sing
10 stanzas of Just As I Am, I probably wouldn't have left. And I wind
up in Winston-Salem, by the way, getting $50 a week and didn't
have to drive but 10 minutes to get there. Just a side note
on that. God got me to go there, and Brother
Mahan came along, and he preached, and I'll always thank God for
him, but more than that, I thank God for his power, the power
of the Spirit of God, because he said, salvation's not in a
plan. That just burst my bubble, because
that's what I've been saying all along, salvation's in a plan.
The plan of salvation. He said it's not in a plan. It's
in the person of Christ Jesus. I never have got over that, Bill.
Never have got over that. But I think about all those things
that had to fall right into place to put me under the sound of
the truth. And all of you, you have your
story to tell too. and all of the things, the mechanism
of God's mysterious providence. Listen, it's no accident you're
in here tonight. It's no accident you're watching. These things fall into place
because our God governs all things. There's a time and every purpose.
Maybe this is the time this evening. When God's going to do a work
of grace in your heart, wouldn't that be something? And then, I'm going to run late. I'll just give these others.
There's the time of trouble. Psalm 37, 39, But the salvation
of the righteous is of the Lord. He is their strength in time
of trouble. Anybody know anything about time
of trouble? Probably a better question. Anybody
who doesn't know anything about the time of trouble, raise your
hand. Because all of us know there's a time of trouble. But the psalmist says, in the
time of trouble, He'll hide me in His pavilion. I like that. Troubles don't come to the children
of God haphazardly or by chance. But by divine appointment, you
say, oh preacher, you just don't know. I got a time of trouble
going on. Well, that's what God's ordained
for you. I'm not trying to be calloused. I'm not trying to
be unfeeling. I'm sympathetic with you. I pray
for you. But this is the time of your
trouble. Did you expect an easy life? Go over and listen to the health
and wealth religious fools. They'll tell you, everything's
great. God wants you to be wealthy and
God wants you to be healthy. Go ahead and listen to them.
They'll puff you up and make you feel good, and then you'll
die and perish in your sin. The Lord's people are appointed to
trouble. But he says to come boldly to
the throne of grace, find grace and mercy in the time of need. Anybody got a time of need? Is
it a time of need for you right now? Come boldly to the throne
of grace. And then there's the time of
death. That's what Terry read. There's a time to be born, a
time to die. Job said, you've appointed his
bounds, man's bounds that he can't pass. The Apostle Paul,
he said in 2 Timothy chapter 4, the time of my departure is
at hand. Time to go. Time to go. And here's the thing of it. You may have some idea of when
it's going to happen. Let's say if you get some disease
that they say is going to be fatal. But you don't know exactly when
that's going to happen. Another reference from Ecclesiastes
9 verse 12, For man knoweth not his time. As the fishes are taken in an
evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, so also
are the sons of men in an evil time, when it falls suddenly
upon them. God's numbered your days. Mine too. Don't know when they'll
be up. I tell you how I'm living my
life. looking to Christ Jesus for everything. I just live day by day that way.
That's the way to live. Depending upon Him. I don't know
when the end's going to be. But till then, I'm rolling up
my sleeves and I'll work at preaching as long as I can, as long as
I've got strength to. Be okay with me if the Lord just
takes me right out of the pulpit or on into glory, I'll be fine.
I know the time of my departure is, it can't be too much further
in the future. The biggest part of my life's
gone, and I'm not getting one hour of it back. Whatever's left of it, I sure
want to preach the gospel for the glory of God. And the last thing is, and I'll
get you to turn here with me. Matthew 13. Oh, there's coming a time of
harvest. A time of harvest. Matthew chapter 13, verse 30.
In fact, I'm going to back up. Look at verse 24, another parable Matthew 13, 24, another parable
put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened
unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept,
his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his
way. And when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then
appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder
came and said unto him, Sir, didst thou not sow good seed
in thy field? And where did these tares come
from? He said, An enemy did it. The servants said unto him, Wilt
thou then that we go and gather them up? He said, No. lest while you're
gathering up the tares, you root up also the wheat with them."
Preacher, I think we ought to get rid of the hypocrites in
the congregation. Let's get them out of here. I hope you're not one of them. I tell you, here's what we're
going to do. We're going to let them all grow together. Because I
can't see anybody's heart, and you can't either. Let them grow
together, the wheat and the tares. Verse 30, let them both grow
together under the harvest. And in the time of harvest, that's
coming. The time of harvest. I will say
to the reapers, to the angels, gather ye first. Gather together
first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them. gather the wheat into my barn. The time of the harvest is coming. For the wicked, that'll be the
time of God's anger. Psalm 21.9 says, Thou shalt make
them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger. I don't want
to know anything about the time of God's anger, do you? The Lord Jesus, He endured the
time of God's anger against sin. Caused Him to cry out, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? There is an appointed time when
God's going to judge this world by Jesus Christ. And in the time
of harvest, Oh, what unspeakable joy it'll
be for the people of God. No more tears. Just wheat. It's God's people. And we'll
sing together and we'll worship together. We'll be at the feet
of the Lord Jesus together forever. And we won't have any more sin.
Nothing to hold us back, nothing to distract us, because the scripture
says the former things will be passed away. It'll just be an
everlasting, everlasting time of worship in heaven. Well, I hope that'll help you. I think God gave me some leadership