How to Pass The Time

Would you turn to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1, I'm going to read the 17th verse. And 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. I've entitled this, Pass the time.

Let's pray together. Lord, how we. Thank you. For the Lord Jesus, your blessed son, our savior, our redeemer. Our prophet, priest and king. We're so Grateful that everything you require of us you look to him for and Lord by your grace everything you require of us we look to him for and we pray that we might be given a Fresh view of his glory and his salvation Meet with us for his sake Be with all your people wherever they meet together bless us for Christ's sake In his name we pray, amen. How to pass the time. 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.

We all have an appointed time of sojourning here I love thinking about this, the time of my birth and your birth was appointed. The time of our death is appointed. There's nothing you can do to extend your life. The day of your death is appointed. Acts chapter 17 verse 26 says, he has determined the times before appointed. and the bounds of their habitations, as David said, my times are in thy hand.

That's such a sweet, comforting thought. My times are in thy hand. Paul said to redeem the time, because the days are evil, make the most of every opportunity. Don't waste time. We all have an appointed time past the time of your sojourning here in fear. Now we're going to get back to that at the end. Look what he says at the first of this verse. If you call on the Father. I want you to turn with me to Genesis chapter 4. This is how early this thing of calling on the father comes up. Verse 25.

And Adam knew his wife again, and she bare a son and called his name Seth. For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. And to Seth, to him also there was born a son, and he called his name Enos. Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. Now this was the distinction between those who believed and those who did not believe. Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord. Isn't that what faith is? You're calling on the name of the Lord. You're calling on the name of the Father. You're calling on the name of the Son. You're calling on the name of the Spirit. You're calling on the Lord. Save me. Help me. Bless me. Have mercy on me.

When God appeared to Abraham, he built an altar. He understood even then the necessity of sacrifice. He couldn't come into God's presence without a sacrifice that pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. And he called upon the name of the Lord. Now, I don't know what the population of the earth was at that time when Seth was born. It might have been several thousand. I don't know. But the distinction between men is some called upon the name of the Lord.

Peter began the message on Pentecost, that first gospel message after the resurrection, and I love, next time you read Acts chapter two, think, the Lord had only ascended back 10 days before. Can you imagine how excited they were at this time? The Lord had gone back to heaven only 10 days before, and with this fresh on their mind, Peter begins the message, quoting Joel, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Romans 10, 13, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

So I'm calling on your name and that's his attributes. I'm calling on his sovereignty to save me as an act of his sovereign will. I'm calling on his justice to save me. Where your justice demands my salvation. Save me by your grace. Save me by your whatever attribute. Whosoever. Oh, this ought to be a precious verse to all of us. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Now, if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work? Now, let's camp there for a moment. If you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judges every man's work. Without respect of persons. This is who God is. And he's the only one like this. The one who is without respect of persons. And this actually is the ground of our salvation. Here's where we can find comfort. The Lord has absolutely no respect of persons. And he's the only being like that. No one else is.

In reality, we've all been guilty of this sin, having the same standard of judgment. We don't have the same standard of judgment with all men, We're lenient, first on ourselves, and we're lenient on others if they can benefit us, and we're harsh on others if we think they can't benefit us in some way. We're all so guilty of this horrible sin of having respect of persons, different standards of judgment. Turn with me for a moment to James chapter two.

Verse 1, my brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come into your assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel, and there come also a poor man in vile raiment, and you have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and saying to him, Sit thou here in a good place, and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool.

Are you not then partial in yourselves, and have become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But you've despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seats? Do they not blaspheme that worthy name by which you are called?

If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, you do well. But if you have respect to persons, you commit sin and are convinced of the law as transgressors. Now, as I said, one of the glorious things about God and one of the reasons we can trust Him completely is He has no respect of persons.

God holds all men to one standard of judgment. All men are judged with the same single scale. Leviticus 22, 21, it shall be perfect to be accepted. He judges every man by that one scale. It shall be perfect to be accepted. This is God's requirement for acceptance. Perfection. Absolute perfection.

Anything else will be rejected. Now I think of Cain bringing his best, the fruit of the ground, his own works, the best he could do. And in bringing that offering demonstrated that he had no respect for God. No reverence for God because God commanded already the only way you can come is through the blood of my coming Son. You can't come any way else. And he came with no respect for God. He came saying, God, you can accept this. I accept it. It's my best. I'm sure that you'll like.

He brought God down to a wicked human level. And the scripture says God had no respect for Cain. And that's a horrible feeling. When you feel someone has no respect for you, it irritates you. Cain got irritated. He understood that God had no respect for him. But the reason was that he had no respect for God. He proved that in bringing his works.

The scripture says with regard to Abel, God had respect to Abel and to his offering. I want you to think about this believer. The living God respects you because you're judged according to his judgment, which is perfection, and you are perfect in Christ Jesus, and the God of glory actually respects you. You see, the blood of Christ has such power Precious blood of Christ has such power that it makes me perfect before God. Now that's God's standard of judgment, always absolute perfection.

I would like you to turn with me to the book of Micah. Toward the end, right before Naaman, right before Naaman, right after Obadiah, Micah, chapter six. Micah chapter six, verse eight. He hath showed thee, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require thee?

Now, what is God's requirement? What is his standard of judgment? That's what this is. What are his scales of justice? What does God actually require of me, of you? Number one, to do justly. In Christ, I have done justly, me personally. His obedience is my obedience so much so that it's me doing justly. And God will accept nothing less than to do absolute justly. Thus it becometh us, Christ said, to fulfill all righteousness. When he fulfilled all righteousness, I did too, so that I myself do justly.

Understand, justification is not me having a correct legal standing before God. No, justification is me having never committed a sin. And I've always done justly. I've always done that which is right. And this is our boldness to come into heaven, God's throne. because I have indeed done justly. I have nothing to worry about. I have perfect righteousness before God. That's His standard. He is no respecter of persons.

If you've done justly, you're brought in as His own dear child. And if you go on reading, it says to love mercy. Do you love mercy? And to walk humbly with thy God. Now this is what God requires to do justly, absolute perfect righteousness, to love mercy, to love His mercy toward you and to love being merciful. I wanna be a merciful person, don't you?

And to walk in lowliness and humility before God and you can't walk before Him any other way. If you're walking before Him in pride, you're not walking before Him at all. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter five. Verse 10, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether good or bad. Now, what are the things that have been done in your body? You think, well, there's been some terrible things. Well, that's true. That's true.

But I'm to receive what I've done, whether good or bad. In Christ, all the things I've done in my body are good. You see, this is not some kind of legal document that says he's righteous even though he's not. That's not what justification is. It means all the things that I've done in my body are good. And if I'm judged, Any other way, it's all bad, isn't it? But it's all good. This is his salvation. It makes it to where everything I have done is good.

Justification is God not respecting persons, but him giving to everyone who has this perfect obedience, his favor and his salvation. This is God's character, the way he saves sinners. He has no respect of persons. He's the only one who's like that, and he's made the way to be just and justify the ungodly. Now, if you call on the Father who, without respect of persons, judges according to every man's work, my works are all good in Christ. That's the judging. He judges according to every man's work.

He says, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. Now, the fear of God. I want to show you a couple of scriptures. Would you turn with me to Exodus chapter 14? The fear of God is a response to God's salvation. Let me show you this in Exodus chapter 14.

This is at the end of the Red Sea Deliverance. We read in verse 31, and Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians Now this is after they were already saved. They passed through the Red Sea. They saw their enemies drowned at the shore. They were in security. And Israel saw the great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians.

And the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and his servant Moses. When did they fear? When they saw his great work. when they saw his great salvation. Now this is the fear of awe, the fear of reverence. When I see how God can, without respect of persons, justify me, that's when this awe of God comes. This awe at his majesty, this awe at his glory. Now fear, there are basically three types of fear. Number one, there's natural fear.

What do you mean by that? Well, if I can't swim, I'm afraid of water, and justifiably so. If I'm afraid of that which could bring me bodily harm, I'm afraid to stick my hand in the fire. That's a natural fear. There are people who have, like, fear of heights. They're afraid they'll fall down. That's a real fear. It's a natural. Fear. Fear of spiders and snakes. People have reactions, afraid they'll hurt them. Fear of storms and fires. Fear of that which can cause bodily harm. That's one kind of fear. We all have plenty of those. And there's another kind of fear, sinful fear.

The fear of mistrust. that comes from a wrong view of God. You think he's gonna get you. You think he's gonna punish you. You think he's gonna take something from you because of some way you are. I remember when Aubrey, or when Lynn was pregnant with Aubrey, I always thought something would be wrong with her when she was born because it was gonna be some kind of punishment to me for my sins.

What a horrible view of God to think something like that. sinful mistrust, the fear of punishment, the fear of loss, irrational fears. There are natural fears, there are sinful fears, and then there is the fear of God. Not a slavish fear of punishment, not the fear of mistrust, not the fear of what God may take from you because of something you've done. It is an all, a reverence, a respect for God. It's the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It's the starting place of wisdom, this fear of all. It's worship is what it is.

You worship an eternal God who never had a beginning. an absolutely independent God who has no needs. There's nothing you can do to add to Him. There's nothing you can bring to Him that'll make it better for Him. He's absolutely independent. He's absolutely sovereign. You're in His hands, and He can do with you whatever He's pleased to do, and your only response is bow.

That is the fear of God. Let me show you another scripture in Psalm 130. You'll remember in Exodus 14, 31, it said they feared the Lord and they believed the Lord. Those two things always go together. Psalm 130, verse one, out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.

If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand, but there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be, what? Feared. When you and I understand how God forgives sins for Christ's sake, and he does it in a way where there's no respecter of persons with him, He's made this way to be just and justify the ungodly. There's forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. Awed, held in awe at the glorious being of God. Just amazed that you know him. Just amazed that he's made himself known to you. Your cry is, why me? Why would you make yourself known to me in the glory of your person? Why me? fear of the Lord.

Now, how am I to pass my time, the time of my sojourning here? We all have an appointed time. We all have a race to run. How am I to pass that time? In the fear of the Lord. That's the best way. That covers everything, doesn't it? In the fear of the Lord. Now, let me close this um study with this statement. Tell me exactly what the fear of the Lord is. This bowing before his majesty, this all of his person. Here is the fear of the Lord. You have such fear and respect and all of him that you wouldn't dare look anywhere but Christ alone. at all times. You only look to Christ. You don't look to yourself. You don't look to your works. You don't look to your experience. You don't look for the things you plan on doing or the things you start. You're not in the picture.

You're afraid to look anywhere but Christ alone. And you know, I think this is amazing. The hardest thing you and I are called on to do is to look to Christ alone. Look nowhere else but Christ alone. But my dear friends, this is the fear of God, to look to Christ only. May the Lord enable us all to do just that.

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