I want to talk to you tonight
about the use of your time, because in order for you to glorify God,
you cannot waste your time. And I don't know if you think
much about, I wonder how much time I have left on the earth. I wonder how many days I have
left. I wonder how many months, how
many years. And I think about that a lot,
and when I was your age, I thought about that a lot. And there's
one man in particular in church history that I want to begin
by telling you about because he gave a lot of thought to this. His name was Jonathan Edwards,
and many of you will be familiar with Jonathan Edwards, born in
1703 in East Windsor, Connecticut. and became really, I think, the
seminal figure born on American soil before the founding of our
country. He was the primary leader in
the great awakening, and really our country was born out of the
flames of the great awakening, and Jonathan Edwards was a pastor
in Northampton, Massachusetts, and became the third president
of Princeton. He died in office at Princeton. And he was a prolific figure.
He attended Yale University, what would become Yale. And when he was 18 years old,
before he graduated from Yale, he became an interim pastor in
downtown New York City. And when he was 18 and 19 years
old, while he was pastoring this church, before he would go back
to Yale and complete his degree, he decided he would write, sit
down and write what he called his resolutions. He wrote 70
resolutions that became like a moral compass for his life.
because he really wanted to live for God, and he reviewed these
resolutions on a regular basis, and it was like a checkpoint
for him. They're all drawn from the Word of God. And so he wrote
these 70 resolutions over a period of about a year and a half. He
kept adding to them, and the first four of those resolutions
dealt with living for the glory of God. Every one of us here
tonight who is a genuine Christian, that is the tip of the spear.
That is our primary ambition, and everything that we do is
to live for the glory of God. The Apostle Paul would say in
1 Corinthians 10, 31, whatsoever you do, whether you eat or drink,
do all for the glory of God. And that really became almost
like the skeleton key that would unlock every door that he would
go through. The fundamental question for
Edwards for the rest of his life was in making decisions, what
would most glorify God? When it came time to be married,
that was the determining factor. What woman would I marry that
I would most glorify God. She would help me glorify God
the most. And when he made decisions about
ministry and being a pastor, what most glorifies God? And that really should be uppermost
in your thinking. And so as he wrote these resolutions,
they all began with the word resolved. In the first resolution, let
me just read it for you, a portion of it, resolved. And by the way,
how many people do you know that are really resolved? Not just
up in the air, bouncing around, but actually determined, fixed,
resolved. Resolved that I will do whatsoever
I think to be most to God's glory. That really needs to be what
is driving your life is to do that which most glorifies God. Not glorifies you, but glorifies
God. The fourth resolution reads like
this, resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul
or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God." So
that's like the umbrella over his whole life, and everything
has to fit under this overriding, arching principle of what most
glorifies God. He doesn't want to ever step
outside of this driving ambition in his life, what most glorifies
God. And you need to think about that
as you make decisions. Where you go to school? What
will your major be? What job will you have in the
summer? What will you do after you graduate?
Who will your friends be? Everything has to be driven by
what most glorifies God. And if you have friends, for
example, that don't age you on in pursuing the glory of God,
they're really not your friends. they're holding you back from
what God wants to do with your life. And so, those are the first
four resolutions. I read you number one and four.
So, then the next question for Jonathan Edwards was this. So, I do want to live for the
glory of God. How? How do I live for the glory
of God? What is almost like the rudder
of the ship, the steering wheel of the car? What will drive me
in the right direction, practically speaking, to most live for the
glory of God? What do you think Jonathan Edwards
had as resolution number five, right after those first four? Resolved. Never to lose one moment of time. Because Jonathan Edwards understood
that God has sovereignly ordained that he would have a limited
amount of time here upon the earth. And if he wastes his time, he
robs God of his glory. And so time was so precious to
Jonathan Edwards. I know when you're young, you
think I have so much time compared to eternity. It's not
even a drop in the bucket. And so Edwards resolution number
six resolved to live with all my might while I do live. In other words, with what time
God has given to me, I want to go all out for God. I want to
live full tilt for God, because there are some people who while
they live, they really do not live. They're just hanging out. They just exist. They're just
going through the empty motions. They're just like fluttering
around. They don't really live. And Jonathan Edwards said that,
resolved that as long as I live, I must truly live the fullest
life I possibly could. And so Jonathan Edwards, in thinking
about the time that he has to live, he understands that I can
only glorify God if I maximize the use of my time for the kingdom
of God, for the will of God, for the work of God, for the
glory of God. And that if I waste my time,
I cannot live for the glory of God. You need to think about
that. And so Edwards was always looking
to the end and then working back to the present. He was always
looking to the end of his life because he wants to end well. And in order to end well, then he must use his time very
strategically and very shrewdly and very wisely, or when he comes
to the end, he will have regrets that he squandered his life. And so, everyone here tonight
needs to really think about this. And so, resolution number seven,
resolved. never to do anything which I
should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life." Resolution number nine, resolved
to think much on all occasions of my own dying. Now, you may think, that's rather
morbid. No, it's actually very godly.
And it's actually very wise. But I want to think about the
very end. Because that will determine what
decisions I make along the way, so that when I come to the finish
line, I will have run the race well. It's not how you start
the race, it's how you finish the race that really counts. So this is precisely how you
and I must live our Christian lives. And by the way, Jonathan
Edwards has been called arguably the
greatest preacher ever born on American soil, the greatest intellect
ever born on American soil, at least according to the British
encyclopedia. certainly preached the greatest
sermon ever preached on American soil, Sinners in the Hands of
an Angry God. R.C. Sproul argues he's the greatest
author who has ever been born on American soil. And others
would argue he is the greatest philosopher ever born on American
soil. That all of those lines would
intersect in one person is absolutely unimaginable. So how did Jonathan Edwards end
up becoming Jonathan Edwards? Well, resolution number 63, I'm
gonna paraphrase it, he set as his goal and as his ambition
that he would be the greatest Christian in his generation. This is while he's 18 years old.
and 19 years old. He said that there could only
be one person alive on the earth at any one point in time who
is, in the eyes of God, the greatest Christian alive on planet earth. And Jonathan Edwards, as a teenager,
set a course for his life that he would strive to be with all
of his might, he said. to be that one in my generation. Only God knows who that would
be, that a compelling case could be made that it was Jonathan
Edwards. And what was, if you lift up
the hood of Edward's life and look down in the engine, what
was driving Edward's life was to maximize his time. to use
it for God and not let time slip through his fingers, because
he understood once he wasted time, it could never be recovered
again. So tonight, what I want to do
with you is just survey the Bible. I want to go to multiple verses
with you, and I want you to track with me. And I want to build
a case from the scripture, from the Bible, on how precious time is. And at the end, I'm going to
come back to Edwards. So if you have your Bible, turn
with me to the book of Job. Psalms is in the middle, turn
one book to the left and you're at Job. Turn to Job 14 and verse
5. Job 14 and verse 5, and we're
going to start right here. This is Job speaking as he speaks
in response to his friends, in this case, in response to Zophar. Now, listen to this verse, Job
14, 5, because Job understands that we only have so much time
to live, and that God has already foreordained
the number of those days and the number of those months, and
you'll not live one day longer or one day shorter than the number
of days that God has already decreed that you will live. he says in verse 5, since his
days, referring to man's days, are determined. They're determined
by God. They're measured out by God.
And we do not all receive the same number of days. I'm 69. Next month, I'll be 70.
John MacArthur will be 82 this summer. I had a high school reunion a
couple years ago. Not all of my classmates, high
school classmates made it to the 50 year reunion. And some
people will live to be 30, some will live to be 25, some will
live to be 80. I had lunch today with a lady
who's 93. We all have a different number
of days that are determined by God for us to live, and you do
not know how many days God has chosen for you to live. So since His days are determined,
the number of His months is with you. God has marked out, measured
out the number of months and the number of days precisely,
exactly that you have given to you to live, and notice the end
of the verse, and His limits, man's limits, the number of those
days and months you have set so that He cannot pass. This is under the sovereignty
of God. You'll not live one millisecond past the time that God has already
marked out that will be the end of your life. And so, therefore, you need to value every day that
you have to live, and you must wisely use every moment that
God gives you to live. come to Psalms, Psalm 31 in verse
15. Psalm 31 in verse 15, and I'm
just going to read the first line of this verse. It'll be
very short, very to the point. David is the psalmist, and David,
who is in the midst of distress and a difficult time and trials,
he says, my times are in your hand. It looks from David's human
perspective that his life is in chaos, that everything is
uncertain, and that he is surrounded by all kinds of difficulties.
But when he looks at his life from God's perspective, he realizes
that my times, plural, all of my times, are in your hand. word times here does not refer
to like it's 2 30 in the afternoon it refers to life experiences
it refers to life occurrences within the number of our days
and what it says is he has my whole life in his hands you need to know that there is
nothing random about your life Everyone who's here tonight is
here because your times are in his hands. There's no such thing as good
luck. There's no such thing as bad luck. That doesn't even exist. There's no such thing as lady
luck. There's no such thing as an accident. There's no such
thing as karma or chance. or fate. There's no such thing
as a random occurrence. R.C. Sproul said, there are no
maverick molecules in the universe. Not only does he have the whole
world in his hands, he's got your life in his hands, and he
is governing and controlling what takes place within time
itself. Now, come to Psalm 90 in verse
12, and this verse has had a profound effect upon my own personal life,
and I never preach Psalm 90 but that people make very significant
decisions with their life. I remember I was in Chicago Actually
in Wheaton, which is a suburb of Chicago, and I preached this
verse, and one of John MacArthur's sons was so convicted and challenged,
he sold his house, packed up his family, and moved back to
Grace Community Church. Because he understood he only
has so much time, and he needs to be here helping his dad. I don't know how this is gonna
impact you, but notice this verse. Psalm 90, I wish I had time to
just preach the whole Psalm to you. I wish I could set it up.
We're just gonna have to dive bomb into verse 12. I guess one thing you need to
know is this is the oldest Psalm in the Psalter. They're not laid
out in chronological order. Psalm 90 is the oldest Psalm. Psalm 126 is the newest Psalm,
and it took a thousand years to put the book of Psalms together. Moses wrote Psalm 90. during
his wilderness wanderings while he was going in circles. It should
have taken a very short time to go from Egypt to the promised
land, and they just went in circles for 40 long years. And an entire generation died
in the wilderness, millions. And in the midst of that experience
of wasting time, Because of the rebellion of the people, Moses
writes this Psalm. So teach us to number our days,
that we may present to you a heart of wisdom. What he's saying is, if you don't
number your days, you're a fool. You could never present a heart
of wisdom to God, if you do not number your days?" What does it mean to number your
days? I mean, God has numbered your days, but you don't know
what that number is. So, you cannot number your days
in a literal sense of, I know I have, you know, fourteen hundred
and thirty-six days left to live. For you and me to number our
days means to value them very greatly. I almost like I can
remember when I was when I was in college and my dad gave me
an allowance and I tell you it wasn't much of allowance and
and sometimes I could be sitting in my dorm room and I just reach
into my pocket that's all I've got left for the semester and
I would just count what was left and I just valued as I numbered
as I counted how much was left And so he says, teach us. So
we have to be taught this. We're not born with this. desire, and even as a Christian,
we have to be schooled by God. We have to be instructed by God. So, teach us. This is really
in the form of a prayer to God. Teach us to number our days,
to consider them extremely valuable. Every day that I have to live
is a gift from a sovereign God. He has allowed me to live one
more day. And here's the reason why Moses
says we must be taught to number our days. He says that we may
present to you, to God, a heart of wisdom. And so what this says
to me, and it says it to you, that if you do not count every
day as a gift from God that must be strategically invested in
the kingdom of God and in the will of God, you cannot present
to God a heart of wisdom. Your life, it's like you're driving
a car and you're just closing your eyes and you have no idea
where the road is and where you're going. That's how important it
is. to consider the number of days
that you have to live. One of the wisest things you
could do tonight would be to number your days. Don't live
with no thought for how much time you have left. Now come to Psalm 139. Psalm 139, verse 16, and this
is another Psalm of David, and it's a Psalm of the sovereignty
of God. that God is omniscient, He knows
everything, the first six verses, that God is omnipresent, He's
everywhere, verses 7 through 12, and that God is omnipotent,
He has all power, that's verses 13 through 18. And the verse
that I want you to see is verse 16, and it falls within the stanza
that deals with the sovereign power of God over our lives. So notice what he says, you have
seen my unformed substance. That's referring to God, you
have already seen and known everything about me before you made me. You see, God chose what your
gender would be. He chose, he's the one who decided
whether you'd be a girl or a boy. decided what your skin tone would
be. He decided what your hair color
would be. He would decide what your face
would look like. He decided how tall or short
you would be. He decided what your bone structure
would be. He decided whether you'd be on
the full side or on the thin side. I mean, all of this was
sovereignly chosen by God, and He chose when you would be born,
the very day that you would have been born. He could have chosen
you to be born 2,000 years ago, 3,000 years ago, 4,000 years
ago. He could have chosen that you
wouldn't even be born yet. It was in the sovereign genius of
God that God decided when you would be born, where you would
be born. You could have been born in China.
You could have been born in Africa. You could have been born in Nowheresville. God just marked it all out, says,
your eyes have seen my unformed substance. How do you see what
is unformed? It means God saw it in his mind.
He determined who your father would be. He determined who your
mother would be. He determined who would live on both sides
of your house. He determined what school you would go to.
He determined who your teachers would be, determined who your
friends would be. God marked out your path. from before the
foundation of the world. He determined what your IQ would
be. He determined what your temperament would be. He determined what
your personality would be. He determined everything about
you. Jesus said, the very hairs of
your head are numbered. And that's the rest of this verse.
This is a staggering verse. And in your book, so stop right
there, God has metaphorically here a book, and in this book
is written everything about everyone whom he would create. And God is the only one who has
written in this book, and God is the only one who has looked
into this book. And everything that God has written
in this book is immutable and unchangeable. As history is unfolding, there's
no alteration, there's no plan B, there is no plan C. There is only what God wrote
in this book from before time began. It is settled and it is
sealed. It is called predestination. And what predestination simply
means the destination is determined before the journey begins. And
it's set in concrete. It is unalterable. So in your book. We're all written. All what? The days that were ordained for
me, when as yet there was not one of them. So before you were
ever born, God wrote in his book, what theologians call the eternal
decree that encompasses everything that comes to pass. Every minute
detail. The Bible says in Proverbs 16,
the casting of the lot into the lap, which is like dice, it's
every turning up is from the Lord. There's nothing random. Again, there's no such thing
as good luck or bad luck. God is micromanaging the planet. who's seated on your left, who's
seated on your right tonight has all been sovereignly determined
by God. As you drive home tonight, is
the traffic light green? Is it red? Is it yellow? It's
all sovereignly determined by God. Who your roommate is, it's
all just set in concrete. And this verse says, even the
days that you have to live are ordained by God. When as yet
there was not one of them. I remember I was a couple of
years ago, I was preaching in a conference in Houston, Texas.
I was actually preaching on the sovereignty of God. And I remember
after the service was over, I was walking to the man's car who
was gonna drive me to where I was staying and his cell phone rang
and he handed it to me. And the voice on the other end
of the phone said to me, your father has just passed away. And my immediate thought was,
This was the day that God had ordained. It was
the perfect day. I wouldn't want him to live one
more day. God's so much smarter than I
am. And there is a great comfort
in accepting even death, that that's the day that God has ordained. for you to leave this earth. And so the point that Edwards
latched onto, and I would just say tonight, Hugh has ears to
hear, let him hear, let her hear, that every one of those days,
and you don't know how many there are left, and it might be shorter
than what you think, that they need to be wisely used
for the glory of God, because you have one less day to live
than you did yesterday. And once you lose a day, you
never recover it. So come with me now to the gospel
of John. John chapter 9, and this verse I must tell you has
had an extraordinary impact upon my own life. I often quote this
verse just freely as I'm talking to people or as I'm preaching,
and it's a verse that you may not be as aware of, but I want
you to give careful thought to every word in this verse, and
I want you to to soak in this verse, and I want you to savor
this verse. I'm going to read it first, and
then we're going to go back through it. Jesus is the Speaker. He is six
months from the cross, and He knows that the cross is looming. He has said his entire public
ministry, my hour has not yet come. My hour has not yet come. And the hour referring to the
day of his death. And he knew that he was on a
divine time schedule in his life. And Jesus understood that because
that clock was ticking, on the timeline of His life as He is
now approaching the Passover in six months, when He would
lay down His life a ransom for many. That every day that led
up to the cross, every day that led up to His death, that His
Father in heaven had given Him work to do, and that He must
do the work that God has given him to do. His understanding
of the sovereignty of God did not make him passive, it made
him active, and it drove him because he understood he must
glorify the Father. And so, look at this verse, verse
4, John 9, verse 4. We must work the works of Him
who sent me as long as it is day. Night is coming. when no one can work. Let's just walk through that.
We, it's plural, it's more than just Jesus. It's Jesus and His
disciples. And it really extends to all
of Jesus' disciples. If you're a believer, you're
a disciple of Christ, and this extends to you and to me. This is more than I, this is
we. Must, that's a word of divine
necessity. It's an obligatory word. Not
a hope to, want to, must. Jesus had set His face like a
flint, and He would not be deterred to the left nor to the right.
He lived resolved. We must, note this, work. He understood that there's a
work that God had given Him to do, and He glorifies the Father
by doing the work that God had given Him to do. And because
it says, The Father has also given to the disciples a work
to do, and they will glorify the Father by doing these works.
And I want to say to you, God has given you works to do. He
didn't call you just to sit. He called you to put your shoulder
to the plow and to do the work that God has given you to do.
So we must work the works of Him, not your works, God's works
for your life. We must work the works of Him
who sent me while it is day. He understood that the sun was
setting upon his life, that he only had so much time. And while
it is day, while the sun is up, it's an analogous metaphorical
picture. Day represents his life, the
rest of his life. And night refers to his death. We must work the works of Him
who sent me while it is day, while there is opportunity, while
there's open doors to do the God-assigned work. And if you miss that and do what
God has not given you to do, you dishonor God. And as we'll find out in just
a little bit, On the last day, you're going to stand before
Jesus Christ, even as a Christian, and you're going to give an account
to Jesus for your time. He's going to require of you
to give an account to Him for how you have used your time. And that day is, it's fixed. It's coming. So we must work the works of
him who sent me while it is day, while I'm alive, because night
is coming. It's coming for Jesus. It's coming
for you. It's coming for me. The government
has a new statistic. One out of every one person dies. Night is coming when no man can
work. You will cease from your labors. You will have no more opportunity
in this life to serve God. So what does this say to us?
I'll tell you what it says to me. I need to get after it. I need to pick up my pace. I need to have a sense of urgency
about my life. I need to fill up my days, not
with me, with God, with working for God, because night is coming. I don't know how much longer
I have to live. You don't know how much longer
you have to live. Night is coming. Now, come to Ephesians 2. Let me begin in Ephesians 1 just
for a moment. Ephesians 1 verse 4 and then
verse 11, then we're going to go to chapter 2 verse 10. Ephesians
1 verse 4 says, He chose us in Him. That means God the Father
chose His elect in Christ before the foundation of the world.
God is so sovereign, He has already predetermined who will believe
in Jesus. And the rest he's passed over. He's the potter over the clay. And he makes some to be vessels
of wrath prepared for destruction. And he makes some to be vessels
of mercy prepared for glory. And that's the potter's right
over the mass of humanity. to decide and determine your
eternal destiny. God is so sovereign. If you're
a believer tonight, it's not because you're smarter than everybody
else. It's because God predetermined
your salvation. Now look at verse 11. It says that every circumstance
surrounding your life is under the control of God. And if you're
one of his elect, even the day that you would be converted was
marked out by God. And who would bring you that
gospel message? Would it be a friend? Would it
be a parent? Would it be a preacher? He marked out the place where
that would happen. Would it be in church? Would
it be in your bedroom? Would it be in chapel? Would
it be at a camp? Would it be at a retreat? nothing
random about any circumstance in your life. So, look at verse 11. He says that in Him, in Christ,
in verse 10, also we have obtained an inheritance. This inheritance
is salvation. This inheritance is the fullness
of our salvation. And he says, having been predestined,
You know what you call a preacher who preaches on predestination? You call him a Bible preacher. And a preacher who won't preach
on predestination needs to resign and go get an honest job. Having been predestined according
to his purpose, now watch this. who works all things, not some
things, not just big things, not most things, not just small
things, who works all things after the counsel of his will. And this all happened before
the foundation of the world. History is His story. Down to the most minute detail. A woman once said to G. Campbell
Morgan after he preached a sermon on prayer and the sovereignty
of God, and she met him at the front door of the church in London,
Westminster Chapel, and she at white gloves on and took him
by the hand and said, now, dear pastor, can I pray for little
things or do I only pray for big things to God? And G. Campbell Morgan looked
at this lady and smiled and he said, ma'am, there's nothing
big in your life to God. Everything is little. to almighty omnipotent God. You pray about anything and everything,
your heart leads you to pray. But from the throne above and
he looks down on your life, everything is minute. Because he's working all things
after the counsel of his will. Now look at chapter 2 verse 10. You know verse 8 and 9, For by
grace ye have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no
one may boast. So verses 8 and 9 says, Your
salvation is all of God. You had nothing to do with it.
The only contribution you have made to your salvation is the
sin that was laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He even gave you
the faith to believe. He even gave you the gift of
repentance to turn away from your sin. It's all from God,
so that no one may boast and say, well, look what God and
I did. No, God only sings solo. He gets all the glory and all
the credit, and He'll not share His glory with another. Now,
verse 10 continues this truth of the sovereignty of God over
your life and especially over those to whom He, by His grace
and mercy, has saved. So, notice what verse 10 says.
For we, the we refers to all believers, are his workmanship,
and the word workmanship literally means masterpiece, poema. He has made us to be his new
creation. So we are his workmanship, created,
and that's a picture of the new birth, regeneration. we've become
new creatures in Christ Jesus. Created in Christ Jesus, now
note this, for good works. You're not saved by good works. You are saved for good works. Notice the end of the verse,
which God prepared beforehand. Before what? Before you were
ever born. And before the world that He spoke into existence
out of nothing. from long ago, from before time
began, God had already prepared beforehand good works for you
to walk in. And what Paul is appealing to
the Ephesians here is you need to get after it. You need to
get on with it. You just can't sit there. You
just can't let time pass, and you waste your opportunities
and waste your time. And by the way, these good works
don't start once you are 30 years old. It doesn't start once you
become 40 years old. It doesn't start once you graduate.
It doesn't start once you are married. The moment you are saved,
you're on a new path, and there are immediately now already good
works that God has foreordained for you to do. And on the last day, you and
Jesus are gonna talk about those good works that you're to do. And what this says is that you
should live your Christian life with a sense of destiny. You are riding a tidal wave of
destiny. Your life is being swept along
by the hand of a sovereign God, and He has prepared good works
for you to walk in. I don't know about you, that
does something to me. I don't want to show up on the
last day and have to explain a life that was just a vacation. I don't want to show up on the
last day and fumble for excuses why I never got around to these
good works while I just needed more me time. I've got to invest my life, every
inch and every ounce of it, into carrying out these good works.
Now, let me just take you to one more passage. I've got a
whole lot more verses, but I'm going to have mercy on you tonight.
Let me take you to just one more, and I've got a stack of verses
here, but you're in Ephesians. Come to chapter 5. Ephesians
5, and I want to read verse 15 and 16. Be careful how you walk. Be careful how you live. Be careful which path you're
on. Be careful which direction you're going. Be careful that
you don't trip up over a stumbling block. Be careful that you don't slow
down. Be careful how you walk. It's
a metaphor for the Christian life, putting one foot ahead
of the next. It began the moment you were
born again, and you're making progress in this walk. And there's an end, there's a
destination, and that's heaven. And so every step of life's journey,
Paul writes, be careful how you walk. Because some Christians
are not going to walk right. They're going to veer. They're
going to stumble. They're going to stop. Be careful how you walk. Notice
what he says, not as unwise men, but as wise, meaning the wisest
thing for you is to be careful how you walk. You would be foolish,
which is the opposite of being wise, to not give thought to
how you live your Christian life. So look at verse 16. Making the
most of your time. Time. Time. There's two Greek words that
are primarily used in the New Testament for time. One, I'm
going to pronounce it because you're going to hear an English
word in it, chronos, chronology, chronometer, a watch. That word
for time means it's Thursday night, March, whatever it is,
eight o'clock. It's a specific moment in time
that's chronological time. The other word that is used for
time is kairos, which means within time
and opportunity. And it may not be there tomorrow.
It may not be there next week. It's a door that has swung open
and it's gonna close. For those of you who are in college,
this is a passing moment, a passing opportunity. You're not gonna
be in college for the rest of your life. That's an opportunity
to do certain things that will not be afforded to you later. I have four children, and when
they were little, and I saw Jeremy's children over there, and I saw
Caleb's children over there, and they're like two and three. That's an opportunity to be a
parent to a three-year-old. You're not going to have that
next year. Not when they're three. They'll
never be three again. They'll never be two years old
again. That's a moment in time. That's the word that Paul uses
here. And he says, making the most of your opportunity. And when he says making the most
of, it's kind of a loose translation. It really means redeem the time. You need to buy up the opportunities
that are in front of you because they're on sale right now. And
they're going to be off sale tomorrow. There are opportunities you have
to witness to someone. There are opportunities that
you have to help someone. There are opportunities that
you have to encourage someone. There are opportunities that
you have to go to church on Sunday. You're not going to have it on
Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday. And for you to be wise is to
discern the opportunities that you have to do good works. And
you need to capture that moment. You need to seize the moment.
Carpe diem. If you want to live for the glory
of God. Now, if living for the glory
of God is not on your radar, then you can just waste your
time. You can just waste your life.
You can just hang out. You can just float around like
a butterfly. But if you wanna live for the
glory of God, you gotta seize the moment, the opportunity now
that God has afforded to you, because you'll never have today
again. Today is gonna be ancient history
tomorrow. Today is God's day. Second Corinthians 6.2 says,
Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, today is the day of salvation. So I've just walked you through
a bunch of verses. I want to end with Jonathan Edwards. The Great Awakening is arguably
the greatest movement of the Holy Spirit on American soil
in the history of this continent. 1730s, 1740s, and Jonathan Edwards
was the primary American pastor whom God used in the Great Awakening. There would be another man who
would come from England whose name was George Whitefield, and
he would be the great evangelist. And Edwards and Whitfield were
the dynamic duo in the Great Awakening. And the whole thing started in
December of 1734. And Jonathan Edwards was in Northampton,
Massachusetts, pastoring a church. And he's 31 years old. And he preaches a sermon called
the preciousness of time and the importance of redeeming
it. His passage was the one we just looked at, Ephesians 5 verse
16, redeem the time for the days are evil. And it was that sermon
that struck the match that lit the fuse that blew up for the
glory of God that eventually this country would be founded
from it. And as Edward preached this sermon,
he raised the question, why time is so precious? Why is your time
so precious? And Edward said, well, first
of all, because how you use time affects your eternity. How you
use time will determine whether you're in heaven or whether you're
in hell. And then second, he said, time
is so precious because time is so short. And he reasoned that
the scarcity of a commodity drives the price up. I was a finance
major when I was in college, and we understand the law of
supply and demand. The smaller the supply, the greater
the demand. And Edwards reasoned brilliantly
in this sermon that time is so short compared to eternity, and
an entire eternity depends upon it. And so that drives the price
up on time. It drives the value up for time
because you have so little time. And then Edwards then said, time
is so precious because Once time is lost, it can never be recovered. He said a man can lose many things
and then recover it. He said a man could be very wealthy
and then lose his fortune and declare bankruptcy, but he could
start his business all over again, and he could recover the fortune
that he lost, and he could become rich again as if he never lost
his fortune. Or he said a man could become
sick, and he would lose his health, but a doctor could nurse him
back to health, and he could regain the health that he lost
and be even more healthy than he was to begin with. But Edward
said it is not so with time, because when you lose time, it
is lost forever. If you squandered yesterday,
you'll never have yesterday again to live for the rest of your
life. It is lost forever. And so Edwards
reasoned that's why time is so precious because you'll never
regain it again once it is passed. Edwards then moved to, so who
wastes their time? Who is it that wastes their time? And he says, well, first of all,
it's those who are involved in idleness. They just do nothing. They live idle lives, frivolous
lives. They are passive. They lack direction. They lack purpose. They're just
kind of spinning their wheels and not really going anywhere
or know where they're going. He spoke of them as just wandering
from house to house. And you could go wandering from
apartment to apartment or dorm room to dorm room and just going
from one nothingness to the next nothingness, and all of the time
that you waste, he says, that's who wastes time. But then he
goes on and he says, I'll tell you who else wastes their time,
and it is those who invest their time in wickedness. He says they
spend their time in revelry. They spend their time in unclean
talk. They spend their time in vicious
company that has an influence upon them and pulls them down.
They spend their time backbiting, Edwards said, and talking against
others and contentious and quarreling, and they're just living for their
flesh. and living for sin, and every
moment lived in sin, you have wasted your life, wasted your
time. You fool." And then he says, those who waste
their time are those who live only for this world, who live
only for worldly pleasures. He said, they live only for what
they shall eat, and what they shall drink, and what they shall
wear. And we could add in what they
will study, and what they will write, and what they will read.
And that's fine and good in and of itself, but that cannot be
primary in your life. What a shallow life that would
be. You just waste your life on horizontal
things and you never have any vertical life. Edwards said,
you just live to lay up for yourselves treasures on the earth and how
you can make a name for yourself and how you can get a head in
the world. You're just wasting your life
if that's all you're living for. And just live for how to be comfortable
and have pleasant experiences. There's nothing wrong in and
of itself for that. But if that's all you're living
for. What an empty. Disgusting. Shallow. Superficial. Life. You're living. That doesn't count
for anything. When you could have been living
for God. You could have been living to minister to others. And so Edwards then concludes
the sermon. And again, this is what lit the
fuse that blew the gunpowder that became the greatest revival
ever seen in America. It came to the last heading,
how to improve the use of your time. Every one of us here tonight
needs to give thought to this. I just wrote this out in my hotel
room a while, a few hours ago, and it, like, it was good for
me just for my hand to rewrite this, get this back into my head. Do you want to improve the use of
your time? Edward says, first, consider your accountability
to God. that God has given you time to live. On his earth, you're
breathing his air, you're drinking his water, and on the last day,
you're gonna stand before Jesus Christ. Don't think just because
you're a Christian, there's no judgment. Now, 2 Corinthians
5.10 says, we shall all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
And you're gonna give an account to the Lord for a lot of things.
Use of your mouth, use of your influence, but also the use of your time.
And you're gonna have to answer to Jesus for how you used your
time under the Lordship of Christ. So Edwards says, you need to
think about that day. And what will you say on that
day? But then second, he said, you
need to consider that you've already lost much time. And he says, you now have shorter
time left to live, but you have the same amount of work assigned
to you to do. So less time now to do the same
amount of work. And Edwards says that ought to
motivate you to get into the field and put your shoulder to
the plow because the longer you wait to get in the game, to serve
the Lord, to do these good works, they're not going away. you just
have less time in reality to do more work. Think about it. But then Edwards' third says,
to consider those who are at the end of their time. And Edwards
says, come with me to the deathbed and listen to the man in the
last moments of his life before he leaves this world and steps
into eternity and goes into the world to come, listen to what
he has to say. And Edwards says that the man
will cry out, oh, a thousand worlds for just an inch of time. He would give anything if he
could just turn back the clock and just come back to when he
was 18 or 19 or 20 or 21 or wherever in the spectrum of his life.
He would give anything just to be able to have that time back,
how different he would have lived, how different he would have invested
his time. Think about that. How much time have you lost? How much time have you wasted?
There's not a one of us in this room who has not wasted time. But then Edwards concludes, and he says, go beyond the end
of time. Consider the one who has passed
time and is now in eternity. And Edward said, descend with
me now into the pit of hell. Descend with me now into the
lake of fire and brimstone and listen to the shrieks and the
cries of the damned souls in hell. And what would they give
for just an inch of time to do what they should have done to
commit their life to Christ. You need to be so shrewd in the
use of your time to invest it in the things of God. Part of what God has for you
to do is right now go to class, to study, to do your best, But
if that's all you're living for, you've wasted your life. There
must be a higher purpose and there must be things, other things
that you do to minister to others. And so Edwards ends this sermon
and he says, if you delay and put off the improvement of your
time, still more time will be lost as you procrastinate and
fail to act tonight on the proper use of your time. And Edwards
said, talk not of a more convenient time to make this right, that
there is no better time for you to invest your life for the glory
of God than this time tonight. And Edwards writes, improve your
time while you still have time. It was this sermon that awakened,
especially the young people. who in North Hampton were causing
mischief and trouble. And the revival first came to
those who were teenagers, who were young people, who were sobered
by this message. I don't know where you are with
the Lord tonight. I don't know how you spend your
time. I just know this. In order to
live for the glory of God, you must use your time for God very
wisely because the time is coming when you will have no time to
glorify God. So I have no idea how the spirit
of God has been at work tonight. and how the Spirit of God would
bring this home to your mind and to your heart. I don't know
if you think that this message is crazy. I don't know if you
think this message is over the top. Or perhaps you think, I need
to really give careful thought as to how I walk and how I work. and how I use my time. Because
if you waste your time, you can not glorify God. Let me pray. Father in heaven, the things that we have discussed
tonight are profound. The height, the depth, the breadth,
the length of this subject would cause us to put our head on the
pillow tonight and just ponder and think. And Lord, I pray that
you would work these verses into our heart and into our soul in
such a way that we would capture the moment and
redeem the time and not waste hours and days and months that
you have afforded to us to live for you. And who is to say how
much longer we have to live here upon this earth. Lord made all
count for you. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.